Author: Inara Pey

Eclectic virtual world blogger with a focus on Second Life, VR, virtual environments and technology.

2024 week #23: SL CCUG and TPVD meetings summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
TheNest : Sunbird, May 2024 – blog post †

The following notes were taken from:

  • My audio recording and chat log transcript of the Content Creation User Group (CCUG) meeting held on Thursday, June 6th, 2024.
  • My audio recording + the video recording by Pantera (embedded at the end of this summary) of the Third-Party Developer meeting (TPVD) held on Friday, June 7th, 2024. My thank to Pantera as always for providing it.

Meetings Purpose

  • The CCUG meeting is for discussion of work related to content creation in Second Life, including current and upcoming LL projects, and encompasses requests or comments from the community, together with related viewer development work. This meeting is held on alternate Thursdays at Hippotropolis.
  • The TPV Developer meeting provides an opportunity for discussion about the development of, and features for, the Second Life viewer, and for Linden Lab viewer developers and third-party viewer (TPV) / open-source code contributors to discuss general viewer development. This meeting is held once a month on a Friday, at 13:00 SLT at the Hippotropolis Theatre.
  • For both meetings: dates and times are recorded in the SL Public Calendar, and they re conducted in a mix of Voice and text chat.
  • The notes herein are a summary of topics discussed and are not intended to be a full transcript of the meeting.

Official Viewers Status

[Video: 0:27-3:03]

  • Release viewer: Maintenance X RC (usability improvements), version 7.1.7.8974243247, dated May 8th  promoted May 13.
  • Release channel cohorts:
    • Materials Featurettes RC viewer, version 7.1.8.9375512768, June 5.
    • Maintenance C RC (reset skeleton in all viewers), version 7.1.7.8820704257, May 6.
    • Maintenance B RC (usability updates / imposter changes), version 7.1.7.8820696922, April 29.
  • Project viewers:

General Viewer Notes (Both Meetings)

  • The latest Graphics Featurettes RC viewer is seen as the last RC update prior to this viewer being promoted, hopefully in week #24 if it passes QA. This will see the official release of Viewer-side setting of PBR materials for terrain; 2K texture upload support; glTF / PBR mirrors.
    • A request has been made to fix an alpha asset mode issue prior to release. This is seen as unlikely, unless QA reject the viewer going to release status.
  • It is anticipated the WebRTC viewer will move from project viewer status to RC viewer status with its next update.
    • The initial RC viewer will support both Vivox Voice and WebRTC, depending on how voice is handled on the back-end for any given region.
    • However, there may be issues when trying to use Voice across different regions / in groups where use of WebRTC and Vivox is mixed.
    • See here for more on the WebRTC project.
  • A planned Maintenance RC viewer (Maint A) is currently pending the resolution of a number of fixes, hence why Maint B and C are currently in the pipeline.

Graphics / glTF

General Notes on glTF / PBR (CCUG Meeting)

  • Cosmic Linden is working on custom repeats for PBR terrain, allowing for higher texel densities to help reduce the “stretching” of textures of elevation changes)  and better support 2K textures.  This work is *not* part of the PBR Terrain updates in the Graphics Featurettes viewer, but will be part of a follow-on set of glTF updates currently contain within a development viewer branch on Github.
    • This branch also includes a improvement specifically for Mac performance related to actions such as editing, moving UI elements around, etc.
  • It has been noted that the current implementation for reading & writing glTF data has some limitations in terms of SL, so there is some internal work to re-write it to better fit the SL systems / services. Part of this work means Geenz is re-writing some of the work on glTF transmission to better fit the SL asset loader.
    • This work will also assist the development work going into the glTF scene import project.

glTF Scene Import (TPVD Meeting)

[Video: 5:18-18:10]

  • Recap:
    • Development of the ability to import glTF scenes (objects, materials, animations, etc.), directly from Blender to Second Life. This includes a node hierarchy which will allow some degree of editing / modification of scene elements once imported. There will also be the ability to export scenes back to Blender for more extensive update by the creator. Both of these latter points (editing / export) will be subject to the SL permissions system.
    • Scenes are liable to use the MSFT glTF extension for Level of Detail (LOD), as this allows LODs to be set per node within a scene, providing more intuitive / consistent LOD switching management (based on screen coverage).
    • There will be constraints placed on scene imports (e.g. will not be able to have a scene which exceeds the capacity of a region; scenes will not be able to span more than one region (so as to avoid issues with physics, etc.); and so on).
  • Status:
    • Rapid prototyping of the ability to upload and preview glTF scenes is progressing. This can be tested via prototype viewer made available through the Content Creator Discord channel (apologies, but due to a request from Linden Lab I cannot provide details on how to join this channel, outside of contact Vir Linden) and on the glTF development / test regions on Aditi.
    • The functionality currently remains that of being able to preview a scene – there is no actual simulator-side representation of the scene (e.g. it is viewer-side only, so only visible in the viewer used for the preview). Obviously, this will change as the work progresses.
    • For those wishing to test the capability, note that there is an known issue with large file uploads for glTF scenes failing. This is being investigated by Pepper Linden.
    • The work is now within the general development branch of the graphics / glTF work.
    • Limits (avatar limits, land impact, number of vertices, faces, etc), will be defined in detail as the project develops, with any defined as a “must” within the glTF specification being a hard line, those defined as a “should” being considered as the baseline.
  • [Video: 20:50-21:55] Transitioning to glTF scene support (when it ready for more widespread availability) will be in a manner akin to the introduction of mesh support back in 2011/12: those running viewers that have not updated to the code supporting glTF scene rendering will not see any scenes they enter, but will instead see “something akin to a little chiclet of a sculpt”.

 

Next Meetings

† The header images included in these summaries are not intended to represent anything discussed at the meetings; they are simply here to avoid a repeated image of a gathering of people every week. They are taken from my list of region visits, with a link to the post for those interested.

Simurg’s mythical beauty in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Simurg, June 2024 – click any image for full size

Located within the north-west corner of a Full private region  which has been sub-divided into a series rental parcels, and which leverages the Land Capacity bonus, Simurg occupies a little under 4096 sq metres and is held by Lintu (KorppiLintu). It is offered as public space for visitors and photography, redressing it to suit the season and / or to offer different themes. The iteration I visited at the start of June 2024 carried the sub-title Ancient City, and contained a mix of ancient history wrapped with a touch of fantasy mythology.

Given its small size, the setting is seemingly easy to take in at a single glance, open to the water on two sides and the other two screened from the rest of the region intruding through the considered use of a main structure and two scenic backdrops. However, a simple glance can be deceptive; there is a lot more here than at first appears to be the case.

Simurg, June 2024

Perhaps the easiest way to think of the setting is as an ancient and once massive building – perhaps a temple; a place long since overcome by the passage of time. The landing point sits on the north side of the parcel, backed by great arches of a tall, ruined wall and looking across what was once a flagstone floor, now broken and open to flooding by the surrounding waters.

A good portion of this floor survives, pointing south-east towards stairs leading up to an antechamber apparently overlooking the rooftops of a large town or city suggestive of some where in Italy or southern Europe. Also pointing towards the antechamber  is a high wall mixed with rock formations which seems to form  the western boundary of the setting – although looking through its lower arches will reveal this is not the case.

Simurg, June 2024

Upon this wall, and looking down over the flagstones and water, is a line of statues which carry a Grecian styling about them. Further statues are set just above the waters at the base of this arched wall, although one of these is more Elven in look, thus providing one of the more fantasy elements to the setting. This is increased by the presence of stone-rendered sea beasts in the waters either side of the main flagstone floor. These in turn may have been called forth by the strange mer-like figures trumpeting the arrival of a figure upon a chariot and carrying a trident as he appears to have risen out of the sea behind the landing point.

All of this statutory add to the idea that this is a place steeped in history and legend (that charioted figure, for example, might well appear to be raiding up out of the sea, but he appears to in fact be Achilles, rather than any deity of the deep rising from the sea). However, little touches are add to the mix which bring together so much – as with the elven figures mentioned above, together with one of the statues within the antechamber also mentioned earlier. Rather than being something from ancient times, it is in fact a reproduction of a statue on the Honour Grave of Johannes Benk (1844-1914), located within the Vienna Central Cemetery, thus giving a further little twist to the setting’s narrative.

Simurg, June 2024

This great, semi-flooded hall is only a part of the setting. Sitting atop the high wall running on the west side, and above the statues thereon, sits a large table of rock forming a north-pointing promontory. Here, within a garden-like setting is evidence that however ancient the ruins below and around it might be, this is a place still very much in use. To one end stands the remnants of a modern brick-built structure with the bric-a-brac of modern life in and around it, presenting cosy place to sit and pass the time. facing it from the far end of the promontory is  wrought iron gazebo with table and chairs under its open top, offering another place to sit, whilst between them, the garden is split by water tumbling from above and then down a gaping hole it has tunnelled through the rock so it might fall onwards to join the waters below.

A glance down through the hole created by the waterfall reveals a little campsite tucked out-of-sight from the main ruins and sitting on a rocky outcrop. But how is it, and this elevated garden to be reached? There is no means by which to climb the ruins / rocks to reach it, and the waters surrounding and campsite on its outcrop appear too deep to wade through. The answer is to follow the trail skirting the waters flood a part of the ground level area and running north, away from the steps up to the antechamber.

Simurg, June 2024

Lit by electric or gas street lamps, this path leads the way to a teleport portal sitting within a door-like ring of stones. Obey the instruction of Click to Teleport, and you’ll be carried up to the garden. A second teleport tucked behind the brick ruins will then carry you down to the foot of the waterfalls. From here it is possible to take stepping stones back through an arch to the main part of the setting, or – despite the depth of the water between shore and campsite – walk to the little campsite without getting dunked, courtesy of an invisiprim.

Making excellent use of the available parcel space and vertical elevation, this iteration of Simurg has a welcoming mystical air to it. For me, this was increased by the parcel’s name: “Simurg” is one of the alternate spellings for the benevolent bird of Persian mythology, the simurgh. This is perhaps more happenstance than intentional – as noted, the parcel’s design seems to change over time (at least going by Lintu’s profile picks), rather than intentional – but it’s still a nice convergence between name and theme.

Simurg, June 2024

Certainly, the atmosphere within the setting is enhanced by the local environment settings (which I admittedly tweaked very slightly for the purposes of the images here), and brings together a mix of influences in a pleasing cocktail of sights and opportunities for photography. It might perhaps benefit for a slightly more immersive soundscape, but this is a very minor niggle and in no way detracts for the overall  beauty and appeal of Simurg.

SLurl Details

June 2024 SL Web User Group summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
The Web User Group meeting venue, Denby

The following notes cover the key points from the Web User Group (WUG) meeting, held on Wednesday June 5th, 2024. They form a summary of the items discussed and is not intended to be a full transcript. A video of the meeting, recorded by Pantera Północy, is embedded at the end of this summary – my thanks as always to Pantera for recording it and making it available.

Meeting Overview

  • The Web User Group exists to provide an opportunity for discussion on Second Life web properties and their related functionalities / features. This includes, but is not limited to: the Marketplace, pages surfaced through the secondlife.com dashboard; the available portals (land, support, etc), the forums.
  • As a rule, these meetings are conducted:
    • On the first Wednesday of the month and 14:00 SLT.
    • In both Voice and / or text.
    • At this location.
  • Meetings are open to anyone with a concern / interest in the above topics, and form one of a series of regular / semi-regular User Group meetings conducted by Linden Lab.
  • Dates and times of all current meetings can be found on the Second Life Public Calendar, and descriptions of meetings are defined on the SL wiki.

Meeting Date and Time

[Video: 4:10-7:04]

  • Following requests for an increased frequency of Web User Group meetings, the web team has been looking to move the standing meeting to a different day / time each month.
  • Specifically, the day being considered is Tuesday, and the time moved from 13:00 SLT to 12:00 noon SLT.
  • Insufficient numbers were present at this meeting (just 7 people, three of whom were Lab employees and one (that would be me) afk throughout the meeting!). Ergo, this idea will be raised at the July meeting.

Marketplace Updates, Testing and Ideas

[Video: 8:56-20:08]

  • “Good progress” has been made on a new responsive layout for the marketplace intended to improve MP displaying on a mobile phone or if you are looking at the marketplace in the viewer at smaller breakpoints.
  • The Marketplace team has just completed a “research spike” looking at Search issues and believe they have some good solutions for some of the problems user have reported, and will be looking to make updates to Search based on the results of this work.
  • Some live experiments have been carried out on Search filters in response to concerns raised at past WUG meetings.
    • Specifically, the experiments focused on how filter changes might impact sales of non limited quantity items.
    • After looking at the data on marketplace for a weekend the team didn’t see much meaningful change in terms of sales or traffic for non limited quantity items.
  • The team is still looking into ways to better promote the viability of original creators and their creations on marketplace. One idea is to have some form of carousel of “most popular creators” (similar to the “customers are buying now” carousel on the MP home page), listing the most popular creators in terms of sales over a given period (e.g. the past 24 hours).
    • Sntax Linden is open to suggestions via the Marketplace Board at Feedback Portal on how LL might accomplish this.
  • Additional ideas for carousels on the Marketplace home page being mulled by the Lab include: “hot and new creators”; “popular items” and “hot & new items”, the idea being to help alleviate the need to use Search and result filters to find new release, new items, etc.
One of the things I would like to accomplish is better promoting creators. Being able to discover a product on the marketplace is great, but I would love more tools for creators to organically promote themselves or for shoppers to be able to find stores/creators.

– Sntax Linden

  • Another area of discussion at the Lab is how a “for you” capability might be implemented down the road, correlating the sales of the most popular items selling on the MP globally with a user’s own shopping history, with it being noted that personalised relevancy is something the team would like to “tackle across the platform”.

General Discussion

[Video: 20:12-end]

  • There was a general discussion on Search and how it is used to find good, creators, etc. This touched on idea around a system-generated tag cloud based on new / popular / “hot” items; better system-managed filters, etc.
  • Providing a New MP category geared towards specifically for new users that would enable to them to locate items that would be interested in (e.g. Senra clothing and accessories, easy-to-unpack and use items), with an emphasis on ease-of-use (e.g. does not require in-world unpacking, the need to read a notecard or wade through lots of options, etc.
  • The above touched on the core limitations of Senra – that even for new users, it requires a level of understanding of SL to make proper use of it post web-customisation during on-boarding, including:
    • What inventory is, how the system Library works.
    • How to copy items from the Library to inventory.
    • The difference between clothing layers and attachments, understanding the basic iconography they use.
    • As such broadening the knowledge base for Senra, providing information on it beyond the web-based onboarding was discussed.
  • Towards the end of the meeting was a general discussion on how parcels and land might be better searched in general (e.g. allowing those with multiple parcels to group them together as a “place” entry (not to be confused with Place Pages) which can be searched, and which displays information on all the parcels.
  • As these were general discussion point, rather than ideas for implementation, please refer to be video below for further information.

Next Meeting

  • Wednesday, July 3rd, 2024.

JudiLynn’s Messages in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Kondor Art Club, June 2024: JudiLynn India – Messages

Open through most of June 2024 at the Kondor Art Club, a part of Hermes Kondor’s Kondor Art Centre, is a solo exhibition by JudiLynn India which again demonstrates her extraordinary acrylic art, here given a digital edge through the considered use of post-processing via Procreate, a raster graphics editor developed for devices using Apple’s iOS and iPadOS.

JudiLynn has expressed a love of art and artistic expression for most of her life, studying the subject at both school and university, whilst also learning to play the piano, guitar and violin. Her art has always been a personal journey, one encompassing her outlook on life, her spirituality and her personality – which might be describes as vibrant, passionate and fuelled by a desire to create and explore. This latter aspect of her creativity has, over the last two decades, encouraged her to combining her love of acrylic painting with a growing appreciation of the potential presented by digital painting software and techniques.

Kondor Art Club, June 2024: JudiLynn India – Messages

All of this is fully displayed within Messages at the Kondor Art Club.

Occupying the full gallery space, this collection of some 40 digitally-enhanced, acrylic originals carries within it a familiar sense of the abstract and the natural – aspects of Judi’s work I have always enjoyed.

Each of the compositions offered is described as a spiritual adventure for the artist; something perhaps most clearly seen in the pieces carrying one or more circles within them – a motif, perhaps of the spirit’s enduring nature, and symbolising unending cycles – the embodiment of the alpha and the omega, if you will.

The use of the the circle is not the only symbol or motif to be found within these pieces; many include representations of writing. That the words /letters / symbols might be indecipherable makes no difference, their inclusion not only reflects the title of the the collection, they serve as a reminder that starting with art – in the form of simple paintings – and progressing to use of symbols, hieroglyphs and eventually the written word, we are a race of creatives (and in “written” I would also include the use of music, through its notations and interpretation, as both a means to communicate and to express ourselves), and also archivists; recording what we see, learn, love and cherish for both our out pleasure / knowledge and for those who will inevitably follow us.

Kondor Art Club, June 2024: JudiLynn India – Messages

In this Messages might be said to be an essay in art, a celebration of life, of humanity, nature and all that makes us individually and collectively unique. And like is, each of the compositions within this collection work collectively, each one adding its own lines to the exhibition’s narrative; yet at the same time each is unique and within its own voice, capable of standing on its own, ready to be appreciated just as richly on that basis as for any connection to the rest of the collection.

SLurl Details

2024 SL SUG meetings week #23 summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
A Place in the Sun, May 2024 – blog post †

The following notes were taken from the Tuesday, June 4th, 2024 Simulator User Group (SUG) meeting. They form a summary of the items discussed, and are not intended to be a full transcript, and were taken from my chat log and the video by Pantera – my thanks to her as always for providing it.

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.
  • These meetings are conducted (as a rule):
  • Meetings are open to anyone with a concern / interest in the above topics, and form one of a series of regular / semi-regular User Group meetings conducted by Linden Lab.
  • Dates and times of all current meetings can be found on the Second Life Public Calendar, and descriptions of meetings are defined on the SL wiki.

Simulator Deployments

  • On Tuesday, June 4th, the Main SLS channel was restarted without any deployment.
  • On Wednesday, June 5th:
    • The BlueSteel RC channel will be restarted.
    • The rest of the RC simhosts should be updated with a re-deployment of the Spring Break Simulator update.

Upcoming Deployments

The major deployment for June is set to be Summer Fun. Among other things this should include:

  • Leviathan Linden’s game controller event work to support game controllers – although these will require a viewer-side update to expose the updated viewer UI.
  • Rider Linden’s work on the SL Combat System (SLCS) 2.0 updates (see my Combat User Group summaries for more).
  • LSL updates:
    • A new parameter to llRezObjectWithParams REZ_PARAM_STRING – allows the passing of a 1024 char string to the object being rezzed.
    • llGetStartString() to retrieve the string.
  • A fix for the notecard cache so that it a fixed amount of memory (enough memory to store 48 max-sized notecards) rather than the count of notecards.
  • A fix for the “flying on logging-in” issue.

Those wishing to test any of the above in advance of the deployment of Summer Fun (due some time in June), can do so in the region Riders Test Channel on Aditi (the Beta grid).

The July simulator update is to be called Picnics, but there is no information on what it might contain at present, other than EZ_PARAM_DIE_IF_NO_REZZER, and llDerezMyObject.

Bugsmash Work

  • Bugsmash is the term given to a dev team suspending work on their core projects and spending a week(ish) focusing on resolving bugs and smaller features for inclusion in a future simulator release.
  • In recognition of this, it was suggested that if there are specific, niggling bugs people want looked at, they raise them at this meeting and the Tuesday, June 11th meeting. There is no guarantee any specific issues will be addressed during the Bugsmash period, but having a list  – and update to bugs on Canny will help the Lab assess what might be examined / fixed.

SL Viewer Updates

On Tuesday, June 4th, the Materials Featurettes RC viewer updated to version 7.1.8.9357006492.

The rest of the current official viewers in the pipeline remain as:

  • Release viewer: Maintenance X RC (usability improvements), version 7.1.7.8974243247, dated May 8 and  promoted May 13 – no change.
  • Release channel cohorts:
    • Maintenance C RC (reset skeleton in all viewers), version 7.1.7.8820704257, May 6.
    • Maintenance B RC (usability updates / imposter changes) 7.1.7.8820696922, April 29.
  • Project viewers:

In Brief

Please refer to the video for the following:

  • A discussion on further LSL functions / updates.
  • Commentary about avatar animations states / syncing between viewers / the simulator in terms of updates being passed back and forth.
  • The batting of ideas around particles and the particle system.

† The header images included in these summaries are not intended to represent anything discussed at the meetings; they are simply here to avoid a repeated image of a rooftop of people every week. They are taken from my list of region visits, with a link to the post for those interested.

Frolicking in Joyful Gardens in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Joyful Gardens, June 2024 – click any image for full size
Imagine romantic botanical gardens where you can have fun too. Visit our butterfly house and watch them flutter around you. Wander through the maze, hop on rides, or find a spot to dance, cuddle and kiss. Where romance lingers and memories are made.

So reads the description for Joyful Gardens, a simply delightful region design by Hedy Heartsong, and which is home to more than might first appear to be the case when visiting.

Joyful Gardens, June 2024

Leveraging the Land Capacity bonus available to Full private regions, the setting’s charm commences with the general design of its three islands. This is hardly obvious from ground level, but can be seen on the map available on the reverse wall of the landing point’s notice board or indeed, by looking at the World map, although to really appreciate Hedy’s sculpting of the land, I recommend camming overhead and looking down.  Doing so will reveal that each island has been shaped in a manner which, when taken together, summarise the inherent theme of the setting: that of nature.

This is a place where it is exceptionally easy to get around on foot, each of the islands offering its own charms and attractions. The main island and the smaller island to the south-east are connected via a zip line and a small bridge. However, to reach the second of the smaller islands, sitting up off the north-west coast of the main island, you’ll need to either fly, make use of a rezzable skiff from the small jetty alongside the main island’s lighthouse or use the bubble rezzer available at the landing point for a more sedate ride to reach it. If none of these options appeal, then the island has a network of teleporters to help guide visitors from point-to-point around the setting: just look for the tree stumps with the topiary rabbits jumping over them.

Joyful Gardens, June 2024

Located on the south side of the main island, the landing point is roughly equidistant from both the lighthouse and the bridge crossing the narrows to the south-east islet. It faces a walk along a narrow neck of grassy land which quickly flairs out into the main island proper. Which of the three routes you opt to take is entirely up to you; as noted, the lighthouse sits above a small jetty where a skiff can be rezzed so you can pootle around the islands on the water, whilst the south-eastern islet is the location of a cosy little house / cabin and can – again as noted above, be reached by way of a bridge.

The fact that the latter is set apart from the rest of the setting initially suggests it is a private residence; however, signs on the picket fence before it bid visitors welcome, an invitation to explore it and the grounds around it. Both  he house and its accompanying outbuilding have the look of having once been put to more work-a-day uses, possibly as barns, but have now been converted into a cosy little residence and bath house respectively. They sit within a wildling garden where the grass has been allowed to freely grow, and fruit and vegetables are being cultivated in planters watched over by ripening corn on the cob.

Joyful Gardens, June 2024

Steps and a deck extend down from the island’s flank and out over the waters of the cove separating it from the main island, the deck presenting both a place to sit and a chance to rez a skiff and continue onwards by water. Just above and behind this is the termination point from the zip line which can also be used to reach the house from the central uplands of the main island. Obviously, you can also travel onwards from the house via the teleport network – but if you opt to take the skiff, don’t simply motor off and around the islands – it it to the middle of the bay and have a look at what lies beneath. the waves.

Away to the north-west Bird Island (as I’m going to call it) is home to a chapel, the waters between it and the main island guarded by a pair of sharks. Fortunately, it also has a jetty and skiff rezzer (I didn’t see a teleporting tree stump there), so you can avoid being looked upon as a moving snack by said sharks as you swim back across the channel separating the two islands.

Joyful Gardens, June 2024

The main island in the trio is home to a number of points of interest spread across its gently rising form, including ruins up on the central uplands – which have their own weather as well as the starting point for the zip line mentioned earlier;  a maze (one of two awaiting exploration, although you will need to avail yourself of the teleporter system to reach the second (and larger) of them) and an outdoor space that seems to combine an events / celebration / reception space (the chapel is set for weddings) with a small formal terrace / seating area / pond and a brace of carnival rides and a pair of hippity-hop amusement rides.

Meanwhile, sitting under the ruins is an old mining tunnel which can be explored from one end as it dives under the hilltop, whilst the north side of the island is home to the Joyful Jardin Vert, and its exposition bontanique. Here, laid out in a small and tidy formal garden space can be found a profusion of geraniums, gerbera and nemophila flowering amidst privet brushes and shrubs, the flower beds neatly divided by paves walks offering access to a central fountain and seating area.

Joyful Gardens, June 2024

Shielding all this on three sides are tall glass-and-stone greenhouses, one of which is now a butterfly house, the second a teaching room for those wishing to enhance their green-fingered skills, and the third a place in which to relax and enjoy a dance or a nibble of cake and freshly brewed tea (although the bubbly admittedly attracted me more – tea and I have a near life-long agreement that we will largely ignore once another!).

Throughout the entire setting are numerous places to sit and relax, opportunities to photograph the local flora and fauna and to generally appreciated Hedy’s landscaping talents. In keeping with this, do be sure to follow the trail between the trees on the west side of the Jardin Vert in order to fins more eye-catching and secluded little spots. And do make sure to travel with local sounds on to get more of an immersive feel for the setting. Photography is encouraged throughout, and should you need to rez props for your work, contact Hedy and she’ll do her best to assist you.

Joyful Gardens, June 2024

Genteel, relaxing and eye-catching under almost any EEP daytime setting (I’ve using the Shared environment in my images here), Joyful Gardens is a region that more than meets the promise of its name.

SLurl Details