Second Life user guide

Creative DigiSphere

Second Life Guide
For Media PlayLab Members

CREATIVE DIGISPHERE INTERNATIONAL PTE LTD
A subsidiary company of Dream Axis Group
291A South Bridge Road Singapore 058836
tel: +65 6222 2382 fax: +65 6222 2362
Registration No.: 200904809K

Contents
Getting Started ............................................................................................................................................. 3
.

Signing up an account ............................................................................................................................... 3

Downloading & Installing Second Life ...................................................................................................... 3
.

Login to Media PlayLab ............................................................................................................................. 3

Getting Around: Walking & Flying ................................................................................................................ 4

Walk, Turn, Run, Sit, Fly ............................................................................................................................ 4

Getting Around: Taking a Closer Look .......................................................................................................... 8

View navigation ........................................................................................................................................ 8
.

Getting Around: First‐Person View ............................................................................................................. 10

Mouse‐look ............................................................................................................................................. 10

Communicating: Chat ................................................................................................................................. 12

Main Chat ................................................................................................................................................ 12

Communicating: Friends ............................................................................................................................. 14

Adding Friends ........................................................................................................................................ 14

Audio Enhancement ................................................................................................................................... 16
.

Listening to music streaming .................................................................................................................. 16

Listening to voice chat ............................................................................................................................ 17

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tel: +65 6222 2382 fax: +65 6222 2362

Getting Started

Signing up an account
To sign up for a free Second Life account, you can log on to https://join.secondlife.com/?lang=en‐US.
Upon successful registration, a verification email will be sent to you. Click on the link to verify and
continue to download the client.

Downloading & Installing Second Life
The Second Life Client can be downloaded at http://secondlife.com/support/downloads.php.
After downloading the client, double‐click on the installer Second_Life_1‐23‐4‐123908_Setup.exe to
start installation.

Login to Media PlayLab
Login to Second Life and do a search for Media PlayLab using the Search button at the bottom‐bar menu.

The search window will appear, key in Media PlayLab in the search textbox. Click on Region: Media
Playlab.

Click on Teleport to enter the Media PlayLab island.

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tel: +65 6222 2382 fax: +65 6222 2362

Getting Around: Walking & Flying

Walk, Turn, Run, Sit, Fly
Second Life offers many ways to get around and see the world. Walking and running are two ways for
your avatar to move around in Second Life. You can do so endlessly without ever getting tired. You can
jump, crouch and sit as well. By the end of this section, you will be ready to explore the world around
you.

TRY IT NOW:
Step 1:   Walking and Turning
Use the following keys on your keyboard to move your avatar around in Second Life:

W or Up Arrow Key – To move forward
S or Down Arrow Key ‐‐ To move backward
A or Left Arrow Key – To rotate or turn to the left
D or Right Arrow Key – To rotate or turn to the right

Note: It is recommended to use the Arrow keys rather than WASD as you will need to lower your chat bar for
you to be able to use WASD.

Step 2:   Running
Press Ctrl‐R to turn on the run mode. The same movement keys can now be used to run in any direction.
Pressing Ctrl‐R again will turn off the run mode.
Alternatively, you can click on World from the top menu bar and select Always Run to activate the run
mode.

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tel: +65 6222 2382 fax: +65 6222 2362

Step 3:   Jumping
To jump, press E or PageUp.
Step 4:   Crouching
To crouch, press C or PageDown.

Step 5:   Sitting
On most surfaces you can right‐click and select Sit Here from the pie menu, to make your avatar sit. This
includes chairs, the ground, buildings and vehicles. You may not sit on another avatar.

When you want to get back up, click the Stand Up button that appears at
the bottom of your screen.

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tel: +65 6222 2382 fax: +65 6222 2362

Have you ever dreamt that you could just spread your wings and fly like a bird? You may not be able to
do that in real life but in Second Life you can! You don’t need wings but you certainly can fly.
Flying is another way for your avatar to move around in Second Life. This section will show you how to
fly. You can then begin to discover places that you would not have been able to get to by walking or
running.

Step 1: Flying
To fly, click the blue Fly button at the bottom of your screen or press Ctrl‐F.

You also have the options to select Fly from the World menu.

Toggle the Fly mode on and off by clicking the same button or pressing Ctrl‐F.

In Fly mode, use the following keys on your keyboard to move your avatar
around:
W or Up Arrow key – To fly forward
S or Down Arrow key ‐‐ To fly backward
A or Left Arrow key – To flyleft
D or Right Arrow key – To fly right

Step 2: Flying higher
Press and hold E or PageUp to fly higher. You can fly up to 150 meters above the level of the ground.
Step 3: Flying lower
Press and hold C or PageDown, to fly lower.
Note: Some laptops may require you press the function key, Fn with PageUp to fly higher.

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tel: +65 6222 2382 fax: +65 6222 2362

Note: In most areas of Second Life, you will be able to fly but in some areas the landowner may have
chosen not to allow flight. You will see a symbol at the top of your screen that looks like a white down

arrow on a red circle if you are in a No Fly Zone.

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tel: +65 6222 2382 fax: +65 6222 2362

Getting Around: Taking a Closer Look

View navigation
Although you can walk up to an object to see it, there are much more efficient ways to see things in
Second Life. Being able to stay in one spot and quickly view something from different angles is very
important when building and creating. In this section, you will learn various ways to see things from
multiple viewpoints.
Focus, Zoom and Pan are three ways to look at things around you in Second Life. By the end of this
section, you will have a better understanding of the in‐world camera controls.

TRY IT NOW:
Step 1: Focusing
Hold down the Alt key to activate the Focus Mode.
You should see the mouse cursor change to a magnifying glass while the Alt is being held down.
While continuing to hold down the Alt key, click on anything such as an object, landscape or a person.
Notice how the view is being centered after you have clicked on it? Even when the object or person
moves, the camera will follow it until it is out of range.

Step 2:   Zooming
While holding down the Alt key, press the Up Arrow key on your keyboard to zoom in and Down Arrow
key to zoom out.

Step 3:   Horizontal panning
As you continue to hold down the Alt key, press the Right Arrow key or Left Arrow key to pan right or
left. This is a great way to go around and view your subject.

You can also pan using your mouse. While holding down the Alt key, drag
your mouse around. You can zoom by moving the mouse forward or
backward and you can pan by moving your mouse left or right.

Note: Alternately, you can use the camera controls interface which can be
activated from View under the top bar menu.

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tel: +65 6222 2382 fax: +65 6222 2362

Press ESC to return to the default view.

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tel: +65 6222 2382 fax: +65 6222 2362

Getting Around: First‐Person View
Mouselook
In Second Life, you can view the environment in first person perspective. To do this:

TRY IT NOW:
Step 1: Make sure your chat bar is closed

Click on the chat button to close the chat bar

Step 2: Enter Mouse‐look mode

Press M on your
keyboard or use your
mouse scroll to zoom in
until you enter Mouse‐
look mode. This is also
called the first‐person
view.

Tips: You are still able to
move when you are in
this view.

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tel: +65 6222 2382 fax: +65 6222 2362

Press M or ESC to return
to return to the default
view is looking from the
back of your Avatar.

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tel: +65 6222 2382 fax: +65 6222 2362

Communicating: Chat

Main Chat
Many activities in Second Life require communication and collaboration between the residents. Hence,
learning how to communicate in‐world is very important to get things started. Text chat is one of the
main ways to communicate with other residents in Second Life. Anyone within 20 meters of your avatar
can see what you have typed. Let’s get started and greet some of your new friends!

TRY IT NOW:
Step 1: Chat bar

You can chat with people around you using the Chat bar. Toggle the Chat bar on and off by clicking the
blue Chat button at the bottom left of your screen. You can also press Enter to open the chat bar and
Esc to close it.

Step 2: Chat

When the Chat bar is visible, type your message in the space provided. Then click on Say or press Enter.
The residents nearby will see your chat text appear on their screen, preceded by your name.

Step 3: Shout

If you want your message to spread further, press Shout from the Say drop‐down button. You can also
press Ctrl‐Enter for the same result. Shouting has a range of 100 meters.

Step 4: Animation

When you begin typing your chat message, your avatar will begin a typing animation. This lets others
know that you are about to speak and similarly you will also know when they are about to speak.

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tel: +65 6222 2382 fax: +65 6222 2362

Step 5: Chat variations

If you start your line of chat text with a forward slash “/”, the typing hands animation and typing sound
will not occur.

This can be very useful if you are listening to music or in a group setting and you do not want to be
distracted by the typing noise.

Try this now! Type a line of chat with “/” at the beginning.

Now try starting your message with “/me”. For
example, “/me waves hello to everybody” and
press Enter. Notice that the colon after your name
does not appear in this case. This is one way for
your avatar to emote through a line of chat text.

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tel: +65 6222 2382 fax: +65 6222 2362

Communicating: Friends
Adding Friends
You might be familiar with instant messaging such as MSN or Yahoo Messenger, where you can add
friends to your contact list. Similarly in Second Life, you can do this as well! In this section, we will look
at how to add friends and eventually learn how to give them different type of privileges.

TRY IT NOW:
Step 1: Open the Pie‐Menu

Right‐click on your friend’s avatar and select Add Friend.

Step 2: Greetings

Type in a greeting message in the Add Friend textbox and click on OK.

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tel: +65 6222 2382 fax: +65 6222 2362

Step 3: Accepting Friendship

After you have offered your friendship, your friend will receive an invitation menu to accept you as a
friend.

Alternatively, you can search for the avatar name using Search at the bottom menu bar.

Under the People tab of the search window, type in the avatar’s name in the search textbox to display
the avatar’s profile.

Click on Add Friends from the profile window to add your friend.

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tel: +65 6222 2382 fax: +65 6222 2362

Audio Enhancement
Listening to music streaming

To turn on the music streaming in Second Life, you can click on the play button at the bottom right of
the screen.

The streaming function is enabled by default. If it is disabled, you can enable it again by opening up the
preference window by going to the top‐bar menu and click on Preference.

Go under the Audio and Video tab, and check the two radio buttons for the Streaming Preferences.

Click on Apply to close the preference window and activate the streaming.
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tel: +65 6222 2382 fax: +65 6222 2362

To control the volume, you can click on the small up arrow button at the far right.

This will bring up the volume control menu. You may adjust the volume using the Music and Media
sliders accordingly.

Listening to voice chat

To listen to a speaker using voice chat in Second Life, it can be done by adjusting the camera position.
Now open the preference window again, go under the Voice Chat tab and check both the Enable voice
chat and Hear voice chat from camera position.

To focus the camera on the speaker, you need to understand how to use the Second Life camera
controls.

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tel: +65 6222 2382 fax: +65 6222 2362

You can bring up the camera control interface by which can be activated from View under the top bar

menu.

Press ESC to return to the default view.

Using this interface you can position your camera close to the speaker. Alternatively, you can use the
keyboard short‐cut CTRL+ALT+ left‐click on the speaker to focus your camera on him. Scroll your mouse‐
wheel button forward to get a close‐up view of the speaker as well as to get a better audio effect.

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Second Life user guide

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