About a week ago, I bumped into Hera (zee9), creator of the ever-popular Drune series of region designs and during the course of our conversation, she mentioned that while the last (at that time) iteration of the city – Drune Diesel (see: Drune’s diesel-deco delight in Second Life) – had now gone, she was nevertheless working on a smaller-scale redux of the more dystopian versions of the city.
The result is Drune Sleazy Street, and at the weekend, Hera extended an invitation to visit and explore.
Drune Sleazy Street, June 2021
As the name might suggest, the new build only replicates the main street of the dystopian Drune. Given the design is sitting within a Homestead, it’s a little hard to reproduce all of the city; but what Hera has produced is nonetheless engaging and rich in detail, both echoing the older Drune builds and offering some touches of its own.
Drune Sleazy Street, June 2021
Awash with the neon that always gives Drune a pulse of life, the street is home to the passage of hover vehicles along the main carriageways, the adult-themed emporiums and the eateries, all overseen by hovering bots, quietly parked police spinners, and elevated walkways.
Among the buildings that line the street are two clubs, one with the familiar Alien-esque theme, the other offering a more grunge feel (and called appropriately enough, Biohazard). Also awaiting discovery is opulent delight of the Shanghai Dragon. While for those who seek it, an elevator will lift them up to the Exotic lounge.
Drune Sleazy Street, June 2021
But rather than being written about, Drune Sleazy Street – like the various iterations of the full-scale Drune – is a place that should be seen and savoured while it lasts and which will appeal to anyone with a love of sci-fi (the Blade Runner references are clear in the design, and really don’t need mentioning alongside those of the Alien franchise). As such, I’ll just leave images here as encouragement (I hope!) for you to hop over and take a look for yourself.
Blue Orange Art Project 5: Stabitha and Talullah Winterwolf
I was stunned to discover it’s been over 2½ years since my last visit to Ini Inaka’s Blue Orange music and arts venue. True, for part of that time, the space seemed to be quiescent, but the gap has meant I may have come close to missing the 5th of the Blue Orange Art Projects, given it opened at the start of the 2021.
These Art Projects bring together an ensemble of 2D and 3D artists and creators from across Second Life, who are invited to display their work as something of a contiguous, semi-thematically linked series of displays and installations to be found throughout the seemingly random jumble of display spaces – a layout which encourages careful exploration in order to discover all of the art.
Blue Orange Art Project 5: Eupalinos Ugajin (left) and Olympe
For the 5th Art Project, Blue Orange brings together Amanda (aht1981), Andromeda (pehi61), Chibbchichi, Tx (ThierryTillier), Eupalinos Ugajin, Gitu Aura, Grady Echegaray, Kleines Sternchen, Mistero Hifeng, Olympe (Olympes Rhode), Stabitha (What88 Zond), Talullah Winterwolf, Tx (ThierryTillier), Venus Adored and Xirana (Xirana Oximoxi). Together they present a mix of 3D elements (perhaps only 1 per 3D artist) and 2D art displays that have been put together around the theme of four core art movements: Dadaism, Surrealism, Avant-garde and Expressionism (with a lean towards German Expressionism of cinema in the Weimar Republic, 1918-1933).
Each of the artists has been left free to adopt whichever of these movements they find personally appealing, with some touching upon more than one, and others folding-in additional artistic statements. for example, Xirana’s Children in War, and Andromeda’s compositions (some of them interactive – by sure to touch the stars of the constellations) on the subject of astronomy / stargazing.
Blue Orange Art Project 5: Gitu Aura
The latter may not initially appear to fit in any of the four movements. But when you consider the marvels of the cosmos around us, and how they can present a juxtaposition of realities (our own finite span of years compared to the seeming endless enduring of the universe around us); the manner in which some of us illogically assign the happenstance alignment of distance celestial bodies as seen from Earth with some kind of mystical power that affects our lives, and yet we can create images of painting of them which match our ability to photograph them, then the alignment between astronomical images and surrealism starts to become clearer, particularly when you add the fact the way they evoke emotional experience rather keeping us focused on the physical reality of everyday life, and the link gains further strengthened.
Elsewhere, Olympe marvellously captures aspects of Avant-garde together with elements of surrealism through her fractal paintings that are richly captivating in form and colour. In the space below, Tx celebrates the irrationality and photomontage of Dadaism in the company of Amanda, who leans more towards Expressionism – as does Grady Echegaray in the neighbouring room, whilst also borrowing from the art of collage (also to be found within Cubism).
Blue Orange Art Project 5: Xirana
This is a exhibition that should be explored carefully and without rush; there are multiple ways through the various exhibit spaces, not all of which may at first appear obvious (look for the arrows and the signs). Venus Adored, for example, has an immersive 3D experience that touches on all four movement, but can be missed by the unwary if the sign and arrow inviting people to walk through a wall are not spotted.
Venus’ exhibit is also one that requires both Advanced Lighting Model (ALM) and shadows to be enabled in order to appreciate it fully; elsewhere it is probably best to have ALM enabled (Preferences → Graphics → Advanced Lighting Model checked), but it is not necessary to have shadows enabled throughout.
Blue Orange Art project 5: Mistero Hifeng (foreground) and Talullah Winterwolf
Richly mixed, Blue Orange Art Project 5 makes for an engaging visit.
Note: the images here do not show the intended EEP environment for the fantasy theme. They have been taken purely to show the house designs themselves. I will have images reflective of the Fantasy homes and their new sub-continent utilising the correct environment lighting when the Fantasy theme becomes available.
As a part of the opening of SL18B, Patch Linden announced the next Premium Membership Linden Homes theme will be Fantasy, and a preview area opened within the celebration regions, giving people a chance to see the new theme ahead of its release later this year.
Fantasy has been a common request for a new Linden Homes theme, and the new theme is to address this call. In keeping with the majority of the “new” Linden Homes themes, the houses occupy 1024 square metre parcels, and the theme appears to comprise four styles, as described below – but please note it has been indicated that:
The interior layouts may change between the preview and the release.
This theme is to include “special features” not previously seen in Linden Homes – but these will not be revealed until Patch’s Lab Gab session on Tuesday, June 22nd (unless he spills the beans at the Leadership session on Monday, June 21st!).
Amberbrooke
The four styles are:
Amberbrooke: a large, open-plan central room with stairs to the upper level and front and rear access, flanked by two additional rooms. Upstairs are three rooms, with the central room featuring a balcony overlooking the rear of the property.
Mistbrooke: a large, single-level house with central entrance hall flanked by two rooms on either side, the two rearmost of which each provide access to a small terrace / patio sitting between the wings of the house.
Rosebrooke: central entrance hall, flanked by a large room to the right with access to the rear of the property, and a smaller room to the left. Stairs from the hall provide access to a landing with a room to either side, each with skylights.
Stonebrooke: a turreted entranceway provides access to a large main room with access to the rear of the property and further access to an inner hall / room that in turn leads to three further rooms.
While it is purely speculative on my part, I wonder if these homes might also follow in the footsteps of the Chalet theme, with each style offered both with complete interiors and in a more open style variants for people to create rooms of their own.
MistbrookeAs it is, and again given the interiors are not finalised, the Mistbrooke would appear a little cumbersome in layout – the only way to get to the rearmost rooms in the house (and indeed, access the rear terrace / patio) is to traipse through the rooms they adjoin. Some might not find this especially enamouring, depending on the uses to which they put the intervening room. Given the hallway overlooks said terrace / patio, I’m surprised the window it contains is not actually a doorway.
In terms of overall design, the Fantasy Homes could be described as “the Cotswolds meets Lord of the Rings”. True, these are are not faced in stone (at least for the preview), but on the whole their general appearance (ignoring the skylight motif and fretwork over entranceways) wouldn’t seem too out of place if dropped into a Wiltshire village.
Rosebrooke
It is the fretwork that pretty much carries the “fantasy” theme (along with the “Linden typical” approach the the general landscaping (twisted and gnarled trees, crystals thrusting out the the ground together with giant mushrooms). This fretwork and the skylight window motif do give the houses a lean towards “elven / Lord of the Rings”, but to me on this first look – and granted I know nothing about the “special features”, so may well have to eat my words later – the overall designs feel as if they are tinkering with the fantasy theme, rather than embracing it.
Truth be told, wandering / camming the region left me asking, “where are the rounded doorways? Why not something with a little more of a fantasy edge to it such as homes with open-sided entranceways and halls leading to rooms that are somewhat more enclosed?” and so on. However, and in fairness, I can also recall the original Linden Homes fantasy theme came under heavy fire back in 2009 for being too other-worldly (/Lord of the Rings-ish) and thus seen as having “limited appeal”, so a more staid approach might be for the better.
Stonebrooke
As it is, much of the initial reaction on the forums has been positive, and it is fair to say that in not going “all out” on the fantasy theme, these homes could find favour among both fantasy lovers and those who are not so heavily fantasy oriented, but want a home that is just that little bit different without being completely “outlandish” to their way of thinking.
Either way, the preview region will be open for viewing throughout SL18B, and I’ll doubtless have more on this theme down the road.
The following notes were taken from my audio recording and chat log of the Content Creation User Group (CCUG) meeting held on Thursday, June 17th, 2021. These meetings are chaired by Vir Linden, with dates available via the SL Public Calendar and the venue for the CCUG is the Hippotropolis camp fire.
SL Viewer
There have been no updates for the viewer since Monday, June 14th, leaving the official viewer pipelines as follows:
Release viewer: LMR 5 viewer, version 6.4.19.560171, dated May 27th, promoted June 7th – NEW.
Release channel cohorts:
Project UI RC viewer, version 6.4.20.560520 dated June 14th.
Maintenance 2 RC viewer – Fernet, version 6.4.19.559726, dated May 19th.
Project viewers:
Legacy Profiles viewer, version 6.4.11.550519, dated October 26th, 2020.
Copy / Paste viewer, version 6.3.5.533365, dated December 9th, 2019.
Project Muscadine (Animesh follow-on) project viewer, version 6.4.0.532999, dated November 22nd, 2019.
360 Snapshot project viewer, version 6.2.4.529111, dated July 16th, 2019.
General Viewer Notes
The Project UI RC viewer will be the next to be promoted to de facto release status, and this will be in the “next week or two”.
The Mac notifications viewer has still yet to surface as a either a project or RC viewer.
The revised simplified cache viewer RC is returning to LL’s QA team, and if it passes through testing, should be appearing as a new RC, but this may not be for another couple of weeks.
A further CEF (Chrome Embedded Framwork) viewer for web content – media streaming, etc., – is also in the works, that should support more streaming / media codecs and fix a number of streaming-related issues.
ARCTan
Summary: An attempt to re-evaluate avatar rendering costs and the cost of in-world scene rendering, with the current focus on avatar rendering cost / impact, with the in-world scene rendering / LI to be tackled at some point in the future.
Work is continuing on the new performance floater. This pulls together information from various menus / debugs to display useable information on avatars / attachments that are heavy in rendering cost, and what can be done.
This work is currently separate to the work on revising that actual formulas used for calculating avatar complexity
It had been indicated the UI work could appear in the viewer before the avatar ARCTan calculations are updated to more accurately reflect the cost of rendering avatars.
However, there is a concern that if this is the case, the new floater will simply be ignored when made available, and will continue to be be ignored after the calculations have been revised.
It has therefore been suggested it would be better to revise the calculations first, and then release the viewer with the new information floater and explanations as to why it should be taken note of. LL have indicated they may consider doing this.
There is an on-going debate as to how useful information / self-regulating exercises like ARCTan are, compared to the enforcement of hard limits.
Self-regulating exercises (users making use of the information provided by their viewer) tend to be ignored (e.g. the Jelly Dolls complexity slide is generally left ramped up to the highest), thus defeating the purpose of such exercises.
However, enforcement of hard limits runs the risk of causing a high level of upset (and possible quitting) of a good portion of the user base when they find they can no longer overload their avatars with high-vertices/high texture load/heavily scripted attachments.
To avoid the latter, it has been suggested the viewer should be able to automatically reduce avatar rendering to progressively lower LOD settings based on the load they place on the local system, rather than purely by distance from the camera.
It’s also bee suggested that for meshes in general, Second Life should have a robust auto-LODing system at upload.
In Brief
A long-standing issue for content creators producing mesh linksets for upload to SL, is that while they could give each element in the linkset a unique name for easier re-assembly post-upload, following upload, only the first element of the linkset would retain its name – the rest would be converted to “Object”, making re-linking an onerous task.
BUG-202864 “Change Mesh Uploader to preserve Scene File object names when a full linkset is uploaded” was raised in 2018 as a request for this to be addressed, and a viewer-side change to support this was implemented thereafter.
However, as per the week #22 CCUG, the server-side update also required to support this was not made, and the matter slipped off of LL’s radar.
Following that meeting, Vir Linden referred the matter to Rider Linden on the simulator team, and he has reported that:
The required server-side support will be going to RC, hopefully in week #25 (commencing Monday, June 21st).
In the interim, those wishing to test the capability can do so via the Preflight group of regions over the weekend.
Update: details of the new Linden Homes Fantasy Preview have been added following their unveiling during the opening ceremony.
Second Life marks its 18th anniversary in 2021 with a week-long celebration of music, entertainment, art and more across multiple regions, eight of which are given over to exhibits from Second Life residents, and which include the companion Shop and Hop event.
The gates have now opened, but as there was not opportunity for any previews by bloggers, etc., in advance of the opening, we’re all scrabbling around trying to put things together. Hopefully, however, this will serve as a shorthand guide, and my apologies for any omissions.
The regions are, as usual, split between core event regions as exhibitor regions. The core regions include:
In terms of major events, what does SL18B hold? Well, the best way the stay abreast of all that’s going on is via the official calendar of events, which I’ve embedded below. Use the Week / Month options, top right to change the calendar view. Major events are also summarised below the calendar.
Grand Opening
Patch Linden will be formally opening SL18B at 11:00 SLT as a Lab Gab special via the Second Life You Tube channel, after which Strawberry Linden will be hosting a tour of the SL18B regions.
Meet the Lindens
Meet the Lindens is now a staple of the SLB celebrations, and this year we’ll be hearing from – and putting questions to – the leadership team of Grumpity, Brett and Patch collectively and individually through the week at the SL18B auditorium, with things rounded-out by another session with the Moles of the LDPW. Catch the sessions as follows:
Day (Times SLT)
Lindens
Monday 21st June
(14:00-16:00)
Lab Gab SL18B Special with the Leadership Team (Grumpity Linden, Brett Linden and Patch Linden) via You Tube, with steaming into the SLB auditorium – Second life You Tube Channel
Tuesday 22nd June
(13:00-14:00)
Patch Linden, Vice President of Second Life Product Operations – Live Stream link
Wednesday 23rd, June
(14:00-16:00)
Grumpity Linden, Vice President of Second Life Product – Live Stream Link
The SL18B Music Fest will kick-off at 13:00 SLT on Thursday, June 17th, and conclude at 19:00 SLT on Saturday, June 19th. It will feature 25 artists performing at the SL18B Main Stage, with the line-up as follows:
Time (SLT)
June 17th
June 18th
June 19th
09;00
—
—
Randy De Lucia
10;00
—
—
KATIA
11:00
—
—
SpiritLed
Noon
—
Seli Blackmore
Semina
13:00
Milan Zepp
Toxie
Skye Galaxy
14:00
Rogue Galaxy and The Tiny Rebel Band
Staring At The Sun
Fly Kugin
15:00
Oblee
Dandy Pianoman
Marqs DeSade
16:00
Maximillion Kleene
Mimi Carpenter
Dude
17;00
Erik Kottzen
Ruvilyn Gatchie
Effinjay
18:00
Joaquin Gustav
Wytchwhisper Sadofsky
Gabriel da Silva
19:00
—
Gabriella Rothschild
—
20:00
—
Kendall Jigsaw
—
Shop and Hop
Sixteen regions and 320 creators, all offering a 20% or more discount on items and a free (non-group) gift for shoppers, with the event running until July 6th,2021. Shopping SLurls below!
Note that Shop and Hop regions are rated Moderate.
A full list of participating creators with direct SLurls to there S&H stores is available here.
Other Points of Interest
The Tapestry of Time
First presented in 2018, the region-wide Tapestry of Time presents visitor with a walk-through of Second Life’s history from 2003 through to the present day using images, text and videos. True, not everything has been recorded, but there’s enough within the region to be of interest to the historically minded.
SL18B Tapestry of Time with the Ebbe Altberg memorial
During the SL18B opening ceremony, Patch Linden revealed the next theme for Premium Membership linden Homes will be a Fantasy themed series of four styles, and the preview area at SL18B was opened to visitors. See Previewing the Linden Homes Fantasy Themefor more.
The Linden Homes Fantasy Theme preview at SL18B
The Gifts Areas
The SL18B Gifting Areas offer gifts from the Birthday exhibitors and from merchants participating in the Shop & Hop event.
Exhibitor Regions
As is common for SLB events, the mix of content is varied, and the representation of interests broad. Role-play groups, arts, communities, are represented across the eight regions open to exhibitors; some are static, others are interactive in nature.
Direct links to the exhibitor regions can be found below:
Information / SLurls for individual exhibitors can be found in the SL18B Community Experiences pages of the Destination Guide, and I hope to visit and write about some during the week.
Explore the SL18B regions via the automated pod tour cars, courtesy of Yavanna Llanfair
Advice On A Better Experience
The SL18B regions – celebratory and Shop & Hop can get exceptionally busy. To help ease the pain for you:
If you have a high draw distance, reduce it to as low as is comfortable for your enjoyment.
Turn off shadows in your viewer if you usually have them enabled.
Go to Preferences → Graphics and reduce the slider Max # Non-Imposter Avatars to a minimum.
Remove texture-heavy HUDs to free-up more texture memory.
To assist the simulator, remove unnecessary scripted attachments.
If you are using Firestorm and still encountering issues, try going to Preferences Graphics → Rendering and:
If you are running a 64-bit version of the viewer, make sure Restrict Maximum Texture Resolution to 512px (will require a viewer restart).
Use the Max Texture Quality Level drop-down to set texture rendering quality to Mid.
Bella’s Lullaby, June 2021 – click any image for full size
Bella’s Lullaby is the name Bella (BellaSwan Blackheart) has given to her Homestead region design I had occasion to visit in June, courtesy of another pointer from Shawn Shakespeare.
A quiet, natural setting of two main islands surrounded by off-region hills and embellished with a subtle and fitting sound scape, this is a delightfully tranquil setting that sits easy on the eye and most likely will soothe troubled nerves.
Bella’s Lullaby, June 2021
The larger of the two islands is home to a variety of trees scattered across its low form – Scots pine, fir, oak, linden, and so on, giving it a temperate feel. Between the trees, and occasionally shaded by them, is a smattering of small buildings – cabins, sheds, Tuscan style house – that give the suggestion this may once have been a farm smallholding, but which has now become a retreat of some kind.
Nor do the trees or buildings dominate the island; there is plenty of open grass where the young shoots of the rapeseed plant (which tend to be called by their Japanese name nanohana) freely grow, giving a sense of open space and room to wander and breathe.
Bella’s Lullaby, June 2021
The smaller of the two islands sits to the west, separated by a shallow channel marked by rocks that rise above the water, and by snakeweed and water moss. Devoid of trees, it is home to more nanohana and grass, curtains of shrubs partially lining the low hump of its pate like hair on an old man’s head.
This smaller island is dominated by an old warehouse unit – what role it might once have served now lost, although the passing trawler suggests that perhaps, once upon a time, it may have had something to do with local fishing. Now it sits as another isolated retreat, partially furnished, a little (static) boat with outboard motor sitting at the dock apparently the means to travel back and forth to the large island.
Bella’s Lullaby, June 2021
The southern end of this smaller island forms a slender finger, edged by rock, a place where the nanohana gives way to poppies and daisies and other meadow flowers that offer a splash of colour to the island and which wash around the feet of the oblate water tank atop its sturdy tower.
There are a couple of tiny islets that also make up the setting. One is a flat-backed slab of rock, is home to a small lighthouse; the second is a little more robust, a rocky table with its own sandy-shale beach. In difference to the rest of the region, this little corner sports palm trees that grow alongside what appears to be an old rail carriage long ago separated from its bogies and converted into a cosy two-roomed shack.
Bella’s Lullaby, June 2021
These two southern islets are overlooked by the region’s main landing point (although this is not enforced), sitting on a square deck built out over the shallows surrounding the main island.
Close by is a sign that draws on motto of the Baltimore Grotto: Take nothing but pictures. Leave nothing but footprints (the motto itself continuing Kill nothing but time), itself a variation of a phrase from the “Leave No Trace” philosophy of naturalist all over the world. It’s a perfect sentiment by which to start an exploration of the region.
Bella’s Lullaby, June 2021
From the landing point, a rough track runs north between several of the island’s little buildings to the Tuscan style house. It’s a natural way to start explorations, although the cabins either side of the path are liable to tempt feet away from it.
Not that this is a bad thing – there really is much to discover here without the region feeling an any way overcrowded. As such, roaming freely (if under the watchful eyes of the local cats!) is the best way to proceed.
Bella’s Lullaby, June 2021
From landing point to old ranger’s tower, and from water tower to east side patio, Bella’s Lullaby has been beautifully crafted to offer a place to explore or to sit and enjoy company and comes rich in opportunities for photography.
