Photographers are going to have a field day at Bentham. There simply isn't a Windlight preset that it doesn't look great in. It's those light rays...
This is one scary forest. I got so spooked at times, while walking around taking pics, that I could feel the little hairs on the back of my neck standing on end. In the interest of full disclosure, its creator, the hobbit Andrek Lowell, is a dear friend and also the creator of my own sim, Chakryn Forest.
The mushroom forest
"I hate this place," said Andrek, while we were standing in one particularly creepy area surrounded by glowing red eyes in the darkness. "It gets to me big time. Scared of my own creations... yeesh."
Andrek Lowell
A few weeks ago, Lauren Bentham commissioned Andrek to create Bentham Forest on a Homestead sim in Second Life®. She would later add several elements of her own, including the elder mushrooms, a shack and the lighted path to it, as well as sculptures by Pumpkin Tripsa and trees with eyes by lonetorus Habilis. Andrek included four of his super entertaining quests, as well as forest-appropriate gifts for visitors.
Dark passageway
What was your assignment?
Andrek Lowell: My assignment was to create a dark haunted forest. Her wording for it was a "dark version of Chakryn." My first reaction was, "eh..." mainly because Chakryn, light or dark, is still Chakryn, so I decided to go with a more themed version. I designed this project as a game for the mind. I tried my best to portray the feeling of unease, and dread, if not outright fear.
Did you spook yourself?
Andrek Lowell: Several times. I can barely stand going into a couple of the installations. I tweak and then port right the heck out.
The whole thing is 2,404 prims!
Andrek Lowell: About 400 - 600 of those aren't mine.
Did you do all in 3ds?
Andrek Lowell: All of this is done in Max yep, 'cept for the sounds. I did those using Audacity.
What is your favorite part?
Andrek Lowell: I particularly like the mushroom forest. I've been wanting to do something like that for a while. Other than that, I love the crystal caves. Um... there isn't much of this sim I don't like really.
Andrek Lowell standing in the crystal cave
How many quests are there? Are they difficult?
Andrek Lowell: I created four quests, using scripts by Desdemona Enfield. Two of them are pretty easy. Only one of them gives location hints. Hopefully they won't be as easy as Chakryn quests are. Two of the quests have three items to find, one has four items, and the last has five items. The quests feature items created by Lauren, as rewards for completion. I've also hidden five crates of goodies: small elements of the forest.
So, how much fun was this?
Andrek Lowell: It was hard to stop working, and I forgot to eat today, =).
The elder mushrooms - with the faces - are by the sim's owner, Lauren Bentham
What kind of forest would you like to make next?
Andrek Lowell: I want to make a new Chakryn Forest on Blue Mars, and also I've very much wanted to make mushrooms for a while. My hope is to one day create a hyper fantasy forest, where the rules of nature apply loosely, like they sorta do here: Giant things, odd things, lights that don't make sense but look neat, basically a fairy tale... large mushrooms, glittering trees, but with a warm, joyful, colorful setting.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Andrek Lowell's new Bentham Forest... will creep you out
Friday, March 27, 2009
Andrek Lowell's Shadowaine Fell
Posted by Bettina Tizzy
Hobbit Andrek Lowell has created an idyllic and pastoral forest for Gorean Dugan McCallen, featuring his new sun rays, which I'd call Not Possible IRL (NPIRL) because they are almost like clouds of light. We've been given permission to visit, but keep in mind that it is a no fly zone and that you have to go by the coordinates to find it. Totally worth it. Whatever your feelings may be about the Gorean culture, please respect the people there in the name of gorgeous prims; teleport directly from here and then walk to 33, 224, 21.
You can see the same new sun rays at my home sim, Chakryn Forest, (teleport directly from here).
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Nautilus
Nautilus is a region very recently added to the world of Second Life®, rezzed slightly to the north of the Japanese Continent, covering a total of 22 sims, a sizable portion of which are submerged under the ocean. I found out about Nautilus pretty much during the first hours that it was rezzed since the event happened almost literally on our doorstep at Klein, the whacko sim that is one of my two Second Life homes, housing my beloved alpha.land.
These sims are far from being mere empty pieces of land; indeed they are built quite extensively based upon a theme, which seems to me to evolve around the Minoan or early Greek civilizations. This work has been undertaken by the Linden Department of Public Works and the Mole Family. There are many things that I liked about Nautilus and a few things that left me dubious. So, I will reverse the usual practice of leaving critique to the end and air out my misgivings first and then proceed onto all the good things that I saw.
My first problem is the conspicuous absence of any kind of terraforming above sea level. Indeed, for the largest part the land is as flat as can be, whereas in the parts that have been raised the elevations are abrupt and geometric, causing sudden harsh breaks and shadows. This would maybe have worked had the theme of the building activity been of a kind that would have complemented a geometrically structured terrain. As it is, the rezed material looks lost and out of place placed upon the huge flat expanses of virtual grass since the building work undertaken sustains a detailed realism which does not get followed through on the ground that it has been erected. 
My second issue is with the city planning, which has been implemented on a grid system. Again, in my view, very problematic; taking away a great deal from the thematic credibility of the region given that the urban evolution of the period in question was emergent rather than planned, houses growing in an organic manner, following the curvatures of land, water, access routes and safety zones. Indeed gridded city planning is something which to the best of my knowledge came into existence only after the Enlightenment on any kind of a big scale. So, even if temples or public areas would be built upon geometric principles, the town itself would huddle around these pivots in a more or less higgledy piggledy fashion, creating the peculiar charm which we see in the centers of most old world cities even today. An excellent example of a historic town implemented in Second Life was the, sadly no longer existent, Romenna by Nick Lassard and I really would have loved to see something more along those lines materialize at Nautilus as well.
And now onto the good stuff, and here I think I will do less talking and let the many images that we took in Nautilus speak for themselves.
The building work executed by the Mole Family is impeccable in detail as well as in overall structure. The many temples and public areas are beautifully proportioned, conveying a satisfying sense of space as well as vista. The perspectives generated by the columned walkways and pergolas that traverse the countryside of Nautilus are a joy to walk in and to gaze upon. Particularly charming is the huge public bath... 
... as are the civic areas around some of the smaller harbors. 
And of course special mention needs to be made of the big temple, situated in the Central Citadel. The interior of this building is nothing short of a virtual feast of spatial light and harmony, complemented by a huge version of one of the glowing pink quartz crystal central altars, which are a recurring theme across the entire region.
The texturing of the public spaces of Nautilus is amongst some of the best that I have seen in Second Life, again hugely to the credit of the Mole Family. Sadly the dwellings that make up the bulk of the prim work leave something to be desired in terms of texture, particularly when placed in proximity to the gorgeous public builds.
The underwater domain of Nautilus was of particular interest to me since as a builder I have used it quite extensively myself, immersing considerable portions of Syncretia under the ocean. Indeed I have plans to submerge the entire island in its next incarnation, which I will be undertaking before long. Here at Nautilus a certain effort has indeed been made. However, all in all, the underwater is not nearly as well built and textured as what is to be seen above sea level. It would have been great to see portions of the city above sunk under the sea, maybe in the shape of ruins, in addition to the odd ship and plane wrecks and wall remnants encountered here and there. 
Underwater photographs courtesy of Hardwarehacker Hoch
One of the biggest aesthetic problems in Second Life for me is the foliage. Not to put too fine a point on it, I do not like Second Life plants. Amongst other issues this also lies in the way in which the plants of Second Life sink into the virtual soil. Thus, unless some effort is made to integrate these two design elements (i.e., the plant and the soil), for me no plant ever manages to take root in Second Life convincingly. There are cases where the extraordinary skill of the landscaper will overcome the inherent shortcomings and perform miracles in this regard, as would be the case in Chakryn Forest where Andrek Lowell has performed just such a miracle. Under the ocean in Nautilus, where rezzing has ended up relying largely on underwater flora this shortcoming to me became glaringly obvious. The good thing about the ocean depths is that some excellent terraforming, indeed almost good enough to make up for the shortcomings of the foliage has been undertaken.
We are told by Linden Labs that "there look to be several hundred parcels available, all of them 1024 square meters in size". Thus Nautilus will be an area available for Residency and "auctions for the new area will go live on the 24th October with all auctions starting at L$2000".
You can teleport to the Nautilus Central Citadel directly from here and once there continue to investigate this huge region spreading before your eyes in all compass directions. You can also see many large sized images of Nautilus here and here.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Chakryn Forest presents... new works by Glyph Graves
Australian artist Glyph Graves' show, featuring his newest kinetic sculptures throughout Chakryn Forest, will continue to run through October 6. He describes his work as an interplay between structure and texture, as well as the normal digital tools of graphic and 3D modeling programs.
Music: Narayanam, performed by Suchita Parte
Video: Bettina Tizzy
Start at the Stone heads (teleport directly from here). Turn your stream off and your sound up. As you walk along the path, elements of rock greet you... first with trepidation, then with the joy of having you in their midst and finally, sorrow as you depart.
Listen to a song of cello and kalimba. It is for you that they make the song.
Each head has a set of different notes. Each head will play a different note depending on its distance from you. Together they make a song celebrating your proximity.
Now... turn your stream back on and wander the sim for many discoveries.
Chakryn Forest is the creation of Andrek Lowell.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Chakryn Forest - Virtual nature by Andrek Lowell, or the real reason I still have a Second Life
Chakryn Wolves, as photographed by Lano Ling at Chakryn Forest. Lano is posing here with Beolas Whitfield who calls his friend a "photopainter"
Life's not just for Paradise,
or places out of time,
for there's something even stranger yet,
that wont fit in a rhyme.
Just when I thought I'd seen it all,
and whilst sitting on a hill,
I saw, quite all around me,
the final Cosmic thrill
Paradise on Earth (The Consummatum Incarnate), by Dick Richardson
Music: Narayanam, performed by Suchita Parte
Video: Bettina Tizzy
"Get a first life," the cynics say. We know, of course, that The Cynics haven't tried Second Life®, or maybe they just dipped their Ruthy toes in our virtual world for a fleeting moment and bolted at the first lag.
I was almost A Cynic. Even with the initial unpleasantness behind me, the spectre of living two lives inside the same 24 hours terrorized me, and that is precisely what was on my mind as I stood in an elven sandbox, toying with a few helpless prims like brussel sprouts on my childhood dinner plate. It hadn't taken me long to understand that, in Second Life, the builder is King, and looking at my feeble work made me feel doomed and without purpose. I am not a builder, you see. Today, I can cobble a few things together, and I know the steps, but the magic is not in my fingers or my brain, hence the reverence I feel for those who have it.
The comely Elvenmoor sandbox of those days was already a favorite place of mine, and noobs like me were still allowed to mingle and rez alongside the prim sorcerers. I recall that a friend urged me to come and see something on the far end, and that is when I saw it... 
The very first Chakryn Forest, as discovered in a sandbox on February 22, 2007
It was the lushest, greenest virtual forest that I had ever laid eyes on and it simply beckoned further exploration. Such a pretty thing! We soon discovered that once in the forest, we were transported to a secret place with no end. I later understood that its creator, a hobbit who would become one of my dearest friends, Andrek Lowell, had made the outside walls transparent. You could see into the forest but not out of it.
Finding a place to permanently rez that forest and build a community around it became the instant purpose of my Second Life. There are so many stories...
Today, four locations and five iterations later (including the introduction of sculpties and Andrek's ingenious idea of adding sun rays), Chakryn Forest is still my home and now sits on its own void sim thanks to the hospitality of my good friend and OpenSim guru, thomtrance Otoole. 
The second Chakryn Forest no longer exists. Here is the third, now known as Silvanus and belonging to Kirk Nabob, as photographed by Wellington Bahram 
The third Chakryn Forest (now known as Silvanus Forest), as photographed by Moon Over Belgium
Here is a lovely video of Silvanus (then Chakryn) by Chriz Palen, also featuring one of those glimmering, sunny "swirly" prim abuse sculptures by Gore Suntzu that I had rezzed there.
He made it with 1,400 prims
I think it especially notable that Andrek created the new sim-wide Chakryn Forest, open to the public since July 15th, with just 1,400 prims, complete with caves, an underwater forest feature, tunnels and many hidden secrets that no one - to my knowledge - has discovered yet.
This dreamy photo of Chakryn Forest today, by Maxiums1id
I asked Andrek how many more prims he would have needed to create Chakryn, were it not for huge prims. Between the trees, foliage, "mountain bits," waterfall, sun rays and grass, he felt he'd need ...
Andrek Lowell: Each tree would of probably cost 10 prims, and in the end, not even come close to matching the detail. The foliage... well over 1,000. The waterfall... around the 100 - 300 range, and of course, not nearly the detail. Grass... another 90 prims, light rays... another 20, and it would also be a pain. And then there are the 256m mega prims that make up the mountain top, river cliff, and waterfall wall... 
I've looked at forests in other virtual worlds such as The Endless Forest, where all is flat and no nightime falls and water is still and lifeless...
It is true that I understand my own Second Life to be a mind-altering privilege, so rich with startling and radical opportunities around nearly every corner that I am in a perpetual state of excitement. But in the end, it is Chakryn Forest that I must come home to. It is my lifeline and my greatest source of serenity.
Teleport to Chakryn Forest from here.
Teleport to Silvanus Forest from here.
See also:
The Chakryn Forest and Silvanus Forest Flickr group
Other forests by Andrek Lowell, as photographed by Moon Over Belgium:
* Ile des Amis
* Greenbrier Wood
Other videos that feature Silvanus Forest:
* Molotov Alva and His Search for the Creator: A Second Life Odyssey - A ten-part HBO film
* "Chameleon" by Brigitte Kungler
* "Chakryn Forest," by Morris Vig
* Fenix et Gala by Eiko Ivory
Saturday, April 19, 2008
The perfect pick-me-up: The Pink Fizz
Feeling low? Not your day today? Awwww. We can make it better! Juliet Ceres, owner of Bright Relics and Bitter Thorns, has teamed up with 713 Ayres, and artoo Magneto to create this charming steampunk avatar: The Fizz, available in loads of colors. Wear it and I guarantee you'll feel better. Teleport directly from here.
I shot this postage stamp of a Machinima at Chakryn Forest by Andrek Lowell. Music by D. DiFonzo and Scott P. Schreer.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
A talismanic journey at The Cannery opens with Melodious Source
Her icon on Flickr is an eyeball. Her photography stream has been viewed nearly a 100,000 times... and she's developed quite a following - nearly 1,400 contacts - so she must to be doing something right. 
Rise Above by Melodious Source
While most of her photography falls in the Fantasy genre, Melodious Source doesn't like to be classified, and to promote that freedom, just when you think you have figured her out, she does something completely different. 
Melodious' cyborg girl
Her main protagonists are nearly always women, and they are intrepid. One would imagine that they don't walk... but swagger... or fly.
The air shimmers around them. They are larger than life. 
Seeking Divinity by Melodious Source
I love a quote that Melodious posted on her Flickr profile page by a certain Douglas Everett: "There are some people who live in a dream world, and there are some who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other." I was surprised, by the way, to learn that this insightful pearl comes from a retired Canadian senator. Go Canada!
At any rate, her work continues to enchant and inspire an adoring and ever-growing audience. Much of it is erotica and rather steamy, and all is imaginative, and infused by her infectious personality - which comes across with each new image - and spirited remarks. 
Her show, "The Source," which opens tomorrow, marks the debut of a new gallery space at Rezzable Production's The Cannery that is unabashedly mystical. Drawing from astrological and magical lore, the secrets there are plentiful, and even the special key to unlock their charms isn't enough… and isn't explained… so you are compelled to explore on a visceral level.
Your journey begins with the purchase of a heart for the modest price of $100L. Without this heart - which you must wear - you cannot proceed or access any of the gallery rooms. A teleport away, you find yourself standing on what is surely the largest sword ever created. 
Walk towards the tip of sword where Melodious' eye awaits you.
Inside, the flash of her camera consumes you...
... and you begin to fall.
... and that's where your journey really begins. 
I won't spoil your experience by revealing more, but know this: touch torches... touch doors, and linger. Teleport directly from here.
Notably, Rezzable Productions encouraged Melodious to invite several guest artists to participate in the show. They include:
Phinn Boffin
DeeDee Deepdene
Shoshana Epsilon
Vint Falken
Flugel Flasheart
Tyfanny Flintoff
Maitreya Graves
Carmilla Mirabeau
Edward Mokeev
MasterDave Newman
Heroine Nouvel & Pestilence
CodeBastard Redgrave
RightAsRain Rimbaud
Collin Savon
Daequix Scarborough
Cienega Soon
Akira Seymour
Hio Taringa
Marquez Tone
Stephen Venkman
The new gallery space at The Cannery was created by many talented artists: Monn Laval, Andrek Lowell, Kaeli Candour, Rob Balder, Betlog Hax, Vint Falken and Foolish Frost.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Chakryn Forest up for auction
Photo by Wellington Bahram
I hope you will forgive me for using this forum to share a personal item with you. One year ago, Andrek Lowell and I began the concept work for Chakryn Forest. Today, the Chakryn that sits at Dreamworld SE is actually in its third version, with many modifications and improvements.
A good friend has offered me a void sim, and Andrek Lowell has agreed to build me a new forest, and so it appears it is time to move on, which makes both Andrek and me a little bit sad, as Chakryn has come to mean a great deal to both of us. You can see many beautiful photographs of Chakryn Forest taken by Second Lifers, here. You can visit it by teleporting directly from here.
Chakryn is too special to destroy if it can be preserved, and for this reason, I have decided to put Chakryn up for silent auction. Here is the information:
* 19,456 sq m
* 4,453 prims
* Dreamworld SE sim, owned by Count Burks
* Count Burks is a trustworthy sim owner.
Final sale will include:
* The land
* The forest
* Treehouse
* Grotto
* * One extra copy of both the forest and the treehouse, no mod, no trans, no copy.
Final Sale will not include:
* Any furniture or art
* The flying red hawk
* The name "Chakryn Forest"
Starting price: $250 US Dlls.
Auction ends: Sunday, April 20 at 12 Noon SLT
Submit bids and questions to me via email at Bettinatizzy@gmail.com
