Infohub at Orientation Island Public
The clone of the old Orientation Island new resident experience.
Infohub at Help Island Public
The first public clone of the hidden Hekp Island locations used for new residents.
Infohub at Help Island Public2
Another clone of the hidden Help Island, this location is as sterile as I remember it from early 2006. There are some tutorials, seating spots, freebies and even a rez area, not exactly a sandbox given its meager size. While the entire region is owned by Linden Lab, there is enough water to make it barely have a region in land mass. Claimed June 30, 2004, it really shows its age. For a performance boost this one instance has no neighbors on three sides.
Infohub at Mauve
emOt(i)Con, the Mauve Infohub is listed as being currently in development by Chip Poutine. Claimed March 3, 2006 and assigned to the group Infohub Builders, the landing parcel is a mere 5,152m2, though another parcel must be hiding somewhere to support the extra prims the parcel supports. The current description reads: “emOt(i)Con, the Mauve Infohub, will be YOUR meeting place for events, info, freebies or just hanging out!” There are signs for the GNUbie store and NCI, as well as a Redident Advertising space. It appears to be fully automated with no description on a limit to how many may advertise. Other kiosks surround the center information display which is comprised of colored glass panels with simple icons that don’t really denote their purpose. There is a lot of seating including stadium-style surrounding the central area which can easily support more residents than can be allowed in the region.
Fantasy Forest by Saturnine Dryke
Up-close and personal best describes Saturnine’s take on the Fantasy Forest. A focus on some of the unique topiary furniture is nice, and a number of close-ups on what others might find to be but incidental objects in the Forest shows her unique eye. What I particularly liked was that given the limited number of shots I requested Saturnine chose quite a few that will require some exploration by visitors to find during their own exploration. It was my intention to place a number of accents amongst the larger items in Oswald and am happy to see some of them captured here in this gallery.
Infohub at Hyles
Hyles Swamp Infohub was developed by Kim Anubis & Friends, and is one hideous example of public land to foist on new residents. Assigned to the group The Magicians, claimed December 13, 2005, 15,312m2 of land is set to this parcel which nearly forms a square around the permitter of the region. I say “nearly” because directly to the north of the Infohub’s rez area is some asshole’s ban-lined parcel. Like the build itself, the description of the parcel is incomplete: “Get Linden info, fish for free, launch your boat, or just kick back on the porch and listen to the frogs. Great place to set a”. Yeppers, cuts off right there. And of course the description is a lie because all Linden land is set to “no build” so no one is rezzing a boat.
Fantasy Forest by Milk McCallen
Milk took a very different tact with her shots of Oswald, and a very interesting one. The theme here seems to be focus, as in single elements dominating the shot and creating a mood through the angle of the subject. Of particular notice is the upshot of the tree. A tree in and of itself doesn’t set Oswald apart from many locations around Second Life, but looking at the shot in this context sells the parcel’s name while also setting a mood. I never would have thought of taking that shot which is why it pays to take advantage of in-world photographers for your needs. While Milk didn’t do any after-processing like the two previous galleries employed, the shots are still powerful and varied, including interiors and exteriors and a subtle commentary on aloneness in a few avatar-engaged photographs.
Infohub at Calleta
Calleta’s Hobo Railroad Infohub was developed by Orhalla Zander and is assigned to the group Hobo Reservation. At the time of this writing the land is marked claimed on February 28, 2006. The description on the parcel reads, “It be dah home fer deh homeless tah enjoy sl, fishin n sleepin in dar boxes. Com’er down n relax.” Gotta love the colloquialism! The main plot is 13,136m2 but an additional 12,336m2 of Protected Land makes nearly half of the region Governor Linden-owned land. This area also features a stretch of the Second Life Railroad (SLRR).
Atelier Alizarin Digital Art Studio
Jade Lily sent me to an invite for a tour of the Atelier Alizarin Digital Art Gallery by Alizarin Goldflake today as part of her Metaverse Explorers group. Being too lazy to read the notecard I didn’t know what to expect, but seeing as the build was on the Mainland I wanted to check it out. While there is the requisite architecture and painting, the real excitement is the interactive art which includes animates textures, particles and more. Some of the pieces have sit spots, others you can just fly or walk into. Mouselook allows you to really be enveloped by the scene. I picked up a couple of pieces, most of the things you see are for sale, one of them will be great under water in Bella. Alizarin was nice enough to pass along her notes from the walking tour so feel free to follow in our group’s footsteps by tracing the route described below.
Fantasy Forest by Amira Footman
Amira’s take on the Fantasy Forest is very direct. Choosing a smaller number of locations but offering variations on the final artistic look point to her eye for drawing the best from a subject. Her post-processing favors color blow-outs and focuses tightly on the subject making the surroundings into backdrops that emphasize the foreground even more. When I first talked with Amira she said, “I am excited to do this, it’s different to my usual requests.” That is always an attitude to seek in an artist and it can be seen in the results.
Fantasy Forest by pixelGrain Studios
I solicited a number of Second Life photographers to bring Clubside’s Fantasy Forest to life as my own pictures could never do. The first set comes courtesy of Lucca Staheli and Chandra Meehan of pixelGrain Studios. The assignment, as I discovered from talking to Lucca and other photographers, was a bit different as the area is quite large with any number of attractions. I asked for twelve photos with or without models, that was all. I was looking for the artist to pull out what caught their eye. Since many of the photographers are used to portraits or specific events I was quite curious as to what they would come up with. Looking at the results I am amazed. Taking in-world photography and combining it with traditional paint tools like Photoshop really puts an exciting spin on the imagery of Second Life. The composition is great to start with, but the color palette effects really focus certain details and the use of framing and grain really sealed the deal.
If you are interested in hiring Chandra and Lucca to photograph your region, build or just your avatar, they come hightly recommended. Below is taken straight from their in-world classified:
pixelGrain Studios…
Specializing in high quality Second Life images, ..pixelGrain.. was founded by Lucca Staheli and Chandra Meehan - two photographers and graphic artists with twelve years combined experience in Photoshop and many other graphic programs.
No matter if business or personal, whether you need photos of your wedding day, for your profile, or your home - we will take care of it! Beyond, we also cater to businesses providing dynamic images for advertisement and marketing. Now also offering web page and site design!
pictures, profile, ads, advertisement, web site, web design, photo, pic, picture, couples, modeling, modeling portfolio, portfolio,
Visit the studio in-world by clicking here
Oswald Fantasy Forest Opening 11/10/2008
Want a place to explore? Need a place to hold your discussions, private or public? Want to see some of the best fantasy pre-fabs available? Oswald is a near region-sized area of the Mainland dedicated to public spaces and parks, filled with new things to see and sots to explore. Built using only existing creations from some of the best builders in Second Life, this is a place of wonder for everyone to see and use. Hold your meetings here in locations that support two to forty avatars amongst the trees and fae, fantasy and wood architecture or by the giant cascading waterfall.
Learn more about this public space by clicking here.