New Glasses @ primOptic
February 3rd, 2008 at 01:26pm Mr. Oh
Based on the glasses worn by Bruce Willis in “Hudson Hawke,” this is Hawke by Nibb Tardis (as always, click the photo to see a larger version). Lots of companies make great glasses and sunglasses in Second Life. But you could not compile a shortlist of the finest without including primOptic. As soon as you try on a demo, you are struck by the quality. These glasses are not nice pictures clipped from the internet and slapped onto a stretched cube on your face. Mssr Tardis handcrafts these from lots of tiny prims, expertly and precisely shaped, tapered and positioned. They are the work of a craftsman, an architect.
Yet an amazing amount of control has been handed to us, the wearers. Frames can be made shiny or matte to resemble metal or plastic and the opacity of the lenses can be set in increments of 20%, or mirror. And, of course, there are plenty of options for colours — over 80. Perhaps because of lighting conditions, I found all the colours to be lighter than the names implied, but with so many to choose from, I just cycle through till I find something I love. 
And I always do. Note: turning ’shiny’ on darkens many of the colours in most conditions, but an ultra-bright ‘face lamp’ can bleach colours out.
Another newish set is Twinz, which I didn’t expect to like at all. If I hadn’t been researching an article, I may not have even tried on the demo. That would have been a tragedy, these are now my favourite glasses. These frames want to be plastic (or zyl acetate). Their chunkiness is expertly calculated. And, of course, the killer feature is that the two-toned frame is again completely colour-customizable. 
Even black & grey is full of character, but if you can match the stems to your clothes or accessories, you’re laughin’.
The software interface is nice and simple. There’s no need to use oral commands linked to some arbitrary number or call up a HUD. Just click on the glasses and make choices from the dialogue boxes that pop up. As well as options for controlling the look of the glasses, you can also flip them up onto your head with one button and call up help with another. PrimOptic eyewear also provides you with a batch of ‘gadgets’ that can be turned on and off, including tools like an avatar proximity sensor and flight enhancer.
The other brand new model is Stilo. I love to contradict its masterfully understated design with a piercingly bold colour — a deep blue or metallic red. Below it you’ll see some other favourites: the bullet-like lenses of Finesse and the elegant sweep of the dual-lined stems of Arach.
You’ll find the primOptics Main Store at Terra Toulouse (120, 139, 27), across the street from the Terra Cafe, where these photos were taken. All glasses are 299L$ except for the unscripted freebie red Lloyds by the door. There are free demos of all the models and they really are free, not 1L$ each. I recommend trying them all (well, ok, maybe not Canel and Celeste), some will surprise you the way Twinz surprised me.
Disclosure: DISCLOSURE: Seen in World: Yes | Review Copy: Some | Friends List: No
Notes: On Mr. Oh: Nora Entice - Hunter Almond by Sezmra Svarog (Nora BodySkins & Fashion). "Jared" hair in faded black by Elikapeka Tiramisu (ETD). Shirts and ties by Chez Nabob (CHEZ).
Entry Filed under: Accessories, Business, Casual, Dressy, Eyewear, PrimOptic, Sportswear, Urban
7 Comments Add your own
1. Ryan Darragh | February 4th, 2008 at 10:14 am
As a full-time wearer of glasses in RL (and as the mood strikes me in SL), I’m an admirer of eyewear that doesn’t just “do the job” but actually makes you look good. I can see I’ll be making a surgical shopping strike this evening.
2. Cloud Galbraith | February 4th, 2008 at 10:21 am
By far the best selection of eye wear in SL… at least in my opinion. And yea, Twinz are my fav now. I thought the Globe styles were also something I wouldn’t like as much as I do would!
The update feature is also a nice touch thru the HUD and will send you the latest version of the style. Once you receive the newest version, it will hafta be adjusted to yur head/face. All and all I love PrimOptics and Nibb Tardis introduces new styles at a pretty consistent clip.
3. Matthew Wright | February 12th, 2008 at 6:03 am
Yeah, these are nice, however - Kalnins Optics glasses look way more realistic and have far better scripts.. looking at two previous blog posts ab sunglasses - this is total crap, it seems that blog guys simply don’t know what’s hot right now and what ppl really do love! :)))
4. Mr. Oh | February 12th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Thanks for the tip; yeah, SL is a big place and we’re constantly running into new things that astonish us. I’d never heard of Kalnins Optics and I’ve been to a lot of glasses places via Search: glasses etc. It turns out Kalnins has only been in business two months.
I’ve TPed over there now and bought a raft of demos (at 1L$ each rather than free).
I find them extremely impressive. I’ve been far too dismissive of what can be done using textures and transparency rather than prims. Maris Kanto, the artist behind Kalnins, told me that he prefers textures to prims because they allow for more realism; he finds prim constructs “by definition clumsy.” He has worked hard, though, at including details that prim engineers are famous for, such as separate textured pieces for the little tiny nosepieces which many makers would simply omit. And because they’re textures imported in to SL rather than built from prims in SL, he has hopes of continuing to release 3 or 4 new models each week!
What I like best about Kalnins glasses is the look of the lenses with their adjustable reflections on many models and the excellent snugness of the fit — I love the way that they wrap around with just the right curvature.
The menuing system is fine but I don’t find it superior in itself. The fact that the frames are textures rather than made of prims means, however, that they cannot support changing the colour of the frames. And perhaps it’s just the demos, but I missed the larger variety of lens colours and the mirror shade options of some other glasses.
There is some great scripting. The most innovative are the ‘emotion’ gadgets in the glasses — to make your avatar smile automatically and also monitoring your speech for emoticons and then helping you express that emotion. Amazing programming, but I wouldn’t use it.
Nice price too… all Kalnins glasses are L$275.
I advise anyone looking for glasses to check out the demos, here’s the SLURL — http://slurl.com/secondlife/Istanbul%20Edition/9/40/21
5. Ryan Darragh | February 12th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
We’re always happy to get suggestions from readers - and even better than a suggestion is an offer to write up some coverage of designs you think are great. If you’re interested, you know where to find me.
6. Agita Rivez | February 13th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
Kalnins Optics are fantastic, thank you guys for the info! Love the realism and great features. In my opinion it is very strong player in SL eyewear market. Just was surprised and do not understand - since when have you started to review great products in comment section? I think this one deserves good review article with pictures and constant monitoring - since as far as i know - they release new models constantly (which other players do very rarely).
7. Ryan Darragh | February 14th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
I don’t think Mr. Oh meant his response as a formal review, especially as it sounds like he bought demos to try out but not full versions. We’ll definitely be keeping Kalnins in mind for more formal coverage in the near future.
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