I ain’t gonna lie, I have mixed feelings about the whole PBR materials thing. For those of you who haven’t been in Seconde Life™ in a while, PBR stands for “Physically Based Rendering” and bringing PBR to Second Life means updating the basic calculations of how light is represented and interacts with our favourite virtual world. The result is higher quality textures and actually functioning mirrors. This last aspect of it can be great for photography (finally I can have a real reflection in a mirror) but easily will grind your viewer to a screeching halt if you’re not operating on a particularly robust gaming pc. Luckily this mirror aspect of PBR can be switched of, so you’ll be able to move more easily through SL. Thick creamy custard is for eating, not for wading through!
Creators have started using PBR textures in their items. One example of such a creator, which I personally happen to use all the time, is Noche. Their latest jockstrap is PBR enabled and they’ve updated some of their existing crop tops with PBR materials as well (crop top updates = cropdates… ah, now the title makes sense). The downside is that, if you feel your PC isn’t quite ready for PBR and you don’t want to update your viewer, these items will show up as white. I can tell you that I’ve been using quite some colourful language while I was working on the image for this blogpost. Still, I got their in the end and everybody’s looking smashing. I’ve had smoother experiences since updating to a PBR enabled viewer, so I don’t know why today was particularly bad. I created a second image later in the day and SL was running more smoothly for me then.
Maybe it’s time for a PC update? I always go for a gaming laptop because I don’t have a designated office with a good spot for a tower pc and I need the flexibility of a laptop. My current and previous laptop have been ROG, but maybe some of you out there would recommend another brand for Second Life usage? Feel free to let me know in the comments. And how have you been experiencing the PBR update?
Credits
- Noche’s Hawk Crop Tee, Plain Crop Tee and Latex Crop Tee all have been updated to now also include a size for the Reborn body with Vtech add-on.
- The Noche Mason Jockstrap is a new item that was just launched at the Fameshed round that closed recently. It should be available from their main store now. This jock has been rigged for Meshbody Legacy & Athletic, Belleza Jake and Reborn and comes with four beautifully detailed bulge sizes. Treat yourself to the generous fatpack if you want to go crazy with the colour combinations.
- Meshbody Legacy on all avatars
- Left in top image :
- Lelutka Alain mesh head
- Not Found Davis skin and their matching body skin for Legacy
- Modulus Bailey hair
- GOK Syrax Dream tattoo
- Billy Beaverhausen Jude shape for Lelutka Alain, includes versions for use with Legacy, Belleza Jake and Signature Gianni
- Middle in top image:
- Lelutka Logan mesh head
- Vendetta Phillip skin for Lelutka EvoX and their matching body skin for Legacy
- Stealthic Narcotic hair
- Brenton shape can be downloaded as an xml file from my Buy Me A Coffee page, more free shapes are available. Whether you buy me a coffee or not is up to you.
- Dappa Forme tattoo
- Right in top image:
Billy Beaverhausen 
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