Iris Ophelia's ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style
There's an all-new episode of Draxtor Despres' documentary machinima series, The Drax Files: World Builders, out today -- and you can watch it right here!
Iris Ophelia's ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style
One of Second Life's most acclaimed journalists and machinima artists has a new project, and it'll give you some amazing insight into the kinds of people that not only use Second Life, but shape the virtual world around them. The Drax Files: World Builders by Draxtor Despres recently came out with its second episode, featuring the face of SL's 1920's Berlin (and NWN reader) Jo Yardley. Take a look for yourself after the jump.
Iris Ophelia's ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style
If you've been waiting to turn your avatar (or even yourself) into a posable and customizable doll, it's now easier than ever. Makies Doll Factory, released earlier this month, is the latest development from MakieLab, the makers of Makies (try saying that ten times fast.) This free iOS app (which you can grab in the App Store) lets users design their own custom 3D printed dolls with even more options than before, and comes with new pricing options for those looking to bring their Makies into reality.
If you're curious about customizing a Makie of your own from the comfort of your iPad, keep reading! (Update: Ridiculously wrong video link fixed, sorry folks! But hey, at least you know how to make Rice-a-Roni now!)
Iris Ophelia's ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style
Meet Ami Yamato, a Japanese girl living and working in England... Sort of. You might notice something different about Ami, something not quite right. Although she's always shown in the real world in her YouTube videos, she is entirely computer generated and almost never acknowledges her digital nature. More importantly, she's incredibly congenial and fun to watch.
There's a lot of painstaking detail in her videos: shaky cameras, out-of-focus shots, poor lighting conditions and more are all taken into account to put this rather unrealistic character in an ultra-realistic frame.
Have I piqued your curiosity? Lucky for you, Ami recent posted a complete look at how exactly she produces her videos:
Iris Ophelia's ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style
At first blush Vivacity Interactive's Splintered Rock might not seem much different from a lot of webcomics still in their infancy, beyond its use of SL for its artwork. Venture a little deeper and you'll see a surprising framework for a one-of-a-kind interactive storytelling experience with a serious RPG twist, which might even be helping to support a venerated sci-fi sim in SL. Here's what I mean:
Iris Ophelia's ongoing review of gaming and virtual world fashion
Last week I got (and reviewed) my Makie, a posable figure made a 3D printer with features I designed based on my Second Life avatar back in May. My ultimate conclusion about the alpha release Makies is that while they may not be ready for someone who wants out-of-the-box perfection, they're excellent for modders and people who want a truly one-of-a-kind item.
Of course, I can't make a statement like that without doing a little beginner-level modding of my own. Check out the side by side comparison above: on the right is my Makie just 7 days ago, and on the left is my Makie today. In my opinion they're worlds apart, and all said it only took a couple hours to bring a little life to a plastic version Iris Ophelia.
I expect eventually we'll see tricked out badass night elf makies with expertly made armor, but since I'm not quite that talented this article will be a great starting point for Makie modding even if you don't have much experience. So, let's get started!
Continue reading "Modding Tips and Tricks for an Easy Makie Makeover" »
Iris Ophelia's ongoing review of gaming and virtual world fashion
She's here! The charming little 3D printed Makie that I designed based on my SL avatar a few months ago has arrived, and I've got lots to say about her!
Overall, I really feel that Makies, as the online service is right now, in Alpha, are ideal for modding fans like myself... but they may be less than ideal for those who want the perfect doll immediately. Here's why:
Iris Ophelia's ongoing review of virtual world and MMO fashion
Makies, the 10-inch dolls designed by you then created in a 3D printer, was blogged by Hamlet last week, but if anyone on New World Notes should get to play with avatar-based fashion dolls it should be me, right? So, when MakieLab offered me the opportunity to design and review my very own Makie from their site (which is still in early alpha), I leaped at the chance.
For the first post in my Makie review series, I'm going to give you some Makie-making tips and a first look at the Makie-fied version of Iris Ophelia that I'll be reviewing in June!
This is an awesome hack that links Kinect to Second Life in an incredibly innovative way: Kinect reads the head movement and facial expressions of someone in real life, and those movements are translated into data which then dynamically alters a face sculpture in SL, composed of thousands of cubes. Created by an artist known in SL as Glyph Graves, he narrates this video above, featuring a friend who volunteered to demonstrate. This mixed reality sculpture has already been avidly blogged by a number of SLers starting with Chestnut Rau, but I begged Glyph to shoot this video, so we could see what was happening on the other side.
“It seemed like an obvious thing to do,” Glyph tells me, when I ask what inspired this project. “[Kinect] does face depth. I thought I could do it in SL. So I did.” The reaction in-world when he’s showed this to avatars has been pretty stellar: “Shock, amazement, some disbelief. Part of it is the potential it suggests for SL.”
To make it possible, he had to create a fairly complex interaction between Kinect and SL, read on:
Rik Riel has some great media from last Saturday's DNA Lounge/Club Republik club night which connected the San Francisco hot spot to the virtual club, including this:
Many thanks to Keela Latte of Club Republik for being a great metaverse DJ in both worlds. It was a hugely fun event, and as promised, I did indeed dance my ass off. That said, I do wish the mixed reality aspect came off better at the DNA Lounge:
Continue reading "Mixed Reality Clubbing in SL's Club Republik and SF's DNA" »
