Month: March 2019

A Spring Awakening at Ce Soir in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Ce Soir Spring Awakenings – TerraMerhyem

Open now through until May 2019 at Ce Soir Arts is the Spring Awakenings art exhibition, which includes 2D and 3D art together with poetry and a series of live events in the spoken word.

As spring dawns, it’s time to turn our attention to the beauty of nature – and the beauty of the human spirit. We – in the northern hemisphere – are coming through the last dreary days of winter, moving slowly into the freshness of spring! Winter is beautiful: snow sparkling in the moonlight, sweet red cardinals taking refuge in snowy firs, and the warmth of home enveloping us as we come in from the cold. But spring! And awakenings!

 Ce Soir co-owners, Mireille and Ǣon Jenvieve-Woodford

Ce Soir Spring Awakenings – TaraAers and BJojo Songlark

The art exhibition is extensive, spread throughout several of Ce Soir’s buildings and in the surrounding gardens, making it an ideal opportunity to not only appreciate the art on display, but to explore gallery and grounds.

The participating artists for the exhibition, as listed in the guide note card are: Ǣon Jenvieve-Woodford, Amy Inawe, CybeleMoon, Daze Landar, Fae Varriale, Isabel Hermano, Jolie Parfort, Jojo Songlark, JudiLynn India, Mathilde Vhargon, Michael Romani, Mireille Jenvieve-Woodford,  Morgue McMillan-Shoreland, Paula Cloudpainter, Pieni, Rage Darkstone, Randy Firebrand, Russell Eponym, Secret Rage, Silas Merlin, TaraAers, TerraMerhyem, Virginia, Xanthe and Xirana Oximoxi.

Such a diverse group of artists marks this as one of the broadest themed exhibitions I’ve visited in a while in terms of individual interpretations of the the theme, with names both familiar and new to me. It’s always a delight seeing the work of CybeleMoon, JudiLynn India, Michael Romani and Silas Merlin, but it was an absolute delight to discover the beautiful images of Second Life birds by Jolie Partfort and sculptures by TerraMerhyem. Each artists appears to be presenting at least two pieces of art, and some may be interactive and require touching – check the notices often to be found in each display area.

Ce Soir Spring Awakenings – Jolie Parfort

Three landing points are given for the exhibition, so rather than embedding SLurls here in the text, I’ve included them at the end of this article.

The spoken word events feature Ǣon Jenvieve-Woodford, Aoife Lorefield, Bryn Taleweaver, Caledonia Skytower, Dubhna Rhiadra, Mireille Jenvieve-Woodford, Morgue McMillan-Shoreland, Russell Eponym and Stranger Nightfire. These are side to be taking place through until Sunday, April 14th, but to be honest and outside of the opening event, I failed to find a schedule either at the exhibition or on the Ce Soir website; group membership may be required to receive word on dates and times.

Ce Soir Spring Awakenings – Ǣon Jenvieve-Woodford

Richly diverse, located throughout the fantasy inspired Ce Soir landscape, Spring Awakenings is a joyous – and quite joyful – celebration of art.

SLurl Details

Ce Soir is rated Moderate.

Celebrating SL Women 2019

Posted on by Inara Pey
Celebrating SL Women 2019

In 2018, as a means of celebrating International Women’s Day, Kyoko (Samara Barzane) and Brooke Brandenburg of the Confederation of Democratic Simulators (CDS), established a means of honouring women in SL who have contributed to “making SL a better place through their contributions.”

We wanted to do something a bit more than just a celebration so we came up with the idea of honouring ten Second Life women. And that’s what we are doing. Last year was a roaring success. So here we are again!

– Kyoko describing the Celebrating SL Women event

Nominations for come from a mix of names submitted by the event organisers and their assistants, CDS residents and – for this year, suggestions from the 2018 awardees. Names are then filtered down on the basis of some basic criteria, including the fact that the final list must comprise women who are still active in Second Life, until 10 honourees were agreed upon.

For 2018, those honoured were Treacle Darlandes, Sudane Erato, Rosie Gray, Kikuyu Kikutsuru, Nuala Marcus, Marianne McCann, Caryl Meredith, Bryn Oh, Strawberry Singh and Robin Sojourner Wood.

2019 Honourees

On Saturday, March 23rd, between 12:00 noon and 14:00 SLT, a special event will be held at the Gallery Barzane recognising this years honourees. they are:

  • Callipygian Christensen, an active member of the CDS community, an artist and DJ.
  • Laetizia Coronet: historian, aviator, photographer, modeller, and storyteller through her Flickr pages and her SL profile.
  • Gentle Heron, a founder and volunteer of the Virtual Ability community in Second Life, and mentor to users with disabilities.
  • Delia Lake, CDS resident, landscaper, educator and published author.
  • Leondra Larsson, teacher, mentor, and advocate for people with disabilities, work now works with Guardian At Litum as an advocate for children in dire circumstances.
  • Theresa Linden, Concierge in Second Life Customer Support.
  • Gabrielle Riel, community builder and founder of Radio Riel.
  • Elizabeth Tinsley, executive director of Fantasy Faire.
  • Imajika Wirefly, Director of Events for Survivors of Suicide.

It is my sincere privilege to say that the tenth person selected to be honoured in 2019 is myself.

2019 Honourees

I’m honoured to be included among such a diverse and richly talented group, and would like to pass on my genuine thanks to the  residents of CDS, and to this year’s organisers, Kyoko and Emilia Avindar for considering and selecting me.

I look forward to seeing and meeting my fellow honourees at the reception on March 23rd, between 12:00 noon and 14:00 SLT, and I hope those of you who can will join us at Gallery Barzane.

About the Confederation of Democratic Simulators (CDS)

Currently comprising six regions, the Confederation of Democratic Simulators (CDS) is the oldest, continuously-running democratic estate in Second Life.Loose themed on Germanic, Alpine, Tuscan, or Mediterranean styles, the regions present an all-encompassing government based on citizen participation, with elections to the Representative Assembly held each six months, and the work of the Representative Assembly supported in its work by a Scientific Council.  This governing structure is not role play, as might appear to be the case: it is more a residents co-op, not unlike the way apartment buildings are managed in real life, where every landowner is a “citizen” and is granted the right to vote and be elected to manage the overall space.

Among the goals for this project are: to enable ownership of high-quality public, private, and open-space land; create a themed yet expressive community of public and private builds; and implement novel democratic forms of self-government within Second Life.

Touring Toshi Farms in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey

Toshi Farms; Inara Pey, March 2019, on FlickrToshi Farms – click any image for full size

We originally visited Toshi Farms back in , when the region was in the depths of winter. However, at the time things were such that I didn’t get to write about it, so when Shawn Shakespeare suggested we should go see the region now spring has arrived, it was added to the list of places we should see “soon”.

Designed by Syx Toshi and his SL partner Bryn Toshi (Bryn Bulloch), Toshi Farms is a homestead region designed as something of a public park, linked at it now is to its neighbour, Peace, lying to the north.  Whist “farm” might feature in the title, the design of the region is intended to be that of a nature reserve.

Toshi Farms; Inara Pey, March 2019, on FlickrToshi Farms

Bryn and I have tried to create a natural country setting that you would experience in RL. A Farm and Wildlife refuge where you might catch a glimpe of any of over 50 different animals.

– Syx Toshi, describing Toshi Farms

Caught in spring colours, both regions present an engaging and photogenic opportunity for exploration – although beware that at least a part of Peace a private home to Syx and Bryn.

Toshi Farms; Inara Pey, March 2019, on FlickrToshi Farms

Dry dirt tracks wind through both regions, offering clear routes of exploration, although there are paths to be found that depart from them, allowing  visitor to wander off the tracks. However, given that both regions are undergoing construction / update, be aware things might get shuffled about (the Toshi’s home, for example, uprooted itself and moved from Toshi Farm to Peace between two of our visits! 🙂 ).

Follow the tracks, and you’ll find some of the wildlife Syx mentions – bears, raccoons, birds; while horses, cattle and goats occupy the fields in both regions. Also to be found along the paths are places to sit and relax – benches, blankets on the grass, swings; while water tumbles through streams and hill mountains cast a protective wall around the setting.

Toshi Farms; Inara Pey, March 2019, on FlickrToshi Farms

Close to the bridge linking Toshi Farm to Peace sits a summer-house (or it did on my last visit! – As noted things are still being changed 🙂 ). Within it, a fire burns warm in the hearth and comfortable sofas await visitors, banks of flowers surrounding it on three sides. Climb the stairs to the little balcony above, and a blanket lies set with a picnic.  Walk down to the waterfront a short distance away, and a dock with kayaks gives the opportunity for those  who wish to take a trip out on the waters – say to the offshore diving platform.

One of the things that makes Toshi Farm attractive are the static characters that have been set out here and there. They bring a little life to the regions – although I’m not entirely sure all of the handymen working here and there are completely au fait with the tasks they have been given – although they do raise a smile on being seen.

Toshi Farms; Inara Pey, March 2019, on FlickrToshi Farms

A charming pair of regions (assuming Peace remains a public space – it is still under construction at the time of writing) that are pleasing to the camera’s eye, Toshi Farms makes for a worthwhile visit – and this shouldn’t be missed, even if Peace doesn’t remain a public offering for visitors. And given things are in a state of flux, more than visit might be in order!

SLurl Details

2019 SL User Groups 12/2: Content Creation summary

Posted on by Inara Pey

Elvion; Inara Pey, February 2019, on FlickrElvion – blog post

The majority of the following notes are taken from the Content Creation User Group (CCUG) meeting, held on Thursday, March 21st, 2019 at 13:00 SLT. These meetings are chaired by Vir Linden, and agenda notes, meeting SLurl, etc, are usually available on the Content Creation User Group wiki page.

SL Viewer

  • The long-expected Maintenance RC viewer, code-named Teranino, was released on Wednesday, March 20th. Version 6.1.1.525401, comprising 50+ fixes.
  • The EEP RC viewer updates to version 6.2.0.525395 on Thursday, March 21st. It is felt EEP may have “one or two” further RC updates before it is ready to go to release status.

The rest of the official viewer pipelines remain as:

  • Current Release version 6.1.0.524670, formerly the BugSplat RC viewer February 13th, promoted February 28th No Change.
  • Release channel cohorts (please see my notes on manually installing RC viewer versions if you wish to install any release candidate(s) yourself):
    • Love Me Render RC viewer, version 6.1.1.524929, March 6th.
    • Estate Access Management (EAM) RC viewer, version 6.2.0.524909, March 5th.
  • Project viewers:
  • Linux Spur viewer, version 5.0.9.329906, dated November 17th, 2017 and promoted to release status 29th November – offered pending a Linux version of the Alex Ivy viewer code.
  • Obsolete platform viewer, version 3.7.28.300847, May 8th, 2015 – provided for users on Windows XP and OS X versions below 10.7.

Environment Enhancement Project – on the Grid

On Tuesday, March 19th and Wednesday March 20th, EEP back-end support was deployed to the SLS (Main channel) and to the Magnum and Cake RC channels, meaning it is now gird-wide.

As EEP handles environment rendering differently to windlight, that can be that at time, viewers without the may rendered skies oddly (e.g. black dots (stars) appearing in daytime skies, the sun may look bigger than it actually should be, and similar). Should this be the case, toggle the Use Region windlight option in your viewer off / on.

Note that if you are using a personally applied windlight or a custom parcel windlight through a viewer like Firestorm, generally speaking, you should see no issues.

Bakes on Mesh

Again, no update, other than a back-end Bake Service update is due (presumably to fix the “black skirt issue”. Once this is deployed, it should allow a resumption in progress with the viewer, which could likely be promoted to RC status.

ARCTan

The ARCTan project to re-evaluate object and avatar rendering costs in the viewer is still stalled. One concern is that more needs to be done to encourage a greater number of creators to create low impact worn mesh; high impact worn mesh can do much to impact viewer performance, but is currently seen as having little around it to discourage better design. While there are options like the “jelly doll” capability, these are seen as limited in encouraging better content design as the onus is pushed onto other users to determine what they can or cannot see.

ARCTan itself is a difficult set of measures to calculate, as user hardware plays a role in performance (obviously), such as the split between CPU-based and GPU-based computations. As a result, frame times can vary widely. Ergo, more objective measures are required (e.g. triangle counts + surface area for textures, etc.).

Other Items

  • Mesh attachment loading: this is taking appreciable longer, and is particularly noticeable in busy regions, where avatars with a lot of mesh can take what feels like an age to “pull themselves together” (so to speak), although no cause has yet been identified. Vir Linden has been leading work to look into this.
  • Animesh follow-on: the focus is still on allowing body parts in the inventory of an Animesh to be used to customise the skeleton of the Animesh.
  • Creator requests: Vir asked a general question on things creators may be seeing a blockers to developing new content and what they would like to see to overcome these blockers. The feedback included:
    • More script functions.
    • Replacing appliers with an inventory based solution and a Bakes on Mesh follow-on.
    • Extending the existing constraints in the animation format to be a full Inverse Kinematics system.

2019 Home and Garden Expo in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
via slhomeandgardenexpo.com

The 11th Home and Garden Expo (HGE) in support of Relay for Life of Second Life and the American Cancer Society, is currently open, and will remain so until Sunday, April 7th, 2019. Taking place across ten regions (Hope 1 through 10) and the new Linden Homes preview region, the event offers some of the finest in home, garden, and furnishing designs available across the grid.

With over 100 exhibitors taking part, the event offers something for anyone who is looking for a new home, ideas for furnishing and décor, wishing to improve their building (or other) skills, or who just wishes to keep abreast of the latest building / home trends in Second Life.

The Home and Garden Expo Theatre

As always, the Expo there will be a range of events and activities, including entertainment and dancing, classes, a dedicated gacha region, talks and discussions, artists, and more. There is also:

  • The Silent Auction – featuring some stunning prizes – visit the auction boards in-world.
  • The Expo Hunt: follow the hints, visit all the main expo regions (in any order you choose), and pay L£10 for each prize (all proceeds to RFL of SL).
  • Visit the Home Decorating Competition and watch as the finalist decorate their assigned homes (March 20th – March 28th) and then vote on which you like the best (March 29th – 5th April), with the winners announced on April 6th.
  • Participate in the Lantern Ceremony at the main theatre. This ceremony goes back to 2012, when Alchemy Immortalis created the Blue Willow lanterns especially for the Home and Garden Expo. It became the custom to release them each day at 4pm, and people would gather to watch and reflect as the lanterns rose slowly into the air.

Don’t forget as well, that you can see a preview of the first designs for the new Linden Homes that will be made available to premium members in the near future.  You can also read more able these homes in my New Linden Homes Preview.

The first designs for the new Linden Homes for Premium members can be previewed at the Home and Garden Expo

About the Expo

The Home and Garden Expo raises money for Relay For Life of Second Life (RFL of SL). Relay For Life is the American Cancer Society’s signature fund-raising event, and RFL of SL is one of its virtual counterparts. 100% of registration fees, sponsorship fees and donation items are paid to Relay For Life of Second Life. 50% of the proceeds from the gachas will be paid to RFL and 100% of the L$10 hunt items.

G.B.T.H. Transients in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
G.B.T.H. Project – Transients

Now open through until Friday, April 19th at the G.B.T.H. Project is Transients, an 3D exhibition by Mr. and Mrs. S (respectively Saka Infinity and LauraLar Resident).

Given both of the artists are rightly noted for their exceptional photographic work (see here and here respectively), Transients is tempting in its promise of a 3D installation. And it is one with an intriguing concept, a series of individual elements drawing inspiration from memories and dreams, colours and sounds, objects and settings.

G.B.T.H. Project – Transients

In all, nine individual settings are provided (excluding the start and end points).  Access is gained via the G.B.T.H landing point – take the green bicycle teleport up to the installation start point. Here, if you’ve not already done so, make sure your viewers settings are adjusted to meet the requirements of the installation: time of day set to midnight, Advanced Lighting Model enabled and local lights set to Sun/Moon+Projectors. Once you have, proceed to the individual elements of the installation by using the green bikes to teleport up to each in turn.

Each scene is presented in its own room, each room identical in design. Thus they are the foundation for dreams and memories established: as we move from one to the next, the environment remains the same, but the scenes they present change, each one unique, yet in a way, transient – passing thoughts and memories framed within the “familiar” – the structures representative, perhaps, of our grounding in self.

G.B.T.H. Project – Transients

These are scenes that deserve time to contemplate – and in some, the opportunity is presented through the provision of chairs or seats. Like dreams, they need interpretation, like memories, their meaning perhaps needs to be considered and given context; and like both their interpretation and / or meaning can be ephemeral, shifting in context the more we observe them and moods and emotions shift and change as our observation of the whole focuses down to the individual – or vice versa.

But are they echoing our own memories, or are we recalling something else? Something from an enacted dream sequence within a film or a scene from a story once read? Thus, our sense of understanding again shifts, our thoughts become more convoluted. Soundscapes designed by Mr. S add a further layer of imagery to each scene, increasing their depth and – perhaps – stirs a further sense of familiarity and strangeness.

G.B.T.H. Project – Transients

A fascinating installation, offering an engrossing combination of ideas and designs from two artists that marks their first public exhibition of this particular style.

SLurl Details