Month: October 2013

Overto Omorto: a hauntingly beautiful installation

Posted on by Inara Pey
Overto Omorto
Overto Omonto

I was lead to Overto Omonto by Honour. The latest work by artist and creator Romy Nayar, this is – to grab a word from Honour as well – an exquisite full region installation which is being hosted by the folks at Per4mance MetaLES for the next two months, having replaced Chica Ghost’s evocative Ghostville.

Romy’s installation is an inspired piece which fits the run-up to Halloween perfectly, and presents visitors with a puzzle to solve. What’s more, one might even be tempted to say that there’s something of a metaphor here, with a finger perhaps pointed in a certain direction …

Overto Omonto
Overto Omonto

You see, Overto Omonto was once a prosperous place, bright and happy and full of life. But then, as Caballero, the greeter, tells us:

Little by little each one of us was isolating himself, and did not care what happened to others and  finally we could not talk to anyone. Our heart  becomes like stone and we were no longer able to communicate.   

Hmm. Isolation. Not caring. Failing to communicate; there’s something of a bell ringing here – but I risk a digression …

Overto Omonto
Overto Omonto

Now, those within Overto Omonto who could, would escape their lonely existence – but they cannot do so without our help. Each of them holds a secret, and we must obtain that secret – a password – so that we may help them achieve freedom from the darkness of their current lives.

The residents here are beautifully modelled, each one the focal-point of a haunting vignette which the imagination cannot help but create stories around. Take little Nina, as she watches a balloon rise up into the sky. Did she free it from the box on the ground beneath it, top thrown open? Is she wishing it well in its bid for airborne freedom? Or is she envying its flight, knowing she must remain Earthbound and trapped? And what of the box from whence it appears to have come – is it coincidence that its interior comprises strips of wood, the darker ones looking for all the world like the bars of a cage…?

Overto Omonto
Overto Omonto

Each character herein invites you to linger, study, observe  – and imagine. Their looks, poses and very demeanour projects so much without ever moving or changing. None of them remain quite what they seem on first inspection. Simply rotating one’s camera around them and viewing them from different angles invites the mind to consider each of them differently; their moods seeming to change as the camera and lighting shifts. Frozen they may be, but each is very much alive, if trapped within the scene in which they each appear, the scenes themselves inviting more than one interpretation.

This is a wonderfully immersive installation, one I’m not sure my photos really do any justice; to see it at its best, a personal visit is required. You can explore on foot or, if you prefer, grab a copy of the funky car which is available near the landing point and Caballero.

Overto Omonto
Overto Omonto

Related Links

Viewer release summary 2013: week 40

Posted on by Inara Pey

This summary is published every Monday and is a list of SL viewer / client releases (official and TPV) made during the previous week. When reading it, please note:

  • It is based on my Viewer Round-up Page, a list of  all Second Life viewers and clients that are in popular use (and of which I am aware) and which are recognised as adhering to the TPV Policy
  • By its nature, this summary will always be in arrears
  • The Viewer Round-up Page is updated as soon as I’m aware of any releases / changes to viewers & clients, and should be referred to for more up-to-date information
  • The Viewer Round-up Page also includes comprehensive links to download pages, blog notes, release notes, etc., as well as links to any / all reviews of specific viewers / clients made within this blog.

Updates for the week ending: October 6th, 2013

Official LL Viewers

  • Current Release version: 3.6.7.281793 – October 4 (download page, release notes) (formerly the Maintenance RC viewer with support for new particle capabilities; automatic avatar render limit and feedback system)
  • Release channel cohorts (See my notes on manually installing RC viewer versions if you wish to install any release candidate(s) yourself):
    • No updates for the week
  • Project viewers:
    • None at present

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V1-Style

Mobile / Other Clients

  • Group Tools Installer updated on October 1st to version 2.2.22.0
  • LittleSight updated on Octber 1st to version 1.5.0.0 (Added to TPVD)

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links

An afternoon in Avedon Park

Posted on by Inara Pey
Avedon Park
Avedon Park

In my Second Life wanderings, I sometimes receive recommendations of places to visit, which are always welcome. So when Sammi Borgin recently dropped me a line about Avedon Park, occupying most of the full region of Newfie Land, I set out to investigate.

Avedon Park is home to The Factory, a club located up in the sky, and a landscaped park down at ground level, which is both open to the public and a home to the creative team behind the region. There’s a lot to see and do here, with walks, water features, castles, a touch of steampunk, a photo studio /gallery and more.

Created by Aura Firehawk and Karma Avedon, the region is largely free to roam, but as noted above, do be aware that this is also their home, so do please take note of any privacy signs you find while exploring. Also, please keep in mind that the property in the south-east corner of the region, separated from the rest by tall mountains, is not a part of the park but an entirely separate private residence.

Avedon Park
Avedon Park

The arrival point, located towards the west side of the region offers a teleport system for getting around and to get to the club overhead, and an information board which will offer to open a link to the Avedon Park website when clicked. This provides general information on the park, including a history to the place, which introduces readers to James Wellington Avedon, “a noted  entrepreneurial inventor and explorer” of the early 20th Century, credited with discovering the land, and Captain Charles T. Firehawk, “the noted WWI pilot and accomplished explorer”, Avedon’s partner.  The website makes for an entertaining (and informative) read when exploring the region, and has some very nice photography within it.

Where you go following your arrival is entirely up to you; the teleport system makes reaching some parts of the park easier than when using pedal extremities, but I do urge you to wander and take your time on foot – there is much to see (and do), and a lot of little details which make the time taken in wandering more than worthwhile.

Avedon Park
Avedon Park

Within the area of the park containing the arrival point you’ll find the Avedon Gallery / studio, a private house boat, a tree house and two large bodies of water. A path wanders through the area, crossing a stone bridge into Firehawk Cove, an island on the north-west side of the region offering places to relax by the water or to dance in the shade of a gazebo and even the opportunity to try your hand at fencing with a friend or two on a pier at the water’s edge.

Just before the bridge to Firehawk Cove, the path branches, with one part of it leading you across two wooden bridges and a small islet to Firehawk Island. Here you can follow a wooded path to a small beach and the Sanctum Tower, which faces Sky Castle across a narrow neck of water.

Sky Castle itself is apparently available to rent as a venue for weddings – although you might have to get your feet wet in getting to it! The castle – one of Alex Bader’s stunning creations (as is much else to be found here), sits on its own island on the north-east of the region and offers a commanding view back across the water to the Sanctum Tower and across to the tall cliffs to the east, which have further walks at their feet and the Avedon Amazing Music Machine further up.  The cliffs are reached via Fennux Park, home to a small colony of Fennux.

Avedon Park
Avedon Park

This is another region which has been put together with a wonderful eye for creativity and invention – the website accompanying it really is a must-read if one wishes to fully immerse oneself here, as it adds depth and colour to the park.

Windlight settings are supplied with the region, but as usual, I opted to play with my own in taking snaps, and the region is very photogenic in this respect, being suited to a wide range of windlight themes and settings, whether preset (viewer allowing) or your own.

I very much enjoyed my afternoon of wandering through the park, and loved all the little touches to be found – the deer drinking at the lakeside, the bird bath, the Amazing Music Machine and so on. For thosew who like a little activity, there is the aforemention fencing, opportunities to go swiming and various games to be found scattered across the park. Do make sure you have sounds enabled and speakers / headphones on when you visit, as the soundscape has also been put together with care.

All told, a recommended visit, and my thanks to Sammi for pointing Avedon Park out to me.

Related Links

Murders, broomsticks, horsemen and creepy creatures

Posted on by Inara Pey

It’s time to kick-off another week of fabulous story-telling in Voice, brought to Second Life by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library SL.

As always, all times SLT, and unless otherwise stated, events will be held on the Seanchai Library’s home on Imagination Island.

Sunday October 6th

13:30: Tea Time at Baker Street – The Adventure of the Golden Pince-nez

Holmes (l) examines a bureau in Professor Coram’s study, directing his questions to the maid (Sidney Paget, 1904, Strand Magazine)

Caledonia and Corwyn bring us another installment in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s volume of stories The Return of Sherlock Holmes.

Willoughby Smith, secretary to the invalid Professor Coram, has been murdered.

There is no apparent motive for the crime, comitted using a sealing-wax knife belonging to the professor, and the local police are stumped, leading Inspector Stanley Hopkins to pay Holmes and Watson a visit one dark November night to seek assistance. He brings with him the only clues to the matter: a pair of golden Pince-nez glasses found clutched in Smith’s hand, and his dying words, uttered to the maid who found him.

“The professor; it was she.”

Holmes examines the glasses and stuns Hopkins with a series of pronouncements: their owner is a woman of good breeding, refined and well-dressed, who has been to an optician at least twice during the past few months. Holmes even goes on to give a description of some of her physical characteristics. 

Agreeing to assist the police, Holmes and Watson go with Hopkins to the scene of the crime the following day, and the game is well and truly afoot.

18:00: Magicland Storytime – Bonfires and Broomsticks

bonfires-broomsticksAuthor Mary Norton is perhaps best know for her long-running series of fantasy books The Borrowers (named for the first book of the series) published between 1952 and 1982.

However, her first published work, in 1943, was entitled The Magic Bed Knob; or, How to Become a Witch in Ten Easy Lessons, a fantasy piece about an elderly woman who practices magic for a hobby and has a magic bed knob, and three London children evacuated to the country during the bombing of London.

This was followed in 1945 by the sequel Bonfires and Broomsticks. Then, in 1957, the two books were republished as a single volume entitled Bed-Knob and Broomstick. And it was a play on this title by which the story became most widely known, when in 1971, Walt Disney released the film Bedknobs and Broomsticks starring Angela Lansbury and the late David Tomlinson.

Join Caledonia Skytower at Magicland Park as Caledonia reads from the second volume of this classic tale.

Monday October 7th, 19:00: Sci-fi Classics

With Gyro Muggins.

Tuesday October 8th, 19:00: Spookable Irving: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

sleepy-hollowAs All Hallows creeps ever closer, how better than to get in the mood than with some classic tales of horror and spookiness from literature?

Perhaps one of the most well-known (and well-loved) stories of dark hauntings is Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, which is also one of the earliest examples of American literature of enduring popularity.

while setting his tale in post-revolutionary America in the year 1790, Irving in fact wrote the sorry tale of school teacher Ichabod Crane and his ill-fated encounter with the rumoured Headless Horseman in 1819 while visiting England, where his also penned Rip Van Winkle. Both The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle first appeared in print in his serial The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent, which also marked Irving’s first use of that pen name. As with Rip Van Winkle, Irving claims he first heard about The Legend of Sleepy Hollow from “Diedrich Knickerbocker”, a fictional “Dutch Historian”.

Join Derry McMahon and Bear Silvershade as they delve into this classic tale.

Wednesday October 9th, 19:00: Bits O’ Poe

Caledonia Skytower continues the journey into haunting tales and dark stories as she presents a selection from the master of the horror genre, Edgar Allen Poe.

Thursday October 10th, Creepy Little Creatures

Very few things are more frightening than unearthly creatures conceived by the masterminds of supernatural fiction. This collection of the macabre includes stories from F. Murray Gilchrist, Edgar Allan Poe, E.F. Benson, others, all presented by Shandon Loring.

—–

Please check with the Seanchai Library SL’s blog for updates and for additions or changes to the week’s schedule. The featured charity for September and October is Water for People. Have questions? IM or notecard Caledonia Skytower.

Related Links

ToS changes: further ripples in the pond – Machinimatrix and Bryn Oh

Posted on by Inara Pey

There are further public ripples in the pond resulting from the August 15th changes to LL’s Terms of Service

Machinimatrix Refocus Terminology on OpenSim

Word is spreading that  the Machinimatrix team are responding to the recent changes to Linden Lab’s Terms of Service (ToS), having issued a blog post on the matter, which reads in part:

Dear customers;

Recently Linden Labs have changed their TOS. First and most important for you:

This has no direct impact on our support and we will continue our offers as before.

However we feel uncomfortable about the change of the TOS and we have made a few moves to support those who no longer have access to Second Life. And finally we have decided to reduce indirect advertisement for the Second Life platform.

The post goes on to state that:

  • Specific changes will see the team introduce a wider range of payment options for their products
  • All web documentation has had references to Second Life replaced by OpenSim, unless a reference is directly relevant to Second Life, in which case it has been replaced by “SL”
  • A top-to-bottom renaming within the Avastar user interface which sees all references to Second Life replaced with references to OpenSim,
  • A similar removal of references to Second Life in the Blender Collada exporter, with references to OpenSim replacing it. Other products within the Machinimatrix

The team also make it clear that in making these changes, no actual functionality has changed within their products.

Bryn Oh Resigns from LEA

Bryn Oh, perhaps once of the most high-profile members of the Linden Endowment for the Arts has publicly resigned from that body.

Having already commented on the revision to Section 2.3 of the ToS, Bryn has now written publicly on the subject from apersonal perspective, and does so quite damningly, highlighting one of the principal issues which has come about as a result of the wording of the section 2.3, noting:

One thing I do in both first life and Second Life is try to convince artists that they and their art are worth something.  You see, artists are quite often taken advantage of.  People will pay a plumber to fix a sink or a roofer to fix a roof because it is a skill they do not possess themselves, and they accept and recognize that.  However, most people also can not paint pictures, yet they will suggest that it would be great “exposure” to put things in their Law Office or Hotel.  When I was just out of art school I was convinced to do 25 pen and ink drawings for an expensive coffee table book.. for “exposure”.  They thanked me in the back of the book.  And somehow I felt like they did me a favour.  They probably paid everyone else but me.

She goes on:

As it stands now I don’t feel comfortable luring artists into creating content for Linden Labs who can pretty much do whatever they want with it.  I will take the risk with my own content but I wont encourage others to do so.  For example, if you developed a revolutionary method for treating people with Schizophrenia by using specific techniques combining art, original music and the virtual space then built or demonstrated it in SL, it would no longer be yours exclusively.  Linden Lab could scoop it up and put their money behind it, while you struggled to promote it from your basement … It is just another indignity artists and thinkers must suffer and I don’t want to be a part of it.

Bryn’s letter makes powerful reading, and underlines the fact that at the end of the day, it doesn’t actually matter why the Lab has seen fit to allow such sweeping statements as found in Section 2.3 of the ToS. It really doesn’t matter if it’s actually down to a short-sighted consequence of trying to combine the Desura Terms of Use with the ToS or whether there is some deeper, darker and hidden meaning people are exhausting time and effort trying to discern.

What actually matters is that the wording, as given in the ToS today, is untenable for many, and with very good reason, and is – as I’ve said before, and Bryn underlines – a further erosion of community / company trust which really should be more directly and clearly addressed by the Lab.

Sadly, and while continuing with efforts to encourage them do so elsewhere, I don’t actually believe they will.

Related Links

SL project updates week 40 (3): viewer, inventory service, group ban list functions

Posted on by Inara Pey

The following notes are taken from the TPV Developer meeting held on Friday October 4th. A video, courtesy of Northspring, can be found at the end of this report. The numbers in braces after each head denote the time stamp at which the topic can be listened-to in the video.

A typical TPV dev meeting (stock)
A typical TPV dev meeting gathers (stock)

Release Pipeline Recap

Release viewer

Maintenance RC viewer 3.6.7.281793 was promoted to the de-facto release viewer overnight on the 3rd/4th October (release notes). This primarily comprises:

  • Viewer-side support for new LSL particle capabilities (blend, glow, ribbon)
  • The automatic avatar render limit and feedback system
  • Fixes for the Cocoa release regression issues (see below)
  • Fix to prevent orientation being lost on teleporting (if you’re facing west when you teleport, you’ll still be facing west on arrival)
  • Further bug fixes as listed in the release notes, including further CHUI and materials fixes

The remaining release candidates (Google Breakpad, SLShare and the Snowstorm contributions RC) continue to produce good numbers, and the Lab hasn’t seen any major issues with them.

Interest List Viewer Updates

[37:16 -38:40]

It is currently anticipated that the viewer-side code supporting the recent batch of work on the interest list will finally arrive in week 41 as a release candidate viewer. This will be discussed at the next TPV Developer meeting, scheduled for Friday October 11th.

Mac OS X 10.6

[41:00 – 45:40]

As reported here, recent updates with Cocoa on the Mac viewer led to users still running Mac OS X 10.6 to experience some “obnoxious problems“. As a result, the Lab initially implemented a mandatory roll-back of viewers for users on OS X 10.6 to viewer release 3.6.4.280048 (August 20th, 2013). However, some of the issues have been resolved fixes within the last maintenance RC viewer (3.6.7.281793), which as noted above has now been promoted to the de facto release viewer. As a result, the roll-back to version 3.6.4.280048 has now been made optional  and has been left available until such time as the remaining issues with Cocoa and OS X 10.6 can hopefully be addressed.

A broader advisory from the Lab is that as the viewer is a lot more stable on later version of the Mac operating system, those who are on OS X10.6 and in a position to upgrade should consider doing so.

Other Potential Viewer RCs

[40:12 – 41:00]

The next round(s) of viewer releases from the Lab are expected to include:

  • A further maintenance viewer RC
  • The SSA / AIS v3 viewer updates (anticipated in the next couple of weeks – see below)
  • Monty Linden’s viewer-side HTTP updates, which are currently on internal QA at the Lab.

Advanced Inventory Service (AIS v3)

[02:18 – 15:02]

The inventory service updates, initially being undertaken alongside Server-side Appearance (SSA), are now ready for deployment.

A core part of AIS v3 covers the inventory changes that the second round of SSA updates use to manage the Current Outfit Folder (COF) more reliably, including hopefully improving the response time for re-requests for an inventory item / update; however there is more to the updates than this.

Two wiki documents have been produced for the new API:

Continue reading “SL project updates week 40 (3): viewer, inventory service, group ban list functions” →