Expensive Avatars!
I’m not talking Linden costs here. I’m talking avatar rendering costs, which, in the new client (released July 23rd) can now be switched on for all to see! Avatar rendering costs were very well explained on the official blog recently (click here), which is very fortunate as I have neither the time, patience nor desire to go through it.
What I was amazed at though are my own rendering costs. It tells us that if your number is green, then you’re all good. If you’re yellow, then you’re so so and if you’re red… well, your avatar rendering costs are HIGH. I was shocked to find myself a yellow with a rendering cost of 1188. So I started detaching things to see what might make these numbers fall. My prim shoes knocked off just over a hundred. But my hair…. well. Let me show you!
I did experiment with a few others I own (none of which I actually like on me and me being selfish, I will not change to) which were ok! A lot of them kept me in green. But with 8 rendering points per flexi prim attached to you, I’m sure there’s a lot of expensive avies floating around!
One thing I wonder though, with the new viewer allowing people to view the rendering costs of all those around them, is it going to turn into a witch hunt? Will we see the development of anti-lag tribes running rampant up and down the grid demanding the removal of prim hair? I do believe, on the whole though, that it’s worthwhile being able to see these things. If someone complains at my yellow rendering number, my response will be simple. “Don’t like my lag, then don’t come near me.” Besides, what’s a few avatar rendering points between friends?? In true Mastercard Ad style:-
– Cost of random hair that I bought and didn’t like – 1000
– Cost of Flexi hair I eventually found and did like – 375
– Rendering cost of aforementioned hair – 844 avatar rendering points.
– Not having your other half complain that she doesn’t like ANY of your hairdos, nor does she like you bald – PRICELESS.
Some things money can’t buy. For everything else, there’s Linden Dollars.
Anyway, I’m going to go and hide away from the world so nobody will stab me in the pixel chest for my yellow rendering costs.
Categories: Second Life
chilli
Witch hunt … well, not exactly a witch hunt, but I recall a couple of “very informative” dudes in the audience of a fashion runway show when the “feature” was introduced in the RC viewer. Those guys kept commenting on the ARC score of every new person entering the scene. At one point, a lady with a score way above 5500 turned up and they started dissing her constantly… she would crash the sim, she would cause overheating of graphic cards and other nice thingies … well, quite half of the 30 or more visitors didn’t rezz way before her entry or had those lovely “Missing Texture” texture applied to them, but nevermind.
So ARC has a high witch hunt potential, especially if it is paired with false information and scaremongering. On the other hand, it can give you some idea that you should consider “downgrading” your 2000+ score outfit before going to a crowded Fair sim, popular event or any place alike.
As for creators … well, I’m none of them and therefore don’t have any clue … but if one hairstyle on its own easily hits a score of 6000 or more, I think you seriously should reconsider your technique and tune it down a lil.
Anyway, as long as the whole calculation is based on one guy’s very own ideas and concepts, ARC should only serve as a hint tool, but not as the ultimate lag killer as some parties wish to promote it. In the end, the hardware you’re running makes the difference.