Month: August 2013

Finding peace in a Quiet Wilderness

Posted on by Inara Pey
Quiet Wilderness
Quiet Wilderness

I came across Quiet Wilderness, located on the homestead region of Almourol, entirely by chance. Group owned, the About Land tab describes it as “a quiet and peaceful place to relax, sit by the campfire, walk around or take a canoe ride”, and it is quite simply lovely.

You arrive up on a hill – not at the top, but about half-way up – overlooking lowlands on either side, with a river looping lazily through. There are no houses here – not on the ground, at least – and everything other than a fenced crop of wheat is an open wilderness with tall trees, woodlands, open meadows and a number of trails to be followed.

The hill on which you arrive rises to split the region pretty much in two, and  – in keeping with a number of places I’ve visited of late – is itself split by a deep river gorge, this one spanned by a natural stone bridge.

QW-17_002
Quiet Wilderness

The hill also acts as a natural source for the river, with waterfalls on either side of the rocky hillside tumbling down to feed two small lakes which are in turn connected by the river’s meandering.

To the west is a lush, low-lying woodland, bordering the sea, and which has hints of a wetland area. One branch of the river exits to the sea here, and the shadows between the tall tree trunks provide hiding places for some of the region’s resident wildlife. A cobbled paths wanders into the woods from the north-west shoulder of the hill and branches just under their broad canopy, with one arm leading back out over a wooden bridge to the coastal grasslands, the other winding deeper under the trees and it’s worth following it to find a couple more little landmarks.

Wildlife is very much in evidence across the region, with birds, waterfowl, deer and more – although you might have to again keep your eyes open to see all of it. As well as the wildlife, sheep also graze peacefully, watched over by the resident dogs, Dandy and Chi.

Quiet Wilderness
Quiet Wilderness

The park-like, natural ambience of the region is enhanced by the placement of a couple of canoe rezzers. These allow you to explore the island from the river, including travelling through the gorge, which has its own waterfalls splashing down from either wall.

If you have music streaming enabled, one thing to watch out for is that the region is split two, parcel-wise, each with it’s own media streaming. Both streams are actually very listenable and suit the environment; they do, however clash a little as you move between the parcels, and it can be a little disconcerting having Johnny Cash telling you his woes where a split second before you were lost in the gentle sounds of a harp.

Don’t let the misty look of some of my shots fool you, either; the region is far from dim or misty. It’s just that the wide open, natural spaces encourage Windlight fiddling rather a lot, and I played around trying to get shots which might evoke and early morning feel (as well as going for late afternoon shots, which I confess in summer / autumn is my favourite time of day).

Quiet Wilderness
Quiet Wilderness

Once you’re done wandering, there are several places to relax and simply watch the world go by, or the tide ebb and flow. You can float on a raft on one of the lakes, climb up to a tree platform, sit at a campsite or rest at one of several platforms around the hill sides. If the mood takes you, you can sit by the side of the water and play a grand piano. That you’ll be a virtuoso is guaranteed; the piano is from Musical Alchemy, and Persephone Milk includes a superb selection of pieces in her pianos. There are even chairs set out for an appreciative audience…

Whether you travel to Quiet Wilderness on your own or with a friend or two makes no difference, it is a place which can be enjoyed as much shared with others as it can be when on wandering with just your own thoughts for company. And should you want to put the rest of Second Life out of mind for a while and just lose yourself in music and scenery, it could be precisely what the doctor ordered.

Given the nature of the region, rather than simply closing with another photo before the slide show, I’d leave you with a piece by John Schmitt of The Piano Guys, which I think is equally appropriate.

Related Links

(view slideshow full-screen)

The Drax Files 9: Fashioning your world

Posted on by Inara Pey

Elie Spot is a name well-known in the fashion world of SL. The co-owner of Mon Tissu and Celoe, now both on their dedicated and stylish region of Mayfair, she’s also the subject of episode 9 of The Drax Files.

Involved in Second Life since 2006, Elie is very much an example of the way in which the physical and the virtual can blur together and complement one another. Given her father designed games and her mother is a graphics artist, it is perhaps not surprising that Elie herself is a designer in the digital domain. But to leave things here would be to miss out on the most interesting part of her story.

May-9_001
Mon Tissu and Celoe in Mayfair

Having joined SL at nineteen as a means to escape a very hectic daily routine, she has not only established two successful brands in-world, she’s found the additional skills and understandings she’s gained through running those businesses have helped to enable her to take-up business opportunities in real life, such as with Cake & Whiskey, which she co-founded in Spring 2013, following-on from the creation of Offbeat and Inspired in 2012.

Elie-spot

As one might expect from both a content creator and long-term resident of Second Life, Elie has an understanding of the nuances of the platform, and the reasons people find it so attractive and appealing. The ability to create almost anything you want, for example, or to be able to create and build a business or brand, to share with others in a myriad of ways, and the opportunities for escape and to be whomever or whatever you want.

In discussing this and Second Life, Elie touches on one of the stigmas attached to Second Life from the world at large.

“It’s just a very common misconception that if a person sits down at a computer and starts talking to other people online that they’re hiding, or that they don’t have social skills.” she says. “I mean to take a personality type and look down on it like that and to project that on an entire culture of people? It’s just a little bit strange.”

It’s what I’ve been known to refer to as the “Star Trek syndrome”: the views that people involved in Second Life and platforms like it need to somehow “get a life”. Sad to say, the attitude isn’t necessarily restricted to people on the outside looking into Second Life; there are a lot of examples of people engaged in the platform taking a stance of perceived moral  / social / intellectual superiority over others, simply based on how those others like to portray themselves within SL, even though in doing so they do not impinge upon the lifestyles or in-world activities of those looking down on them.

DF_WM_E9_dollparty
Freedom of expression

That people do is really a shame, because Second Life can be liberating, and allows us all to reach past barriers and inhibitions defined by circumstance and / or society, and enjoy a freedom of personal expression and freedom of interaction with others from around the globe whose interests overlap with our own. The fact that some people are unable to accept others purely on the basis of how they seek to express themselves through their in-world appearance, perhaps speaks more to the prejudices of those unable to give acceptance, and to their own limitations of imagination and creativity.

Elie’s insights aren’t restricted to the unfortunate habit of stereotyping SL users, however. She is, first and foremost a very successful businesswoman in Second Life, and as such has some very clear and practical advice to give to those wishing to start-up a business of their own, as well as touching (again) on the wealth of opportunities presented in SL for doing to and the freedoms one can experience which are in may respects unique to the platform.

This is another excellent insight into Second Life and the broad potential of the virtual medium. Elie’s narrative is both clear and direct, but also carries a warm passion for the platform which is a joy to listen to, marking this as yet another outstanding piece in what is already an outstanding series.

Continue reading “The Drax Files 9: Fashioning your world” →

One ToS to rule them all: Linden Lab issue new Terms of Service

Posted on by Inara Pey

Update: I’ve been furnished witha link to a document comparing the current ToS with the “old” SL ToS, which has been posted to Google Docs by Sean Brady. See Related Links at the end of this piece.

LL logoA new Terms of Service was issues by Linden Lab on Thursday August 15th. Second Life users logging-in for the first time after around midday SLT, while those who had been previously logged-in found themselves being asked to accept the new ToS upon re-logging after midday.

The new ToS appears to be an attempt to provide a single, all-encompassing document which can be applied to all of the Lab’s properties and products. As such, it should not be taken as referring purely to Second Life.

To help with this distinction, the new ToS is presented on Linden Lab corporate web page, as distinct from the Second Life-branded web page, and is linked-to from other LL properties with the (current) exception of Desura, which continues to have its own ToS for the present.

TOS-Aug-15
The Updated Linden Lab Terms of Service

Where Second Life is concerned the differences in between the new ToS and the last release version, dated May 6th, 2013, are very clear from the opening paragraph on through the document, which has been completely reshuffled and should actually be read through as a result. There are some significant changes in both wording and content, including, but not limited to (from an SL perspective):

  • A major set of updates to the dispute resolution / arbitration section (Section 10)
  • A new section (Section 7) on Infringement Notifications, including notes on the DMCA process
  • The removal of any need for LL to provide a 30-day grace period following any Material Change to the ToS. All changes, Material or otherwise, will now come into immediate effect on publication of the updated ToS to the relevant services. The onus on keeping up with changes to the ToS is now with users.

One thing to keep in mind when reading the updated ToS is that it is no longer applicable to just Second Life – as noted above, the same ToS is linked-to from all of the Lab’s properties, therefore certain sections of the new Terms of Service may have greater applicability to other services than to Second Life. Those sections which are specific to SL do appear to be clearly indicated as such.

Related Links

Patterns: now on Desura & the Lab teams with Alienware again

Posted on by Inara Pey
Patterns on Desura
Patterns on Desura

Update: Linden Lab sold Desura to Bad Juju Games on November 5th, 2014.

Update, October 9th, 2014: Linden Lab announced that development work on Patterns has been discontinued.

I’ve been keeping an eye on Desura for a while, mainly to see if any rebranding commences. In doing so, I came across the fact that Patterns is now available on the Lab’s latest acquisition.

Whether the Lab heard my speculation on the subject of Patterns and Desura or not I’ve no idea* , but Patterns appeared on Desura  at the start of August, just after I last poked at the digital distribution service. It arrived with a “special offer” of an additional 25% off the purchase price (so 75% off rather than the “usual” 50% for the Genesis version). This offer ended on Monday 5th August, and the price is now back to the 50% off the “Alpha” price.

Response from the Desura community has so far been small but positive, with most ratings sitting at 8-10 (out of 10). The Desura web page includes a Vimeo version of the Lab’s last video promo for Patterns, which appeared back in early July. This is actually quite stylish and something of a departure for the Lab video-wise (as have their Blocksworld promo videos – have they hired in a new team for marketing, or are the Boldai team having an additional impact? :P).

Patterns Competition

Patterns-compWhile I may not have received notification of Pattern’s arrival on Desura, I did receive an e-mail notifying me of Patterns-based competition the Lab is running in conjunction with Dell / Alienware.

The competition appears to have launched on August 12th, and is linked to via the Patterns website, Patterns on Desura and Patterns on Steam. On offer to the winner is an Alienware X51 gaming desktop.

Entrants to the competition are required to design and construct a unique alien landscape within Patterns using the in-game shapes and abilities offered in the game and then upload a screen shot of the build to the Alienware competition web page before September 15th, 2013.

An Alienware Arena account is required to enter the competition, and as has ben the case in the past, the competition is only open to legal residents of the United States (other than Rhode Island and US Territories), and entrants must be 13 years of age or older. The winner will be selected through a split between public voting (open to Alienware Arena members) and “Expert Judging”, and based on a combined score from both. Judging criteria will be on the originality / creativity within a build and relevance to Alienware / Dell.

Further details on the competition can be found on the Alienware Arena Patterns Competition page, as can the Contest Rules.

Continue reading “Patterns: now on Desura & the Lab teams with Alienware again” →

Escaping the prison of one’s mind

Posted on by Inara Pey

Quan Lavender invited me to the opening of two new exhibitions at the Art India Gallery on Wednesday August 14th. Together, they make interesting companions – and a strong juxtaposition of images and emotions.

Inner Prisons

“The sculptures of Chuckmatrix Clip always had a strong dark side for me,” Quan opens her introduction to the first of the pieces, Inner Prisons by Chuckmatrix Clip. “About 6 months ago I asked him if he would like to exhibit at Art India Gallery and to concentrate on this dark side. Luckily he agreed.”

The result is something of an autobiographical exhibit which, I understand, has it roots in a piece Chuckmatrix submitted to the UWA, one that touched upon his own struggle with mental illness.

Inner Prisons
Inner Prisons

Inner Prisons takes this a stage further, presenting a series of sculptures which vividly  – and with the help of the accompanying soundtrack – very emotively capture the struggles he, and others with the same affliction, face in dealing with the demons inside their minds.

Staged within the confines of a set representing an asylum, the sculptures are mixed with a series of pictures which provide insight into the many factors which can contribute to the unsettling of the mind from childhood through to adulthood, and which can so easily leave a person isolated, feeling unloved, alone, and with little more than self-loathing and fear for company.

It is a series of dark vignettes which one does not often see identified as art, much less put together in an open exhibition like this. It’s also a very moving experience as well – as Quan says in her notes, this is an emotional bearing of a man’s soul, and intensely powerful one at that.

Inner Prisons
Inner Prisons

And the fact that it is, is also why Inner Prisons carries an underlying message of hope in the final piece. Fears can be controlled; inner demons can be exorcised. It takes time, it takes help, it takes a willingness for people to understand – but it can be done. One can be brought back from the edge of despair and a contemplation of suicide to face one’s darkest thoughts and, if not be rid of them entirely, be able to sublimate and dispel them; all it takes is a simple trigger to start the entire process. For Chuckmatrix, that trigger came in the form of a small white  teddy bear, the focus of the final sculpture.

While it may have been a long, painful road from where he was when that bear re-entered his life towhere he is today, Chuckmatrix nevertheless stands a proof –  to use his own words – that “no matter how far you fall, there is always a way back up”.

Pictures alone do not do this work justice. It needs to be experienced.

Inner Prisons
Inner Prisons

Escapes

Of his own piece, Escapes, Dan Freehand says:

My work shown in SL manipulates and abstracts pornographic imagery.  Porn is generally not treated as art, yet it is part of our visual language. Porn as an escape for some, an anathema for others, but to simply dismiss it or hide it under the bed denies us the ability to understand something about who we are. I look for the art in it.

His pieces are a vivid contrast to Chuckmatrix’s work. Here we have vivid colours and shapes, all drawn from the naked human form, female and male, but not exactly in a manner which is NSFW. The images have been abstracted (some, admittedly a lot more than others), some have been given motion, scrolling slowly across the canvas in a series of hypnotic and ever-changing patterns. All are exhibited in a more “usual” gallery-style environment.

Escapes
Escapes

The contrast between the two exhibits couldn’t be stronger. Where Inner Prisons is stark, dark and disturbing, Escapes is initially loud, proud, and bold. Escapes is also much smaller in scale and setting than Inner Prisons, which also makes it perhaps more intimate.

There an initial subtext here as well which tends to get the mind boggling a bit, and I’ll be curious to know what conversations may well come out of it. Here were have images deliberately focused on pornography on display in a virtual environment which is, in the eyes of the world, some kind of hub for pornography and sexual encounters. Yet the images are themselves, through the very nature of being abstract, demure and devoid of the in-you-face attitude people associate with pornography.

Escapes
Escapes

There is also something else in Escapes, however; something Quan picked-up on herself in her notes as curator of both exhibits. Whereas Inner Prisons is stark and unsettling, it nevertheless carries a message of hope. By contrast Escapes, because it is based on the pornography business which can be dark and ugly, may well be bright and alluring to look at, but it perhaps carries a darker and more uncomfortable subtext.

Which is not to say it should be avoided – both exhibits make compelling sets and are equally deserving of an audience. You can catch both of them now through until  September 29th.

Related Links

Singularity 1.8.1: MOAP, Voice Morph, Object & Shape Import / Export, and More

Posted on by Inara Pey

singularitySingularity updated to version 1.8.1 on August 12th, as noted on this week’s viewer round-up summary. There are a lot of updates in the release, including extended import / export capabilities.

The following is a look at the principal updates in the 1.8.1 release. For information on contribution credits, please refer to the Singularity release notes.

Windows Download and Install

The new version has seen some extensive code clean-up, which may have contributed to the installer weighing-in at 5Mb smaller than the 1.8.0 installer. As always, installation was painless and quick; as this is the first time I’ve installed Singularity on my new system, I didn’t have any concerns about clean installs (which tend to be a rarity with Singularity away, as it just gets on and does the job).

Media on a Prim / Shared Media

The headline announcement for the release is that Singularity supports Media on a Prim (MOAP), the ability to see and interact with shared media (such as viewing a web page displayed on a prim, or watching a YouTube video, etc. Shared media AutoPlay is disabled by default, but can be enabled if preferred, via Preferences > Audio & Video and checking Automatically Play Prim Media.

Import / Export Options

While MOAP is the headline update for Singularity, it’s the enhanced import / export options which are liable to be of particular interest, especially to content creators.

In covering this, I’m going to stay first-off and in large, friendly letters, that Singularity respects object permissions. Therefore, it will only export those items for which you are owner and creator in full, and it will not let people run away and do naughty things.

Support for uploading .anim files has been added to Singularity 1.8.1, along with the following.

linden_ genepool Export / Import

For those working with avatar shapes, perhaps the interesting news is that Singularity 1.8.1 now supports wearable export/import in linden_genepool format. This means shapes supported in this format (saved as XML) can not only be used in Blender/Avastar, they can be re-imported into SL with the need to fiddle with the shape sliders after being modified externally using something like Blender.

Wavefront and Collada Export

Pie menu .OBJ and .DAE export options
Pie menu .OBJ and .DAE export options

Singularity 1.8.1 also includes the ability to export those objects to which you have full permissions (again, creations which are entirely your own) as .OBJ or .DAE files (as well as to .XML via the pre-existing Export option).

The options can be accessed directly by right-clicking on the object in-world and selecting MORE > MORE > TOOLS in the pie menu. If you do not have permission to export the selected object, the export options will be grayed out and non-selectable.

Voice Updates

Voice morphing becomes available in Singularity with 1.8.1. This subscription service provided by Linden Lab allows people to use – wait for it – voice morphing in Second Life, and has been a part of SL since the arrival of Viewer 2.1. With Singularity, options are accessed via the Active Speakers floater (requires Voice to be enabled, obviously), and the overall UI changes are shown in the image below.

Voice morphing and updates in singularity 1.8.1 (image courtesy of the Singularity team)
Voice morphing and updates in singularity 1.8.1 – click to enlarge (image courtesy of the Singularity team)

Alongside this update is the ability to adjust your own voice volume from the Active Speakers floater.

Radar Updates and Avatar Lists Right-click Options

There have been a number of tweaks to the Radar floater with the new release, and those familiar with Singularity will quickly spot them.

This release also sees a right-click functionality added to avatar lists – such as the Radar – which allows you direct access to common actions you might want to carry out with another avatar, such as IMing them, paying them, offering them a teleport, and so on.

You can now right-click on avtar lists in singularity and carry out avatar / avatar functions (names removed from radar list for privacy)
You can now right-click on avatar lists in singularity and carry out avatar / avatar functions (names removed from radar list for privacy)

Web Profile and V3 Web Search Support

The Singularity avatar Profile floater now includes a button (top right) which will open the avatar’s web profile in a separate panel, allowing both it and the Singularity Profile panel to be viewed independently of one another and closed independently of one another.

Singularity 1.8.1 also sees an additional tab added to the Search floater, which contains the V3-style web search capability, and an option to search from a separate floater if preferred.

V3-style web search now in Singularity
V3-style web search now in Singularity

For OpenSim

For OpenSim, Singularity 1.8.1 now offers hypergrid map support and high-altitude building.

And the Rest

For a complete list of the top-line updates to Singularity 1.8.1, please refer to the release notes, which provide more information on things like LSL support updates, improvements to the script editors, the ability to start / stop scripts running in an item directly from inventory, notes on new  shortcut commands and chat bar commands, an improved auto response function, performance and stability updates, the latest available SSA code updates, and more. The release notes also credit those responsible for the various updates and improvements.

No Materials

The keen-eyed may have noticed there’s no mention of materials processing support. This is because the Singularity team opted to pass on adding the support with this release. Given that Linden Lab are themselves still working on the viewer-side code, and have themselves just made a significant set up updates available to TPVs and users within the Materials Project viewer, this is actually an understandable move on the Singularity team’s part.

That said, preparatory work has been carried out in readying Singularity for materials processing support, so expect it to appear in an upcoming release just as soon as the team are satisfied LL are not about to drop a significant set of updates on people.

Volunteers Needed

One other change which has occurred with this release is that F1 no longer opens Help, although it will still open a web browser window / tab. This is because the Singularity team are thinking about picking-up a V3-style help; however, they need more hands to make this happen. So, if you are interested in giving them a hand and have the necessary skills to make it happen, please give Siana, Latif or one of the team a shout in-world.

General Feedback

As ever, a tidy set of updates incorporated into a v1-style viewer which is solid, reliable and which shouldn’t overly tax older computers. For those looking for a v1-style viewer which supports SSA (which Singularity has done since the release of 1.8.0 in April) and which offers a very credible list of additional TPV capabilities, then Singularity 1.8.1 is very much worth taking the time to look at and to take for a spin in-world.

Related Links