Explore Bryn Oh's New Immersive Second Life Installation

The Canadian artist known only as Bryn Oh has a new installation in Second Life, and if you're looking for a great way to enjoy that free SL Go service before it goes, you should probably go and experience "Lobby Cam" -- here's the trailer:

It's located in Second Life here; be sure to copy/paste the map link and put it into the SL viewer of your choice. More from Bryn's blog:

In the story is a giant wheat field that blows in the SL wind like waves in the ocean. It has long been a dream of mine to build such a field and it is quite beautiful I think, but it has a lot of alpha which makes your computer have to calculate what it should be able to see on the other side of the alpha. We have tested with alpha blending and alpha masking and in the end it is as efficient as a massive field of this sort can be.

Plus there's lots of special settings you need to tweak and a heads-up display you need to wear, complexities which makes the weird of ambition of creating art in a virtual world even weirder, but for the few who can get past those paints points, something profound is promised:

That's video from a visit by Deceptions Digital. And Eddi Haskell has a pictorial write-up too.

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Comments

[Ziki Questi]

It's a lovely build, but there aren't "lots of special settings you need to tweak" — actually there aren't any at all. Also, the build itself is only the backdrop to the larger narrative/interactive story that visitors experience, which invites their direct participation.

[Dirk Grantly]

Nice installation - lots of Canadian touches including a Saskatchewan Pool grain elevator, a Spadina street car and a Canada Post mailbox lol...

[Wagner James Au]

These are Bryn's instructions from the announcement:

Lobby Cam has a hud.. so be sure to get it from the start and wear...

The region has no water.. so you can turn water reflections down to "minimal" and water transparency to off. Just click ctrl and P together to bring up your preferences page.. then from there (the graphics tab) take the check mark off of transparent water and advanced lighting model.

There is another thing you might need to do, that is to ensure the windlight has changed for you. Click "world" at top of your screen then pick "environment editor" then pick "environment settings" and from there click "Always use parcel/ region settings". Even when you have this on it sometimes windlight doesn't change. So a good way to encourage it to is by clicking "world" then "region details" which you can then close without changing anything. All that does it remind it to check if the windlight has been changed.

[cube republic]

I find this to be a nod to AM Radio. The giant wheat field with rusty vehicle in the middle all pay homage, at least in my mind.

[Mickey Mouse Games]

Great Blog design with beautiful site structure that attracts viewers to read your blog

[Ziki Questi]

Bryn included the above instructions about water reflections because she was initially concerned about lag, but few if any people are reporting issues, so it seems to be unnecessary. Users of both Firestorm and the LL viewer should see the region windlight be automatically accepted, unless they're manually turned it off, so they shouldn't need to tweak anything.

[Bill Friis]

Bryn Oh's work is always worth examining. Drop in for a moment if you want to see that wheat field waving. Use the HUD if you want the story. Explore until you have seen the Lobby Cam for the full event. But if you really want to know the place, don't leave before you locate Spock, and be sure to visit the gift shop, which is a gallery in itself.