My Digital Double

I'm crap at multitasking.

2008-08-26T21:22:00.004+01:00

OK so I admit it, this blog has been much neglected for a while and is becoming a little cross threaded with different stuff. Both quite good reflections on my personal situation, busy, busy, busy.

Haven't done much in Second Life for a bit though, have been concentrating efforts elsewhere, Family, Friends, The Day Job, learning how to develop apps for the iPhone, learning how to author game content in Unity, some interactive projects in Flash, some music composition work, etc etc. - and yep I'm crap at multitasking...

...feels like I've got a split personality going on at the moment, with stuff flying all over the place, pushing and pulling in different directions all at once.

Need to get me organised, (to feel whole again). Need to get me a website where I can catalogue and consolidate previous work of different types and add the new projects - in one location. Once this is done, I'll drop a URL here, then will move my (more active blogging) over there.

For now though, some current news:

Following a tip-off from Hamlet over at New World Notes here, I decided to send in my Machinima film Watch the World(s) to the NewTeeVee Pier Screenings.

Just heard the the work has been shortlisted (1 of 5 finalists), NewTeeVee will be streaming the event (URL to be announced shortly on their site), and votes will be taken by txt at the live event this Thursday (28th Aug '08) - why not catch the show if possible.

Over and out.

Car Game #2

2008-06-26T02:53:00.008+01:00

Some images showing progress on the car game. Madly in content-creation-mode at the moment...

i. Mapping out the Road-Layout (in Flash):

ii. Building the 3d Road-Model (in Carrara):

iii. Importing the Road-Model to test it in Game (in Unity):

iv. Another... :

v. Texturing Low-Poly Buildings:

...the idea here is that these are modular so that different combinations can be constructed from instances of a few parts.

vi. And working on the car physics still:

Car Game #1

2008-06-02T12:43:00.007+01:00

Taking a break from Second Life - Thought I’d post a screen capture from a driving game I've been working on...

• Video (higher Quality)

Yes it’s still very rough round the edges, I put this together in the demo version time of Unity (Game Development Tool) to test what is possible - probably have to put it on hold now for a while as my demo is about to expire (but going to save up for the pro version then start this game for real from scratch).

I’m completely new to game development, but a quick learner, my experience in 3d/texturing/scripting, etc comes from SecondLife (Virtual World) and off the back of a cornflakes packet.... but had a lot of fun putting this together.

With the exception of the last crash clip, this was all captured in real time in one take, I’m using trip-wires to trigger camera angle changes to give a more cinematic feel. There are quite a few soundfiles attached to the car, with different roll-off settings, creating some good engine sound effects as the car flies by...

SCREENBURN_ (Trailer)

2008-01-08T23:55:00.001Z

In many ways, the opportunities available for an independent film maker / story-teller to have their work seen are much greater these days as there are many more small screens in the world today than larger ones.

Screenburn is a permanent disfigurement of areas on a C.R.T display caused by non-moving text or graphics being displayed continuously over long periods.

Screenburn is also a free video podcast. A work in progress that was started in January of 2008. It is an original story that will unfold over many episodes through machinima.

New episodes will be published as soon as they have been completed at no set interval (even if it takes all year!). For this reason, if you would like to follow the story as it is created you may like to subscribe to the podcast feed at the podcast website

Episodes of the video will also be formatted to work well with mobile devices too.

I’m no author, but this work is largely based upon a short story I wrote somewhere around 1992 (can't be sure of the year, but around then). The story was originally titled 'Interface'.

Now, Some 15 years later, following a house move I recently unearthed a dusty printed copy of the story whilst clearing out my garage.

In the creation of this this work I have now revised the original story (just a little), and over time intend to release it as a featurette length film...

Initially, a speech synthesized voice was used to make an audio-file containing the narration of the story. This file was then processed to give a more characterful and dramatic voice.

The 3d platform / virtual world of Second Life will be used for the filming of this work.

If anyone is following, while it may take some time to complete, I'd love to have you along for the journey - I'll share the work in progress here and the end product too - whatever this thing may be...

Here's the trailer... (Episode one is ready and waiting for you now also, so go subscribe!)

:)

Click to Play

Screenburn is a free video podcast. A work in progress that was started in January of 2008. It is an original story that will unfold over many episodes through machinima.

Mask.

2007-11-13T14:29:00.000Z

War-paint. Camouflage. Concealment. Act of self-expression or of belonging to a group. Representation, reflection, or pretense? For protection sometimes; actually often. A curtain, a screen, a veil behind which to hide. A shield, disguise or figment. Often fanciful though - ones persona, like war-paint. Masks and avatars. Behind each, a person, with hopes and fears, with feelings often much deeper than the side they show; actually, always.

MASK, a short animation, using the faces of many avatars from Second Life:-

Higher quality version available HERE.

or lower quality from YouTube below:-

Music 'Harper's Song', with permission, by Angry Man.

WITH SPECIAL THANKS TO - In this video (in order of appearance):

Qarl Linden, iN Ni, Jupe Ramona, Sean Voss, Stella Costello, Blaccard Burks, Domenico Quaranta, SignpostMarv Martin, Pansy Snoring, Circe Broom, Slim Warrior, Rob Barber, Ravenelle Zugzwang, Dolyn Foley, Lunata Lupino, Lili Brink, Bradley Bracken, Hokuto Sirbu, Kourosh Eusebio, Calmtommy Lowell, Sylvia Trilling, Larry Pixel, Robustus Hax, Johan Durant, Nicholas Etzel, Flea Bussy, Walker Moore, Ginge Reymont, Jaycatt Nico, Lauren Weyland, Steff Ling, Cubist Scarborough, Pygar Bu, Osprey Therian, Torley Olmstead, Phoenix Psaltery, Tayzia Abattoir, Aimee Weber, Sasun Steinbeck, Jaynine Scarborough, Sally Silvera, Lem Skall, Gwyneth Llewelyn, Diana Hooper, Matthew Kidomen, Matthew Kidomen, Tooter Claxton, Brett Bjornson, Marianne McCann, Kit Meredith, Bettina Tizzy, Veritas Raymaker, Hitomi Mokusei, Lalalocca Miles, Max Burns, Pieter Bosch, Gonta Maltz, DrFran Babcock, Anjouli Troncon, Veyron Supercharge, RacerX Gullwing, Olmia Tenk, Lem Skall, Torley Linden, Burnsand Allen, Milos Waydelich, Snow Gretzky, Juko tempel, iAlja Writer, (and Robbie Dingo).

Meteors (Machinima)

2007-11-13T14:05:00.000Z

Announced here, I was invited to work with Kirsty Hawshaw as part of the new Millions of Us - Artist-in-Residence Program. The resulting work, a short machinima created in Second Life set to a great song 'Meteors' by Kirsty, is here in higher quality.

Or, YouTube version, is here:

It was a pleasure to work with Kirsty and to be the first Artist in Residence for Millions of Us! - I look forward to seeing other working coming out of their exciting program...

Render me?

2007-08-07T02:52:00.000+01:00

Ah well, I was going to sit down to do some animation work for a forthcoming SL machinima project but got waylaid in Poser (again).

(* Image quality is reduced a lot in conversion to .jpg, but please click for a larger image)

As I waited for my image to slowly appear I got thinking, as CPU processing power increases and real-time rendering engines become more capable... well I guess one can begin to imagine what the graphical future may hold for a virtual world, and the impact this may have on machinima as an attractive and effective medium through which to record ones online experiences.

(Note to self: Launching Poser = not a good idea if you want to get some work done).

Love and Hate (The Machine)

2007-07-24T02:43:00.000+01:00

...

Portrait.

2007-07-23T00:08:00.000+01:00

Thanks a lot for the Picture 'T. Very nice :)

(Hope you don't mind me posting here on my blog). Where/when the heck did you take that?

Watch The World(s) - Revisited

2007-07-19T21:13:00.000+01:00

Well. Cough. I don't know what to say. I have never had such a full inbox!

Torley says on the LL Blog: "To this day, I swear one of the kewlest things about Second Life is that if you see something you like, contact is just an instant message away, and this facilitates telling someone “YOU ROCK!” Going beyond text chat, you can visit with them, in-avatar, and until such time we get “RL teleports”, I’d say this is pretty swell. And this sort of activity happens every hour in Second Life, involving strangers (possibly soon to become friends) you “have never really met”.

What he doesn't really go on to say, is what kind reaction this has on the creator. I am feeling very motivated by the comments to roll my sleeves up and do something else THANKS! - In the meantime:-

Many people wrote to me to say that they were sorry that the Sim used in 'Watch The World(s)' was wiped as they wished that they could have explored it for themselves, firsthand :(

Although I know it is not nearly the same thing, but here are some of the out-takes that were not used in the film. This is my way of saying THANK YOU for all of the kind and supportive IM's and comments... they are all very much appreciated.

(Rob - bie Dingo)

Original Music is 'Rollercoaster', written by my good friends Scott Bingham and Steve Bean (Angry Man).
Performed as an instrumental by Steve.

Click here to download a copy.

OR watch the YouTube, lower quality version.

Watch the World(s).

2007-07-16T11:05:00.000+01:00

A Second Life Machinima by Robbie Dingo.
(Duration 4'17")

"Frameless heads on nameless walls, with eyes that watch the world and can't forget - like the strangers that you've met". [Don McLean].

Ever looked at your favorite painting and wished you could wander inside, to look at it from different perspectives? Spend a single day in one of mine, from early sunrise on a new day, to dusk when lights come on in cosy homes; through a peaceful night, till morning.

Shot on location in Second Life then post-produced, this was an idea I had a while ago. The Sim in this work was on temporary loan so it's all been swept away now, leaving only the film behind. It was always intended however that the video would be the end product, not the build.

This work is dedicated to the many weird and very wonderful strangers from around the globe I have met, but have neverreally met.

(For more detail on how this was put together, please read this article by Wagner Jame Au over at New World Notes).

Higher Quality version (900 x 600) / (Recommended).
- Compressed to a 97.6MB, full sized download.

Mid Quality version (450 x 300)
- Compressed to a 47.5MB, half sized download.

Lower Quality version (450 x 300)
- Heavily compressed to a reasonable half sized 22.6MB stream.

or Lowest Quality YouTube:-

Digital Creatures #1 - Ant Concert

2007-06-20T20:40:00.000+01:00

A fun work I did recently. Little Ants, busy working together, randomly moving the notes around a bar of music whilst it is playing. This might become the first in a set of works, looking at using the movement of, and interaction between digital creatures to create musical works.

Click HERE to watch a large screen captured demo movie (QT.mov)

Or view smaller, lower quality version here:

Play Me

Av Morph Test

2007-05-13T00:46:00.000+01:00

Rough test, morph me <--> Av.

Click To Play

DISplace

2007-04-23T00:46:00.001+01:00

DISplace. [verb] cause (something) to move from its proper or usual place.

About.

Not a Second Life project, but related in some ways to my SL work.

DISplace is proof of concept application which enables you to audibly record moments, events, or journeys associated with a particular place and time, then recall and interactively explore these fragments whilst at a different location, or perhaps the same setting at a different point in time? Additionally, you can construct imaginary and composite sound-scapes or musical structures which can be explored from a variety of audio perspectives in a nonlinear, non-timebased fashion.

Although DISplace will run on a desktop PC it was developed with mobile media devices in mind (PDAs, Pocket PCs, etc).

How it works.

Similar in some respects to 'Geotagging', DISplace allows for multiple audio-files to be imported and dropped at definable coordinates within a 2D space (referred to as moments). An Image file (eg. a map) can also be imported and layered as a background graphic for reference. The user's perspective (the listener) is additionally represented within the same 2D space, and the position of this can be controlled by the user, or via a definable walk-path (a journey). Volume and pan parameters for each sound-file are calculated based upon the relative -distance and -angle (respectively) between the Listener and each moment.

Applications and Scenarios.

1) By taking multiple audio-recordings from a variety of positions at and around the same location, rather than a single recording whilst moving from A to B, we have the ability to be able to re-construct the sound-ambience characteristics from a particular place, over a large area. In doing this we also provide the benefit of not only being able to recall a representation of a journey through this place from A to B, but also one from B to A. Furthermore, we could choose to dwell at any particular point for any period of time to explore sounds 'around us' which are of personal interest. Audio in this format is both dynamic and memory efficient.

2) DISplace'd audio through headphones could be employed whilst (re)visiting the same location from which the recordings were taken - albeit from an earlier point in history (eg. Notting Hill at non Carnival time) - thus providing an immersive, rich experience (true visual and false auditory) engineered to illustrate a particular scene.

3) By combining DISplace with live GPS data (not implemented) we could create interactive audio tours whereby spoken information, or music is trigged upon reaching predefined areas of interest. Here, rather than the commonly employed static terminal for all, each visitor could receive an audio experience which has been tailored to their preference and interest.

Demo Video.
Please note, the embedded video has been converted to mono, so important panning has been lost on the sound track, download the QT version in glorious Stereo - below.

Play DISplace Demo Video

(or download Quicktime movie here)

He Still Watches (Machinima)

2007-02-19T02:13:00.000Z

Real world author, Dale Moses (Second Life resident, Dale Bolero) recently posted a request on the SL forums. He wanted a machinima film to work as a trailer for his online novel titled- "He Still Watches".

Dale also contacted me directly about this, but by the time I got round to replying he had already taken up an offer from another film maker.

Still, I thought this project looked interesting - I greatly admire the 'get up and go' and innovative approach Dale has gone for here (he is publishing only one page per day, seven pages per week, and posting them for anyone to freely read via his website, whilst selling advertising on each page, neat idea) - so I thought I would do a film for him in any case, for fun.

Watch the BlipTV Version Here.

Set myself a tight schedule, to see what I could do in three (full and long) days:-

Day 1 - Story Board, Building Sets/Props, Designing Character, Scripts, etc.
Day 2 - Filming and Editing.
Day 3 - Sound Design and Mixing.

(Thanks out to Reuben & Chris at Millions of Us for a 2 day Island Loan, and to Foolish Frost for his scripted book I modified for a prop, cheers guys).

Watch the You Tube Version Here.

'Q' in Second life

2006-12-28T23:59:00.000Z

Haven't been posting much in this blog of late as have been busy with a fairly large-scale building project...

I was contracted by Millions of Us to create a building to act as a base within Second Life for one of their clients. As the building is has not been officially launched yet, (although it is about to be), I have decided not to refer to the company name in the body text here as I don't want this blog entry to be picked up by searches for the name before the launch, (although it will be obvious from the images here who the client is). Instead, until the building has been formally opened, the company name is referred to as 'Q' below.
(I'll come back and amend the text later).

'Q' is a global interactive agency that uses innovative ideas and technology to deliver results for the world's leading brands. For more than 10 years, 'Q' has built strong customer relationships and realised positive results for their clients. 'Q' strives to be at the cutting edge of emerging media and technologies, and ''Q' Second Life' is an active demonstration of this commitment.

'Q' Second Life was constructed in the winter of 2006. The original brief which was provided by 'Q' was to construct a 'building without walls', to convey an open, creative and collaborative space. The intention is that the building and its contents will be continuously developed and updated. The building includes public spaces as well as spaces that can be made private for meetings, presentations and interviews.

The build...

The 'Q' Sim is set to constant night and makes significant use of local lighting. It is best viewed by setting your viewer's Advanced Graphics, 'Night Time Brightness' preferences to zero, and ensuring local lighting is present.

Gallery: Central to the building's design is the open gallery space. Sitting under a large roof canopy with a mezzanine walkway all the way around, this space is intended to house example real-world projects from 'Q'...

...alongside innovative virtual-world installations from Second Life residents and 'Q' staff.

(Image shown above is an installation by AngryBeth Shortbread entittled 'You Demand Too Much of Me').

The content on display in this area is also duplicated and inverted below a semi transparent floor to create an illusion of reflection and, as the gallery floor sits just above sea level, Second Life's dynamic water refraction is also used.

Sitting in the centre of the gallery there is a permanent gallery installation. This installation is linked to the local lighting so that if an avatar dwells on any of the colored panels, over time the interior lighting will drift to that color, taking the walls (and mood) with it.

Reception/Lounge: A long thin space, notionally divided into three areas.

i. Reception, complete with a 'Hyper-Link' board. This allows for quick navigation around the building to key areas, equivalent in some ways to web-browser navigation in that each key area includes a '<- BACK' button to allow for quick return to the reception. The board also includes a link to launch the user's default web-browser with the 'Q' home page loaded.

ii. Lounge 1: An informal meeting area with couches and tables.

iii Lounge 2: A more relaxed space, complete with a separate media stream for music, a functional chessboard and more seating. Music and conversation in this area is restricted and therefore will not bleed into adjacent areas.

Above the Reception/Lounge is a mezzanine floor with a long window providing a one-way view through the media screen to the main gallery. Doors on this level lead to the Gallery, Building Area and Boardroom, and on the lower floor there is a set of stairs leading to a Function Room.

Function Room: A multi purpose space, set out for presentations complete with a smaller video screen (will play a different video stream to that on the Media Wall) and rows of couches plus an interview area. This space can be set as private when needed.

Boardroom: The main meeting room is on the first floor and can be locked to prevent public access when required. A guest list can be set up to determine who is granted/denied access or the room can be set as open to all, this includes access through the open roof port. A functional interactive whiteboard has been installed here which allows many people to control pointers at the same time or to write messages, etc, along with another video screen. Sitting on the glass floor in the center is a large meeting-style table, with an integrated comment and voting system. Doors lead either back to the mezzanine in the Reception/Lounge, or through to an outside building area.

Building Area: Although built into the building, this space is set outside allowing for greater camera view freedom, useful when building. On the floor there is a custom made building 'mat', a grid to aid construction that can be zoomed in / out and can be illuminated, full-bright.

Surrounding Area, Roof Space and Hidden Garden: Easily accessed from the Hyper-Link board in the reception, there are other spaces to explore, some in unexpected places.

Media wall: A key feature in the gallery is the large media screen/wall. This has two modes which can be toggled from a button sitting at the bottom-center of the screen;

-Full-Screen- where the parcel's video stream (or any image) is displayed across most of the screen (very large), and -

-Patchwork- where a combination of many smaller images are randomly displayed as slideshows.

This wall is fitted across the entire width of the building and divides the gallery space and the reception/lounge. It is raised to provide easy access underneath to the Lounge.

(I'll provide the SLURL link when the building is opened).

Second Life Stats (Dec 06)

2006-12-17T20:22:00.000Z

I noted total SL Resident Numbers back on 28th June '06 (298,407), and again on 11th August 06 (396,651). Over that period on average there were 2233 new sign-ups per day. Now, some 128 days later I wondered how this figure held up?

Well, as of today, 17th Dec '06, there are 2,051,648 total residents, and 18,230 are currently online. Therefore, 1,654,997 more residents since my last record, or around 12,930 new avatars generated per day.

Second Life Profile Page

2006-12-12T21:32:00.000Z

What the FAQ ?
This page is intended to be viewed in my Second Life Profile...

Hi, I find myself often answering the same set of questions,
so to speed things up I thought I would supply a FAQ list,
if you have a question, please read on to see if it has been
answered here:

Russian Roulette:

Q: I'm interested in buying a Russian Roulette Table,
where can I get one?

A: Please see the My Picks tab for a direct TP to the vendor,
there is a table out nearby too so you can try before you buy

Q: Can you make me a special Russian Roulette Table
which will give me a cut of the winnings?

A: Sorry no, this was the game I wanted to make.

Musical Instruments:

Q: I'm interested in buying a Musical Instrument,
where can I get one?

A: Please see My Picks for a direct TP to the Musical
Instrument vendor, also there is a TP to my showroom,
many of the instruments can be viewed here,
and some can be demoed, thanks!

Vendor Instructions:

Q: I'm at your Vendor, how does it work?

A: The home pages on the vendor show many smaller images
all at the same time. Use the <- -> keys to move between pages.
If you see an item you might like to buy, press the image to
enlarge it. From here you can either press the ' i ' button to get a
notecard about the item, or pay the vendor to buy the item.
The price is shown ABOVE the vendor in floating text - you need
to be fairly close to be able to see / read the price - Remember to
look ABOVE the vendor please...

Hyper-Instruments:

Q: Can I hear a demo of a Hyper-Instrument?

A: Yep sure, a demo of the Hyper-Flute can be seen/heard
in this video

Q: Any advice on how to work the
Hyper-Instrument's HUD
- what do all the buttons do?

A: Yep sure, you will have got instructions but loads
more help here

Q: Any advice on how to write a Musical Score for
the Hyper-Instruments?

A: Yep sure, loads, and loads of detailed help
can be found here

Q: Can I get more Scores/Music to play in my
Hyper-Instrument?

A: Yes loads, you can collect more score-notecards
from my Hyper Instrument score sharing-vendor and please
leave any of your own scores here too for others to collect
and play. Please see My Picks tab for a direct TP to the
sharing vendor, thanks!
(Please remember, if you are leaving a score for others
to play, use a name for your notecard that is NOT longer
than 24 characters in length).

Q: How do I add new scores to my Hyper-Instrument?

A: In edit mode select the attached HUD. In the HUD's
edit window, choose MORE>> and then choose the contents
Tab, drag and drop new scores here to add them.

Q: My Hyper-Instrument no longer loads a new score,
what's wrong?

A: This is most likely because you have a notecard in
your HUD's contents with a name of greater than
24 characters long.

Rename the offending notecard with a shorter name,
and you're good to go!

Q: My Hyper-Instrument is not working,
"stack-heap collision error",
what's wrong?

A: The script has become inactive, this can happen
if you try to load a Notecard score which is too long
for the memory capabilities of a SL script, or sometimes
if you have tried to load a score whilst it is already
busy loading one....

To fix this problem, please select the HUD in whilst in
edit mode and choose 'Reset Scripts in Selection'.
This can be found near the bottom of the 'Tools' Menu.

Syncronisation/ No Sound Issues:

Q: My Drums or Gamelan instruments
don't play sound, what's wrong?

A: Most of my drums require you to also rez the
conductor object nearby, you will have received
one of these when you bought the drum(s).
Please rez this and touch to turn it on (Green = ON)
- this thing holds the timing between many drums so
they play in sync, and without it you get no sound.

The Gamelan instruments need this too and also need the
Pattern Changer object to be rezzed, which looks like a
set of 4 large gongs, but is actually 4 buttons used to change
the patterns on many Gamelan instruments at the same time.
If you have not rezzed the Pattern changer and the conductor
objects you will get no sound from the Gamelan instruments.
Yep, the Gamelan instruments work in time with the
Elven Drums too!

General:

Some reviews for Hyper-Instruments:
(copied from my SLEX page)

"Truly a fantastic piece of work! Easy to use and
looks and sounds fantastic"

"This is a wonderful item - looks and sounds
beautiful - and very easy to make REAL music with"

"It plays beautifully and is very intuitive"

"All in all, I'd say anybody with an appreciation
for instrumental music would find a fun use for it"

"Very beautifaul and well worth the extra for
composer edition. great if your creative and enjoy
the sounds"

"The most amazing thing I have ever seen in SL.
As a musician, I have been looking for a way to bring
my music with me into SL. Now I can. I can't wait to
start composing"

"Awesome design and lots of fun to play and
compose"

"I love the Hyper-Pipes! They sound gorgeous.
These instruments are such fun and so much more
versatile than most other SL instruments"

"These (pipes), the Hyper-Flute and the
Hyper-Cello, all highly recommended"

"Works well, sounds beautiful. Love it"

Q: Do you do custom work?
I want an instrument making?

A: Usually the answer to this will will be "no sorry"...

... (unless you are making a sensible offer for work).

Remembrance Day

2006-11-13T21:22:00.000Z

A friend and I, after only about 19 years of saying "yeah we really should go", finally got round to it... my video (YouTube) pretty much summarises our visit this weekend to Jim Morrison's grave at Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris.

With a very early start, shaky camera-work, large quantities of beer and bright contrast... yep, this is how I remember it.

(Higher quality here) (QT)

(Image set here) (jpeg)

X-Bam Video

2006-11-09T14:40:00.000Z

Wooo, this little video is worth checking out. (Visit link then, click the picture of the soldier at the top).

Virtual Lecture

2006-10-17T22:56:00.000+01:00

In three places at one time...

I usually try to keep Second Life work and real world work separate, but this was too interesting an opportunity to not bring them together a little. I work for a large UK University, within the School of Film, Music and Media (music area) and this has been something that I have wanted to try out for some time now...

Very early, Tuesday 17th Oct 2006 I dragged myself out of bed and prepared myself to deliver a hands-on 'Master-Class' on the subject of Sound-Design for Games.

The session was arranged by Gary Hazlitt (SL Name) and was aimed at a group of undergraduate and postgraduate students (sound-designers & screen composers) based at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School, in Sydney. It was part of a day long workshop they were running investigating this area.

Earlier, the students had been divided into 2 groups and presented with an opportunity to layer soundfiles in bespoke 3D environments (either a Haunted Castle or a Spaceship scene). My session came at the end of their day and included live demonstrations of game-audio techniques, interactive sound (conducted from within a computer simulated 3D environment), amid verbal Q&A discussions.

(...oh... and we released a swarm of virtual bees to demonstrate transient sound and localisation!)

Using voice-over-IP we created a 2-way audio connection for conversation (UK <--> AUS, with my voice amplified and played into their teaching room) and also simultaneously established multiple connections to Second Life (on-line virtual-world based in San Francisco, California. The effect being as if we were all present in the same space, via USA, UK and AUS.

All in all, I feel that this was a really interesting project/experiment, with a successful outcome. The learning experience felt very real, the technology held up well and, the students were great...

Edit: A load more images, and a commentary of the day here and here. (thanks Gary).

Machinima Festival 2006

2006-10-10T21:45:00.000+01:00

Very pleased to announce that my short film - Better Life has been nominated at the 2006 New York Machinima Festival (Academy of Machinima Arts and Sciences), for Best Virtual Performance (Custom Animation). Also nominated for Second Life based films in various categories are 'Game Over' (Pierce P), 'Machnima Island' (Richard Gras) and 'Silver Bells and Golden Spurs' (Eric Call). Best of luck guys!

Hyper Pan-Pipe Song Competition

2006-08-31T00:10:00.000+01:00

In May 2006 I ran a song writing competition for the Hyper-Flute, (video here).

In July 2006 I ran a song writing competition for the Hyper-Cello.

So it's got to be time for another one, this time for the Hyper Pan-Pipes, prize money is 5,000L$ for the winner, (this being the money I won in the recent Alt-Zoom film festival which I would like to throw back into the Second Life art scene).

Deadline for submissions is the 17th of September 2006, I hope that you will consider entering?

I have sent the URL link to this page to all the current Hyper-Pipe owners and for anyone else who wishes to enter, here are the details:

To be able to enter you will need to own a Hyper-Instrument, (this does not need to be the pan-pipes, it could be the flute or 'cello, but as the Pan-Pipe will be used to judge the competition this would be best).

The Hyper Pan-Pipes can be bought in world at < Scafell (55, 131, 47) > (SLurl), or from SLEX here, or from SLBoutique here.

Remember, absolutely anyone can write a song, you don't need to able to read music or play an instrument, just have an ear for a good melody and be able to write the note-sequence down in the correct format in a notecard.

Full instructions on how the Hyper-Instruments work can be found here, and loads of help for writing your own songs here.

After the competition, all entries will be available for sharing so this is also a great way to generate more songs for us all to play in our Hyper-Pipes - (and Flutes and Cellos as the scores are interchangeable).

Rules.

1) Closing date for song entries is 17th September 2006.

2) To enter the competition, songs (notecards) should be dropped on the entry-box at the following location. - < Scafell (51, 136, 47) > (SLurl), before the closing date.

3) Song entries should be longer than 30 seconds and must be original music composed by you.

4) Robbie Dingo will judge competition and the judges decision is final.

5) Your entry notecard must include your name and the name of the song. You must be willing to share your song with other Hyper-Instrument owners after the competition has closed. Your entry must load correctly without errors when importing into the HUD.

A good song, for the purpose of judging this competition will be one that is idiomatic of the hyper-pan pipe. That is to say one that has been written specially with THIS instrument in mind and takes into account its features, range and well yes, cope with the timing problems that exist in SL. The winning song should be varied, yet memorable; original, include a strong melody and make use of silence too. For examples of original and strong, effective melodies, sing just about any Beatles tune!

I will go through the entries and announce the winner to all as quickly as I possibly can after the closing date.

Good luck and have fun with it!

RD.

EDIT:
Hyper-PanPipe Song-Writing Competition - Results (Sept 06).

Six excellent entries were submitted into the song writing competition this month (for the Hyper Pan-Pipe in this instance). Once again this was a very hard one to judge, so much so that I have had to call a joint first place (yes, not strictly in rules but both the winning entries stood out for different reasons)...

So.... 2500L$ each to....

A) 'Songs of SLyrinx' by Codalisa Levitt..

T=0.6, 1.6
G1,1.0,D2,G2,T=0.8,As2,T=0.1,*,T=0.8,D3,T=0.5,As2,T=1.3,1.6,A2,A2,*
T=0.6,1.6,G2,1.0,D1,G1,T=0.8,As1,T=0.1,*,T=0.8,D2,T=0.9,A1,T=1.3,1.6,G1,G1,*
T=0.6,G1,1.0,D2,G2,T=0.8,As2,T=0.1,*,T=0.8,D3,T=0.5,As2,T=1.3,1.6,A2,A2,*
T=0.6,1.6,G2,1.0,D1,G1,T=0.8,As1,T=0.1,*,T=0.8,D2,T=0.9,A1,T=1.3,1.6,G1,G1,*,*
T=0.6,1.0,G2,G1,G2,As1,D1,As1,D2,T=0.1,*,T=0.6,As1,D2,1.6,F2,1.0,A2,1.6,F2,*,*
1.0,G2,G1,G2,F2,A2,F2,G2,T=0.1,*,T=0.6,D2,As2,G2,1.6,As2,1.0,G2,1.6,E2,*,*
T=0.6,1.0,G2,G1,G2,As1,D1,As1,D2,T=0.1,*,T=0.6,As1,D2,1.6,F2,1.0,A2,1.6,F2,*,*
1.0,G2,G1,G2,F2,A2,F2,G2,T=0.1,*,T=0.6,D2,As2,G2,1.6,As2,1.0,G2,1.6,E2,*,*
T=0.5,1.0,E1,*,E1,G1,*,G1,As1,T=0.4,G1,T=0.5,As1,Cs2,*,Cs2,*
E1,*,E1,G1,*,G1,As1,T=0.4,G1,T=0.5,As1,Cs2,*,Cs2,*,*
T=1.0,D1,G1,F1,D1,C1,D1,F2,*,*
T=1.2,F1,E1,F1,A1,C2,E2,T=1.5,F2,*,*
END

(Codalisa has such a good ear for a melody that will stick with you!)

B) 'Tapestry' by Jennifer Mahoney..

T=0.8,0.3
Ds2,0.4,Ds2,T=0.7,0.5,As2,0.6,As2,T=0.3,0.7,As2,Ds3,As2,T=0.8,0.8,C3,C3,C3,*,*
T=0.6,0.9,Cs3,Cs3,Cs3,Ds3,1.0,C3,C3,*,T=0.3,*,0.3,As2,T=0.6,G2,F2,T=0.7,0.4,As2,T=0.8,G2,0.5,Ds2,Ds2,*,*
T=0.6,Cs2,C2,As2,G2,Gs2,Gs2,*,*,T=0.5,0.8,Ds3,Cs3,Cs3,Cs3,Cs3,Cs3,*,*,*,*
T=0.6,0.6,C3,C3,C3,Cs3,As2,As2,As2,*,*,0.5,Gs2,Gs2,T=0.4,*,T=0.7,Ds2,Ds3,C3,C3,C3,*,*
T=0.4,0.9,Cs3,Ds3,Cs3,C3,T=0.7,As2,G2,Ds2,T=0.4,C2,F2,T=0.6,Ds2,Ds2,*
0.7,Cs2,C2,As2,Ds2,T=0.5,C2,As1,T=0.6,Gs1,Gs1,*,*
T=1.5,0.6,G1,T=0.6,0.5,F1,G1,T=1.2,0.4,Gs1,T=0.5,*,1.0,Gs2,T=0.6,0.3,Ds2,Ds2,Ds2,*,*
0.4,Ds3,0.4,Cs3,0.5,C3,0.6,Gs2,T=1.5,0.7,Cs2,T=1.7,0.6,Ds2,0.5,Gs2,0.4,Gs2,T=0.6,*
END

(Once again a lovely piece, technically well written, clearly much time has been spent perfecting the subtle detail).

Congratulation to Coda and Jennifer and a big thanks to all that entered, until next time...

(As always the entries have been added to the vendor at Scafell for all to play for free)...

Distant Thunder: Taiko Drums #2

2006-08-25T01:59:00.000+01:00

Animation and Music Sync. Test #1.

An early experiment in attempting to synchronize both the audio and avatar animation(s) ready for a Taiko drum ensemble within Second Life.

(It's close, but a non-steady frame rate is causing timing issues at the moment).

BlipTV version here.
YouTube version here.

Distant Thunder: Taiko Drums #1

2006-08-24T11:41:00.000+01:00

This is a project that I have wanted to bring to life in SL for some time, a Taiko drum ensemble.

Taiko is the Japanese word for 'big-' or 'great- drum', and is a musical instrument whose history goes back to ancient Japan. Taiko is more than just a musical instrument and it involves more than just striking a drum skin. It is also an art, a fusion of movement/rhythm/philosophy and form whose history has been an important part of the everyday lives of the Japanese people for some 2000 years, therefore it is important that we treat it with the greatest respect.

It has gone through an amazing evolution in arriving at the way it is played and used today. For example, it has been played on the battlefields to threaten and frighten and as a form of communication to signal orders. It has also became a familiar sound in daily village life. It has been heard in festivals going way back in history and has been associated with religious celebrations.

Only relatively recently has taiko evolved into a powerful performing art, as seen in this YouTube clip:

Taiko in Second Life.

There are a number of considerations and features that I would like include when bringing a taiko ensemble to Second Life, for example I would like to ensure original, interesting and authentic sounding audio-files are created (written to work sequentially and overlaid to form numerous rhythmic combinations); I would like to include a sense of progression in the musical performance, so that it grows over time; I am keen to include avatar to avatar & avatar to music synchronized animation so that this is a visual experience too;

- all of which means that this will not be a project that is completed quickly, but it is coming...

More to follow

Second Life Stats (Aug 06)

2006-08-11T20:35:00.000+01:00

I noted total SL Resident Numbers back on the 28th June 2006. At that time there were 298,407 residents. By comparison, now there are now 396,651 of us (give or take an alt or two). Therefore 98,244 more residents in only 44 days, an average of 2233 new residents per day! Whoo... crazy.

(Edit: Only a couple of days later the total number exceeds 400K)

An Audience with Suzanne Vega

2006-08-07T00:10:00.000+01:00

On the 3rd of August 2006, Suzanne Vega became the first major recording artist to perform live within a virtual world in avatar form. Suzanne was interviewed by The Infinite Mind's John Hockenberry within Second Life.

This short video tries to catch the moment from the perspective of the audience of avatars who, from their 'armchairs' around the world, shared this moment together, live.

(Embedded YouTube Version here:

Suzanne's Guitar

2006-07-29T17:38:00.000+01:00

In August 2006, Suzanne Vega will become the first major recording artist to perform live in Second Life avatar form. This forms part of a larger project sponsored by The Infinite Mind, a public radio show which has hired Infinite Vision Media to create a permanent presence in Second Life.

I was commissioned by Boliver Oddfellow (CEO, Infinite Visions) to make the Guitar and animation for the Vega avatar (created by Munchflower Zaius).

However, I decided to use this opportunity to also make a short (3 minute) video.

This is Suzanne's Guitar...

[View it here, 21.8Mb lower quality]
[View it here, 54.2Mb mid quality]

(A High Quality, 121.2Mb version is also available upon request).

* Music on the video is Prelude No.2 (V.Lobos), performed (well) by my good friend Steve Bean.

Suzanne Vega will perform live on August 3.

(Edit: embedded YouTube Version now available below:)

(Edit: Suzanne's Guitar is broadcasted as a backdrop on Japanese TV:)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVRQXAlR8zw

Distant Drums

2006-07-16T01:17:00.000+01:00

I find it kinda strange, when you make something (like the for example the Elven Drums I built a while back) and then you 'release it into the wild', cut your ties and it's out there, in the Metaverse doing its own thing. Strange, when you have kinda forgot about it to suddenly stumble across it again in a different setting and you realize that someone, somewhere has been caring for, commenting upon, or simply doing something else with the work you started - when you, the creator didn't know this was taking place. Strange, but nice-strange.

A couple of recent examples spring to mind:

Firstly, this youTube clip of a discussion about Drumcasting technology using my Elven Drums (with Raoul Weiler, Rolando Berger, and Tom Munnecke).

Second, another youTube broadcast, this time a film from the very creative (and often hilarious SL comentator) Pierce.P showing machinima footage of what looks like a very bizarre twilight drum circle. (Great work PP, note to self -have got to try do some work with Pierce if I can at some point).

Little Girl Giant

2006-07-13T20:15:00.000+01:00

So every now and then, along comes a film that is hard to describe. For me this is not one of those. Simply put, it's quite possibly the most beautiful and inspiring video I have ever seen... (view here)

As a World turns

2006-07-12T18:06:00.000+01:00

Much has already been written about the potential for SL (Second Life) to become the mainstream front-end for a more three dimensional web experience. Judging recent actions taken by LL (Linden Lab), the move to open and free registration for example, along with the increase in SLurl links appearing on traditional websites and blogs; this feels like the general direction things are moving.

If we need any more evidence, the word on the street is that if the population of SL continues to grow and if the immigrants continue to settle, laying down roots in the form of virtual land acquisitions, eventually LL will most likely need to extend the Grid beyond which they could personally manage, allowing residents to host their own land on 3rd party or personal servers. When you take a few steps back to look at the BIG picture, this almost seems inevitable, and if LL doesn't someone else probably will, right?

So let's roll with this for a while, not looking at the fine detail but speculating and, using what we know about historical developments with regard to web trends, lets see where this might go, assuming of course that LL retains its advantage over future competition.

First, maybe it kicks off when the population reaches 1 million? (...and they laughed at Noah too). Maybe it takes a major outlet store who wants a piece of that action to come forwards and they negotiate a deal with LL to host a
Sim of their own. Seeing an additional opportunity here they also begin to rent land to their customers; and overtime the ownership of the Grid enters the public domain. Initially 3rd parties continue to offer hosting of SL Sims perhaps, but increased competition, advertising and sponsorship lower monthly rental fees and eventually, just as we have seen with website/blog/video-blog hosting etc., it becomes possible to obtain free Sim-space or to run ones own personal SL server.

(LL adopt a different payment model at this time, possibly one where charges are required to update the Client or through licensing of dedicated Server software?)

The Second Life village/town/country/continent/world, (whatever), becomes big... very big. SL worlds are arranged or naturally migrate into (solar) systems, polarizing around individual themes.

Next, the Client software is absorbed into a browser, (or if at this point LL wanted to be really shrewd, it's the other way around). Either way the 'net' result (excuse the play there) is that browsing the web whilst switching between 2- and 3-D views becomes common place, and hassle free.

Great, so everyone has a huge and open playground, what about content?

There are many analogies that can be draw between the traditional 2-D website model and a 3-D virtual world such as SL, the language is different but some of the concepts are similar: (Internet /Grid; Website/Parcel; URL/Land- mark; Hits/ Dwell or Traffic; Hyper- Link/ Teleport; etc). However the sociable and freely creative side to SL make for distinct differences (the browser/viewer being at any moment a chat room and also the tool for content creation).

Yet putting my inventing and chatting time aside, when I log to explore, the experience of flying over other people's land is like randomized web-surfing. The point I am trying to make is that unlike it's 2-D counterpart I do not currently see SL as an information resource nor do I see an effort to place 'portals' between locations which share a logical relationship - (read Hyperlinks between Web-Pages). The latter is a real shame for me.

However the true currency of SL is its content.

Currently the popularity of one location over another largely comes down to the skill and inventiveness of its Builder. Also at the moment all residents have access to the same compliment of building and scripting tools therefore everyone is able to realize builds of the same standard, at least theoretically. However, if the code for SL were to be open-sourced as occasionally hinted by LL, or if the systems were made modular so that additional plug-ins could be enabled, then we might see an un-leveling of the playing field. This could bring about healthy competition amongst major players and would certainly help to raise the bar when setting standards in quality with respect to builds and more importantly technological innovation.

Open sourcing the code would also allow for greater flexibility and versatility in the application of this technology. However the 'monopoly' assumed above (and I never really gave the make-up of that word much thought 'till now), I mean this large scale adoption of a single system without rival seems unlikely. Alternative, or spin-off systems may well come about, and there are a lot of decisions that LL will need to consider when they do.

In any case, at this time in our theoretical journey the typical reasons currently put forwards by people who do not initially enjoy the SL experience have been addressed through regular updates to the client. For example, the GUI has been made more accessible or has become a HUD - part of the user-content created by the owner of the Sim?; and an optional mode has been provided whereby all the content from a particular Sim could preloaded and cached to let it run more or less entirely on the client - in this option only active scripts and chat are streamed providing an alternative for people who are looking for a more game-based or non-lagy experience.

I wonder?

whisperBox, complete

2006-07-10T21:00:00.000+01:00

whisperBox, my sound-installation for Second Life (as described here) is complete, and as mentioned in the previous blog - here are a couple of screen-shots:

...sounds better than it looks; promise...

(Edit): whisperBox has now been installed in several interesting and high profile venues in SL, including the New Media Consortium's Campus, as shown in the image below:

The NMC also has a 9 minute audio file of the whisperBox in action on their blog entry which does give a taste of the sound, but does not portrey the interactive and spacialised elements to the project, nor does it capture the echos in conversation that this review has picked up upon.

Internet Audio Experiments

2006-07-07T16:27:00.000+01:00

“We have also sound-houses, where we practice and demonstrate all sounds, and their generation…. We have also means to convey sounds in trunks and pipes, in strange lines and distances”. [- Quote: Francis Bacon, in his essay “New Atlantis” (1627)]

In the previous blog I discussed the concept behind a new virtual-world audio installation I wanted to create titled 'whisperBox (a 21st century folk song)'.

It occurs to me that it makes sense to introduce this installation by firstly covering some of my earlier research (prior to work in Second Life) that led me this point.

whisperBox is built for use within Second Life, however I really see this installation as the next logical step from my internet-audio experiments that began back in 2001 when I first started tinkering with 'SoundToys', the audio capabilities of Macromedia's Flash and with SDK's for online 3D game environments. This latest installation now complete, I'll use this blog to briefly show some images of the earlier research and then use the next blog to show images of the latest project 'whisperBox' in action within Second Life.

By way of an introduction to this work, here are some short excepts from an article I wrote back in 2001. The article was first published on the front cover of New Notes, a monthly journal by the SPNM (Society for the Promotion of New Music). Five years on, I find it interesting that now a lot of these earlier observations have now become realities:

(If you are interested only in the latest project, skip to next blog).

Internet Audio Experiments. (Extracts)

Thomas Edison was developing a device that could record, then replay at high speed, telegraph signals when he made the first recording of the human voice (Phonograph, 1877). Elisha Gray, who came a close second to Alexander Graham Bell for the title of inventor of the telephone, instead is known as the inventor of the first of the early electronic musical instruments (Musical Telegraph, 1875). Thaddeus Cahill built the precursor to the synthesizer (Telharmonium, 1906), a remarkable machine capable of not only generating but also broadcasting music to public and private residences using telephone technology.

Despite these close beginnings surrounding the technologies of music and those of telecommunication, the World Wide Web remains largely a quiet ‘place’, often more akin to a public library than an integrated multimedia experience. This is not to say that the Internet is mute, far from it, but the relatively slow speed of data transfer typically encountered has precluded the use of audio files from many websites which would otherwise greatly benefit from musical support.

This said, as technology continues to progress, and there is certainly a desire within the Music Industry to utilize the Internet as a means of music delivery (along with other forms of entertainment), we should expect changes and technological advances to cope with the current obstacles. We have already seen some impressive steps forward, for example the introduction of MP3 (a low-loss audio compression which greatly reduces the size of an audio file whilst maintaining high fidelity). In 1997 MP3.com was founded and offered approximately 3000 compressed songs available for free download. In 1998 it became the leading music site on the Internet and received over three million visitors per month, this of course did not pass unnoticed by the commercial eyes of the Music Industry.

More recently we have witnessed the merging of already giant companies from each end of the Music / Internet Service spectrum... ...We have seen the introduction of new legislation concerning the copyright of digital media and ‘Webcasting’ of music. We are also beginning to see a wide-scale take up of ‘Broadband Internet’ by home users. ‘Broadband’ promises much improved transmission speeds and almost certainly brings us one step closer to interactive television and music broadcasting via the Internet.

In the year 2000, the CA*net3 fiber optic network in Canada became the fastest computer network in the world capable of transmitting all nine symphonies of Beethoven in 0.065 seconds.

I find the idea of sharing new musical works, installations, experiments and instruments which have been specially devised for fast Internet delivery very interesting, yet one that has not really been widely taken up. Interesting, in that here is a medium without commercial obstacles, one that easily allows material which may appeal only to a local minority, to find a larger global audience.

I suppose that it is partly because of this freedom, because of the inherent challenge of creating new works for a new medium which are efficient yet interesting (greater than the sum of the parts), and partly because if the ‘Web’ is to become a more interesting ‘place’, music technologists and composers should perhaps begin to claim a much larger stake. For all of these reasons and for personal development, I have decided to begin tentative research into the current possibilities, and limitations of transmitting a variety of music related applications across computer networks.

The following projects are more or less in chronological order:

First up (and isn't it always the way, still one of my personal favorites) is..

WCM: Wind Chime Marimba. (SWF - size 276k)

An aleatoric music composition for the internet. Notes are triggered when any Note-Object collides with the ‘Trigger-Object’. Amplitude and pan are derived from the X and Y position of each collision. When the collision occurs within the ‘Roll-Area’, a roll sound is activated. ‘Repeat-Object’ is toggled upon contact with the Trigger-Object and creates the effect of an echo. ‘Accel.’ and ‘Rit.’, alter the velocity of the Trigger-Object upon contact and can dramatically affect the
density of the music.

FPP: Flash Player Piano. (SWF size - 272k)

An infinite aleatoric music composition for the internet. Each of the inner sides of the cube represent the different pitches from a six note piano chord. Piano samples (or occasional bass samples) are triggered by the moving spheres which are contained within the 3D space. A leading sample is played and the chord alternates if a sphere collides with another sphere. Amplitude and pan are derived from the X and Y position of each collision. The arrow buttons in the top right corner rotate the cube, whilst playing the composition in real time.

VDS: Virtual Drum Skin. (SWF size - 32k)

A succession of ‘grains’ are dropped upon virtual drum skins of differing tunings to form rhythmic patterns. Parameters such as gravity/attraction, skin tension, number of grains etc. can be user defined. The user can interact with the program exploring the effect upon the musical output.

CLARA: Internet Instrument (SWF size - 52k)

A playable internet instrument based upon the Theremin. Use the mouse to test the instrument - control the on-screen hands, (left hand controls volume, right hand controls pitch). The hand movement can be recorded and replayed. The instrument has a 3 octave range.

PATTERN CHAIN: Internet Instrument (SWF size - 136k)

A playable instrument which generates musical patterns based upon the physical movements of a chain of objects which together simulate the properties of either spring or elastic . The user can initiate a pattern by dragging and releasing an on screen ‘beater’ which is free to perpetually oscillate over the keys of a virtual xylophone. The instrument has a 3 octave range and the resulting patterns can be notated in real time.

Try my Flash based SoundToys here.

Future Directions

“The Internet is at once a world-wide broadcasting capability, a mechanism for information dissemination, and medium for collaboration and interaction between individuals and their computers without regard for geographical location”
[Quote - www.isoc.org/internet/ history (2001)]

The next step that I hope to take is to introduce a two-way communication flow into subsequent projects, either to-and-from a server or more interestingly from user to user. I feel that there is great potential in this area....... An example of this might be an Internet multi-user environment that would allow many people to simultaneously collaborate on, discuss, listen to and interact with a new work as it is being generated...

Sound Emitters in SDK's for 3D Game Engines:

Here, I began to investigate available SDK's for Game Engines, (for example TGE [Torque Game Engine]). With respect to audio in Torque, it appeared to be split into three sections of interest to this research -

[1] GUI Editor - Key elements within the start-up Graphical User Interface can be sonified, [ie. sounds can be attached to buttons and main and sub screens can trigger different audio files]. Also, it would appear that the main game screen can have a superimposed HUD [heads-up display] containing more buttons etc. which can in turn might trigger in-game events (inc. sound).

[2] Scripting - In addition to accessing the source code (C++), Torque includes it own higher level script language (JAVA like) and this can include audio even triggering and control.

[3] World Editor - The bulk of the built in tools are here (including tools for terrain creation and 3d object importing/positioning etc.) and allow for the creation of special objects called 'Audio-Emitters' which can be positioned within a 3d environment and linked to audio-files.

The latter being is quite similar in many respects to research already carried out [in 2d] was therefore the logical place for me start...

However then I discovered the Second Life environment, a much more sociable and exciting place to continue this research.

Next Blog covers 'whisperBox (a 21st century folk song)'.

whisperBox, SL Audio-Installation

2006-07-05T20:28:00.000+01:00

And so, purely by coincidence really I stumble upon the Phoenicia Center for Contemporary Art (formally Phoenicia Gallery), somewhere in the Metaverse . I'm looking around at some rather excellent photographs on the walls by Phil Borges and on noticing that the building has lots of unoccupied space I think, you know this would make a cool place for an audio-installation I've been contemplating for some time. I decide to contact the owner, Victor Newchurch.

Rather than install a traditional sound installation, like one that might be typically found in art galleries, I would like to construct and install a work that is interactive and utilizes SL features that would not be possible or difficult to achieve in real-space.

Victor asked for a proposal, this is what I sent:

Title:

whisperBox, a 21st Century Folk Song? (Audio Installation for Second Life).

Thoughts and Inspirations:

Folk music can be loosely defined as music which is passed on (typically from friend to friend or amongst a community) by performance rather than through a musical score. A quick web search on the definition of Folk Music may also yield the following snippets:

...[Folk Music] in the original sense of the term, is music by and of the people... used and understood by broad segments of a population and especially by the lower socioeconomic classes...

...[Folk Music] belongs to, and is normally shared, evolved, preserved, and performed by the entire community (not by a special class of expert performers), and is transmitted by word of mouth...

...[Folk Music] is normally lacking an identifiable composer...and is an expression of the life of people in a community...

...[Folk Music] is music that has evolved through the process of aural transmission...with its roots in the past but its branches wherever they choose to grow...

It is my intention that 'whisperBox' will draw upon some of these definitions of Folk Music for inspiration, taking some of the points and applying them to a modern, sound-based installation in Second Life.

Realization:

whipserBox will appear as a circle of seven loud speakers, arranged evenly on stands, facing inwards. It will require no more than 20 prims in total.

whisperBox will be sensitively constructed to work within its environment, alongside other visual art rooms for example. Low level audio will not be intrusive. Although not essential, this could be further enhanced by sitting the installation within its own land parcel with land preferences set to restrict audio from bleeding into the next space. Also desirable is that the media preferences for this parcel should not include an audio stream, or possibly the audio stream might point only to a URL containing a short welcome message / introduction that I could provide?

whisperBox will be active/audible only when people are near-by and could be switched on and off by the creator and the owner only.

How it will work:

Although not finalized at the moment, here is a brief indication of the workings -(probably).

The installation will make use of multiple sound emitters, linked, synchronized and working in unison.

When the installation is active it will listen for conversation from near-by avatars. If detected, it will pick out certain words and/or letters from their chat and interpret these as different pitches for short percussive sounds which will be distributed as looped patterns of notes and rests across the seven speakers. The pattern created will be directly influenced by local conversation in real time. It will be in 7/8 time, (which is a fairly irregular time-signature) so that looping will not become too obvious or repetitive.

Additionally, over time when an avatar enters the circle of speakers they will also begin to hear feint whispering sounds, (and the installation will begin to store short snippets of their conversation, comments they might be making or individual words they are saying to generate musical patterns; this will occur in the background without their noticing). If they dwell for long enough (which I hope they will), very feint, mostly transparent text will gradually appear around the speakers showing the conversation, comments or words said by previous visitors to the installation; this almost as if they can hear the subtle echo of an earlier moment in time. Many comments will come, and go.

So now just to build the thing, result -next blog...

Hyper Instrument Keyboard Link!

2006-06-28T23:17:00.000+01:00

Wow. Now this I do find interesting, and if you are are a SL musician I think you will also.

Today I was approached by Foolish Frost who played to me a short piece of music on the Hyper-Flute I made for Second Life. As well as playing back note-sequences stored in a notecard, the instrument can also be played in real-time via mouse and HUD; and Foolish was also playing in real-time, but with a significant difference...

Foolish Frost and Botany Black have inventively created an external piece of software that will allow the hyper-instruments (currently flute and 'cello) to be played via your computer's (QWERTY) keyboard; something that is not currently possible with the current array of LSL functions.

We invite all Hyper-Instrument owners to try this out.

Here's how to do it, the set-up is very easy.

Firstly, you need to obtain the Hyper Instrument Keyboard Link software. At the moment this can be downloaded for free HERE, and works on PC's only. (Its only 264KB; a few seconds to download).

Second, you set-up the Hyper-Instrument in SL as normal (making sure that the HUD is not obscured by anything) and then run the external Keyboard Link software.

The software will cause your Second Life window to maximize on the desktop and ask you to click the upper left and lower right corners of the Hyper Instrument's HUD, (If you mis-align the HUD you can hit Esc and re-run the program to reset the placement).

That's it - You can now use the following keys to play the instrument!

23 567 89
QWERTYUIOP
SD GHJ
ZXCVBNML

When you are finished, hit Esc to end the external program.

This is exactly the sort of thing that holds me in Second Life, the coming together of strangers to make something happen, thanks Foolish and Botany.

Second Life Stats

2006-06-28T20:25:00.000+01:00

On Wednesday 28th June 2006, either:

A) This resident is doing some serious spending?
B) Recent changes in open registration et al, has caused more of an impact than had been expected? or
C) The 1.10.5.1 grid has just re-opened?

You decide...

Composing with Hyper-Instruments(#2)

2006-06-28T12:58:00.000+01:00

In this blog entry I will explain the easy-to-use Notecard notation system used with the Hyper-Instruments (1, 2) I have made for use within Second Life.

The previous blog entry covered the Set-Up and Interface/HUD.

As with anything is SL, exact timing is very difficult to achieve. For this reason slow, haunting melodies will work better than fast and mechanical songs; this is also why I have chosen the Flute and the Cello as the first Hyper-Instruments rather than say a piano, where loose timing might be much more apparent.

Composing using a Notecard...

The Composer Editions of the Hyper-Instruments allow you to store, load and playback a sequence of musical notes and durations (+ settings for tempo and loudness and credits) in a notecard. Although you do not need to be able to read music in order to to do this, it will help to have an understanding of my simple Notation System.

In short, musical notes are defined by their pitch, their duration and their loudness. However, in my notation system, I have decided that it would be quicker (usually) to specify a tempo and loudness up-front (eg. in this section of my song, each note will be loud and will last for 0.5 of a second), and then change these settings when you want; rather than specify the duration and loudness of every single note.

The easiest way to pick this up for the traditionally non-musical person, would be to experiment, playing the instrument in real-time via the HUD; once you are happy with a simple song or phrase, write down the order of notes you have played (using the key labels on each note) and how long (in seconds) each note should be held.

For those with a more musical background the following charts might be useful.

(or if you prefer to work with MIDI numbers, as shown here):

Therefore, a simple rising scale of notes, can be expressed in a notecard like this:

-------------

T=0.6, 0.8
C1, D1, E1, F1, G1, A1, B1, C2
END

------------

Where:

T=0.6 (means a tempo of 0.6 seconds will be used for all notes).
0.8 (means a loudness of 0.8 out of 1.0, quite loud will be used for all notes).
C1, D1, E1, F1, G1, A1, B1, C2 (is the sequence of notes, a C Maj. scale)
END (Defines the end of the sequence, optional if no other text is below).

This, might be written in Western Common Music notation like this:

Often it is quicker and easier to list multiple versions of the same note to change durations, rather than change the tempo, for example:

-------------
This :-

T=0.6, 0.8
C1, C1, E1, F1, G1, G1, C2, C2
END

Is neater perhaps than this :-

T=0.6, 0.8
T=1.2, C1, T=0.6, E1, F1, T=1.2, G1, C2, C2
END

(Although they both would produce the same musical result).

------------

In Western Common Music notation both of the above could be written like this:

Rests, (silent notes) are written with an asterix (*).

For example:

-------------

T=0.6, 0.8
C1, C1, *, F1, *, *, C2, *
END

-------------

In Western Common Music notation, like this:

With respect to loudness, values can be anything greater than 0 and less than or equal to 1 and should appear before a note.

Volume/loudness instructions should be written like this:

0.1 - (this means use a volume of 0.1 which will be very quiet, 0.01 is quieter still)

1.0 - (this means use a volume of 1.0 which is the maximum loudness possible)

NOTE: Volume changes do not take any time to occur (theoretically). For example, consider these two items:-

1.0, C2 - (ie. A instruction to set full Volume, followed by note C2, will both be read and executed at the same time).

Therefore, as a further example,

1.0, C3,*,*,*,0.1,C1,*,*,*

...this will result in a loud high note, silence, then a quiet low note, followed by silence.
(or, for the more musically trained this would take place over 8 beats, or 2 bars of 4/4 perhaps?)

Changes in loudness can make more expressive passages and can occur dynamically, ie. whilst a note is being played. A score should not include successive volume items however (this would be meaningless in any case).

For example, here note C2 will get louder over time (crescendo), then fall back to silence (diminuendo):-

T=0.8
0.1, C2, 0.2, C2, 0.4, C2, 0.6, C2, 0.8, C2, 1.0, C2
1.0, C2, 0.8, C2, 0.6, C2, 0.4, C2, 0.2, C2, 0.1, C2, *
END

In Western Common Music notation, like this perhaps:

Further Detailed Instructions and Tips...

1) GENERAL AND CREDITS.

The first line should be reserved for the Title of the song and Composer or Arranger name only.

Be careful not to leave any Blanks or spaces at the end of lines.
Lines should not be longer than 255 characters in total (if they are they will be truncated).

Items on any line should be separated by commas, no comma is needed at the end of a line.

Unfortunately (due to SL script memory limitations) scores can not be longer that 270 items (if they are they will be truncated).

At the end of a Score use the word "END" on its own line.

If you get Stack-Heap errors you may have to reset all scripts in the HUD.

When you name a Notecard, dont use more than 24 characters!
(The title of the song on line 1 however can be much longer)

2) TEMPO - setting the speed/pace of the song.

Tempo/Timer instructions should be written like this for example:-

T=0.6 - (this means use a timer value of 0.6 seconds per note item, ie. a smaller value = a faster tempo)

If you do not set a tempo at all, T=0.5 will be used.
Tempo/Timer instructions can appear anywhere in a score, this way you can change the speed part way through a song if you want.

Tempo/Timer values faster than T=0.3 are allowed, but are not advised an may cause timing errors.
Tempo/Timer values slower than T=2.0 are allowed, but are of course very slow.

3) MUSICAL NOTES & RESTS

Notes can be written using the following notation :- (listed here from low to high)

C1 - (ie. play note 'C' in the first octave, 1 octave below middle C, this is the lowest note)
Cs1 - (ie. play note 'C sharp')
D1 - (etc, etc,)
Ds1
E1
F1
Fs1
G1
Gs1
A1
As1
B1
C2 - (middle C)
Cs2
D2
Ds2
E2
F2
Fs2
G2
Gs2
A2
As2
B2
C3 - (ie. play note 'C' in the third octave, 1 octave above middle C)
Cs3
D3
Ds3
E3
F3 - (ie. the highest note)

Don't forget silence! "It's the bits between the notes that make a song!"

Rests (or silent notes if you prefer) are written with an asterix.

4) ARTICULATION

A long note could be written like this:-

C1, C1, C1, C1

and a more characterful long note might be written like this:-

T=0.3, C1, C1, *, C1, C1, *, C1, C1, *, C1, C1, *

5) VOLUME & DYNAMICS

Volume changes do not take any time to occur (theoretically). For example, consider these two items:-

1.0, C2 - (ie. A instruction to set full Volume, followed by note C2, will both be read at the same time).

Changes in loudness can make more expressive passages and can occur dynamically, ie. whilst a note is being played. A score should not include successive volume items.

Composing with Hyper-Instruments(#1)

2006-06-28T01:02:00.000+01:00

Over the next two blog entries I will discuss in depth the Hyper-Instruments (1, 2) I have made for use within Second Life including their set-up, interface/HUD and composing system.

Quick Set-Up...

1) Choose WEAR on the Hyper-Instrument directly from your inventory. Don't just choose attach; the instrument will be attached to your AV in the correct place.

2) Choose WEAR on the Hyper-Instrument's HUD directly from your inventory. Again, don't just choose attach; the HUD will be attached to the top-center position of your camera / screen.

3) Touch the small green button at the bottom of the HUD to expand and show the full HUD. Make sure you are not in edit mode.

The Interface / HUD, (what do all those buttons do?)...

As there are differences in Avatar models in SL, when you WEAR the HUD attachment you will be asked to specify if your AV is using the Male or Female model, this will set the right animations to use when the instrument is played.

• Expand / Collapse the HUD:

Single click here to open the HUD to full view, or to fold it away so it does not take up too much screen view.

• Pre-Load Soundfiles:

This feature will take about 1 minute and during this time your instrument and all buttons will not be accessible, however it is recommended that you Pre-load soundfiles (on your client and others around you) before you play the instrument; either in real-time play or automatic playback via notecards.

Basically single-clicking this button will load all the soundfiles ready for immediate playback when needed, if you choose not to do this, a short soundfile (and 1 for each note) will need to be loaded when you initially trigger a note, the effect is sluggish and laggy action until all the soundfiles have been loaded.

(Tip: When you Pre-load soundfiles you will also pre-load them on any nearby Avatars also, however of course if another AV subsequently comes within range, they will not have the sound pre-loaded and as such may well experience sluggish performance of songs).

• Toggle Sustain:

For use in real-time play on the HUD keyboard only, toggles ON/OFF if notes will sustain (stay on) when you click and release a note or if you will need to hold the mouse button down to sustain a note. This is useful depending upon the type of song you are playing, if you generally want silence between the notes (rather than legato) you might want to turn this off and manually release notes with your mouse button.

(Tip: if you have this sustain feature ON, default setting, clicking anywhere on the top, black section of the HUD, or re-clicking the same key will stop a note from playing, so you can manually over-ride a sustain).

• Change Loudness:

For use in real-time play on the HUD keyboard only, these three buttons can be used to change the loudness of the instrument; left to right, loud to quiet. Default setting is loud.

(Tip: You can change loudness settings whilst notes are sustaining for crescendo / diminuendo (get louder / get quieter) phrases).

• Load Notecard:

Single clicking this button will open a dialog menu (top right of screen) listing the names of any scores you have with the contents of the HUD. Choosing a song from the menu will load that song (a song is a sequence of note pitches and durations and settings for tempo and loudness) into the HUD. The loading process will also perform checks for typical errors in the notation and will report back (to you only) progress and when the complete song is ready to playback.

(Tip: make sure that the name of ANY of the notecards / songs in the HUD are not longer that 24 characters in length, otherwise the dialog will not appear at all).

• Play the Loaded Notecard Score:

As long as a notecard / songs has been loaded into the HUD, single clicking this button will automatically animate your AV, and play back the song (also the song credits, name and composer stored in the notecard will be announced). A second click will stop the animation and the song playback.

• Keyboard for Real-Time play:

You can use the 2 1/2 octave (30 note) keyboard to play the instrument in real-time. Depending upon the sustain setting (see above) your avatar will also be animated either when a note has been clicked and released (sustain ON) or only when the mouse button is held down on a note (sustain OFF).

OK so how do I wirte a song?...

In the next blog entry I will offer an explaination of the easy to use Notecard notation system (used to store and play-back songs on the Hyper-Instruments) and will also highlight some typical compositional strategies.

Hyper-Cello Song Competition

2006-06-27T02:48:00.000+01:00

Today I have launched a Second-Life Song Writing Competition for the Hyper-Cello, prize money is 10,000L$ for the winner.

I have sent Notecards with the rules to all current Hyper-Cello owners, but for anyone else who might be interested in entering the competition, here are details:

To be able to enter you will need to own a Hyper-Cello.

The Hyper-Cello can be bought in world at < Scafell (30, 149, 49) > (SLurl).

Following the successful song writing competition I hosted (May 2006) for the Hyper-Flute I have decided to host another competition, only this time for the Hyper-Cello, and I hope that you will consider entering?

Remember, absolutely anyone can write a song, you don't need to able to read music or play an instrument, just have an ear for a good melody and be able to write the note-sequence down in the correct format in a notecard (as per the instructions included in the instrument HUD) - It's free to enter and the prize money is 10,000 L$ for the winner!

The winning entry from the previous flute song writing competition can be heard in the video here

After the competition, all entries will be available for sharing so this is also a great way to generate more songs for us all to play in our Cellos - (and Flutes as the scores are interchangeable).

Rules.

1) Closing date for song entries is 15th July 2006. If you are thinking of entering please let me know so I keep a check on likely numbers.

2) To enter the competition, songs (notecards) should be dropped on the entry-box at the following location. - < Scafell (31, 146, 49)> (SLurl), before the closing date.

3) Song entries should be longer than 30 seconds and must be original music composed by you.

4) Robbie Dingo will judge competition and the judges decision is final.

5) Your entry notecard must include your name and the name of the song. You must be willing to share your song with other Hyper-Instrument owners after the competition has closed. Your entry must load correctly without errors when importing into the HUD.

A good song, for the purpose of judging this competition will be one that is idiomatic of the hyper-cello. That is to say one that has been written specially with THIS instrument in mind and takes into account its features, range and well yes, cope with the timing problems that exist in SL. The winning song should be varied, yet memorable; original, include a strong melody and make use of silence too. For examples of original and strong, effective melodies, sing just about any Beatles tune! The winning entry from the previous flute song writing competition can be heard in the video here.

I will go through the entries and announce the winner to all as quickly as I possibly can after the closing date.

Good luck and have fun with it!

RD.

EDIT:
Hyper-Cello Song-Writing Competition - Results (July 06).

4 entries received, in no particular order:

Rene Undertone, 'Java Morning'
Kagami Muromachi, 'Lakeside Reflections'
Jennifer Mahoney, 'Reflection on Mill Pond'
Codalisa Levitt, 'An Eroglance'

My thanks goes out to Rene, Kagami, Jennifer and Codalisa for their time and effort. I am so pleased that you entered your songs in this competition and that they will now be made available for free in the sharing vendor for others to hear your work. If you own a Hyper-Cello (or even a Flute as these songs will play on all the Hyper-Instruments) I urge you to go pick up the scores and play these songs.

Before I announce the winner of the 10,000L$ prize, I would like to offer a short review/summary of the 4 pieces...

As before, again it was a difficult decision to make as all the entries were really well implemented for the 'cello. In my opinion, 'Lakeside Reflections' and 'Java Morning' are almost at opposite sides of the spectrum to one another, the former uses a very low, moody, flowing and continuous theme with very few pauses and the latter sits more in the mid range of the cello and plays with few notes and well positioned pauses. Both are really quite effective.

With respect to 'Reflections on Mill Pond' and An 'Eroglance', it is very clear that both Jennifer and Codalisa have spent much time reflecting and perfecting and these songs, and they both really feel like they were written specifically for the Hyper-Cello. Without doubt Jennifer's song is technically more involved, and a quick glance at the score shows that she has given consideration to the loudness dynamic of nearly every phrase - it's a great work Jennifer! On the other hand Eroglance just 'sings' on the cello and the intro. theme (which is repeated twice at the start) sticks with you immediately. The interval jumps on the second line and throughout are beautiful.

Jennifer and Codalisa's songs were so hard to choose between, but as I have to do this..... An Eroglance wins, congratulations Codalisa (10K L$ coming your way now), and Jennifer, please take your pick of any instrument or instruments in my vendor as a runner up prize, whatever you want, it's yours.

Thanks to all 4 song-writers.... until the next time.

Here is the full score for An Eroglance:
(Plus a programme note, Codalisa hope you don't mind me including this also?)

An Eroglance by Codalisa Levitt
T=0.4,0.4
D1,T=0.3,E2,F2,T=1.0,D2,D2,T=0.3,A1,T=0.4,D1,T=0.3 ,E2,F2,T=1.0,D2,D2,*
T=0.4,D1,T=0.3,D2,E2,T=1.5,C2,T=0.4,G1,D1,D2,E2,T= 1.2,C2,*
T=0.7,0.3,C2,C2,T=1.5,B1,T=0.4,B1,E1,B1,T=1.2,A1,*
T=0.7,0.3,C2,C2,T=0.4,B1,B1,T=0.6,E2,T=0.3,0.2,B1, T=1.2,A1,*
T=0.4,F1,As1,*,As2,Cs2,F2,*,F1,F1,G1,G1,B1,T=1.5,D 1,*
T=0.5,0.5,C1,G1,F3,Ds3,D3,T=1.0,0.4,B2,B2,D2,*
T=0.5,0.3,F1,A2,F3,D3,E3,C3,C3,T=1.0,E3,E3,*
T=0.5,D1,A1,E2,G2,E2,Fs2,D2,A1,0.5,F1,F1,*
D2,B2,G2,D2,C2,B1,Ds2,0.4,E2,E2,*
E2,B1,G1,0.4,E1,C1,B1,0.3,Ds1,T=1.8,E1,0.2,E1,*,*
END

This song is about the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydices. It begins with the two of them having the permission to leave Hades. She is happy that she can go with him, her true love. Then there is the reminder, the qualifier of the deal, to not look at one another until out of Hades. And of course Orpheus looks, and poof, Eurydices is stuck in Hades for keeps. So there is that sorrow there and that is what the Eroglance is. I called it the Eroglance. It is like the romances in Second Life I believe. They are good until someone is tempted to look as in knowing too much real life.

Hyper-Flute (Demo)

2006-06-24T22:17:00.000+01:00

Before I go ahead and set-up the Hyper-Cello song writing competition, I have decided to put together a short demonstration video of the Hyper-Flute, both to show the range of possibilities with these instruments and also to capture the winning song from the previous competition (held May 2006).

This video shows my avatar playing (at the New Globe Theater) a short composition titled 'Celestial' which was written by Second Life resident Amillia Case.

Watch the Video

Although there are post-production edits in the video, the soundtrack was captured directly from Second Life and is exactly as the Hyper-Flute sounds when played; no additional reverb or other audio editing has been employed..

A Surprise Prize. (Film #2)

2006-06-23T16:28:00.000+01:00

Arriving back from a weeks holiday to find that the Film 'STAGE' wins ('Best Film') in the June Alt-Zoom festival!

This was even more surprising after seeing the fantastic line up of the other 24 entrants, which can all be viewed here.

Here was the line up:

Stage, by Robbie Dingo, (Best Film)
A Whale of a Tale, by AngryBeth Shortbread, (Best Story)
NMC in Second Life, directed by Pierce Portocarrero, (Best Cinematography)
A Little Problem, by Otis Pertwee, (Best Editing)
Flexitail, by Beatfox Xevious, (Technical Accomplishment)
Racetrack, by RacerX Gullwing
The Trouble with Goblin Engineering, by Tuber Potato
Suddener Fights, by Sandro Melnitz
A Community That Cares, by Moo Money
MachiniHUD2, by Spin Martin
Hot Date, by Rob Danton
At The Red Carpet, by Tao Takashi
Tales from Susi's Mountain Gallery - Episode 1, by Susi Spicoli
Agent Smith Beta, by Joseph Montagne
Bio of a Duo, by Moebius Overdrive
Base Jumping, by Digi Vox
Bang Bang, by Melonie Giles
Dynamite, by Vikkie Christianson
Dark Night of the Soul, by Aces Spade
Everything is Transformable CC Remix, by In Kenzo
Rocket Riding, by Susi Spicoli
GothBurgh Castle, by Insky Jedburgh
Regina Spektor Party, by RacerX Gullwing
Meeky Rosie This, by Clames Clanger

Anyways, I have decided that the prize money (of L$10,000 or c. US$29.50 / GB£16.21, if floated) will now be re-depoyed as prize money for the next SL song-wring competition I am planning to run soon very soon, (Thanks Alt-Zoom, MooMoney and Buh Buh Kuh Fairchild).

Last time I ran the competition it was for the Hyper-Flute.

This time it will be for the Hyper-Cello.

Finished! (Film #2)

2006-06-12T16:51:00.000+01:00

The film is complete:

(Still not happy with some of the jerky movements in the slow camera pans, but hey).

YouTube link to the Film here.

Time for a holiday.

Filming Ends - Storyboard. (Film #2)

2006-06-10T16:46:00.000+01:00

I now have all the movie files I think I need to put the film together, (and yes some of the shots are not as smooth as I would have hoped for due to frame skipping as mentioned in the previous post). I used a hand drawn story-board to work against whilst capturing the footage, but now that the footage has been obtained I have put together a more accurate story-board:

Briefly, the story unfolds as follows:

Line 1: Titles; Young Boy#1 (c. 5 yrs old, the son) playing with a toy train set; Middle aged Father#1 playing piano;

Line 2: Various shots of Father#1 playing piano, there are two piano stools;

Line 3: Boy#1 joins Father#1 at piano, they play a duet;

Line 4: This section portrays both Boy#1 and Father#1 aging (Boy#1 now c. 30 Father#1 now c. 75);

Line 5: Father#1 'exits' through a fade-away leaving Boy#1 playing alone; Also a reminder of the train set;

Line 6: Various shots of Boy#1 playing piano; Then Boy#1 (now called Father#2) is joined by Boy#2 (his son, c. 5 yrs old).

Line 7: Various shots of Boy#2 and Father#2 at piano, duet again, some distance shots fading to black;

Line 8: End scene, Father#2 and Boy#2 close up of faces as they turn to face each other; End Credits.

With everything in place, the editing process begins...

Filming Starts. (Film #2)

2006-06-01T09:39:00.000+01:00

A whilst since I posted here, been busy though. The music for the film is complete now (a 3 minute piece for two people at the same piano), and filming has started.

There is definitely something askew with the Mac client for Second Life (I'm assuming that this does not apply to the PC version?). It stalls/skips a frame or two once every three seconds or so, regular as clockwork. At first I thought it was due to my relatively slow broadband connection (0.5Mb) but the skipping of frames also occurs with things that happen client-side only, even when I disconnect and leave SL running. This is so annoying I very nearly decided to give this project up.

However, I have decided to carry on (although I know those frame jumps will bug me throughout the filming process and even more so once the film is done), oh well...

Alt-Zoom's machinima film festival is looming and as it's good to have a deadline to work to, I have decided to use their date for submissions as a target date to complete the project. Co-incidently the Alt-Zoom theme for this month is 'Biography' which my film will fit well.

The film is (going to be) titled 'STAGE', referring to - A) the set looking a little like a stage; B) a reflection on the stage-s of life; and C) inspiration taken from the following:

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,

(from As You Like It 2/7, Shakespeare)

So..... back to the filming...

Avatar Faces (+ Ageing). (Film #2)

2006-05-22T01:53:00.000+01:00

Its been a fairly long learning progress, but I'm now happy with the Avatar face(s) for the central character(s).

As previously mentioned, for this film I want to include a convincing ageing process, from c. 5 to 80 years.

The process involved firstly taking front and side digital images of both my face (middle, below) and my eldest son's (far left, below) who is 5. The images were stretched and treated to fit the face template for the SL Avatar. Next, the images now looking like a flat pieces of skin were morphed (using Morphage software for the Mac) to provide a 'tweened' image at the mid-point, somewhere between the two faces (second from the left, below). Finally to obtain the final two steps (right, below), I repeated this process, only this time crossing my face with a found image (from a painted self portrait) of a very old man. These final two morphs never reached the full-morph stage thus retaining a resemblance to the central face (a bit scary really!).

In turn, all five images were wrapped onto the SL Avatar and many subtle adjustments were made to the face and body shape parameters (inc. hair style and colour) to provide five Avatar appearance profiles.

With this big step now complete, the final stage in character development will be the sourcing and making of the clothing... Oh, and I now have a title for this film, but I'm going to save that for another blog entry.

Character Development. (Film #2)

2006-05-12T13:43:00.000+01:00

OK so now I'm starting to think about the central characters and their appearance. It is very important to the success of this film that I get the characterisation right, we will need to believe in the relationships between the characters. Adding to this, at some point in the film I need to portray a convincing aging process. To be honest this is the part of this project that worries me the most as I have not really done any of this work before. I contemplated sub-contracting this part of the project to another resident skilled in Avatar design, but I have now concluded that it will be difficult to explain such a key aspect to a third party and the cost and timeframe involved will not weigh-up.

So, here we go, I have managed to obtain some excellent detailed templates for the SL avatar from Robin (Sojourner) Wood. Below is an example picture of Robin's 'UV-Suit', a set of templates worn directly on my avatar. Over the course of the next few Blog entries I hope to show the steps and stages in making the key characters.

Setting the Scene, 'PROPS'. (Film #2)

2006-05-10T09:13:00.000+01:00

Other than the piano and spotlights, at the moment I think there will only be two other props required for this film. Possibly a hat, which I will create at the same time that I am building the characters (if it looks right), and finally a toy train set (clockwork, shown below). The process I will adopt is to make the props in a general way, then edit them later if they need more functionality or other changes. This model uses very simple (but smooth) client-side rotation scripts to move the train around a circular track and to turn the wind-up key on the side:

Setting the Scene, 'LIGHTS'. (Film #2)

2006-05-07T15:43:00.000+01:00

I have now begun work on planning and building the set and props for the next film. As I want to focus the viewer's attention on the central characters (and their faces), I want the set to remain very minimal but want to carefully consider the lighting of the set. I have constructed a 30 x 30 x 10m enclosed black box 600m up in the air, above the clouds. In the center of this room I have also constructed a grand piano prop (which will be very key to the story).

Additionally, basic replicas of the piano and stool models have also been constructed within a basic ray-tracing 3d App where I have captured the floor lighting and shadows cast from two spotlights (one red and one blue). The light and shadows on the floor have been rendered, exported as a large image and then cut into 9 (512 x 512 pxl.) square sections using Photoshop. These 9 textures have finally been imported into SL and mapped to the 9 floor sections of the set. Care was taken to scale the props (both in SL and in the external 3d App) in such a way that the fake light and shadows appear fairly convincing within the Second Life set.

Adding to this, I have also positioned two dummy spotlights in the set (as shown above) and further reinforced the illusion that these are real light sources by extending semi-transparent cone shapes to produce a glowing effect (as shown below); soon I hope to extend the red and blue spot-lighting effect to the avatar face and body by utilising the hardware lighting currently only available in the preview release of Second Life.

Initial Thoughts. (Machinima Film #2)

2006-05-02T21:02:00.000+01:00

Now that 'Better Life' (Machinima Film #1) is complete, it's time to start thinking about the next film. My normal work calendar is just about to hit a hectic spot and so I imagine this project will run for a while.

Here are some of my initial thoughts and considerations, followed by a rough plan of action:

Story-Line: A circular story, reflecting upon stages of life, growing older and passing on roles.

Characters: I would like to place more of an emphasis on the avatar appearance and face in this next film and I would like there to be more than one central character if possible; although more than two plus a camera-man may present problems.

Location: Again, I plan to use Second Life as a setting. SL appears to be optimised for PC's, and as I run a Mac (1.67 GHz G4 Powerbook) with a slow connection (0.5 Mbps), lag and unstable frame rates are a real issue. The majority of 'Better Life' was set inside a 20 x 20 x 10m black box floating just below the cloud-line some 50m up in the air, and as the next release (v.1.9.1) of the Second Life viewer promises improvements in frame-rate through occlusion culling (basically not rendering objects that are blocked from view), it would be sensible to once again focus on a story that can be set inside some form of structure or room. Also the next release includes hardware lighting features that might be worth exploring.

Music: Again, I would like music to be given a high priority. This time however I would like to use music that I have composed and produced myself specially for this production. I would like to compose the music before any filming takes place although after I have a good idea of the of the set, props, effects and the appearance of the characters - allowing more opportunities to integrate the music into the film more fully.

Planning - Order of Events:

Design and Build Set and Props
Design and Develop Key Characters
Explore any Special Effects
Develop Musical Themes (Draft)
Finalise Story and Create the Story-Board
Compose Music
Filming
Editing and Post-Production

Better Life. (Machinima Film #1)

2006-05-01T01:16:00.000+01:00

'Better Life' was my first attempt at making a machinima film; or any film come to that. Shot entirely in Second Life the only post production processes I used were in the cross-fading of scenes, addition of the soundtrack and the end credits.

I was inspired to make this film after seeing the 'Silver Bells and Golden Spurs' movie by Eric (Linden) Call, (Snr. Artist, Linden Lab). Really I just wanted to see if I could do it, and wanted to find out what would be involved in taking a project such as this through to the end.

The film plays much like a music video and tells a tale of one man's escapism and search for a 'better place' in a virtual world.

Having first identified the music I wanted to use and decided upon the general story line, I created the props and story-boarded the whole film using a series of in-world snapshots. This allowed me to get a view of the pace, continuity and balance of the film before committing to any filming.

I was surprised by how much this felt like making a real world film, moving the actor and 'camera man' (my alternative avatar) into position, checking the lighting and at times having to wait for things not directly under my control to be right, the cloud density for example. Second Life is a great platform and backdrop for this type of movie, you need a prop or effect?, so you make it...

At the heart of this project is a great soundtrack. In my real life I work as a composer and so although I did not write the music in this instance, choosing the right music for this project was a very important initial consideration and provided a good framework for timing. The song (also titled 'Better Life') was written and performed by one of my best friend's band 'Angry Man', based in the UK.

Edit: 'Better Life' has just been released as an iTunes Podcast, here