Year: 2013

5th Annual SL Buddy Walk: supporting Down Syndrome awareness

Posted on by Inara Pey

SL-Buddy-Walk-basic-signSunday March 17th sees the launch of the fifth SL Buddy Walk in aid of Down Syndrome awareness and the National Down Syndrome Society (NDSS).

First held in 2008, the SL Buddy Walk has become an annual event in the SL calendar, and has up until this year been a one-day event of music and fund-raising in aid of the NDSS. However, this year see the start of something a little different.

Running through until March 31st, and marking World Down Syndrome Day on March 21st, the SL Buddy Walk will once again feature a range of live entertainment and events, together with a chance to walk the SL Buddy Walk and learn more about Down Syndrome, the  work of the NDSS and raise money in support of the Society’s work.

The Buddy Walk fair - shops and carts and opportunities to donate to the work of the NDSS
The SL Buddy Walk 2013 fair – shops and carts and opportunities to donate to the work of the NDSS

The event kicks-off on the 17th March, with the start of a two-week fair featuring a host of SL designers and creators, hosted in a specially designed region sponsored by  Surreal Estates. All donations made during the fair will go directly to the National Down Syndrome Society, as will the proceeds of sales made through the special vendors displayed by by the participating creators and designers in their stores, with many creators opting to donate the proceeds of at least some, if not all, of their sales made through their fair stores  /carts to the NDSS, regardless as to whether or not the sales are made via the special vendors.

Then, on the 21st March, to mark World Down Syndrome Day itself, there will be an all-day concert which will include performances by Tom Q, Colorful Quiet, Maximillion Kleene, The Follow,  Porter Paquot, Noma Falta and Edward Kyomoon.  The music kicks-off at 14:00 SLT. Keep up-to-date with entertainment announcements through the SL Buddy Walk blog. Donations made to the on-stage donation boxes will again go to the NDSS at the conclusion of this year’s Buddy Walk.

SL Buddy Walk 2013 entertainment stage
SL Buddy Walk 2013 entertainment stage

In addition, visitors to the region will be able to visit informational kiosks and boards where they can understand more about Down Syndrome and the work of the NDSS. The region is beautifully landscaped, and also offers places to meet friends and sit and chat, as well the two main fair locations and the stage and walk.

The motivating power behind SL Buddy Walk is JL Zinner, who has brought together a talented team to organise and run the event in Second Life. Her dedication to the work of the NDSS and to Buddy Walk is prehaps best expressed through her inspirational video Brandon is My Firework.

Continue reading “5th Annual SL Buddy Walk: supporting Down Syndrome awareness” →

Giving Voice to five years of storytelling & readying a festival

Posted on by Inara Pey

It’s  a very special week at the Seanchai Library SL. Things kick-off with a celebration of five years of fabulous story-telling, and continue through the week with celebrations marking St. Patrick’s Day and stories from around the world. This week also sees the final preparations for Storyfest SL’s upcoming Third Annual Storyfests event at Bran, and the preliminary schedule is here!

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

Sunday March 17th

12:00 Midday – The Birthday Bash

Seanchai Birthday BannerIt has been an amazing journey of 5 years since Derry McMahon opened the West of Ireland Library & Cultural Center, and Shandon Loring told the very first story.  Here we are, five years later with hundreds of stories told by dozens of storytellers, and thousands of dollars raised for worthy charities all over the world!  What a wild ride!

Come join Shandon and Derry, along with Caledonia Skytower, Dubhna Rhiadra, and Crap Mariner as we celebrate five wonderful years of brings stories to life in Second Life!

18:00: Magicland Storytime – More Irish Tales

Join Caledonia Skytower, as she kisses the Blarney Stone and brings to life more tales from the Emerald Isle to mark St. Patrick’s Day at Magicland Park.

Monday March 18th, 19:00: The Celtic Twilight

yeatsW.B. Yeats was not only a poet, he was a dedicated teller of Irish folklore.  In this collection, he brings together stories rooted in myth, occult mysteries, and belief in magic, populated by a lively cast of sorcerers, fairies, ghosts, and nature spirits. The title draws on those pre-dawn hours, when these “wee folk” were most abroad, and is also a reference to the time when Druids would perform their own rituals, something Yeats himself was also familiar with, as he was also a ceremonial magician and leader in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, one of the most important esoteric orders in the Western magical tradition.

“This handful of dreams,” as the author referred to the collection, first appeared in 1893, and consists of stories recounted Yeat’s friends, neighbours, and acquaintances, and faithfully transcribed and brought together in a volume which also includes Yeats’ own visionary experiences. Read by Caledonia Skytower.

Tuesday 19th March, 19:00: Island Tales

With Kaikalani (“Lani”) – see the Seanchai Library SL’s blog for updates on this event.

Wednesday 20th March, 19:00: A Newbery Zoo

Martin Greenberg brings together a dozen stories by Newbery Award-winning authors.

Animals — enter their magic kingdom. From cuddly puppies to ferocious lions and every beast in between, children are forever drawn to animals and to stories about their adventures. And who better to tell these stories than authors who have won the John Newbery Medal for distinguished contributions to literature for children, as read by Gina Pralou-Maven.

Thursday March 21st, 19:00: Hilo Tales

hilo“The charming legends associated with landmarks around the town of Hilo have been retold in words and pictures in this compilation of favorite stories. Included are “How Hilo Got Its Name”, “The Story of Coconut Island” and the Maui and Hina legends centering on Rainbow Falls and The Boiling Pots. For many years Frances Reed was a children’s librarian at the Hawaii County Library and used these tales in her story-telling hours. Jan Moon is a well-known Hilo artist and illustrator. Both women had lived in Hilo for 30 years when they worked together to create an enchanting book that will be enjoyed by both adults and children.” (Book jacket)

Join Shandon Loring as he brings these tales to life.

Please check with the Seanchai Library SL’s blog for updates and additions to the week’s schedule.

In March and April Seanchai are inviting library guests to join them in supporting their featured real world charity Project Children! Have questions? IM or notecard Caledonia Skytower.

Storyfest 2013 Update

storyfest-3Branwen Arts and Stories Unlimited will be hosting the Third Annual Storyfest event, to be held on Sunday 24th March, 2013 at Here Be Pictsies in Bran, commencing at 09:00 SLT and running through until 17:00 that day.

The preliminary line-up of artists has now been announced, but may be subject to change, so please make sure you check the Storyfests SL blog through the week for updates.

All times are, as always, SLT

  • 9:00am – Lycanthia Wolfhunter (1 hour)
  • 10:00am – Dubhna Rhiadra & Caledonia Skytower (1 hour)
  • 11:00am – Em Jannings (30 minutes)
  • 11:30am – BigRed Coyote (30 minutes)
  • Noon – Crap Mariner (30 minutes)

BREAK

  • 1:00pm – ACCEPT by Independent Ballet (1 hour in the Arts Center Theater)
  • 2:00pm – Lani/Kaikalani (1 hour)
  • 3:00pm – Freda Frostbite (30 minutes)
  • 3:30pm – Gyro Muggins (30 minutes)
  • 4:00pm – Singh Albatros (1 hour)

Related Links

Sleepy sheep and playing with Fire(storm)

Posted on by Inara Pey

Update, March 15th: Mickey contacted me to let me know that after eight years and now retired, he has had to let Sheepville go, and he has downsized to a half Homestead. For further details, see: A Trip to Seagull Rock in Second Life. 

I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to spend time using various pre-release versions of the upcoming Firestorm release over the last few weeks. I’m not about to launch into a pre-emptive review of the viewer here – that wouldn’t be fair on Jessica or the team; however, what I will say is that it is pretty fabulous. While there is more to be done before it is officially released, considering the state of play around a month ago, the team have pulled off one or two minor miracles.

Sheepville
Sheepville

One of the reasons I’ve been hungry to take Firestorm for a bit of a drive is because the snapshot tiling bug fix didn’t make it into the last release, so I’ve been limited to taking snaps at no greater than my screen’s resolution (1440×900) when using the viewer. The upcoming release does have the fix (albeit with the usual caveats in that the fix itself is not perfect), and I’m now in happy bunny land when it comes to taking snaps as I explore the wilds and not-so-wilds of Second Life.

I opted to try out higher-resolution snapping with a visit to Micky Woodget’s Sheepville , an open / residential homestead which is yet another treasure of Second Life.

Sheepville
Sheepville

Here, nestled amidst tall mountains and surrounded by water, is a tranquil village where the locals are quietly content with hanging out the washing, fishing from the end of a pier or sweeping the pavement. Birds, rabbits, duck, swans and deer can befound in the open spaces and on the waters of the lake and pond, and visitors are offered the opportunity to rent a log cabin for their home. All watched over by a little stone chapel high on a hill.

When visiting the region, one is free to roam along paths, climb hills, cross bridges, visit the chapel, enjoy a little fishing or simply sit be a campfire and watch the world go by. For the adventurous there are boats to row, balloon rides, gliding (in a vintage 1930s glider!) and hang gliding. For the photographer, there are scenes to be found at every turn or path and track, and Sheepville naturally leans itself to a wide variety of windlight settings.

Sheepville
Sheepville

Windlight is another reason I like using Firestorm. The choice of pre-sets from people across the grid is comprehensive – moreso with this upcoming release, which includes several of Vincent Nacon’s sky presets which give the windlight fiddlers even more to play with. I believe the release, once it is formally made, will include Vincent’s sky maps as well, for even greater depth, but I confess this is not something I’ve investigated.

Of course, the other thing which makes Firestorm attractive for photography is the inclusion of William Weaver’s fabulous Phototools floater. Having just about all the necessary settings available within the viewer which are suitable for machinima and photography is an absolute boon, particularly if, like me, you don’t go in for much in the way of post-processing. Phototools is obviously available right now in Firestorm, so if you’ve not tried the floater, you can.

Sheepville
Sheepville

If you do, Sheepville is an excellent place to try-out the floater. Just follow the paths and see what you discover and have a play with the settings. For those of a more romantic leaning, there is a little stone dance floor near the village, and a wooden gazebo out over the water on one side of the region which also offers dances; there are also numerous places to simply sit and hold hands and talk…

And if a visit does tire you out, drop into the village pub and refresh yourself with a drink or perhaps a plate of fish and chips – the landlord tells me the fish are all caught fresh and potatoes locally grown. If you’d prefer to eat outdoors, the bakery offers a range of breads and other goodies to help keep hunger at bay.

Sheepville
Sheepville

I’ve had remarkably few problems running the most recent pre-release version of Firestorm; while I haven’t explored all the options and updates by a long shot, I’ve enjoyed poking and prodding it and joining-in with a little bit of the testing.

Of course, my experience doesn’t mean the viewer is ready for release – and shouldn’t in any way be taken as suggesting it is. I’m not a member of the core Firestorm team, and they’re the people who know best. But considering a month ago I couldn’t actually start any of the pre-release versions without them crashing on me but I’ve recently been using the pre-release versions as my default viewer, it’s fair to say I’m looking forward to a formal release once it does come along.

And as to Sheepville – well, if you do opt to pay a visit, don’t be surprised if you find me admiring the view from the stone bridge, or sitting in a corner of the pub nibbling on a chip or three!

Related Links

SL project updates: week 11 (2): Server, SSB testing and HTTP news

Posted on by Inara Pey

Update Match 18th: The “mesh only” HTTP test regions, referred to as “coming soon” in the HTTP section of this report are now online on Aditi, and are called MeshTest2 (DRTSIM-203), MeshTest2A (DRTSIM-203A) and MeshTest2H (DRTSIM-203H), respectively. In addition, the sandbox areas (unrestricted access) are also now available as Sandbox HTTP (DRTSIM-203), Sandbox HTTP A (DRTSIM-203A) and Sandbox HTTP H (DRTSIM-203H).

Server Deployments

The planned deployments for the week went ahead as scheduled. Namely:

  • On Tuesday March 12th, the Second Life Server (SLS) Main channel received Baker Linden’s large (as in complex) object rezzing project, designed to improve region performance when rezzing large objects – release notes
  • On Wednesday March 13th, the BlueSteel and LeTigre Release Candidate (RC) channels received a server maintenance package, intended to fix a common crash mode – release notes
  • Also on Wednesday March 13th, the Magnum RC channel received an update to the server maintenance package deployed in week 10, with further improvements / fixes. These included the removal of the fix for VWR-786, which rather than correctly fixing the known issue (IMs to friends not respecting their privacy settings) resulted in all IMs to non friends returning the “User is not online” message, regardless as to whether the recipient was online or not. Release notes for the package are on the SL wiki. The Lab, according to Maestro Linden, is going to have to, “Go back to the drawing board,” to resolve this problem.

As I’ve mentioned in past reports, the aim of this “large object” rezzing project from Baker Linden is to improve how complex objects (those which have a lot of scripts and / or a large file size), with the focus of the work moving the parsing of object files onto a background thread in order to prevent the simulator being choked and performance spiking when such objects are rezzed. As such, the work applies to both in-world objects and attachments, with mesh potentially being a primary beneficiary of the changes. The thought is that the new code may also help frustrate griefers, as the simulator FPS should be better when multiple scripted objects are being rezzed.

SL Viewer

The SL beta and development viewer were both updated on March 14th. The beta viewer moved to release 3.5.0.271843, with updates primarily aimed at CHUI, as anticipated. The development viewer moved to release 3.5.1.271846, and remains broadly in sync with the beta version of the viewer.

Vivox  Updates

Alongside the FMODex (sound system) updates which will be forthcoming after the formal release of CHUI as mentioned in part 1 of this report, Vivox (the SL Voice service) is also due to be updated to version 4.5. Like FMODex, this is unlikely to happen until after CHUI has reached a formal release., but once implemented, this should result in an improvement in Voice quality.

Mesh Deformer

There is still no news on this. Both the issues relating to avatar shapes and weighting are still awaiting internal resources at LL. As such, there is no timeline as to when any movement might be seen on this project.

Interest List – Issues and Further Updates

More interest list updates on Aditi and likely heading for a Release Candidate channel in week 12.
More interest list updates on Aditi and likely heading for a Release Candidate channel in week 12.

The following fixes, related to the interest list code, should be in an RC deployment in week 12 (week commencing Monday March 18th):

  • A fix issue where you ‘lose track’ of a vehicle after a region crossing
  • A fix for BUG-1795 (“Agent appears in incorrect position to other agents after being moved by a sim teleporter”), which should see an end to avatars still appearing in view after they have used a teleport system
  • A fix for the issue where object moving off-camera would suddenly ‘snap’ into place when you turned your camera so they were in your field-of-view. Whereas up until now, the new interest list code has not sent any updates for such objects, the fix to be deployed in week 12 will once again allow updates to be sent to the viewer, but at a much lower rate than before the interest list code was originally deployed.

The code with these updates is currently available for testing on two regions on Aditi: Solariam (rated: Adult) and Tischeriidae (rated: Moderate). This code also includes updates to improve object rendering (particularly with the viewer set to low bandwidths) and to object cacheing as well, as noted in the first part of this report, and those wishing to do so are encouraged to do so, although testing any improvements to vehicle regions crossings might be contingent upon being Adult verified.

Server-side Baking (SSB) Pile-on / Load Test

The second SSB pile-on load test took place on Aditi on Thursday March 14th, immediately following the Server Beta User Group meeting. The test was undertaken using the latest version of the Sunshine project viewer and appeared to be broadly satisfactory, involving both users and a fair few LL personnel – Nyx (x2, as he had his alt there), Simon, Maestro, Monty, Dan, Don, Log, and others. As with the original test, this took place on two regions – one running the current baking system, the other running the new service. Participants were asked to change outfits using the current service, so that the project team could get some baseline / comparison stats, before everyone moved over to the “new” service on the adjoining region.

Continue reading “SL project updates: week 11 (2): Server, SSB testing and HTTP news” →

LL offer discounted regions to educational and non-profit organisations on the QT

Posted on by Inara Pey

secondlifeFollowing my piece on the general status of Second Life, some of the comments revolved around educational discounts for regions – or rather, the ending of them in 2010. Many credit the abolishment of the discounts with the loss of hundreds (I’m not entirely convinced on the “thousands” element) of regions from the grid since that time.

It now appears that the Lab is quietly trying to reverse matters by extending a 50% discount to selected educational and non-profit organisations.

The news comes via Hamlet Au, with a natty little scoop on the offer he gained after being e-mailed on the matter. The originator of the e-mail informed Hamlet that he’d been offered a full region for $1,770 USD for a year or $3,540 USD for two years, for use by his organisation. The new prompted Hamlet to drop Peter Gray, LL’s spokesman, an e-mail on the matter. Hamlet comments:

“I’m not able to share numbers,” Gray e-mailed me, “but can confirm that we’ve extended this special offer to a targeted number of educational and non-profit institutions that have recently left Second Life.” The next question is how many institutions they’re offering this to, but there, he is mum. Furthermore, there’s no way for former sim owners of this variety to request this discount:

“There isn’t currently a way to apply for this; it’s a special offer we’re extending directly to some nonprofit and educational institutions as part of our customer win-back efforts,” as Gray puts it.

Deep Think East - one of the regions operated by the UK's Open University, one of the educational organisations which still operates within Second Life
Deep Think East – one of the regions operated by the UK’s Open University, one of the educational organisations which still operates within Second Life

While not privy to the exact arrangements specified in the offer, I assume that as one or two-year discounts are specified, the caveat to it is that the discount only applies to a full up-front payment of said fees.

Like Hamlet, I’m also a little dubious that the offer will be taken-up by everyone who has departed Second Life – although it is interesting to now that LL are apparently targeting organisations which have “recently left” SL, and therefore have yet to put down roots elsewhere. As Hamlet rightly points out, a lot of people got somewhat burnt when the Lab announced they were discontinuing discounts for educational bodies and non-profits, and there has been a good degree of bad feeling since. There’s also the fact that over the past couple of years OpenSim has become a more than credible – and potentially a lower-cost – solution for educational needs.

It is probable that the move might be seen is some quarters of one of “desperation” on LL’s part in order to reverse the decline in the number of privately-held regions. However, given the limited and closed nature of the offer, such views may not be entirely valid – Second Life isn’t anywhere close to balancing on the edge of disaster just yet – although it would be interesting to know what did prompt the move.

In the meantime Hamlet has requested the any organisations or individuals who have been in receipt of the offer drop an comment onto his post on the news.

With thanks to Hamlet Au.

Playing with Pixieviewer

Posted on by Inara Pey

Thomas Buchauer has been working on developing a virtual world viewer-in-a-browser. The work is still very much in its alpha stages, but already shows sign of promise for those who are OpenSim-based.

Pixieviewer is available now as a special “first look” release, with access restricted to a special test grid called, appropriately enough, Pixiegrid. It is also in non-public testing with two OpenSim grids, and the aim appears to be to make it generally available as a browser-based means of access OpenSim environments at some point in the future. The viewer utilises HTML 5 (and so runs of Firefox, Chrome, etc.), and runs on any portable / mobile device capable of running WebGL.

PixieViewer: accessing OpenSim through a web browser
Pixieviewer: accessing OpenSim through a web browser

As an initial “first look” release, functionality is obviously limited – although already offering enough to get people playing with things and see the potential. Capabilities currently included in the viewer comprise chat, building both using primitive (“basic”) shapes and pre-set 3D models (mesh is supported although uploads are currently not enabled), and the ability to send content to a file suitable for 3D printing on your own (data exported as an STL file), or have the data sent to http://i.materialise.com, where you can preview and order 3D prints. Some basic object interaction is also possible as well – such as sitting on objects or clicking them to display pop-up with further information.

You’ll need to create a log-in account to the Pixiegrid in order to try-out the viewer, and you can do so directly through the viewer’s log-in page.

General Looks

The preview version loads fast – once you’ve registered an account, you can fire-up the viewer and are immediately delivered to the Pixiegrid preview area, where you can wander, try out various options (including the 3D printing), chat with others and explore what is already available.

3D printing from within PixieViewer
3D printing from within PixieViewer

Avatars come in default male and female forms and are non-customisable at present – although you might find your hair colour changes between log-ins; I’ve tended to find I’m either a blonde or a red-head when using the viewer. Movement  – both avatar and camera – is fairly basic, but more than adequate for getting around and seeing things; those who have followed Lumiya’s development will be aware how rapidly things like this improved, so it’s reasonable to expect PixieViewer will add further refinements as time and the technology allows.

Continue reading “Playing with Pixieviewer” →