Day: February 24, 2012

Received Items beta launch

Posted on by Inara Pey

This slipped in under the radar yesterday – I almost missed it, but for a Reddit post from “Finethanks”: the Received Items Beta Launch.

Considered a part of Direct Delivery (and therefore technically already in beta), the Received Items functionality will actually be used to receive all incoming items reaching your inventory – notecards, snapshots, gifts, even items returned under parcel auto-return – as well as items being delivered via the upcoming Marketplace Direct Delivery system.

The blog post reporting the beta launch reads in full:

Look for Received Item in your inventory (Beta Viewer)

The Received Items Beta launches on Aditi today. Received Items is a new subsection of Inventory where all incoming items, including purchases, gifts, shared, and returned items, will be placed. Received Items is displayed in a separate section of your inventory panel in the Second Life Viewer, making it easier for Residents to see and manage incoming objects.

This Beta is a chance for Residents to try out these new capabilities. It also provides Second Life business owners with advance notice so they can plan for any additional communication or customer support around this upcoming change.  The production deploy is currently planned for mid to late March, so please help to spread the word!

Because Received Items and Direct Delivery will use the new Received Items folder, both systems will launch together.If you would like to try out Received Items, please see the Received Items Beta instructions on the wiki. These instructions include pointers to Knowledge Base articles and ways to provide feedback.

You’ll need the latest SL Beta Viewer for testing, and may want to look at the Knowledge Base page as well. Aditi regions were testing is enabled are:

Additionally, there are a number of “special testing” regions that have been created for specific tests:

To access any of these regions, you’ll most likely need to log-in to Aditi first and then cut & paste he SLurls into your address bar, or use the World Map to reach them.

JIRA reports on the new functionality should be raised under the SVC project and categorised as “inventory”.

Related Links

with thanks to “Finethanks” on Reddit.

A Hazardous journey brings its own reward

Posted on by Inara Pey

In January I visited Wendy Xeno’s Humanoid, which I found to be an evocative and photogenic experience. So when I heard she’s been commissioned by Dirk Talamasca to produce another piece, I knew I’d have to pay it a visit.

Hazardous, the result of the commission, is located on Misali, a Homestead sim owned by Mandingo Quan, who was also involved in the design process. The byline for the installation is Dream infinitely….. remain fearless…..seek Hazardous adventures, and for those familiar with Wendy’s work, it carries many of her trademark touches.

Your arrival receives a musical greeting, this time from a piano which features covers of Linkin Park’s “Numb” and “Beth” by Kiss, a rather eclectic mix of instrument and music that works very well within the theme and tone of the installation.

The eclectic piano

Around you lies a muted landscape with dark, dusk-laden skies (assuming you accept the local Windlight settings – and I recommend you do!). For those visiting with a partner / loved one and who have a romantic inclination, a bottle floating in the water alongside the guest book pedestal offers dances. For the adventurous, the silhouettes of a nearby landmass beckon – but be careful you don’t mess the balloons tethered closer to hand, which offer a fun way to see the sim…

The balloons allow you to ride around the installation, guiding yourself via the arrow keys and PAGE UP and PAGE DOWN, and make reaching various part of the piece a lot more fun than simply flying. If you decided to stop off anywhere, then your balloon doesn’t instantly vanish, giving you the option of grabbing hold and floating onwards if your visit to a particular spot isn’t too long.

Towards the centre of the sim lay a number of tor-like outcrops, the larger two of which are linked by a rope walk and offer visitors places to simply sit and observe or enjoy one another’s company.

To the north-east of the region sits a tangle of trees, denuded of leaves, and from which a stone path rises, angling gently upwards and inviting you to walk it, following the trail of lanterns to the top. As you climb, so the wind blows, carrying the sound of surf, as waves sweep against the tall tor you are approaching. At the top sits another symbol familiar to Wendy’s work: a birdcage, this one containing a music box. Dances are available nearby, but I’ll leave you to find the giver :).

Make sure you drop down to the graveyard below…the tombstones are a delightful read…

Like Humanoid, Hazardous extends its reach into the sky via three teleports located near the arrival point. These lead to various scenes contained within spheres high overhead, of which my favourite is the “ghost ship”.

Overall, Hazardous has much in common with Humanoid, but is also very different; together they complement one another and form pieces that work both individually and together. Both are evocative, but in very different ways. While Humanoid caused me to the think very much of Eliot’s The Four Quartets, Hazardous resonated with me in terms of fantasy, the colours and forms lending themselves naturally to images of strange and distant worlds, or perhaps other versions of this world where the fantastic is possible.

Like Humanoid, Hazardous offers SL photographers a great environment in which to work – both the Windlight settings and colour tones work very well whether or not you have deferred rendering active, making it possible to play around a lot with images and effects when using a Viewer such as Exodus or Niran’s.

Well worth a visit.

Related Links

Call for Imprudence volunteers – meeting this weekend

Posted on by Inara Pey

When the decision to proceed with the development of Kokua was made, a problem remained for the Kokua / Imprudence team in how to support those users in the wider metaverse who still prefer to use – or even rely on – Imprudence. While the team hoped to be able to bring the 1.4 release of Imprudence to maturity, it was noted that this would only be done if it did not impact work on Kokua.

Following on from this, Onefang Rejected, aka David Seikel who is known to many as the developer of the Meta-Impy Viewer (itself based on Imprudence 1.4) stepped forward with a stated desire to continue Imprudence development.

As a result of Onefang’s willingness to volunteer himself, the Kokua team have opted to bring him into the fold as a team member, where he can hopefully build and lead an Imprudence-focused team that will work alongside of, but independently from, the core Kokua team.

To help establish this new Imprudence team, the Kokua / Imprudence project has put out a call for volunteers, requesting that anyone interested in getting involved in Imprudence as a  developer or tester or some form of support category put themselves forward. Those wishing to join the team are asked if they can attend the next All Hands meeting, which will be devoted to Imprudence and its future.

As ZATZAI (Sean Greyhound) put it in the Kokua blog, “This will not be a ‘reboot’ of the project but a continuation. So for all of you out there who lamented the ‘death’ of Imprudence, here is your chance. Join us this Sunday, be you a potential developer or tester and help us to bring Imprudence into the future alongside Kokua.”

The meeting will take place at the usual time and venue: 12:00 midday SLT (20:00 GMT), Sunday February 26th at the Hoagie sim of the 3rd Rock Grid. Requests for further information should be directed to the Kokua / Imprudence blog.