Comet Morigi's Mt. XXYYZZ

Posted by Bettina Tizzy

UPDATE: I'm delighted that Comet Morigi has translated this blogpost to Japanese, which you can read on her own blog here.

It is not unheard of. People often anchor prims onto sims in a way that they extend well beyond the sim's "borders." But I gasped this morning when I caught sight of Japanese land artist Comet Morigi's super-colossal latest at Brooklyn is Watching (BiW): Mt. XXYYZZ.



Using a total of 4 prims, Comet surrounded the sim that BiW sits on - Popcha - with mountainous terrain on all sides. In fact, this installation is so large in scope that I was unable to photograph it in its entirety to my satisfaction.



She used a terrain scanner-to-sculpty to create a 1024m x 1024m x 256m mega prim and added a 1024m x 1024m water-coloring panel. "Only two mega prims, and their anchor prims for a total of 4 prims," she explained to me.

While Comet's art work is nearly always gigantic in size, Mt. XXYYZZ seems to impress visitors to BiW more than most. Still, Comet seems to be taking all the fuss in stride. "Technically, it's not so rare in-world." Perhaps not technically, though her execution is superb, but visually, this piece of extraordinary size and power is a feat.

Teleport directly from here.

See also: Land Art in Second Life: A historical perspective and an introduction to virtual artist Comet Morigi

Chortle, chuckle, grin and guffaw - Smile, you are NOT on Candid Camera, you are in SL + Your homework assignment

Posted by Bettina Tizzy

Fun! Where did it go, oldbies? The more we chat about our Second Life® experiences, the more I hear that you are too busy wheelin' & dealin' or providing customer service or rushing on a build, and too too busy to laugh it up anymore.

Well here's a first in what I hope will be many installments and refreshers on how to stop taking your Second Life so seriously while doing something inane and delightful. Remember how good it used to feel? Remember the first time you saw that jello avatar? Remember when you floated on a giant mushroom in the sky with a bunch of friends, with tears in your eyes from all the giggles and snickers and snorts? Remember?????

A few days ago, artist and Hotel Dare curator Gattina Dumpling encouraged me to do just that when I commented on her shot of Rachel Breaker as Bacon Blingtard. "Bettina! We need to blingtard you! It is the most fun you can have; totally makes you see how most of SL lives, and is truly amusing for a total of about 3.8 minutes! Set your torso slider to 100 and get some bad freebie hair and orange skin!" Have I done it yet? Nope. But I need to. Does that count?

Speaking of Rachel Breaker - who's profile reads "I can do anything I want, and so can you," this woman seriously knows how to whoop it up.


The real Rachel Breaker

It's reflected in her creations such as the Blinkin' Wonka Chimney Hat...



...and her AMAZINGTOPHAT!



Teleport to Rachel's shop directly from here, and yes, it really is inside that mound :D Touch the door to get in.

She might not be in as she is given to sneakin' next door to her friend Daniel Luchador's shop...



On Flickr, Trilby Button writes, "Just a silly little video of Lette (Ponnier) and I having lots of absurd fun in the Fotoscope sim, where just about anything can happen if you choose to float in space. We were eventually killed by the Big Giant Head (what is he from??)."



Photographers Squishypaint Aabye and Korgi Lerwick created Fotoscope for photographers. The island has a variety of locations created with photoshoots in mind, as well as two galleries and a professional studio with hundreds of poses, lights, backdrops. What interested me though, was this bit of folly in the sky that's featured in Trilby's machinima: The Freefall Fotosphere.

Teleport directly from here and look for the local teleporter.

~*~

So kids, your homework assignment for this week is... have AT LEAST one break a day lasting a minimum of 3.8 minutes (per Gattina's prescription) of simple, stupid fun. I'm going to practice what a preach, too.

Something wicked good this way comes, and it is happening today

Posted by Bettina Tizzy

All those survey numbers and spreadsheets are beginning to register what most Residents of the bustling city that is our Second Life® already know firsthand: Virtual worlds for more than games are popping with potential for the serious stuff… business, education, science, and the arts. The naysayers are still out there, Twittering about how they don’t even have enough time for their first life, etc., etc., but they are off-world. They aren’t here to witness how this 3D world is getting stickier than molasses.

While the Real World is staggering in a recession economy, this virtual world is humming merrily to the tune of $120M in user-to-user transactions during the 1st Quarter of 2009, up 65% from the same quarter last year. Moreover, according to a recent in-world business study, 20% of Second Life’s businesses earn all their income in Second Life, with approximately 2,000 full time businesses in operation.

At the very heart of this bubbling stew is an organization called Metanomics that explores the serious uses of virtual worlds in the company of tout le monde: the executives, educators and artists that are making it all happen. It’s a virtual talk show. It’s a forum for hundreds of conversations going on simultaneously at a dizzying rate of speed, both in voice and in text chat. In fact, I defy you to attend any of these sessions without perceiving… without recognizing that something really important is going on: potential and yes, even success.


The new set and studio for Metanomics - Photo by Keystone Bouchard

Something wicked good this way comes today, and it’s big. For as long as I can recall (and I rezzed in January of 2007), the leadership of Linden Lab, the company that owns and operates the platform of Second Life - and governs it, too – has gone into hiding whenever the Residents of the world they created convene. But changes are afoot, and the citizens have been in agreement lately… dare I say it? Linden Lab is starting to step out. The Lindens are actually becoming involved with, and becoming a part of the Second Life community.

Oh, they still infuriate us with unsurprising regularity over one thing or another, but I can’t begin to tell you how welcome their participation is. The more we communicate, the better things get… and stickier… and more fun. And successful.

So it is with mild astonishment that I find myself typing the following words: Today, May 6th at 1:00pm SLT, a real first… M Linden (aka Mark Kingdon, CEO of Linden Lab), will join host Beyers Sellers (aka Robert Bloomfield) for the kick-off of Metanomics' new season at its sparkling new studio and set created by acclaimed award winner and architect Keystone Bouchard (much more on that structure soon).

Something wicked good this way comes, indeed.

Teleport to it directly from here.

Lordfly Digeridoo trips the light fantastic with dynamic shadows + His pros and cons

Posted by Bettina Tizzy

He's been a Resident of Second Life® for nearly six years (rezzed on July 21, 2003), so it's saying something when virtual architect, builder and podcaster Lordfly Digeridoo takes such pleasure in playing with dynamic shadows, expected to hit our optional viewer any day now. Just look at him cut a rug!


Lordfly: "Dynamic per-pixel shadows, spotlights, and the ability to project textures onto arbitrary surfaces"

Want to do a little Alpha-testing yourself? Pick up KirstenLee Cinquetti's S17 viewer sporting a very thoughtful single-click installation feature for the non-nerds amongst us, but have a look at her blogpost and the ensuing discussion in comments before you tinker under the hood.

"So what, in your view, are the pros and cons of dynamic shadows?" I asked Lordfly, and this is what he said:

Pros: More realistic depiction of the simulation allows less uncanny-valley moments (brain automatically searches for depth and shading cues, adding this in greatly enhances realism), graphics engine takes another step towards keeping up with other major engines (we're now finally at Unreal Tournament... 2004).

Cons: More forum drama, people ragequitting over no support on their 5-year old laptops, content creator confusion over whether to build for the lowest common denominator or not (hint: baked shadows look fine, generally, even with dynamic shadows over them).

Torley amplifies my awesome 3X over

Posted by Bettina Tizzy

Torley Linden - Linden Lab's Resident Enlightenment Manager just keeps contributing to the quality of my Second Life® and my Real Life. In the span of just 24 hours, the man has dropped three jewels onto my lap.

For starters, I came across this video he created to demonstrate how funtastically cool Vectorpark's new Flash game, Windosill is.


The physics are perfection!

Then, I'd been looking for just the right music for a little machinima I was making, and discovered this treasure-trove of Torley's original compositions and improvisations, all of them downloadable MP3s.

Finally, to demonstrate a bug he'd encountered on Twitter, @Torley created this video using Jing, a nifty and effective freebie screen capture program.

In fact, anytime I follow Torley's cookie crumbs (and they are all over the Internet), I come away smarter, cuter and better equipped to meet the challenges in both of my lives.

Like springtime blossoms, art is thriving at Brooklyn is Watching

Try as I might, I can't keep up with all the new artists and artwork on display at Second Life®s acclaimed art critique Mecca, Brooklyn is Watching (BiW) (teleport directly from here).

I dropped in yesterday and the place was bursting at the seams with mega sculptures. From left to right: That big brownish thing looming in the sky by DanCoyote Antonelli; like a burst of champagne fizzies, Juria Yoshikawa's piece invites you to drink it in; and a new artist discovery for me, Werner Kurosawa's rockin' spinning-prim sphere.



Not in this photo but well worth checking out, Oberon Omnura's kinetic forest.

Never heard of Brooklyn is Watching? Here's the 101, plus info on how you - and your art - can be a part of it.

Bryn Oh pokes fun at da boys

Artist Bryn Oh has discovered machinima, and we never know what she's going to do next!

Mobilize your personal static electricity for a hands-free 3D gestural interface

Posted by a totally wowed Bettina Tizzy

Students at Northeastern University in Boston have created an interactive interface that harnesses electrostatics to give you 3D control just by waving your hand in front of a computer. No camera, no markers, no physical controllers: it recognizes xyz coordinates, and even works with modeling and music programs. As you move your hand in three-dimensional space, the information is transmitted to the computer.

3D Computer Interface from Free Flow on Vimeo.

Peter Kirn of Create Digital Motion contacted a member of the student team, Justin Schunick, to learn more. Per Justin: "The interface uses an array of copper electrodes to sense a certain change in the electric field created by the device. The black material covering the electrodes shows how the interface can be hidden beneath surfaces to create a completely invisible interface. It is simple black felt you can buy at any fabric store. The total cost of this prototype was around $60.00 USD."

Speaking for myself, and considering my fitness level after nearly 2 1/2 years of participating in virtual worlds, I would welcome any technology that encourages whole body movement while working in 3D environments.

You can read the original story about this exciting development here.

Thinking differently, right down to your tippy toes

Posted by Bettina Tizzy

While I maintain that no other platform can rival virtual worlds for thinking differently about design - and specifically Second Life® and OpenSim where user-created content is not only possible but encouraged - my pulse still quickens when I come across innovations by Real Life mavericks.

One such designer is Netherlands-born, London-based and award-winning artist Marloes ten Bhömer. Her brainchildren actually belong on our feet, and offer an alternative to existing design languages.





Marloes' shoes, which are more architectural than fashionable, afford women the incredibly rare chance of freedom from conventional style clichés and codes. Everything about her approach is different, including the materials she works with: carbon fiber and stainless steel, among others.




Many thanks to artist AM Radio for the toes up on Marloes' shoes.

Free nOObs for all! Art Laxness releases new versions including mix-and-match heads

Posted by Bettina Tizzy

Musician, fine artist and 3d-modeler Art Laxness (aka Will Segerman) is releasing five full-perm sculpted prim Noobs into the wild today, as well as a pack of interchangeable and amusing modifiable heads: Shakespeare, Sherlock Holmes, Maid Marian, and a couple of your more basic noobs (read: blank expressions). Also included: Noob textures so that you may export and modify them to your own specifications. These are mostly derivatives of a project for the British Council that Art worked on as lead artist for metaverse developer, The Magicians.

According to Kim Anubis (aka Kimberly Rufer-Bach), who heads up The Magicians, Art made a test model of a default “newbie” avatar’s head – the first Noob model, before making the Bard’s head. “Then he made a giant head with four faces and topped it off with The Magicians’ top hat! Next, he created the first complete Noob in Appearance Mode pose before he went on to create the Away Noob which you’re familiar. Since then, he’s created other Noobs and Noob parts, many of which are in the Noob Pack.”



Several months ago, the AFK Noob was copybotted and then offered full perm on Xstreet. I asked Art how he felt about this and he provided a surprising response:

“The copybotting incident has made me think about how copyright works and I have come to some fairly extreme conclusions. Over here in the UK, there are trailers before DVDs which ask "You wouldn't steal a car, would you?" which then, of course, leads onto not stealing films. But that’s not really how it is, is it? The actual question is: If you saw a nice car in the street and you could take a copy of it without taking anything away from the owner, would you? If everyone in the world could have a nice car for nothing should we restrict that? What if I viewed the noob model I made as I view music? Everyone in the world has "illegal" music. Obama gave an iPod full of music to the Queen: ILLEGAL. Walle gave a tune to Eve: ILLEGAL."

Art continued: "Let’s take this to a different extreme: How many people will die needlessly because of patents on medical drugs keeping the prices of those drugs high? The answer is an awful lot. The counter argument is that if the drugs companies can't make money out of what they do, then they won’t do it, but that sounds to me like a problem with society rather than an argument (in favor of) an obsolete business model. It strikes me that if everyone could build on each other’s advancements, rather than hoarding things to themselves, then humanity would get further faster. Artists and companies need to be rewarded for their output so they can keep producing, but a new business model is needed, as the current one is f**ed and is holding the world back. I'll throw the Clockwork Quartet out there as an example (his steampunk band). We're giving away all of our music for free. We intend to make our money off merchandise and gigs.”

You can pick up your own Noob pack at Abracadabra (teleport directly from here), and at British Council Isle in Teen Second Life (teleport directly from here).

Graham Stanley, manager of the British Council's Learn English Second Life for Teens project added, “Amongst other things, we are using the Noobs to give out clues on our language learning quests for learners of English. They have to ask the right question to get the right answer.”


See also: The most complex sculpture in any world, real or virtual?

Beautiful Mondays in the eyes of the Virtual Build Archive

Posted by Bettina Tizzy

If you read this blog with any regularity, I trust that you are already quite familiar with Bryn Oh's stunning sculptural and narrative work and especially her sim, Immersiva (teleport directly from here), as well as her Condos in Heaven installation, which I blogged about last year. Nevertheless, prepare to shine a new light on the subject.

This is the second video in what is to become a weekly documentary-style series produced by the Virtual Build Archive, a joint project of Gala Charron (Tamara Russell) and Lainy Voom (Trace Sanderson).

Condos in Heaven from The VBA on Vimeo.

Lainy shared with me yesterday that this is Gala Charron's first machinima in Second Life® (can you believe it?)! She explained, "The VBA started because we both love exploring Second Life and wanted to keep a visual record within some kind of framework. It will hopefully become a mix of regular builds and some art installations. It makes me sad when builds are no longer there. We want to create something permanent from something transient and (are) also trying to communicate something that is beautiful and inspiring, especially sometimes to non-Second Lifers who complain that there is nothing going on in Second Life and say that it is an ugly place!"

The pair's stated aim is to publish a new machinima every Monday "to document, through film and narrative, some of the most beautiful builds within the virtual world of Second Life. We hope, over time, to build the site from a small acorn into quite an extensive catalogue of in-world created content. Both Gala and Lainy will take it in turns to create a video of an inspiring build and present it on the archive site."

Mondays just got a little brighter...