Month: January 2013

I did shun the frumious Bandersnatch …

Posted on by Inara Pey

I recently took the opportunity to participate in Jabba, Jabba, Jabba, the latest show offered by New Synthetic Theatre, a UK-based group lead by Alan Hudson, intending to “Exploit, explore and demonstrate the features offered by environments such as Second Life in order to create a new performance medium and to show that this can be financially viable,” with the aim of being recognised as, “a new form of commercial media, available to the entertainment industry and to education, enabling immersive , highly engaging experiences to be created.”

Think of it, perhaps, as a pop video, play or opera, in which you are both audience and cast.

The group’s first show, Ninety-Nine Percent opened in 2012. It is based on the world-wide Occupy movement and stands as the first demonstration of the application of a time-based Second Life ticketed theatrical show of this type. The show is still available at the NST’s main theatre complex in Second Life. It lasts for around 7 minutes.

Jabba, Jabba, Jabba is the second show from the NST, and is currently being featured in the SL Destination Guide as well as on the official viewer’s MOTD. It is described as, “A totally immersive experience unlike anything else in Second Life. You take part in the action, you fish for the moon, discover Xanadu or slay the manxome Jabberwocky.”

The initial set, Jabba Jabba Jabba
The initial set, Jabba, Jabba, Jabba

The show is based on three poems: The Wise Men of Gotham by Thomas Love Peacock, Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s marvellous Kubla Khan, and Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky. The aim is to entertain audiences who already love the poems, by making them a part of the story told in each of them. As such, the show can be enjoyed either individually, or as a part of a group.

NST shows are somewhat unique in that they are time-based: you purchase a ticket (L$75 from the ticket office on the ground) for a given performance period (in the case of Jabba, Jabba, Jabba, shows are run every 15 minutes from the top of the hour), and the ticket then acts as a means of both delivering you to the theatre in time for the start of the performance and as the object used to animate your avatar and make you a part of the various scenes being acted-out.

The Moon: a focus of
The Moon: a focus of The Wise Men of Gotham at Jabba, Jabba, Jabba

On arrival at the theatre area, there are additional information boards and an audio track which provides you with further information – you’ll obviously need sound enabled on your viewer and Allow the media stream if you are using a viewer equipped with the Media Filter (and have it enabled), but you’ll need the stream on anyway in order to hear the poems as they are recited. Any AO you have should also be turned off to prevent it interfering with the show’s own animations.

In the caverns of
In the caverns of Kubla Khan, Jabba, Jabba, Jabba

This is an immersive, rather than interactive show, so once in the theatre, there is little for you to do other than to focus your camera on yourself and then wait for the show to start – you may need to do some additional adjustment to the camera using the camera floater, but you’ll have no need to control your avatar unless you happen to be facing the wrong way at any point, in which case use the cursor keys to rotate your avatar. Don’t forget to use ESC if you find your camera ends up on the wrong side of things if you fo move it around.

K
Kubla Khan, Jabba, Jabba, Jabba

The sets for the poems comprise a mix of physical builds (notably The Wise Men of Gotham), particle effects, projections and phantom objects. The poems are narrated by Catherine Barrett, accompanied by suitable soundtracks and offer an interesting interpretation of the poems which fits will with the acts which go with them. These see your avatar fish for the Moon, stand in awe at the sight of Xanadu and then hunt down the Jabberwocky.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!" - Jabba, Jabba, Jabba
“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!” – Jabba, Jabba, Jabba

If I’m honest, the show left me with mixed feelings. Both Jabberwocky and Kubla Khan are poems I much enjoy, and it was interesting to be made a part of each of them; however, in some respects I felt the show was perhaps a little dry and left me a little too detached from things. Truth be told, I found myself listening more to Catherine Barrett’s reading of the pieces than paying attention to what was going on in-world, particularly with these two pieces. Being unfamiliar with The Wise Men of Gotham I rather conversely found myself more focused on what was going on in the boat than on paying attention to the poem itself.

Nevertheless, this is an interesting concept, and I have a feeling that when I can, I’ll be popping into Ninety Nine Percent.

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SL project news: week 2 (3): server, mesh and materials

Posted on by Inara Pey

Server Deployments – week 2

As noted in the update to part 2 of this week’s report, the planned deployment of two new releases to the RC channels didn’t go as anticipated. Originally, it had been intended that BlueSteel and LeTigre would received the new threaded region crossing code while Magnum would receive Andrew Linden’s interest list code improvements.

Interest List Deployment Cancellation

The interest list deployment was cancelled after the 11th hour discovery of some bugs with the code. Speaking at the Server Beta meeting on Thursday 10th January, Maestro Linden described the main issues as – ironically – being connected with region crossings, and with object updates.

In the first, anyone crossing between regions several times in a vehicle would experience all of their non-rigged attachments disappearing from their world view, with the viewer itself eventually physically detaching them. Not only did this cause confusion as to what was happening with attachments for those experiencing the issue, it also resulted in some avatars ending up naked following a relog.

Interest listcode: bugs led to deployment cancellation on Wednesday 9th January
Interest list code: bugs led to deployment cancellation on Wednesday 9th January

The second problem was slightly more complicated, if potentially more rare. In it, if User A had an object on the ground and User B looked at then turned their camera away such that the object was no longer on their screen, User A could then wear the object as an attachment and teleport away; however, when User B subsequently turned their camera back to where the object had been, they would still see it on the ground despite the fact it had been taken away. What happened if User A (now wearing the object) teleported back to User B wasn’t actually tested.

As a result of both of these issues and the cancellation of the interest list deployment, Magnum received the same region crossing package as intended for BlueSteel and LeTigre.

Region Crossing Code Issues

However, the bad news did not end there, as Maestro Linden explained, “After a few hours, we saw that the [region/sim] crash rate was way too high.” As a result, the threaded region crossing code was disabled via a configuration change to the servers without the need to rollback the release. Once this had happened, region crash rates returned to “normal” levels. In all the new region crossing code was active for around five hours before being disabled once more.

Analysis of the crash rate revealed it to be linked to avatars crossing to / from heavily scripted regions. While the new code was extensively tested on Aditi, the regions there were not excessively loaded with scripts during testing, and so the problem did not manifest. However, subsequent testing with the test regions running heavy script loads did result in them also crashing, confirming the problem.

At the time of writing, Kelly Linden believes he has a fix for the issue; if so, it should hopefully find its way to the RC channels in week 3, commencing Monday 14th January.

Continue reading “SL project news: week 2 (3): server, mesh and materials” →

A sad farewell to an isle immortalised through alchemy

Posted on by Inara Pey

Update: all of the Alchemy Imortalis regions, including the main store region, have been sold.

Alchemy and Immortalis Cyannis are the dream merchants of Second Life, and through their lifestyle store, they provide a wide range of goods and items ranging from sim landscaping kits to prefab buildings, to furnishings, apparel and jewellery to more esoteric items such as food.

Alchemy immortalis
Alchemy immortalis

As a part of their work, Alchemy and Immortalis developed four beautifully landscaped homestead regions adjoining their main store region to present a set of residential / recreational regions. These regions, which are modelled on a rustic Irish coastal theme, have given joy to many visitors, offering rutted tracks to walk, fields to roam and dramatic coastal scenery to admire, all of which fits perfectly with the overarching themes of magic and harmony which mark the couple’s work and lifestyle.

During 2012, Alchemy and Immortalis broadened their scope to offer something potentially unique in SL: short-term bed and breakfast rentals offered in cottages in one of their four homesteads, increasing the appeal of their work and lands.

Alchemy Immortalis
Alchemy Immortalis

Sadly, and via Ziki Questi, I discovered that Alchemy and Immortalis have decided to refocus their efforts on expanding the Alchemy Immortalis brand, and so have recently put the four homestead regions up for sale – although the store region itself will be remaining. This being the case, I decided to don my hiking boots, wrap up warm and pay a last visit to the regions to enjoy their beauty. If you’ve not already visited this emerald isle, then I would strongly suggest you do before all vanishes.

Alchemy Immortalis
Alchemy Immortalis

I’ve not had the good fortune to visit Ireland  – as yet. I have, however spent a good deal of time exploring Northumberland and Cheshire, and well as time on the moors of Devon and Cornwall. The four sims around Alchemy Immortalis do much to remind me of each of these places – especially the rugged beauty of the Northumberland coastline. While there my not be any castle ruins lying on headlands or long sandy stretches which have played their part in many a television or film production of historical events, there is much here that reminds me of Northumberland, enabling me to feel very much at home in my explorations.

Continue reading “A sad farewell to an isle immortalised through alchemy” →

SL project news: week 2 (2): Server deployments and network issues

Posted on by Inara Pey

Update:  The Interest list release to Magnum has been postponed due to a last-minute bug being found. Magnum has instead received the same code  as deployed to Bluesteel and LeTigre, containing the threaded region crossing update.

Server Deployments for Week 2

Server deployment recommenced this week, with a main channel roll-out on Tuesday 8th January, which saw that channel get the same code as released to the RC channels just before the Christmas / New Year break and as reported here.

Wednesday January 9th will see two major deployments to the RC channels. LeTigre and BlueSteel should be receiving a package which includes threaded region crossing code while Magnum gets Andrew Linden’s work on Interest Lists.

The threaded region crossing code should help improve simulator performance when avatars are region crossing to and from a region. However, and as previously noted, while the code did give clear improvements when crossing between regions on foot, the results were less positive when using vehicles during a recent test. Whether this has been improved as a result of those tests remains to be seen.

Release notes are available for both for LeTigre and Bluesteel, and the forum discussion thread is available for feedback / questions.

Interest List Deployment

The Interest List work should reduce the bandwidth usage of viewers due to object updates, and should improve simulator performance, especially in sims with many connected avatars and which is busy in terms of object updates.

This is the first phase of work planned around interest lists and object caching as a part of the Shining project. Andrew’s work has primarily been focused on improving the manner in which object updates are handled, etc., in order to provide improved performance. However, even with this initial phase of the work, there should be some improvements in the actual order in which objects appear in world (those closer to your camera position appearing prior to items further away – although there is far more work to be done in this regards before the project is finished. 

As it stands, there are already some updates to the work in the offing, as Andrew indicated at the Simulator User Group meeting on the 8th January, saying, “I’ve got some interest list work that didn’t quite make it into the Magnum RC … this work is almost ready for testing, so I’ll be trying to get it into a maintenance branch or something for a follow-up release.”

Interest list updates should be deployed to the Magnum RC on Weds 9th Jan.
Interest list updates should be deployed to the Magnum RC on Weds 9th Jan.

The new interest list code will see the final removal of the “legacy cloud” layer (at around the 170-200m mark). While this has been disabled viewer-side since around the introduction of Viewer 2, the data relating to the legacy cloud layer has still been sent out by the servers, allowing viewers which still incorporate the necessary code to render the clouds in-world. However, the server-side code relating to legacy clouds has been removed from the interest list code, so viewers will no longer be able to render the clouds.

The Magnum release notes are available here.

Continue reading “SL project news: week 2 (2): Server deployments and network issues” →

A rose misted garden in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey

Not long ago, Honour McMillan wrote an article on the matter of griefing and potentially criminal activities in SL. I actually quoted her in my own piece on the same subject. The images she used with the article were of a place called Rosemist Isle – which I admit to having been entirely ignorant of until I read Honour’s article and found myself not only in full agreement with her thoughts, but also captivated by the images themselves. As a result, Rosemist Isle immediately went on my “must visit” list for SL destinations.

I just didn’t expect to be visiting the region quite so soon as happened to be the case.

Rosemist Isle
Rosemist Isle

Honour visited Rosemist Isle to calm her temper and immerse herself. After having something of a crappy weekend (partially my own fault for being a bit of a twit with things I’m not going to bore you with), I felt that anything which captivated Honour would more than likely do the same for me.

It did.

Rosemist Isle
Rosemist Isle

The description for the region , designed by Nila Byron for the Rosemist Management group of KJ Kiranov, Xyza Armistice and Light Kaestner, reads in part, “The sim is dedicated to the Wonderment of Life, and the pursuit of Peace and Tranquility,” which is followed by an invitation to explore and enjoy the beauty of the isle.  And truth be told, there is a lot to explore and enjoy here, both when exploring on your own or with like-minded friends.

This is a place deserving of time taken to immerse yourself within it. If you are fortunate enough to be able to run your viewer in deferred mode, I strongly recommend you do, even if you leave shadows & lighting set to none. Make sure you have in-world sounds enabled as well to further enhance your experience. There is an audio stream as well, but whether you turn it on or not, I leave to you.

The region has its own windlight setting, but for the majority of snaps I took, I opted to use Annan Adored Realist Ambient, as it softened some of the glow used within the region and which, if I’m honest, I felt in places made some shots look over-exposed.

Rosemist Isle
Rosemist Isle

One of the things I love about Second Life is the freedom it provides to simply just be. A great deal of my time in-world is actually spent on my own, exploring places like Rosemist Isle. This is not necessarily because I’m particularly anti-social (although I am very definitely very insular); rather it is more because when exploring on my own I have the freedom to really experience a place and both escape pressures (RL or SL) and also find space to listen to myself as well as letting my imagination run free in response to whatever I discover.

Rosemist Isle is perfect for this; the woods invite one to roam and put cares off to one side, while the various places were one can sit naturally invite one to stay and simply contemplate. Which is not to say it should be experienced alone; the very nature of the region does much to also encourage companionship, be it wandering or sitting together.

Rosemist Isle
Rosemist Isle

The imagination can certainly take wing here: there are unicorns in the woods, a tall ship, her gun ports open, lying in the lee of the isle, and carvings of dragons abound, all of which add to the fantasy feel of the isle and suggest stories waiting to be told.

And lets face it, anywhere which features dragons is liable to get a big tick in my book!

Rosemist Isle
Rosemist Isle

Regular readers of these pages will know that music plays an important role in my life; it is something I have with me almost constantly, and while my tastes might be eclectic, music if often a favoured companion. Sometimes the initial impact of a region is much greater for me as a result of the music I happen to be listening / is playing on the region stream to when I opt to make a visit (although there are times when the look and feel of a place suggests suitable music to me).

When I teleported to Rosemist Isle, I happened to be listening to Passacaglia by Bear McCreary. Nothing unusual in this, as it is a piece I listen to a lot – McCreay’s work is genius. However, with Rosemist Isle, the fit seemed to be perfect for me given my mood, and I confess that rather than exploring on foot, I found myself simply sitting in an armchair and camming slowly though the region, allowing my imagination to create scenes and stories to me as I “roamed”.

Rosemist Isle
Rosemist Isle

Even without music – streamed or personal – Rosemist Isle offers the perfect means of calming ruffled nerves and soothing the mind of stress, as such I have no hesitation in recommending it as a destination well worth a visit. It certainly eased my mood and raised my spirit.

Rosemist Isle
Rosemist Isle

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And the award goes to …

Posted on by Inara Pey
The hoverboard and L$1000 still available on Amazon - but at the "full price" of $9.95
The hoverboard and L$1000 still available on Amazon – but at the “full price” of $9.95

Tateru Nino follows-up the news of SL’s launch on Amazon with feedback from the Lab as to why the “special offer” on the Starter Vehicle Pack comprising a hoverboard and L$1,0000 (equivalent of about $4.00 USD) was withdrawn within a very short time after the Amazon drive was formally announced on January 4th.

In a written reply to a query from Tateru, The Lab’s spokesman, Peter Gray (Pete Linden in-world) stated:

“This offer was terminated early due to repeated attempts to circumvent the one-per-customer limit, but we saw great demand for the deal and hope to be able to offer similar special promotions in the future”

As Tateru goes on to state herself:

It seems to me that “repeated attempts to circumvent the one-per-customer limit” – for a free pack that contained currency that could be converted and withdrawn in USD – would perhaps rank it very highly in a short-list of the most easily predictable events of 2013.

She’s right. Yet that is precisely what happened; no-one at the Lab could see the patently obvious.

Therefore, even though the days of the year have yet to reach double digits, it is my great honour to announce the inaugural “SL Palme d’Face Award” goes to: Linden Lab’s Amazon “Vehicle Starter Pack Promotion” & whoever was behind it.

lindenbear-facepalm

With thanks to Tateru Nino, and apologies to the Cannes Film Festival.