Monday 22 June 2009

Changes with the new client

Not that posting anything on a Jira report will ever mean it gets fixed, it at least gives me a minor place to vent about the idiotic changes to the pie menu that have been put in with client release 1.23.

Please consider voting here:
https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/VWR-13320

To try and have the interface menu returned to the format that it's been in for over three years.

Wednesday 17 June 2009

The Fictional Influences for the character of Edward Pearse

Jumping on the meme bandwagon I've added some information about the fictional influences behind Edward Pearse. While Edward is not a full RP character there are elements about him that were influenced but other ideas. He didn't turn out to be quite the rogue that he was intended to be, but then there's still scope to change that :-)

Name. His name came from The Great Train Robbery. A novel and movie full of the dealings of ne'er do wells in Victorian London.


A little bit of malice from Doctor Who's The Master. Admittedly the Derek Jacobi mad scientist wasn't around when Edward started but the idea has crept in.


A healthy dose of Phileas Fogg from The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne. The visual in this series were great even if the stories were usually pretty lame.


And there's been some discussion recently about what sort of voice you imagine your AV to have. While Edward is a Scotsman he's not Billy Connolly (or David Tennant for that matter.) I imagine his voice as something more like another Scot - Ian Richardson.

Tuesday 16 June 2009

Happy 2nd Anniversary

Two years ago today we stood together in a chapel high above Loch Avie.



Through house moves and sim closures, wars and invasions, and battling the time-zone vexatioun she has stood by my side. Sometimes with a look of pride, others with a look of long sufferance.



You've indulged my interest in vehicles and gadgets and explored with me when lag made it hard for you to even walk.

Thank you Christine for making me a very happy man and for being by my side.

Friday 12 June 2009

The shiny end of steampunk

So many people have this idea that steampunk needs to be dirty and sooty and grubby. But no! There is hope!

Having admired the interior of the Crossness Pumping Station for so long, when I was asked to build a Ballroom for the Edison sim I decided to bite the bullet and use the photos from the Station to make some wonderful textures.



Shiny!

Monday 8 June 2009

Building persuits.

My first build was my first shop in Caledon Victoria City. I was just starting out with very little understanding of Photoshop and two NCI build classes. Yet even then I'd wanted to try and build something that had the right flavour of the period.


The only picture I have of my first shop. November 2006 in Victoria City.

I took photos of surviving shop fronts in my local city, made them into textures and built things like the recessed shop door into the front of the building.

Since then my building skill and my Photoshop knowledge have grown considerably. But I'm still an experimental builder. I build by feel, looking at a range of textures, putting pieces in, taking them out again until it clicks into place and feels "right".

I've built things for other people since then, notably the Radio Riel Head Office or the The Clarendon in New Babbage or my replacement shops for Victoria City and New Babbage. Friends will tell you your buildings are great because friends usually like your stuff anyway. But when someone you barely know approaches you with a building commission because they like what you've done it does boost the ego somewhat.

The Primgraph Press now has offices in Caledon Glengarry. My first official commission for something I wasn't directly involved with (well OK I've written for the Primgraph but I'm not a staff writer or anything).


The layout is based on the Oxford Press at the University of Oxford


The Courtyard sans shrubberies.


Rows of offices for the staff. Though I should probably install rabbit hutches and stack them in in shelves rather than individual offices.


It's a little spartan at the moment but once the staff move in it will look a lot more lived in. They might even get an actual printing press installed :-)

Fuzzday Celebrations

Friday night was the RL birthday of the typist behind Steelhead's favourite Sheriff Fuzzball Ortega.


Fuzz in his shiny new DJ booth.


Revellers aboard The Jolly Pigeon.


Me in my RoboFuzz outfit with Christine, with Fuzz's sister Angelica in the background.


Dancers all over the ship. Like barnacles :-)