Perspectives in SL and Building

One of the biggest challenges in SL for many builders new or seasoned is getting the perspective of the build correct. The first challenge comes from the viewer it self and the distance you are from your avatar and the field of site you have of the avatars view of the world around it. Then you have the misconception that the building should be in size proportion to the average height of an avatar, this is compounded by individuals believing that real life dimensions apply to SL. It creates a unique set of challenges and views that do not always work so well in the SL environment.

So as you can see there is a lot of information you must take into consideration when making a build to interact in and have a good experience with. Some of the things you need to take into consideration when builds is the average avatar is not the height of the average human. Along with the view most people have are from above and behind their avatars head, so your view is raised up by about 3 feet and back about 6 feet on average(forgive not in meters).
This makes the ability to build in perspective based on the average avatar size more difficult. Compounding this is the desire to attempt to build in scale by some builders and people in general, It does not work well, just walk around a build done in RL scale and see how often your cam is outside the walls or attempt stairs halls that turn. Your lost in the walls, simple as that. What good is to have a build built to scale and you cant enjoy it??
The other challenge are the silly avatar measuring devices, they usually just go to your eye height and are usually older by a few years. So they give you information about the so called average height before the avatar growth spurt in 2008 where it seemed lots of avi's got taller and maxed on the height. ( I wont mention I'm 8'2")

So I use a build concept for SL that I call "SL" view or Sight Line view, this is a style of design I developed specifically for Sl builds that avatars occupy. It follows the basic rules of design but adds in the factors I discussed to allow for a better SL experience. So the height of walls and the layout of the builds is a little higher, wider and a little more open in feel and look than some typical builds in Second Life. I do this for a few reasons.

First so you can see better while in one of the builds and cam easier while moving through it. This allows for you to place furniture in a way that when you sit you are not outside the walls looking in at a wall and not your interior. I also suggest you do not place furniture and interactive items against the outer walls of the build. As in RL any interior designer will tell you come away from the walls and live in your space.

Second I use this concept allowing you to see where you are and where you want to go while in the build. Low ceiling and small confined spaces make the build feel claustrophobic and excessively textured.

I suggest you develop interactive areas inside your home and have the enjoyment of seeing what has been created for you with out feeling crushed and having a blocked view.

Along with a more open use of prims the proper application of textures and color scheme will help make the build seem open and airy. So lighter colors up top and darker at the base, while applying a lesser repeat ration on lower sections and not overly repetitive ratios up top.

By openning the build demensions and proper texturing and your builds will fit the smallest to tallest avi and look and feel right every time.

Nyx