In a sudden decision over the weekend, I opted to up and move regions. The catalyst for the decision was two-fold: the old region was getting far too busy, plus two adjoining parcels opened-up on a region I’ve had my eye on for a while.
The new parcel
The new home is still unzoned (I’m not ready to take down the store rezzing platform just yet), but is reasonably OK on the landscaping and benefits from a large lake area in the middle which is designated NO BUILD and purely for recreational purposes, leaving it with four 8192sm and four 4096sm around the outside.
The combined parcel is located in the north-west corner of the region, with ocean frontage to two sides. As it is more regular in shape, it’s allowed me better space to lay things out more naturally.
Kelly’s house
I’ve retained my little skystation, as I don’t need that much room, but Kelly wanted a fresh house, so I dug something out of inventory that gives her lots of space and which see seems happy with. I situated that so she’d have water on two sides and can enjoy SL sunsets..
Don’t be Koi…
Alongside of this I’ve added some trees to form a little area of woodland that leads back towards the central lake. A couple of streams wind through the trees from a large pond, where a few Koi and other fish now swim. Flowers range across the ground between Kelly’s house and the first stream and under the trees, hopefully giving the place a nice splash of colour.
Night view
There’s also a bridge where I’m already sitting a contemplating things (aka parking myself), and I’ve added a few lanterns in the trees for a little nocturnal light. As I do have friends sharing the land with me, I hope the trees and streams will be a little corner where we can sit and chill, chat and watch the sun pass overhead.
Earlier in the week, Salazar Jack dropped a lovely picture into Twitter of a magnificent steampunk-esque flying machine being flown by Tish Coronet. He included a link to the SL Marketplace, and I set off to look, rather intrigued.
The photo that piqued curiosity: Tish Coronet’s Lepidoptera (captured by Tish, uploaded to Twitter by Salazar Jack)
The machine itself is the Mechanical Lepidoptera, a partial mesh build which is being offered free by its creator, Bunnys Fride, who describes it thus:
By visiting the Jules Verne Museum in Nantes (french town, west coast) I noticed a painting that represents this machine to takeoff from one of the most beautiful place of Nantes. This same painting appears in the foreground on the poster for the International Festival of Science Fiction of Nantes in 2009, named Utopiales.
I propose you this beautiful concept of lepidoptera mechanical imagined and painted by James Gurney, a talented artist, famous illustrator and creator of Dinotopia.
Standing next to my Lepidoptera
The Lepidoptera is exquisitely detailed, with a two-tone metal body, beautiful passenger cabin (the vehicle will take up to eleven passengers, included one seated beside the pilot / owner) and detailed cockpit in the “head”. Detailing continues through the landing legs, which “droop” below the body when in flight, just like the legs of a flying insect seem to hang limply beneath its body. On landing (on the ground), the legs splay out, again in a life-like look. Another lovely piece of detailing is in the mechanical operation of the wings themselves.
Detailing
Flying the machine requires a HUD, which allows you to correctly set your camera position, and which controls the start-up of the machine and the forward / interior lights. This attaches to the top right of your screen. To fly the Lepidoptera, right click on it and select FLY from the menu, this will sit you in the cockpit. Tap ESC to position your camera correctly (if required – or use the HUD options), and then click on START on the HUD to set the wings flapping (complete with engine / mechanical sounds). Flight controls are then use PAGE UP / DOWN to ascend / descend, and the arrow keys / WASD keys to manoeuvre (you’ll need to key the UP / W key depressed to maintain forward motion).
Airborne!
Natascha Randt has produced a great video showcasing the Lepidoptera:
On the Ground
Flying the Lepidoptera reminded me that a few months back I picked up another freebie from SLM, the Autoworks Classic 43S GT by Angie Xenga / Ed Zaurak.
The Autoworks Classic 43S GT
A two-seat sports coupe, the 43S GT is sleek and attractive – and quite a handful if you’re not used to SL driving, as I found out when given the chance to try it out on a multi-sim racing circuit for the first time yesterday!
The basic controls are simple enough: UP key / W to accelerate, LEFT / RIGHT or A / D to turn, and DOWN / S to break. PAGE UP / PAGE DOWN operate the gear changes (although there is an automatic option). However, there are a range of other options and capabilities that can make driving an Autoworks car pretty much the same experience as driving a high-performance car in RL: 50% fun, 50% seat-wetting and 100% adrenalin! There is also an option HUD displaying speed and revs which you can attach to your screen.
Additional menu options allow you to alter the colour of the car - royal blue is the default, but I like the silver look – adjust your driving position, adjust the transmission options, the engine – and a whole lot more. Touching the car allows you to open the bonnet (“hood”) or the doors.
Ready to get behind the wheel
The cockpit itself is nicely detailed, and I love the fact that this car is designed to be driven on the correct side of the road being right-hand drive ;-). All-in-all, great fun to have, if you can find the space to use it (the handling is such that you can rapidly run out of sim!).
If anything spoiled it for me, it was not the car, but the fact that to appreciate it fully you do need to drive across multiple sims – and this brings up the ogre of region crossings. Given the speeds you can reach behind the wheel, this means it is easy to find yourself on top of one before you realise, and you’re suddenly sailing off into infinity. Hopefully, with multi-threaded region crossings on the way plus other improvements, this will reduce the problem, but it did put a bit of a dampener of the thrill of driving this superb car.
Ready to roll
As well as the Classic 43S GT, the package comes with the Autoworks Type ZII, a single-seat car that offers a broadly similar range of options, but didn’t, for me, have the same appeal.
Apparently the Classic 43S GT represents the first in a new range of cars Autoworks will be producing “just for the fun of it”, the business itself having closed as an SL commercial venture in February 2012. It is a sample of what is to come; so far one more car has been added to the free range, and I’m intrigued to see what else is produced in time!
Another few months have passed, so a few weeks ago I decided it was time to pack-up my last home (which used the convex hull physics form) and try something new. Three things prompted the change this time. First off, when it comes it “living” in SL, I really don’t need a big house; with the last build, I got things down to a lounge and bedroom, although the latter was really superfluous to my needs – but the place was still somewhat big and I felt I wanted something a little more compact. Secondly, Spikeheel was nudging me to do “something sci-fi”. Finally, I was also working on a custom commission to convert one of my IPD skyspheres, so I had the Build Bug once again.
Well, there’s also the fact I never stay happy with any one build for particularly long…
Inspiration proved a little difficult to start. I did consider simply buying something; but nothing really appealed after looking around – although shape-wise, what I’ve finished up with owes a nod or two to the work of Blaze Nielsen.
Little floating home
My new home is pretty much oval in shape, with plenty of window space and enough room for my essentials all contained in a single “room”. Seating is provided via a sculpt kit by **aviSTYLe**, and two home-built “swivel chairs” and table. As such, this is the first build where I’ve largely dispensed with Ample Clarity’s PrimPossible range – but only because the lounge sets don’t really fit with the theme, and I have retained my piano . I’ve again included a bed, more for appearances than anything else, and have pedestals for my two favourite sculptures (one of which is a magnificent mesh bust by the remarkable Claudia222 Jewell). To complete the basic set-up, I added a couple of plants for some nice greenery.
Interior
As always, I’ve opted for scripted lighting rather than baked (which never look particularly great to me anyway; not the way I mangle attempts), with a ring light around the ceiling dome and a set of additional scripts in the sculpture pedestals. These are set to bathe the place in a soft turquoise that is intended to match the carpet tone and interior highlights.
By night
As I’ve been working with texture changers elsewhere, and as this build sort-of originated from a “space station” idea, I flipped a couple of the scripts for use here, adding a sphere around the place, the inner surface od which I can either turn transparent for uninterrupted views of sky and sea, or upon which I can display suitable “space views” to heighten the illusion of being in orbit.
“Here am I sitting in my tin can / Far above the world….”
Sunrise sonata…
Not sure how long this place will last, but it’s home for now .
Update: I’ve add a link to Zonja’s excellent instructions to the my Tutorials Index Page.
Last night, Chestnut Rau led me, by way of Whiskey Monday to a three-year-old post from Zonja Capalini on using Linden Water as a mirror. As old as the post may be, it has considerable relevance given how LL and TPVs are striving to improve the graphics capabilities of the Viewer – and it goes to show how easy it is to miss a highly informative blog post! My thanks to Chestnut and Whiskey for pointing me in the right direction, and to Zonja for documenting the process.
The technique isn’t new, per se, as a number of people have been using the idea for a while and produced some very clever effects, but Zonja’s instructions make it so easy to implement, they are a joy to follow and make trying things out for oneself as easy as 1-2-3. And I mean easy – if I can get things sorted, then anyone can.
As well as clever visual effects, the technique can be used to produce some interesting shots as one travels SL – or even of one’s own home region.
Using the mirror water effect to capture one of the houses on my land (click to enlarge)
Black Spot, one of my favourite places in SL, gets the mirror water treatment (click to enlarge)
Of course, it is rare for real water to be so glassy-smooth, but the results are worth ignoring that fact. The effect can obviously be combined with other graphics effects – Windlight sky settings, lighting and shadows, etc., – although you can find your system getting pushed hard. Lighting and shadows in particular left me with very grainy pixelation on images…
The same shot, but with lighting and shadows active - on my system, this does degrade the image quality somewhat
There is a slight difference between Zonja’s instructions and achieving the same result in V3-based Viewers, inasmuch as everything can be achieved from the one dialogue box when setting-up the water Windlight requirements. Just go to WORLD->ENVIRONMENT EDITOR->WATER PRESETS->NEW PRESET… Not exactly rocket science to find, but worth mentioning. Once there, set all options and sliders as Zonja defines in her article.
The most interesting use for the technique is that of self-portrait style pictures, where some fun can be had. Zonja and Whiskey has some stunning examples of these. I was a little reluctant to include any of myself, given my current fetish look – but “in for a penny”, as they say.
. I’ve again included a bed, more for appearances than anything else, and have pedestals for my two favourite sculptures (one of which is a magnificent mesh bust by the remarkable 
