New World Notes

New World Tableau: Renmiri And Hienrichs At Home

This is the Second Life home of Renmiri Writer and bLaZe Hienrichs.  (Hienrichs built it and also took the photo.)  If it looks vaguely familiar, that probably means you're a Final Fantasy fan-- it was inspired, Renmiri tells me, by Ivalice, FFXII's world of floating isles.  It's also private, their abode from content creation and community management. "We have a somewhat popular sim," Renmiri explains, "themed after Final Fantasy X located at FairChang Zanarkand where we get many visitors and zero privacy. [Direct SLURL teleport to Zanarkand at this link.] So we decided to make our home far away from there, a place to relax and forget the daily grind of building a sim."

See the full Tableau series here.  Want to send me a Tableau of your own?  Submission guidelines after the break.

New World Tableau: Isolde Flamand in Syncretia

"This photo was taken in Alpha Auer's sim Syncretia," Isolde Flamand tells me. "It's a fantastic place that I first found out about from Bettina Tizzy's blog Not Possible in RL.  I took this photo of the jellyfish close to where one teleports in-- under the water in the big square pool." (Direct SLURL teleport to Syncretia at this link.) "I can't imagine how she gets the textures to look so real--in fact someone asked me why I was showing it, as it clearly wasn't taken in Second Life!  All I did to this particular shot was crop--it's all SL!"

See the full Tableau series here.  Send me a Tableau of your own!  Submission guidelines after the break.

New World Tableau: Opensource Obscure At Tubular Gallery

Obscure presents this spectacular, airborne self-portrait in the equally awesome Tubular Gallery of elros Tuominen.  (Direct SLURL teleport at this link.)  See more of Obscure's imagery on his Flickr stream; and see the full Tableau series here.  Submission guidelines for your own Tableau after the break.

New World Tableau: Negko Devinna in Kenroku

"One week without New World Tableau," Negko notes, then wonders, "Has creativity disappeared with Philip Rosedale?"  I saw Philip yesterday in New York, so that can't be the case.  The fact is, my collection of Tableau submissions is running dry.  Please send me more!  Fortunately, Negko supplies his query with a submission of his own, in Kenroku garden:  "This place is just beauty. Textures, buildings, terraforming, have been designed with a strong effort for balance and harmony. To me, it is very close to my fantasy of the traditional Japanese garden."  My wanderings in Kenroku, which boasts trees that change with Japan's real life seasons, is here.  I wanted to try a 'night' shot and then work on light to increase the eye focus on the character of this picture. So light, shadows, and blur depth effects have all been post-produced on Photoshop.  This photo has not been made with a 'Windlight generation' client but with an older one... note that no diffuse glow has been used on this picture."

See the full Tableau series here; submission guidelines after the break.

New World Tableau: Raul Crimson's Private Galaxy

Raul keeps a little solar system in his backyard, and it's where he goes to find his center and clear his head.  "I built that on my home in SL and is not open to the public," he explains. "I use it as a space to relax and meditate."  He did make this gorgeous machinima post card with an informal assist from David Bowie and a nod to Stanley Kubrick.  And while his particular star system is an exclusive one, you can buy one of your own: "The 'Solar System' itself is built by Gregory Engebretsen, he sells it (I found it in OnRez). The astronaut outfit is a freebie by Nicky Ree (you can find it at her store in Deco sim)."  To make the planets orbit, says Raul, "Gregory uses a rotation texture script in each planet, the planets and the sun are linked, so he uses an object rotation script for all together. Also he is using some particle effects for the sun and for a couple of comets."

See the full Tableau series here; submission guidelines after the break.

New World Tableau: Reitveld's Twilight Town

Many gamers will instantly recognize this clock tower, created by Miles05 Reitveld as part of a loving tribute to a classic Squaresoft title. "Just like how Ramsus Wake made a Midgar region for Final Fantasy fans in SL," he tells me. "I've decided to also make one for the Kingdom Hearts fans.  However, I hope to make this more of a closer community rather than strictly a role playing hangout."  Here's the site to his Twilight Town project, with a direct SLURL teleport about halfway down the page.

See the full Tableau series here; submission guidelines after the break.

New World Tableau: The Twin Paths of Cienega Soon

Recently the folks with the MMO social network Koinup asked me to select my favorite entry from their "Second Life Exotic Contest", and after a difficult but enjoyable search-- look at all the great images I had to choose from here-- my heart landed on this sun-dappled landscape.  "Twin Paths" is by Cienega Soon, borne from her own search for a place in Second Life "without colorful obstructions of floating For Sale boxes in the air," she tells me. "I stumbled on Nikon Island... and its possibilities for a great landscape and was determined to capture its beauty."  (Direct SLURL teleport to Nikon at this link.) The image merge two photos of the bridge, which Cienaga took, "then flipped one, bringing the middle to a place I could paint in."

New World Tableau: AM Radio In The Faraway, by Isolde

Isolde Flamand created this breathtaking portrait of AM Radio standing in his masterwork, the lifegiving wheatfields of The Faraway.  (Direct SLURL to The Faraway in this link.)  "I loved the way that his breath steams in the early morning of the wheatfield and the dragonfly rests delicately on his chest," says Isolde, who lightly enhanced the image with GIMP.  While we're on the topic of Mr. Radio's rich and luminous spaces, do note that he recently created a temporary sim-wide version of The Faraway called The Refuge and the Prospect.  It's gone now, but Amalthea Blanc has a fitting Flickr tribute set here.

See the full Tableau series here; submission guidelines after the break.

New World Tableau: Truthseeker Young in Extropia

"That's me, Truthseeker Young, floating blissfully in the tank."  Having announced that, Mr. Young goes on to tell me how he took this photo in WindLight, outside his home in Extropia (direct SLURL teleport at this link).  "Total cheesey scif-fi book-cover bizness," he acknowledges, "but I love the colors and jumbled composition. There's something both peaceful and ominous about it... the tank's by Spider Carnot, and is an absolute must-have for sci-fi or cyberpunk-type setups. I mean LOOK at it!  How classic is that? I just use it to sleep out under the stars at night, though I'm not really into role playing. The UFO-looking thing behind it is my house, which I built myself.  And my avatar?  Well, that's just my avatar...it's not based on anything directly, but inspiration really struck after reading Charles Stross' Accelerando. I've got no real interest in importing any of my real life caste-attributes into SL (short of a basic human body-plan), and so I've pulled together one that most appropriately transmits the 'me-vibe' into our beloved consensual hallucination." 

Details for submitting your own Tableau after the break.

New World Tableau: Scarett Niven in Second Life's Garden

"Located in a secluded bubble on the grounds of the Museum," Scarlett tells me, "it's a beautiful place to go to reflect alone or with that special someone." (Direct SLURL teleport at this link.)   "The inspiration of this shot was my outfit. I wanted bright colors and a fairytale place with lots of flowers to compliment it."  She enhanced the image in Photoshop.