Viewers, Drivers & Weird Sh*t in Second Life

Alpha Point  moderate (in Beta Viewer)

I hadn't taken any photographs for a few days and I was going through withdrawal.  :)  So I went inworld to go exploring but wound up spending my time looking at the screen quizically (to be honest confusion is one of my usual states).  The graphics seemed to have changed - things looked clearer, sharper and better.

I've made two changes since my last visit - I downloaded the latest nVidia driver and I was using the newest (non-mesh) beta viewer.  So I went to Alpha Point, took a photo and then switched to a production viewer to see if there was a difference.  The same settings are used on both and I tried to get the same angle/distance, but I see a difference (thousands might not,  but I do) and not just because the particles never did resolve themselves in the production version.  I think the change is the viewer.

Alpha Point  moderate (in Production Viewer)

There is some weird sh*t happening though.  I found myself constantly adjusting the angle/distance from my avatar for my standard view.  I'll have to go into an older version and note the settings because they've changed in the Beta and I can't seem to adjust them properly or get them to stay where I want them.

There is also an odd random perspective issue.  This next photo is of the stage that Kev Sweetwater built us for the Burn2 Community Day.

Burning Man- Silver Seed  moderate

This photo is what the same structure looked like as I tried to maneuver my avatar perspective around.  Um ......well it could be the video card ..... maybe.

Burning Man- Silver Seed  moderate

Speaking of the Burn2 Community Day - we had a lot of fun.  Great music, wonderful people and lots of laughter.  I was thrilled to discover that jjccc coronet had made a machinima of the party - so here's an artist's view of the great stage, the rides and the eclectic mix of residents who came out to the playa.

I'm going back inworld to experiment some more. :)

Idle Thoughts on a Second Life Tuesday

Five Level Mayan Temple Maze   (general )

Idle thoughts on a Tuesday:  I was thinking about mesh this morning and naturally went to look at Sculptie Island.  Well it made sense to me.  I'm looking forward to mesh and I'm ignoring all of the doomsayers because I don't think anybody really knows what the final prim cost will be or the impact on viewers.  I remember all too well the shrieking and wailing when there were plans announced to put script limits on land - some kept insisting it would kill their businesses.  This in spite of the fact that the "limits" were never specified.  I assume those who accused the 'powers that be' of heartless retail murder must have had some secret knowledge of the numbers - however, they never revealed that information. 

I can say that my few trips into the mesh beta lead me to believe that rezzing mesh will be much faster than sculpties - the latter being textures - but I'm not an expert by any means.   I do think there will be a quality improvement to the grid landscape and (see video at bottom of screen) some really interesting improvements to avatars.

Parthenon (general)

Referencing my discussion of workarounds for Viewer 2.8 Environment Settings, I got a couple of tips on my JIRA from Torley yesterday and wanted to share them:

Also, here's another workaround: use Ctrl-Alt-F1 to hide/show the WHOLE INTERFACE. Or use a macro program to map it to something simpler, sometimes I use foot pedals so my hands are free, I swear the 3-pedal Scythe has been one of my biggest photography timesavers! I've done this lots before WRES (WindLight Region Environment Settings), and it's been hugely beneficial for seeing a clutter-free view of the world so I can get my angle, framing, etc. precisely how I want.

UPDATE: Here's a quick video tip showing how to hide/show the user interface! If you take snapshots in SL you should at least know about this, then do what works best for you!. This is even more handy if you primarily use an external tool to do snapshots due to the SL Viewer's awkwardly elongated list o' snapshot bugs (sigh) — I use FRAPS for both my still pics and videos.

Green Men in Pond (general)

I've a tendency to learn things through trial and error - which is fine to a point.  It is a great source of joy to click on random buttons and sliders to see what happens but I think it's time for me to find some more formal  online resources that will improve my photography. 

What I won't attempt is a mastery of Blender or anything to do with the magic inherent with mesh.  I watched this video in awe and decided I have as much hope of doing this as I do painting anything I wouldn't immediately trash.  I'll just take advantage of what these talented individuals do.

Training Myself to Use the Viewer 2.8 Environment Settings in Second Life

The Dark Swamp (general)

I keep reminding myself that I'm an adult and I can handle change.  Then something happens and I prove once again that I am flawed and need to work on my approach to life's little bumps. :)

The Viewer 2.8 that is in Beta includes the new design for Environment Settings.  These changes will facilitate two things which have long been requested: the ability to set a personalized default windlight setting for your viewer  and the ability of a region owner to define a windlight setting for their land that all residents experience when they arrive.  The problem I encountered is that they apparently didn't include photographers in the use cases when they designed the new interface.  Using the new controls to make temporary changes to the settings (like east angle or sky tint) is very painful.  But it's possible to train yourself to make it work.

The Dark Swamp (general)

I created a JIRA and have found it to be a pretty positive experience so far.  The programmer (if that's the correct title) looking at the issue made a couple of suggestions and I've actually been using a version of the approach for a while.  I'm not surprised that his immediate reaction was not to redesign the new settings - I'm sure it's been a lot of work and if it was me I wouldn't want to start all over again.  I don't know what if anything will be changed so let me tell you the workaround I've been using.

The basic workaround is to just minimize the Environment Settings window while I'm taking photos.  Don't save the changes because the window will close and you'll have to start again to make any additional tweaks.  Don't close the window because your changes won't be in effect without a "save".  This has involved some retraining on my part - it's not my usual approach.  But again, I'm an adult and I can adapt. sigh

I forsee lots of yelling though because, for those like me not used to doing it this way, it will take a while to realize that the workaround is the "design" option for temporary changes.  I'd prefer to be included in the set of use cases for all viewer changes but that's probably a little unreasonable.  Now if I could only remember that.  :)

The Dark Swamp (general)

Acquiring a Slider Addiction - Photography in Second Life

Elonia (moderate)

I made a quick trip inworld this morning to take a few photos demonstrating the effect of moving just one of the environment sliders - the "east angle" or angle of the sun.  These are not great photographs but should give you some idea of the impact of changing just this one aspect of your image.

Elonia (moderate)

Remember if you do this at "midday", which is noon, you won't see a difference because the sun is assumed to be directly overhead.  Once you start playing with this one I predict you'll feel impelled to start playing with all of the other sliders.  Having this ability to customize your image is one of the reasons I love taking photos on the grid.  One day I'll get good at it.

Elonia (moderate)

I didn't spend a lot of time trying to create the perfect image for this post - because I found something much better.  This video demonstrates the use of that one slider brilliantly.  The fact that Nakoto Exonar is a talented machinimist and a poet with a lovely voice is all gravy.  See what can be done with just one of the environment settings and then go do your own experiments.

Taking Second Life Photographs is like Buying Toothpaste

DDLE2 (moderate)

When I was a young explorer (yes, this is an "in my day" reference) you'd go to the store to buy toothpaste and there were 3 choices.  Didn't take long.  These days there is a 50 foot aisle with hundreds of options and I find myself just standing there, eyes glazing over, trying to remember which one I bought last.

The number of features available to the inworld photographer is starting to make me feel the same way.  I'm still playing with buttons and settings.  Frankly if we get too many more graphics and lighting options I'll never get a photograph of anything - it's just too much fun to "see what happens if I click this".  Choice is good and the results are a major improvement - it's just not an environment which breeds speed or efficiency.  At least not for me.

DDLE2 (moderate)

Today's destination is DDLE2.  DDLE apparently stands for Designing Dynamic Learning Events (DDLE)  course in Second Life.  My google powers have deserted me because I can't find any information on this island apart from the name and the fact that this is a really cool location for arbitrary button pushing.  :)

Some things I have managed to figure out.  I normally use ctl/alt/left click to control my camera and the same combination allows you to define the object to be in focus when using Depth of Field.  This is very nice for an old brain that really makes little attempt to memorize keyboard shortcuts.  I leave that to my 18 year old cat who seems to know all of them and invokes them periodically just to keep me humble.

DDLE2 (moderate)

Unless you choose otherwise, an avatar will always be in focus.  I will never be great at portraits and I'm not really interested in portraits of me at anytime.  But I was the only one there so I took this shot just as an example of the default depth setting.

DDLE2 (moderate)

I promise to get back to focusing on the regions I visit. :)  In the meantime buttons for shadows/depth of field/windlight/atmosphere/east angle and more await.  If you encounter me somewhere standing like a lump and being non-responsive, well I'm probably just wondering what will happen if I "do this".  It's nothing personal I just have too many choices in front of me and I'm finding it difficult to make decisions.

DDLE2 (moderate)

Portrait of a Hellebore

Yes I'm still playing with photo techniques. I like this one - apparently one of my flowers wandered into the Chakryn Forest!

Experimental Photography

I went to another photography workshop today on Orange Island. Much more technical than the previous ones and I felt really stupid. But I have been practicing - the photo above was taken without any special windlight settings of two shiny brass statues. All the changes were made in post production ..... which is quite something cause I've never played with those buttons before. And it's not supposed to just look darker - there's supposed to be an impression of depth. :)