New World Notes

Watch: Amazing Mixed Reality Project -- Move 3D Objects Within Real Locations in VR... Which Then Seem to Appear in the Real World

Here's the latest dazzling demo from Toronto dev Lee Vermeulen, showing off what's possible in Modbox, his multiplayer sandbox game platform:

Concept for AR editing with Bing Maps API in Modbox. Can zoom out and pan with controllers - world map is then shown to place a building-size sign across the street from my condo...

The 3D map is generated at runtime with real world scale (I just set the latitude/longitude) and shows as soon as I zoom out. If I had been able to walk up to the placed sign the giant scale of it would have been more clear.

That last point from this Twitter thread on the demo, where Vermeulen confirms that yes, when he places the sign in the 3D map, it then seems to appears in the real world -- in real time:

Cajsa’s Flickr Pick: Stunning Second Life Photos Shot At Different Times of the Virtual World Day

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

I love it when people provide SLurls for their photos because it helps me with the is it Life or is it Second Life quandaries. Who “One Light-Second Per Day” is may be a mystery, but there is no doubt that this person has a great talent revealed in their small, emergent photostream. I love this photo that has a light leak overlay added to give it the feeling of sun damage. Without the light leak, it is a memento of seeing a penny farthing bicycle while club-crawling at 1 a.m. With the damage, it incorporates the idea of a quick Polaroid snap tossed on the dash as you drive home the next day. It incorporates not only the memory of the bike, but the heat of the sun on your car as you drive home from sightseeing.  

The photographer seems to set the WindLight to a time of day, inspired perhaps by Monet's Rouen Cathedral paintings. Perhaps someday One Second may come back and shoot the same picture at another time, perhaps not. However, giving us the time and place can allow us to go there and see what they saw when they saw it for ourselves. In its “9 a.m.”, the sunrise is so bright these two men are in silhouette and the sea disappears into the sunshine.

The land meets the sea at a third from the bottom. The man on the left is just a hair left of a third from the left and the other man is dead center. Even though it’s early morning, for some reason this picture makes me think of a book cover, perhaps for one of those sad stories of love thwarted by feuding families or even a mystery. Despite the brightness of the sun we cannot see, there is something melancholic and even eerie about this photo.

Linden Lab Responds to Second Life User Reader Questions About EEP Failures, Viewer Revamping, the Return of Last Names, and Much More

Linden Lab's communication team kindly sent back follow-up questions from readers after they watched my interview with CEO Ebbe Altberg, including reported problems with EEP, the possibility of instancing SL regions, and the return of avatar last names, if ever:

Will SL be moving to a new engine like Unreal or Unity, and if so, will our scripting etc still work? If not, why not?

There are no current plans to move over Second Life to a different engine. We'd rather focus our engineering efforts on continuing to improve our existing engine to ensure that there is no interruption to ongoing compatibility for our millions of Residents.

EEP has ruined teleports and region crossings for a lot of people. As well as TP crashing, crashing and unseating has increased by many time since EEP was put into the server code in March. When will that be fixed?

We are aware that some Residents have had an increase in disconnects during a teleport. These occur when an avatar attempts to teleport to a new Region (or cross a Region boundary, which is handled similarly internally) and the teleport or Region crossing takes longer than usual. We’re working quickly to fix the issue. Incidentally, while the wide deployment of the bug that we believe is behind the TP disconnects did coincide with EEP server deployment, it's actually unrelated to the EEP features. Readers can check out our Tools & Technology blog for updates as we continue to roll out any fixes.

Several more below the break:

Cajsa’s Daily Flickr Pic: Bridget G. Tells Charming Stories With SL Screenshots

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

Bridget G. is a storyteller. Her photos are full of the little details that shift it from a static set to a dynamic scenario. Take this untitled photo on a motorcycle. There’s the bit of windswept hair and the dirty feet that add authenticity and make it felt, not just observed. She’s going against the stream of traffic, too. There’s a story here and though we don’t know the details, we know it is a good one.  

“This is Wednesday” is a humorous wink at taking care of children. She looks exhausted, her pose is slumped, the kids are being kids. There’s an interesting transhumanist element with her hand and slightly demonic glare that little girl is directing at it.

 

Linden Lab's Social Media Team Should Promote User-Made Marketplace Content (Comment of the Week)

Popular Flickr post from Strawbery Singh's pre-Linden Lab days

News that Second Life social media queen Strawberry Singh just joined Linden Lab as a social media employee has provoked some interesting reactions in the SL social media ecosystem, chief among this comment from reader "irihapeti", which at first seems seriously controversial:

A thing that Linden Lab should reconsider is to allow the LL marketing team to provide marketplace and/or in-world shop links to the stuff that appear in the pics and vids blog posts.

A big reason why [SL] content-influence blogs are popular is because of the links to where the readers can get the stuff shown. Not just in SL but in the real world as well. Some well-known person wears something and the next day the shops are full of people wanting that garment.

I'm fascinated to find out how often real world fashion in pop culture immediately influences virtual world fashion shopping. But irihapeti's core argument is this: Linden Lab should actively promote user-owned SL brands and commercial content on its massive social media channels.

This despite the fact that when Strawberry announced her move to Linden Lab, she also announced "I will no longer be sharing style credits or reviews on items in-world" to avoid favoritism. irihapeti argues this is the exact wrong direction to take:

Cajsa’s Daily Flickr Pick: Killer Art Created With Assassin’s Creed Screenshots

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

Michael Ry's screenshots from Assassin’s Creed Odyssey caught my eye immediately -- such as this beautiful elk caught in silhouette by a brilliant sun. The Rule of Thirds is used in both vertical and horizontal composition.

Listen: Philip Rosedale Interviewed by Linden Vet About Building Virtual Worlds

Here's a great podcast interview of Philip Rosedale on the podcast show Stayin' Alive in Technology hosted by Melinda Byerley, former Head of Marketplaces at Linden Lab, and known in SL as Pink Linden. And because she is a Linden vet, this is a much more substantial, in-depth interview, and brings up some points I've not heard Philip discuss before. (Streamable above.) It's also an important companion piece to the recent bombshell video where Philip announced scaling back High Fidelity content and making it more desktop client-focused.

Byerley is now founder of Timeshare CMO, a data marketing firm where Catherine Smith, another Linden Lab veteran, also works. "It's a recap of Philip's history, his thoughts on the 3D web and the future of VR," Catherine told me, when sending over the podcast. "What he's learned over the years. It was very Philip and made me laugh and smile and miss working for him!" So this is an interview with the founder of Linden Lab, speaking with a Linden, which was promoted by a Linden, and is now being blogged by a Linden. 

Here's the key highlights -- my favorite being what he says about "the 3D web" as a term -- with my biggest point of contention being what he says about the original goal with Second Life:

Top 6 Posts from Last Week: Mourning Notre Dame at Its Virtual Copy, Making Minecraft Run On Solar Power, Real Fitness as VR's Killer App, Plus Second Life News & a New Album from an SL-Originated Pop Star

• Listen: Keiko Takamura's Long-Awaited Fablewave Deluxe Drops -- Full-Length Album Inspired By Video Games, Fairy Tales, And Pop Culture
• How To Run Minecraft On A Rasberry Pi From The Rays Of The Sun - New Mixed Reality Human Wellness Project From Jeff "AM Radio" Berg
• PowerBeats VR Embraces Virtual Reality's Likeliest Killer App: Getting Your Actual, Real Life Body In Shape
• EEP, Second Life Environmental Enhancement Project, Makes Acclaimed Developer Say EEK!
• Second Life Hires Second Life's Top Influencer To Help Promote Second Life
• As Notre Dame Burns, Avatar Crowd Spontaneously Appears At Second Life Recreation To Mourn Cathedral's Destruction

Listen: Keiko Takamura's Long-Awaited Fablewave Deluxe Drops -- Full-Length Album Inspired by Video Games, Fairy Tales, and Pop Culture

At long last here is Fablewave Deluxe from Keiko Takamura, the Bay Area-based popstar who (as longtime NWN readers know) first launched her singing career over a decade ago by performing in Second Life. And as you would expect, it's sharp and smart, dazzling pop music for geeks -- inspired by games The Path, Alice: Madness Returns, and speed-running platformers, plus The Little Mermaid and Batman: The Animated Series.

"Fablewave Deluxe is my attempt to connect listeners to my experiences through video games, fairy tales, and pop culture," as she puts it. "You don't know me, but you probably vaguely know the story of The Little Mermaid. So you can connect to 'She's Got Legs, You Idiot' when I say, 'This world is so new and/ I almost feel human'. You don't know me, but you probably know what happens to Batman's parents. So when I write a love song called 'Martha Wayne', you can guess that it's bittersweet.  Musically, I wanted each song to be its own vignette. Each song exists in a separate environment where the song has the best chance to tell its story, uninhibited by genre. My biggest influences going into this were Shiina Ringo, Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, and the SF Bay Area chiptune scene."

And yes, her SL fans will connect with one song on the album in particular:

Sinespace's $5000 FPS Map-Making Contest Deadline Extended to May 31st!

Update on the first-person shooter game design contest from Sinespace (a proud NWN partner) being judged by Valve veteran Erik Wolpaw  (Psychonauts, Portal 1/2, Team Fortress 2): The deadline has been extended to May 31st.

The contest challenge is to create customized FPS maps for Sinespace using its new Unity SDK and its open source combat system (read all about that on Unity's blog). Erik will choose the submission with the most unique gameplay, impressive level design, and inventive use of Sinespace features, with the winner getting $5000 and a bunch of other benefits. (All the details here.)