Video Tutorials

The following is a list of Second Life video tutorials. This isn't meant to be a complete compilation, but if it is here, you at least know that somebody found it useful. Torley Linden started this page with the intention of providing an easy-access resource for SL vidtuts.

Please add what you've found useful —

"May we watch over the shoulders of our enlightened educators with smiles as plentiful as water!"

Linden-created Video Tutorials

You can also see these in the Knowledge Base and Torley's YouTube page, including:

Second Life Tip of the Week

An ongoing series which aims to communicate useful, fun info quickly & memorably!

1. How to turn off the typing animation and sound
2. How to move your camera further and better
3. A yummy mix of user interface tricks
4. How to use beacons and highlights
5. 3 useful "Show" options in the Tools menu
6. More inventory management tips
7. A deeper taste of the pie menu
8. How to deal with some common annoyances
9. How to create and join a group
10. How to use the new Search
11. Welcome to WindLight!
12. How to easily boost viewer performance
13. How to show your stuff in our new Search
14. How to set multiple permissions easier
15. How to get texture info

Learn more about SLTotW on the Official Linden Blog.

More!

• How to use gestures
• How to manage your inventory
• How to use HUDs
• How to change your appearance
• How to open and sell boxes
• How to use the building grid
• How to fill in your profile
• How to create and send a notecard
• How to use Undo
• How to make a flag that waves in wind
• How to to make tiny prims
• Assorted Tips & Tricks - A yummy stew including a hearty helping of FollowCam!
• Advanced Snapshot Magic - Take better pictures!
• How to send a postcard

You can also download some of these vidtuts (feel free to link to those URLs to stream them inworld)!

Resident-created Video Tutorials

Assorted topics

• Amras Alder's Video Tutorials
  • Inventory Tricks - Look over my shoulder as I manipulate my inventory.
  • Client Paramaters - Learn how to add options to your SL shortcut!
  • Alpha Edges - Learn how to alter a thin prim's (modifiable) edge to be transparent.
  • Ghost Prims: Epilogue - Corrects misstatement & demonstrates Region Restart.
  • Ghost Prims - What they are and what must be done to get rid of them.
  • Windlight Beta: ATI Fix - Having Windlight issues with your ATI card? Here's a work-around.
  • Particle Grief - Locate a hidden (buried) particle generator and learn your options.
  • Test Viewers - Where to find them and why you may not like them.
  • Preferences/Graphics - Explains Preferences/Graphics tab item-by-item (viewer 1.18.4 (3)).
  • Preferences/Network - Explains Preferences/Network tab item-by-item.
  • Lag Meter - Identify the source(s) of your lag with this underrated tool.
  • Preferences/Input & Camera - Explains Preferences/Input & Camera tab item-by-item.
  • The Beta Grid - Introduction to yet another SL playground!
  • Preferences/General - Explains Preferences/General tab item-by-item.
  • New Dazzle SL Interface - Peek at the new SL User Interface "Dazzle"
  • Sunken Feet - How to pull your buried feet out of the ground.
  • Logoff Prevention - Disable automatic logoff when your avatar is idle too long. Hooray!
  • IM Window Tricks - Yes, you *can* make the new IM window smaller, and more.
  • By The Numbers - How the SL map displays xyz sim addresses, and more.
  • Mouse Moves Sun - How to have beautiful sunsets or lighting any time, any place!
  • Disable Camera Constraints - How and why it's a good thing, with some extra tips to assist.
  • Quiet Snapshots - Take snapshots without default sound and animation.
  • Hover Tips & More - How & why to engage/disengage Hover Tips.
  • How to hide your HUDs - Remove HUDs from view!
  • Ugly Horizon Fix - Get rid of that pesky horizon anomaly.

• Vidéos tutos en Français par Teruki Shan - (French vidtuts by Teruki Shan.) Retrouvez toutes mes vidéos tutos sur mon site internet, ou dans la liste suivante:
  • S'inscrire à Second Life
  • Se connecter à Second Life
  • Orientation Island - Move - Mouvements
  • Orientation Island - Appearance - Apparence
  • Orientation Island - Communicate - Communication
  • Orientation Island - Search - Rechercher
  • Fonctionalitées de l'Interface de Second Life
  • Modifier et Sauvegarder son Apparence
  • Ouvrir et Porter le Contenu d'une Boite
  • Création d'Objet - Créer un Objet
  • Créer un Objet Simple : Une Chaise

• Tutorial video in Italiano sul blog Tumitu
  • Come si creano Oggetti complessi in Secondlife
  • a breve ne inseriremo altri Check it out

• Vlad Bjornson's Tutorials & Tools - These cover topics like Vlad's "Top 10 Building Tips" and sculpted prims.

Content creation

• n00b Be Gone series - By Natural Selection Studios.
  • Camera Tutorial - "how to interact with objects, different forms of camera controls, and a few ‘unknown’ tricks"
  • Building Tutorial - "basic building inside Second Life - as well as continuing camera controls learned in the first episode"

• Building in Second Life series - By Ian Monstre.
  • Building a Clock - How to make a timepiece that really works, in 7 parts.
  • Open/Close Door - "how to create a door that opens and closes when touched"
  • Create a Fluttering flag - Flag vidtuts are a great way to show flexiprims in action.

• Building and scripting series - By Seeter Sullivan.
  • How to build a chair
  • How to create an interactive sign
  • How to embed texture onto an object
  • How to embed a notecard onto an object
  • How to link an object to a webpage
  • How to create links within a notecard
  • How to create a dropbox
  • How to create a teleport link

• How to animate your creations - How to animate your creations with linked prim animation using Puppeteer by Todd Borst.

• How to build a bridge - By Noire Mirabeau, in a relatively vintage example of an SL vidtut.

• Assorted resources and links - Includes guides to filming machinima and telling a story, some video tutorials, and movies of inworld adventures. By Thinkerer Melville.

• Using snapshot freeze to take precise pictures - By Bella March. By doing this, you can achieve better action shots without re-shooting multiple times.

• Using Photoshop's "Liquify" tool - By Vint Falken. This can help you smooth out and enhance avatar snapshots dramatically.

• tFinder quickstart - By Cid Vilas. Learn how to use tFinder, the texture search engine.

Sculpted prims

There are several good video tutorials for making sculpted prims, such as some for Wings 3D, an external 3D modeler good for exporting sculpties to Second Life.

Machinima

• How to use the Alt-Zoom Camera - moo Money guides us through using this tool to film movies.

Introductory guides

• Top 10 Machinima Tips - By Eric Linden.
• How to make a movie in Second Life - By Alt-Zoom Studios.
• Making Machinima in Second Life on Mac OS X - By Aenea Nori. Although specifically discussing the technical aspects of creating Machinima in Mac OS X, the concepts are applicable to Windows users as well.
• Vidder Maker Workshop -- The Six Gates - By Thinkerer Melville.

Feature demos

These aren't intentionally educational, but highlight specific aspects of Second Life.

• WindLight atmospheric rendering - By Torley Linden.
• Sculpted prims - By Qarl Linden.
• Flexible prims - By Torley Linden.

Related resources

• How to convert YouTube videos for playing in Second Life - Step-by-step tutorial for when you want to show a fave clip inworld.
• YouTube search results for Second Life Video Tutorials - The list is small and growing!
• SL Frustration: Video Tutorials, please? - Sometimes when I ask myself "Why am I doing this?" while filming, I read this post and am reminded of how confused I was when I started. It's insightful.
• secondlife.com Community: Media - Showcase of finished, Resident-made machinima.
• How to convert YouTube videos for playing in Second Life - An answer to a question that many ask.
• teachtube.com - Because K-12 institutions routinely block YouTube, it can be difficult to show great educational examples of Second Life, as well as those wonderful tutorials by Torley and others. However, TeacherTube.com as a purely educational alternative. - The list is small.
• Twenty Tutorials by Benja Kepler A wide range of subjects, including how to leave Orientation Island, making furniture, sculpted prims and scripting.
• How to get started in Second Life A general introduction into Second Life (34 minutes). Topics: The Avatar, Communication, Search, Interaction, Some Locations to show the wide range of possible activities in SL (in German and English, by Mkyschnitzel Campbell)