Author: Inara Pey

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

Bella’s Glade in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Bella’s Glade, March 2021 – click any image for full size

Currently featured in the Destination Guide is Bella’s Glade, a summer’s garden located on a sky platform over Shara Lights of Amara, a full region with the private island LI bonus. Designed by Shara estate owner Dhanle (DaneLee), it originally formed a place for his physical world mother, but has has now been opened as a further retreat for those wishing to find escape from whatever pressures they are facing.

It’s a gloriously colourful setting, but one likely designed for those who do not run with shadows enabled, given it sits under a skydome that casts everything into a post-twilight gloom for those who do prefer to have shadows running. As such, for those who do have shadows on, I’d recommend taking a moment to derender the dome to allows for more natural lighting – although I do so with a further caveat, which I’ll come to in a moment.

Bella’s Glade, March 2021 – click any image for full size

The landing point for the glade is located towards the centre of the setting, occupying a semi-circular pergola built out over an ox bow of a small lake separated from a fast-flowing river by a needle of land. A conservatory sits on this narrow band of green and colour, reached via a broad board walk they spans the lake. It is the first of several places to be found within the gardens – the  others waiting to lead visitors away from the landing point in a number of directions.

Bella’s Glade, March 2021

These paths wind under trees and between beds of flowers that are both planted and wild. In places railings and fences mark the route to be taken, elsewhere steps and cut logs mark the way. One route directs feet to a distant house, another to the ruin of a cottage on a hill with others passing swings and benches awaiting lovers and / or those seeking the opportunity to sit and appreciate the view before them. Some of these paths might be obvious, others less so – but to describe them all would be to spoil the opportunities to be had for discovery.

Bella’s Glade, March 2021

While it may not mean much to the majority of people reading this piece, Bella’s Glade reminds me of the Shuttleworth Swiss Garden in Bedfordshire, England. The two share a similar mix of the cultivated and the wild, of water and open spaces and tree-shades walks and richly wooded copses. And while Bella’s Glade might not have the same mix of follies and topiary as the Swiss Garden and be a little wilder overall, it nevertheless offered to me that same sense of wonder and delight.

Within all of this sits the house, an A-framed cottage that overlooks the river, a cobbled walk following the curve of the water in the suggestion of a canal side walk. The cottage forms an idyllic home, a place to be savoured for its solitude and the beauty of its surrounding gardens.

Bella’s Glade, March 2021

If there is one issue to be had with this setting it circles back to that aforementioned caveat about the use of shadows. Simply put, this is a setting with a lot of individual textures – and these both take time to load  – sometimes frustratingly so – and can also significantly impact rendering performance when combined with shadows. As such, it may well be preferable to only toggle shadows on when taken photos.

That said, Bella’s Glade is an enchanting setting for those wishing to find a sanctuary or who enjoy garden spaces and are willing to make the necessary adjustments to their viewer.

Bella’s Glade, March 2021

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A lyrical centre for arts in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Lyrical Café’s Cultural Centre – the Lyrical Café, March 2021

An entry in the Destination Guide for the Lyrical Café’s Cultural Centre recently caught my eye, prompting me to slot it into my weekend travels – and it proved to be a more than worthwhile visit, revealing as it did a new centre for arts in SL and the opportunity to chat with the driving force behind it, Mrs. Kamille R. Kamala – LIVE (Kamille Kamala).

Occupying just under one half of a Full region that boasts the private island LI bonus, the setting has been designed by Angela Viera (AngelFruiT) with the assistance of JJ Landar (Jucae). In looks, it might be said to present a West Coast urban vibe with a sub-tropical lean (although the region surround also suggests somewhere more temperate) and which is set under an evening’s sky cut through by the Milky Way (although I opted for more of a daylight EEP for the photos here). Within the provided space can be found a range of facilities that enfold visual arts, literary arts and performance arts and music, all of which are gently mixed within an environment that offers spaces and informal venues that include a beach and spa, that warmly invites exploration.

Lyrical Café’s Cultural Centre – the gallery exterior, March 2021

The main landing point is located alongside the entrance to the Lyrical Café itself, the home of the Lyrical Café Poetry Club founded by Kamille in 2009. This is the location for twice monthly poetry events (2nd and 4th Saturday of the month) that are streamed into the Café as a mix of poetry and music – Kamille is an accomplished poet. Its a place with a sense of intimacy in its décor, one that carries with it a sense of Africa that is both subtle and inviting.

To open a culture and art centre has been a dream I’ve had for years. I would spend time just contemplating it over and over, not really thinking I could pull it off. I had an event in my prior venue, but it got to the point where so many people came, it was too small. Once I realised I needed a bigger place, it gave me the courage to go for my dream.

– Kamille Kamala on the inspiration for the Lyrical Café’s Cultural Centre

Located just inside the entrance to the Café are a couple of teleport stations. The first of these is a wall sign – one of several to be found throughout the setting – that provides ease of access to the major facilities. Simply touch it and accept the local experience to display the TP directory from it and all the other identical signs to be found around the ground-level locations. The second teleport is a floor disk that will carry visitors up to a sample sky home – the region offers four such homes for rent, each with a 500 LI allowance and landscaped grounds, with the rental boxes located in a rear room of the Café.

Lyrical Café’s Cultural Centre – the Gallery, March 2021

While it may be tempting to use the venue teleport system, I would urge exploration on foot, as this properly reveals the care with which the Centre has been designed. Two routes of exploration are available from the landing point – through the Café itself and out along the road on the far side, or down the steps immediately behind the landing point.

My recommendation is to take the latter. It goes by way of an open-air performance area to the lower street level. With a broad board walk overlooking the beach, this route provides the most direct access to pedestrianised area that is home to little boutique shops and cafés, water features and four studio spaces available for rent as art galleries or shops, each with a 100LI allowance. Shaded by palm trees and completed by modern art sculptures (which are found throughout the location, further adding to its appeal), this area and the road running parallel to it offer the way to the eastern side of the parcel.

 Lyrical Café’s Cultural Centre, March 2021

This upper area is home to the venue’s main gallery, dance / ballet centre, night club and gardens. The former are all housed in a series of very modern structures that, together with the palm trees surrounding them, give the strongest sense of West Coast design. They make for a handsome set-up, laid out is such a way that they do not look or feel packed in, despite their relative proximity to one another.

My idea has always been to create a hub of some sort. A studio for the art of dance and music, a gallery to celebrate visual arts , a centre for literary art and so on. Angela made it happen; she took my vision and brought it to reality, and we even included a spa for relaxing, which you might say is part of the art of meditation.

– Kamille Kamala on the Lyrical Café’s Cultural Centre

Lyrical Café’s Cultural Centre – the gardens, March 2021

Currently the gallery is home to a diverse collection of African American art drawn from the physical world, with reproductions of pieces by the likes of Whitney Austin, Elizabeth Catlett, Chuck Styles, Charles White, and more offered for visual appreciation. In the future, the gallery will be host to similar exhibitions of art from the physical world, and also the work of artists active within Second Life, who will have the option of also selling their work if they wish.

Alongside of the gallery, and back-to-back to one another are the dance centre and the Mahogany Club. The latter is a venue for DJ events focused on soul music (dates and times available through the Centre’s in-world group), while the former is named for Misty Copeland,the first African American performer to be appointed as a principal dancer for American Ballet Theatre, and is open to anyone wishing to make use of it, with the barres fully animated.

Facing the entrance to the gallery building is an impressive garden that makes superb and colourful use of the space allotted to it to present a further open-air venue with dance area, a little café of its own, together with a bar space and a little cosy corner neatly tucked away awaiting discovery.

Lyrical Café’s Cultural Centre – the Lyrical Café, March 2021

There is a richness to Lyrical Café’s Cultural Centre that goes beyond words. There is a sense of balance through the setting that is genuinely captivating, be it the positioning of buildings and use of space around them, or the depth of greenery that offsets the muted tones of the structures, or the utterly artful use of water throughout in the form of falls, fountains, water walls and natural channels, or the manner in which nature, architecture and 3D all come together as a single entity. As a home for arts, it is truly sublime and richly diverse;  as a statement of art, it is equally exceptional, and I look forward to making many more visits – as I’m sure all patrons of the arts in SL will as well.

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TokSik Jello and social commentary in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
TokSik Jello, March 2021 – click any image for full size

SL explorers are probably only all too familiar with region designs that hint at, or directly portray dystopian and / or post-apocalyptic settings; at times it can feel impossible to not throw a virtual pebble without hitting one. However, once in a while there comes a region that, whilst it presents such an environment – and can be appreciated and enjoyed for doing so – can also carry a deeper message.

Just such a region is TokSik Jello, to which I was drawn courtesy of a prompt by Shawn Shakespeare. On the surface, this is a highly photogenic setting suggestive of some near future in which Something has happened to bring about widespread destruction and breakdown. At the landing point, buildings point broken fingers accusingly at the sky and an elevated road hints that it once offered a through route to Somewhere, but now ends abruptly at the edge of a landscape the sea has partially claimed, flooding what might have once been a coastal setting built around a small natural harbour, turning what is left into a series of roughened rocky islands split by channels and upon which the remnants of a civilisation cling, perhaps almost tribally.

TokSik Jello, March 2021

When this might be is anyone’s guess, as it what might have happened. There are certain cultural references to the modern age to be found, such as the cooling towers of a ruined power station that rise Fukashima-like on the horizon, Others such as the bulk of a great metallic airship moored above what remains of an elevated tramway, point the way to this perhaps being a place a little in the future.

Between these two landmarks and the landing point, two of the remaining islands have been converted into encampments: one within the remnants of a circus the other – looking somewhat fortified – utilising old building and cargo containers. Both camps are the homes of two gangs of children, the Misfits and (I believe) the Harlequins. Through them is revealed a further layer of meaning for the setting; that of a place where those who enjoy coming together and reliving (or perhaps living for the first time, depending on their personal situation) a time of childhood and its inherent freedoms through the use of child avatars and adventure role-play.

TokSik Jello, March 2021

This focus is pointed to in the first instance within the Sonnet of Jello, framed a short walk from the landing point. An ode to the freedoms childhood should embrace, the sonnet sets out the intent behind the creation of TokSik Jello. It is a poem that also reveals the core purpose of the reason for the region as expressed in the Tale of Beanz.

Child avatars and those who use them are perhaps one of the most marginalised groups within Second Life. Contrary to the view of some, they are not “against the TOS”, nor are they automatically indicative of either sexual age play (which is very much against the SL terms of service, but not something we’re discussing here) or an indicator that the person behind the avatar is under age. That so many are so quick to jump to such negative interpretation of child avatars in SL is both unfortunate and, perhaps, more of a commentary on their own lack of understanding (on multiple levels) and inability to think compassionately about others than anything else; particularly where said attitudes are accompanied by outright hostility.

TokSik Jello, March 2021

Simply put, child avatars can be used for a number of valid reasons, and such use is no different to any other means of avatarian self-expression that sit within the Second Life Terms of Service. They can be used simply for fun, or for very real and personally therapeutic reasons. As such, simply dismissing them out-of-hand (and in some cases by direct trolling any any opportunity – something also referenced in verse and physically within the setting) is simply unfair – and unnecessary.

Thus, the Tale of Beanz is something of a commentary on this; a statement on how easily actions can lead to people feeling ostracised, disliked and isolated to the point they fell little more than a ghost, slowly fading from SL. It’s a story revealed through the presence of “Beanz”,  a lonely, emaciated figure found at different points within the region and who will, when touched, reveal more of the story through wonderfully constructed verse; verse that also speaks to the self-destructive nature that can also be found within social structures in Second Life and beyond, marking the setting as statement of social politics in the digital domain that should give us pause for thought.

TokSik Jello, March 2021

However, to frame the region entirely as some form of r”angry” reaction to all of this would be a mistake. Yes, it highlights a degree of negative perceptions and actions – but in doing to, it offers an entirely positive response. In recognising and understanding the prejudices and petty politics that can and do exist in the digital world as much as the physical, the team behind TokSik Jello have established the region as a of haven of openness, a place where child avatar role-players can escape the toxicity they might otherwise face, and simply enjoy themselves, as is noted in the region’s concept notes:

Regardless of how negatively people think of us, true Role-play SL kids are important to Second Life as a creative and diverse group. Eager to be part and valued as any other person. Therefore It seems crazy that one of the most discriminated SL demography, turns into its own discriminators with internal wars, arguments and hatred for each other. Especially when we have others destroying our community from the inside… for various nefarious reasons ….
Our goal is to install a community structure built on core values such as mutuality, compassion, honesty, respect and trust.  A place for true role-play kids to be as they are and have a place, to share positive community values in a safe, supportive and holistic environment.

– The TokSik Jello Team

TokSik Jello, March 2021

As such, the region is currently open to the public through until (I believe) May, after which is will be gated and restricted to access for members of the role-play group associated with the region – details will be made available through the associated Facebook group, or by containing group members Jordy Zippy Banana (Zippy Banana), Niklas Howlett, Kenzie (Hiro Dismantled).

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Taking flight in a Goose in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
The Wilder / Astral G-21 Goose over Isla Catinara

When it comes to flying, Wilder Skies is not a Second Life brand I’ve really been familiar with. However, For the last couple of months I’ve been toying with the idea of giving the Wilder Skies / Astral Technologies G-21 Goose amphibian a go, even though (at the time of writing) circumstances dictate that it is only available through the Marketplace – no in-world option to take it for a test flight.

However, one of SL’s foremost aviators, and someone I hold in a great deal of respect – Laetizia “Tish” Coronet – must’ve been reading my thought bubbles, as she recently posted a series of images to her SL feed focused on the Goose, and then gave it a solid thumbs up review in the Marketplace listing. That was enough for me to decide to spend the pennies and grab a copy!

The G-21 on the water with my work-in-progress paint scheme and the the restoration version in the background

In the physical world, the G-21 has an interesting history. It came into being as a result of a group of wealthy Long Islanders commissioning Grumman Aircraft Corp to build a small, reasonably fast light aircraft capable of commuting between their country estates and New York City. First flown in 1937, the twin-engined, almost entirely metal built monoplane was an instant hit. Its amphibious nature meant it could pretty much go anywhere, whilst the cabin – generally outfitted to seat two or 3 as a luxury cruiser, the rest of the space being given over to a bar and toilet – was actually very capable in both the passenger and the cargo roles.

The military particularly liked the boxy design, seeing it as an ideal light transport and spotter. The US Air Corps, US Navy and US Coastguard all quickly adopted it, as did the armed forces of a number of allied governments, including the UK’s Fleet Air Arm, who gave the G-21 it’s name: Goose. Woking alongside its sibling, the G-44, the Goose saw service around the world during the war, notably in the air-sea rescue role, and continued to prove popular afterwards – so much so, that two companies took over production and maintenance after Grumman stopped, and many McKinnon and Antilles variants of the G-21 still fly today.

The restoration version and one of the poses

The Wilder / Astral G-21 captures everything about the G-21 that made it so popular: its rugged, pugnacious looks, its roomy cabin and its amphibious capabilities, as well as some of its general handling characteristics. Priced at L$2,689, the package actually contains two versions of the G-21: the original version 1.0, and the updated version 2.0. Each of these is in turn supplied it three variants: – two that are flyable and in “civvie” and “ex-Navy” colourings respectively, and a “restoration” variant that has the ‘plane (in the ex-Navy finish and looking the worse for wear) up on stocks and partially dismantled, with a new crated engine, a workbench and ladder (with poses for working on the hull / dismantled undercarriage assembly).

Also included in the package are two sets of textures (the civvie and ex-Navy finishes) + UV files, making re-texturing possible, although at the time of writing, I’m still working on mine, so consider the images of it here a work-in-progress). Finally, a HUD is also supplied, which matches the working instruments on the flight console.

I didn’t find the G-21 amenable to Mouselook flying, the the view from the cockpit (with camera adjusted) gave a good sense of flying

Flight controls are the usual – a combination of chat commands / keyboard input / HUD options – Arrow keys for pitch and roll, Arrows + SHIFT for rudder, PAGE keys from throttle, etc. No reverse pitch on the P&W rotary engines, so manoeuvring on the water can be a little cumbersome in confined spaces or docks.

As with the real Goose, this is a hands-on flyer: walk away from the keyboard in flight and you’re liable to return and find you’re on the water or annoying someone by being an unexpected / unwanted garden ornament. The sweet cruising point is around 60-65% of throttle and a little care is needed on landing, particularly as this is a tail dragger and the hull really needs goo clearance. External poses are also supplied for when on the ground / water, accessed via a touch menu access through the radar egg atop the fuselage. Up to 6 can fly in the G-21 – two up front and four pax – although I’ve yet to try carrying anyone with me.

I confess I’ve thus far found region crossings a little spotty: the ‘plane handles them well enough, but as they mount up, the chances of the camera slewing into the side of the ‘plane and giving you a nice view of an retracted wheel tend to increase. I ended up banging about with the dynamic camera (“c”) and ESC to try to recover things, bit not always successfully and twice ran out of sky trying to get things sorted. However, the majority of the time, the ‘plane handles very well, and I’m gearing up towards some very long haul flights in it 🙂 .

Catching the G-21 from below

The lack of PSD files with layers included is a drawback for those who like re-texturing their aircraft. It doesn’t make things impossible, just harder; it would be nice to have them as a dropbox option, as Tish notes on the MP. The texture files also add up to a fair few to download and sort through. However, the fact I’m part-way through re-working a copy of my G-21 shows it is possible 🙂 .

Rugged, equipped with not-your-usual run-of-the-mill flight scripting, adaptable (will take a certain amount of careful physical modding as well as re-painting) and Get the Freight Out ready, the Wilder / Astral G-21 Goose is a nice intermediary SL aircraft. One that looks bloody good in the air or on the water!

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2021 SUG meeting week #12 summary

Posted on by Inara Pey

Adventures In Mad Wonderland January 2021 – blog post

The following notes were taken from the Tuesday, March 23rd, 2021 Simulator User Group (SUG) meeting.

Server Deployments

Please refer to the server deployment thread for the latest news and updates.

  • Tuesday, March 23rd: the SLS Main channel received simulator update 556847, which includes the optimisations for crossing and teleporting into a region. This should result in less of a performance hit being felt with lots of people entering a region.
    • Anecdotal evidence from reports after this update was deployed to RC regions suggested vehicle region crossing had improved.
    • The update also states that BUG-226851 – “Only 30 – 50% of scripts run on regions since SLS Main server roll of April 18th” – has been resolved. However, there are reports that the deployment appears to have made little or no difference.
  • Wednesday, March 24th: the SLS RC channels should all be updated with simulator release 557269, defined as containing “internal tweaks”.

On the Teleporting / Region Access Changes

The basic change seen in 556847 mean that instead of multiple avatars trying to get into a region at once, they are now, in a manner of speaking, waiting in line, thanks to the order in which things are handled, as Mazidox Linden described.

Previously, when you teleported to a new region, we stopped the world, grabbed all the data, and injected it into the simulation before resuming the world. Now when you teleport to a region, we grab all the data, stop the world, inject the data into the simulation, and resume the world. Very, very, very approximately.

– Mazidox linden on the changes to how avatars enter a region.

Rider Linden that added that the performance hit people feel in busy regions is not so much the result of the avatars in the region, but all of those trying to get into it, which the new approach should now help eliminate.

SL Viewer

There have been no official viewer updates to mark the start of the week, leaving the pipelines as:

  • Release viewer: version 6.4.13.555567 (Jelly Doll improvements) originally promoted February 17th.
  • Release channel cohorts:
    • Custom Key Mappings project viewer, version 6.4.17.556726, dated March 15.
    • Maintenance RC viewer – Eau de Vie, version 6.4.14.556149, dated March 4.
    • Love Me Render (LMR) 5 project viewer, version 6.4.14.556118, dated 23, 2021.
  • Project viewers:
    • Legacy Profiles viewer, version 6.4.11.550519, dated October 26.
    • Copy / Paste viewer, version 6.3.5.533365, dated December 9, 2019.
    • Project Muscadine (Animesh follow-on) project viewer, version 6.4.0.532999, dated November 22, 2019.
    • 360 Snapshot project viewer, version 6.2.4.529111, dated July 16, 2019.

In Brief

  • In terms of monitoring changes as a result of fixes for issues such as BUG-226851, the Lab do check the data they are collecting, but it can take time after an initial deployment of fixes.
  • There are reports that mesh uploads are generating more HTTP 499 errors (the so-called “Linden catch all”) since the AWS transition. There is no known reason why this might be so, and it is not clear whether or not a bug report has been raised on the matter.
  • BUG-229871 TP issues: some people are experiencing teleport issues whereby they cannot teleport back to any region they’ve previously successfully teleported to previously in the same session, but are disconnected – still under investigation.
  • Map tiles continue to be worked on, but not fully fixed.

Combined Techniques and Fibs at Glinka Gallery

Posted on by Inara Pey

Glinka Gallery: Lash VV – Combined Technique

Currently open at Glinka Gallery, operated and curated by Wolfgang Glinka, are two very different but equally attractive exhibitions, one featuring paintings and images, and the other focused on words and poetry.

Combined Technique presents a selection of art by Serbian painter and digital artist, Lash VV. Having opened on March 22nd, 2021, it is another enticing series of pieces the combine traditional painting and digital techniques that bring together elements of abstraction and impressionism and motifs that incorporate a range of themes in a brilliant mix of colour and line, offered is a setting suggestive of a primal forest with effects by Boris Twist.

Glinka Gallery: Lash VV – Combined Technique

There is something of a divide in styles presented here: those pieces centred on abstraction are clearly so; their form frequently wild or suggesting a certain frenzy. There is a deep and almost primal sense of emotion to them in the predominant use of lauder colours. The one apparent exception to this is Remembering Blue, a piece using the calming influence of blue shades that evokes a sense of anchor and balance amidst the more vibrant emotive splashes of the pieces around it.

Mixed with these are pieces that offer impressionist views that are equally as captivating and offer some unique commentary on human history and our relationship with nature. Take Marsh as an example, as it carries within it  a primal memory of humanity’s origins as a hunter-gatherer and times when hunts and the animals encountered were recorded through painting on rock walls, or Caravan, capturing that period of time – notably in the American west – when meat came to humanity’s growing towns and cities by means of the cattle drive.

Glinka Gallery: Lash VV – Combined Technique

Meanwhile, Torn perhaps offers a link between the impressionist and the emotional tones of the more abstracted pieces, the bull within it clearly evocative of ideas or emotional responses (being bull headed, charging in like a bull, etc.), whilst Shadowlands offers a narrative of freedom and spiritual escape.

Intriguing in form, Combined Technique is an engaging visual display of art, a unique combination of technique and form.

Glinka Gallery: Wolfgang Glinka – Wolfie Tells Fibs

A short walk from Combined Technique is Wolfie Tells Fibs an exhibition of poetry by Fibonacci poetry penned by Wolfgang Glinka under his physical world name, Colin Bell.

For those unfamiliar with it, Fibonacci Poetry  – or Fibs – plays on the Fibonacci sequence. The typical Fib is a six line, 20 syllable poem with a syllable count by line of 1/1/2/3/5/8 – with as many syllables per line as the line’s corresponding place in the Fibonacci sequence. Gregory K. Pincus is credited with bringing this 6-line form to widespread recognition; however, as a broader poetical form, “Fibs” can be said to date back to Sanskrit prosody, with a similar stress on long and short syllables.

Glinka Gallery: Wolfgang Glinka – Wolfie Tells Fibs

As a poetic form, Fibonacci Poetry has become an expression in art not only for the mathematical progression of syllables, but for the fact poems can be shaped by rules – such as ascending from a single syllable to a set number of syllables at the mid-point in the poem, before descending once more back to a single syllable, or running in reverse, or forming mirrored forms in line / syllable counts. Much of this is in evidence in the poems displayed with the Glinka Gallery space, the poems themselves rich in imagery that encompasses a range of themes and narratives.

Utilising the Fib to present multi-stanza poems and well as single stanza pieces, and even reference classical poetry forms – do check out Three Fibonacci Poems After Ovid’s Metamorphosis – Wolfgang presents a rich and engaging display of Fibonacci Poems.

Glinka Gallery: Wolfgang Glinka – Wolfie Tells Fibs

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