The Machine Poems and (virtual) sculpted storybook by Bryn Oh

Posted by Bettina Tizzy
Poetry by Bryn Oh
Photography by Dil Spitz "DilSpi" - ©All rights reserved

An acquaintance of mine has had several of her storybooks for children published with some success. In fact, she makes a decent living in Los Angeles in this manner and that is quite an accomplishment given that writers and illustrators with ideas for children's books are a dime a dozen. But there is an opportunity created by virtual worlds that intrigues me and I expect will pique the interest of book publishers, too. Eventually... One of these days now.... Seriously! I cannot, for the life of me, understand why they haven't capitalized on this platform already. Certainly animation studios and production houses are beginning to look at virtual world imagery as both a source and a resource (I can tell you that folks from Disney are frequent readers of this blog) and conceptually, I do believe that even a television commercial for a major brand may have been heavily inspired by content created in Second Life®.

Virtual artist Bryn Oh is already considered a master at delivering supremely immersive environments through the use of her sculptures coupled with original prose, poetry and even a play in which the attendees took part. There are simply thousands of us - virtual residents - who have attempted to explain to each other how moved we've felt by what we've experienced through her art via photographs, blogposts and machinima.

Her newest installation, curated by Tezcatlipoca Bisiani (aka Andrew Sempere) at one of the two IBM art sims in Second Life - Rabbicorn - is a second installment on her dark but moving Daughter of the Gears story. And it really is a story. Instead of turning the pages, we teleport to the next chapter. Instead of gazing upon the illustrations on a 2D page, we walk around the characters and situations. We hear the music, we move in and out of light and shadows. We are right there. But even if you never logged in to Second Life, the potential for the events to unfold in a traditional book is very much there through the use of well executed photography.

German photographer Dil Spitz "DilSpi," instantly agreed to capture some images of Rabbicorn for this blogpost when I approached her, given that she is already a fan of Bryn's work. Dil donates the proceeds of all sales of her images taken in Second Life to organizations that help stalking victims in Real Life. Keep in mind that Rabbicorn is a predominately dark build, so photography in this case was a challenge and Dil respectfully did not tweak the gamma or brightness.

The Machine Poems that follow on this page were written by Bryn for previous installations and not for Rabbicorn, but I thought I'd post them here to give you a taste of her storylines.





Charlatans

All my friends
Are charlatans
Beetlebots
And Videonauts
In dark nights
With search lights
Broken hearts
Are useful parts
Carry me
From the street
And love me though
I'm obsolete







26 Tines

The laboratory is silent
The scientists gone
We have seven hours
Before the dawn
Come to me through the half-light
To my jar by the rack
Surrender your cord
To the adaptor on my back
26 tines
At the end of your cable
Connect you to me
So that we are able
To feel emotions drawn
Through the cables caress
And forget till the dawn
Our loneliness

Hardwired

All my dreams
Were programmed by you
So that they would
All come true
Fly on the wall
Then to the street
Robots
When obsolete
If I could only see you
One more time
Maybe you would
Change your mind
Resale hunters
With laser beams
Take all the parts but
My hardwired dreams







Teleport to Rabbicorn directly from here.

Here are just some of the blogposts we've done about Bryn and her work in Second Life:

• Attaining presence: 4Jetpacks4 and Bryn Oh
• Beautiful Mondays in the eyes of the Virtual Film Archive
• Bryn Oh chronicles the fall of the angels: A story in prims
• Crap Mariner's marathon video session: 31 videos in one day: Bryn Oh's steampunk alphabet
• Self-hypnosis and Bryn Oh's Steamgarden

Bryn Oh's abandoned robot theme park - Tomorrow's featured NPIRL-Koinup Safari

by Bettina Tizzy

Tomorrow, January 10th at 11:00am SLT, and awaiting on the other side of your teleport (directly from here) will be Bryn Oh. For an hour, this talented content creator will give an intimate and informative tour of one of the most photogenic sims on the grid: Immersiva. I've had the experience, and I guarantee that you will never look at Bryn's work the same.

A few weeks ago, Dusan Writer - the coolest businessman in SL, and yes! He is the same man who acquired and created a home for Eshi Otawara's Flower Tower - underscored his role as an arts benefactor by giving Bryn Oh her very own sim to do with it what she wished. Imagine Bryn with the abilty to create her own ground textures... her very own world.


Bryn Oh and Mr. Lightbulb

Immersiva is emerging as one of the truly great sims on the grid. Before you go, you really, really should add Bryn's Windlight preset and all its blue-ish atmosphere. You can download it and get installation instructions here (it's easy!) or set it up manually:


Immersiva Sky Windlight setting by Bryn Oh:

Go to World at top left of your screen. In the drop down menu at the bottom pick environment settings and then environment editor. Click on Advanced Sky. Then click the button "new".

If you are using a Mac, go to your Applications folder, right-click "Second Life WindLight", select "Show Package Contents", then open Contents > Resources > app_settings > Windlight

Under Atmosphere

Blue horizon R=0.24 G=0.43 B=0.50 I=0.50
Haze Horizon=0.65
Blue Density R=0.08 G=0.21 B=0.39 I=0.39
Haze Density=4.0
Density Multiplier=0.36
Distance Multiplier=11.6
Max Altitude=586

Under Lighting

Sun/moon colour is all set to 0.18
Sun/moon position is 0.25
Ambient is all set to 0.11
East Angle is 0
Sun Glow focus 0.1 size 1.81
Scene Gamma is 1
Star B is 0

Under Clouds tab

Cloud Color is all 0.7
Cloud Density x and y is 0.5 and D is 0.54
Cloud coverage is 0.5
Cloud scale is 0.53
Cloud detail x and y is 0.5 and D is 0.12
Cloud scroll x is 1.45
Cloud scroll Y is .01

Now give this preset a name, such as "Immersiva" and save it. Voila! You are ready.


Bryn's "Ferrisquito" in the background...

Immersiva has its own page on Koinup, which you will find here.



Once a month, NPIRL and Koinup - an inclusive social networking site for all Virtual Worlds that permits storage and sharing of imagery: photography, Machinima, and "storyboards" - are offering the NPIRL Safaris - with many of Second Life's best content creators, exposing the participants to new sims, new content, and new ideas that are leaving the old world behind and breaching the future.



Among the Virtual Worlds you'll find images of on Koinup: Second Life®, World of Warcraft, Lively, The Sims, IMVU, vSide, Kaneva, There, and more.

The Not Possible IRL (NPIRL) and Impossible IRL (ImpIRL) groups are dedicated to identifying and sharing well conceived and realized content creation in Virtual Worlds which would not be possible in Real Life: architecture, landscaping, art, animations, fashion, particle effects, building tools and scripts... show me, I'll show you.

The Era of the Bots begins in earnest today

Way back on January 19th, NPIRLers had an Alpha preview demo of Easy Babcock's (aka Rohan Freeman; rez: 5/15/2006) Sine Wave Actorbot System, and today this service goes on the market. In the simplest terms, Sine Wave has created a new bot system for use in virtual worlds that enables robots (avatars other than yourself but logged in under a separate account by you = your alts) to work as performing actors and sales bots on your behalf.


Easy Babcock is the avatar sporting the racing flag texture

The cultural and practical ramifications of this are considerable. For one thing, history has shown us that once a technology becomes possible, you cannot sweep it under the carpet... or as someone once said about Napster, "You can't put the toothpaste back in the toothpaste tube." Bots will have their naysayers, and certainly I have been among the loudest to condemn the slovenly and cheating use of alts running off libSL to boost traffic numbers and thus the appearance that a parcel is popular.

I also admit discomfort at the idea of interacting with a bot, but after several discussions with Easy, I am steeling myself to think of them in much the same way I do about my computer, my car, and phone. Actorbots will be there to serve a specific purpose, I tell myself. I certainly would like to have one or two in Real Life to tidy up the house, or rub my tired neck and shoulders after a long day at the computer.

If I were selling clothes, or skins or shapes, or a myriad of other things, I'd certainly want a few of these to show off my wares to their best advantage, especially since no prim count would be added to my land.

For me, and for several others who attended Sine Wave's Actorbot demo, a critical ingredient to the acceptance and success of this enterprise would be our ability to visually distinguish - instantly - between a bot and an avatar that is being actively driven by a human. Linden Lab is simply going to have to step up and make a few important cosmetic changes to address this new phenomenon.

Take a look at this piece of Machinima, where all of the actors are bots. Keep in mind, too, that they all could be enacting any animation that is available in Second Life, and as far as animations are concerned, no one makes better motion capture (mocap) for in-world use than Sinewave; their dance loops are unquestionably the most widely used and popular on the grid.


Here, six freestyle footballers... all actors are bots. Easy estimates it would have taken three times as long to shoot this had they been real actors

Easy explained:

"The system sits on top of libsecondlife for logging avatars in via our servers, and giving them complex routines to perform. It is designed so that anyone can log their own alts into Second Life via our servers and give them jobs - mannequins, salesbots, Machinima performers, live performers, game NPCs, etc.

The bot navigates by moving from prim to prim. We could allow them off-prims and might do that at a later point, but they are set up so that you can only log them in on land where you have build permissions. This way, people can't use them for griefing.

I think their biggest use is in bringing otherwise static environments to life. The bot can also receive money and give objects. A bot can be used for 1. Creating sessions - so that when it's dealing with one person it doesn't try and interact with someone else; 2. Changing outfits on command, and 3. Allowing users to trade and swap the routines they create, so people can build complex sales routines and so on, and everyone can build on them.

In terms of pricing, the cost is $5L per hour that a bot is logged in, which basically covers our server cost, with no upfront fee."

During the demo, Damanios Thetan asked if it is possible to add an API option, "so I can have IM's sent to it, being resent to a URL using REST, where the external server gives the response?" Easy responded, "We're integrating them with CRM systems and so on - we will make an API open."


Click to see large

Not surprisingly, one of the first questions that came up was if the bots could be used by the virtual sex industry. Easy replied, "I haven't shown anyone in the sex industry yet - but I guess there are all sorts of interesting things they will do with a bot like this. Again, I guess it's about how well the operator sets up the bot."

In terms of different applications, he gave us a few examples. "We're working on a satire show. We're getting Real Life impressionists to do sketches, which we will then be capturing in our motion capture studio and broadcasting in here on 'spawn on demand' comedy bots.

"We first used them for a live concert we did with a band called Orbital. We had 800 avatars wanting to come, so we did the show across 12 sims. Of course, the band couldn't be in every sim - but their bots could. You can build a bot to render all sorts of dialogues with other people, and the interactions you create will be completely unique to you."



Osprey Therian asked, "What limits what we can do with them?" Per Easy, "The primary limit is that we tether them to prims - so people don't use them for abuse, and we monitor the servers, so if someone creates a loop for spamming or griefing we shut it down. Bot transparency is an interesting issue!"

"For us, Second Life isn't about 3D per se. 3D just creates space for people to meet. It's the people that count. Bots are an extension of that. We can't all be everywhere, all the time, but our bots can." - Easy Babcock

How will we tell the difference between a bot and a "live" avatar?

Easy explained: "Our bots are all hard-wired so that if you ask them 'are you a bot,' the have to say 'yes,' and tell you the name of the person who's account they are logged under. We've been lobbying Linden Lab to give them different coloured hover text and yellow dots on the map, too.

Some expressed concerns about "live" avatars pretending that they are bots, to which Easy responded, "We can't stop people pretending that they are bots; we can only stop bots from pretending to be people. :) Let's face it, till now, bots are used mostly for behind the scenes stuff and not to the good of the grid. We want to change that and make bots a valuable part of the Second Life community."

Perhaps some people might even appreciate the companionship of a bot.:P I loved what Tooter Claxton had to say... "I have met some of them. They were very nice and patient and didn't mind listening to me talk for three hours about my toe nail clippings collection. It's nice to be able to share your thoughts with people sometimes."

You can visit Sine Wave Actorbots System's HQ by teleporting directly from here.

Morsels of wonderfulness

Some builds are not large enough or are too Possible in Real Life (PIRL) to deserve a feature here in and of themselves, but they are also too special for one reason or another to exclude. For this reason, allow me to present here - in encapsulated form - three morsels from Second Life.


juliet Heberle's Wee Chouchou Outpost

While it shouldn't be compared with Chouchou's new flagship sim or Islamey, if there were an upper East Side (speaking Manhattan-ese here) in Second Life, Broadmead would be it, and Juliet Heberle's Chouchou room at Broadmead is sparcely furnished but it is so juliet! (teleport directly from here). She tells me that she is nowhere near done here, but it is so lovely, my feelings are "why wait?"



The particles at Chouchou Broadmead are sweet.



Hop on the swing and stay a while. Oh, and don't forget to turn your stream on... you'll hear the new Chouchou songs!


The Bedtime Story City at Nakama

The storybook city at Nakama is not a new build, but this whimsical place created by Neil Protagonist (rez: 7/11/2003) should be visited all the same (teleport directly from here)



I often sit with the kitties (hello!) and do my IMing from the rainbow.



Nakama is fanciful and while there is not much to explore, it's downright cheerful.



There are details here and there that remind me of children's storybooks, such as the tunnel.


Primouth Cars, Toys and Dinosaurs

I live in Los Angeles, home of an automotive museum that I love to visit, the Petersen. It came to mind immediately when I saw Primouth (teleport directly from here).

It's clear that creator ahkenatan Grommet (rez: 1/8/2005) is hardly concerned with prim count, though he does make his highly detailed vehicles wearable, and the physics limited to the wheels, thereby getting around the issue of that 30-prim limit per vehicle. ahkenatan is also known for his dinosaurs and cartoon robots, which are super well done.

Thanks to Ende Noel for turning me onto this place!



The Primouth cars may be vintage, but I'd like one of each, please.


Just some of the Primouth robots

The Avatar Blanks Factory

In Real Life, Vladimir Rakosi (rez: 8/18/2006) is an American inventor. Back in 2001, he created communication robots that were kiosks used in stores and banks. The robots talked about products, provided directions and pre-programmed messages. They moved their heads, mouths and arms, but were stationary.

In Second Life, Vladimir and his wife Vrinda Rakosi (rez: 8/20/2006) have created the Avatar Blanks Factory (teleport directly from here), where... for nothing more than a few minutes of your time, you can be automatically turned into a blank robot. On paper that doesn't sound all that appealing, does it? I didn't think so either until I tried the experience, and I'm here to report that it's quite amusing.



The Xntra sim is not yet complete, but it already features the Balloon Factory (high above), in addition to the Avatar Blanks Factory. Approach the turnstile...



Follow the instructions before you go in any further...



Hop on the conveyer belt, and off you go!



The machines in the back room are whirring...



... and soon enough, you can say goodbye to your old self.



I won't spoil your fun by telling you what happens next, but in seconds, you are... decidedly different.



It doesn't end there. You still have to get colorized and networked. Said Vrinda Rokosi, "Once completed, and with a touch to your head (I'll keep the puns here to myself), you can change your Blank Avatar's color, expression, sounds, animations."

Bettina Tizzy: You can ask for tips!

Vrinda Rakosi: Yes, it has a programmed tip hand, so if Blanks are helping people they can show their tip hand.



Bettina Tizzy: And blanks can find other blanks?

Vrinda Rakosi: Oh yeah. We also have Security Blanks. There is a security button to call for help, and Security Blanks come with a HUD, a hover craft vehicle with sounds, flight, and back up rider to come to the rescue of Blanks needing help. Blanks can also chat on a private channel with other blanks.



You can customize your blank with a number of items for sale - or free - in the Upgrade Area, too, and Vladimir encourages you to create new items for your fellow blanks.



Many thanks to Impossible IRL'er Daemon Nikitin for the hot tip!