Year: 2016

Project Bento User Group update 3 with audio

Posted on by Inara Pey
Project Bento extends the avatar skeleton, adding a significant set of bones (e.g. 30 for the face, 30 for the hands (both of which can be seen inaction in the image above of an avatar by Matrice Laville), plus bones for wings, tails, additional limbs and ears / antennae
Project Bento extends the avatar skeleton, adding a significant set of bones (e.g. 30 for the face, 30 for the hands (both of which can be seen inaction in the image above of an avatar by Matrice Laville), plus bones for wings, tails, additional limbs and ears / antennae

The following notes and audio were taken from the weekly Bento User Group meeting, held on Aditi every Thursday at 13:00 SLT.

For details on each meeting and the location, please refer to the Bento User Group wiki page.

Bone Survey

The  Bento Bone Survey, intended to gauge the level of interest in various bone proposals for the Bento skeleton is now available. The Lab is requesting animators and content creators with a vested interest in Project Bento to rank the bone proposals to help with prioritising which additional bones people would like to see added to the Second Life avatar skeleton as a part of the Bento work.

If you are an animator / content creator with such an interest, and you haven’t already completed the survey, please ensure you do so as soon as possible, as it is likely to be closed on or shortly after Monday, February 1st.

The Lab notes they do not currently know how many additional bones we can reasonably add, or whether some of the associated bugs can be fixed.

Drax Files Filming

The final session of Bento filming for The Drax Files World Makers will take place on Monday,  February 1st at 11:00 SLT at the Bento Island region on Aditi. All those with an avatar developed using the Bento avatar skeleton extensions are invited to attend.

Deformed Avatars

Distortions with Altitude

Cathy Foil has been examining issues with deformations at altitude occurring in avatars using the Bento  skeleton. She first noticed the issue whilst Bento was in closed session and reported details to the Lab. However, efforts at pinning down he precise cause have been hampered up until recently by not being able to gather sufficient data from the skeleton and a lack of detailed comparisons between the effects as seen on various viewers utilising the Bento code.

Cathy has been addressing this using the most recent release of the Bento project viewer, and carrying out further detailed tests at various altitudes to document the severity of the issues more fully (they tend become noticeable at altitudes over 1000 metres). She has now passed her latest findings over to the Lab for their investigations.

Distortions and deformations in avatars using the Bento skeleton were noticed in the closed session Bento development cycle. Since then, Cathy Foil has been digging more deeply into the problems
Distortions and deformations in avatars using the Bento skeleton when at altitude (the greater the altitude, the more noticeable the issues, as seen left-to-right, above) were noticed in the closed session Bento development cycle. Since then, Cathy Foil has been digging more deeply into the problems

“Squished” Avatars”

Cathy has also been investigating the issue of avatars deforming as a result of using a mesh uploaded with different joint positions. This tend to result in avatars looking “squished” or otherwise deformed.

As she uses Maya, part of her investigations point towards possible issues with versions of the plug-ins used by Maya to convert .FBX format mesh files to .Collada .DAE (the format used by SL). Whether or not the plug-ins are the cause isn’t definitive as a cause, but may be a contributing factor. As Vir noted in the meeting, if this is the case, then it is unlikely the Lab can do much about it, but those using Maya affected by the issue may need to check the version of the Collada plug-in they are using, and make sure they have the most recent to see if this clears the problem.

If it is more of an issue with the mesh uploader, however (because the Lab have missed something, for example), then obviously, there is more of a chance of the Lab taking remedial action.

Cathy Foil discusses her investigations into avatar deformations at altitude

Joint Reset Issues

A long-term problem with Bento has been it is easy for joints to get into the wrong state and / or position when animating an avatar using the Bento skeleton extensions. It’s often not clear why this happens when it occurs, which can be somewhat random. Vir has started collecting data on the issue. Nothing definitive has been identified in terms of a cause or causes, but Vir will be continuing to work on the issue.

“First Frame” Animation / Default Avatar Pose Issues

Another issue which has been noted is that of a first frame of an animation begin played three times as the animation is run, and which may be connected to default avatar poses within Second Life. This is a fairly “old” bug, dating back as far as 2007 (see BUG-11194), and which seems to be more prevalent with Bento as a result of bones being used differently (e.g. arm bones being used as forelegs, etc).

Medhue demonstrates the forleg crossing using his wolf avatar. The issue is a lot more extensive than this, with the avatar sometimes looking as if it is standing with forelegs folded in the same way a human folds their arms
Medhue demonstrates the forleg crossing using his wolf avatar. The issue is a lot more extensive than this, with the avatar sometimes looking as if it is standing with forelegs folded in the same way a human folds their arms

Medhue Simoni demonstrated the issue using two of has non-human avatars, an elephant and a wolf, which saw both attempt to cross their front legs (as a human might try to fold their arms) when transitioning between animations.

A lengthy discussion followed on the problem, which might also involve a number of other issues, including poses “baked” into the default avatar skeleton, possible race conditions between the viewer and the server, and issues with animation prioritisation.

It may also be related to how Second Life handles transitions between animations (referred to as animations “easing out” and “easing in” when moving from one to another), which has had other problems reported against it as well – see also BUG-11122, for example.

As indicated in Vir’s comment on BUG-11194, and noted in the discussion, there is some initial concern from the Lab that if the playing in triplicate was an intentional change – and one made well before most developers currently at the Lab having joined the company – or if it requires symmetrical changes on both the viewer and the server, it might result in some content breakage without detailed analysis, although Vir has now started digging into the code to have a look.

Continue reading “Project Bento User Group update 3 with audio” →

2016 Mole Day and Bay City History in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey

PaleoQuest; Inara Pey, July 2015, on FlickrPaleoQuest, July 2015, one of the more recent projects undertaken by the Moles of the LDPW – blog post

Saturday, 30th of January, 2016 marks the annual Mole Day celebrations in Second Life, and all SL residents are invited to attend festivities at the Bay City Fairgrounds, North Channel.

First held in 2010, Mole Day honours the members of the Linden Department of Public Works (LDPW), affectionately known as the “moles”, who are responsible for the construction of the Mainland infrastructure in Second Life – the roads, railways, waterways, and so on.

Maximillion Kleen and Gospeed Racer will provide the entertainment at the 2016 Mole Day celebrations
Maximillion Kleen and Gospeed Racer will provide the entertainment at the 2016 Mole Day celebrations

“Moles” are resident builders, scripters and others who create new content on Linden Lab’s behalf and to the benefit of all. These Residents all have Second Life accounts with the last name “Mole”, and work under the auspices of the Linden Department of Public Works (LDPW).

The Moles have been responsible for some of the larger mainland development projects, such as creating many of the more famous sights in Nautilus and wells as undertaking initial development of Zindra, the Adult continent.

More recently they have been directly involved in projects such as PaleoQuest and Winter Wonderland. The Moles also develop Linden Homes regions on behalf of the Lab, including all of the parks and places to discover within them.

However, their very first project was developing Bay City itself – hence the City’s annual celebration honouring them.

This year’s Mole Day celebrations will take place on Saturday, 30th of January, 2016, three days earlier than the usual Ground-hog Day time for the event, so that full advantage can be taken of the weekend. Activities will start at 11:00 SLT,  with a live performance by Maximillion Kleen, followed by music from KONA Radio’s Gospeed Racer.

Bay City History Exhibition

For Bay Citizens, one of the highlights of Second Life’s 10th Birthday Community Celebration in 2013 was a display highlighting the history of Bay City and the Bay City Alliance. It has long been hoped that the display could be brought back to Bay City.

Now, thanks to the generosity Sylvia Tamalyn, and the support of Bay City History Pavilion producer Marianne McCann, together with by Uccello and Angela Poultry-Seale and Laetizia “Tish” Coronet, the Bay City history exhibition now has a new home. and will officially open alongside of the Mole Day celebrations.

The Bay City History exhibition covers three floors and present visitors with a chronological history of Bay City - and more
The Bay City History exhibition covers three floors and present visitors with a chronological history of Bay City – and more

Spread over the three floors of a converted office building, the exhibition boasts a chronological history of the city, as well as a Bay City poster display, a wall featuring past and present Ms Bay City winners, and a photo display of prominent places around the city, making the latest in a long line of visitor destinations in and around Bay City.

About Bay City and the Bay City Alliance

Bay City is a mainland community, developed by Linden Lab® and home to the Bay City Alliance. The Bay City Alliance was founded in 2008 to promote the Bay City regions of Second Life and provide a venue for Bay City Residents and other interested parties to socialize and network. It is now the largest group for Residents of Bay City.

With thanks to Marianne McCann.

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A studio in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
The Studio, Holly Kai Gardens
The Studio, Holly Kai Gardens

I’ve often said that I don’t classify myself a photographer or artist. While I do travel far and wide across Second Life visiting regions and art installations and taking photos, amassing several thousand images as a result, I do so more for the purposes of illustrating this blog than for any attempt at artistic endeavour on my part.

Similarly, while I do publish to Flickr, and occasionally share images in various groups there, I do so more because Flickr gives me unlimited storage space when compared to the limited space offered by WordPress, which I tend to use more for images and audio used with news, opinion and update pieces.

The Studio, Holly Kai Gardens
The Studio, Holly Kai Gardens

Nevertheless, all that said, in taking up curating art exhibitions at Holly Kai Park and Holly Kai Garden, I was given the opportunity to establish my own studio at Holly Kai Garden for displaying my work for those who might like to see it in-world.

Located between the koi carp pond and the public terrace at the garden, and facing the two art terraces, it provides me with room to display 26 images, and I plan to rotate those on display on a fairly regular basis.  The split level design offers what I hope will be a cosy little seating area on the upper level, with armchairs places before a warming fire. A coffee machine on the shelf dispenses hot beverages for those in need of some caffeine 🙂 .

The Studio, Holly Kai Garden
The Studio, Holly Kai Garden

I’ve also added lighting to the studio to add a little atmosphere, so having advanced lighting enabled when visiting may add to any visit you might make, but you don’t need to necessarily have shadows enabled, so hopefully this won’t be much of a performance hit if your system does find shadows hard to handle.

The studio will be open alongside of art exhibitions on the Holly Kai Garden terraces, and while I can’t promise to always be there myself, I hope that those of you who do drop in to Holly Kai Park and / or the garden to enjoy the exhibitions staged in either, might also enjoy a visit to the studio as well.

The Studio, Holly Kai Gardens
The Studio, Holly Kai Gardens

And in terms of the park and garden, don’t forget Holly Kai Park features an outstanding group of artists in the first of the renewed Art at the Park series, which runs through until February 7th; while just opened at Holly Kai Garden is Paintings of the Dutch Masters, beautifully curated by Drw. There will be a celebratory party for the latter at the garden on Friday, January 29th   starting at 16:00 SLT, featuring the music of DJ Anthony Wesburn.

You can follow all the latest updates concerning Holly Kai Park and its facilities via the Holly Kai website.

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“If you just build it, they might not come”: promoting events in SL

Posted on by caledoniaskytower
Seanchai Library, directly and through Storyfests SL, have organised, promoted and run a range of popular and successful events over the years, including a recreation of Orson Welles' 1938 broadcast of War of the Worlds - with suitable embellishments!
War of the Worlds, one of a long line of successful special events organised and promoted by Seanchai Library over the years

Welcome to the first in a news series and to a new departure for this blog – articles by guest contributors. In this series, and over the coming weeks, Caledonia Skytower examines the ins and outs and dos and don’ts of event promotion in a virtual world.

By Caledonia Skytower

1.    Blasting the Myths

Second Life is like baseball, or rather like baseball movies.  Is it really? There is an insidious myth in virtual worlds that if you create something that you believe is wonderful, and tell a few friends about it, people will (and should) come flocking from all parts virtual to see your brilliance, experience your events, fill your jars with awe-induced tips.

“If you build it, they will come”, may be a misquote from a certain Hollywood movie featuring Kevin Costner, Ray Liotta and James Earl Jones, but there are times when it feels like it is the motto by which many live by when developing something in a virtual world we want to share with others.

But here is the myth-shattering reality: it takes almost as much time and effort to promote something successfully, as it does to create it. Event and ongoing venue promotion is hard work.  In managing Seanchai Library, which has decent and consistent success for a venue that does not have a single dance pole, I spend approximately 15 hours a week.  Four to five hours of that, depending on the week, is in promotion – nearly one-third.  It is enough to make you get tired of hearing your own promotional voice. You really cannot  get tired of promoting if you want to build a meaningful presence, or have more than three of your BFFs attend your event or explore your creation.

Building something and sending out a few note cards and group notices might now always fill your seats
Building something and sending out a few note cards and group notices, then hoping to luck and word-of-mouth  might not fill your seats

There is no one single way to reach people – no silver bullet or easy answer.  Why is that?  Because people are diverse. They take in information and make decisions about where they spend their time in different ways.  Just as there are different types of learners – people who absorb information best visually, audibly, and kinetically, etc – people look for and process news information in ways that suit how they personally are wired.  It is more than just sending out a few note cards and IM bombing your friends list.  If you want to build a healthy audience base, one with an ever-changing balance of faithful supporters and refreshing new pixels, you have to get information to people in a form and manner that taps into their natural habits.  That is your job!

Back when I was artistic director of a non-profit performing arts company in the first-world, we used to print posters and would allot a certain amount of them to the cast and crew.  This is a pretty fundamental strategy, because your number one audience source (pay attention to this!) is always friends and family.  So you want your performers/artists to be passing the word – to be “roaring lions” as the saying goes.  Actors especially, like keepsakes. A poster is a classic one.  We had to keep reminding people that, unless their back seat had become some unique kind of public place with a lot of people coming and going, leaving posters in the back of the car was defeating the intent of the poster.  Put the posters where people will see them!

Promoting an event / experience can take many forms - posters, blog posts, press releases, hitting social media
Put your promotional material where people will see it – in-world and out-world

The same holds true with information of all kinds about places and events in Second Life.  You have to figure out where people are looking for information, and you have to get your information there for them to see.  You have to be clear and consistent.

This is something that Inara and I have discussed many times – how people can be so naive about promotion.  To be fair, not all of them have had the experience that we have had: having both been virtual journalists and had some experience in promotion elsewhere.  Most of us are consumers of such information, not the progenitors of it. So that is how this series was born, and I want to thank Inara for her support in publishing it.

I do not know absolutely everything about marketing and promotion.  I am not even a marketing professional in first-life. However, over the years I have learned a thing or five, and what I know I will share.  Some concepts do not change with technology or platforms, they just have to be re-applied appropriately in the new context. In this series of posts I will share everything from absolute beginner basics, to evaluating the success of your efforts.

Hang on, and have your pencils sharpened.  Successful events and healthy region traffic will be your final exam.

NEXT POST: The Basics – Who? What? Where? When?

Catch the Entire Series

If You Just Build It… is a multi-part series. To catch up with everything, follow the links below.

  1. Blasting the Myths
  2. The Basics: Who? What? Where? When? How?
  3. Words matter. So does how you use and share them
  4. Creating Visual Collateral

 

High Water in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey

High Water; Inara Pey, January 2016, on Flickr High Water (Flickr) – click any image for full size

High Water is a languid setting; a place where the water drifts by at ankle depth, its surface broken in places by scatterings of trees, wild flowers and slender stalks of grass. Overhead, clouds pass a little more hurriedly, their scudding passage the fastest movement to be seen. Beyond them, the sky is turning deep blue as the Sun lowers itself slowly towards a distant horizon.

Designed by Morton Funk, High Water is a tranquil place where even the sounds are few; while birds circle in places, they make no noise, and although the passage of the breeze may stir the leaves and branches of the trees, it does not cause them to offer the expected sigh to mark its passing.

High Water; Inara Pey, January 2016, on Flickr High Water (Flickr)

Also scattered across this watery vista are places to sit, each placed so that those using them can look out over the water, as a fine mist clings to it here and there, and simply contemplate whatever chooses to slip gently into their thoughts.

Within this tranquillity, a touch of whimsy and signs of an open heart can be found. As you explore, you may come across a pair of Cica Ghost’s cats, apparently enjoying the water, or a strange fish happily “swimming” in the air above the water. Elsewhere, beneath the surface of the water, a heartfelt message reads, if you should leave me. I have no place to go.

High Water; Inara Pey, January 2016, on Flickr High Water (Flickr)

For those who enjoy a little activity, horses roam the waters, awaiting riders. Should you do so, the sound of hooves beneath you might be the only thing to break the stillness of the region. Or if you prefer, and again located just beneath the surface of the water, a dance machine will allow you to enjoy the music stream which, at the time of our visit, featured  the music of the late David Bowie.

High Water has the feel of being organic in form; as we wandered, I couldn’t help but feel that things had arrived here not so much by intentional design, but as thoughts and ideas occurred to Morton, the environment thus growing quite naturally over time. This, and the tranquil setting, makes it a place to which we’re almost certain to return, to see what else may have arrived.

High Water; Inara Pey, January 2016, on Flickr High Water (Flickr)

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Dutch Masters at Holly Kai Garden

Posted on by Inara Pey
Paintings of the Dutch Masters - Holly Kai Garden
Paintings of the Dutch Masters – Holly Kai Garden

In October 2014, I wrote about the Dutch Masters exhibition curated and mounted by Drw (Drwyndwn Tyne) at his Gallery, Tyne’s Fine Art. At the time, the exhibition made quite an impression on me, such was the sense of presence one gained in being able to view masterpieces of the Dutch Golden Age, uniquely gathered together and beautifully presented in a single location.

I’m therefore extremely delighted that Drw accepted an invitation to display his collection at Holly Kai as the inaugural exhibition in our new Art at the Garden  series.

Paintings of the Dutch Masters - Holly Kai Garden
Paintings of the Dutch Masters – Holly Kai Garden

Opening on Wednesday, January 27th and running through until 28th February, 2015, Paintings of the Dutch Masters presents 40 painting by the likes of Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, Ludolf Bakhuizen, Gerard van Honthorst, all beautifully reproduced and mounted by Drw, and displayed within the two terraces at Holly Kai Garden.

Each piece has been reproduced in the precise aspect ratio of the original, with an additional 15% added to allow for viewing in Second Life, thus adding to the authentic look to each of them, and care has been taken to ensure any copyrights held by the museums hosting the original pieces have not been violated. Further, they are all mounted in picture frames which heighten the feeling of viewing the pieces in person. Click on a frame, it will offer two options: Museum Card and Examine. The former will offer you a texture containing the notes accompanying the piece as presented by the gallery where it is displayed.

Paintings of the Dutch Masters - Holly Kai Garden
Paintings of the Dutch Masters – Holly Kai Garden

Select Examine, however, and you’ll be invited to click the painting again. This will place your avatar in a seated hover position and focus your camera directly on the art; thus, you are able to examine the painting in fine detail, almost as if standing before it in a physical world gallery  (should your camera fail to orient itself after clicking the painting, tap ESC once to adjust it).

Paintings of the Dutch Masters presents a marvellous cross-section of art from the period: portraits, landscapes, studies, all of which help to understand why this period in Dutch History, spanning the 17th century, was so influential; the new Dutch Republic being the most prosperous European nation at the time, leading the way in European trade, science, and art.

Paintings of the Dutch Masters - Holly Kai Garden
Paintings of the Dutch Masters – Holly Kai Garden

More than that, however, it offers the means to truly appreciate magnificent artwork for some of the great masters of their craft, side-by-side and in a manner which could not be enjoyed in the physical world, where many of the pieces are geographically separated by museums. We look forward to seeing you at the garden.

To mark the opening, there will be a special celebration at the garden terrace, from 4:00pm SLT on Friday, January 29th, featuring the music of DJ Anthony Wesburn. Anthony brings a unique style to his music in Second Life. Covering multiple genres including blues, classic rock, and jazz, he not only spinning the tunes, but brings his audience little tidbits of information on the songs and artists he’s playing. Dress code is smart casual / semi-formal.

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