New World Notes

Cassie's Clips: Previewing Genus Head's New Motion Captured Animations

Exclusive to New World Notes, Ms. Cassie Middles previews an ambitious new update to the Genus mesh head -- motion captured animations for facial expressions:

"Now the head has mocap and there's several resting animations, fluid moving animations, gestures, and eye, brow, and mouth phases of animations," she tells me. I'm impressed, because it's incredibly difficult to mocap facial expressions, since they involve so many muscle groups.

It's not 100% perfect, she allows, but still smashing: 

Cassie's Clips: How to Use Backlighting & Projectors to Make Second Life Screenshots Look Amazing Without Post-Production

Today NWN's YouTube correspondent Cassie Middles shows Second Life photographers how to use backlighting and projectors to create amazing, "in camera" effects: 

"So, backlighting is something so many bloggers requested to learn and use for their photos," as she puts it. "This is where there's a solar glow in the background but doing it without too much post-production work. With a few projector lights and a good WindLight, it can make something go from plain to ethereal, casting light into sheer moments and adding a unique flow to it that makes your avatar to pop out."

Part 2 below:

Cassie's Clips: Sneak Peek of SL's Romp Fashion Event This Weekend Ft. Sexy Clothes You Can Adjust While Wearing & Boots You Can Hold

Here's a speak peek video of this weekend's Romp event in SL, from NWN correspondent Cassie Middles. (Warning: Somewhat NSFW, just like Romp itself.) Key item is what she's showing off here -- the Mirage Abbacci, with user-adjustable clothing items. Watch to see what I mean, because "adjustable" doesn't quite convey how cool this is.

"Romp is an event that I hold near and dear to my heart," she tells me. "It was actually my first ever adult shopping experience I've ever had where kink and BDSM were seen as quite normal. Beautiful furniture, accessories, decor, and amazing things like this outfit by Mirage.N.A here. Vanilla Bae was the first store I ever found that had interactive clothing like this, but the boots were what sold me -- the fact that you can wear them or carry them over the arm, I think is amazing and perfect for roleplay. If you check out their Fickr feed, you'll see so much more interactive outfits there as well for both genders, though Mirage mostly works with Belleza bodies so make sure to read or demo before trying."

Romp starts tomorrow. Links after the break!

Cassie's Clips: Exploring Somewhere in Time, a Magical, Snow-Covered Second Life Sim for Winter Holiday Roleplay & Photographic Fun

Today New World Notes' YouTube correspondent Cassie Middles visits a new Second Life sim called Somewhere in Time, which is opening just in time for holiday season-themed photos, roleplay, and group fun.

"This place is a sim that has had so much hard work and love poured into it," Cassie tells me. Created by Chelsea Rae, Quinn Holsworthy, and Sylvia Olivier, she says it's a sim full of picture-perfect settings:  

Cassie's Clips: How to Unbox Items to Use in Second Life -- A Common User Interface Confusion Among New SL Shoppers

Here's NWN video correspondent Cassie Middles with a helpful and very necessary tutorial for unboxing items in Second Life. It's necessary, because even though fashion and virtual shopping is essential to the Second Life economy, Linden Lab has allowed its user interface for owning and using items to remain incredibly counter-intuitive and user-unfriendly. Which is not only hurting the economy, it's frustrating newer users. As Cassie points out, many bad reviews in the SL Marketplace are actually about this confusion with the user interface:  

 

Cassie's Clips: How to Reduce Lag & Griefing in Crowded Second Life Spaces -- By Making Avatars Disappear

For your upcoming weekend events, here's some tips from NWN correspondent Cassie Middles on improving your Second Life experience in crowded spaces -- just make the crowd disappear from your view. 

Seriously: "There's several ways to de-render avatars in Second Life," as she explains, "from right-clicking individuals next to you, to using the people tab, and even just using the 'show friends only' tab. If you ever de-render and want to see someone later, make sure to only click right click, de-render temporarily." Her own preference: "I always go for 'show friends only.' it will also de-render anyone coming into your sim as well, so that I don't have to keep de-rendering new traffic every few minutes."

Watch Cassie do that above, while standing, stressed out, in the middle of a rude and raucous safe hub. (More like unsafe hub.)

Cassie's Clips: Exploring the "Absolutely Stunning" Second Life Recreation of The Upside Down from Stranger Things

Monday's post about the Stranger Things fan community build in Second Life was so popular, I sent NWN correspondent Cassie Middles to explore in person, and file her report to YouTube. Is it laggy? Is it worth the L$1000 group admission fee? Is it as detailed as it seems to be? Watch and find out from Cassie. (And don't miss the moment where she wanders into Joyce's house only to find a couple, um, already there.)

Here's the top takeaway from Cassie:

Cassie's Clips: Previewing Genus, a New Mesh Head Now in Beta But Already Among the Best in Second Life

NWN style video correspondent Cassie Middles previews Genus, a new mesh head now in beta from Anna Ivanova, available in her in-world store (direct teleport here). Cassie says it's among the very best heads available in Second Life:

"While I still prefer Lelutka Forever," as she puts it, "I do think Genus is onto something with the different pupil sizes, the pores and shines on the skin, and how closely shaped it is to the skeleton versus the other heads. I prefer Lelutka for how clean their HUD looks, how their animations and posers work, and how popular it is -- which makes finding skins and makeups much easier. 

 

In a four-part series of videos (see the part 2 below, the rest on her channel), Cassie goes into detail on Genus, trying out the HUD first, making the shape, then giving some final thoughts and expectations. She also tries out the Lelutka Axis HUD to see if it's compatible with Genus:

Cassie's Clips: How to Become a Secod Life YouTube Vlogger

YouTube has attracted a growing number of Second Life creators who make a decent side hustle vlogging about SL content and activities (the queen likely being Strawberry Singh with 13,000 subscribers). NWN YouTube correspondent Cassie Middles (who has a respectable following of her own) lays out some of her own personal tips for becoming an SL vlogger of substance and style:

"Find your original style, what makes you you and why you vlog.

"Remember, what we do in SL should always be fun, don't ever do things that stress you out or make it feel only like work.

"Get your basics if you can afford it: computer, editor, camera, and ways to make your graphics your best friend in SL.

"Depth of Field and Viewpoint also super help out with your vlogging, making you the sole focus when you want the video to just be focused on you."

Speaking of the last two points, catch Cassie's SL Hacks for technical tips:

Cassie's Clips: Unboxing the New Builder's Box of Beautiful SL Housewares

For your weekend viewing pleasure, here's NWN YouTube correspondent Cassie Middles unboxing the latest Builder's Box from the subscription service.

"It's a HUD-based unboxing event that gives 12 top store items a month," she explains for the uninitiated. "Subscription boxes are popular in SL as well as RL. It started with Luxe box and grew from there to all different types. Builder's Box focuses on buildings, skyboxes, houses, and decor." This new one is selling for L$3000 (i.e. about $12 USD), but that's actually a bargain: "I would've paid about L$7000-8000 for all these if I bought them individually." And as you can tell from the video, where she pronounces the set "gorgeous", it's money well-spent.

It's notable how important subscription boxes have become to the SL economy in recent years. If you're interested in trying them out, Cassie gave me a selected list of the most popular