Month: August 2017

August Art at the Park in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Holly Kai Park

Saturday, August 5th marks the opening on the August edition of Art at the Park at Holly Kai Park, which run through until Sunday, September 3rd.

The artists who have accepted our invitations to display at the park through the month are: Dido Haas, Cecilia Nansen Mode and Jes Mode, Wintergeist and our 3D artist for the month, Diamond Marchant. You can read more about them below.

The opening of the exhibition will be marked by a party, with Joy Canadeo providing the music from 2:00pm SLT onwards. The dress code is smart / formal, and we invite all those so minded to attend.

About the Artists

Dido Haas

Dido Haas

Dido really needs no introduction, as words simply aren’t enough to describe her. She’s a long-standing artist in Second Life, having enjoyed her first public exhibition of her work in 2012. Not long afterwards, she and her partner, Nitro Fireguard started the Nitroglobus gallery, with Dido taking on the role of gallery curator and manager, although she and Nitro both showed their work there.

Nitroglobus quickly built a reputation as one of the foremost galleries in Second Life, and it was through visiting the exhibitions there that I first met Dido. She has a gift for finding some of the most unique talents in Second Life and getting them to exhibit, and I’ve long enjoyed covering her exhibitions at the gallery in these pages.

Sadly, Nitro passed away in 2015, bringing the original Nitroglobus gallery to a close. However, Dido continues to curate art exhibitions through Nitroglobus Roof Gallery, which continues to host some incredible exhibitions, as well as commemorating Nitro himself through the display of many of his mesh sculptures. The gallery also continues to be the home of music events every Sunday at the Nitroglobus Cafe. Between managing all that, Dido continues with her own photography, and we’re delighted to have her at Holly Kai Park.

You can see more of her work on her Flickr stream.

Cecilia Nansen Mode and Jes Mode – “the Modes”

The Modes

I first encountered the work of Cecilia Nansen Mode and Jes Mode almost simultaneously, if quite coincidentally at two separate exhibitions in the same month. Jes was exhibiting at DixMix Gallery, and Cecilia at Artful Expressions, run by my dear friend, Sorcha Tyles. I was immediately struck by their art, and discovering they are SL partners encouraged me not only to invite them to exhibit at the park, but to ask that they do so together as a part of our occasional “partners” invitations.

For the August exhibition, they’ve taken this invitation quite literally, and are presenting a joint exhibition under the title One Love, One Life. Across the two display areas, “the Modes” display images of a loving relationship which has forging a shared passion for photography. They are a combination of the cold North and the warm South. The dramatic and the calm. The expressive and the subtle. Together they are tied by a deep and profound connection, which shows in their pictures, both when working together, as well as individually.

Jes has a history of photography in RL with some knowledge as well as experience. He restarted after some years as a photographer, this time in SL and is slowly finding his own style and personal expression, with mainly black and white pictures. Cecilia started a little over a year ago as a SL photographer and is slowly finding her own style, still experimenting and learning day by day. Together they support, mentor, teach and are each others first filter of approval in a balance of synergy and seeing each other grow.

If you are interested in seeing more from their work, please visit their Flickr streams:

Diamond Marchant

Diamond Marchant

Diamond Marchant is, in the physical world, a photographer and software developer. In SL, she creates boat and sail textures for the sailing community as well as numerous fishing products.

I first became aware of her interest in building models at SL13B, when she exhibited a Mars lander. For SL14B she was even more ambitious, building a simply stunning and exceptionally accurate model of NASA’s Cassini orbiter, which for the last 13 years has been adding immeasurably to our understanding of Saturn and its moons.

2017 is a special year for the Cassini mission, as it brings to an end the work of this remarkable probe, which has been in operation some 20 years from launch to the present day, including a 7-year journey from Earth to Saturn (by way of Venus, Earth and Jupiter). Right now Cassini is in the Grand Finale part of its mission, orbiting Saturn over its poles and repeatedly diving between the planet and the innermost of its magnificent rings. In September, not long after the exhibition at Holly Kai closes, Cassini, its manoeuvring fuel all but used up, will enter the upper reaches of Saturn’s atmosphere and burn up, forever becoming a part of the planet it has observed and studies for so long.

Of the model presented at Holly Kai – which is interactive (touch the probe itself and almost make sure you try the media links) – Diamond says, “Spacecraft modelling is a new thing for me. I was inspired to build the Cassini orbiter after seeing the 3D model on their website and noticing that the shapes on the orbiter are similar to the shapes you can make out of system prims.”

Wintergeist

Wintergeist, aka Fuyuko Amano, is both a photographer and gallery curator at the Club LA and Gallery. Her photographic work spans both the physical and digital worlds.  In the physical world, she started with photography when she was about 10, and it has remained a passion for her. When she started playing video games, she realised their potential for photography and started experimenting and developing an approach to digital imaging, which in turn led to her modding game environments and taking pictures of them.

Then she discovered Second Life. After initial resistance to it, she signed-up – and became immersed in SL photography.

“What do I like in pictures?” she asks rhetorically. “I do love colours – strong colours, contrast and a motif that is more than the simple ‘my avatar in front of fancy background’. Mostly I don’t know beforehand what kind of picture I want to do. When I see a motif, I get a vague idea of angle and composition and I try to capture that. Sometimes it works, but I am far from perfect. I haven’t reached my goal to make the perfect picture. I guess that is even something no one can achieve….. but, you can try.”

You can see more of her work at Galleria Amano, La Perla, and on her Flickr stream.

SLurl Details

Ballet of the Little Liars in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Ballet of the Little Liars

Now open at the Black label Exhibition Corner is Ballet of the Little Liars by Storie’s Helendale (GlitterPrincess Destiny), with the support of Terrygold, who designed and built the installation. This is an interactive art exhibition with a story attached to it – and something of a mystery to solve.

Core information on the installation – including viewer settings – are provided at the landing point. In short, once in the main exhibition spaces, left-click / Touch the images and images your find on the walls and around you. Some will provide feedback in local chat. Environment-wise, the most important setting at to have the local windlight active – or set your viewer to midnight – and to have Advanced Lighting Model enabled (Preferences > Graphics) in order to benefit from the projected lights of the installation.

Ballet of the Little Liars

On reaching the main installation via the teleport sphere, look for the newspaper close by, which references a report of a kidnapped ballerina. Your task – in part – is to follow the clues (again by touching images and objects) and find your way to a letter, which reveals the story of what has happened as seen by the artist. You can then offer your own story or feedback to Stories via note card.

The chat extracts providing by touching objects and images  – remember that not all respond, so you’ll need to take your time – don’t necessarily offer the story in a linear fashion (or at least, didn’t seem to for Caitlyn and I), so again, this may encourage you to build a different narrative around events. I also found the lighting to be a little problematic: the default environment setting was far too dark to navigate by, so I switched over to using midnight – and Caitlyn confirmed doing the same.

Ballet of the Little Liars

What is beyond a doubt is the art from Stories which is, as usual quite extraordinary. The text / poems accompanying those pieces set to be interactive add to their depth even further and quite independently of the wider story.  Once you have completed the first level (the route indicated by a combination of arrows and knives on the floor), take the stairs up to “ground level” to complete your tour through woodland scattered with bunkers containing more images, and a trip up inside a lighthouse. Again, keep touching things as you go, and be aware that there are some red herrings along the way (there’s more than one letter and more than one trunk to be found, for example).

An immersive installation, Ballet of the Little Liars is an interesting exhibit which piques the curiosity as one visits and explores, although patience is recommended. As noted, piecing things together can take time, as can finding your way around; as well as the lower level perhaps being too dark on the recommended settings, a clearer set of in-world directions on proceeding around the woodland / lighthouse might help some visitors. Those wishing to level a story or feedback can do so via the post box to be found to one side of the woods.

Ballet of the Little Liars

SLurl Details

The sands of Banana Bay in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey

Follow Your Bliss, Sea Foam; Inara Pey, July 2017, on Flickr Banana Bay – click any image for full size

Banana Bay is a Homestead region described as “still under construction” (but open to the public) designed by the delightfully named Bananas (FunkyBananas). Caitlyn and I were led to it (once again) by Shakespeare (SkinnyNilla), who really does have the knack for finding places.

This is a  distinctly Mediterranean setting with a hint of the tropical; the kind of place it’s easy to imagine  as the destination for an exotic holiday well out-of-the-way of the maddening crowds and bustle of everyday life. A slightly curled, sandy island with an east-facing bay caught within its curve, Banana Bay appears to take its name from the little plantation of banana trees located almost mid-way along its sweep, overlooked by one of several Tuscan / Mediterranean style buildings scattered along the island.

Follow Your Bliss, Sea Foam; Inara Pey, July 2017, on Flickr Banana Bay

Visits start on the west side of one of these buildings, which is itself located at the northern end of the island. A sandy path runs southwards from here, following the line of rock which rise from the foam of a lazy sea to reach another house sitting below the hilly backbone of the island. It’s upon this partially rocky backbone that the plantation sits, the land on the west side offering an easy walk to the southern end of the island and the ribbon of beach curling eastwards.

Following the sandy walk in the other direction from the landing point will take visitors around the villa to where a large wooden pier points out to sea. A loose-laid wooden board walk then offers a path south, running between the soft sands of a wide beach and the slopes of the island’s one hill, before petering out on the sands to the south. Palm trees offer some shade from the early morning sun, and provide convenient points from which hammocks have been slung for those wanting a little rest and they explore. More places to sit, some ready for cuddling, can be found scattered across the island, including an old kayak drawn up high above the tide line on the beach, and an inflatable raft out on the surf.

Follow Your Bliss, Sea Foam; Inara Pey, July 2017, on Flickr Banana Bay

None of the buildings are currently furnished, although the villa near the landing point offers outdoor seating. There’s also no sound scape for the region as yet – but again, remember that it is under construction, so there well be more to come.

Under construction (at the time of writing) it may well be, but Banana Bay is  already and photogenic and restful setting; the fact that it is still being developed means that it’ll be remaining on our list of places to re-visit sooner rather than later in order to see how things are progressing. In the meantime, if you want to have a break from things and drift away from all the noise about Sansar or whatever, why not take a walk along to beaches of Banana Bay?

Follow Your Bliss, Sea Foam; Inara Pey, July 2017, on Flickr Banana Bay

SLurl Details

  • Banana Bay (Charmed One, rated: Adult)

Sansar: a handful of personal picks to visit and some tips

Posted on by Inara Pey
(courtesy of Linden Lab)

So, you’ve heard the new about Sansar opening. You’ve signed up for an account and have your new avatar. Now what? The Atlas has many, many places to visit. Some are more interesting than others. I’ve been hopping around for a while now, and so I thought I’d offer a handful of suggestions and one or two tips which may be useful for you.

Once again, as I’m a non-VR headset user, the Sansar experiences selected here have been chosen on the basis they work without having to use a HMD as well as providing a means to gain familiarity with using keyboard controls.

Tip: The URLs in this article lead directly to the experiences described. You can obtain them directly from the Atlas by clicking on the image of an experience. This will open a separate window. This includes a Copy URL button – which does exactly what it says. There are also two page buttons (< and >), allowing you to page through experiences in the Atlas individually. If you want to see all the experiences by a single creator, click on the creator name in the Atlas or Atlas window.

You can obtain the URL for any experience you wish to re-visit through the Atlas, and use the pop-up window to page through experiences individually

Pasting a URL into a web browser will display its Atlas web page. Clicking on the Visit button on the web page will launch the Sansar client and take you to the experience (if the client is already running, you’ll be asked if you want to visit the selected experience).

LOOT Interactive NASA Apollo Museum

Now open to the public, the Apollo Museum is bound to attract me as I love all things space exploration. However, there is another reason for recommending it: it is a good example of some of the interactions that can currently be achieved in Sansar and a demonstration of one method of teleporting.

LOOT Interactive: Apollo 11 Tranquillity Base

This is one of the more “high-end” experiences, and can take time to load; however the wait is worth it. This is a rich content experience, mixing 3D models, audio, video and information boards to take people on a journey through the major Apollo lunar missions. Centred on the Apollo 11 mission, the experience includes information on the other lunar mission in the programme, models of the Saturn V, Command and Service Module and Lunar Excursion Module and a scaled model depicting Apollo 11’s trip from the Earth to the Moon.

Interactive elements are provided through proximity / standing. For example, spread along the floor of the museum. step on these to hear audio extracts from the Apollo 11 mission. Similarly, audio on the various Apollo missions from 11 onwards can be heard.

LOOT Interactive Apollo Museum

Also on the floor close to the upper end of the Apollo Saturn V rocket is another disk. Step on it and it will teleport you to a recreation of Tranquillity Base and the Apollo 11 Lunar Excursion Module Eagle with floating informational text and a sound scape of recordings from the mission.

Throughout, the experience is very well done, with the lighting on the Surface of the Moon particularly well done – as is the Earth (to scale as seen from the lunar surface) hanging in space at the same position it would have been seen by Armstrong and Aldrin. There are one or two problems with the build – sounds can overlap, and it is clearly intended for HMD use; but it makes for a useful introduction to Sansar (and an informative visit!).

Tip: If you’re not using a HMD and are finding movement difficult in third-person view due to the camera, try using WASD or the arrow keys, together with pressing and holding the right mouse key and sliding your mouse left or right  to turn. Combining these allow for a relatively easy means of moving in either 3rd or 1st person view.

Unit 9  Monkey Temple

As featured in the Sansar preview #5 video, Unit 9’s Monkey Temple is a good example of an experience using ambient sounds and Sansar’s environmentals to produce a jungle-style setting with a unique temple in three distinct areas, and which includes interactive games. These are best played if you have a HMD and controllers, however, it is possible to “kick” a “ball” around  by walking into it.

Unit 9 Monkey Temple

Tip: try free-flying your camera around the temple. Press F4 to release the camera and use WASD or the arrow keys to move forwards / backwards or slide left / right. E will move the camera up and C will move it down. You can also use the right mouse button technique mentioned above to pan the camera. The numeric pad “-” (minus) and “+” (plus) buttons can be used to slow / increase the camera’s movement speed when in free flight. Press F3 to anchor the camera back with your avatar once more (note that pressing F3 twice will drop you into first-person look).

Continue reading “Sansar: a handful of personal picks to visit and some tips” →

SL project updates 31/1: server, viewer

Posted on by Inara Pey

Follow Your Bliss, Sea Foam; Inara Pey, July 2017, on Flickr Follow Your Bliss – blog post

Server Deployments Week #31

Please refer to the deployment notice for the week for latest updates and news.

  • The Main (SLS) channel was restarted on Tuesday, August 1st, but there was no deployment to the channel, which remains on server maintenance package #17.07.11.327548.
    • This update includes a fix to allow DJ boards to work, however, any scripts which have not been updated to meet the new requirements may not work. for details, please refer to this forum thread.
  • On Wednesday, August 2nd, all three RC channels should be updated with the same new server maintenance package (#17.07.27.327933) comprising internal fixes.

Following the recent issues with deployments, there may be a blog post from the Operations team in the future, once the post-mortem has been completed. However, any such post is unlikely to appear in week #31 due to the core Second Life team all attending a planning meeting to determine potential future potential projects for the platform, etc.

SL Viewer

The Maintenance  updated on Friday, July 28th to version 5.0.7.327940. This was superseded on Monday, July 31st by a new update, version 5.0.7.327958.

Otherwise, all other viewers in the LL pipelines remain as:

  • Current Release version 5.0.6.326593, released on May 26, promoted June 20 – formerly the AssetHTTP RC viewer – overview
  • Release channel cohorts (please see my notes on manually installing RC viewer versions if you wish to install any release candidate(s) yourself):
  • Project viewers:
  • 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. This viewer will remain available for as long as reasonable, but will not be updated with new features or bug fixes.

Reminder

There is no Simulator User Group meeting on Tuesday, August 1st or Content Creator’s User Group on Thursday, August 3rd. I’m not sure if the SBUG meeting on Aditi on Thursday, August 3rd will be taking place, as I’ve been unable to attend those meetings for the last couple of months or so.

As noted above, the reason for the lack of in-world meetings is the SL planning session that’s taking place throughout the week.