I’m taking time out from regular art reviews to engage in an irregular bit of self-promotion. Opening at the Kondor Art Garden, a part of the the Kondor Art Centre, on Thursday, October 27th, 2022, is an exhibition of art entitled Masters of Landscape Photography.
The exhibition features the work of two individuals, Vanessa Jane – an accomplished Second Life photographer-artist – and moi, and is itself one is a series of exhibitions utilising the title and featuring pairs of artists to take place at the Art Garden.
I’m frankly – and genuinely – flattered to be asked to exhibit alongside Vanessa, who is is an artist in the physical world (and holds and arts degree), and is thus able to bring the eye, training and sensibilities of her physical world artistry to Second Life. This is clearly and fully demonstrated in the selection of pieces she presents within the Kondor Art Garden, all of which demonstrate she is fully deserving of the title afforded the exhibition. Through her work, she has been one of a number of talented individuals who has – albeit indirectly – helped me to improve my abilities with the SL camera, although I still have a lot to learn.
Kondor Art Garden: Vanessa Jane
The exhibition of our work opens at noon SLT today, Thursday October 27th, 2022, with music provided by the talented DJ Tulsa Sapphire, who will be spinning a mix from the 80s, together with taking requests from those who attend the opening. I very much hope that in reading this, you’ll opt to hop along and join us for the party, or that you’ll find the time in the course of the next month to pay the exhibit a visit.
My sincere thanks to Hermes Kondor, owner and curator of the Kondor Art Centre for both extending an invitation to exhibit at the Garden, and for encouraging me to do so.
Power up for Charge, October 2022 – click any image for full sizeOccupying a Full private region, Power Up for Charge is the Full region home of the official Second Life presence for the CHARGE Syndrome Foundation, a US 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organisation, established with the goals of promoting global awareness of, and research into the causes of, CHARGE Syndrome (see below for more); directly supporting and helping those afflicted by the syndrome and their families, including developing outreach and support to assist them and building both social and medical networks and partnerships to benefit those affected by the syndrome.
Designed by Tzeitel Enchantment, founder of power Up For Charge in SL, the the Foundation’s representative in-world, together with Tintin (AbOrigin) and artist Suzen Juel, this is a region established to help spread awareness of CHARGE Syndrome in-world and to offer Second Life residents the opportunity to support the work of the CHARGE Syndrome Foundation through donations (either L$ via the in-world tip jars or by following links to the Foundation’s donations web page).
Power up for Charge, October 2022
The design of the region apparently changes every three months, and at the time of my visit it lay dressed at Outpost Camp Charge, described as an eclectic planet from which visitors might explore the outer reaches of the SL universe. In this the setting – which has little in the way of what might be regarded as “traditional” terraforming or landscaping, but which nonetheless retains an engaging look and feel – carries something of a strong Star Wars vibe, although other sci-fi franchises and films also enter into the mix.
The Stars Wars elements come in several forms, from the general architecture, with many of the buildings looking like they may have been transplanted here from places such as Mos Eisley, through the droids and ground transports waiting to the found, to the TIE Fighter roller coaster located at one end of the region as one of its several rides. Many of the buildings are places you can enter, offering bars, music venues, droid repair shops, hangers, and so on, all ready for exploration.
Power up for Charge, October 2022
Mixed in with this are two redressed Starfleet Runabouts, ED-209 from Robocop, a forlorn Iron Giant, alien cafés (one of which, minus its automaton server, would look right at home if it were to pop-up in Blade Runner) and a floating lounge, and lots of art in the form of sculptures, all overseen by a giant floating brain and a whale swimming serenely through the sky.
Within all this are a couple of places that look as if they might host music events within the region – although if so, I couldn’t find any info on upcoming events; a labyrinth, a portion of the Liberty Bridge in Budapest (and which looks like it would be well at home as a part of the Batman set); experience-driven teleport disks to help people get around and – for those who find their way to it, a skyborne amusement park.
Power up for Charge, October 2022
Such is the eclectic nature of the setting, offering a blow-by-blow description here is wasted: this is a setting that should be fully explored on foot and via the automatic skiffs that circulate through the region. What I will say is tat the fund-raising element to the setting is very subtle and unpressured (no kiosks leaping out at you at every turn). Equally subtle are the info boards found through the setting and which provide information on CHARGE in nice, bite-sized chunks that avoid giving any sense of information indigestion.
Needless to say, all of this is high photogenic as well as educational, making for an engaging – and worthwhile – visit. When visiting, do note that a chat extender is in operation.
Power up for Charge, October 2022
About CHARGE Syndrome
CHARGE syndrome was first described in 1979 in relation to newborn children suffering a non-random pattern of the congenital anomalies that occurs together more frequently than one would expect on the basis of chance, with the acronym being used to define the conditions: Coloboma (a hole in one of the structures of the eye), A congenital Heart defect (CHD), Choanal Atresia (a blockage of the back of the nasal passage), Retardation of growth and/or development, Genital and/or urinary abnormalities, and Ear abnormalities and deafness.
As very few newborn children exhibit 100% of these features, CHRAGE is no longer used in the diagnosis of babies suffering from the syndrome, by the name has remained in use. The syndrome occurs only in 0.1–1.2 per 10,000 live births. About two thirds of cases are due to a CHD7 mutation. It is one of the leading causes of congenital deaf-blindness in the United States.
The CHARGE Syndrome Foundation was founded in 1982 in the United States, where it grew out of the Deaf-Blind Project in the Division of Genetics, University of Missouri. Since then, it has grown into one of the leading centres of expertise for research into and treatment of the syndrome and in ensuring children suffering from it receive all of the correct medical care they may require, and is active in 25 countries world-wide, with over 90% of the funds raised being channelled into directly benefiting individuals and families.
The following notes were taken from the Tuesday, October 25th, 2022 Simulator User Group (SUG) meeting. They form a summary of the items discussed and is not intended to be a full transcript. A video of the entire meeting is embedded at the end of the article for those wishing to review the meeting in full – my thanks to Pantera for recording it.
On Tuesday, October 25th, the Main SLS and Events channels were restarted without any simulator update being deployed.
On Wednesday, October 26th, the simhosts on the RC channels were to be updated with the new Linkset Data capability.
This feature works similarly to Experience Key-Value store, but the data lives with the object that sends and receives the data. Only scripts in the same linkset will be able to read the data written with this feature.
The capability can also be discussed in the SL forums.
However, a late-breaking issue revealed by the Lab’s QA team means that the deployment mat not take place until week #44 (commencing, Monday, October 31st).
If delayed, this potentially allows a further week for additional updates to the capability.
I will have a special Guest Article by Neobokrug Elytis explaining this new capability and its significance after the deployment has been made.
Available Official Viewers
On Tuesday, October 25th, Linden Lab release the Maintenance N RC viewer, version 6.6.6.575990. This is an urgent fix for transparency “alpha” blending issues. In cases of many layers of textures that included transparencies, this would cause some of the lower layers to not render at all.
The remaining official viewer pipelines stay as follows:
Release viewer: version 6.6.5.575749 – formerly the Maintenance M RC viewer – promoted October 20.
Release channel cohorts :
Maintenance P (Preferences, Position and Paste) RC viewer version 6.6.5.575055 September 19.
Project viewers:
Puppetry project viewer, version 6.6.3.575529, issued on October 12.
Performance Floater / Auto-FPS project viewer, version 6.6.5.575378, October 4.
Love Me Render (LMR) 6 graphics improvements project viewer 6.6.2.573263, July 21.
Script Compilers
Rider Linden raised the question about removing the LSO bytecode compiler (non-Mono), or forcing all compilers to use Mono.
This would not prevent compiled LSO scripts from running using the LSO VM, it would just prevent further scripts being compiled outside of the IL → Mono compiler.
The main reason for considering this approach would make it much easier for LL to expand LSL without having to drag the old version along.
Currently, this is an idea the Lab is considering – not something being actively pursued; but based n the feedback from the meeting, it may become an active project – if so, the Lab will make clear what is being done in advance through the forums and seek broader feedback from creators / scripters., and proving the LSO runtime remains in place, as noted above.
In Brief
BUG-232792 “llLinksetData batch notifications” has been raised and is awaiting formal review by the Lab at the time of writing. This would only be implemented once the upcoming LSD capability has been deployed.
There was a general question on the DMCA process, which actually falls outside the scope of the SUG meeting.
A problem here is that with the suspension of the Governance User Group meetings, there is no public forum where issues relating to content theft / the DMCA process can be directly discussed with members of the Governance Team.
BUG-232037 “Avatar Online / Offline Status Not Correctly Updating” – LL believe that have a “handle” on the where the issue is originating, but there has been no time to take a deep dive into the actual cause as yet
On Tuesday, October 25th, Linden Lab announced changes to the Second Life Terms and Conditions, which will formally come into effect from November 1st, when users will have to accept them in order to access Second Life.
These updates appear to be in the light of the changes to Tilia LCC’s status following Linden Lab’s partnering with JP Morgan Payments (see the official Tillia notice on this here, and my own blog post here).
As noted within the official SL blog post on the update, the changes are specifically related to:
A clarification of certain functions associated with the LindeX as well as the terms applicable to orders placed on the LindeX.
These changes can be found in section 3.2 Second Life may offer a Linden Dollar exchange (the “LindeX exchange” or “LindeX”)
The addition of a new section to the Terms and Conditions, describing the terms applicable to your use of Stored Value Accounts, including your relationship with Tilia LLC.
These changes can be found in section 4. Stored Value Account, comprising four sub-sections:
Section 4.1 – outlining the general relationship between Second Life and Tillia LLC, and the definition of a “Stored Value Account”.
Section 4.2 – covering the specific relationship between Tilia LLC and your ability to purchase and hold Linden Dollars on account, as noted in section 3 of the Terms and Conditions.
Section 4.3 – which will be of particular note to those who (regularly or otherwise) process credit out of Second Life (aka “cashing out”) Linden Dollar values to fiat money values.
Section 4.4 – the overall status of funds held within a Stored Value Account and their relationship with Tilia LLC.
These changes do not appear to make significant changes to how people use Second Life or obtain Linden Dollars. They do, however, better outline the process credit operation, including general time frames involved, although reference should also obviously be made to any documentation offered in respected of the actual process credit operation and within the Tilia Terms of Service relating to same.
Questions on the changes should be addressed to SL Billing Support directly; I cannot respond to questions through these pages, and is unlikely that specific questions posted in the comments below will be seen by members of the SL billing team.
In a recent Exploring Second Life travel article, I wrote about Elephant Island, the 3-region location designed by Syx Toshi and his SL partner Bryn Toshi (Bryn Bulloch) – see Roaming Elephant Island in Second Life. During that visit, I mentioned Dreamd, the sky gallery home of Bryn’s hybrid art, and promised I offer a piece on the gallery itself- so here it is!
Hybrid art, for those who may not be familiar with the term, is a contemporary art movement which might be defined as, “embracing the convergence of science, technology, and the arts. The term was likely first coined in 2010, although as a movement, hybrid art predates the term by a number of years. Within it, artists work on a trans-disciplinary basis, initially integrating photography, film, radio, television, computers, and the internet into their artistic endeavours.
Dreamd Gallery, October 2022
Over the past decade +, the movement has grown to embrace the natural and physical sciences biology, genetics, particle physics, astronomy, geology, etc.), established and emerging technologies (computer sciences, data processing, robotics, AI, data visualisation, facial recognition, biometrics, etc.), to combine them with traditional art forms – painting, photography, sculpture – to develop art which may contribute to or even critique the fields of research on which it draws, as well as providing unique means for artistic expression. As an art form, it covers both 2D and 3D art. In addition to being regarded as expressive and experimental, it is an internationally recognised genre of art celebrated through festivals and competitions the world over.
For Bryn, Hybrid art is a means of self-expression utilising traditional photography and combining it with AI tools and “traditional” digital processing software such as Photoshop and Procreate to produce digit images that are unique in form and captivating in style. These may not be as bleeding-edge as the more modern forms of hybrid art, but they nevertheless allow Bryn to produce art that moves beyond just digital manipulation to present insight into her imagination.
Dreamd Gallery, October 2022
In all, the gallery comprises four halls. In the first is what might be regarded as the most “hybrid” of Bryn’s work in terms of their imaginative spread, combining nature shots with those of space exploration. In the second hall is a series of pieces celebrating the natural world, again produced through digital means – including the use of algorithms (at least, going by some of the fractal-like patterns evidenced in some of them. While the third hall is currently noted as “WIP”, the forth contains a series of stunning portrait images, with a depth of realism that is genuinely astounding to the eye.
Taken as a whole, each and every image offered within the gallery has a depth and beauty that is genuinely captivating, while the gallery itself occupies a sky platform that sits as a natural extension to the region below. Whether visited in its own right, or as a part of a visit to all three regions. Dreamd gallery makes for a more than worthwhile visit and I do look forward to seeing how Bryn’s work develops and the themes she embraces.
Logos representative only and should not be seen as an endorsement / preference / recommendation
Updates from the week through to Sunday, October 23rd, 2022
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
Release viewer: version 6.6.5.575749 – formerly the Maintenance M RC viewer – promoted October 20th – NEW.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 