Archive for the 'Photography' category
My diffuse glow story, thoughts and confessions
January 3, 2008 11:24 pmWelcome, dear follow SL photographers. Take a seat, lean back in the desk chair, release the drawing pens and touch the scroll button for a fantastic, amazing and for some probably even shocking ride through the world of diffuse glow with me as your guide. ;)
The Diffuse Glow Story Prologue
I sometimes wonder if the photoshop filter Diffuse Glow is something like nuclear weapons: some say they should be abolished, others say they should be used. But even the latter folks do not agree on where and when to use them. And even then, what at first glance seems like reasonable use would only be abuse.
Although I would not put capital punishment on the use of the Diffuse Glow filter and I know there are genuine, good reasons to apply it, only to often I have to shake my head when seeing this powerful tool, given to us by the Adobe Gods, abused. The same goes for it derivatives as there are for instance the Beautify filter. Although Bella thinks I’m an enfant terrible, I’m not going to name the offenders here or point to their respective Flickr streams, but I think you surely know who you are!
As it draws attention to a photograph and gives it a feel of ‘liveliness’ a normal Second Life snapshot does not have, the Diffuse Glow filter is mainly used to ’save’ photographs that are else lousy or average at max. Yet, one can find some major reasons for Diffuse Glow abuse:
- To make up for lack of composition.
- To make up for lack of content/idea/story in the photograph.
- To make up for lack of creativity.
- To make up for lack of time spend on getting the lighting in Second Life correct.
- Because one does not know better.
See where I’m going?
Yet I do not claim Diffuse Glow is evil, only that one needs to think on as to why one is using it and if it _really_ adds to the photograph, in stead of just making the snapshot look a bit more catchy.
So if I claim it can be used without ‘overdoing it’ and well thought trough, then why do I not prove it? Aha! Here it comes. Sit back, relax and feel free to mention so if you disagree. ;) When you read carefully you will find at least one alternative way to use diffuse glow.
My Story of Diffuse Glow
We all know I have a tricky skin: as it is white, major post-processing or boosting the contrast makes me loose all zits and detail. Yet this original snapshot does look like it could use some boost in ‘liveliness’.
Now, as Diffuse Glow is the answer to all boring photographs, let’s do that! At the same time this might help fix what bothers me most about this photograph, the harsh edges between my dark hair, my pale face and the red background.
Hmmm. Looks way better, but the harsh edges problem is not entirely solved yet. I think it needs some more diffuse glow and it will be _just perfect_.
Yeey! The harsh edges are gone. Does it not look awesome? And this way it takes up even less disk space! This photograph will surely catch attention now it’s glowing almost entirely. Let me quickly submit it to Flickr. A shame it does not contain any boobs. I’m sure I would get even more views with that. Ah well, the boobs - of course with diffuse glow on them - are for tomorrow.
No, maybe I was wrong. Maybe I just lost all detail in my light tones and did not make my photograph any better or interesting, but just more glowing. Let me try something else: I’ll return to my background layer and invert that. Yeah, that’s a great idea!
Now. Hmmm. What do I do next? I know! I know! Diffuse glow, the solution to all.
Strange, now all my details in the hair are gone. Let me undo this one and try again with a higher clear value and a lower diffuse glow one. Way better!
Maybe the inverted image is a bit over the top, I wonder what happens if I press ctrl+I again?
Oh my f*cking god! The harsh edges are gone. What I just did made the black hair blend in with my face texture and the background texture more. Geeh, that I did not expect. Diffuse Glow can be used for something else then just casting a white glow?! W00t!
Yet, the eyes are a bit dark. What if I return those to normal by using a mask? I must take care to leave a bit of the upper part of the eye dark, as that’s the natural shadow the eyes casts. Let me try…
Awesome! Who would have thought… . Yet, it does not catch the eye as much as a diffuse glow photograph and now I’m scared that people will not look at my photograph. Wait, I’ll just Diffuse Glow it to make it catchy again!
More catchy, indeed. Let me quickly submit this one. Or.. ow… wait… something just does not look natural. My face is way to white compared to my neck, and all my detail is gone again. Now, which retard stole my detail yet again?!!!
But yet… some glowing is natural, nah? But… yeah… got it! I am genius! What if I mask out the entire layer, and then use the white masking brush to only show highlights where they are supposed to be, as on my - cute - nose, my - sexy - lips and my - elegant - cheekbones?
Hmmm. Sweet! But some of the edges are a bit to hard, and do need some retouching. And oh, no! I know by now that Diffuse Glow does not _really_ solves that problem. My god, would I dare? Would I actually do some local spot correction which takes 5 times the time applying the Diffuse Glow filter? My Adobe Gods, I’m scared. I don’t know if I can handle this. Blur the edges manually?! Do some cloning? Manual labour?! No way! How the hell could that solve my problems and fix my self portrait?!!
Strange. Apparently manual spot correcting does solve a lot of the problems. Who on earth would have guessed that!
Moral of the Diffuse Glow Story
There’s more in life than just Diffuse Glow. There’s even more in Photoshop than this particular filter. Using Diffuse Glow once in a while is not a shame, but go easy on it, and know why you are actually using it and what you are trying to achieve - if that is not a quick and dirty cheap diffuse glow effect. Take the time to get your photograph exactly how you like it and for the love of the Adobe Gods, once in a while, dare to experiment - with something else but diffuse glow.
Diffuse Glow is like dry shampoo, it’s good once in a while if you are in a hurry, but at least a few times a week, you need a decent wash and need to lick every paw and ear that you have.
cordialement,
Vint
This ‘enfant terrible’ posting is dedicated to Bella March, who - despite what she thinks - keeps inspiring me, puts me with my two paws on solid meta-ground once in a while, is one of the best conversation and discussing partners I know off and has enough creativity in her virtual body - and thus probably also in her human - to be a great SL photographer with an eye for awesome scenes, a good scripter and an always interesting person. Even in her bad moods. With letting her go, Avatrait made probably the worst decision in their career and I’m glad I never accepted their invitation. Bella, meid, respect! ;)
Disclaimer: It could be that this Diffuse Glow Story is not totally truthful and that for some diffuse glow applications I knew from the beginning what they would result in. Surprise may be faked.
A Different Light exhibition opening night
December 6, 2007 9:42 pm
Yep. Yesterday was the the big the huge day: A Different Light - SLart at the Cannery’s 2nd Second Life photography exhibition - officially opened its doors. As usual, it was a stressy few days before that, and I want to thank all who’s helped and put up with me during that period. Ow, and the person that sedated me with whisky. :p
Things I regret:
- Merchandise & RL art book not finished in time. But we’re working on that!
- The opening party being held at Toxic and not on the Cannery gallery roof. Although I like the looks of the toxic ladies hanging out there - they make amazingly interesting models - I prefer the Cannery Roof as party location: being able to party and alt-camming the art at the same time is way nicer. Now the party ’split up’ to early, half the crowd went to see the art, the other half stayed to party.
- Focussing on the joy of snapshotting to much. That lead to me not participating in the conversation(s) all to much. But I did have some interesting ones, for instance about Little Venkman’s future art school career. But I did get some kick-ass photographs.
- That I decided to do the smart thing and went to bed on time. Missed most of the party, that means. :(
- Being ‘caught
red handedruthed’. But we’re working on that. I’ll force Sho to take down the photograph. Else I’ll post her Nipplegate one for the whole of virtual worlds to behold!!! Yes, Sho, that’s a treath!
Nah well, what would a SLart at the Cannery party be without a snapshotting Vint?
A Different Light at the Cannery goes Live Tonight!
December 5, 2007 1:02 pm
Jeey! What we’re all been waiting for - or at least, what I have been looking forward too - the SLart at the Cannery exhibition ‘A Different Light’ will open tonight!
At 4PM SLT - 1AM Belgian time that is - we’ll start partying admiring top notch Second Life photography SLart and the partying.
Featured artists for this show
Andromega Volare - Isolde Flamand - Kimberly Mirabeau - Marianne McCann - Mylena Aquitaine
SLartist that submitted work for Shadow Play, Childhood Dreams, Red Dawn and What’s your Angle?
Codebastard Redgrave, GM Nikolaidis, Jazss Saiman, Kim Dench, Loki Popinjay, Luna Zolnir, Raul Crimson, Ryker Beck, Shoshana Epsilon, Stephen Venkman, Vint Falken
See you there on the 5th of December? And on the 6th? And on the 7th? And on the 15th? ;)
WindLight Comparison Project
November 22, 2007 7:57 pm
Suspicion
I suspect WindLight behaves / looks seriously different depending on the graphics card / video card you use. Even when the WindLight settings are 100% the same.
How to proof this?
Comparison shots of the same locating taken with - fixed - noon, evening, midnight and dawn settings with different graphic cards.
Needed
- An object that makes sure that if an avatar stands on it, the object takes over camera controls so everybody shoots exactly the same scene. (I think I once saw Arahan Claveau use this?)
- XML settings for noon, evening, midnight and dawn.
- Residents willing to take those 4 shots and list their type of graphics card. You can upload them on Flickr or e-mail them to me. Let’s say we’ll shoot at 1600×1200px? And, guys and gals, no Photoshopping allowed! ;)
Who will help?
XML Files
Chinese volunteer for helping Vint with the XML WindLight files: Kailie Quinn (Katarina Malthus) (Vint can host them if needed?)
Fixed-view Object
Resident with coding capacities needed! (I found it a bit rude to appoint a Chinese Volunteer for this. :p) Probably found.
Guinea Pig Residents that will take the photographs
- Vint Falken - Radeon X600/X550 Series & GeForce 8600 GTS & whatever sits in the laptop. (Voluntary Volunteer)
- CodeBastard Redgrave (Chinese Volunteer)
- Bella March (Chinese Volunteer)
- Torley Linden (Chinese Volunteer)
- Shoshana Epsilon - GeForce 7950 GT nvidea (Chinese Volunteer)
- Veyron Supercharge - GeForce 7900GS (Chinese Volunteer)
- Alexander Lapointe - ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT and NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE nForce 430 w/ 825MB (Voluntary Volunteer)
- Otenth Padernborn - ATI Radeon X1600 (Voluntary Volunteer)
- Sered Woollahra - Ati Radeon x300 (Volunatry Volunteer)
- Kesseret - ATI Radeon x1650. 512mb RAM version (Voluntary Volunteer)
- Loki Popinjay ft. Mylena Aquitaine - Nvidia GeForce 6700XL with 128 Mb and/or NVIDIA GeForce NX8800GTX with 768 Mb (Voluntanry Volunteer)
- Faerie Hax - 7600GTX 256mb (Voluntary Volunteer)
- Dandellion Kimban - Radeon 9250 (Voluntary Volunteer)
- Marina McTeague - Radeon 9700 Pro. 8D (Voluntary Volunteer)
- FireFox Bancroft - Radeon HD 2900XT (Voluntary Volunteer)
- Nadine Nozaki - Various stuff (Voluntary Volunteer)
- Looker Lumet - NVIDIA GeForce 6610 XL with 128 MB (Voluntary Volunteer)
- Suzanne Graves - Quadro FX 2500M (512mb) (VV)
- RedDawn Bade - nVidia 8800 GTS (640mb) and nVidia 8600 mobile (240mb) (VV)
- Storm Thunders - Radeon x1950 (VV)
- Alexis Stapovic - if WindLight runs on the POS(?) (VV)
- Guardian Market - EVGA e-GeForce 8600 GTS (PCI-e, 256MB) (VV)
- Claudia Mantis - Asus EN8800GTX/768mb (VV)
- … ??!!!*
*Please, do apply! And mention your type of video card? So we don’t do ‘double’ work? And leave a valid email address behind in the comments, so I can notify when we have all things needed.
Gathering the SL WindLight photographs and arranging them so they can be compared
Vint Falken
Does this sound like a plan?
WindLight How To - Avatar Impostors Settings
November 21, 2007 10:58 pmAfter Shoshana Epsilon mentioned not liking Avatar Impostors showing up in stead of normal avatars starting at a distance of 10 meters, the Watermelon God decided upon enlightenig us on the Avatar Imposters system. He chose to do so in the comments, so for the benefit of this valuable piece of information not getting lost, I’ll recap here that here.
But first we need to know what the avatar imposter system is. According to the wikipedia:
Impostor is a term used instead of billboard if the billboard is meant to subtly replace a real 3D object.
And a billboard is yet another word for a sprite, a three-dimensional image that is used to replace objects that might normally be modeled using texture mapped polygons, such as our avatars. As most 3D rendering engines can process “3D sprites” much faster than other types of 3D objects, this means a serious performance gain. Linden Lab claims this will even go up to a 40% better frame rate when visiting crowded area’s. They are called billboards, because they will always face your camera, just as billboards do with your car on the highway. So no more avatars turning their backs on you! ;)
And now we know what the avatar imposter system is all about, let’s get to business and tweak it!
How to control your Avatar Impostors distance:
Go into File > Preferences and choose the Graphics tab. If you are wearing your WindLight client, it should look like the screenshot on your right. To be able to control the avatar imposters settings yourself*, on the right next to Quality and Performance, check custom.- Under Avatar Rendering, check Avatar Imposters if you want it on, uncheck if you want no avatar imposters. Yeah, I know: duh!
- Under Mesh Detail, find the Avatar slider. If you slide it to the right, you will increase the distance at which avatars become impostors, if you slide it to the left, that distance will decrease.
- Finish this tough decision - graphics quality/enjoyment ft. performance - off by pressing ‘OK’. (Don’t need me to tell you where that button is, now do you? ;))
*You can also set quality to either low, mid, high or ultra, which will result in different Avatar Mesh Detail, and thus in a different distance at which avatar impostors start to occur. But with the Second Life client graphics settings, I suggest to experiment to see what works best for you and your - beloved, I trust - graphics card.
Interesting material? I have some more tutorials on Second Life Photography / Snapshotting and texture creation for your reading pleasure.
Torley Linden’s classy video compliment to my text tutorial:
Sell WindLight settings?
Mr. Torley ‘Watermelon’ Linden also says in the comments that they will be working on making the WindLight settings a sharable inventory item. This means you will be able to share, sell, trade, whatever you can do with iventory objects now. Sadly enough, this will not happen until WindLight makes it to be the main viewer, and the server side controls for this are ready. Maybe they’ll let it be controlled by scripts too? ‘Click here for a beautiful sunset!’ does sound nice, no?
High-res snapshots dislike WindLight
‘There IS a known (at least internally, haven’t seen it on public Issue Tracker yet but will link it up if I do) bug with taking high-res snapshots & glow, and high-res snapshots having seams (particularly noticeable through water). ‘
Ah well, for me that already occured sometimes when shooting with the old client and RenderGlow set to True in the debug menu. So I guess indeed the glow is to blame? But - again - for me, it’s causing less trouble then with the OldLook and I’m already used to it. Will cope with it until they fix those seams. As long as they do not take WindLight away from me, I’ll be fine.
WindLight Water Fun
November 19, 2007 9:54 pmRealising it will be impossible to ‘master’ WindLight and it numerous possible settings instantly, I decided to start with something we did not have in the first FirstLook we had been given (and that they so cruelly took away from us again): the water.
Suddenly the Second Life oceans are shiny, way more rippled and actually looks like it’s moving without having to insert ‘fake’ waves. Those even look funny now, compaired to the detailed WindLight water. So, what’s new?
Caution! Before starting to mess around with whichever Second Life WindLight settings, first press new!
Else you could by accident safe over some default settings, and whom knows whenever these will come handy!
- If your graphics card allow it, go into file, preferences, graphics tab and there toggle atmospheric shaders on.
Your water will look way better this way! You should be able to spot the difference instantly. If not, curse the graphic card! ;)
(Yet, do know the graphics card used for these snapshots is 4 years old, so don’t curse it to hard. You should have chosen more wisely back then.) - Water will reflect buildings, objects, avatars, trees, … basically: everything. You can choose what it reflects or not - for if you prefer performance above realistic detail - in the ‘graphics’ tab. It’s under file, preferences, graphics tab. Then check water reflections and choose according to your liking either terrain and trees, all static objects, all avatars and objects or everything. See? Nifty reflections are ours now! No need any more to go underwater, photograph the refracted image and then cut and paste that into your photograph.
- If you want to change the water colour, it’s under world, environment settings, environment editor. There you can just select another colour for it, obviously, pick water color to do so. Hint: pink looks neat, but is not very convincing as real water. :p
- Take the more water options way for detailed fine tuning: size of the waves as well as reflection properties of the water are adjustable. Hear! Hear!
- Make sure to play around with the texture of the water too. I’ve found it makes a great (mimic) giant glass floor.
Some H2o-experiments:
A Different Light at the Cannery
November 14, 2007 11:43 am
Our first exhibition ‘SLart at the Cannery’ has ended: voting awards ceremony has been held, artists have been paid and feedback from both the artists as well as the visitors has been acquired.
We’ve had a great time, learned a great deal and are proud of what we have already achieved.
We had such an amazing time that a second show is in preparation: A Different Light. If you have Second Life photographs relating to one of the following four themes, do submit them for participation in the show: Shadow Play, Red Dawn, Childhood Dreams and What’s Your Angle?
If you are planning to shoot new material to submit, you have time until November 28 to submit.
To prove that we’ve learned, here is an upgraded Artist Agreement (Artist Release + Compensations).
The first person to point out to me where I mostly influenced the submission guidelines gets a free SLart at the Cannery Tshirt set. =)
The creative folks at Rezzable are hosting another grand show. Now is the time to submit your works for this incredible event.
There will be 4 themes. If you want to submit your work for the show, contact Shoshana Epsilon by Flickr mail (ShoshanaEpsilon) or email at ShoshanaeEpsilon@gmail.com. A URL is preferred. A short description of the work (a sentence or two) would be helpful. All pictures must have originated in Second Life.
1. Shadow Play
The play of light and shadow is one of the primary aspect of art. Shadows may conceal the truth and light may enhance it.
2. What’s Your Angle?
When the view is straight on, we see what we expect to see. When the angle is skew, it turns our world topsy-turvy and suddenly we are outside our normal frame of reference.
3. Red Dawn
Red is the color of passion and blood. We are born in blood and we may die there. These pictures make dramatic use of the color red.
4. Childhood Dreams
What is it like being a child? To have a child? To believe like a child?
If you have a photograph that fits one of these themes and want to see it featured in the exhibition at the Cannery, contact Shoshana Epsilon by Flickr mail (ShoshanaEpsilon) or email at shoshanaepsilon@gmail.com – or me by Flickr mail (VintFalken), email (info-at-vintfalken-dot-com) for more information.
Art submissions will be accepted through November 28th. The show opens December 5th in a gala event on the Rezzable sim of Cannery. Participating photographers will be paid a share of the sales based on the number of photographs chosen for the exhibit. There will also be awards and prizes for the best of the best. A RL book will be available for purchase showing all the art in the show!
The Cannery Award Event: 75k L$ to hand out
November 9, 2007 9:23 am75 000 l$ prize money
The SLart at the Cannery exhibition closing party was a fun event. Strangely enough, when Sho and I were talking, most payed attention. Somehow I suspect the 75 000 Linden Dollars of prize money we had to divide amongst the winning photographs did help to that. *grins*
We made that many L$ out of the SLart? No, malheuresement pas, more on that later. But we had Browzmi.com as a sponsor for the prize money.
But I assume you’re curious how it was divided?
65k l$ for the top three voting winners:
Cyber Angel by Mia Olivier - 30 000 l$
Fusion by Nephie Eerie - 8000 l$
Reflexion by Raul Crimson - 8000 l$
Self Portrait by Kean Kelly - 8000 l$
10k l$ for the ‘honorable mentionings’ chosen by Shoshana and me:
A Little Skin by Kaylin Idora - 3000 l$ (Vint)
Royal Pig by Andromega Volare - 1000 l$ (Vint)
Nude V by Corbett Howard - 1000 l$ (Vint)
Heartlight by Melodious Source - 3000 l$ (Shoshana)
Self-portrait by Collin Savon - 1000 l$ (Shoshana)
Theft by Tyffany Flintoff - 1000 l$ (Shoshana)
SLart at the Cannery profits
… were less than expected/hoped. So Rezzable waved it’s part of the revenue in favour of the artists and so did Shoshana Epsilon and I with part of our curator fees. We must admit we did the merchandise wrong - especially as all was not far from timely finished - or at least not good enough.
Keeping the sales figures in mind we are re-thinking the SLart at the Cannery concept a bit - possibly expanding it - , but don’t fear, the shows will stay.
On Rezzable’s Artist Agreement
There was (is?) a lot of discussion going on about Rezzable Production LTD’s Artist Agreement. The new one isn’t finished yet, and although the themes for the next Second Life photography exhibition at the Cannery are known*, Shoshana and I do not accept submission for that one until the remake of the Artist’s Agreement is done.
Cyanide Seelowe says the old artist agreement is an unfair one, especially compared to First Life artist agreements. I disagree, as - something that all should have learned by now - Second Life is not First Life:
- ‘… you should never give full perm textures… blablabla‘ - If we really wanted to steal it, we could just as well have pressed ‘print screen’ on 512×512 textures, no?
- ‘… do not email the work…‘ - Well, then Shoshana could not have made the book.
- ‘... complaining about the 25% the artists receive from the show’s total proceeds…‘ - Real life photographs & stuff sell - in galleries - at USD 100 each at least. Our photographs sold at USD 1.50 each. Yet, the time invested was still enormous. Believe me, nobody is getting rich out of this.
- ‘… it’s unfair that artists who sold less get an even share of the money…‘ - It is fair, if they did not like that idea, they should not have participated. To sell the largest amount of photographs in Second Life: become a virtual pr0n photographer. We wanted to make sure that artists with beautiful yet less commercial - less nude - photographs would get rewarded too.
- ‘… on eligable and distribution of proceeds…‘ - Start complaining about that when you have proof we do not pay. Until then, do something constructive, please.
- ‘Your artworks may be used for any promotional materials regarding the show they are in, and you will not be paid for it.‘ - Duh! Promotional means we’re not selling it. Else it would be merchandise and the artists would get their share. Promotional means to promote the show. Which benefits the sales of artwork and merchandise, which benefits the artists.
- ‘The gallery can use the representation of your works in future promotional materials that have nothing to do with the show that your work is in. You will not be paid for this, either.‘ - Otherwise Rezzable could not even show off posters of the past show without having to repay the artist? Sure you never saw this one appear in real life artist agreements?
I also submitted two pictures under this Rezzable Production LTD Artist Agreement. If any artist feels we took abuse of them, made a lot of money and did not share it with him, etc. I’m willing to listen. But I do have good faith in Rezzable, believe they will not abuse the artists trust. I don’t think they could even afford screwing the artists over with their business plan. Remember?
As far as I’m concerned, number 1 to 4 should stay and 5 should change vocabulary wise. Number 7 could be replaced that the promo material that was used for the show could indeed be re-used without paying the artist although we could discuss attribution and it should not just focus on one work, but clearly be a derivative from the artwork made for the show. And Cyaniode’s remark number six was just useless, so we’ll disregard that.
* The show will be called ‘A Different Light’ and - for starters - themes will be: Shadow Play, Red Dawn, Childhood Dreams and What’s Your Angle?
SL Blogger’s photography excellence
November 1, 2007 5:30 amAfter a long, friendly chat with CodeBastard Redgrave last night - just disregard the gun I held to her head - I now know 2 things for sure:
- She and Nadine are ‘an item’ for over six months now.
- The winners of the SL Bloggers party photography contest.
Assuming all but me already knew about that relationship, I’ll go directly to announcing the winners of a free year of Flickr Pro, a Machinima Cam and a lifetime supply of free VintLab outfits (mod or copy, to your liking) to those that according to CodeBastard Redgrave and Vint Falken took the best photographs of the SL bloggers party themed ‘Robots’ held at the Code Red Lounge in October 2007:
The one year free Flickr Pro and a big ‘W00t!’ from Codie and I go to Ryker Beck for her photograph Panoramic RedHawtness. We feel Ryker, who is a long time SL photographer and recently started a great blog at Rykerized - check out her tutorials -, deserves first prize because of the original non-standard dimensions of the photograph and delivering a great and interesting ‘overview’ of the SL Blogger’s party. Having such a wide view with the people in the middle gives a feel of coming together, getting to know each other and intimacy. *applauds*
Second prize, a Machinima Cam (and free updates for that one) will find his way to Raul Crimson from A Crimson World. Raul’s Dancing with the Sun has a great composition which clearly displays the party atmosphere and action going on: we’re all young, sexy and a robot! ;) The distort glow effect makes it a shiny pleasure for the eye, and Codie just loved the use of the lens flare. I think it might have been a stronger picture without that, as it sort of diminishes the ‘eye force field’ from Veyron’s cute pixelatd butt to Crap & Codie to Vint & the stranger. But to flare or not to flare, it’s a kick ass picture!
A lifetime supply of VintLab clothing goes to Nadine Nozaki for her excellent Vint & Nadine at the Code Red. The lady from the Winter Market does a great job at displaying with this photograph how I looked at the idea ‘metaverse’ before I ever knew it. Reading William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, I imagined untanned, pale humans with implants and androids doing ordinary daily stuff. The paradox of such ‘advanced’ creature playing a classical piano, is just awesome.
*asks for another round of virtual applause for or three winners and gives all winners 6 kisses: 3 from her and 3 on behalf of Codie*
Something rather stupid that ‘ruled out’ a lot of photographs - and made our task of picking the winners more easy - was the ‘jagged edges’ or ‘alias’ bug we so often find by Second Life photographs. Probably having a top notch graphics cards may help to prevent this. I don’t know for sure though, as I don’t have that. What does help is in the snapshot window, pumping the resolution up: 1600×1200 I use for normal snapshotting, 3200×2400 if I know I’ll need a huge final result or am planning to seriously crop the picture. And see: jaggy edges are no more! (or at least less ;)
First Belgian Real Life Second Life Party - Picture Report
October 17, 2007 12:24 pm
Random memories from the Second Life party at Hamme, organised by Sammy Bourne:
- I did not win a tshirt. Why not? I guessed wrong at Philip Rosedale’s age. Apparently he’s born in 1969, not 1975. Like I can help it he’s old?! ;)
- No gadget freaks to be seen. At all. I thought we were supposed to be all tech savvy and addicted?
- No wifi present. (That’s why I did not win a tshirt. :D)
- Spanking pats are easily created and good thing to get a party going.
- RL pole dancing is harder than SL pole dancing. Especially if the dancing animations were left behind at home and the dancing poles have a diameter of at least 30 centimetres.
- Declared the area ‘mature’. Dalien added ‘voice enabled’ and ‘no push’.
- We are NOT bad looking boring nerds. Most of us are good looking, witty and interesting.
- Sammy Bourne has big plans for (Belgian) Second Life. Neat plans too.
- Ganymedes is fun! (also in RL) (also a bit non-sober)
- Ganymedes Costagravas and Vint Falken are up to now unbeaten at the soccer table, and thus reigning King and Queen of Belgian Second Life Table Soccer.
- I’m getting old and/or Vint’s human after illness combined with some alcohol tires fast.
- My laptop has now ‘SL’ as country code. Thanks for the sticker!
- I’m sure I looked like a very happy/content cat at times. I wonder if I *purrred* loud enough to sound out above the music. =D
- Holding a camera is a great way to escape from having to participate at the polonaise. =d (But actually, I knew that already.)
More photographs can be found in my ‘Real Life Second Life Party at Hamme, Belgium’ Flickr set.
