Voice Spotlight Shines On Susie_Q

 

Suzie_Q has been a member of There since June 2003, many articles have been written about Suzie and her accomplishments in There.  I had to pleasure of interviewing Suzie this time about her designs. 

Susie you have been in game for a long time and have done many things from Star 69 to designing.  What are you doing these days in There for fun?

Unfortunately I am so busy with real life right now that I have little time to spend in There. I have a There house I bought when I first joined so any time I do get in world I am at my house or in the front yard testing items.

 

What got you into designing?

Sassybeme and M_Bored, they are without a doubt the two that pushed me into making items for There. Although I had experience in developing in a previous program, I did not know the requirements and how to's for this program.  Sassybeme kept at me, encouraging and helping me along the way. Without her I am not sure I would have done it. To this day we are very good friends and  help each other in our designs.

 

I always love the items you put out.  Esp. the candles because they have a unique look.  What inspires you when you’re designing?

Many things get my creative juices flowing. Sometime it is items around my house that I would like to see if I can duplicate in the virtual world. Other times it could be a picture I have seen, places I have been or even a dream I have had.

 

Out of all your designs what are you three favorite creations?

One of my first designs were my Hot and Cold Drink Machines. I explored There looking for ideas for textures. I took some screen shots inside one of theClubs in Maidenflight and used them to create the front of the machine textures.  I was pleased with how they turned out and are very popular to this day.
 

 

My Bridge Pond is another of my favorite items. I have seen it used in many ways throughout this virtual world and have always been impressed with how creative people can be.

 

 

 

Last but not least my newest item to be introduced is the Park Pigeons. My sister-in-law took a trip to England a couple of months ago and brought home many wonderful pictures. Included in them was one of Trafalgar Square which I have also seen in old movies. So with pictures to guide me I did my best to recreate a group of the famous or infamous birds.

 

 

Let's talk about your new living room set. The concept is great the look is unique how did you come up with it and why? 

Sometimes it is not easy to create with the resource restrictions we have. For a long time now my goal in designing a new item it to try and get as many things as possible in one drop to help builders decorate within paz drop limits and reduce costs. The living room set is actually a close recreation of the furniture in my rl house. This made it a little easier creating the models because I had the actual 3 dimensional items in front of me. The lamps were a gift from my daughter. I love the unique shape of them so thought they would be something a little different for people and it gave me a chance to challenge myself to see if I could pull it off. Although it was a challenge to stay within the  pixel count limits set for 8 group seater I was able to do it and have been pleased with how well it was received by my fellow Thereians.

 

Did you have prior design experience either in another virtual world or real life? 

I have always loved working with my hand and challenging myself. Being someone who loves to learn, there is little I have not done or at the least tried. In the real world I have been known as a crafty person doing everything from laying flooring to designing and making wedding dresses. I was a hairdresser starting at a young age of 15 and was teaching it by the time I was 21. I got bored after a few years and being busy raising a family decided to open my own craft store off of my house. This allowed me to be at home with my family and do what I loved best at the same time.  

After learning about computers and trying out my first virtual world many years ago, I wanted to test myself to see if I could learn how to take my rl passion for creating things to the virtual world. After many tears and much frustration I was able to teach myself what I needed to know for making 3d models. Unfortunately after a couple of years I was no longer happy with the direction the program was turning. I got tiered of the drama and began to look elsewhere for something more my liking. A friend from the same old program found There and introduced me to it. I was hooked the first day and have never turned back. I loved all There had to offer and it was so different from anything I had experienced prior. While at that time I had no desire to get back into designing for a new program, within a years or so I got the same old itch and got back into it.

 

What was your experience like learning how to design in There?  Did you find it relativity easy or was there a major learning curve?  Do you think there could be improvements to the developer program in There regarding new designers and if so how can that improve? 

Because I've had past experience in designing I know how to make a model.  What I didn't know was how to do lod's and work the nodes that There required.  I read tutorials some Therian designers had made but there was little information available back then. It was with the help of Sassybeme who was able to walk me through things and explain what things meant when I was in doubt, that I was able to successfully design for There. 

Now a days there is a lot of information available to new designers. The key is to take the time to look for it and read it. The sticky thread in the developer forums is full of valuable information. You can also do searches in the forum for any questions you may have concerning issues with designing.  Many developers have taken time to write tutorials as well as create videos to help others and I know this has been greatly appreciated by the community.

 

Did you find other designer's helpful? 

Absolutely, there is no doubt that without them things would have been much harder. My favorite thing about designing is learning. I love to learn new things and no matter how long and how much experience I have had doing this there is always new things to learn. The most important thing is don't be afraid to ask for help if you don't understand or can't figure something out.  

Is there anything you would like to design in There that you currently can't due to restrictions?  If so what would that be? 

I personally think if there is a will there is a way to do something. The only problem is that many times it has to be made in several pieces for it to fit within the resource guidelines. This of course brings us back to the same old problem of paz drop limits and high costs. There is a seating set I have been wanting to make but with the pixel limits we currently have it can not be done without compromising the quality and this is not something I want to have happen.

 

Is there anything else you would like to say? 

I would like to thank everyone who has been so kind and supported me through the years with my designs. It is something I really love doing and to know others are able to use my things and enjoy them really makes it all worth while.