A Quick Reference Guide to Building in Second Life

Building in Second Life is done by reshaping and combining geometric shapes called 'prims'. Prims are the basic building blocks of everything in Second Life. They are the thirteen basic shapes that can be resized, twisted, skewed, hollowed, dimpled, cut and modified in many other ways. This is a guide to the ways you can modify the basic shapes.

The picture above was taken at the Dreams sandbox. You will find versions of it at most sandboxes. Save a copy for yourself as a reference.

You can also modify shapes by adding physical properties, making shapes phantom, flexible (subject to wind and gravity), changing the texture (an image applied to the shape) and the color. Be sure to name each of your objects when it is complete and set permissions for group sharing.

When you have combined shapes, link them together. Do this by selecting one object to edit, hold your shift key down and click on each object you wish to link. The selected objects should appear in yellow. Press cntrl-L to lock them together. They can be unlinked later, if necessary, by selecting the linked object then on your menu, Tools>Unlink.

Complicated builds will require preplanning of what shapes to use, dimensions, modifications and combinations. Expert builders use as few prims as possible. High numbers of prims slow down a sim (region in SL). Each piece of land has a limited number of prims allowed within it.

This is a creative endeavor. Check out the Video Tutorials Wiki. Practice and have fun!