It’s been only a few days since my last visit to DiXmiX Gallery, curated by Dixmix Source, but I was drawn back to it with the opening on a new exhibition there, this one featuring art by A. DeLauren (AndreaDeLauren).
Located in the gallery’s Grey hall, immediately adjacent to the main entrance, Body Lines presents series of 12 avatar studies. I confess to not being overly familiar with Andrea’s work, but these are striking images, rich in colour, boldly presented, and with an abstract tone to them that captivates.
As the title of the exhibition might suggest, the focus is very much on the avatar body, with – I assume – Andrea being her own model. But this is only part of the story; each image uses a mix of geometric lines, colour, tone, blurring / soft focus and overlays to produced a finished picture. This results in each of the pieces being an abstracted piece that holds the attention quite marvellously and evocatively. When coupled with the individual titles for each of them, it is possible to start weaving a narrative to each image – although strictly speaking, no narrative is required; it is sufficient to be drawn into these images through the use of line and colour.
Some of the pieces, visually and by title, have an obvious focus – take Chest as an example, together with Milk and Honey. Others are more broadly evocative. In this, I was particularly drawn to the somewhat psychedelic tones and feel of Windows 70s, while the mix of colour, geometry and natural curve of Hips (also used in the exhibition’s poster advertising) completely captivated me.
The use of geometry within the images is given further depth in pieces like Zebra, and particularly the “joining” of Surrender and Back Lines, where shadow elements are used to extend the lines of the individual pieces beyond their canvas and into the gallery.
A small, but elegant exhibition, Body Lines sits well with Moon Edenbaum’s The Likelihood of n e a r e s s, on display in the gallery’s Black hall (and which I reviewed here).
On Friday, April 5th, the ~*Water Horse*~ team released their new Animesh rideable horse – something many in their group, myself included, had been eagerly awaiting.
Those who follow my Content Creation User Group updates will know that Animesh allows the avatar skeleton to be applied to any suitable rigged mesh object, allowing the object to be animated. This opens up a whole range of opportunities for content creators and animators to provide things like independently moveable pets / creatures, and animated scenery features.
Comparison between ~*WH*~ Bento and Animesh horses
For the ~*WH*~ Animesh horse, it means the ~*WH*~ team have been able to produce a horse that:
Can be ridden by attaching it to an avatar directly from inventory, akin to the manner of a Bento attachment. However, as it uses its own skeleton, it will not clash with any other Bento attachments the avatar might be wearing.
Can be rezzed in-world, where it has a range of capabilities (subject to certain land constraints), including the ability for it to be mounted and ridden.
These points make the ~*WH*~ Animesh horse a very flexible new product; one that will continue to be offered alongside the ~*WH*~ Bento horses, but with notable differences, as indicated by the graphic on the right, provided by Tyrian Slade, the ~*WH*~ brand owner.
At the launch, two breeds of the new horse were made available:
A warmblood with English riding tack and a 38 Land Impact when rezzed in-world
A quarter horse with American riding tack and a land impact of 37.
Given that all Animesh creations have a basic LI of 15, both of these horses are really impressive in their relatively low LI. As a worn attachment they also have a reasonable complexity value, adding roughly 12,000 ARC to an avatar in the case of the quarter horse. Both also have extreme compact script memory usage (231 KB).
The horses are also supplied at two price points:
L$4,499 for the “personal version”, which can only be ridden (controlled) by the purchaser (~*WH*~ group members can purchase this for L$4,050).
L$12,999 for a “public / friends” version, that can be ridden (controlled) by anyone when it is rezzed in-world.
In both variants, the overall features are the same (so both variants can carry “passengers” for example), and all of the horses are supplied Copy / Modify. This latter point means that you can have multiple horses on your land for use as décor, if required, and you can add accessories (increasing their LI) or remove items (the riding tack can be removed, for example, if a horse is rezzed purely as décor), and they can be re-textured.
The package for each comprises: four versions of the horse itself (with stirrups, without stirrups, jousting version, version for large avatars); separate wearable stirrups; a riding HUD; a texturing HUD; a visual guide to the HUD buttons; a texture creator kit and some (minimal) documentation (detailed documentation is available on the web).
The Riding HUD
The HUD is a core part of the system, comprising two sets of buttons:
A set of gesture buttons for animating the horse when riding. Note that the button to lead the horse via its halter only applies if the horse is directly worn from inventory.
A set of buttons accessed via the gear button, combining a number of options for making adjustments to the rider, and for setting different capabilities for the horse when it is rezzed in-world (see below).
~*Water Horse*~ HUD options
Riding the Horse
Before riding the horse, make sure any AO you have (scripted or client) is turned off to avoid any conflicts. Then either:
Add it to your avatar from inventory as a worn attachment.
Mouseover the horse in-world, and left-click.
Both options will play an animation as your avatar mounts the horse. If the horse has previously been rezzed and set to wandering, the riding tack will render on it prior to the mounting animation being played. In both cases (worn or rezzed) there will be a brief pause as the riding animations are loaded.
Mounting and riding the Animesh horse (when worn or rezzed)
Movement is via the usual WASD / Arrow keys, with W / Up for forward motion. Speed can be increased from walk through trot and canter to gallop with further taps on W / Up; releasing the key will bring the horse to a halt. Tapping S or Down will slow the horse or cause it to walk backwards. Your vertical position in the saddle can be adjusted via the HUD or via Hover Height. To dismount a worn horse, right-click on it and select Detach. To dismount a rezzed horse, click on the viewer Stand button.
Passenger Riding
Passenger riding only works with the horse rezzed in-world.
Mount the horse as rider and open the HUD to the second set of options.
Click the Passenger mode button (shown right).
Select who you wish to have ride with you via the displayed dialogue box.
The nominated person can then mouseover the horse and left-click sit.
Passenger riding with the ~*WH*~ Animesh horse
Camera Position
Many SL users now set their own camera presets (see: SL Camera Offsets in this blog). Due to the way camera control has been implemented in the horses, this can result on some odd camera positions for the rider (which attaching the horse) or for a passenger. Should this happen, try positioning your camera behind you and, once mounted / seated, use CTRL-mouse wheel / the mousewheel to set your camera to a comfortable position above and behind the horse for viewing.
April 11th, 2019 is World Parkinson’s Day, intended to raise awareness of Parkinson’s disease, promoting a greater understanding of this condition and how it can affect a person. To mark it, many countries are marking April as Parkinson’s Disease Awareness Month. In Canada and the United States, this is being supported by the Parkinson Society Canada and American Parkinson Disease Association. Other countries around the world are holding more focus events. In the UK, for example, there will be a Parkinson’s Awareness Week (April 10-16th), supported by Parkinson’s UK.
Within Second Life, Creations For Parkinson’s/Events For Parkinson’s have partnered with Miss Globe Universal Charity Foundation to also mark Parkinson’s Awareness Month, with The Oasis, which opened its doors on April 1st, 2019, and which will run through until Sunday, April 21st.
Over twenty merchants and creators have signed-up for the event, which is being held at a special Egyptian-themed setting. In addition, there will be two fashion shows to accompany the event:
Sunday, April 7th, 2019 at 10:00am SLT.
Saturday, April 20th, 2019, at 10:00am SLT.
There are also two fun hunts. In the first, look for miniature pyramids in the stores. Purchase them for L$15 each (all donations to the charity). In the second, visit one of the two Great Pyramids. The camel guide you through the dark entrance into the stunning treasure house of the ancient Pharaohs. Find hidden treasures among the gems. Don’t be fooled though, some of the jewels are a trap.
In addition, the second Great Pyramid contains a mysterious maze – can you find the hidden entrance and make your way around the interior and discover artefacts and locate magnificent Golden room at the heart of the tomb?
Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative condition. In Europe, approximately 1.2 million people have their lives impacted by the disease, and in the United States it is the second most common neuorlogical disorder after Alzheimer’s.
“Neurodegnerative” is a term referring to a progressive loss of nerve cells (neurons) and/or their function. Neurodegeneration from Parkinson’s disease can give rise to a wide spectrum of symptoms which vary among sufferers depending on the severity of the disease’s impact, what’s more symptoms can be unpredictable and can vary on a time scale as short as one minute. As the disease progresses, symptoms can worsen; for example, over time a person may not be able to move, speak or swallow. This can often arise 4-8 years after the initial onset of Parkinson’s disease.
The cause of the disease is unknown, and there are no known successful treatments which can delay or stop its progression. To further complicate matters, because of the broad range of symptoms, Parkinson’s may be initially misdiagnosed. In addition, while it is most often seen as a disease affecting people of 50 or older, a form of Parkinson’s disease can strike people at a much younger age, and one in twenty of the 8 million Parkinson’s sufferers worldwide is below the age of 40. Known as Young Onset Parkinson’s Disease (YOPD), this differers from older onset Parkinson’s, both because genetics appears to play a stronger role in it, and the symptoms may differ, as does response to medication.
Parkinson’s Disease Awareness Month is intended to raise public awareness of the disease, its impact, and to encourage people to help support those affected by Parkinson’s by encouraging them to donate to organisations carrying out research into finding a cure or adequate treatment for the disease. As noted above, these organisations include the likes of the Parkinson Society Canada, the American Parkinson Disease Association, and Parkinson’s UK.
The 2018 Virtual Worlds Best Practice in Education (VWBPE) conference takes place between Thursday, April 4th and Saturday April 6th, 2018 inclusive. A grass-roots community event focusing on education in immersive virtual environments, VWBPE attracts 2200-3500 educational professionals from around the world each year.
As with recent years, the conference is focused on the 8 core VWBPE regions in Second Life, centred on the VWBPE Gateway.
The best way to keep abreast of the full schedule is via the VWBPE 2019 event calendar. By default, this displayed in posterboard (shown below), but can easily be switched to agenda, month or stream views via the drop-down menu in the top right corner. Individual events can also be added to a number of personal calendars – Google, Outlook, Apple – making it even easier for attendees to track the events and activities they particularly want to attend at this year’s conference.
VWBPE 2019 calendar
Event Selection
The following is a (personal) selection of events those curious about VWBPE 2018 might want to attend. All times SLT:
Thursday, April 4th
14:00-14:50 – What’s New At the Lab with Patch and Grumpity Linden in the Main Auditorium.
16:00-17:00 – The Making of Our Digital Selves: My Avatar and Me: at the VWBPE social plaza.
Friday, April 5th
09::00-09:50 – Keynote: Teacher Training with Virtual Worlds – Main Auditorium: Dr. Tuncer Can, Istanbul University looks at how training teachers within Virtual Worlds could enhance innovation in the class and change the lives of real people by ensuring them.
11:00-11:50 – Perspectives on virtual professional learning communities – VWBPE 2019 Lecture Area A.
Saturday, April 6th
11:00-11:50: Keynote: Crossing the Horizon together: Scanning, transforming, and sharing “What Works” in Immersive XR– Main Auditorium: Dr. Jonathon Richter, Salish Kootenai College and Executive Director discusses the Immersive Learning Research Network facilitates collaboration between computer scientists, game developers, educators, learning scientists, and others.
VWBPE takes place across 8 regions (including the exhibitors spaces). While exploring on foot is fun, the quickest way to get to event / activity venues is via the VWBPE Gateway and using the teleport boards there, and similar boards at each of the primary VWBPE events areas.
Men in Focus: Skip Staheli (photographs) and Haveit Neox
Men in Focus, the gallery owned and sponsored by Men in Motion in support of the Movember Foundation (donations to which are accepted at the entrance to the gallery) and curated by JMB Balogh, launched its second ensemble exhibition on April 3rd, 2019.
The gallery is somewhat unique in Second Life, in that while there are many featuring studies of avatars at work or play or simply relaxing, there are few that expressly and solely focus on the male avatar. For this exhibition, the artists are split between invited 2D artists, invited and returning 3D artists, and those responding to a call put out to the Men in Motion group for submissions. Together these comprise:
Invited 2D artists: Roy Mildor, Fenris Resident, Skip Staheli, and Artem Viiperi (NykVIIPERI).
Invited and returns 3D artists: Livio Korobase and Haveit Neox, and Mistero Hifeng and Reycharles Resident.
Men in Motion photographers: Antonio Atovio; Alex Avion, Sebastian Bourne, Fafnir Kiranov, and Niecho Vollmar.
The range of art offered is once again impressive, with a good mix of monochrome and colour avatar studies. I confess that I have started to find myself drawn more to monochrome avatar images of late, and this is certainly the case here, with Skip Staheli’s portraits in particular catching my eyes, as per the banner image for this article. The 3D art is well placed through the exhibition space, nicely split between the gallery’s levels, allowing it to break up individual display areas in a natural manner.
While I cannot say this with any accuracy, it seems as if the gallery may have grown an extra couple of floors in order to present enough space this time around; I have this thought in the back of my head that when I last visited – for the inaugural exhibition – the gallery building was four levels tall, rather than the current six. Or maybe it’s just that I’ve been to bed since then 🙂 .
I understand from JMB, that the aim of this exhibition is to coincide with April being Testicular Cancer Awareness Month. However, there is little sign of this within the exhibition space itself; there is no graphic highlighting any connection between the two, no information giver on the subject of testicular cancer, so I’m not sure just how close the tie is intended to be.
Be that is it may, this is still a superb exhibition from a rich mix of photographers, not all of whom may necessarily be known on the wider SL art and photography scene.
The Movember Foundation is a multinational charity raising awareness of, and money for, men’s health and welfare, with a focus on cancer, mental health and suicide prevention. Its titular and widely known campaign is Movember, which encourages men to grow moustaches during the month of November. The foundation partners annually with the Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride to also raise money for men’s health.
Founded in 2003, in Melbourne, Australia by Adam Garone, Travis Garone, Luke Slattery, and Justin Coghlan, the organisation attained registered charity status in 2006, and as of 2014, has raised over US $580m in charitable donations used to fund more than 800 programmes focusing on prostate cancer, testicular cancer, poor mental health, men’s health awareness and healthy lifestyles. It is active in 21 countries and has a global workforce of 130 people. In addition, Movember coincides with International Men’s Day (November 19th), which among its aims, shares the goal of promoting the health and well-being of men and boys.
The following notes are taken from the Web User Group meeting held on Wednesday, April 3rd, 2019.
These meetings are generally held monthly on a Wednesday at 14:00 SLT, and are chaired by Alexa and Grumpity Linden at Alexa’s barn. The focus is the Lab’s web properties, which include the Second Life website (including the blogs, Destination Guide, Maps, Search, the Knowledge base, etc.), Place Pages, Landing Pages (and join flow for sign-ups), the Marketplace, and so on and the Lab’s own website at lindenlab.com.
General Updates
Resident-to-Resident Mainland Auctions: user-to-user auctions for Mainland parcels launched on March 26th – see the official blog post and my own report. The response has been exceptionally positive.
New Linden Homes: samples of the first types of new Linden Homes due to be released “soon” are currently available to preview through until Sunday, April 7th. The preview is open to Premium and non-Premium account holders (although the houses, once available, will only be available to Premium account holders. You can read more about them, and the preview in my article New Linden Homes Preview.
The Lab is currently working on the web site for the homes: the process flow for selecting and obtaining a new Linden Home, etc.
SL.com: work has been carried out to fix broken direct SLurls, and work is in progress to further improve the new user flow, including the new starter avatars.
Marketplace: it is believed the recent issues with Wish Lists and with gifting have been resolved.
The message received by a user blocked by a Merchant has been revised to make the situation clearer.
Issues with transaction histories not displaying correctly should be resolved.
Work is continuing in preparing the MP for the return of last names / name changes.
The most recent blog on Marketplace updates can be found in Second Life Winter Web Work, dated February 28th, 2019.
Animated Group Tags
I’ve covered the use of scripted tools that can make rapid and multiple changes to a user’s group tag display. These actually a) use a function in a way not intended; b) can put significant strain on back-end services (trying to propagate multiple group tag changes from multiple users across the grid).
As noted in my previous notes on this, Linden Lab indicated they would be making back-end changes to reduce this issue, and as per their March 8th blog post on the subject, these updates have been deployed. As a result, many of these scripted animators have now been removed voluntarily by Merchants. However, those that have not been removed are going to be blocked.
Marketplace Store Managers
A long-standing request that is now just started to be worked on is Marketplace Managers – the ability for Merchants to appoint “managers” to help them run their Marketplace store. Details are still being finalised, but broadly, speaking:
Merchants will be able to assign roles to their “managers” – what they can do, etc. So, for example, a Merchant can upload good to the MP, but assign a manager the ability to create and manage the actual listings for those goods.
Actions taken by managers will be logged and fed back to the Merchant, so they can keep track of what is going on with their store.
In Brief
Once the current tranche of work on the Marketplace is closed-off, the web team will likely look at Events.
This meeting marked the last for Alexa Linden as a Product Manager with direct involvement in the web services. She is going to be focused on the viewer and the server / simulator. Reed Linden will be stepping into her shoes with the Web services.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 