Month: January 2017

The Forest Beyond in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
The Forest Beyond
The Forest Beyond

In the latter half of 2017, Ceakay Ballyhoo presented A Watercolour Wander, an exploration of a landscape rendered as a watercolour painting, complete with its own story (read more about it here). It was an imaginative approach to art and storytelling which at the time attracted Seanchai Library’s Caledonia Skytower to present readings of the story during walking tours of the installation.

Given that this melding of art and tale worked so well, little wonder that Ceakay has continued to explore the idea, and recently opened a follow-up environment and story, The Forest Beyond. Only in this case, rather than wandering a landscape rendered as a painting, visitors are invited to explore a painting rendered as a landscape.

The Forest Beyond
The Forest Beyond

Located on Ceakay’s own region, The Forest Beyond reunites us with Ceakay’s little girl from the first story – whose name, we learn, is Elle. As she drifts off to sleep, her eyes are drawn to a new painting on her bedroom wall, a Christmas present depicting mushrooms with faces under their broad, spotted tops, sitting under a starry sky, the warm glow of lights or a fire emanating from the entrance of a cave beyond them – and thus she falls asleep, and into the painting itself, wherein lies an adventure – which visitors are invited to share as they follow a path through the region and the painting.

A story is provided to help people along the way, and can be read in one of two ways: by visiting Ceakay’s blog, or by touching the little story stones located alongside each major scene of Elle’s dream to receive a note card. But be warned – there is more than just one story to be found here!

The Forest Beyond
The Forest Beyond

“The painting was made in autumn 2016. It was part of a small exposition at my gallery,” Ceakay (CK for short) explains. “[Then I]  started to try to make a hollow hill sculpt and once she accomplished that, [I] decided on making a world behind the painting.  The story developed as the build was progressing, fitting the separate textures and sculpts together as a whole.”

“Not all the creatures and trees or scenes have been included in the story of the Little Girl and the Forest Beyond,” she continues, referencing the additional scenes to be found in the forest. “The ones that have are certain to have unmentioned stories to their lives yet, the one that aren’t are waiting for people to add their own stories to them.”

The Forest Beyond
The Forest Beyond

And therein lies an invitation. If you enjoy creative writing, CK invites you to visit the forest and write your own short story or poem or song about what captures your imagination there – look for the reflections in the lake as an example of some of the things not featured in Elle’s story.Sorties submitted to CK via note card or e-mail ceakayballyhoo-at-gmail.com) by February 12th, 2017, could stand to win a L$500 prize!  To help get imaginations turning, there are several spots just off the main path offering places to sit and think, or to simply spend a little time relaxing.

This is another enchanting installation by CK. When visiting, do please consider a donation towards the upkeep of the region, and if you enjoy the story, memorabilia – models of the characters, paintings of the scenes, etc., can be purchased from the little shop area at the end of the trail.

SLurl Details

SL project updates 2017-2/1: 64-bit viewer and Monday Blues

Posted on by Inara Pey

Nagare no Shimajima, Restless Times; Inara Pey, January 2017, on FlickrNagare no Shimajima, Restless Times – blog post

Server Deployments

There are no planned deployments for the week. However, all servers on the three RC regions will be subject to a rolling restart. This is in accordance with the Lab’s new policy of restarting channels every fortnight, whether or not there is an associated deployment. As the Main (SLS) channel underwent a restart on Tuesday, January third, server on this channel were not restarted this week.

SL Viewer

Project Alex Ivy

The 64-bit versions of the official viewer arrived in project viewer form on Tuesday, January 10th, under the code name Project Alex Ivy – which I take to be a reference to 64 (LXIV being 64 in Roman numerals, hence aLeX IVy).

The viewer, version 5.1.0.501863, has been built using the newly updated and upgraded libraries and build process the Lab has been putting together, which will also be used for 32-bit Windows builds. Thus, the project viewer is available in three flavours:

  • 64-bit Mac
  • 64-bit Windows
  • 32-bit Windows.

There is no Linux viewer as yet, but the Lab has indicated it is their intention to provide one, although TPVs and open-source contributors are likely to still be asked to help with its ongoing support.

Additionally, the following points, as specified in the release notes, should be underlined (although please ensure you read the release notes in full if you intend to try this viewer:

  • The Mac build has several known limitations:
    • There is currently no Mac Havok build,so pathfinding paths cannot be visualised, and it may not be possible to upload mesh assets.
    • Video media using QuickTime does not play.
  • The 64-bit version will not run on Windows 10 systems with Intel HD 2000/3000 GPUs and may not run on other systems that do not have GPUs explicitly supporting Windows 10.

These shortfalls will be addressed as the viewer progresses through the project and release candidate phases to release status in the next weeks / months. Once released, it will signal the end of the 32-bit MAC version of the viewer (and possibly the 32-bit Linux version). The Windows version will continue to be available as a 32-bit build as well as having the new 64-build available.

Also, note that this viewer doesn’t include any functional updates / changes to the existing viewer.

Remaining Viewers Pipelines

Outside of the 64-bit project viewer, the various viewer pipelines remain as my last SL project update:

  • Current Release version: 5.0.0.321958, dated December 1st, promoted December 5th – formerly the Project Bento RC viewer
  • Maintenance RC viewer, version 5.0.1.322513, dated December 21st – some 42 fixes and improvements + Bento support
  • 360-degree snapshot project viewer, version 4.1.3.321712, dated November 23rd – ability to take 360-degree panoramic images – hands-on review
  • Obsolete platform viewer version 3.7.28.300847, dated May 8, 2015 – provided for users on Windows XP and OS X versions below 10.7.

Monday Outage

On Monday, January 9th, many users were hit with significant issues, with many finding themselves unable to log-in, or being disconnected from the simulators and unable to log back in. On Tuesday, January 10th, April Linden from the Ops team posted another of her excellent post-mortem blog posts on what happened, and I recommend it as a worthwhile and informative read.

In essence a failure within a third-party provider used by the Lab failed to trigger the expected automatic switch-over of connections for all users accessing Second Life through that provider. As a result, those users were disconnected from the service, and due to the volume of people trying to re-connect, couple (I assume with those simply trying to log in, unaware of problems) generated a backlog, forcing the Lab to bring additional log-in servers on-line.

Once again, April does an excellent job in explaining things – revealing more of the complexities of SL in the process (which, as I’ve oft said in the past, goes well beyond just the simulator servers), and also offers apologies for the Monday problems.

The Sagan Planetarium in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Sagan Planetarium
Sagan Planetarium – click any image for full size

It’s no secret that I love space exploration and astronomy – hence my Space Sunday series. Both are subjects which fit wonderfully into the niche of virtual worlds and virtual spaces, so I’m always on the look out from locations expressing either in-world. It therefore came as complete surprise to learn about the Sagan Planetarium  courtesy of a Tweet and blog post by Ricco Saenz; so much so that I had to clear all other plans for region visits and move it to the top of my list of places to visit.

The planetarium – obviously named after one of the 20th century’s greatest intellects, the late astronomer and astrophysicist Carl Sagan – is the work of Josh Nitschke and is frankly a must-see visit, whatever your level of interest in astronomy and space exploration. The visitor spaces are split into four areas: the entrance lobby (I’ve used this as the landing point in the SLurls in this article), the Exhibition Hall, the main skydome and an outdoor orrery.

Sagan Planetarium
Sagan Planetarium – Exhibition Hall

The exhibition area provides information boards on galaxies, nebulae, space missions such as Sputnik and the Hubble Space Telescope, and more. However, it is the interactive model of the Sun and the major planets of the solar system which is liable to hold attention. This provides a set of (not-to-scale, for obvious reasons!) models of the major planets from Mercury to Neptune, each with its significant moons (where applicable) and a sets of data panels. Given there is a wealth of information available about the planets, Josh has provided an excellent breakdown for each, although you’ll have to zoom right in to the panels to read it all. Touch the Sun and any of the planets, and you’ll get an annotated cutaway of the interior.

Above these is a model of the solar system going from the Sun to the orbit of Neptune – and this is to a scale of 1 metre to 1 billion kilometres. You can get an idea of the vastness of the space immediately around us, though, as none of the planets are visible in the model; only their orbits are shown, colour-coded – and you’ll have to zoom all the way in to even see the pinpoint of the Sun.

Sagan Planetarium
Sagan Planetarium – Skyhome show: that’s me in white over on the right to give an idea of scale. Note Saturn’s shadow falling across its rings in keeping with its position relative to the Sun

The skydome currently offer a single show – the Solar System. Lasting a little over 34 minutes, this is a multi-media presentation, requiring visitors accept the audio stream narration, written by Josh and given narrated by Phoenix Colter (this can also be obtained in a note card, but trying to read and watch the show is cumbersome; far better to listen if you can). Split into a number of elements, this show takes visitors on a journey through the solar system, from the Sun to the Kuiper belt, going by way of the cosmos at large. It incorporates the solar system’s creation, a look at the Sun and the major planets (and little Pluto – Charon, so far absent due to Pluto’s reclassification as a minor planet), and our emerging understanding of the solar system.

The wealth of information within the show is again extraordinary, and includes interactive elements: you can zoom at touch the planets when they are the focus of the show, for example, and see their interior structures. Two more shows are  – or have been – in preparation for the skydome, one on the Apollo missions and one on the moons of the solar system. Assuming they’re both still in preparation (I’ve IM’d Josh to ask), I look forward to seeing them.

Sagan Planetarium
Sagan Planetarium – Exhibition Hall planetary display

The orrery is located outside of the planetarium building and should not be missed. Beautifully ornate and in full working order – simply pull the control lever – it is the icing on the cake of a superb installation.

This is a fabulous build and presentation – the more so for all the core elements having been designed, written and scripted by Josh himself. As a planetarium, Sagan Planetarium stands head and shoulders above anything of this kind I’ve seen elsewhere. Yes, the presentation may be a little out-of-date courtesy of Dawn, Juno, New Horizons, and Rosetta, but this doesn’t in any way detract from what is presented. Sagan planetarium is a superb demonstration of what can be achieved within Second Life, visually and educationally.

Sagan Planetarium
Sagan Planetarium – the Orrery

I cannot recommend this enough – late though I might be in visiting myself! When visiting, please do consider a donation towards the upkeep of the facility, either directly or via the purchase of one of Josh’s brilliant models on sale in the gift shop.

SLurl Details

Dathúil: visions of desire in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Aisling - Dathúil Gallery
Aisling – Dathúil Gallery

Dathúil Gallery, curated and operated by Max Butoh and Lυcy (LucyDiam0nd), has opened its 2017 season with a new exhibition which runs through until the end of the month. Aisling – subtitled Our Desire as Image – sees Max and Lucy extend an invitation to some of those who have previously exhibited at Dathúil to present one or two images apiece on the theme of aisling, being the Irish for vision or poem, and which might also be interpreted as “dream” or “apparition”.

The dozen artists invited to participate in the exhibition are Cicciuzzo Gausman (June 2016), Mr. and Mrs S (Saka Infinity and (Lauralar – August 2015), Daze Landar (DaisyDaze – August 2016), Yann Whoa (Lottomann, April 2015), Io Bechir – January 2016, Maloe Vansant (September 2015), Kate Bergdorf (April 2016), ElizabethNantes (July 2016), Joslyn Benson (Jolivea Tyran – March 2016), Mi (Kissmi – November 2016) and Ash (Ashratum – May 2015). Between them they present some interesting – and occasionally NSFW (!) takes on the theme.

Aisling - Dathúil Gallery
Aisling – Dathúil Gallery

This is a lot of outstanding talent to exhibit under one roof; perhaps too much. Speaking personally, for an event like this, I’d prefer to see a smaller number invited back and asked to display perhaps two or three images apiece. For me, this would allow for a broader appreciation of individual artist’s style and approach, while simultaneously allowing the visitor to more directly compare and contrast approaches and styles, helping to present a more rounded appreciation of the artists and their work.

Nevertheless Aisling is a rich visual feast of images from some of Second Life’s most expressive artists, all of whom I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing at Dathúil. It also offers something of an interesting retrospective on past exhibitors at the gallery without in any way being a retrospective.

Aisling - Dathúil Gallery
Aisling – Dathúil Gallery

The introductory note card at the exhibition provides liner notes from some of the artists on the pieces they present at the gallery, and so should be read. Also, all the images in display available free of charge, should you wish to add one or two to your own collection.

SLurl Details

Horizons land auctions: the half-way point

Posted on by Inara Pey
Horizons: looking at the auctions to date
Horizons: looking at the auctions to date

On Tuesday, November 15th 2016, the Lab launched the Premium members’ Horizons community, a “retro-futuristic” mainland environment featuring 36 residential regions each with 24 parcels available for auction to Premium members, with auctions commencing on Friday, November 18th 2016, with parcels being auctioned in batches of (generally) 10.

Obviously with 864 parcels to auction, it would take some time to get through things. However, the holiday period marked the half-way point in the auctions with 432 parcels auctioned across 18 regions. As Whirly Fizzle and I started monitoring things (largely out of curiosity), and I gave a snapshot at the end of the first weeks of auctions, the half-way point seemed a good opportunity to provide a further snapshot, based on how those 432 regions looked as of Friday, January 6th, 2017.

GENERAL STATUS OF PARCELS FOR BATCH 1 (10 regions) AND BATCH 2 (8 regions)
 Auctioned Parcels Available For (Sold / Rented) Original Auction Others
Sale Rent Either Sold Rented Comm. Resid. Aband Pend Unkn
Batch 1 240 95 55 9 (30) (13) 4 18 1 13 47
Batch 2 192 45 66 24 (3) (3) 7 13 1 0 36
Totals 432 139 121 32 (33) (16) 11 31 2 13 83

Notes

  • Parcels Available For = those parcels bid for and placed immediately on sale / for rent / either
  • Sold / Rented= number of parcels actually sold / rented whether placed for sale  or for rent or either. These set subsets of the Parcels Available For figures, and further breakdowns are provided below
  • Original Auction = those parcels which went directly to private residential use / commercial use during the original auction
    • 4 of the residential parcels may in fact be rented out by bidder
  • Others:
    • Aband = parcels already abandoned by original bidder
    • Pend = regions obtained for sale, but either currently not on sale by bidder (6) or removed from sale by bidder (7 – see sales review, below)
    • Unkn = regions which are not currently in use, nor are they apparently for sale or for rent, and where parcel holders have not responded to enquiries.
RENTAL PARCELS SUMMARY
For Rent Total Rented (16)

Residential Commercial
153 13 3
  • 153 is the total number of parcels available for rent (121), and those offered for rent or purchase (32)
  • Of the 153 parcels currently for rent / rented:
    • 89 are offered through one group of rental operators
    • The remaining 64 are offered through 11 rental groups, with between 1 and 14 parcels on offer per group
  • The average weekly rental for those parcels offered for rent is L$885 (low: L$550; high: L$975)
  • The average weekly rental for parcels offered for sale or rent is L$608 (low: L$495; high: L$800)
PARCEL SALES REVIEW
 Total for Sale Sold (32)
  For Sale Below Bid Price
Residential Commercial Both Re-sale
139 17 10 1 4 20
  • Total for regions on sale does not include those parcels offers for sale or for rent – see rental figures above
  • Of the 139 parcels currently available for sale / sold:
    • 98 are offered by three land sales groups
    • The remaining 41 are offered by 12 land groups / individuals, with between 1 and 12 parcels per individual / group
    • 5 parcels are on sale at prices above L$100,000, ranging from L$112,000 (58.98% mark-up on bid prices) to L$249,000 (255.67% mark-up on bid price) by two land holders
  • Average sale prices:
    • Among all 139 parcels for sale:  L$45,408.
    • Among the three biggest parcel sellers (98 parcels): L$37,360
  • The margins between bid price and sale price vary hugely, between just 2.42% (L$41,000 on a bid price of L$40,033) through to 231.38% (L$199,999 on a bid price of L$62,232)
  • Some 45 parcels have been reduced in price since first being offered for sale
    • The average mark-down on their original price being approximately 25.88%
    • 20 are current for sale at below their original bid price
      • Average drop below bid price: 17.44%
      • Largest drop 50.02% – sale price of L$15,000 on original bid of L$30,010
      • Smallest drop is 0.3% – sale price of L$38,000 on original bid of L$38,010
      • The majority of these drops have been to parcels auctioned in the first batch, and bring prices down to more closely match the prices of parcels the same bidders are selling on other Horizons regions
  • Of the four regions purchased and flipped for re-sale, 3 are by residents without an associated land group / business; one is by another land company active in Horizons.

Commercial Activities

Commercial activities are largely stores (avatar accessories, building materials etc.). Two adult club environments are within Horizons and one sci-fi themed bar.

Approximate Revenue Breakdown

The following table gives a breakdown of approximate revenue across the 18 regions auctioned to date. The US $  value is based on L$260 to the $.

APPROXIMATE AUCTION REVENUES – BATCH 1 AND BATCH 2
Auction Batches Approx L$ Raised Through Auction
 Approx US $ (at L$260 / US $)
Batch 1 (10 regions / 240 parcels) 8,714,966.00 33,519.10
 Batch 2 – (8 regions / 192 parcels) 4,309,833.00 16,576.28
TOTALS: 13,024,799.00 50,095.38

Unsurprisingly, the two regions with direct access to open water (that is, parcel which directly access water, with no intervening protected land) – Apollo and Pandora, both located on the south side of Horizons and facing Zindra across water open for sailing / boating, drew the most competitive bidding.

BATCH 1 BY REGION (All 24 Parcels per Region)
Region Total L$
 Approx US $
 Highest
 Lowest
 Direct Water Access
Apollo 962,882.00 3,703.39 L$80,000 L$29,787 (x2) 6 parcels
Astrid 749,142.00 2,881.32 L$45,009 L$27,087 (x2) None
Galatea 882,008.00 3,392.34 L$70,010 L$27,010 None
Halley 857,738.00 3,298.99 L$60,010 L$27,111 None
Mercury 903,371.00 3,474.50 L$60,010 L$28,110 None
Nova 857,107.00 3,296.57 L$65,010 L$27,110 None
Pandora 1,029,400.00 3,959.23 L$102,454 L$27,110 (x2) 6 parcels
Polaris 960,663.00 3,694.86 L$60,020 L$27,111 None
Thule 785,673.00 3,021.82 L$45,565 L$27,087 None
Triton 726,982.00 2,792.08 L$40,033 L$26,010 None

The second batch of regions auctioned drew considerably lower value bids, with the third batch of regions more-or-less matching the second thus far.

BATCH 2 BY REGION (All 24 Parcels per Region)
Region Total L$
 Approx US $
 Highest
 Lowest
 Direct Water Access
Atlas 542.964.00 2,088.32 L$40,010 L$15,010 None
Celeste 495,317.00 1,905.07 L$30,010 L$12,022 None
Halo 461,464.00 1,774.86 L$32,010 L$13,038 None
Neptune 583,522.00 2,244.32 L$40,121 L$12,121 None
Orion 589,377.00 2,266.83 L$37,799 L$15,009 None
Pluto 521,321.00 2,005.08 L$40,000 L$13,039 None
Sirius 580,799.00 2,233.84 L$42,010 L$12,455 None
Venus 535,069.00 2,057.96 L$40,033 L$26,010 None

General Observations

Outside of those bidding on the parcel lots, there appears to be little direct interest from Premium members in obtaining a property within Horizons. Some may be put off by the Adult rating, others by the lack of any covenant. While the high price of bids places during the first batch of auctions might be considered a reason, the second batch of auctions averages close to half the per parcel bid price of the initial batch, and still generated little direct take-up. This appears to be the case with the third batch.

Rentals  – which should allow non-Premium members to gain a parcel within Horizons if they wished – are currently gaining little traction, although this could be own to lack of promotion on the part of the rental groups. Obviously, the advantage of Mainland holding is they are not a tremendous drain on resources in the way that partially occupied private regions can be.

There may be a follow-up report at the conclusion of the bidding. Or at least a summary of potential revenues. Putting this report together was too much like hard work!

2017 viewer release summaries: week 1

Posted on by Inara Pey

Updates for the week ending Sunday, January 8th

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: 5.0.0.321958, dated December 1, promoted December 5 (no change) – formerly the Project Bento RC viewer download page, release notes.
  • Release channel cohorts (please 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

V5-style

  • Alchemy updated to version 5.0.0.40120 on January 8th – Bento + estate manager support (release notes)

V1-style

Mobile / Other Clients

  • No updates.

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links