Opening on Wednesday, September 5th, 2018 at the National Museum of Caledon, is an exhibition of the physical world photography of Phrynne, Dean of Commons at Caledon Oxbridge. Entitled Land, Water Sky, Phrynne describes the exhibition as a record of some of the places in North America she has visited and loves.
The upper floor and the centre in the lower floor contain photos of the Genesee River Gorge as the river flows through Letchworth State Park [the] oldest state park in New York … Also on the upper floor are photos taken on Oahu of sea and sky and wildlife. Downstairs are photos from Vermont, West Virginia, Ohio, Maryland and Minnesota, landscapes both wild and tame.
The resultant images in the exhibition are dramatic in tone and scope; particularly those of the Genesee River Gorge, which is presented in loving detail – although as Phrynne notes, the falls within the gorge are not easy to capture in a single frame, except at distance.
The Oahu images are admittedly a little more mixed in the impressions, the leave, but are more than compensated for by the images captured in Vermont, Maryland, etc. These are again rich in composition, and offer both intriguing views and a little humour – as witness by Grasshopper Observer and What Do You See?
In all, some 34 images are offered in the exhibition – all of which are for sale -, which makes for a further eye-catching display of art at the museum, which will remain open through September. Should you enjoy your visit, do leave a comment in the guest book; while an offering towards the continued upkeep of the museum would also doubtless be appreciated by Star (astarynite), the museum’s curator.
Update: server maintenance package, 18#18.09.04.519319 failed to make it to the RC channels. There have been reports that some were updated to 18#18.09.04.519222, for which I have no details.
Server Deployments
There is currently no server deployment thread, however:
On Tuesday, September 3rd, the Main channel received server maintenance package 18#18.08.24.519036, previously deployed to the RC channels, comprising a fix for the land auction system.
On Wednesday, September 4th, the three RC channels should receive a maintenance package, 18#18.09.04.519319, comprising logging improvements.
In week #35, there was a back-end update that should have fixed some problems people were having starting voice in groups.
Server OS Update
Work is in hand to update the SL server operating system version, however, Simon Linden noted the work in preparing for this update is taking longer than hoped.
SL Viewer
There have been no updates to any of the SL viewers to mark the start of the week (and allowing for Labor Day weekend in the United States), living the pipelines as follows:
Current Release version 5.1.8.518593, dated August 14, promoted August 20. Formerly the SL Voice RC viewer – No Change.
Release channel cohorts
Rakomelo Maintenance RC , version 5.1.9.519162, released on August 31.
Animesh RC viewer, version 6.0.0.518949, August 24.
Love Me Render RC viewer, version 5.1.8.518751, released on August 20.
BugSplat RC viewer, version 5.1.8.518305, August 7. This viewer is functionally identical to the current release viewer, but uses BugSplat for crash reporting, rather than the Lab’s own Breakpad based crash reporting tools.
Project viewers:
EAM project viewer, version 5.2.0.518362, August 9 – improved region access control tools; see my overview for more.
Bakes on Mesh project viewer, version 5.1.7.518013 August 3.
Linux Spur viewer, version 5.0.9.329906, dated November 17, 2017 and promoted to release status 29 November – offered pending a Linux version of the Alex Ivy viewer code.
Obsolete platform viewer, version 3.7.28.300847, May 8, 2015 – provided for users on Windows XP and OS X versions below 10.7.
Environment Enhancement Project
There is a chance that the EEP project viewer could be appearing this week. Depending on the nature of the RC server deployments, if one does appear, it may only work on Aditi.
A New Governance User Group has been announced, with meetings to take place on a bi-weekly on Tuesdays, commencing on September 18th. The function of the meeting is quoted as being:
Intended for discussion & education of issues involving Governance such as in-world abuse, Abuse Reports, Forum Reports, Marketplace Reports, etc.
The meetings will be held at the Havenhurst camp site. The currently published time for the meetings is 13:00-14:00 SLT; however, as a result of concerns about the meetings clashing with any over-run of the Simulator User Group meetings, the Governance team may change the time. Those interested in attending the meeting should therefore keep an eye on the User Groups wiki page for possible updates in lieu of any official blog post that might be forthcoming.
Linden Lab is running another Sansar experience creation competition, this one with a S$5,000 first prize (equal to US $50) and an Oculus Rift headset and touch controllers (approx US $400) up for grabs.
For this competition, entrants are asked to build a “watch room” – a space where people can gather to watch a media stream on one of three topics: anime, sport or pets. The “watch room” can be as complex or as simple as entrants desire, so long as the environment matches the subject matter of the media stream (so if the video is of pets, then pets should feature in the experience design).
The Dotaworld lounge space, by Sansar’s Community Manager, Eliot, is offered as a suggestion for a simple “watch room” layout – although entrants to the content should decorate their environments to match the style of media they have chosen
Videos themselves should be drawn from Twitch, YouTube or Vimeo, and should be played on a purpose-built media surface, or a suitable media surface obtained through the Sansar Store, some examples of which include:
All of which are available for download and use free-of-charge.
Entries are made by publishing completed entries in the Sansar Atlas and then sharing a link to the experience on Twitter, using the hashtag #MySansarLounge and tagging @SansarOfficial with the link.
OpTic Gaming’s official Greenwall VR Sansar experience could be considered an example of a more complex watch room style of experience
The closing date for entries is Sunday, September 30th, 2018. The full rules for entry can be found on the Sansar website, with perhaps the most important being that experiences entered into the competition cannot break copyright law or feature intellectual property – including the media stream – that the user does not own the rights to.
Update:Destiny Gardens has closed. SLurls have therefore been removed from this article.
Destiny Gardens is a fully region island primarily landscaped by Adalynne Romano (AdalynneReed) and held by Destiny Milos. Making use of the additional 10K land capacity available to full region owners (to give a total capacity of 30K), Destiny Gardens is a veritable temperate summer paradise – but visits to it may come at a cost to some.
This is a place that, from the landing point in the south-west through to all three other corners, is awash with colour from trees, shrubs and flowers. The landscape, raised to the south and low-lying to the north, is cut by waterways and pools, some of the latter quite large, the channels themselves crossed by a variety of bridges, all of which make for interesting rambles along trail, through grass and across shady glades.
Destiny Gardens
The landing point, in the shape of a paved terrace atop the raised landscape to the south-west, offers gazebos in which to sit, together with outdoor seating, opportunities to play chess, and the first hints of the art to be found scattered across parts of the landscape in the form of a sculpture by Mistero Hifeng. It is also a place where bicycles can be obtained for those wishing to take a ride – but I’d suggest the great part of the region really doesn’t naturally support bike riding. Take the way down from the landing point, for example: this is marked by steps cut into the grassy banks and slopes, and also by wooden suspension bridges that can end in some precipitous slopes, while some of the log bridges down in the lower areas don’t naturally lend themselves to being ridden over 🙂 .
To the northern side of the island sit two little cottages built to identical lines, each within its own garden, their wooden roofs overlaid with turf. Cosily furnished by Destiny, these both appear to be open to the public. Also to the north side of the island is a topiary garden and shaded sitting area for visitors to enjoy. Meanwhile, south and east, the trees give way to more open land surrounding a large body of water in which merhorses swim, the banks of the pool again rich in flowering plants while water tumbles from the neighbouring upland of the landing point.
Destiny Gardens
This only scratches at the surface of the region’s delightful colour; the use of flowers throughout the region is among the most extensive I’ve seen recently. There are additional places to sit and enjoy the scenery, be it in waterside gazebos or pergolas on a stone patio or bridges strung between tees and bowing over streams. It is also true to say not everything in Destiny Gardens is above ground. Search carefully, and you may find the entrance to a network of tunnels – but be warned; not all of them are entirely dry!
It’s not quite all plain sailing – or walking – however. There can be cost for some visitors, as I mentioned towards the top of this article. The volume of plants – even when repeated across the region – means there is a lot of texture handling to be done as you explore or cam. There’s also a lot of alpha meshes used in the creation of things like drifting dust clouds, all of which additionally keeps the viewer busy in rendering. For me, these combined to drop my frame rate to single digits and forced me to disable shadow rendering when not taking photos.
Destiny Gardens
However, this does not detract from the sheer natural beauty of the region, or its photogenic qualities. In terms of the latter, a contest is running through until September 10th, with a L$6500 prize pool. Images should be posted to the region’s Flickr group, which can also be joined at the landing point, where full rules of entry for the contest can be found. Photos not intended for the competition are also welcome in the Flickr group.
Destiny Gardens makes for a fun, colourful visit. There’s a lot to see and find, and there is a grace about the design that makes it instantly welcoming. Our thanks, once again, to Shakespeare and Max for the pointer!
Logos representative only and should not be seen as an endorsement / preference / recommendation
Updates for the week ending Sunday, September 2nd
This summary is generally published on 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.
Note that test viewers, preview / beta viewers / nightly builds are not recorded in these summaries.
Official LL Viewers
Current Release version 5.1.8.518593, dated August 14th, promoted August 20th. Formerly the SL Voice RC viewer – No Change.
Now open through until the end of the year is Tah’s (Tahiti Rae’s) latest full region installation, Gates of Oria. Tahiti has a reputation of building immersive, often deeply expressive installations in Second Life. I first visited one of her installations, 4077 MASH, a homage to the television series and a commentary on war, in 2014 (read here for more), and then was totally captivated by her Love, Henry installation from 2015 (read here for more) and by EVRE in 2016 (read here), her evocative, complex examination of consciousness, connectedness and time.
Gates of Oria does, in many ways, share the same roots as both Love, Henry and EVRE. As with both of those installations, it is very much a journey; one that, like Love, Henry, is intended to stir the emotions, tripping them into play by engaging our imaginations. At the same time, and like EVRE, it takes us on a physical journey through numerous worlds, the very triggers for engaging our imaginations and teasing our emotions, which vary in their themes from light to dark, reflecting the fact that fantasies come in many shades.
They say it takes 300 years for an oak tree to grow; 300 years for it to live; And 300 years for it to die. Perhaps our fantasy love took 300 years to grow; An eternity to live; And never dies. Maybe .. it’s real.
– Tahiti Rae, Gates of Oria
This is an installation designed to visually, aurally and musically connect with visitors, as is explained at the landing point. Along with the viewer’s Advanced Lighting Model, enabling local sounds and the music stream for the installation is strongly recommended. I’d also suggest setting draw distance to around 300 metres, so the fullness of the larger spaces can be more easily seen without interruption. As the landing point also notes, proportions can be a little off in places, so when travelling a little playing with ALT-click camera movement and the use of the mouse wheel (or using the CTRL-8 / CTRL-9 / CTRL-0 combinations) can be required, particularly in the spaces where the backdrops appear intended to blend with the build.
Exploring the installation can be achieved in one of two ways: by teleporting to the ground and then travelling to the Gates themselves (additional telelport points within statues), and returning to the ground after each visit to make the next. Or, for those short on time, a note card listing the landmarks for all ten worlds can be used to hope directly from one to the next. The former of these approaches again echoes EVRE, except here there is no need to seek out the teleport points, they are found within groupings of statues. As such, and while the statues offer text to set the scene for the world to which that connect, there is no reason the note card LMs cannot be used to move between the different worlds once an initial visit to ground level has taken place.
Fantasy … can be such a risk; such a deep mystery; and profoundly the strongest certainty ever known.
– Tahiti Rae, Gates of Oria
I’m not going to run through all of the worlds; they are for you to experience for yourself. Suffice it to say all are very individual in tone and design, although some motifs can be found in more than one. Some openly demand exploration and can be extensive – such as Labrinto, which is perhaps the set piece of the installation; others are not quite as straightforward as might first appear to be the case, requiring equally considered exploration as there can be many details so easily missed in a quick walk / cam through. Deathless, for example, holds a certain Game of Thrones echo awaiting discovery. Still others are more open in nature, settings designed to allow the imagination to simply take flight – as with 4 Suns.
Within several of the worlds, art by CybeleMoon (Hanna Hoobinoo) can be found. Always fantastic in scope, these images give further flight to the imagination. Emotions are also stirred by the audio stream which, although occasionally interrupted by the briefest of adverts, offers music Tah states she has selected specifically for the installation. Drawing heavily from the world of film (and where else, given the installation is about fantasy and imagination?), the music does add further depth to Gates of Oria – although I admit that I’m perhaps a little biased here in my response, as the stream features pieces by some of my own preferred composers / arrangers, from the likes of M83, Taro Iwashiro, Bear McCreary, and the amazing Ramin Djawadi, through to several of the established greats of cinematic soundtracks: Morricone, Williams, Horner, Eidelman, Arnold, and more.
A series of events are planned throughout Gates of Oria’s run, details of which can be received by subscribing to Tah’s group at the landing point.
There are some minor niggles we encountered – falling through apparent solid objects in a couple of places, while the Eagles in Labrinto steadfastly refused to work for me (I simply right-clicked them for the guide description in the build floater); some of the guidance given was also a little confusing (“Exit far right corner” rather than “Exit to your right”). However, Gates of Oria is nevertheless evocative, imaginative, fully deserving of the time needed to explore and appreciate it.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 