ARC

I used to years ago always watch my arc ( Avatar Rendering Cost). And recently I haven't I guess because I don't go many places and had not been modelling until recently again the reason I wanted to bring up this topic is because a few months back when I was asked to design for a runway show some of the models contacted me about the styling and I spoke about ARC and only 1 out of 4 new what this meant so hence this prompted me to write something about it. Also I know I wondered around sl for years not ever knowing what it meant till I researched it and I always wished someone else had told me so I thought I'd share.


No please don't follow me word for word because Iam not an expert and certainly do not know everything lol.

But I did want to blog a little about what exactly ARC is:

Well to a model and the runway ARC can be a killer same as scripts and such how the best way to check what your ARC is of course I use firestorm so I will explain using that viewer.

1) Go to Avatar
2) Select Avatar Health
3) Show render weight for avatars (replacement for ARC)

you will then notice above your head numbers and any avatars around you there is a set of numbers usually shown in colour form, red being high, yellow mid range and green good, now no one is ever green not nowadays anyway hehe.

 But the best way to find out if your in red what is bringing you up is to take everything off so you go back to 0 and then put on one item at a time and you will soon see what your ARC is coming from, mostly hair and shoes and scripted items and most are unavoidable however there are a number that are huge compared to others and for a model before styling or heading onto a runway you should always check your ARC and try to style as best as you can to keep it low so as not to create more lag for yourself.


Now Don't get me wrong there is always huge different reasons why you might lag Im just trying to explain one form. Also I wanted to copy this here for you to read it can also be found on the Firestorm/Phoenix Wiki.

Why am I so Laggy?

And that is indeed a million dollar question! Lag is pervasive in SL, and there is no such thing as a “lag free SIM” - except one that is completely empty.
Before this can be answered, it is first vital to understand what lag is exactly, so please refer to http://wiki.phoenixviewer.com/lag for an explanation of the 3 forms of lag.
If you find yourself being badly lagged, there are things you can do to reduce the effects of two of the three types: client and network. You can only reduce server side lag if you own or rent the parcel or region being affected by it.

Lag - What Is It?

People use the term a great deal, but usually without really understanding what it means, what causes it or how to deal with it. Some of the things suggested to reduce lag have little or no effect.
First of, “lag” is a catch-all word that actually covers 3 very different things, and it is important to distinguish between them. Most lag reduction methods only deal with one of these 3 aspects.
You can use the http://wiki.phoenixviewer.com/floater_lagmeter to help determine which of these three is affecting you the most. More detailed information is available in the http://wiki.phoenixviewer.com/statistics, which may be accessed by pressing Shift-Ctrl-1.

Now Just for a bit of fun I Have taken some photo's for you below showing you exactly what certain hairs added what arc for me don't take this as a given you will have to check yours separately but I was curious and wanted to blog them. Of course please bare in mind the best designs mostly always carry the most ARC because of the detail but just for curiosity sake.: I havent edited any of these pic either they are all straight from SL.

 Bald Nakia

 Hair: DrLife Healthy Hair

Hair: elik-[e] Novel - Blonde 07 

Elikatira (64, 127, 36)

 Hair: LoQ Hairs Tequila Sand Blonde

Hair:  Maitreya Saar - Scandinavian Blond

 Hair: Truth Stephanie Mirage

 Hair: Truth ricci Driftwood

 Hair: Sonatta Morales 8Aliona hair soft bronze

Sonnata Morales Weird Couture & , Ballyboo (119, 229, 131)

Hair: W&Y AGATA Model 02

So as you can see there is a difference in each please remember in these photos iam wearing nothing accept the hair just to give you an idea of course once you start to add clothing the arc gets higher but obviously the best way to learn how to keep your ARC down expecially for a runway is to start with your hair.

I hope some of you have found this interesting and helpful I have enjoyed talking about it as you can see! lol and I do ramble on but either way hopefully someone will get some useful info out of it.

Please let me know in comments if you like this sort of post and if you would like me to do more similar to this.

Thanks Nakia Decosta