Saturday, December 28, 2013

Birthday sale: Everything 50% off

Today is Auryn's birthday, and to celebrate it, she's dropped a new build and set everything in the store 50% off.

The sale will be on today only (SL time)!
Once it's over, sculpts, several animations, scripts and mesh items will be retired for good. Grab them now before they go away forever!

Thursday, December 12, 2013

New group gift: Snow Kitty

Do you like kitties? Do you like snow? Then you want a full perms mesh snow kitty, and you may get yours by activating your group tag and stopping by the main store, now :-)


The SL Christmas Expo and the Creators Winter Market are still open. Check the linked posts to see what you're missing at special price!

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Black Tulip, sponsor of the SL Christmas Expo. Opens today!

The SL Christmas Expo, in benefit of RFL, comes a third year, opening its doors today, December 5th at 10 AM SLT, and it will remain open until the 15th.


This year, Black Tulip has joined as sim sponsor, releasing three new items, all of them for the RFL vendors. Click here for the Taxi.

New Blender book for creators:

For photographers:

For everybody:

Friday, November 29, 2013

New Blender books and sales for Black Friday

This is a special sales weekend, and the first offers are the two new Blender books, set to promotional price during the weekend:



All the full permissions mesh in the main store is marked 50% off.


Also, some selected books, animations and scripts are set to L$60 and L$75. Check them out at the main store, at the sale area.

More news to come when the SL Christmas Expo opens its doors December 5th. This year, Black Tulip has joined as sim sponsor. Keep an eye not to miss them!

Don't forget the new items released for the Creators Winter Market: the promotional price is valid only there!

Thursday, November 21, 2013

New Blender books and Mesh for Creators Winter Market

"Creators Winter Market", sponsored by Merchant Resource Central and Builder's Bargains, opens its doors today until December 22th. Black Tulip has joined in, and for this market releases three new items, all of them at special release price while the market is open.

A two books-mini series explaining in full detail how to create a Christmas candles setup in Blender that should use animated texture flames in SL, covering all the stages, tips and solutions to possible issues:



And a full permissions mesh arrangement of said Christmas candles setup, including the baked texture:


There are more upcoming exciting events: Black Friday, and the SL Christmas Expo. This year, Black Tulip has joined as sim sponsor. Keep an eye not to miss them!

Friday, November 8, 2013

New Blender book: UV Mapping and Texture Basics, Part 3

This weekend, "UV Mapping & Texture Basics" continues with the third chapter. We seam and unwrap the model, and in our way, learn more useful functions of the UV/Image Editor, as well as how to proceed in case of trouble. A notecard with the required download links is included.

Saturday, October 26, 2013

New Blender book, full perms mesh for creators and a special group gift

This weekend, "UV Mapping & Texture Basics" continues with the second chapter, introducing us more in detail into the UV/Image Editor and the seaming process. A notecard with the required download links is included.


Remember the "Spooky Times" event (still running!)?

I decided to release the mirror as a full permissions object for creators, at the main store. There are two mirrors included in the package. One of them has an extra face that you could use to perform scripted tricks to show/hide an image over the mirror surface :-)


This weekend is also time to celebrate!

The last weekend, the group hit the number of 250 members, and I've prepared the following gift to say thank you all!

Activate your group tag and grab this Murphy bed for a single avatar, ready to work together with a sitter system *and* the door script, taking advantage of one of the new features of the recently released door script. Notecards with the setup are provided in case you have the script and want to save time setting the bed to work as a real Murphy bed :-)


Talking about doors, remember that the door script V2 is still set to 50% off its price during this weekend only!

Online documentation: http://blacktulip-doors.blogspot.com/

Have a great weekend :-)

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Multi Door/Drawer/Curtain Tool V2, is here!

It was November 2011 when the first version of "Multi Door/Drawer/Curtain Tool" was released, and since then, it has made easier the life of hundreds of builders, when it comes to script doors. During this time, some of you have requested new features to the tool, giving some cool ideas, and now, Version 2 sees the light! Before anything else, I want to thank you for your suggestions, and for your patience. It's been a whole month of developing, testing and (of course!) writing quite extensive documentation about it. It's my wish that the final result is worth your time and consideration.

It's released now under Builder's Bargains to 50% off its price, so if you didn't buy the first version, now you can get a great deal!


Online documentation

Why do I say "if you didn't buy the first version"? Because if you bought the first version... A free update should have knocked on your door :-) (no pun intended)

This is not the only news, and there will be more for the weekend. Keep reading to know about FOUR online tutorials I have added in my website.

Four new online tutorials, including "Doors in SL"


I wanted to prepare a tutorial related to building doors, to accompany the release of V2. As I was writing, I realized that there would be some other topics that would be a good complement, like talking about how to link phantom and non phantom prims, or talk about sculpt prims... so I went for the class material of my classes about, and after some work over said material, you can now check online the following tutorials:


The "Doors in SL" tutorial explains how to build all sorts of doors, from regular prims, to sculpts and mesh! This is an essential resource to builders that you don't want to miss out.

Feel free to share the links if they could help more builders :-)

Monday, October 21, 2013

New releases for "Spooky Times"

Isabelli Anatine, from "Uncertain Smile Poses" has organized an event called "Spooky Times", featuring Halloween related items from several creators. It opens today at 4 PM SLT and will close October 31th. I've put together a couple of new items, released to promotional price (both set to L$150 now). Once the event is over, they'll come to the main store at full price (that will be L$225).



Your taxi, here. Head to the little room full of easels and goodies to check out. Have fun! :-)

Remember submitting to the store Flickr's group your photographs, whether using the prop or the furniture, I'd love to see them! Join here and add your pics: http://www.flickr.com/groups/blacktulip/

Pssst: This week, a major release is coming. One of your favorite scripts, updated. Stay tuned :-)

Friday, October 18, 2013

New mesh items for creators, photo prop and group gift

Unbelievable, but true: I forgot about Halloween this year!

So I'm releasing now a table and a chair that, although have many uses, they could be used for Halloween seance sets too :-)



I made a table cloth for this round table, and decided to set it out as a group gift, so stop by the store, activate the group tag, and get yours:


Finally, as a result of participating in a writing contest, I made this prop to illustrate my entry, and I'm releasing it to L$60 during the weekend.


Remember submitting to the store Flickr's group your photographs, whether using the prop or the furniture, I'd love to see them!
Join here and add your pics: http://www.flickr.com/groups/blacktulip/

Pssst: Next week, a major release is coming. One of your favorite scripts, updated. Stay tuned :-)

Friday, October 4, 2013

Blender is back! UV Mapping and Texture Basics 1, in the store.

Blender course is back!

I will not be publishing one new book every week this time, they'll be more spaced. Anyway, it was time for the course to continue, and it does with the first chapter of the new series: UV Mapping and Texturing Basics. The complete series will explain everything we need to learn to unwrap our model and texture it using GIMP/PS, as well as how to create multi-face mesh objects for SL.

First in the series, released to L$60 during the weekend, is out now:


Another book has made its way through Builder's Bargains, so this is your last chance to get it at reduced price. "Music!", the original class about how to give more life to our objects by making them play full songs (prepared with Audacity), with extended material and full permissions scripts. (Reduced price is only at the main store location!)

Saturday, September 28, 2013

New items! Mesh for creators, photo prop and group gift

The releases this week turn around the following photo prop with three poses, set to L$60 during the weekend:


The three mesh columns as a stand-alone object are released full permissions for creators, under Sixty Linden Weekends:


And if you want just one full permissions mesh column, here you have it as our new group gift :-)

Friday, September 20, 2013

News! Little bit for everyone: full perm mesh, poses, books

The releases this week turn around a couple of new poses, with their corresponding wearable props, both set to L$60:



The mesh dagger is also released full permissions for creators, under Sixty Linden Weekends:


I've also released the mesh question marks, full permissions for creators, as a group gift :-) - Drop by the main store and get them just by activating your group tag:


To complete the weekend, another couple of books have made it into the "Builder's Bargains" sale hop, so this is your last chance to get them less than 50% off. They are "QAvimator 2" (set to L$75, full price being L$175) and "QAvimator 3" (set to L$150, full price being L$325).

Thursday, September 12, 2013

New photo prop, new group gift, and sales

This weekend, there's a fun new photo prop with five poses released to L$75 (Full price will be L$225), under the topic "What? Empty Gift Box?":


The kitties in the new photo prop looked so cute, that I thought they would make for a back-from-vacation-group-gift, to be included with your decoration, or if you want to make a huggable one, why not :-)

The three kittens are full perms and contain the UV template, AO map and a couple of baked textures. Drop by the main store and get them just by activating your group tag:


To complete the weekend, a couple of books have made it into the "Builder's Bargains" sale hop, so this is your last chance to get them less than 50% off. They are "Introduction to Animating Avatars in SL" (set to L$75, full price being L$175) and "QAvimator 1" (set to L$125, full price being L$275).

Have a great weekend :-)

Saturday, September 7, 2013

New poses: "Doll's Dream" Set 1

Summer is almost over, and it's time to start going back to work. Actually, during vacation, I have been taming my inventory down (again) and updating the doors script with a great deal of features. The script is currently in the hands of beta testers, so my wish is to release it very soon. You are going to love it :-)

In an attempt of warming up and put myself back to the weekly "routine", I've created a set of poses. Beware that they ARE NOT full perms!

I have opened a new build on the sim, sort of a "gallery" if you wish, where I plan to sell pictures (always original works) and set a whole room that I will be filling with poses and props for photography. The poses are first released in any of the sales events the store participates into, as a whole pack. Once the sales event is over, I will be moving them to the new building, and in there you'll be able of purchasing individual poses or the full pack. In both cases, if you have your group tag active, you'll get a 10% discount.

If you don't know the Doll avatar and are a fan of SL photography, I encourage you to look for it (feel free to IM me and I will explain and send LM, but PLEASE open your IM directly asking about it). Although in this first set of poses I've used Doll indeed, the poses work for the standard SL avatar. Remember that you can try them out at the store and check for yourself.


Contact changes - Please read :-)


In an attempt to improve the customer support, I have added several forms in the store website. The links are below, but before you check them out, I want to call your attention specially about the "Blender Books Assistance" one. If you have purchased the books, are following them, and get stuck at any point, I encourage you to use that form! I will help you shortly, and also, I will be using the information to complete a help resource that will also be available in the store website.

UPDATED - All forms have been centralized under the Customer Service Form.

I have changed the policy regarding to how it is appropriate to request support - of any kind, and you can read this indeed now in my profile:

«Do not use IM. All Customer Support goes through the following webpage prepared for it: http://blacktulip-store.blogspot.com/p/customer-support.html - I will IM you back providing help.»

This doesn't mean that "I don't want to talk". It doesn't mean that I'm cutting the communication.

This, on one hand, is to help me make sure I don't miss notecards/IM's because I crash while AFK or whatever other reason. On the other hand, it lets me know better what the problem is when I'm not inworld, so I can be faster in helping when I go online. Some of you have sent me very well explained notecards (which I love), but sadly I can read those only once I'm inworld, and it's easier then to be distracted.

I hope this change will be better for all of us :-)

Friday, September 6, 2013

Blender Books Assistance

Read BEFORE filling the form:
Are you stuck at any point while following the books? Check first this page, in case your question has an answer. If your question is not answered there, then, please fill the following form and we'll try to assist you shortly :-)

When you write your question, remember that this is an extra, free service, that we are not obligated to provide (No technical book author provides any kind of personal assistance, if you think about it.) Like when reporting a script's fault, "I don't know what I did, but this is not the result I expect" does not help at all, and we will not be taking the time to chase you for a detailed description. Make sure that you give a description of your problem that anybody can follow, to achieve the same result you have. If we cannot reproduce your result, we will be unable to help, and your request is likely to be ignored.

Important: By completing and sending the following form, you allow us to add your question and our reply to a list of questions in this website. The purpose of this is creating a resource that is helpful to everybody. We will rewrite your question if needed, and you'll remain always completely anonymous unless you tell us otherwise.

Click here for the Customer Support Form.

Saturday, August 3, 2013

Modelling Basics series gets to an end this weekend!

Modelling Basics 4 closes the "Modelling Basics" series by offering a big deal of information: we go from studying the mesh primitive types, to slipping into "Edit Mode", and then we learn all the basic operations, several selection methods, proportional editing, what to delete means in edit mode and how to perform it, extruding, loops... Together with it, we've released a proposed exercises book, which is free. Make sure of looking for it in the Blender bookcase at the store, grab yours, and give them a try!

Auryn is taking a break during August. She'll be around in SL, but not for work. Should you have any issues with the scripts/tools, please make sure of following and completing the assistance form. Delivery issues will be dealt with in any case. The Blender books series will resume by mid September - October.

Modelling Basics 4 is released to L$60 during the weekend, grab it before the price raises!


Saturday, July 27, 2013

Modelling Basics 3, in the store, now

We have our first models ready to upload. What to do next? That's the main goal of this book. We study the mesh uploader window, but we don't stop there: you will find a broad explanation of what exactly the Land Impact is and how it is calculated, what happens when we link objects, how we can optimize it even if we add sculpts to the mix, what LOD means, and how we can do our best to control/minimize the download and physics weights with the tools that SL puts at our disposal, so we can always find the best balance "Visual quality of our model/Land Impact".

Friday, July 19, 2013

New Blender Book: Modelling Basics 2 - Solved Exercises & More

This is one book you can't miss: three step by step solved exercises in detail, mixed with theory, where we'll consolidate all the studied in the previous books in the series. As a big plus, we'll also be learning new processes and concepts like the origin point (very useful to easily pivot within Blender), a basic unwrap to get us started, how to export the models to .dae (Collada), first concepts about creating a physical model to use with our mesh and even more helpful tips.

Released to L$60 during the weekend, you don't want to miss this one!

Friday, July 12, 2013

Modelling Basics series for Blender starting now!

We're beginning a new series within the Blender series: Modelling Basics. In this first book, we start manipulating objects, learning all the basics and tips to speed up our work. Released to L$60 during the weekend, grab it before the price goes up :-)

Saturday, July 6, 2013

New Blender book

The Blender series continues with this third book devoted to the final aspects of the user interface that will make our life easier as we start modeling. It closes the "Interface Basics" series, stepping to make room to "Modeling Basics", which will begin the next week. Released to L$60 during the weekend, grab it before price goes up!


Sunday, June 30, 2013

Announce: Script Assistance Form

As of 2013-06-30, it is mandatory to use the form linked in the pages header, Script Assistance Form, to request assistance for any of the scripts you have purchased. If you have issues with a script working, please, fill the form giving all the requested information. Incomplete forms will not be answered to. Thanks so much for your help!

Saturday, June 29, 2013

New Blender book and group gift

The Blender series continues with this second book devoted to all the user preferences that will make our life easier as we start modeling. Released to L$60 during the weekend, grab it before price goes up :-)


Then we have new group gift! \o/
Stop by the store, get your full perms mesh decorative silhouette, and have fun with it!

Saturday, June 22, 2013

New mesh display, Blender book and script

This weekend we have a new full permissions mesh display for 4:3 pictures, and two hits: the new light & glow slide show script for creators, and the first book devoted to the Blender interface basics. Meet Blender and start losing the fear!



Saturday, June 1, 2013

[RETIRED] New mesh entertainment center set

The full permissions mesh entertainment center lands in the main store! Low shelf, hanging shelf and a 16:9 Flat TV compose this set, released each piece to L$60 during the weekend. Low LI and great LOD, come check it out!


[RETIRED ITEMS - PHOTOS NOT AVAILABLE]

Builder's Bargains is still up! Your chance to get the sculpted full permissions bookcase more than 50% off its price :-)

Last days for the Home & Garden Expo 2013!


The Home and Garden Expo 2013 is still open, and Black Tulip is proud to participate as Silver Sponsor in this edition.

You can still come by and get from the RFL vendor the first book for the new Blender series: Introduction to 3D Modeling for SL, which lays down all the foundation you need to learn even before embarking into learning the program.

Don't miss out the hunt!

The Expo will close after June 2nd, stop by before it's gone!

Friday, May 24, 2013

Black Tulip at the Home and Garden Expo 2013

The Home and Garden Expo 2013 has open, and Black Tulip is proud to participate as Silver Sponsor in this edition.

There are some new releases, one for creators (a book!) and the others are for the general public. Some of those items are in the RFL vendors, so 100% of your purchase will be donated to the ACS.

One of the new releases, in the RFL vendor, is the first book for the new Blender series: Introduction to 3D Modeling for SL, which lays down all the foundation you need to learn even before embarking into learning the program.


Then I made a variation of one of the mesh tables, and with it, built this "Patio Set", that is also in the RFL vendor:

[RETIRED ITEM - PHOTO NOT AVAILABLE]

There's a hunt in the Expo! My gift is this mesh display with slideshow:

[RETIRED ITEM - PHOTO NOT AVAILABLE]

Information about the Expo hunt

And then I've also released these two sets that you can use in your living room:

[RETIRED ITEMS - PHOTOS NOT AVAILABLE]

The Expo runs until June 2nd. Remember that these items have been released there and are not yet at the main store!

Next weekend, more full permissions mesh :-)

Saturday, April 20, 2013

[RETIRED] New mesh modern fountain and free script

One book, one script and animations for sale, and a new modern mesh fountain for creators, are now set to L$60 at the store. Remember also that the full perms sculpted greenhouse, with extensive documentation that will teach you how to work in general with "Convex Hull" and sculpt prims, is still more than half its price off during the weekend only!

[RETIRED ITEM - PHOTO NOT AVAILABLE]

If your viewer hasn't this function built in, then stop by the store and grab your FREE copy of the "Faces Helper Script". Quite handy to get the face numbers in mesh objects that have to be used by scripts!

Friday, April 5, 2013

All for campfires: New scripts, mesh and animations

Accompanying the script released under Builder's Bargains, Black Tulip releases this weekend two smaller editions of the fireplaces script, a mesh campfire whose LI is only 1, and a couple of animations for it. These new items are set to L$60, stop by before the weekend is over :-)

Under Sixty Linden Weekends:





Under Super Sales Weekend:


Remember that the full edition of the fireplaces script is still more than 50% off!