Hey everyone! I’d like to start off by saying thank you all so much for following, reading or even just visiting my blog. Blogging is my absolute passion and you guys really make all my efforts worthwhile. So as a gift for helping me to reach 400 Followers on Tumblr, I’ve made 6 custom Windlights for you to use freely!

They’re very light and airy and some are quite misty but you’re welcome to edit them as you please. I’ll outline a little bit below what I like to use them for, click the names to see how they look in a few of my photos!

Lavandare – A lavender coloured light with a bright sun. Great for outdoor or scenery but also makes for a dramatic studio light.

Windows – A purpley Windlight originally created to be shone through a window. A more intense colour than Lavandare.

Toasty – A misty Autumnal light, ideal for outdoors and makes use of warm sepia tones.

Hazy Daze – A very bright and misty Windlight to make your photos look like worn, pastel, vintage shots!

Cold Shoulder – Another very misty Windlight in chilly blue tones, looks gorgeous in snowy areas.

Flawlessness – A Windlight that displays your avatar in all it’s glory. Hides all the avatar creases and lines that come with the default setting and is ideal for use with tinting items. I often run around the grid in this windlight with nothing but Basic and Atmospheric shaders on. Shadows will not work with this light.

Installing your Windlights

Installing your shiny new Windlights is as simple as unzipping the files and dragging the .XMLs into your chosen viewer’s ‘skies’ folder. To find the correct folder just search for the following;

Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/SecondLife/user_settings/windlight/skies

Windows Vista & 7: C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\SecondLife\user_settings\windlight\skies

Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Application Data\SecondLife\user_settings\windlight\skies

Linux: ~/.secondlife/user_settings/windlight/skies/

If you’re using a 3rd party viewer like Firestorm for example, follow the same steps but click ‘Firestorm’ instead of ‘SecondLife’. You will need to install these windlights on all viewers you use.

Changing and editing your Windlights

To change your Windlights inworld, click World -> Environment editor -> Environment settings. Make sure that you have ‘Fixed sky’ and ‘Customize my environment’ ticked and the dropdown containing all your installed windlights will be available. Then it’s as simple as choosing your favourite!

To edit or create new Windlights, click sky presets -> Edit preset and choose the preset you would like to edit. Changing the name of an edited preset will save it as a copy so you don’t accidentally overwrite your preset and have to install it again.

The ‘Atmosphere’ tab is good for changing the colour of the sky and the fogginess. The ‘Lighting’ tab allows you to change the colour of the sun, the time of day it is and the angle at which the light will be directed and finally, the ‘Clouds’ tab will let you change the colour of the clouds and how much they move across the sky.

Just experiment! You might discover a combination that makes you see the whole grid in a new…well.. light!

My favourite Windlights

As for my graphics settings. I never go above mid (because I have a very slow computer…). For just exploring the grid I only have Basic and Atmospheric shaders on and for taking photos outdoors I only have Basic, Atmospheric, Bump & Shiny, Hardware skinning and Adv lighting. But if I’m in the studio then I can turn shadows on as well.

I hope this helps you and thank you all again! You guys are awesome

*X*