Let's start by building the lamp's base.

1. You should be at your home, or a nice, flat area, with the model lamp nearby.

2. Click on the ground near the model lamp.

3. When the pie menu opens, select Create.

A few things happen: the view focuses on the ground where you clicked, the cursor changes to the creation wand, and the Tool palette opens.

On the Tool palette are a number of shapes you can create. We want the box shape on the far left.

4. Click on the box shape in the tool palette.

5. Click on the ground to create a box.

The default box has been created. We'll want to change it.

6. Click on the box you just created to make sure it's selected.

7. Click on the More button in the Tool Palette.

The Tool Palette expands.

8. Click on the Object tab in the Tool Palette.

The Tool Palette now shows a lot of controls for changing the box. It looks complicated, but we'll only deal with a few of the controls at a time.

9. Find the Size (meters) controls.

10. Change the number in the Z Size control to 0.100.

You can do this with the arrows, or highlight the number that's there and type in a new one.

Now let's change the material that the box is made of.

11. Find the Material drop-down menu at the bottom of the Tool Palette.

12. Click on the Material menu and select Metal.

It looks like nothing has happened. That's OK. You've changed the material of the box, so it will act like metal, but it still has the wood texture. In Second Life, you can put any texture on any material. This gives you as much flexibility as possible.

So, let's make the metal box look like metal.

13. Click on the Texture tab in the Tool Palette.

14. Click on the picture of the wooden texture.

The Pick: Texture dialog opens.

15. Click on the drop-down menu (it should say Default), and choose Steel Plate, then click OK.

The look of the box now changes

Steel Plate is the texture used in the model lamp, but you can pick any other texture that you prefer. Take some time if you like and try out a few different textures. Once you pick one that you like, move on to the next step.

[ Advanced Skills Home | Creation 101 Home | Next ]