New World Notes

Cajsa's Friday Fashion Blog Pick: Stylish SL Shopping Ideas from Amuloretta

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and style

Self-described fledgling blogger Amu Loretta has 915 posts in her fully-fledged blog Look of the Day in Second Life (LOTDiSL). I like how well her blog pictures capture a slice-of-life moment. For example, this picture from post number 913, shows a woman waiting for a subway. She’s relaxed, confident, and takes no prisoners. Her coat is open and relaxed and she’s chill. I love her confidence and that slouching coat with the hands in the pocket is a real find.

Why Black Dragon's In-Viewer Poser is Better Than Any HUD for Taking SL Avatar Photos

This is a fun livestream of beloved SL YouTuber Cassie posing her avatar through Black Dragon, the third party Second Life viewer with a cult following for its high end graphics features. Among those features is what Cassie is showing here -- an ability to pose and photograph your avatar with an extremely high degree of complexity. The end result is only viewable (and photographable) by the end user, but seeing as most SL fashion shoots are already a solo avatar affair, that's a minor consideration. (It can also be used for couple poses if you launch it in a couple animation -- though again, only viewable/photographable by the individual user.)

Black Dragon creator NiranV tells me his poser enables adjustments over 300 avatar points with 1000 adjustment options each. His motivation for creating such a complex viewer-only poser? As he puts it to me in his usual blunt way:

"Get rid of people selling shitty, overpriced HUDs to people to pose themselves."

And then explains what he means by that:

Cajsa's Friday Fashion Foto Choice: Male Style Blogger MattNight84

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and style

I love SL’s fashion blogs. I appreciate the ones that provide information and describe the clothing, but I also love the ones that are just photos -- like this one from MattNight84.

Matt blogs men’s fashion and his blog is LGBTQ friendly, not just Frankenfurter friendly. The blog post is called Insomnia and is a serious fashion photo, but it also reminded me of something that the true star of Rocky Horror Picture Show might wear. It features a single photo with a small song lyric that suits the photo. In this case, from “Insomnia” by Caroline Polachek: 

Dreams of dried fields

That once were green

Burnt by someone just like me

The credits include all items, but I wanted to highlight what might be on Frankenfurter’s shopping list. 

• Harness and Strap Briefs:  Wilder Set by Matova
• Ripped Fishnet Tights by Bossie
• Kinky Boots by L’Emporio & PL

Next up, a great double photo from Matt!

The Most Heroic Second Life Fashionista in the Virtual World

Watch "Insilico Defender": Cool & Clever Mix of Virtual Fashion Show, Cyberpunk Machinima

"Insilico Defender" cleverly combines two things Second Life is abundant with -- cyberpunk settings and shopping -- into a unlikely but cool and flashy action short. The fashion and houseware items are from the annual equal10 event.

"I wanted to make something special for Equal10," its creator and co-star, Novata, tells me. "This round we got cool designs by several creators, most of them inspired by Japanese style and cosplay (like the outfit I'm wearing from Ghoul). So, I wanted to make a fight scene like in Kill Bill from Quentin Tarantino." 

Mild spoiler after the break, so be sure to watch before proceeding:

Cassie's Clips: Cutie Collective's Holiday Ho Ho Hunt for SL Bargains -- And Bringing Back Mainstore Events!

NWN Cassie Middles has a peek at the Cutie Collective's new holiday-themed hunt for bargain shoppers in search of great content -- and as she puts it, aims to help reverse a worrying trend in the Second Life economy:

"Ho Ho Hunt is an amazing hunt to the grid that is bringing events back to the mainstores. There's been a slight epidemic lately where stores really only make profit at major events, making it hard for their other products to be known, making creators constantly only work on deadlines for projects, and feel pressure. I'd love to see more hunts like this that might help people relax, help new people discover stores, including the fact that new SLers can find cheaper items to make their avatars look updated and wonderful."

Click here to directly teleport, and look for this storefront to get started:

Join SL's Peace on Earth Hunt for Globes, Free Ample Avi Avatars

Starting tomorrow, NWN partner Ample Avi is participating in the Peace on Earth Hunt (POE 11 for short, since it's now in its eleventh year running), billed as the longest-running grid-wide hunt in Second Life. (Ample Avi has participated in the POE Hunt every year since its beginning.)

"This is a L$0 hunt, and hunters will be looking for a small globe of the Earth," Ample's Xme Xme tells me. "There are no decoy globes, and designers are required to hide their globes within a reasonable distance of the landing point.  A hint for hunters is provided at the landing point." 

For the Hunt, Ample is also offering a Winter-themed gift in partnership  with Junior Avi, for creating family scenes like this one:"Bringing the Tree Home". The avatars depicted here are available for free via these SLurls:

• Go here for the Junior Avi. 
• Go here for Ample Avi.

Looks like much fun for hunt fans. This one runs from December 1st to December 31. More about POE 11 on the official site.

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: 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!

Second Life's Open-Ended User Interface as an MMO is So Complicated, Mastering the UI is How to Level Up

Pictured: Cassie demonstrating Lelutka's Axis HUD for customizing highly detailed SL Avatar expressions

Great conversation about the difficulty of customizing Second Life avatars, which now include countless user-made systems (like the one above) built on top of the default system, with reader "Scott" making this point:

While I don't disagree that creating a beautiful avi can be complex and difficult for new users, I don't agree with the implication this is a problem for Second Life. I remember the difficulties and frustrations of learning how some of this works. I still don't understand all of it, but it was (and still is) enjoyable to learn. I get a sense of accomplishment. The subtleties of second life avi construction become an "inside joke" with others who have had the same struggles. Not only do you get a sense of accomplishment, but you get the feeling of becoming a member of the "club" who have leveled-up and made a kick-ass avi.

This is very true -- while Second Life is not a traditional MMO, the very complexity of its user-experience has turned avatar customization into a kind of leveling mechanic. (Which is not too different from many traditional MMOs where you can immediately identify veteran players by the special details and features of their avatar.)

Seen this way, buying customization options from other users becomes a short-cut for leveling up: