Day: August 26, 2026

Double Sided art in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
The Whisper of Phoenix Gallery, August 2026 – Carelyna: Double Sided

Currently open at The Whisper of Phoenix Gallery, operated by Princess Venusia (Venusia McMahon) is an exhibition of art by Carelyna, which she had called Double Sided. It carries with it a simple yet nuanced idea: why have an image on one side of a canvas and leave the reverse blank when you can have two images, ostensibly of the same scene but each somewhat different on nature, one to either side of the canvas?

The result is a series of  paired images with each picture in a pair having its own story to tell.

The Whisper of Phoenix Gallery, August 2026 – Carelyna: Double Sided

Take She Sails Against the Wind as an example; in one version, the sky is brighter, the mainsail more fully set, the waters calmer, all of which give a sense of excitement: a sailboat cutting through the water, its pilot likely at ease as she sail towards ports. In the other, the mainsail is taller, thinner, the clouds darker and more roiled, the water heavier, all of which carry a hint of a gathering storm. Thus in one we have a story of carefree times on the open waters, in the other a more uncertain sense of foreboding for the boat and its mistress.

But there is also perhaps something of a nuanced exploration of choice to be found within this collection. Each pair of images gently asks us to compare / contrast their two sides and deliver a verdict as to which we prefer. In doing so, they gently nudge us to consider why we are drawn to one over the other, and the emotional processes at work within us which drive us to that choice.

The Whisper of Phoenix Gallery, August 2026 – Carelyna: Double Sided

And even if if such Deep Thought is not something we want to plumb when visiting Double Sided,  there is a third element in this approach: should we be moved to purchase a piece, we in fact have two images we can hang at home and change according to our mood or the changing of the environment in which we live in-world.

All of which makes for an engaging collection.

SLurl Details

2026 week #35: SUG Leviathan Hour: game_control / region crossings

Posted on by Inara Pey
The Simulator User Group meeting place at Longfellow

The following notes were taken from the Tuesday, August 15, 2026 Simulator User Group (SUG) off-week meeting (the “Leviathan Office Hour”). These notes form a summary of the items discussed, and are not intended to be a full transcript. They were taken from my chat log of the meeting. No video this week, as Pantera is on vacation.

Meeting Overview

  • The Simulator User Group (also referred to by its older name of Server User Group) exists to provide an opportunity for discussion about simulator technology, bugs, and feature ideas is held every other Tuesday at 12:00 noon, SLT (holidays, etc., allowing), per the Second Life Public Calendar.
  • The “Leviathan Office Hour” meetings are held on the Tuesdays which do not have a formal SUG meeting, and are chaired by Leviathan Linden. They are more brainstorming / general discussion sessions.
  • Meetings are held in text in-world, at this location.

Simulator News

  • On Tuesday, August 25, 2026, the SLS Main channel was restarted without update.
  • On Wednesday, August 26, 2026, the RC channels will likely be restarted without any deployment.

Game_Control

  • Leviathan Linden is “almost done” with a revamp of game-control.
  • A pull request has been cut to the server updates, and the hope is that this will be added to the upcoming Nectarine server update. This will likely include a new UDP message for game_control so that all simulators will be aware of it before the viewer-side code is released.
  • The viewer updates should similarly be going into the viewer Develop repository in the near future.
  • Leviathan is changing how game_control event is accessed for scripts: scripts now need to llRequestPermissions(PERMISSION_GAME_CONTROL) to get game_control events, similar to how control events work.
    • He also noted that with this change, attachments and seats permission requests will be auto-accepted (the scripts will need to ask for the permissions, but no pop-up will show on the viewer for those objects).
    • The main benefit of this latter change  is it will be possible to remote-control objects with game-control input (but disconnected objects will cause the pop-up, and it will have to be accepted manually).
    • It was noted that this change might have to be included in the llRequestExperiencePermissions() protocol.
    • These changes are not currently live on any simulator.

Region Crossings

  • Pepper Linden’s work on improving region crossings should be seeing a limited deployment to the Main grid via the Snack RC channel, most likely alongside the upcoming deployment of the Nectarine simulator update is deployed to the other RC channels.
  • This test deployment is the result of concerns that the updates might result in a need for a roll-back should they might impact other region crossing changes which have been made.
  • If Pepper’s updates work on Snack without any roll-back, then a broader deployment to RC channels can be considered.
  • More information on this will be provided at the next Simulator User Group meeting on Tuesday, September 1, 2026.

Avatar Movement

  • Leviathan has been working on Avatar movement, one outcome of which has been the “breakage” of the ability to “crouch-slide” (crouching and then tapping the forward/rotate keys to cause an avatar to couch and slide along the ground).
    • He notes he is sympathetic to the complaints this has caused (presumably primarily from within the combat community), and indicated he is going to revisit the changes.
  • Alongside of this has been reports that avatars are sliding a lot more when on a moving surface than used to be the case. This might also be related to Leviathan’s updates, so he will be looking at this issue as well.
  • A general discussion on holding down the spacebar being used to slow an avatar being bump-pushed caused Leviathan to mention he would like to find a mans to enable an avatar “slow walk”
    • The use of spacebar to slow an avatar being bump-pushed only works if the keyboard is not prioritised for text input rather than also being used for movement (e.g. using the WASD keys for movement); it also sees the avatar appearing to “walk” at a normal pace whilst being pushed.
    • It was noted at if a “slow walk” option was introduced, it would be useful to a) have a means of varying an avatar’s walking speed based on factors (e.g. avatar height), and b) have walking speed accessible to scripted control.
    • Leviathan acknowledged both of these point but if he is able to work on the idea, the initial focus would be on developing an option for a slow walking pace, noting that this would be useful for game_control, given this currently uses the existing locomotion graph.

General Discussion

  • No updates on issues such as the mesh face count mismatch, new LSL commands, network improvements, etc.
  • The multiple issues experienced on Sunday, August 23, 2026 appear to have been related to a significant database outage.

Meetings

  • Formal SUG meeting: Tuesday, September 1, 2026.
  • Leviathan Linden: Tuesday, September 8, 2026.