I was emailed by someone asking if he could link to this blog, and whether I'd link to his.
Well... it's not at all SL related, I have to wonder how many people interested in his blog (about places to see in Mexico) would really be interested in my ramblings, and from the extraordinary list of links on his blog, perhaps I should have replied "I bet you say that to all the blogs," but Mexico Vacation Travel Trip Tips has such lovely photos and interesting articles about places in Mexico that I couldn't resist.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Friday, January 09, 2009
Kali Isle
I saw a mention of photography at Kali Isle, and had to go see.
I found a lovely sim with excellent landscaping and architecture and things to buy... and also found a "photo garden" populated with "photospheres" (OK, really hemispheres, but who's counting?) in which one can pose and modify various things, e.g. the background.
I had to try it out... and when I saw one with a dance pole, I succumbed to temptation. I am not a dancer, but as an RL klutz, the way one can gracefully dance just by "sitting on" a poseball is very appealing.
Yes, I should have worn something contrasting with the background or changed the background to contrast with the black dress, but the "flame" background was so lovely...
I suspect that Kali Isle is famous in SL; there are 32 flickr photos matching "Kali Isle". But if you haven't been there, do check it out. (And donate, too.)
I found a lovely sim with excellent landscaping and architecture and things to buy... and also found a "photo garden" populated with "photospheres" (OK, really hemispheres, but who's counting?) in which one can pose and modify various things, e.g. the background.
I had to try it out... and when I saw one with a dance pole, I succumbed to temptation. I am not a dancer, but as an RL klutz, the way one can gracefully dance just by "sitting on" a poseball is very appealing.
Yes, I should have worn something contrasting with the background or changed the background to contrast with the black dress, but the "flame" background was so lovely...
I suspect that Kali Isle is famous in SL; there are 32 flickr photos matching "Kali Isle". But if you haven't been there, do check it out. (And donate, too.)
What a relief...
So... the new RC client was released the other day, and I had to upgrade to it. I signed back on... and found SL running like molasses at Point Barrow.
Signed off and back on. Same thing. Teleported. Same thing. 3.2 frames per second. I gave up in disgust and went about my business.
Thank goodness it must have been some problem with servers or communications. When I signed on later, things were back to normal.
Whew!
Signed off and back on. Same thing. Teleported. Same thing. 3.2 frames per second. I gave up in disgust and went about my business.
Thank goodness it must have been some problem with servers or communications. When I signed on later, things were back to normal.
Whew!
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Whoa!
You must see the magnificent photo in this entry in Shoshana Epsilon's blog.
Now, to show the difference between the really good SL photographers and putterers: I stumbled across similar lighting once while wandering around an island and happening across a very bright flame. My first thought wasn't to take advantage of it, but to pull out a face light--but it didn't work! That error in SL was nudging me towards a better photo, but I didn't listen, and didn't adapt and crop to put the lighting to best use.
So, this is a very good lesson for me, and I will learn from it and do better.
Now, to show the difference between the really good SL photographers and putterers: I stumbled across similar lighting once while wandering around an island and happening across a very bright flame. My first thought wasn't to take advantage of it, but to pull out a face light--but it didn't work! That error in SL was nudging me towards a better photo, but I didn't listen, and didn't adapt and crop to put the lighting to best use.
So, this is a very good lesson for me, and I will learn from it and do better.
Return to ElvenDEEP
I couldn't resist TIGGS Beaumont's gracious invitation to explore ElvenDEEP further, so I went back to explore underwater this time, and it was a delight.
I wasn't really dressed to go underwater, but I took the plunge anyway; in SL you needn't worry about breathing, and your clothes never get wet. After walking through the rapids, there I was. The fish are gorgeous:
...and you can swim past other amazing things as well, like this giant oyster:
I will definitely be back to see what else awaits. Thank you so much, TIGGS Beaumont, and thank you as well to Bear Fangio, the creator of the wonder that is ElvenDEEP.
I wasn't really dressed to go underwater, but I took the plunge anyway; in SL you needn't worry about breathing, and your clothes never get wet. After walking through the rapids, there I was. The fish are gorgeous:
...and you can swim past other amazing things as well, like this giant oyster:
I will definitely be back to see what else awaits. Thank you so much, TIGGS Beaumont, and thank you as well to Bear Fangio, the creator of the wonder that is ElvenDEEP.
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
How much for a nice SL computer, revisited
Out upon it! I have waited three whole months together...
Well, almost three months, and my apologies to Sir John Suckling. (Yes, I know I blew the scansion.) But still, it's a good time to look at the "nice SL computer" again.
It's January, and AMD has come out with the Phenom II CPUs, so older CPUs have probably gone down in price. Maybe other components have as well.
You'll recall that we wound up with a price (ignoring shipping charges) of about $514. I saved the wish list from last time... but a straight then vs. now price comparison was impossible, because they don't sell the motherboard or graphics card any more.
OTOH, the RAM is now $40 instead of $60, and let's say we bite the bullet and go with a Micro ATX case and power supply for $100 rather than the separate components that added up to $170. That gives us $90 to play with before we get back to the $514 price. Not shabby, eh?...
But wait! A Jetway JXBLUE-N78V motherboard gets a good review save for the positioning of a heatsink relative to the PCIe 1x slot, and it's $63 versus the $85 we were looking at before, so now the difference is $112.
So... we could move up to a 9800 GT graphics card, perhaps. The XFG PVT98GYDLU is $130 (ignoring a mail-in rebate) versus the $100 9600 GT we looked at before, but that leaves us $80 to decide what to do with... as it stands we're around $430 rather than $514, with better graphics.
(Reviews say it's a large card, so it might not work in a Micro ATX case. If this were a more serious exercise, we'd confirm the board length and compare with what the case can handle.)
You could go with a Phenom 8750 2.4 GHz triple-core CPU for $120... that eats most of the $80 difference ($60 of it), but the added core and added cache should do nicely--if nothing else, it will let you go do something else while you're on the grid.
Sigh. Too bad I can't justify a new computer after less than a year.
Well, almost three months, and my apologies to Sir John Suckling. (Yes, I know I blew the scansion.) But still, it's a good time to look at the "nice SL computer" again.
It's January, and AMD has come out with the Phenom II CPUs, so older CPUs have probably gone down in price. Maybe other components have as well.
You'll recall that we wound up with a price (ignoring shipping charges) of about $514. I saved the wish list from last time... but a straight then vs. now price comparison was impossible, because they don't sell the motherboard or graphics card any more.
OTOH, the RAM is now $40 instead of $60, and let's say we bite the bullet and go with a Micro ATX case and power supply for $100 rather than the separate components that added up to $170. That gives us $90 to play with before we get back to the $514 price. Not shabby, eh?...
But wait! A Jetway JXBLUE-N78V motherboard gets a good review save for the positioning of a heatsink relative to the PCIe 1x slot, and it's $63 versus the $85 we were looking at before, so now the difference is $112.
So... we could move up to a 9800 GT graphics card, perhaps. The XFG PVT98GYDLU is $130 (ignoring a mail-in rebate) versus the $100 9600 GT we looked at before, but that leaves us $80 to decide what to do with... as it stands we're around $430 rather than $514, with better graphics.
(Reviews say it's a large card, so it might not work in a Micro ATX case. If this were a more serious exercise, we'd confirm the board length and compare with what the case can handle.)
You could go with a Phenom 8750 2.4 GHz triple-core CPU for $120... that eats most of the $80 difference ($60 of it), but the added core and added cache should do nicely--if nothing else, it will let you go do something else while you're on the grid.
Sigh. Too bad I can't justify a new computer after less than a year.
Monday, January 05, 2009
ElvenDEEP
While we're talking about beautiful things and places, I should mention ElvenDEEP. (Many thanks to Susyn Stenvaag for letting me know about it.)
The part of ElvenDEEP that I explored has an eerie glow in the sky, almost pointillist.
Elsewhere a pink tinge seems to be everywhere:
Giant flowers decorate the landscape:
I'll be back to explore further.
The part of ElvenDEEP that I explored has an eerie glow in the sky, almost pointillist.
Elsewhere a pink tinge seems to be everywhere:
Giant flowers decorate the landscape:
I'll be back to explore further.
a last-minute trip to Winterfaire
I seem to catch things at the last minute. That's how it went with the Garden of NPIRL Delights, and the other day I caught Winterfaire while I still could.
I paid the price of tardiness; in no way could I have seen it all. That said, I saw some wondrous things, like this snowscape with skaters and a striking aurora borealis:
Even places that weren't designed for the event were made even more lovely by the snow. The Second Skin Labs building is beautifully lit without being garish:
So... someday I will visit one of the many gorgeous sites in SL well before its last day. I hope you had the chance to explore Winterfaire thoroughly.
I paid the price of tardiness; in no way could I have seen it all. That said, I saw some wondrous things, like this snowscape with skaters and a striking aurora borealis:
Even places that weren't designed for the event were made even more lovely by the snow. The Second Skin Labs building is beautifully lit without being garish:
So... someday I will visit one of the many gorgeous sites in SL well before its last day. I hope you had the chance to explore Winterfaire thoroughly.
Santa Baby...
Christmas has come and gone, but since I was away from the grid for most of the week including Christmas, and since he was still to be found, it seemed only right to get a head start on 2009. Santa was as jolly as could be expected after so much work, but was not sure he could get me VWR-1258 for next year.
Saturday, January 03, 2009
Gwyneth Llewelyn on OpenSim
It would probably save a lot of typing to just characterize Gwyn's Home as must-read, rather than individual entries. :)
Seriously, though, do read "OpenSimulator: the Choice for 2010". It's a comparison of the modular OpenSim design and the options that have been created for it with what we can infer about LL's server code from the glacial slowness with which changes occur and the way fixes to one bug seem to cause others, predicting that by 2010, OpenSim will be serious competition to LL. That discussion is combined with an honest assessment of the current state of OpenSim and the grids running it today.
A while back I quoted Fred Brooks's classic The Mythical Man-Month: "Plan to throw one away. You will anyhow. The only question is whether you will deliver the throwaway to your customers." Perhaps SL is the throwaway and OpenSim the way things will ultimately go. Gwyneth suggests in closing that LL adopt OpenSim and concentrate on adding value to it, and I hope they follow her suggestion.
Seriously, though, do read "OpenSimulator: the Choice for 2010". It's a comparison of the modular OpenSim design and the options that have been created for it with what we can infer about LL's server code from the glacial slowness with which changes occur and the way fixes to one bug seem to cause others, predicting that by 2010, OpenSim will be serious competition to LL. That discussion is combined with an honest assessment of the current state of OpenSim and the grids running it today.
A while back I quoted Fred Brooks's classic The Mythical Man-Month: "Plan to throw one away. You will anyhow. The only question is whether you will deliver the throwaway to your customers." Perhaps SL is the throwaway and OpenSim the way things will ultimately go. Gwyneth suggests in closing that LL adopt OpenSim and concentrate on adding value to it, and I hope they follow her suggestion.
Thursday, January 01, 2009
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
2009 is a little late...
There's a leap second this year, so 2009 will arrive a second later than it otherwise would. If you listen to WWV in fifty-three minutes as I type, you'll hear sixty-one clicks between minute beeps.
May 2009 be a better year for us all in both First and Second Life.
May 2009 be a better year for us all in both First and Second Life.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Oops...
OK, so I went to the SL Wiki to find out how to build the SL client, and decided to use subversion to retrieve the code. Ah, there's the command, and I fill in which version I want.
Which version do I want? Well, I hope I'll be able to try out the version with shadows, but for now, I want the current version. I looked at the page explaining about the source branches... oh, OK. I want the current release version, so I typed the command and asked for release... yeah, that's the ticket!
Good thing I haven't used much of my 500 GB hard drive. :)
(Actually, it's not that bad; just a couple of gigabytes of source, and I will be pruning a bunch.)
Which version do I want? Well, I hope I'll be able to try out the version with shadows, but for now, I want the current version. I looked at the page explaining about the source branches... oh, OK. I want the current release version, so I typed the command and asked for release... yeah, that's the ticket!
Good thing I haven't used much of my 500 GB hard drive. :)
(Actually, it's not that bad; just a couple of gigabytes of source, and I will be pruning a bunch.)
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Now how much would you pay?
Apparently PCI Express 2.0 graphics cards will work in PCI Express 1.0 slots--though they won't have the added bandwidth to play with.
So, I'm thinking of getting a better graphics card... but I'm a bit astonished by the kind of power supply the high end stuff wants (not even getting to the question of SLI!). I thus have to ask myself: what do I think is good enough? After all, I made a point of getting a CPU with low power consumption. I don't want to run my electricity bill up for a few extra fps. (Have you seen those kilowatt and above power supplies? OMG!)
I hope that graphics card companies are looking towards efficiency rather than just throwing more hardware at the problem--not just so I can run SL nicely on a netbook, but so I can get good performance without using my graphics cards to heat the house.
So, I'm thinking of getting a better graphics card... but I'm a bit astonished by the kind of power supply the high end stuff wants (not even getting to the question of SLI!). I thus have to ask myself: what do I think is good enough? After all, I made a point of getting a CPU with low power consumption. I don't want to run my electricity bill up for a few extra fps. (Have you seen those kilowatt and above power supplies? OMG!)
I hope that graphics card companies are looking towards efficiency rather than just throwing more hardware at the problem--not just so I can run SL nicely on a netbook, but so I can get good performance without using my graphics cards to heat the house.
Speaking of motivation...
From the SLDev mailing list:
Time to read up on how to compile the client. Of course, it's just about impossible to guarantee identical conditions--were similar numbers of users on? Did the poster go to the same place, under similar conditions?--but it's worth a try.I had 3 fps with Linden Labs 32-bit client for linux.
I then got the source code and compiled it for 64-bit,
and got 30 fps, on the same hardware...
Friday, December 26, 2008
Yet another request to consider voting for a JIRA entry
The entry? VWR-5203, "Flexible Sculpted Prims". You can guess why it interests me... hair, of course. :)
Seriously: right now there's a patch to the client to support them, but because of how things are implemented, it's not very efficient, so some work is needed before flexible sculpted prims can be made official.
It already has 570 votes as I type this, but is still, alas, unassigned. I hope you will consider voting for it. (And while you're at it, don't forget VWR-1258.)
Seriously: right now there's a patch to the client to support them, but because of how things are implemented, it's not very efficient, so some work is needed before flexible sculpted prims can be made official.
It already has 570 votes as I type this, but is still, alas, unassigned. I hope you will consider voting for it. (And while you're at it, don't forget VWR-1258.)
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Best wishes to all
To all who celebrate Christmas, a merry and joyous Christmas.
We're part of the way through The Holiday Transliterated as Hanukah/Chanukah/Hanukkah/etc.; I'd have pasted in the Hebrew, but Firefox's text entry obligingly switches to a mode appropriate for Hebrew when I do. :) While I don't celebrate it, I find the story of the revolt against the imposition of a religion very inspiring.
We're part of the way through The Holiday Transliterated as Hanukah/Chanukah/Hanukkah/etc.; I'd have pasted in the Hebrew, but Firefox's text entry obligingly switches to a mode appropriate for Hebrew when I do. :) While I don't celebrate it, I find the story of the revolt against the imposition of a religion very inspiring.
must-read post, paper on analysis of the grid
Dusan Writer has posted a very good summary of a paper that analyzes the behavior of people in SL and makes suggestions for performance improvements. Read Writer's post first, and then the paper if you want the full story. I hope that the folks at LL have read the paper and are looking into implementing the suggestions.
more amazing work from kalosss Gausman
kalosss Gausman makes many amazing things in SL. For example, he had a hand in the Museum of Amazing Illusions.
He's now turned his hand to creating a giant avatar. It's not ready just yet, but I am amazed by what I've seen so far, and very much looking forward to seeing it when it is done!
He's now turned his hand to creating a giant avatar. It's not ready just yet, but I am amazed by what I've seen so far, and very much looking forward to seeing it when it is done!
Monday, December 22, 2008
Not to be missed: gorgeous photos from Cheyenne and Sweetie
Cheyenne and Sweetie took a trip to Forest Feast, an amazing region that I will definitely visit when I can. The results: breathtaking photos, as you can see here, here, and here.
It's still more inspiration.
It's still more inspiration.
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