Author: Inara Pey

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

Selen’s Gallery in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Selen’s Gallery, December 2020

Selen’s Gallery, owned and curated by Selen (Selen Minotaur), opened its doors to the public on Tuesday, December 1st, 2020, offering visitors the chance to appreciate her photography and art. A long-time resident of Second Life, the gallery is a further step in Selen’s evolution as a Second Life artist, coming a year after she decided to create a Flickr account, which has (rightly) been building a following among other Second Life users  on that platform.

I have always been passionate about art in general and therefore, like many of us, I appreciate the beauty and all the opportunities for creativity that this amazing virtual world allows.
I started photography years ago and did more than 500 photos before daring to open my own Flickr account in December 2019. I like to explore many different styles depending on the mood, playing with Windlights or setting my own lights (I use Lumipro), adjusting or creating some poses (with Anypose) and post-editing each image using several editing tools (Kvadphoto+ pro, Photoscape, Photoshop express and a bit of Gimp).

– Selen on her art

Selen’s Gallery, December 2020

Offering two floors in which to display her art, the gallery presents as its opening displays two selections of Selen’s work: Dreams, Moments and Desire on the lower floor, and a series of black-and-white on the upper. Unsurprisingly, given Selen’s own description above, these are predominantly avatar studies, although some feature within the lower floor display are focused on the sculptures of Mistero Hifeng.

Whether monochrome or colour these are all expressive pieces, offering individual studies  – some touching on the risqué -, some touching on fantasy, and others offering a marvellous sense of period within the black-and-white studies, with many offering a hint of narrative to them, making both collections a richly rewarding visit.

Selen’s Gallery, December 2020

As well as working with 2D images, the gallery is home to 3D art – some by Selen herself, other pieces by some of the artists she most admires, all of them further increasing the depth of art to be appreciated.

In addition, and as well as using lighting to good effect within her 2D art, Selen also uses it for further visual effect within the gallery – so when visiting, be sure to make sure you have Advanced Lighting Model (ALM → Preferences → Graphics → check Advanced Lighting Model) and, if your system will support it, shadow rendering enabled to add to the overall lighting effects.

Selen’s Gallery, December 2020

Engaging and rich in content, Selen’s Gallery is a welcome addition to the Second Life art community.

SLurl Details

2020 SUG meeting week #49

Posted on by Inara Pey
Walsh County, October 2020 – blog post

The following notes were taken from the Tuesday, December 1st Simulator User Group (SUG) meeting.

Server Updates

  • On Monday, November 30th, the simulators on the SLS Main channel were all updated to version 552571, matching the RC channels.
  • Originally, it had been planned to follow this with a tight series of rolls over the next few days, with simulators updated in batches at roughly 16-hour intervals. However, at the time of writing this is on hold, as Rider Linden explained:
That plan, like so many others, is now up in the air. There are a couple of last minute snags that we ran into and so we’re evaluating what the best way to do these deploys is going to be and we do not yet have an answer. We will keep you all informed on the blog where things settle out.

This means that – again at the time of writing – the rolls listed on the grid status pages are TBD, and subject to update from LL.

No Change Window

Normally, December sees a limited number of deployments for the simulators, with a “no change” window coming into effect over the holiday period  (usually from just before the Christmas break to just after New Year’s day).

However this year, thanks to the migration work, this are apparently more fluid, and dates – if any – have yet to be announced.

SL Viewer

The Start of the week has seen no change to the current crop of official viewers, leaving them as follows:

  • Current release viewer version 6.4.11.551711, formerly Cachaça Maintenance RC viewer promoted on November 12 – No Change.
  • Release channel cohorts:
    • Custom Key Mappings project viewer, version 6.4.12.552100, November 12.
  • Project viewers:
    • Simple Cache project viewer, version 6.4.11.551403, issued on November 12.
    • Project Jelly project viewer (Jellydoll updates), version 6.4.11.551213, November 2.
    • 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.

In Brief

We know what’s going on but unfortunately it’s going to take a bit of time before we can have a fix. Some of the other work on getting to the cloud needs to get done first. It’s complicated by how inter-dependent our systems are.

A Calas Christmas Dream in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
A Christmas Dream – Calas Christmas 2020

Officially opening to the public on Wednesday, December 2nd – although you can enjoy a sneak peek ahead of that by joining the Calas Galadhon in-world group – is A Christmas Dream, the 2020 Calas Galadhon Christmas region put together by Tymus Tenk and Truck Meredith, ably assisted by the Calas team.

The Calas Christmas events are now as traditional a part of the end-of-year festivities as turkey dinner and decorated trees, and each year Ty, Truck and team never fail to present an environment that even the most “bah, humbug!” amongst us cannot fail to appreciate and enjoy – and 2020 is no exception, although circumstance means this year things are a tiny bit different from recent Calas Christmases, at Ty noted to me ahead of the opening.

It’s been more of a challenge this year with all going on out there in the real world, but we did want to do another Christmas. Things being what they are [limited region availability and all], we were only able to rent one region this year. But we hope it will lighten the spirit and heart in our visitors.

Ty Tenk, discussing A Christmas Dream

A Christmas Dream – Calas Christmas 2020

The fact that this year’s Calas Christmas is restricted to the one region actually offers a glimpse back to Calas Christmases of times past, before Ty and Truck took to utilising two regions for their winter celebrations. This gives this year’s setting something of a nostalgic feel for those of us who have been enjoying their seasonal hospitality for the last several years.

Perhaps more importantly, whilst limited to just the one region, this year’s setting has lost none of its appeal, both in terms of things to see and things to do, and most of the expected aspects of a Calas Christmas are present: the main landing point with its sleigh tours; the walks and the skating; the Pavilion where events will be taking place through the month; the balloon tour; the places to sit and cosy-up or dance, both indoors, and more.

A Christmas Dream – Calas Christmas 2020

Also waiting to be found are the little touches that make each Calas Christmas so endearing. Wander the snow near the frozen lake, for example, and you will discover that – just for Christmas, at least – a penguin not only has Happy Feet but can fly (or at least take to the air and hover!), whilst a walk further afield might yeti allow you to discover a mythical creature (and yes, I do appreciate he’s is not actually an Abominable Snowman, but I’ll do (almost) anything for a pun, however bad!).

Meanwhile, for those who find the snow and crisp air a little too much hot chocolate can be had from the Calas refreshment stand (watched over by a reindeer) or romantic meal can be enjoyed at the Calas railway carriage. Or, for those who enjoy the winter air and you have a wearable horse, riding is welcomed – although please do keep off the ice, as the presence of a horse might cause problems for the skaters.

A Christmas Dream – Calas Christmas 2020

Entertainment will, as always, be presented presented at the Pavilion – for dates and times, refer to the Calas Galadhon blog once A Christmas Dream is fully open to the public.

The Calas Christmas regions are always a popular destination, so when visiting, please do consider the following:

  • To help lighten the load on resources, it is requested that active scripts are kept below 100Kb. So please, do remove unnecessary HUDs and accessories.
  • Often the heaviest load placed on the viewer is that of heavily-loaded avatars, so p;ease do try to dress accordingly to try to minimise not only your script load, but also your texture load (e.g. by avoiding items that contain multiple unique high-resolution textures).

Also, keep in mind that because the region might be popular, you may want to make adjustment to your viewer for your own enjoyment – reduce the maximum number of fully-rendered avatars, adjust shadows, and perhaps turn off shadow rendering, if used (other than for photography).

But above all, enjoy your visit!

A Christmas Dream – Calas Christmas 2020

SLurl Details

Note that Sincere Estates is rated Moderate.

Of girls, princes, and the life of a Christmas ghost

Posted on by Inara Pey
Seanchai Library

It’s time to highlight another week of storytelling in Voice by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library. As always, all times SLT, and events are held at the Library’s home in Nowhereville, unless otherwise indicated. Note that the schedule below may be subject to change during the week, please refer to the Seanchai Library website for the latest information through the week.

Monday, November 30th, 19:00: The Curious World of Calpurnia Tate

As Calpurnia Virginia Tate, aka Callie Vee, turns 13 in 1900, she revels in studying science with her cantankerous grandfather, with whom she co-discovered a new plant species in The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate. But a life of science doesn’t seem to be in her future: although her family is rich and her six brothers can pursue their educations and follow their dreams, Callie can’t.

Destined from her unfortunate birth as a female for life as a Texas debutante and wealthy matron, she’s furious as she feels the doors of the gilded cage closing in on her in a world where the fact that she’s smarter and harder-working than her brothers doesn’t matter a bit.

As she tries to keep her tender-hearted brother Travis, who keeps bringing home strays. And Callie has her hands full keeping the wild animals – her brother included – away from her mother’s critical eye. Whether it’s wrangling a rogue armadillo or stray dog, a guileless younger brother or standoffish cousin, the trials and tribulations of Callie Vee will have readers laughing and crying and cheering for this most endearing heroine.

With Caledonia Skytower.

Tuesday, December 1st

12:00 Noon: Russell Eponym, Live in the Glen

Music, poetry, and stories in a popular weekly session at Ceiluradh Glen.

19:00: Nine Princes in Amber

Carl Corey wakes in a medical clinic, with little to no knowledge of who he is or how he got there. Fearing he is being over-medicated and kept against his wishes, he overpowers staff and discovers his stay is being paid for by his sister, one Evelyn Flaumel, whose address is on the hospital’s records.

Fleeing the clinic, he makes his way to his sister’s home. Here, with the aid of a pack of tarot cards and a confession from his sister, he learns that his name is actually Corwin (and she is Flora), and they are two of 14 siblings – nine male and five female.

One of those brothers, Random, arrives, pursued by strange, vicious creatures, that force Corwin to join him into fighting them to the death.  During the battle, Corwin makes another discovery – he has super-human strength.

After the fight, Random reveals more truths to Corwin – notably that he and his siblings are of royal descent from a planet called Amber, a parallel world to Earth from which he has been cast into exile.

Random reveals that their father, king Oberon, has vanished, and the throne is therefore open, and persuades Corwin in a quest to claim it. However, to do so, they must travel through the realms of Corwin’s brothers and sisters in order to reach Amber, and the journey reveals to Corwin his family’s ruthless and Machiavellian nature – a nature he shares -, and that the path to the throne is a route of force and betrayal.

Join Corwyn Allen as he reads the first volume in Roger Zelazny’s Chronicles of Amber series.

Wednesday, December 2nd 19:00: Jacob T. Marley Pt 1

Marley was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it …

These are the words that open what is arguably Charles Dickens’ most recognised work, world-wide, the tale of Ebenezer Scrooge and his journey from miser to redemption.

But who was Jacob Marley?

In A Christmas Carol, we know a small amount about him: his was Scrooge’s business partner who died some seven years prior to the events of A Christmas Carol, and he was apparently every bit as miserly, given his post-death doom of having to wander the Earth entwined by heavy chains and money boxes forged as a result of his greed, and he was allowed to appear to Scrooge to warn him of his forthcoming nocturnal visitors, has been doomed to wander the Earth.

Through this tale, R. William Bennett offers a new twist on Dickens’ popular tale, delving into Marley’s life and his relationship with Scrooge, examining the two men and why their time together resulted in Marley’s after-death cursed wanderings, but which ultimately offered Scrooge a chance for redemption.

With Shandon Loring.

Thursday, December 3rd

19:00: Jacob T. Marley Pt 2

With Shandon Loring. Also in Kitely!  Find teleport from the main Seanchai World grid.kitely.com:8002:SEANCHAI.

21:00: Seanchai Late Night

Finn Zeddmore presents contemporary sci-fi and fantasy from such on-line sources as Light Speed, Escape Pod, and Clarkesworld magazines.

Friday, December 4th: The Dickens Project 2020 Edition Opens

I’ll be previewing this year’s event later in the week.

2020 viewer release summaries week #48

Posted on by Inara Pey
Logos representative only and should not be seen as an endorsement / preference / recommendation

Updates for the week ending Sunday, November 29th

This summary is generally published every Monday, and is a list of SL viewer / client releases (official and TPV) made during the previous week. When reading it, please note:

  • It is based on my Current Viewer Releases Page, a list of all Second Life viewers and clients that are in popular use (and of which I am aware), and which are recognised as adhering to the TPV Policy. This page includes comprehensive links to download pages, blog notes, release notes, etc., as well as links to any / all reviews of specific viewers / clients made within this blog.
  • By its nature, this summary presented here will always be in arrears, please refer to the Current Viewer Release Page for more up-to-date information.
  • Note that for purposes of length, TPV test viewers, preview / beta viewers / nightly builds are generally not recorded in these summaries.

Official LL Viewers

  • Current release viewer version 6.4.11.551711, formerly Cachaça Maintenance RC viewer promoted on November 12th – No Change.
  • Release channel cohorts:
    • No  updates.
  • Project viewers:
    • No updates.

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V6-style

  • No updates.

V1-style

Mobile / Other Clients

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links

The Dickens Project 2020: call for artists

Posted on by Inara Pey
The Dickens Project 2020

Since 2012, The Dickens Project, organised and run by Caledonia Skytower and the Seanchai Library team, has presented an end-of-year seasonal celebration the life and works of Charles Dickens.

Running throughout December, the Project presents a range of events and activities that include live readings, music, dancing and more, all of which takes place in a special Victorian themed region and culminates in a week of readings of one of the most popular of Dickens’ stories A Christmas Carol. It’s an event that now attracts some 3,000 unique visitors annually, with some 44% of those visiting in 2019 returning more than once to explore the region and participate in activities.

This year, The Dickens Project will be opening its doors to the pubic on Friday, December 4th, and I’ll have a special preview later in the week. However, ahead of the opening, the Project is presenting the opportunity for Second Life artists and photographers to particulate in the first ever Dickens Project (non-juried) Art Show.

Specifically, artists are invited to submit up to two pieces of art that include one or more of the following:

  • Scenes taken at,or inspired by, The Dickens Project over the years.
  • Scenes depicting a Victorian Christmas.
  • Scenes of natural winter beauty.

In addition, the Project has limited space for suitable 3D pieces of art that can form a part of the show.

Note that submitted pieces cannot be offered for sale, but all artists will have to opportunity to provide information about themselves, their art and where it might be seen / purchased.

Exhibition Dates

  • Applications: Tuesday, December 1st through Sunday, December 13th inclusive.
  • Set-up: December 14th / 15th.
  • Exhibition opens: Wednesday, December 16th.
  • Opening celebration: 14:00-16:00 SLT, Friday, December 18th, with DJ Gabrielle Riel, broadcasting live on Radio Riel Main Stream.
  • Exhibition closes: Sunday, January 3rd, 2021.

How To Apply

Applications should be made via note card to Willow Moonfire (Starlight Despres). Please include the following information:

  • Your full SL  user name (not your Display Name).
  • Your time zone or best Second Life times to contact you.
  • One of the following:
    • A low-resolution thumbnail “preview” of the piece(s) you wish to submit.
    • An on-line link to where the image(s) or similar samples of your work might be viewed (e.g. Flickr).
  • A brief description of your art & biographical notes on yourself.
  • If relevant,links to any website, Flickr stream or other on-line portfolio you use and any SLurl to your in-world studio / gallery.

Please note that display space is limited, and if the event is over-subscribed, the number of artists able to participate may be capped.

3D artists wishing to participate in the Art Show should contact Willow Moonfire (Starlight Despres), who will also deal with general enquiries on the Show.