Day: December 23, 2013

Tutsy Navarathna tops machinima section of WD’s Sci-Fi Challenge

Posted on by Inara Pey

If you had the power to choose to make a film in any time or place in the Universe – when or where would you choose? Another planet or perhaps another time or reality on Earth? Filmmakers, Animators and Machinimographers’ will have 30 days in November, to write, shoot, edit, produce and upload their creative masterpieces.

So read the opening piece for the WD Project Sci-Fi challenge, which I reported upon back in October 2013. As noted, filmmakers, animators and machinima makers were invited to spend 30 days from the 1st November 2013 through until the end of the month writing, shooting, editing and producing a sci-fi short, with a total of $10,000 Aus. in prize money for the winners.

The machinima section of the challenge was held in association with the University of Western Australia, and has $1,500 Aus. (L$230,000) on offer specifically for machinima films, with $750 Aus going to the 1st prize winner, and all machinima entrants additionally in with a chance to win any of the main prizes.

The results of the challenge were announced on December 22nd, and once again, Tutsy Navarathna tops-out the machinima winners with his piece, The Residents, a remarkable tale of worlds within worlds, and a clever twist involving SL.

Following hard on Tutsy’s heels and in 2nd place is the appropriately named (given the sci-fi theme of the challenge) Erythro Asimov, with his piece Looking Around.

The remaining winders in the machinima category comprise:

Centuries Past also won the UWA Centum Special Prize along with Misgiving by Glasz DeCuir.

All six prize-winning films can be seen on the UWA’s website, and a complete list of the challenge’s winners can be found on the Screen My Shorts Facebook site.

Congratulations to Tutsy, Erythro and all the winners.

Related Links

Faces: where the façade reveals

Posted on by Inara Pey
Faces at Art India
Faces at Art India

A new exhibit opened at Veekay Navarathna’s Art India recently. Faces is a collection of paintings by Canadian artist Liana Russwurm (Lilianna Clarity in SL), curated by Quan Lavender.

The pieces are reproductions of Liana’s real-life paintings, and as the name of the exhibition suggests, largely focuses on paintings of people’s faces. However, these are by no means “simple” portraits. The subjects are often masked, either physically or with make-up / paint; some are apparently playful, others innocently happy. All of them, however, tell a story, a story which reaches out to us through the facade of the mask, make-up, face paint or playfulness.

Faces at Art India
Faces at Art India

Born into an artistic family, Liana draws from contemporary media and culture such as reality television, fashion magazines and billboards, as well as her own experiences. Her biography reveals the approach taken to the works on display at Art India, which are themselves drawn from a real life exhibition of her pieces called Façade:

Through the use of staged photo shoots, props, costumes and make-up, she aims to strip away the layers of the individual, invoking a fragmented yet authentic portrait of her subject. She is most interested in “the figure”, and capturing the essence of the model.

Faces at Art India
Faces at Art India

Several of the pieces stand in strong contrast to one another, and it is worth taking the time to work your way around the paintings on the outer walls of the exhibit space in “order” – starting with the two young girls facing you from across the room, as your arrive at the teleport point. Both have the genuine innocence of childhood about them . Follow the pieces around the walls, however, and the different stories come into their own, giving us a unique window into the thoughts – perhaps the very souls – of the models,

This is an intriguing exhibit, which runs through until January 21st. For those drawn particularly strongly to any particular piece(s) – and I confess, a couple did catch my eye – they are available at L$700 each.

Faces at Art India
Faces at Art India

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Viewer release summaries 2013: week 51

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: December 22nd, 2013

Official LL Viewers

  • Current Release version: No updates
  • Release channel cohorts (See my notes on manually installing RC viewer versions if you wish to install any release candidate(s) yourself):
    • No updates
  • Project viewers:
    • No updates.

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V3-style

  • CtrlAltStudio Alpha version for Oculus Rift updated on December 18th to version 1.1.7.34400 – core updates: ability to turn your avatar when seated & wearing the Rift by turning your head; Rift prediction delta default value changed from 20ms to 35ms to improve typical perceived latency; fix for mouselook not being able to turn more than +/-180°   (release notes)

V1-style

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links