Month: December 2015

Lab offer 50% off Marvelous Designer training with CG Elves

Posted on by Inara Pey

In something of an unusual promotion, Linden Lab is offering Second Life creators with a 50% discount on a training course for learning how to use a tool suite called Marvelous Designer – and to be honest, I’m scratching my head a little over it.

Marvelous Designer is billed as a software package which:

Allows you to create beautiful 3D virtual clothing … with tools that enhance quality while saving you time. From basic shirts to intricately pleated dresses and rugged uniforms, Marvellous Designer can virtually replicate fabric textures and physical properties to the last button, fold, and accessory.

The product boasts use in a wide range of environments include 3D and the world of film, where the results can apparently be seen effects created by Weta Workshop  for The Hobbit and The Adventures of Tin-Tin.

The Lab’s offer specifically focuses on Mastering Marvelous Designer: Beginners Course & Advanced Workshops, video-based training supplied by CG Elves, with the blog post stating:

Visit the CG Elves site through this link, opt in to the “Mastering Marvelous Designer: Beginners Course & Advanced Workshops,”  select any add-ons you may want, then use secondlife-special in the coupon code section of the checkout cart to receive your discount.

This offer is only good until December 30th, 2015 – so find out more about the training course and if it’s right for you by visiting the CG ELves website today!

I don’t pretend to be a clothing content creator, so I know little about what tools are in use by SL content creators, how useful this offer might be or how widely Marvellous Designer may be used by SL content creators.

However, given that Marvelous Designer has a pricing structure which starts at a monthly subscription of Us $59.00 and runs through an annual subscription of US $360.00 or a one-off payment of US $550.00 (with no option to switch between perpetual and subscription options), part of me suspect the tool might be seeing widespread use by SL designers. However, there is a 15-day free trial for those wishing to give it a poke.

The training course itself totals some 52.5 hours of video training, delivered in 1080p quality. It comes at a full cost of US $399.00 – so the discount offer will reduce this to US $199.50 – something which again may not have even the curious knocking down the door.  However, to find out more, follow the links to the CG Elves website, above and below.

As noted, this is something of a curious offer for the Lab to roll out, and I’m not overly convinced at to how well it might be received or taken up. Is this also some vague pointer that Marvellous Designer is a tool set that will be supported by “Project Sansar”? Your guess is as good as mine. In the meantime here  are the links again.

Related Links

2015 viewer release summaries: week 49

Posted on by Inara Pey

Updates for the week ending Sunday, December 6th

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 Current Viewer Releases 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. This page 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
  • By its nature, this summary presented here will always be in arrears, please refer to the Current Viewer Release Page for more up-to-date information.

Official LL Viewers

  • Current Release version: 3.8.6.305981, October 26 – no change download page, release notes
  • Release channel cohorts (See my notes on manually installing RC viewer versions if you wish to install any release candidate(s) yourself):
    • Maintenance RC viewer updated to version 3.8.7.308556 on December 3 – core updates: some 38 fixes and improvements, including updates for some regressions introduced into the viewer with the current release viewer (download and release notes)
  • Project viewers:
    • No updates.

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V3-style

  • No updates.

V1-style

  • Cool VL Viewer updated as follows: Stable version to 1.26.16.2 and Experimental branch to 1.26.17.0, both on December 5th (release notes).

Mobile / Other Clients

  • No updates.

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links

The beauty of a bleak midwinter in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey

Furillen; Inara Pey, December 2015, on FlickrFurillen (Flickr) – click any image for full size

Furillen, Serene Footman’s homestead region has been on my radar for a while, having been labelled as “under construction” the first time I dropped in during November. This past weekend offered an opportunity to make a revisit to see how things are progressing, so Caitlyn and I headed over to look around.

The region is named for – and modelled after – a small island off the north-east coast of Sweden’s largest island, Gotland. During the 20th century, Furillen was a centre for limestone quarrying, but in 1970 it was taken over by the Swedish military to become the location for two air defence radar installations, the quarries being abandoned as a result. With the military presence now largely gone from the island, it has, since 2000, it has been the location for a minimalist hotel and conference centre owned by photographer and entrepreneur Jonas Hellström.

Furillen; Inara Pey, December 2015, on FlickrFurillen (Flickr)

Serene Footman takes these elements from the original Furillen and brings them in-world to present, in keeping with  Hellström’s approach to his hotel, a minimalist design shrouded in the bleak skies and heavy snows of midwinter, which is quite starling and captivating in its desolate beauty.

Explore the island and you find not only the squat, angular lines of the hotel, but also other landmarks from the original, including the remnants of the old limestone quarries, complete with rusting heavy equipment, traces of the former military presence, and some other quite unexpected sights.

Furillen; Inara Pey, December 2015, on FlickrFurillen (Flickr)

There is also a touch of the surreal to the design as well, something I particularly felt on seeing the door marked “Exit” in the south-east corner of the region, separated from the island by a stretch of cold water, and apparently beyond reach. This, with the presence of the Peatonville Asylum’s Queen of Denial put me in mind of the final lines of The Eagles’ Hotel California. Whether this is intended or not, I’ve no idea; although to me the echo of the lines didn’t seem to be entirely out-of-place.

Which is not to say Furillen is in any way sinister; far from it. As I’ve already noted, there is something remarkable in its desolate look. It is hard not to be drawn in to the rugged beauty of the landscape and the functional, stark lines of the buildings here. It’s an attraction that is very hard to leave behind, as I’ve discovered for myself, having bounced back a number of times throughout the weekend and since.

Furillen; Inara Pey, December 2015, on FlickrFurillen (Flickr)

Serene Footman plans to keep Furillen going for as long as there is an interest in visiting the region, and has indicated he’ll be adding to it and changing things as the mood takes. So, if you do visit and find yourself as captivated as I, do please consider leaving a donation at one of the tip jars to help towards running costs. And to fully experience the region, do take time to listen to the accompanying music stream, which adds further depth to the region as one explores.

SLurl Details

Space Sunday: of Venus, Cosmic Girl and Cygnus

Posted on by Inara Pey
Artist's impression of Akatsuki in orbit around Venus
Artist’s impression of Akatsuki in orbit around Venus

It is not often that I get to report on a space event that is happening right as I’m wiring about it; but that is precisely what happened as I wrote this edition of Space Sunday.

As I was typing, high above Venus, a little cube-like space craft measuring just over a metre on a side and supported by two stubby solar panel “wings”, had been making a final desperate attempt to enter orbit around the planet.

Akatsuki (“Dawn”), is a Japanese space probe also known by the names Venus Climate Orbiter (VCO) and Planet-C. Its mission is to study the dense, intense atmosphere of Venus and gain greater insight into how it formed, whether it has active weather phenomena such as lightning, and whether Venus itself may still be volcanically active. It is also a vehicle which has taken “the long way around” in order to reach its target.

Originally launched on May 20th, 2010 Akatsuki should have entered orbit around Venus on December 7th of that year. In order to do so, the vehicle had to carry out a 12-minute “burn” of its main engine to slow itself to the point where it would be caught by Venus’ gravity and so swing into an elliptical orbit. However, while the engine did fire as expected, a fuel valve failed, preventing the burn from being completed as required, and Akatsuki failed to achieve the desired orbit, and instead was left strained in a heliocentric (Sun-centred orbit) which would bring the craft back into proximity with Venus five years later – on the evening (UK time) of the 6th / 7th December 2015.

Having managed to keep the little craft alive and functioning during the intervening years, this second encounter offer a final opportunity to get Akatsuki safely into orbit around Venus, where it might complete its primary mission. Final because the craft has already far exceeded its operational life span, and such an opportunity is unlikely to come again.

Emily Lakdawalla provided this diagram of the Akatsuki orbit insertion attempt
Emily Lakdawalla of The Planetary Society provided this diagram of the Akatsuki orbit insertion attempt

So it was that at around 23:51 UTC on Sunday, December 6th, Akatsuki fired one set of its reaction control system (RCS) thrusters for 20 minutes in an attempt to push itself into an extended orbit around Venus (VOI – for Venus Orbital Insertion – in the diagram above).  Entirely automated, the attempt could, if required, be followed by an additional motor firing if telemetry received on Earth indicated the first burn had failed.

At 00:24 UTC on December 7th, data received from the vehicle, having taken over 8 minutes to be transmitted to Earth and then be processed, indicated the initial motor firing had been successful, and that Akatsuki should have established itself in an extended elliptical orbit around Venus, between 300,000 to 400,000 km above the surface of the planet. This is somewhat greater than the original orbit for the craft, which would have varied between 300 to 80,000 km, but it still should be close enough for the probe to undertake most of its science mission, although it will be several hours before this is confirmed.

 Cosmic Girl Gets Ready to Launch

Virgin Galactic is probably best known for two things: Richard Branson and trying to develop a sub-orbital flight capability which will allow fare-paying tourists enjoy a few minutes of “weightlessness” at the edge of space, marketing itself as the “world’s first commercial space line”.

However, the company is also looking to enter the lucrative market of commercial satellite launches, using a vehicle they’ve christened LauncherOne. The vehicle is specifically intended to to provide a launch capability for “smallsats”, sub-500 kg satellites, an increasingly poplar market sector, but one where very often the main means of getting into orbit is by “hitch-hiking” aboard launchers carrying other payloads.

Virgin Galactic: entering the satellite launch market with the 2-stage LauncherOne
Virgin Galactic: entering the satellite launch market with the 2-stage LauncherOne

Unlike most boosters, LauncherOne is designed to be air-launched. That is, carried aloft by an aircraft to an altitude of some 10,770 metres (35,000 ft) before being released to allow its first and second stage motors carry its payload up to the required orbit.

The technique isn’t new – it is used most notably by the Pegasus launch system developed by Orbital ATK, and which first flew in 1990. However, the technique offers some significant advantages. The most obvious of these is that by lifting the booster a fair way out of the denser part of the Earth’s atmosphere, less fuel is required for the rocket to reach orbit, reducing its overall mass and cost. Air-launched missions also aren’t restricted to a launchpad; they can be undertaken from any airport where there are suitable facilities for handling the booster itself, thus maximising the potential launch profiles a customer might need. When all the benefits are put together, it means that Virgin Atlantic can offer tailor-made smallsat launch capabilities to clients for just US $10 million a shot.

White Knight Two flying to the Farnborough air Show in 2012 with a mock-up of the original LauncherOne mounted beneath it (Image: Virgin Galactic)
White Knight Two flying to the Farnborough air Show in 2012 with a mock-up of the original LauncherOne mounted beneath it (Image: Virgin Galactic)

Continue reading “Space Sunday: of Venus, Cosmic Girl and Cygnus” →

Team Diabetes Winter Art and Showcase preview

Posted on by Inara Pey
Winter Showcase
Winter Showcase

The first Team Diabetes of SL Winter Art and Showcase event launches on Monday, December 7th, and will run through until Sunday, December 13th. Occupying a single, winter-themed region, the event offers something for everyone: shopping, entertainment, activities, and art, all within easy reach of one another.

Over the course of the weekend of the 5th and 6th December, bloggers have been able to access the region and explore what’s on offer for themselves, with stores and artists offering little goodies along the way.

The Winter Showcase, sponsored by Tayren’s Fantasy Fashions, features 22 merchants, including, but not limited to, Tayren’s Fantasy Fashions, Zuri Rayna Jewelry, Kittycat’s Creations, Hearthaven Photography, Meshopotamia and Chop Zuey. The showcase is located in the north-west quarter of the region, with stores neatly arranged around a central square, which offer seating from those needing a rest from shopping and well as Santa’s gazebo!

Winter Art Show
Winter Art Show

The south side of the region is devoted to 2D and 3D art, with 21 artists and photographers offer their work for viewing, including Bryn Oh, Wicca Merlin, Cica Ghost, Kayly Iali, Bluesrocker Resident and Skip Staheli. The art show is sponsored by Windlight Magazine, and all of the participating artists have contributed a winter themed image for inclusion in the special 2015 Postcards from the Winter Art Show book, which will be on sale throughout the event, with all proceeds being donated directly to Team Diabetes of SL!

Throughout the week, visitors to the Art and showcase can enjoy daily activities, including the Santa hunt, the raffle, gingerbread house building contests, the ugly sweater photo contest, the  winter giveaway and the advent calendar. Music and entertainments will also be on offer throughout the week – check the event schedule for details; however, of particular note during the week are (all times SLT):

  • Tuesday, December 8th, 14:00-16:00: the formal opening of the winter Art show, featuring live performer Cassi Ansar
  • Friday, December 11th, 16:00-18:00: Red and Green Ball with DJ John
  • Saturday, December 12th, 10:00-Noon: dancing on ice with DJ Gem Sunkiller
  • Sunday, December 13th, 13:00: Solaris Winter Queen Fashion Show.
Winter Art Show
Winter Art Show

While only in its first season, Team Diabetes of SL has already raised almost L$323,000 for the American Diabetes Association – which is no mean feat for a new charity team to achieve. Hopefully, the Art show and Showcase will see that total pushed higher. Knowing the team behind it as I do, there really is bound to be something for everyone to enjoy – so why not check out the event schedule and hop along to a few of the events? And do be sure to keep an eye on the Team Diabetes of SL website for the latest news and updates!

Additional Links and SLurls

 

Bright Canopy now a part of Frame

Posted on by Inara Pey

Bright CanopyBright Canopy, the streaming service which allows users on low-end computers to access both Second Life and OpenSim, has announced it is effectively being absorbed by Frame, the cloud service provider which has been a technology partner with Bright Canopy from almost the beginning.

Bright Canopy came into existence after the demise of the SL Go service provided by the former Onlive games streaming company, after that company opted to offer itself for sale, only to have Sony Computer Entertainment buy out its IP and patents, ending the company as a going concern.

However, the going has been a little rough at times for Bright Canopy, particularly as no-one has attempted to provide access to Second Life and OpenSim in quite this way before (OnLive utilised their own dedicated servers and data centres), so it has been a journey into uncharted territory.

The most important things to note is that under the new arrangement, Bright Canopy will continue uninterrupted as a service for both Second Life and OpenSim, and the company’s founder, Bill Glover, will be joining Frame as Product Manager for Virtual Worlds.

Bill and Jeri Glover: creators of the Bright Canopy service
Bill and Jerri Glover: creators of the Bright Canopy service

Bright Canopy largely came into existence as a result of a partnership between Bill and Frame. At the time of SL Go’s demise, I ruminated on the potential of a streamed service for accessing Second Life being provided through Amazon Appstream. This time was enough to get Bill seriously thinking on the idea and looking into ways of achieving it. A follow-up article  prompted an invitation from Frame’s founder, Nikola Bozinovic, to try his service as a means to deliver a streamed viewer solution, and so the partnership was born.

Already with the technical expertise to manage and deliver high-end applications on a streaming basis through Amazon’s cloud services, and with the potential to leverage Microsoft’s Azure services in the future, Frame were an ideal partner for Bright Canopy. The synergy between the two companies allowed Bill to quickly establish a proof of concept for streaming the Second Life viewer. This rapidly developed into a closed alpha, which in turn rolled into a pre-lunch test beta. Thus, in just four months, Bright Canopy went from nascent idea to a service ready for launch.

Nikola Bozinovic, founder of Frame, has remained convinced of Bright Canopy's viability since extending his initial invitation to use Frame's infrastructure in April 2015.
Nikola Bozinovic, founder of Frame, has remained convinced of Bright Canopy’s viability since extending his initial invitation to use Frame’s infrastructure in April 2015.

Unfortunately, and as I reported at the time, a combination of very positive response to Bright Canopy’s launch and some drastic and unexpected fluctuations in Amazon’s Spot Instance pricing, meant that the original pricing model planned for the service could not be maintained, and Bill and Jerri had to reluctantly had to suspend Bright Canopy operations while alternatives were considered.

Although the service was relaunched in September 2015 with an alternative pricing model, both Bright Canopy and Frame have been seeking ways and means to make the service more appealing to users, particularly in the area of cost.

It is these explorations which have late to this latest situation, as Bill notes in the press release:

After brainstorming about some of the many things we could do together, I have accepted an offer to join Frame as Product Manager for Virtual Worlds.  The Bright Canopy service will continue uninterrupted as it already runs on the Frame platform, and we will be looking to expand and improve it with new options and flexibility.  Jerri will also continue supporting Bright Canopy as a community volunteer.

The news will not see any immediate change in Bright Canopy pricing – those avenues are still being explored.

However, one immediate benefit is that Bright Canopy’s support activities will be folded into those provided by Frame, streamlining issue management. What’s more, the move should also allow the Bright Canopy service to extend its reach into mobile devices: Frame already has a native iOS client, and can provide services to a number of Android devices through Chrome. Finally, the move might also allow further viewer options to be added to Bright Canopy’s stable alongside the Second Life viewer and Firestorm.

Running Bright Canopy on my Asus PCEE 1201N notebook with the graphics turned up to Ultra and everything enabled. The FPS was admittedly hovering just under 20, but given the Asus normally only manages low single-digit FPs nowadays with everything turned-off in the viewer - this is impressive
Running Bright Canopy on my Asus PCEE 1201N notebook with the graphics turned up to Ultra and everything enabled. The FPS was admittedly hovering just under 20, but given the Asus normally only manages low single-digit FPs nowadays with everything turned-off in the viewer – this is impressive

As well as announcing Frame’s direct involvement in Bright Canopy, which will see Jerri Glover continue her involvement in the project as a community volunteer, the press release also confirmed that there will be a special celebratory party at the company’s in-world location in Second Life to both celebrate the re-launch of the service back in September, and this latest news:

To celebrate, we will finally have that big relaunch party we’ve been promising with awesome gifts created just for the event. Come join us to celebrate.  Where: Bright Canopy Island. Time: December 12 at noon SLT (That’s 12/12 at 12:00).

For my own part, and having been privileged to have played a small role in Bright Canopy’s initial start-up and development, I’d like to offer my congratulations to Jerri and Bill, and also to Nikola.

You can read more about Bright Canopy, as I’ve covered developments in this blog, by following this link.