Inara Pey

Virtual Community Radio: music and more for your world

Posted on January 24, 2021January 26, 2021 by Inara Pey

*Virtual Community Radio in Second Life*

Virtual Community Radio (VCR) is a new 24/7 new internet radio station based within Second Life and service the wider metaverse, be it other virtual worlds, those who reside in Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States and their associated territories, can listen to the service via a web browser – including using the links on the right of this blog -, whilst the the station’s URL (http://main.vcradio.org/) can be used through in-world region and / or parcel media and suitable app players such as VLC or WinAmp.

Founded by Richard Elen, known in-world as award-winning DJ and radio presenter, and co-host of Designing Worlds, Elrik “Rik” Merlin, will officially launch on Saturday, February 6th with an in-world gala at their new headquarters. Programming is hosted through Live365 and primarily consists of light classical music, with some selected additional classical, baroque, early music, soundtracks and easy listening pieces.

Virtual Community Radio is about Virtual Communities – groups of people with common interests in virtual worlds like Second Life® – and about Community Radio – talking to people in those groups and providing entertainment and information they enjoy. In addition to being aimed at listeners in virtual worlds, it’s also for listeners on the wider Internet.

from VCR’s About page

Outside of their primary programme schedule, VCR will provide additional and wider selections of music genres on a rotating basis of special programming, alongside an an expanding schedule of additional content with a particular emphasis on spoken word presentations – live and recorded readings, radio drama and other similar material.

In this latter regard, VCR will be working with the likes of Seanchai Library, Engines Of Our Ingenuity and ZBS Media to present unique, quality content, and the station is open to suggestions for similar suitable spoken word programming – so if you know of an individual or group presenting such, please contact the station.

With the launch of VCR, initial programming will include Where’ve You Been? This will be a discussion-style programme covering a range of topics: interesting sights and places around Second Life and Tarot @ Teatime a series on the history and techniques of Tarot card reading. Meanwhile The Grove (commencing on Saturday, February 13th) will offer live presentations of new age music on an evocative starlit sea.

Drama presentations will launch with the airing of the classic landmark radio drama series The Black Mass, featuring thirty tales of mystery, imagination and the human mind, created by the late Erik Bauersfeld over half a century ago.

As a non-commercial, non-profit public radio service, VCR is supported by direct sponsorship by individuals, organisations, and businesses. Those who would like to support the station can do so by visiting the station’s sponsorship page, but in brief:

Currently, there is one level of sponsorship set at L$5,000 (approx. US $20) per 4-week period. In return, sponsors receive a 300x300px graphic panel on the VCR website, which is displayed in rotation with those of other sponsors; a link to a URL or SLurl, and a crafted, suitable public service announcement (PSA) that will be frequently broadcast as a part of programming.
Those interested in providing sponsorship should contact VCR via info@vcradio.org or IM / send a note card VirtualCommunityRadio Resident in Second Life.
Additional sponsorship opportunities will be made available in due course.
Those who appreciate VCR in-world presentation or enjoy listing to the station’s programming can additional make donations towards the station’s costs via the tip jars within the VCR Theatre or by direct in-world payment to VirtualCommunityRadio Resident.

As noted above, the station will officially launch with an opening gala ball that will be held at the VCR Theatre, commencing at 14:00 SLT on Saturday, February 6th. Formal wear is requested for the opening.

With thanks to Caledonia Skytower.

SLurl and Links

A Dialogue in sculpture and art in Second Life

Posted on January 23, 2021January 1, 2022 by Inara Pey

*Kondor Art Garden, Dialogue Exhibition by Artemis and Hermes*

I was back at the Kondor Art Centre, operated and curated by Hermes Kondor, just a few days after witnessing and writing about Melusina Parkin’s Lockdown and Hope (see here for more). The occasion for such a reasonably quick return was the opening of a new exhibition.

Located in the Art Garden at Kondor Art Centre, Dialogue Exhibition by Artemis and Hermes presents the remarkable sculptures of Artemis (ArtemisGreece) displayed alongside Hermes’ art.

It’s a part of my desire to create a place for different Art and Cultural expressions – music, art, conferences, readings, and more; a garden display of Artemis’ sculptures and my photographic interpretations of them.

Hermes Kondor

Hailing from Greece, Artemis was attracted to Second Life due to it many opportunities for creativity and expression. She initially found an outlet building houses, but wanted to be more expressive. Whilst not a trained artist, she taught herself to use tools like PhotoShop and Blender, and moved to producing and selling sculptures and 3D designs, developing a portfolio of work, ranging, encompassing everything from neo-classical pieces through to humorous pieces (yes, you can have a farm cat riding bicycle!) and figures of musicians, as well as more general items – frames, cushions, etc.

For this exhibition we are presented with eight individual pieces that brings together elements of her work that lean toward neo-classical pieces that appear to be cast from brass, and figurines that look to have been cast and painted, to a complete set of her Chamber Orchestra collection.

These are genuinely marvellous pieces, many encompassing themes, ideas and or statements, some animated to add depth to their story / increase appreciation of their form. All are offered for sale to those who wish to purchase them. And believe me when I say these are pieces that will grace almost any setting; so much so, I could not resist obtaining a copy of Woman Makes The World Go Round for our garden; while those seeking something a little more special, Artemis presents an exclusive twin set Out of the Box.

Partnering the sculptures are ten pieces of Hermes’ digital art, rendered with his use of Second Life’s wireframe mode (see: Behind the Scenes in Second Life), but here given additional depth through an expressive use of colour.

Some of these images are placed as a backdrop to the sculpture they represent, as is the case with, for example Artemis Sculptures – 010 and Artemis Sculptures – 026; others stand a little more apart from their inspiration – but all of them a depth of narrative to accompany the pieces they represent. Artemis Sculptures – 010, for example, tells the story of how a dancer is inspired by the figure of The Ballerina, while Artemis Sculptures – 021 brings together a tale of Artemis’ Chamber Orchestra playing for the benefit of her Dancing Couple, in a tale of music, dance and romance.

Individually, Artemis’ sculptures and Hermes’ art are each captivating to witness and appreciate; together they make for an enchanting exhibition that should not be missed – and don’t forget the telephone station connecting the art garden with the rest of the Kondor Art Centre.

SLurl Details

Kondor Art Garden (Waka, rated moderate)

2021 TPVD meetings week #3: summary

Posted on January 23, 2021September 27, 2024 by Inara Pey

The following notes are taken from the TPV Developer meeting held on Friday, January 21st, 2021.

These meetings are generally held every other week. They are video recorded by Pantera Północy, and her recording of the meeting is embedded at the end of this report – my thanks to her for allowing me to do so – and it is used with a transcript of the chat log from the meeting and my own audio recording to produce these notes.

SL Viewer News

[0:00-2:15]

Current release viewer version 6.4.11.551711, formerly Cachaça Maintenance RC viewer promoted on November 12 – 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):
- Dawa Maintenance RC Viewer, version 6.4.12.555058, January 20, 2021.
- Project Jelly viewer (Jellydoll updates), version 6.4.12.553798, January 7, 2021.
- Custom Key Mappings project viewer, version 6.4.12.553437, January 7, 2021.
Project viewers:
- Love Me Render (LMR) 5 project viewer, version 6.4.12.553511, issued on January 7, 2021.
- Simple Cache project viewer, version 6.4.11.551403, November 12.
- Legacy Profiles viewer, version 6.4.11.550519, October 26.
- Copy / Paste viewer, version 6.3.5.533365 , December 9, 2019.
- Project Muscadine (Animesh follow-on) project viewer, version 6.4.0.532999, November 22, 2019.
- 360 Snapshot project viewer, version 6.2.4.529111, July 16, 2019.

General Viewer Notes

Viewer updates / releases had been held-up due to some Uplift related issues. This have now been rectified, and viewers should start rolling forward again.
As noted in my 2021 week #3 CCUG summary, the Dawa Maintenance RC viewer was the only viewer updated during the week, and this will likely be the next viewer to be promoted to de facto release status.
The Simple Cache project viewer (VFS replacement) and the Legacy Profile project viewer are both now “close” to be promoted to release candidate (RC) status. That latter had been blocked due to some required UI fixes, with Kylie Linden indicating these are in progress.
Graphics fixes continue to be added to the LMR-5 project viewer, but this is liable to end in the next week or so, in order to allow this viewer to progress onwards through RC and eventual de facto release.

AMD GPUs “Blue View” Issue

[3:21-11:02]

Some users running systems with AMD GPU has been encountering a issue with scenes being rendered with a strong blue bias when running the SL viewer with Advanced Lighting Model (ALM) enabled and using the most recent (post October 2020, I believe, and particularly the latest Adrenalin drivers) AMD drivers.

General reports can be found here, and a formal bug report is available: BUG229727.
LL have acknowledged the issue, and believe it to be driver related. However, AMD driver bugs must apparently be reported using a specific reporting tool provided by AMD, and thus far LL have been unable to reproduce the bug when running said software and so are apparently having issues getting AMD to accept it.
- The issue appears to be somewhat similar to an Nvidia bug of a few years ago, possibly resulting from a switch to using a BGRA for textures rather than the more usual RGBA format.
There are reports that an AMD driver update issued on January 21st, 2021, but at the time of writing this summary, this has yet to be more broadly confirmed.
In the meantime for those affected by the issue,the following workarounds are recommended:
- Rolling back to an older driver version (e.g. Adrenalin 2020 Edition 20.11.2).
- If that doesn’t work:
  - Disable ALM in the viewer (Preferences → Graphics → uncheck Advanced Lighting Model).
  - Log out and back into the viewer.
  - Enable ALM (Preferences → Graphics → check Advanced Lighting Model).
  - Remember to disable ALM prior to ending your session (so you only need to re-enable ALM when you next log-in.

In Brief

[16:32-34::45] The meeting saw a significant amount of text chat concerning the technicalities of viewer CPU / CPU core usage, TPV work in trying to rebuild viewer threading, etc. As this is text-based (and may not be of relevance to many users), please refer to the video from around the 16m 32s mark through to .
[34:47-48:00] and continuing after the brief discussion on chat lag] A further text conversation is on graphic API options and moving away from OpenGL. This is covered in my 2021 week #3 CCUG summary, but it appears that around 20% of Windows users running systems incapable of supporting Vulkan (notably those using Intel integrated graphics).
- That said, Vulkan isn’t the sole option available to LL, and much is still in discussion internally at the Lab.
[48:37-49:15] Some are experiencing an increase in chat lag post-Uplift. LL are currently re-starting the chat servers as an interim means of improving reliability of chat services, but it’s not clear if this is also helping reduce general performance issues.

An away team mission to Planet Idun in Second Life

Posted on January 22, 2021July 17, 2025 by Inara Pey

Note: the Blushock team relocated and have established a new setting, the USS Sleipinir and Planet Freya – of which more in my update – Boarding the USS Sleipnir in Second Life, so the SLurl within this article has been updated to reflect the new location.

CK Ballyhoo dropped me a line concerning Planet Idun, a new role-play / photography region with which she has been involved, inviting me to hop over and join her in taking a look around, with region holder and co-creator Fazzy Constantine (Faisel Constantine) also on-hand to chat and answer questions.

Idun. A tropical jungle planet, set in the far reaches of the Milky Way galaxy. Featuring a full day and night cycle, dynamic weather, stunning scenery, views and hidden spots.

– from the region’s About Land description

Located on a Homestead region, Planet Idun is the latest design Fazzy and his team have worked on under the BluShock RP group banner – a group with a role-play history that stretches back over a decade, and which has been responsible for some impressive designs, such as the ice world Vanargand, complete with its Oblivion-inspired spaceport tower, and also the world of Aegis Prime (as will as having a penchant for Norse mythology, as some of the name indicate!).

For Planet Idun, the BluShock team have opted to create a setting potentially warmer than Vanargand: a rugged, rain forested world where water in places falls from a teal sky to join with that tumbling from high cliffs into the gorge of a narrow river. Largely untamed, this is a world that does have some signs of civilisation – but finding your own way around will call for the explorer within you, as paths are not always obvious, at times relying on narrow ledges of rock.

The clearest sign of habitation is the large ultra-modern base built into the high cliffs towards the north-west of the setting. It is built around two covered landing areas for air / space craft, one of which is dominated by a monster hammerhead of a spacer I’d personally not have liked to pilot into its landing. Inside the base are comfortable living spaces as well as multiple workspaces, whilst its location is marked by both the manner in which its backs into the cliffs and the impressive communications arrays sitting on the peak above it.

However, this in not the only structure to be found within the setting. awaiting discovery on the tip of a high finger of rock pointing to the sky on the east side of the region is Idun’s Roof. A bar / house constructed of wood, presumably gathered from the local forest and reached via a long, winding stair. Elsewhere are other artificial constructs – an open-air landing pad, the region’s own landing point (complete with teleport connecting it with the Deep Space Destination Hub, a nexus for travelling between different sci-fi settings (just accept the experience to use the system for automatic teleports).

As a role-play environment, the region is intended to support free-form RP by members of BluShock and can support short RP situations created by other groups (e.g. as the location for an away team mission). There are a fair number of opportunities scattered around that can be used to built game play – camp sites, crashed vehicles, hidden walks and tracks (some obvious, others not so – as I said, you’ll need the explorer in you), and kayaks to explore the waters as well as the aforementioned bar and the cliff-side base.

Our last region, Vanargand, relied heavily on missions and events, off world time travel and so on. But this time we’ve decided to take a back seat and just build an enjoyable region. A few interested parties are also coming down from other groups to enjoy role-playing. We’ve been inspired by a few sci-fi games – Mass Effect and Halo, for example.

– Fazzy Constantine

friendly group BluShock is also open to those interested in free-form sci-fi based role-play where the emphasis is on fun rather than an overburdening set of rules and requirements. In addition, those looking for sci-fi / fantasy-based photography may also find Idun to their liking, the dynamic custom day / night environment helps to add depth to the setting / photography.

Planet Idun will be officially opening at 11:00 SLT on Saturday, January 23rd, with a party and celebration at Idun’s Roof. However, it is currently available for general visits for those wishing to look around ahead of the official opening.