Friday, September 9, 2011
Written 8 September, 2011
40% Pregnant
And they say close counts only with horseshoes and hand grenades!
Last weekend Sweetie and I found ourselves at the above stop on the Steam Hunt. Oooh, horses!
As we searched for the little bronze gear that would give us a prize we would doubtless throw away and direct us to the next stop, we passed a corral full of breedable horses.
One, according to its hover text, was 40% pregnant!
OMG!
I had no idea it WORKED like that!
The horse in question was winking in and out of vision, so I lassoed it with the Edit tool:
One wonders how that 40% things works!
If you happen to find yourself at the place pictured at the top of this blogpost, know there are two gears on the property. One is along the back wall just past the corral. The other is near the sign at bottom center of the photo below:
40% Pregnant
And they say close counts only with horseshoes and hand grenades!
Last weekend Sweetie and I found ourselves at the above stop on the Steam Hunt. Oooh, horses!
As we searched for the little bronze gear that would give us a prize we would doubtless throw away and direct us to the next stop, we passed a corral full of breedable horses.
One, according to its hover text, was 40% pregnant!
OMG!
I had no idea it WORKED like that!
The horse in question was winking in and out of vision, so I lassoed it with the Edit tool:
One wonders how that 40% things works!
If you happen to find yourself at the place pictured at the top of this blogpost, know there are two gears on the property. One is along the back wall just past the corral. The other is near the sign at bottom center of the photo below:
Thursday, September 8, 2011
The following is a repost of a comment Sweetie made on my piece about Second Life skins.
Written 8 September, 2011
Skin Drama!
One thing I notice about many of the skins, even the one that are drawn, is stage makeup. I find the photosourced skins repellent and I see very few painted photosourced skins that disguise the joined photo sections well enough to suit me. I eschew photosourced clothing and building textures for the same reason.
What bothers me more than photosourced skins (as opposed to painted/drawn skins) is that on so many skins the shading is made for overexposed light sources.
It isn't that the eye make up is heavy or the lips are dark. I'm talking about the contouring of the skin being overwrought like the false shadows and highlights you use to overemphasize a character's features on stage.
The highlighting on the cheekbones are a full shade lighter than the skin and the hollows of the cheekbones a full shade darker. The shading is mirrored in the highlight and shadows on the breasts, the abs, the bottom, and even areas like the thighs and knees.
I look at these young avatars and the contouring on their skins is so heavy it is as if they're ready to step out center stage and play a character fifteen years older.
Why do they look so harsh to me? Because I live in an SL without windlight skies.
I know you're thinking "OMG, Sweetie, how can you deprive yourself of such beauty?!" But while you're thinking my frames per second are like 100 so i can Snicker-Snack with my vorpal Katana, a blur of speed, can relieve my enemies of their over-highlighted heads before they can finish that thought, my laptop will barely get me into Second Life. To the same ninja ends, I also don't wear a nuclear face light so my enemies can hunt me down from three sims away.
So to look beautiful to myself (and really, who else can be harder to impress?) I stick to the older skins that don't look as if they'd fit in a Houri's with Abs! review and I let my Katana give off all the highlights it wants.
Written 8 September, 2011
Skin Drama!
One thing I notice about many of the skins, even the one that are drawn, is stage makeup. I find the photosourced skins repellent and I see very few painted photosourced skins that disguise the joined photo sections well enough to suit me. I eschew photosourced clothing and building textures for the same reason.
What bothers me more than photosourced skins (as opposed to painted/drawn skins) is that on so many skins the shading is made for overexposed light sources.
It isn't that the eye make up is heavy or the lips are dark. I'm talking about the contouring of the skin being overwrought like the false shadows and highlights you use to overemphasize a character's features on stage.
The highlighting on the cheekbones are a full shade lighter than the skin and the hollows of the cheekbones a full shade darker. The shading is mirrored in the highlight and shadows on the breasts, the abs, the bottom, and even areas like the thighs and knees.
I look at these young avatars and the contouring on their skins is so heavy it is as if they're ready to step out center stage and play a character fifteen years older.
Why do they look so harsh to me? Because I live in an SL without windlight skies.
I know you're thinking "OMG, Sweetie, how can you deprive yourself of such beauty?!" But while you're thinking my frames per second are like 100 so i can Snicker-Snack with my vorpal Katana, a blur of speed, can relieve my enemies of their over-highlighted heads before they can finish that thought, my laptop will barely get me into Second Life. To the same ninja ends, I also don't wear a nuclear face light so my enemies can hunt me down from three sims away.
So to look beautiful to myself (and really, who else can be harder to impress?) I stick to the older skins that don't look as if they'd fit in a Houri's with Abs! review and I let my Katana give off all the highlights it wants.
Written 7 September, 2011
Steam Hunt 5
Prize hunts are huge in Second Life-- and fun, except when someone forgets to put out the prize as promised.
They all work pretty much the same. From a starting point you collect hints which hopefully lead you to prizes, and get directed to the next location. You do this until you reach the last post or tire of the effort. Then you go home and spend a week sorting out your suddenly disorganized and cluttered inventory.
Steam Hunt 5!
Five?
You mean we somehow missed the previous four?
Damn! How could that have happened?
Sweetie and I both like steampunk, so of all the possible hunts (and there are many), this one was for us. We spent our weekend together in Second Life searching for small bronze gears that, when purchased for $0L, gave us a steampunk-related prize and a landmark to the next stop on the tour.
We didn't get even nearly done because there are one hundred and ninety four frigging stations! 194!!!
The Steam Hunt runs throughout September, so best get started now.
To participate touch one of the Steam Hunt signs (they're all OVER the place) or head to the first stop here at Mieville Doyle and click the sign for a notecard. The small gear near the sign will give you your first clue.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Written 7 September, 2011
Uncanny Valley
The other day I told Sweetie I had read a remark in New World Notes.
"Imagine that!" she said. A remark!"
"Very funny," I said. "Hamlet raised the issue--"
"He raised an issue? Amazing!"
I ignored her, although that's not easy to do. "-- that we may see a revival of 3-D modeling of avatars."
"You mean back when they would scan someone's photo and make a horrid photorealistic face?" She shuddered.
"Exactly," I said. "I don't want my real life breasts in Second Life. Here I can have breasts that are more... perky."
Then Sweetie said, "Mesh will be very uncanny valley."
Uncanny Valley is the assertion that as a simulation approaches reality, it eventually reaches a point at which they become creepy.
Two examples of uncanny valley are the Frosty at Wendy's and just about anything on the menu at McDonalds. It's looks like food but isn't quite. Think about it. The Frosty looks like a milk shake, but then you taste that awful graininess (it's due to chipped ice).
A third example of uncanny valley is humanoid robots. Looking at some of them is like watching a train wreck-- mesmerizing, but horrifying. Like so:
Or how about this one?
Or this "Perfect Woman." You think? Or are the two guys who created her just girlfriendless geeks?
For me, the creepiest thing about this video isn't the robot itself but the pathos and rampant sexism of the creators and interviewers..
So imagine how it will be when those misshappen trolls who show up at infohubs will have entirely photoreal misshapen bodies. Or when your fantasy virtual lover has age spots on his or her arm.
Strangest virtual world I've ever known.
Uncanny Valley
The other day I told Sweetie I had read a remark in New World Notes.
"Imagine that!" she said. A remark!"
"Very funny," I said. "Hamlet raised the issue--"
"He raised an issue? Amazing!"
I ignored her, although that's not easy to do. "-- that we may see a revival of 3-D modeling of avatars."
"You mean back when they would scan someone's photo and make a horrid photorealistic face?" She shuddered.
"Exactly," I said. "I don't want my real life breasts in Second Life. Here I can have breasts that are more... perky."
Then Sweetie said, "Mesh will be very uncanny valley."
Uncanny Valley is the assertion that as a simulation approaches reality, it eventually reaches a point at which they become creepy.
Two examples of uncanny valley are the Frosty at Wendy's and just about anything on the menu at McDonalds. It's looks like food but isn't quite. Think about it. The Frosty looks like a milk shake, but then you taste that awful graininess (it's due to chipped ice).
A third example of uncanny valley is humanoid robots. Looking at some of them is like watching a train wreck-- mesmerizing, but horrifying. Like so:
Or how about this one?
Or this "Perfect Woman." You think? Or are the two guys who created her just girlfriendless geeks?
For me, the creepiest thing about this video isn't the robot itself but the pathos and rampant sexism of the creators and interviewers..
So imagine how it will be when those misshappen trolls who show up at infohubs will have entirely photoreal misshapen bodies. Or when your fantasy virtual lover has age spots on his or her arm.
Strangest virtual world I've ever known.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Written 1 September, 2011
Chey, Your Skin Sucks!
I bought my skin in October 2006 and have been happy with it. Its tone matches mine in real life, and it works well on my shape. It's the only skin I've ever used and I don't feel quite right when I'm out of it.
I've gotten lots of compliments about the skin, but not the other night from an avi at Help Island Public.
IM: I'm reading your profile and wonder why you don't invest in a good skin.
Me: I beg your pardon?
IM: I'm wondering why you don't have a skin like the other ladies. You know, from ____ or _____ or ____.
I cammed about and identified the individual who had IMed me. He was wearing a horrible photorealistic skin. I began to understand his issue.
This isn't his skin, but it's not dissimilar.
Me: Erm, some people prefer drawn skins to photosourced.
I sent him a link to my post on the subject.
Me: I prefer drawn skins.
At first I didn't think he understood or appreciated the difference. But at one point he said:
IM: Most skin makers now blend the two.
That's when I started looking at some of the avatars around HIP and saw he was right.
Most of the mens' skins, like the avi who had IMed me, were entirely photosourced:
Fully photosourced skins create-- at least for me-- an uncanny valley effect. They just don't look right in a drawn world.
Most of the womens' skins were indeed a blend of drawing and photosourcing. On one level they weren't as creepy as the mens', but on another they caused-- again, in me-- even more revulsion..
I most definitely did not want a lip area that looked like most I saw. For comparison's sake, I'll show mine first:
Note especially the philtrum, that little groove that runs from the base of the nose to the upper lip. By the way, scientists don't know why it's there-- although it seems to me the perfect channel for the conduction of tears and other fluids.
Now for some of the skins I saw at HIP and other places that night:
I don't object to the increased definition of the philtrum, or to the blended lips, but I most definitely don't want real-life lip reflections or a shiny, wet-looking area above my upper lip.
Admittedly, some skin-makers are more skilled than others. Here's a photo of a lovely avatar on a sign at Amorous Jewelry:
Here's a blow-up of the lip area:
I'm unclear whether the lips and philtrum are entirely drawn or are a sublime blend of drawing and photosourcing, but for some reason my uncanny valley instincts aren't triggered.
Skins are a matter of individual preference. Clearly, the guy who IMed me didn't like mine. I'm just trying to point out my own preferences here.
More on the uncanny valley in my next post.
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