Category: Other Worlds and Tech

Of mayflies and waterfalls

Posted on by Inara Pey

Today, and on a whim, I decided to drop back into Kitely and my home there – Fallingwater. It’s been a while since I’ve been back, as I’ve been busy in SL and elsewhere, and I didn’t really want to revisit until I’d got a couple of scripting issues sorted (still haven’t) and I’d decided on a suitable windlight preset (I have).

The Guest House

The windlight preset I’ve gone for – at least until I can get scripting issues sorted – is Bryn Oh’s “Mayfly”. I’ve opted for it partly because I love the sunset it provides, but mainly because I believe the dusk half-light it provides works well with the lighting I’ve installed in the house, which isn’t really suited to full daylight (again, something I hope to change in the future). As I want to be able to show-off the house, simply setting the region environment to night doesn’t work either, as people will likely flick over to daytime in their viewer. So my hope is that Mayfly will provide the best for everyone. I do tend to tink it does bring the place to life….but then I would, wouldn’t I? 🙂

Fallingwater

I also finally got around to putting in the footpath and steps from the drive to the river bank facing the house. This isn’t 100% to my satisfaction, and I’m liable to be returning to it and fiddling with things on-and-off, but it’s a start, and in slipping it in, I’ve gained a fair idea as to what I actually want to do when I have sufficient time to spare.

The Great Room and kitchen beyond

There are a few more things I want to do interior-wise as well. A couple of the rooms in the main house are a tad spartan, and the terraces could probably do with a little furnishing. Certainly, a few more pictures around the place would give more of a feeling of homeliness.

Foggy morning

I don’t know what the state-of-play is vehicle-wise in Kitely. I’m not actually after one for driving, but I can’t help feeling having a big old American 1930s Packard parked out under the rear car port would also add to the place as well.

Ilan has been asking my what I’d do if I had one of the new Kitely advanced megaregions. I think that if I did, it would likely become the home to not one, but four of my interpretations of FLW’s houses – I’ve always wanted to try my hand at the Robie House, and I have a couple of other candidates in mind as well. Although I think that were I ever to tackle anything so ambitious, they’d have to be 100% accurate reproductions, just for the heck of it :).

Fallingwater

Ah, well. Such is the stuff of dreams. In the meantime, if you’d like to visit the place yourself, please do. I did notice a couple more issues I need to fix in the place. You can reach it via my Kitely world page

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When small and bright can get you discarded

Posted on by Inara Pey

Curiosity remains at Rocknest, its resting place for around the last couple of weeks, continuing with the scooping / CHIMRA / sample operations. When we last left the MSL rover at the end of my last round-up of news, command has been sent to Curiosity to prepare the way for a second sample scoop operation (Sol 65, October 11th).

Originally, the material from this scoop was earmarked for use in further CHIMRA cleaning exercises, designed to “scrub” the insides of the sample processing system clean of any remaining Earth-based contaminants, prior to samples being filtered through it ready for delivery to Curiosity’s on-board analysis systems.

While a sample scoop of material was collected on Sol 66 (October 12th), operations were brought to a halt when images returned by the rover revealed a bright object – another possible FOD (Foreign Object Debris) within the hole created by the scoop when gathering the sample.

The potential FOD, imaged by the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) within the scoop-hole from the second sample collection operation. This image shows an area some 5 centimetres (2 inches) across

As reported in my last update, a small, bright FOD was imaged close to the area of the first sample scoop, and after examination using MAHLI, the mission team determined it was most likely debris which had fallen from the rover itself – possibly a tiny fragment of wiring insulation which had originally fallen from the Descent Stage and lodged on the rover. Because of this, mission scientists were concerned that the object seen in the sample hole might be further debris from the rover itself and that some might have been collected by the scoop. It was therefore decided to abandon the sample on Sol 67, rather than risk having contaminants enter CHIMRA.

However, subsequent additional analysis of the object seen in the scoop hole showed that it was in fact embedded in the Martian soil, and therefore unlikely to have fallen from the rover. Closer examination of the ground immediately around the sample spots recorded more, and similar, bright objects, further pointing to the matter in the scope hole being of Martian origin.

These bright objects, possibly result of small pieces of material shearing apart to reveal their unweathered interior faces, will likely be the subject of further study, together with the original FOD seen on Sol 61. “We plan to learn more both about the spacecraft material and about the smaller, bright particles,” said Curiosity Project Manager Richard Cook of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena. “We will finish determining whether the spacecraft material warrants concern during future operations. The native Mars particles become fodder for the mission’s scientific studies.”

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A spoonful of sand, a question over plastic and an unexpected finding

Posted on by Inara Pey

Not long after I Pressed my last MSL update, Curiosity went ahead and collected its first scoop of Martian sand.

The operation took place over the course of several hours on October 7th (Sol 61), gathered a scoopful of sand and powdery material from the sand ridge the rover had been examining at a location mission managers have dubbed “Rocknest”.

The operation was the first phase in a process which is designed to “clean” the Collection and Handling for In-Situ Martian Rock Analysis (CHIMRA) device mounted on the turret at the end of Curiosity’s robot arm (and which includes the scoop itself). The cleaning process is required to ensure that no contaminants from Earth remain in CHIMRA’s chambers so they do not adversely affect analysis when samples eventually reach the on-board SAM and CheMin instruments.

A Hazcam’s view: Curiosity scoops its first load of Martian surface material

The entire process was carefully monitored using several of Curiosity’s camera systems in order to confirm progress and to make sure everything was operating as expected. This made the gathering of the first scoop of material a protracted affair, with the Hazcams at the front of the rover being used to monitor progress from a low angle and both the Navcam and Mastcam systems imaging progress and results. Once the sample has been gathered, the turret was vibrated gently to level the material in the scoop and shake-off any excess.

A Mastcam image of the scoop filled with material and (arrowed) the FOD – Foreign Object Debris – which halted scoop operations. For scale purposes, the scoop is 7 cm (2.8 inches) long, and 4.5 cm (1.8 inches) wide

It was an image from the Mastcam which brought a halt to operations, when a small, bright object was spotted. Believing the object might be something from the rover, mission managers decided to suspend the scoop operations and use the Remote Micro-Imager of the Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument to study the object in an attempt to ascertain what it might be.

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From Bathhurst Inlet to Rocknest

Posted on by Inara Pey

It’s been a busy week on Mars.

Following the identification of a further rock target for study, Curiosity spent Sol 54 (September 30th) conducting contact science with the rock, dubbed Bathhurst Inlet by mission personnel, using APXS and MAHLI.

These studies were concluded on Sol 55 when Curiosity used the ChemCam laser, telescope and spectrometer to analyse the chemical / mineral composition of the rock. Following this, the rover manoeuvred some 23.5 metres (77 feet) to an area of sand called Rocknest, which Mastcam images had revealed as a possible location in which to test part of Curiosity’s sample acquisition system.

Studying Bathurst Inlet, a raw image returned by Curiosity’s right Navacam system on Sol 54 (Sept 30th)

Rocknest, an area of wind-blown sand, had initially been imaged on Sol 52, and earmarked as a potential location for sample acquisition tests. The area is around 5 metres by 1.5 metres (16ft by 7ft), and the fact that it appeared to comprise wind-blown deposits suggested it would be an ideal target as the sand is liable to be relatively loosely packed and offer samples which can be acquired relatively easily and which could be used to perform an important task.

Rocknest as imaged by Curiosity’s 100mm Mastcam on Sol 52 (Sept 28). The images in this mosaic have been white-balanced so that colours appear as they would if seen in typical Earth sunlight conditions

Samples can be acquired by Curiosity in one of two ways: using a drill system or via a scoop, both of which are located on the turret at the end of the rover’s robot arm. The activities at Rocknest are focused on the use of the scoop, which can acquire around 20 grams of material at a time for delivery to SAM, the Sample Analysis at Mars system, and CheMin, the Chemistry and Mineralogy system, Curiosity’s two on-board sample analysis systems.

The scoop is part of a complex system called CHIMRA (Collection and Handling for In-Situ Martian Rock Analysis) contained within the turret. This processes samples gathered from both the scoop and the drill system, ready for them to be passed to the rover’s on-board systems. However, before the system can be used, it must be properly prepared and undergo a special “cleaning” process. It is this “cleaning” which is the focus of operations at Rocknest.

The turret science instruments (l) and an internal view of CHIMRA. Note the turret image is inverted in relation to the CHIMRA image (click to enlarge)

On Sol 56, Curiosity further manoeuvred itself a further six metres (20 ft) to get close to a ripple of sand within Rocknest which had been selected for the sample testing. The Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) instrument was also used during Sol 56 to measure subsurface hydrogen levels, as was the Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD), designed to characterise the broad spectrum of radiation environment around the rover, and the Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS) – Curiosity’s weather station.

In order to ensure the sand is suitable for the “cleaning” process, mission scientists and engineers needed to understand more about it. To this end, and on Sol 57, Curiosity was commanded to drive onto the ripple, rotate its wheels through 30-degrees and then reverse off. The Purpose of this was two-fold: firstly, it helped to confirm the sand’s consistency and that it is in fact packed loosely enough for the scoop to obtain samples. Secondly, it exposed material beneath the surface layer, allowing it to be further characterised.

Making a mark: a raw image captured by Curiosity’s right Navcam as the rover  roll onto the Rocknest sand ripple, prior to leaving a scuff mark designed to help mission scientists examine the particle-size distribution of the material forming the ripple. To give an idea of scale, Curiosity’s wheels are 40cm (16 inches) wide

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Valve Steam ahead with creativity and productivity software

Posted on by Inara Pey

On October 4th, at the same time as Linden Lab’s Patterns was launching in its Genesis Release using the Steam Platform, Valve, the owners of Steam released a update to the Steam client and website which included their new line of non-game software, which they originally described as being “creativity and productivity” applications.

The update initially sees seven titles listed in the new Software category of the Steam client / website, including a free copy of the basic Gamemaker Studio for Windows (with the cross-platform suite available for £314.00 ($508)); 3D modelling software 3D Coat, Art Rage, a painting and drawing application; Camera Bag 2 photo editing software, 3DMark and 3DMark Vantage PC performance tools and Valve’s own Source Filmmaker.

Software on Steam

There has been some speculation (both in this blog and elsewhere), that this new category might be where Second Life appears when it is finally made available through Steam. However, on the basis of this initial selection offered through Steam, it would appear increasingly likely that SL may appear under the Games category.

No date has been given for Second Life’s appearance on Steam – nor should this update from Valve be taken as a sign the SL’s Steam debut is drawing close. Currently, the deployment of new versions of the SL viewer are being held up while a serious crash  / memory leak issue is rectified. Until such time as this has been taken care of, the updates to the viewer which are specifically aimed at the Steam tie-in are subject to delay.

Kitely offer fixed-price worlds from $40 a month

Posted on by Inara Pey

Until now, Kitely, the on-demand virtual world service, has offered worlds (regions) based on a subscription basis, with prices starting from $5 a month, inclusive of two regions and 30 hours a month in-world (additional time can be paid for / covered separately).

From today, however, Kitely are offering regions with unlimited use for a fixed monthly fee, in much the same way as other grid-based virtual worlds offer regions of their own. Kitely’s fees for worlds are :

  • $40 a month for an individual world (1 standard 256mx256m region)
  • $60 a month for 2×2 megaregion (equivalent to 4 standard regions)
  • $80 a month for a 3×3 megaregion (equivalent to 9 standard regions)
  • $100 a month for a 4×4 megaregion (equivalent to 16 standard regions).

Each world type has free unlimited access for visitors and supports up to 100 avatars and 100,000 prims (i.e. the 2×2, 3×3, 4×4 megaregions all support 100 avatars and 100,000 prims, not multiples thereof).

Commenting on the move, Oren Hurvitz, Kitely’s co-founder and VP of R&D states:

Our virtual worlds run on powerful multi-core, 7.5 GB servers, and each world can support up to 100,000 prims and 100 concurrent users. This means that our 1-Region worlds, which cost $40 / month, are both cheaper and more powerful than equivalent private islands on other grids, which cost up to $75 / month. And if you decide to host larger worlds then the price becomes ridiculously low, costing as little as $6.25 per region for a 16-region world. Remember that these are not regions running on overcrowded or underpowered servers: each of our cloud-based servers hosts between 1 and 4 worlds, depending on the amount of users in the worlds. This means that if your world has enough users inside it then it will get its own dedicated server at no extra cost!

Kitely subscribers can opt to lease a fixed-price region option, should they so wish, without it counting against their free region allowance

This move may wide broaden Kitely’s appeal  among users who wish to have large number of visitors and who don’t wish to have concerns about direct charging for in-world time, etc.

SL Viewer Support Removed

On September 27th, Kitely ceased supporting the Second Life viewer for accessing their worlds. This move is somewhat inevitable where OpenSim is concerned, following Linden Lab’s decision to enter into a Havok sub-licence arrangement, a move which subsequently saw the -loginURI capability disabled within the SL viewer.