Thursday, July 3, 2008

Hyde In Plane Sight: Free Skins Make You One With The Art

Anytime Douglas Story is in the mood to pen a few words (and post a few pics) for this blog, he is welcome. I don't know where he found the time to do all this dancing and dressing 'n stuff, what with his and Autopilotpatty Poppy's hilarious new art show opening at kyra Gaea's anandra Contemporary Arts gallery on Saturday, "Evil Nemesis: Two Artists, One Style," but I'm glad he did. The quality of Brigitte's work merits our attention.


by Douglas Story

When I was looking for a potential partner for a machinima project, Bettina introduced me to the maker of the stunning and well-cut “Chameleon,” Brigitte Kungler. You might have seen it covered in New World Notes:



Brigitte told me about the build she had made for Second Life®'s 5th Birthday (SLB5), and I was immediately intrigued. The concept is that you can go to the build, where you can don the skins that were used in the machinima, then teleport to some of the sets that match the skins. You can use the poses she supplies, or use your own dances and animations to pose yourself as your fancy suits.

Now, as anyone who knows me will tell you, I’m shy. Awkwardly, almost painfully shy. Naturally the idea of blending in like this appealed to me greatly, so off I went.



One can walk inside the black cube here to watch the video, then get the skins by touching the appropriate sign. Then you get nakey (in a PG sim! Brigitte, you wicked woman!) and teleport to the wildly textured sets. Fun!



I did some matching of skin and set, as Brigitte intended.



And some mixing.



Dewd, this reminds me of this one time when I saw The Dead at Winterland, and there was this chick there who gave us all some little tabs, and… (editor’s note: long rambling story omitted)



I got the great hat at Rezzable's freebie fair the other day - it's by Littletoe Bartlett. On a side note, I think we should hold Littletoe down and tickle the soles of her feet until she tells us why she chose that name. Are her toes indeed little? Or does she herself feel that she’s like a small pedal digit in some way? I want answers!



I'm not terribly concerned with preserving my machismo (what there is of it) but the pink lips on this skin by Four Yip were a bit much even for me. That’s why you ain’t seeing a close-up. Also, all the poses Brigitte has laid out are intended for women…



…or Chippendale’s dancers perhaps.



One of the teleport destinations takes you high above the SL5B fairgrounds where you can loll about on the main sign looking fetching in a matching gold skin.



My friend kyra Gaea looks distinctly under whelmed with my dancing style. I guess she doesn’t like culture…

Here’s the slurl of the build if you want to try this out yourself.

But hurry! The SL5B celebration ends Monday, and it’ll all go away. If you do take any pictures, Brigitte asks that you post them to the Flickr group she created for that purpose.



My previous efforts at becoming a chameleon were not nearly as successful. My visit to Brigitte’s build was far more productive, and I recommend the experience.

0 comments: