Attaining Presence: 4Jetpacks4 and Bryn Oh

Posted by Alpha Auer

4Jetpacks4 was an immersive installation created by Bryn Oh, with the participation of Glyph Graves and Nonnatus Korhonen earlier this year. I was privileged to be one of the group of avatars that were given the tour of the research centre back on March the 6th. I will not talk here about what 4jetpacks was all about. The extraordinary video by Evo Szuyuan above does that far better than I ever could. What I will attempt to do instead is to talk about "immersion" and "presence" as integral parts of virtual world creativity. I know from personal conversations we have had that this is a subject as dear to Bryn Oh's heart as it is to mine, the thing which she puts at the center of her (virtual) creative activity.

I will quote a bit from scientific sources while I try to set up a basic definition of "presence", as a sense of “being there” in a mediated environment (IJsselsteijn, deRidder, Freeman and Avons, 2000). Lombard and Ditton (1997) define it as an illusion of non-mediation in which a user no longer perceives the display medium as a separate entity. A high level of presence will help users remember a virtual environment as more of “a place visited”, rather than “a place seen” (Slater et al., 1999). A success indicator of the attainment of presence is also considered to be the realization of similar behavior patterns in virtual environments to those in the physical realm (Slater and Wilbur, 1997), and even the manifestation of similar physiological responses towards a given event to its approximation in the physical realm (Meehan, 2000).

Various definitions of the term “presence” and their relevance to the immersive virtual experience are discussed by Mantovani and Riva who challenge the notion that experiencing a simulated environment deals with the mere perception of its objective features; instead proclaiming that presence in an environment (real or simulated) means that individuals can perceive themselves, objects, as well as others not only as situated in an external space but as immersed in a socio-cultural web connected through interactions between objects and people, leading us to the paramount importance of the interacting agent within a virtual culture, i.e., the avatar.

And this to me, lies at the very heart of the problem where artistic activity in a virtual world such as Second Life® is involved. Is the goal to be sought the "perception of objects" only? Or could it be that what would set artistic activity in a virtual world as a genre apart, would involve conditions wherein "individuals perceive themselves, objects, as well as others not only as situated in an external space but as immersed in a socio-cultural web connected through interactions between objects and people"? For me, without the shadow of any doubt, it is the latter. And it seems to me that this definition is what 4jetpacks is/was all about as well: That the creation of an immersive experience was the primary intention became obvious to me during Bryn Oh's opening statement where she addressed the importance of "presence" in virtual art. In her terminology the word "presence" is interchanged with "immersion", which does of course add up to very much the same thing. "Viewing" art, i.e., "the mere perception of its objective features" does not seem to overly interest Bryn Oh, and I am so very heartened to observe this in a fellow content creator, and one for whom I have a great deal of respect at that.

Bryn Oh is an exquisite builder. Every texture, every prim, every shape and object placed in perfect proximity, culminating in visual systems that I am awed by over and over again. And a very good thing that this is so: The immersive experience needs that level of concern for perfection to be pulled off with credibility. Creating an immersive experience does not imply that one can get away with shoddy visuality. If anything, it would imply the exact opposite: For us to become fully "present" within the "artwork" involves a level of visual expertise on behalf of the artist whereby perfect cohesion and gestalt are achieved to the extent at which not even a tiny component of the installation appears out of sync, thus distracting us from the immersive experience through its ineptitude or its misplacement within the overall system. Whether the visual gestalt that is meant to bring about "presence" involves high levels of abstraction or realism, opulence or stark minimalism would not be the issue at all by the way: I would seriously doubt whether one would need minutely detailed craftsmanship emulating realism to attain a state of presence. But, I would dare to say that what one would need would be a continuity of visual language - which as any artist worth his or her salt knows is a devil of a thing to pull off.

However, presence needs more than visuality. It also needs narrative. It needs a story or a situation endowed with sufficient power and imagination to pull us in. "Presence in art" needs substantial planning. An observance of fine detail whilst maintaining a firm grip on the whole. In other words, not a thing to be pulled off in one afternoon. Amongst much else, it is visuality, performance, role play, cyberpsychology combined. Bryn Oh has whatever it takes...

In the end, for me, the attainment of "presence" is more than likely to be the thing which will eventually create a "genre" out of the currently rather haphazard conglomeration that is the state of art in virtual worlds today. It really does seem to me that art generated in virtual worlds needs to be contextualized within the broader framework of contemporary art, given a raison d'etre, a property unique onto itself - and the attainment of "presence in art" would be a not too easily imitated attribute of virtual world based artistic activity. 4jetpacks gave me huge hopes in this direction and I am very grateful to Bryn Oh for having given me just that - hope!

...

A video created by Bryn Oh on 4jetpacks ends this post:



Also please read the post by Hamlet Au on NWN talking to Evo Szuyuan about her utterly remarkable SL-video skills and all that is involved in the attainment of the perfect SL-video here.

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...

Second Front's theatre of the absurd: Loosin' it

Posted by Bettina Tizzy

Works by Second Front aren't to everyone's taste, and they don't care. Since 2006, the members of this maverick performance group have been challenging our notions of virtual narrative and embodiment via "theatres of the absurd."

Losin' it was performed at RMIT Creative Media in Second Life® by Fau Ferdinand and Lizsolo Mathilde, with sound by Zeb Vindaloo. Machinima by Osprey Therian.

Caged and suspended, Fau and Lizsolo are looking for something most people take for granted.


Shadow Draft client by Kirstenlee Cinquetti

Click through to blip.tv for a smoother performance if this one is choppy for you.

Proper attribution of images taken in virtual worlds

Who is the artist in this shot? The photographer? In this case, that would be me. Or is the creator of the Far Away, AM Radio, the artist? Or should both of us be credited?



In Real Life, when a photograph of a place is published... say, the Empire State building in New York, one is not expected - nor is there a legal requirement - to credit the building's architects, owners, the construction companies involved or the city of New York. So why is it different in virtual worlds?

Six weeks ago, the owner of a Flickr group featuring Real Life photography accused me with these words when I submitted a machinima I had created of my own sim (Chakryn) by saying, "videoing someone else's video doesn't really make it an original image / photo / capture now, does it?" I should add that I had credited and tagged the video with the names of the creator of the forest (Andrek Lowell) and the art (Glyph Graves).

This isn't the first time this has happened to me on Flickr. People who are unfamiliar with virtual content tend to think that I have either "painted" the art, or photographed someone else's "painting."

How about this shot?



Is it enough to credit the creator of my outfit (3star Tyne) and the creator of the Tunnel of Light (Spiral Walcher), or do I also need to mention that it sits on Rezzable Productions' land, that Ordinal Malaprop contributed with scripts... and oh! What about my hair, shape and skin? Do I need to list the creators of those things, too?

Where do we draw the line? What is the correct (and legal) way to attribute photography and video shot in virtual worlds?

"For Soj" - Rob Danton's remembrance

Today is the second consecutive "Dia de los Muertos" (Day of the Dead), a 48 hour period when many cultures believe that it is possible to commune with those we have lost. A few days ago, I wondered on the blog if anyone had erected a themed altar in Second Life® to celebrate and remember their dead, and I've since learned of several.

This video was created by Rob Danton in May after he lost someone he deeply cared for, The Sojourner. It seems that avatars have their own way of mourning their dead, and Rob feels that the "physical" manifestation resembles an altar. This is very moving. Thank you for sharing, Rob.



See also:

- Real Life inspires: Commune with the people you miss
- Juana Manuel observes the Day of the Dead by celebrating the living

DanCoyote Antonelli responds to whiny residents and Linden Lab with art: Hostile Space

This morning, Juria Yoshikawa suggested that I take a look at the art installation that DanCoyote Antonelli (aka DC Spensley) had created at Brooklyn is Watching in response to resident Selavy Oh's temporary banning from Second Life® for allegedly abusing another resident with her art (see our previous post).

I took one look at Hostile Space and immediately contacted DanCoyote (we call him DC) to get the skinny.


In lieu of photography, I created this quick video to show you the piece.
Music: "Stars" by Beth Quist
Video: Bettina Tizzy

DanCoyote Antonelli: Hostile Space (teleport directly from here), is not really hostile in real terms. It is cheery and cute but removes the figurative conceit from the viewer's experience and literally intends to drop stuff on their heads. The viewers have been forewarned that it is Hostile Space.

So what Selavy did accidentally is being done deliberately to foreground the issue of whether it is correct to consider an avatar to have personal space. In the case of Selavy, it was literally an accident and on a known free-for-all art sim. It was unconscionable to suspend Selavy for the accident. I agree that making someone's avatar do stuff against their will is assault. I don't agree with Gazira Babeli on this. But an accident? Just silly. So Hostile Space is there to poke gentle fun at the whole concept of getting bonked on the head. So look out! Stuff WILL FALL ON YOU HERE! Bonka Bonka!

The artwork also references Adam Ramona with a sound component and yesterday I added some Mutant Hossies in the bottom part as a non sequitur element that also references Pavig Lok's reassembly of ant parts a few months ago. The Mutant Hossies are reassembled parts of a horse made by Nomasha Syaka and while not abstract like most of my work, are more in the spirit of the coming holiday.

I'll have to get with DC later to find out what kind of holiday celebrations he has!

DanCoyote Antonelli: Hostile Space has layers. Is the space hostile to the viewer? Is Second Life hostile to artists? And WTF are these surreal Mutant Hossies doing there anyway?

Deep slo-mo goodness: Bounce

None of these videographers/animators were known to me until now, but hats off to JovialProductions and Joga Kidd, Surrealia Anatine and Faith Rosenberg. Fantastic work.

SATAN at Templum ex Obscurum :P

For the Templum ex Obscurum NPIRL photographic challenge, I asked you to show us how you see Templum ex Obscurum, Baron Grayson's magically dark (and light) creation... and Ian Pahute (aka Ian Upton) came back with this. You gotta see it.



Ian says, "So what do you do when you get a new piece of video editing software? You play! I grabbed a favorite CD and took my 'Space Navigator' for a trip through the stunning Templum ex Obscurum. This is the result..."

Ian's new software? Adobe Premiere.

Real Life inspires: Doll Face

I am quite taken with artist and animator Andrew Huang's Doll Face video. You might also enjoy his Fluxis, and Projections III. Doll Face reminds me a bit of Senuka Harbinger's Senasy Cybernetic Arachnid Avatar. Andrew, if you have a presence in Second Life®, I hope you will introduce yourself.

Unexpected objects

"Recent works," which will open this Sunday, is a bit of a meditative walkabout with surprises around each bend in your path. Created by Mencius Watts and Taggert Alsop, and curated by Tayzia Abattoir, this kinetic light and sound and space installation invites quiet exploration, and while much of it - if not all - would be possible in Real Life (PIRL), the cost of mounting such a show would be prohibitive unless you happen to be one of the ten or so names in the art world with the proven ability to pull in some very serious money and support.

It works well in a virtual environment, and realism is achieved with these unexpected objects in unexpected places by breathing life into them through the use of video, light, movement, and live feeds.

One exhibit works interactively with Flickr. You type in any word, and it pulls and displays approximately thirty photographs that are tagged with that word. For this video, I typed "NMC," which stands for New Media Consortium, the organization that is hosting the show. Another installation displays RSS news feeds. The works are proximity triggered, so you must get close enough to set them off, or alternatively, turn your media on.


Filmed and edited by Bettina Tizzy
Sound files produced by Taggert Alsop

Mencius Watts is the "artist" account for an American with a Master of Fine Arts degree in Intermedia and Video Art. Using another account for his "day job," he heads up a research group that works exclusively in virtual environments, including Second Life®. His professional focus resides with interface design, social engagement, virtuality and simulation.

Mencius Watts: We work a lot in Second Life these days... art mostly. We do museum kiosks... gesture-based, touch screens, etc.

Does that carry over in the art that Mencius does?
Mencius Watts: Yes. I reinvent a lot of my Real Life works. I am a video artist... do installations. I collaborate with scripters, composers, etc.

Who are your collaborators?
Mencius Watts: A group of Real Life artists and programmers. The main avatar is Taggert Alsop.

Ah, not in world...
Mencius Watts: Well, we are in Second Life, too. All blurry. Taggert does most of the scripting and most composing for the works. I do the 3D and media concepts. For me and our group, (this show) is a wonderful opportunity to explore virtual art and showcase the intersections of art and technology. (There is) a lot of content in the works, but some pretty hefty back end know-how driving it (and) making it work. For the user, a direct experience with the work... not clunky. The aesthetic experience is the most important. The technology behind it should disappear.

The collection of works will open to the public beginning Sunday and will be up for a month at Ars Simulacra, the New Media Consortium's (NMC) Second Life artist showcase island. Teleport directly from here.

Art 101 redux - Penumbra Carter

I have no idea who Penumbra Carter is, but this is the best summary of art in Second Life® I've seen to date in one video. Who are you, Penumbra and what did you mean by all of this? Please do tell us!

Zonja gives water a work-out for her videos, and she teaches us how

A few days ago, my good friend Sennaspirit Coronet expressed amazement when he learned that I was not familiar with Zonja Capalini's sparkling Flickr stream. While her super spirited and effervescent videos may be Possible IRL (PIRL), she is ultra generous with her tips on how to accomplish all the effects, as can be seen here and here (dynamic water preset) and here.


Music: Torley: Too Many Cliches

The combination of inexpensive video capturing apps, such as FRAPS, and the new super-gliding 3D mouse - Spacenavigator - have made film making accessible even to me, so now I'm all caught up in learning more.

I'm using Windows Movie Maker to edit, but really need to step that up (I can't even edit audio with that!). I see that Zonja is using Sony Vegas Movie Studio Platinum, but am still investigating which apps give the biggest bang for the buck and are easiest to use.

Crap Mariner's marathon video session - Thirty one videos in one day as his Angel of Death visits Bryn Oh's steampunk alphabet

Those of us who inhabit Second Life® are fortunate to count humorist Crap Mariner in our midst. If you follow his activities as I do, you will enjoy an ongoing, hardly perfect, but always off-beat chronicle of his adventures and reviews of the people and places he encounters. He is also one of the most prolific machinimators on the grid... case in point, yesterday he produced 31 (THIRTY ONE!) videos centered around the 26 letters in the alphabet featured in Bryn Oh's Gashlycrumb Tinies (by Edward Gorey) exhibit at arcspace (teleport directly from here). One video for each of the letters, two introductions, an interlude, a finale, and a gimme take on one of Bryn's steampunk bugs. For the series, he elected to appear as a cigar-smoking Angel of Death who won't apologize to the Tinies for his second-hand smoke.

All of his videos open with "Another stupid video by Crap Mariner," and nearly always include his signature phrase, "that's disgusting."





Photograph of Crap Mariner by... Crap Mariner!

It's hip (this week) to be square-ish

In Real Life, a monolithic cube might make you think of the Kaaba in Mecca.


This photograph by Muhammad Mahdi Karim

In Second Life®, especially if it has some special physics feature, it makes me think of conceptual artist and scripter Selavy Oh. As art professor Amy Freelunch pointed out, Selavy has carved a niche for herself with pieces that almost always feature a cube or cubes falling, pushing or floating, such as some of her Tectonics series, and her Architectural Intervention piece.

Much of art in Second Life® requires some degree of technical/scripting skill to produce. This week, the theme seems to be physics... and cubes.

Those of us who spend even a wee bit of time at performance space and presentation/sandbox Brooklyn is Watching (BiW), have been aware for some time now that Selavy has been planning the opening of her "Nested Cubes" installation to the public today, at 4:30pm SLT (teleport directly from here)...



Selavy's Nested Cubes isn't really orange... I've been playing some more with Torley's Windlight presets

...so it came as quite a surprise yesterday when I discovered this piece by Hyperformalist DanCoyote Antonelli (aka DC Spensley) at about 1,200m above the Brooklyn is Watching space (teleport directly from here and take one of the chair tours he offers there).



Subtractive Reactive Social Sculpture by DanCoyote Antonelli

Notably, I inspected it and it was created July 22, 2008. Yesterday.

I immediately sent DanCoyote an IM that read simply, "rascal." He was busy working but his brief reply read... "I am a coyote." I have not yet been able to confirm that he understood why I was calling him names, and if his response addressed my implied charge or, shall we say... question. I hope to learn more.


Higher resolution version here
Music: "Neurofunk," composed by Michael Genato, ASCAP; published by Mike Genato Music, ASCAP and Freeplaynjj, ASCAP
Video: Bettina Tizzy

At any rate, I visited Nested Cubes recently with postdoctoral mathematician Seifert Surface (aka Henry Segerman), who's astonishing Noobility installation, created in collaboration with his brother, Art Laxness (aka Will Segerman), is now wowing the crowds over at Rezzable Productions' Black Swan (teleport directly from here). Seifert was my companion of choice for this expedition because of his knowledge of physics, especially as they are related to virtual art. As I expected, upon rezzing he was examining the piece with care. I hope he won't mind my sharing his comments as we reviewed it.

Seifert Surface: I checked to see if the things that fall are the same objects as the things you fly into. Not always the case... there might have been a switcheroo.

To mix it up?
Seifert Surface: For some reason or other. Eg, it could have been done so that the things you fly through go invisible and at the same time rez a physical cube in the same place... so it looks like you fly through the thing and it falls, when in fact the original cube is still there, just invisible. Then you bring back the original cube at a later date. That isn't what's going on here, though. The original cube is falling... invisiprims, and some sort of pusher. These are all good things to be experimenting with.

I later contacted Selavy to ask if she had used Keystone Bouchard's (aka Jon Brouchard) marvelous Reflexive Architecture scripts, but she clarified that all the scripts are her own. I also learned that Nested Cubes re-rezzes itself after a ten minute absence of avatars. "The viewer is an important part of this work, as in any work," she said.

~*~

Aha! Just as I was preparing to publish this piece, an email came in from DanCoyote Antonelli:

"Sel is a friend and I think a very big talent in Second Life... a rising star and diehard Hyperformalist.

My installation of the RSSS (Reactive Subtractive Social Sculpture) at BiW was in response to her cubic arrays in BiW and at Design Island. This is an example of similar morphology (cubic array) and completely different conceptual behavior. The demonstration of this fact accounts for my timing.

The piece I have at BiW was pioneered in late 2006 and is a well documented and coherent approach implicating the viewer into a sculptural relationship with the work. In fact, I contend that it implicates two viewers since the active viewer who is in the piece cannot see the length and breadth of the metamorphosis of the piece, so it takes at least two.

You know what they say... "The simpler the art, the more complex the explanation..."

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.

Miki Gymnast's bittersweet farewell to Rezzable Creators Gallery

Any minute now, Rezzable Creators Gallery will disappear, along with a few other Rezzable Productions sims. Our own Miki Gymnast, who invariably knocks everyone's socks off with her spontaneous and often mathematically inspired creations, took a previous build and reprogrammed it in under two hours to come up with an exciting and temporal 14,000 prim space, as captured in this moving video by Dizzy Banjo.


Music by Dizzy Banjo

"It's a type of breather surface, optimized for Second Life®, performance; parts calculated on the web, parts calculated in Second Life," explained Miki, referring to the enormous yet delicate raspberry-colored tower.

Beneath that tower and in the teleport arrival area, visitors' names and text-chatted words appear in swirling, colorful ribbons that span the base of the sim. Rezzable, CNN, and NPIRL's blog headlines also whirl around guests. "It takes the blog titles from the Internet, transfers them to Second Life, and shows them in big letters," said Miki.

It's not easy saying goodbye to great content. The Rezzable Creators Gallery once housed works for sale by Light Waves.

Self-hypnosis and Bryn Oh's "Steamgarden"

The moment I saw this video, I thought of Bryn Oh and her clockwork sculptures. The next moment, I found myself gazing in a semi-hypnotic state. And the next moment, I thought surely I had self-hypnotized myself. Having trouble getting to sleep? Want to command yourself to do something you've been procrastinating on? Watch this!


As seen on Gizmodo via Brad Litwin via Boing Boing

But back to Bryn... Her "Steamgarden" installation at the Garden of NPIRL Delights (teleport directly from here), is inspired by the third panel of the triptych "The Garden of Earthly Delights" by Bosch - depicting Hell - and represents her view on the industrial dehumanization of society. As Bryn put it, "the intention was to create a mood of disquiet and anxiety mixed with elements of beauty."

In Real Life, Bryn is a professional oil painter living in Toronto, Canada.

In Second Life®, she has already made quite a name for herself, exhibiting her thoughtful creations throughout the grid. Her work still shows up (and delights the finders) in sandboxes, but you can see her current installations at the Museum of Natural History (teleport directly from here), the Swedish Resource Centre, Primtings (teleport directly from here), The Great Exhibition, SLMoCA (teleport directly from here), and of course, the Garden of NPIRL Delights.

She is also a resident artist at Caerleon Island (teleport directly from here), an important artist collective featuring the works of many other artists I admire, in addition to several of Bryn's important pieces and a fantastic underground installation she created.

Just look at the detail on the plaque of clockwork sculpture. The tiny bug is animated!



The "motor" of the clockwork piece is fired by the hard work of several insects.



Inside, a music box... You can open and close the wings.


Overview of Bryn Oh's "Steamgarden"

Oh.My.God. computer graphics

AM Radio passed this along and even though I am sort of on hiatus right now from blogging, who could resist this?



I have not been able to find the source, which really annoys me.

May 12 Update: Thanks to Vlad Bjornson and Torley Linden we have much more information about the creators PLUS another video to feast our eyes on - or squirm, as the case may be. Of course, I'm not at all surprised that Vlad and Torley would appreciate this work. Vlad makes glorious interactive flowers that morph and transform when touched, and many of these colors... they are so very Torley! Thanks so much for your help in tracking these gems down, you two.

The creators of these two vids are 1st Ave Machine:



Per Vlad, you can find an interesting piece by the CGSociety about the first video here.

A little animation for your viewing pleasure...

While this wasn't created in a virtual world, it is still a fun watch. Thank you, Patchouli Woollahra, for sending it our way.



Credits, as listed on YouTube:
kokiriko bushi / omodaka (far east recording)
Animation dir: teppei maki

Synthetic University: Blown up and rebirthed in under ten minutes

Yesterday morning, I attended the destruction and rebirth of the Synthetic University (teleport directly from here) in Second Life®, an event produced by MosMax Hax, the Austrian professor who leads the University, and a damn fine content creator himself. It's lamentable that I haven't managed to find the time to blog about his highly abstract and scripted Die Angewandte sim, and sensational installations - such as WhiteNoise - but I hope to someday soon. I suppose I do take some consolation in that I was able to share his Chris Marker project for the Museum für Gestaltung with you last month.


MosMax Hax, as photographed by Hardwarehacker Hoch

For the past five weeks, MosMax has supervised five of his students through the process of building and scripting the total demolition of the building that has served as the virtual sister to the Real Zurich University of the Arts (ZHDK). The "destruction" phase of yesterday's staged event was accomplished with striking similarity to a super dramatic and meticulously planned demolition in Real Life, except that - and this will come as no surprise to any seasoned Second Lifer - the finale of that phase culminated with a full-sim crash.


The original Synthetic University, as photographed by MosMax Hax


On the eve of destruction, Mosmax and his students ran several tests, as photographed by MosMax himself

What followed would definitely not be possible in Real Life... the creation of an entirely new University, in 4:10 minutes. Sim neighbor (she is creating the elegant Syncretia) and friend Alpha Auer commented, "I liked the old building with its overlaid textures a great deal, so it did sort of twist my heart to see it go."

"What ultimately emerged was something of swan like grace," continued Alpha. "Huge black and white bubble-like shapes create a dramatic contrast against the black and white square tiling. Transparent floors and ceiling merge indoors and outdoors. Color is provided by some elegantly designed red typographic waterfalls that pour out of the black and white bubble shaped containers."


Inside the Synthetic University, as photographed by Alpha Auer

It seems that the Real university is actually being relocated and will not be completed until sometime in 2009.

Kudos to MosMax and his students Rudebwoy Handayani, Chiaki Jie, Klabauterklaus Maximus, Nyaa Myoo and Akolyto Perfferle. That was nothing short of spectacular.

I am still learning how to make videos in-world, and awaiting my mail-ordered SpaceNavigator with increasing impatience, but here is what I managed to produce.