Exploring Nouvelles Aventures

I first heard about Nouvelles Aventures through Inara Pey’s blog.  It looked very interesting, so I headed over to check it out for myself.

When you land, you’re greeted by this amazing vista – a huge barn framed by gorgeous sunbeams.

I’m not sure I would have picked the pink sky, but it works. 😀

I’ve seen this piece before, but I was struck by the beam of light combined with the beautiful particles – bubbles and fireflies all swirling around. It definitely gave the scene an ethereal feel.

And, of course, my requisite lighthouse pic!  I’ve not seen this particular lighthouse build before – I love the blue roof of the lighthouse contrasted with the thatching on the cottage roof.

It’s one of my dreams to live in a converted lighthouse – I’d put my bedroom in the top of the tower, just so I could wake up to those amazing views every day. 😀

I was particularly taken with this beautiful tree.  Its branches were slowly moving in the soft breeze, and it looked like a fabulous place to just sit and reflect for a while.

There are lots of areas to explore and photograph, so grab your camera and head on over.  There’s a Flickr group set up for the sim if you want to share your photos.  Have fun!

 

VOB viewer reaches release status in Second Life | Inara Pey: Living in a Modem World

This Visual Outfits Browser is a new feature I’ve been looking forward to – I often create my dance costumes out of pieces and parts of lots of other outfits, and I’ve always wanted a way to ‘see’ what was in the outfit.

Yes, you can simply take a snapshot, but you can’t add it into the outfit folder itself, so you’d have to go looking for the photo of it which, in an inventory the size of mine, would be a pain.

I do have the CTS Wardrobe organizer, but even I, OCD organizer that I am, find it extremely tedious to use it to update and catalog everything I have.  I do love the tagging feature of the Wardrobe, but since I use it so infrequently, most of the stuff I want to find has already been boxed up and put away!

I downloaded the new VOB and gave it a whirl (I don’t use the LL viewer, so it always takes me a bit longer to figure it all out).  I saved my outfit, then took a snapshot of it and saved it to inventory (yes, it will cost you the $10L upload fee to do that).  Then I dragged the snapshot (which I renamed to be the same as the outfit) into the outfit folder.  Voilá! The snapshot appeared as link within the outfit folder, and when I went to view it in the preview window, it showed my snapshot instead of the hanger icon (the default outfit icon).

So, if you are a visual organizer, I think this is a great feature.  I’m looking forward to seeing it appear soon in Firestorm!

Read Inara’s original article below:

On Thursday, September 15th, the Lab promoted the Visual Outfits Browser (VOB) as the de facto release viewer, version: 4.0.8.319463. For those who missed my coverage of this viewer when it reached…

Source: VOB viewer reaches release status in Second Life | Inara Pey: Living in a Modem World

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The Drax Files 38: economic empowerment in Second Life | Inara Pey: Living in a Modem World

I found this article interesting – more so for the conversation between Inara and Drax that she shared after the video than the video itself.

In the video, Eboni Khan says that SL has a very low entry barrier for businesses.  I agree – you can set up an in-world store or one on Marketplace in minutes.  However, that doesn’t guarantee that your business will be successful.

With the advent of mesh (and having to learn related programs like Blender or Maya or Z-brush or the like), I feel like the barrier to having a successful business has increased.  Maybe it has, maybe it hasn’t.

When I first landed in SL, most creating was done in-world.  When I started looking into making clothing, I realized I would need to learn Photoshop to really do it well.  So I began learning Photoshop.

To make clothing these days, it needs to be mesh.  Yes, there are still those who prefer system clothing, but most prefer mesh.  You can buy templates of course, but to be an ‘original’ creator you need to make your own.

That means learning a 3D modeling program, learning how to rig the clothes to the SL avatar and all the various mesh bodies (something that almost everyone seems to find horribly tedious, if my Plurk timeline is to be believed), and then dealing with things that sound difficult – UV unwrapping, making your AO maps, then dealing with textures, including spec and normal maps in addition to the traditional diffuse maps.  It’s enough to make your head spin.

In addition to all of that, it would seem then that people would, of necessity, spend more time in out-world programs (like Blender) than they do in-world.

What about you? Do you feel it is more difficult now than before to have a successful business in SL? 

The 38th video of The Drax Files World Makers arrived on Wednesday, June 8th, focusing on fashion designer Eboni Khan, who has been designing women’s apparel for the last decade, marketing it…

Source: The Drax Files 38: economic empowerment in Second Life | Inara Pey: Living in a Modem World

“If you just build it, They might not come: promoting events in Second Life” (3) | Inara Pey: Living in a Modem World

Image Source: facilitiesscheduling.wvu.edu

This is the third article in a series by Caledonia Skytower on promoting events in SL.

As I was reading through the article, I was struck by a particular sentence:

“Most contemporary writers and bloggers are just trying to sift through all the dreck that pretends to be news trying to figure out what is really worth the time and coverage.”

With the advent of the internet and the information overload that has ensued, people are often overwhelmed and overtaxed.

Make their jobs easier and reap the rewards. 🙂

Source: “If you just build it, They might not come: promoting events in Second Life” (3) | Inara Pey: Living in a Modem World

“If you just build it, they might not come”: promoting events in SL (2) | Inara Pey: Living in a Modem World

Image Source: facilitiesscheduling.wvu.edu

This is the second article in a series by Caledonia Skytower for Inara Pey’s blog.

As many of us know, promoting and marketing your events, whether RL or SL, can be a huge challenge.

Caledonia is sharing her years of experience with us, and it’s definitely worth a read. 🙂

This post covers the basics of marketing materials – what you should include, what you shouldn’t, and how you should always be open to change.

I can’t wait for the next article!

Source: “If you just build it, they might not come”: promoting events in SL (2) | Inara Pey: Living in a Modem World

Impressions by Inara Pey

I’ve been a busy bee in SL lately, and I made it to Inara Pey’s current LEA exhibit, called ‘Impressions.’

What is ‘Impressions’?

According to Inara, it’s a combination of three things:  “The first is a display of my more recent images and videos of places I’ve visited around Second Life – the impressions they’ve given me, if you will.  The second is the setting itself, an interpretation of Frank Lloyd Wright’s famous “Fallingwater,” the house he built for Edgar J. Kaufmann and his family – a house that has made an enormous impression on me over the years.  The third is the 2D and (particularly) 3D work of a talented Italian student, CioTToLiNa Xue – work that made quiet an impression on me when I happened across it in July, and have wanted to share with a wider audience.”

After having a bit of time to wander around the sim, I can tell you that it definitely makes an impression.  The build of the house (one of my favorite FLW buildings), is fabulous.  And the surrounding setting is just lovely.  Interspersed around the house you’ll find Inara’s photography displayed, as well as the works of CioTToLiNa Xue.  Though I love Fallingwater, I found myself taking more pictures of the surrounding areas, as it is just incredibly picturesque.

Take a few moments out of your busy SL, and visit ‘Impressions.’

Let the beauty of the area, the build, and the art feed your soul.