Month: June 2012

Fly / drive: having fun behind the wheel

Posted on by Inara Pey

In the Air

Earlier in the week, Salazar Jack dropped a lovely picture into Twitter of a magnificent steampunk-esque flying machine being flown by Tish Coronet. He included a link to the SL Marketplace, and I set off to look, rather intrigued.

The photo that piqued curiosity: Tish Coronet’s Lepidoptera (captured by Tish, uploaded to Twitter by Salazar Jack)

The machine itself is the Mechanical Lepidoptera, a partial mesh build which is being offered free by its creator, Bunnys Fride, who describes it thus:

By visiting the Jules Verne Museum in Nantes (french town, west coast) I noticed a painting that represents this machine to takeoff from one of the most beautiful place of Nantes. This same painting appears in the foreground on the poster for the International Festival of Science Fiction of Nantes in 2009, named Utopiales.

I propose you this beautiful concept of lepidoptera mechanical imagined and painted by James Gurney, a talented artist, famous illustrator and creator of Dinotopia.

Standing next to my Lepidoptera

The Lepidoptera is exquisitely detailed, with a two-tone metal body, beautiful passenger cabin (the vehicle will take up to eleven passengers, included one seated beside the pilot / owner) and detailed cockpit in the “head”. Detailing continues through the landing legs, which “droop” below the body when in flight, just like the legs of a flying insect seem to hang limply beneath its body. On landing (on the ground), the legs splay out, again in a life-like look. Another lovely piece of detailing is in the mechanical operation of the wings themselves.

Detailing

Flying the machine requires a HUD, which allows you to correctly set your camera position, and which controls the start-up of the machine and the forward / interior lights. This attaches to the top right of your screen. To fly the Lepidoptera, right click on it and select FLY from the menu, this will sit you in the cockpit. Tap ESC to position your camera correctly (if required – or use the HUD options), and then click on START on the HUD to set the wings flapping (complete with engine / mechanical sounds). Flight controls are then use PAGE UP / DOWN to ascend / descend, and the arrow keys / WASD keys to manoeuvre (you’ll need to key the UP / W key depressed to maintain forward motion).

Airborne!

Natascha Randt has produced a great video showcasing the Lepidoptera:

On the Ground

Flying the Lepidoptera reminded me that a few months back I picked up another freebie from SLM, the Autoworks Classic 43S GT by Angie Xenga / Ed Zaurak.

The Autoworks Classic 43S GT

A two-seat sports coupe, the 43S GT is sleek and attractive – and quite a handful if you’re not used to SL driving, as I found out when given the chance to try it out on a multi-sim racing circuit for the first time yesterday!

The basic controls are simple enough: UP key / W to accelerate, LEFT / RIGHT or A / D to turn, and DOWN / S to break. PAGE UP / PAGE DOWN operate the gear changes (although there is an automatic option). However, there are a range of other options and capabilities that can make driving an Autoworks car pretty much the same experience as driving a high-performance car in RL: 50% fun, 50% seat-wetting and 100% adrenalin! There is also an option HUD displaying speed and revs which you can attach to your screen.

Additional menu options allow you to alter the colour of the car  – royal blue is the default, but I like the silver look – adjust your driving position, adjust the transmission options, the engine – and a whole lot more. Touching the car allows you to open the bonnet (“hood”) or the doors.

Ready to get behind the wheel

The cockpit itself is nicely detailed, and I love the fact that this car is designed to be driven on the correct side of the road being right-hand drive  ;-). All-in-all, great fun to have, if you can find the space to use it (the handling is such that you can rapidly run out of sim!).

If anything spoiled it for me, it was not the car, but the fact that to appreciate it fully you do need to drive across multiple sims – and this brings up the ogre of region crossings. Given the speeds you can reach behind the wheel, this means it is easy to find yourself on top of one before you realise, and you’re suddenly sailing off into infinity. Hopefully, with multi-threaded region crossings on the way plus other improvements, this will reduce the problem, but it did put a bit of a dampener of the thrill of driving this superb car.

Ready to roll

As well as the Classic 43S GT, the package comes with the Autoworks Type ZII, a single-seat car that offers a broadly similar range of options, but didn’t, for me, have the same appeal.

Apparently the Classic 43S GT represents the first in a new range of cars Autoworks will be producing “just for the fun of it”, the business itself having closed as an SL commercial venture in February 2012. It is a sample of what is to come; so far one more car has been added to the free range, and I’m intrigued to see what else is produced in time!

SL9B: Exhibitors – your next steps

Posted on by Inara Pey

The closing date for all applications relating to volunteers, entertainers and exhibitors (midnight SLT, June 3rd) is almost on us. Already, some 400 exhibitor applications have been received, and this being the case, here’s a short update for all exhibitors on what the next steps in the process will be. If you’re not already aware of things, please take a moment to read:

  • If your application is successful, you will receive an e-mail notifying you of your success, with (I understand) details of your assigned parcel
  • The e-mail will also contain key information on how to go about preparing to install your build
  • You will need to have two free Group slots – one for the SLB Community Group, one for the SLB Exhibitor Group
  • Membership of the Exhibitor Group is by invitation only – details of how to obtain an invitation will be provided in the e-mail
  • Please note that access to the SL9B sims will not be granted to anyone prior to 10:00 on Monday June 4th
  • Similarly, invitations to join the SLB Exhibitor Group will not be handed out prior to 10:00 on Monday June 4th
  • When installing your build on your parcel, please ensure you have the SLB Exhibitor Group as your active Group tag – if you do not, items will be auto-returned.

Important Note: As of June 2nd 2012, the Land Impact allowance (that’s the prim count in old money) for exhibits has been raised to 257.

As always, the SL9B spooksperson, The Prim Reaper, has supplied a video, this one demonstrating how to sign-up to the SLB Community, and which also provides additional information.

About SL9B

SL9B is being organised by residents, for residents – there is no direct involvement from Linden Lab. Along with the festivities there will be fundraising for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids, a charity supported by Dream Seeker Estates.

Related Links

A Dragon of a different kind

Posted on by Inara Pey

As I’ve previously posted here on occasion, and as friends on Twitter will know, I has a soft spot for space exploration. Last year I wrote some pieces about the space shuttle Endeavour, and included some favourite images of her prior to her final return to Earth.

Endeavour and the shuttle fleet have now gone; retired to museums and their missions confined to history. However, the last week or so saw the opening of a new chapter in low-Earth orbit space operations as the Dragon space vehicle, developed by Internet entrepreneur Elon Musk’s SpaceX Corporation, became the first privately funded vehicle to dock with the ISS under NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services programme.

May 22nd 2012: Dragon lifts-off atop SpaceX’s own Falcon 9 launch vehicle (image: SpaceX)

First flown in 2010, the Dragon space vehicle was put through its paces during May 2012 in an aggressive mission to demonstrate its core capabilities of launching a payload to orbit, rendezvousing with the ISS, where it would be captured by a robotic arm on the station and manoeuvred into a hard dock for cargo transfer, before returning to Earth with a payload from the station (in this case, 590 kilos of items, including “quick return” packages intended to demonstrate that SpaceX could return time-critical experiments from the ISS and deliver them to NASA within 48 hours of the Dragon vehicle detaching from the station).

Dragon is designed to be a highly versatile workhorse vehicle, capable of delivering some 3,310kg of cargo to the ISS and returning up to 2,500kg safely to Earth. What’s more the vehicle’s heat shield is designed to withstand re-entry velocities from possible lunar and Mars missions.

Russia’s Progress (l), Europe’s ATV (c) and Japan’s HTV (r)

The ability to make a return to Earth places Dragon is a league of its own compared to the other cargo vehicles currently operating to resupply the ISS. The Russian Progress vehicle, European ATV and Japan’s HTV all burn-up in the upper reaches of the Earth’s atmosphere after departing the space station.

Nor will Dragon be limited to cargo flights: development is under way of the DragonRider variant – a vehicle capable of lifting up to seven people to  / from the ISS. Two further variants of the vehicle are under development: DragonLab, which will see the vehicle operate commercially on its own as an unmanned orbital research platform, with full return-to-Earth capabilities; and RedDragon, which has been proposed as a NASA Discovery mission slated for 2018, which would see a modified version of the unmanned Dragon fly to Mars and deliver a 1-tonne payload to the surface in order to try to sample subsurface water reservoirs.

Dragon approaching the ISS, May 25th 2012 (NASA)

Dragon was launched on its initial COTS mission on May 22nd, 2012. Once successfully in orbit, it commenced a 2-day “chase and rendezvous” flight with the ISS, gradually easing its way up to the space station, where it performed a series of check-out manoeuvres, prior to making its final approach to the station ready for capture and docking on May 25th.

The ISS captured by Dragon’s thermal camera prior to final rendezvous and capture (SpaceX)

Rather than docking directly with the station, as with the likes of the Shuttle, Progress and Europe’s ATV, Dragon gently manoeuvres up close to the station prior to a robotic arm on the ISS itself being used to “grab” the vehicle and then gently ease it into a berthed positioned against the station’s Harmony module.

May 25th capture: “Houston, we have a Dragon by its tail!” Astronaut Don Petit reported upon successfully grappling the vehicle with a robot arm (NASA)

Once successfully docked, Dragon spent several days mated to the ISS while the station crew off-loaded some 460kg of food, water and other items, then packed the vehicle with 560kg of equipment and items for the return to Earth.

Docked! (NASA)

Return operations commenced on May 31st, when the robot arm was used to detach Dragon from the ISS and move it to a distance of some 10 metres before releasing it. Manoeuvring thrusters then gently backed the vehicle away from the ISS prior to it commencing a series of manoeuvres that moved it ahead of the station by a few hundred kilometres, and started the de-orbit process.

Departure (NASA)

After successfully re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere, the main capsule having been detached from the orbital “trunk” of the craft, Dragon safely deployed its parachutes and splashed-down on-target a little under 900 kilometres off the coast of California, where it was recovered by waiting support ships, bringing the flight test phase of the mission to a successful conclusion.

A Dragon in the water (SpaceX)

Dragon is due to fly to the ISS once more in September 2012 in the first official Cargo Resupply Mission, which will see it carry a full load into space. This will be followed in October by Orbital Science’s Cygnus vehicle (which, like Progress et al, is designed to burn-up on re-entry), to mark the further expansion of the COTS programme.

Orbital Sciences’ Cygnus vehicle

For now, however, all eyes remain on SpaceX and their remarkable – and potentially highly versatile – Dragon vehicle; here’s to a successful mission in September! In the meantime, I’ve put together a little slideshow of images from NASA and SpaceX images highlighting the mission.

(Click here to see the slideshow full screen)

LL launch SL9B Destination Guide pages

Posted on by Inara Pey

With the new month starting, Linden Lab has launched the SL9B Destination Guide pages. The pages will be used to highlight SL9B celebrations across the grid, and submissions for inclusion are actively being sought.

SL9B Destination Guide extract

If you are running an SL9B event between the 18th and the 24th June 2012, or if you are aware of an SL9B event, you can apply to have the event listed in the Destination Guide – simply make sure you provide all the details and select “SL9B” from the drop-down list of categories.

Dedicated category for SL9B on Destination Guide suggestion form

With thanks to Daniel Voyager for the Plurk.

Log-in splash images updated, WhatIs re-vamped and a call to video makers

Posted on by Inara Pey

As the new month arrives, Linden Lab appears to be kicking-off a number of outward initiatives.

Splash Screen Images Updated

First comes the latest set of secondlife.com splash screen images, which match the current masquerade banner theme on the SL Marketplace. This time there are three images in the set, which have been supplied by Strawberry Singh and Winter Jefferson, Whimsy Winx, and Sissy Scarborough and Mel Vanbeek respectively.

New secondlife.com splash screen image

Remember that in order to see the new images, you’ll need to log out of secondlife.com.

WhatIs Page Re-vamped

In keeping with the use of user-generated content, the What Is Second Life webpage has been given a revamp. For those unfamiliar with the WhatIs page, it has been the page that tries to explain Second Life (no easy task in and of itself), and is accessible from the link on the secondlife.com splash screen, or at http://secondlife.com/whatis/.

Previously, this page played host to the Linden Lab created video promoting Second Life:

In the new layout, WhatIs replaces the LL video with a selection of user-created videos intended to help showcase Second Life to the novice / potential user, complete with an additional JOIN NOW button that takes people to the sign-up page.

Also included is the What’s Hot section of the Destination Guide, while in the What Is section, there is a link that displays the most recent posts to the my.sl social feed (or if you are an existing user and already logged-in to secondlife.com, to your own my.sl feed page).

Part of the new WhatIs page

E-mail Campaign

LL look to be trying to improve their outward communications, with the launch of an e-mail campaign designed to encourage people to follow the Second.Life account on my.secondlife.com (my.sl for short). This account promises to be a provider of up-to-the minute news, etc., with the strapline: Be the first to know. Breaking SL News and More. Get the latest community updates, beta invites and more, without leaving Second Life!

This is interesting as it more-or-less amounts to the first “official” statement from Linden Lab on the subject of how to keep abreast of news from the company since Amanda Linden infamously announced the launch of the Lithium “Community Communications Platform” (which runs the current blogs and forums) – and then told users that to keep up with LL’s news on SL, they should go visit Facebook…

E-mail announcement

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