Real Life Painter in Second Life

I have not written about Second Life lately. I am still in world just not blogging it so much. The other night by accident I discovered Aussie artist Ritchey Sealy who also has a gallery in world.

After checking out his profile I learned from his blog that Ritchey Sealy lives in Broulee on the south coast of NSW, has won a number of awards and his work is held by the Queensland State Gallery.

 

SL Education has a blog

SLED (Second Life Education) has a new blog for educators in Second Life. It “is written by educators and for educators, for those who are seasoned Second Life veterans and for those just starting out, for those who are die-hards and those who are skeptics.”

 

Journalism is Second Life

Beat Blogging has an interview with Eric Krangel who is known as Eric Reuters in Second Life as he reports for Reuters about key events in the virtual 3D world. As in real life, digging up stories involves in part staying in contact with and maintaining social networks, and Eric makes some interesting observations about social networks in world.
The Reuters Second Life Blog is worth checking out, as Eric does not report on in world dramas but his stories focus on the overlap between life and second life.

For instance, recently Eric has been covering the copy right theft issue. With US$1.4 million dollars circulating through Second Life every day this issue is not simply an in world drama but one that effects the real life income of the designers of virtual products.

 

Botanical Fly Through Second Life

Botanical Fly Through Second Life is a lush fly through of Botanical at Stray light

I wrote about my adventures in Stray Light here.
SLURL Botanical at Stray Light http://slurl.com/secondlife/Straylight/198/12/37

Thanks goes to iAlja for this link she posted on my Facebook wall.

 

Life the universe and everything at Thursday’s Fictions

I am sure anyone who has ventured into the virtual 3D world of Second Life has at least for a moment reflected on the big issues of life. Even if it is simply questions about who you are provoked by the experience of creating of an avatar.

Last night I took some time out to explore and reflect in the Thursday’s Fictions build, a surreal story of a woman who tries to cheat the cycle of reincarnation to get eternal life.

This is an art project about reincarnation, but as a story it has also reincarnated across a number of genres. It is a book, a film and now a virtual experience in Second Life.

The notecard says that

When you read a book, you imagine the world.
When you watch a film, you see and hear the world.
When you visit an online 3D immersive environment, you enter the world.
You feel what it’s like to be one of the characters, to be inside the story.
And you can share that experience with your friends.

Thursdays fictions is more than a simple ‘choose your own adventure’ however. As you explore the interactive you are provoked to ask yourself those big questions in life and to move forward in the world of Thursdays Fictions you must answer them. This build makes you think about what is important, what values you hold, and how you view the afterlife. It is a reflective and complex experience highlighted by the medium because of its very artificiality.

Thursday’s Fictions in Second Life is a collaboration by Australian filmmakers Dr Richard James Allen and Dr Karen Pearlman. Gary Hazlitt, noted Australian builder, created the presence in SL. The project is supported by the Literature Board of the Australia Council through its The Story of the Future project, the Australian Film Television and Radio School through LAMP, the ABC through its Innovation and Arts Departments, and The Project Factory.

On Flickr there is a Thursdays Fictions tag where images of the build and visitors have been posted and you can catch a bit of the mood by watching the YouTube machinima Thursdays Fictions Parable of Reincarnation .

The Thursdays Fictions website has more information about the project across all genres

To visit in world the Thursdays Fictions SLURL:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Esperance/240/41/22

 

More Podcasts

I have another podcast to point to this morning. It is an interview with poet Richard James Allen which was aired on the Radio National Book show yesterday. Richard James Allen has adaptated his work Thursday’s Fictions for Second Life and the interview explores how writing for Second Life is or is not different from current writing practice.

Another show recently aired on the By Design show, is and interview with Chris Anderson author of The Long Tail.

For more information about the The Long Tail check out the Wikipedia entry and the original article was published in Wired in 2004. Chris Anderson also keeps a blog that is well worth reading.

 

A grant of 20,000 dollars for artists in Second life

A while back I pointed out that the Australian Council for the Arts was offering an artistic residency and grant of up to $20,000 to collaborative artists to create a project in Second Life. The recipients were announced on their site earlier this month.

Visual artist Christopher Dodds, musician/3-D real-time artist Adam Nash and writer Justin Clemens will collaborate to develop an inter-disciplinary artwork in Second Life, which explores the possibilities of literary, music/sound art and real-time 3-D arts practices within the virtual world.

The artwork is a simultaneous installation in Second Life and in a real world gallery, where gallery visitors can be directly involved in its creation via a computer interface.

The installation, a metaphor for the Tower of Babel, uses voice recognition software that converts the spoken word of real and virtual world participants into 3-D letterform images in an evolving tower of words.

The letterforms generate relationships with each other through a combination of visual and sonic manifestations, fragments of narrative, environmental/user awareness capabilities and through interaction with existing data generated within Second Life itself such as the virtual winds, sunrises and sunsets.

It sounds like an interesting project!

 

Lauks Nest in Second Life

Recently this post in Second Arts prompted me to once again pay a visit to Lauks Nest. In the last week Linden Labs has announced that EU customers have to pay VAT. This means many art projects are under threat as they are no longer financially viable.

When I went in world I checked Luka Mensing’s profile, the owner of Lauks Nest and sure enough is up for sale.

Lauks Nest is one of those places in Second Life where you simply explore and enjoy it for the creative build it is.

Lauks Nest is a series of Mayan temple in ruins with textures from original Mayan sites.

There are twisting winding paths that run through the juggle, pyramids to explore, a tree house with drums you can play, you can feed the birds. As you wander about you encounter sculptures and art works placed through out the build.

Or you can simply relax in the gardens with friends and watch the sunset/sunrise.

I am sure many Second life Residents would feel the loss if it was to go and perhaps it is wise to pay a visit soon just in case it does!

SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Alviso/163/154/64

 

Exploring Chichén Itzá in Second Life

Last night in Second life I played virtual tourist at the archeological Site of Chichén Itzá. The build was commissioned by the Mexico Tourism Board to promote visiting the real site which is declared a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO and is one of the New 7 Wonders of the World.

The idea behind the build is to convey an overall feeling of Chichén Itzá and offer a visually compelling fun but immersive educational experience. Visitors can explore on foot or take a guided audio tour on the back of a butterfly.

There are information kiosks placed strategically throughout the build with a photo of the real life counterpart. With a click of the mouse a brief and informative notecard is delivered to read. I found it sad that one of the note cards handed out to visitors states that the site exists in real life as it indicated to me that perhaps visitors were unaware of this magnificent Mayan archaeological site!

In the virtual Chichén Itzá visitors can interact with the exhibits and fly over the site which is the first thing I did to get a sense of the layout of the digital landscape.

Climbing the stairs of El Castillo, or the Pyramid of the Serpent God Kukulkan, made me think that I would have kick the cigarettes if I was to visit. The pyramid is topped by a temple and you can explore inside.

To the side at the base of the pyramid there is a passage that runs up the middle of the structure. The entry is a tricky to navigate an avatar and I found I did better when I used Mouselook. You climb the stairs to a chamber inside the structure.

The notecard informed me that “It was common practice in Mesoamerican cities to periodically build larger and bigger temple pyramids atop older ones, and this is one such example. Archaeologists discovered a doorway at the base of the north stairway that leads to a tunnel, from which one can climb the steps of the earlier version of El Castillo inside the current one up to the top room where you can see religious Jaguar Throne, carved of stone and painted red with jade spots. The design of the older pyramid inside is said to be a lunar calendar, with the newer pyramid being a solar calendar.”

Once at the top of the stairs it felt even spookier.

The next area I investigated was the Plaza of 1000 Columns which flanks the the Temple of the Warriors the original being built in 800 A.D. The carved columns represent fallen warriors so I guess this was a war memorial Myan style.

You can climb to the top for another view.

After wandering through the jungle park area I discovered the sweat lodges or Temezcals the originals are believed to be over 1200 years old.

Next I discovered a sinkhole, the Sacred Cenote. According to the notecard
“Cenote (say-NO-tay) is the Spanish equivalent of the Yucatecan Mayan word for a water-filled, limestone sinkhole. In Mexico’s northern Yucatan Peninsula, where there are few lakes or streams, cenotes provided a stable supply of water for the ancient Maya people who settled there. The great city of Chichen Itza was built around a cluster of these natural wells, including the one known as the Sacred Cenote.”

Since you can fly in second life I flew over the barricade and dived into the pool to see if there was anything to see inside. Apparently there is a treasure hunt but I found no treasure.

Although the real Chichen Itza does not have a jungle park in Second Life it does. Dotted through out are places to sit and relax and you could easily get together with friends for a picnic beside a scenic waterfall or the winding river that weaves its way through out the build. (I am a bit mad on waterfalls at the moment as I am attempting to build one on my own Sl land) Birds, dragonflies and snake dot the build. If you stop in the park area, small, humming birds greet you and then keep following you! An eagle constantly circles over head too. These are nice touches to a great build.

There are other areas of the build which I browsed but did not interact with much as the evening was getting late. Examples of housing, a market area, a beach area (with turtles) and a dance area are on the site as well. It’s well worth a visit and kept me busy well past midnight. There is plenty to keep you interested if you are on your own, or lots to do if you are with a friend.

SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Visit Mexico/192/70/39

For more information online about the real site see:

Chichen Itza in Wikipedia

Chichen Itza 360 Tour of the Ruins

Tour of Chichén Itzá

Welcome to Chichén Itzá.

 

SceneCaster

The idea of a 3D web creeps closer everyday. Robert Scoble recently interviewed Mark Zohar, founder of SceneCaster. In a 35 minute interview Mark explains what SceneCaster is, and its advantages over current 3D worlds such as Secondlife.

SceneCaster is aimed at the average user and allows them to build a room or scene in 3D and accomplish this in a browser. They can then furnish it from SceneCaster’s rich database of objects or 3D objects that already online by simply importing and placing them in a scene. Because 3D objects can be sourced from existing 3D object libraries this means that learning curve for average users is not so steep.

For those who are already using 3D software you can create and import objects to your scene but it was obvious to me that the main strength of this service is the fact that people do not have to be 3D software experts to create a scene. So users personalise a scene rather than building a scene

SceneCaster connects objects to large eCommerce sites such as eBay and Amazon. Mark Zohar also explained how there would be product catalogs from leading manufacturers and retailers added as the site matured.

I have not been able to try it as at the moment it is only available for those who use a PC. Mark Zohar said that a Mac version was being worked on so I my impressions of this service are based on the interview.

I can see uses for it as a visualisation tool. For instance if you were decorating your home or if you are an interior designer you could layout and work out what it would look like and get a feel for what works before committing big dollars to a new look. I can see virtual shopping being a big thing too because you can see a model of the product before you buy. As I watched the interview my mind was running through possible self contained art projects that could be created. So there are plenty of applications that this service can be used for.

SceneCaster is also connected to social network sites such as FaceBook and Flickr but you can not have in-scene avatars. In other words you can not meet your friends for a chat and to socialise. I think this is the big downfall as it is fine being able to create a scene but most people will want to share and socialise in that scene.

A 3D scene is fine to look at but it will not hold people if the world simply contains objects. Even if they a very interesting objects an empty room is just that empty. For me without people ie avatars the immersive experience that is so addictive in virtual worlds is simply not there. Life online for me is about that ie life (other people) not things online particularly things online to buy. Although I do shop online it would only be a 2 or 3% of my time spent online. For me the net has always been a communication tool first. It is like this very important aspect of virtual worlds has been forgotten by SceneCaster.

For me without people a 3D scene is empty and for the majority of average users fairly pointless. What do you think? Check out the interview and let me know.

Thanks goes to an email received from Gilbert of Virtual Territory