I read some stories with Crap Mariner, Derry McMahon and Elder Priestman at West of Ireland today. Crap and I double teamed two stories with Derry providing the voice for the lady of one of those stories. We read ‘Hearts and Hands’ and ‘Roses, Ruses, and Romance’ by O Henry.
I restarted making the statue leg in Blender. As I go I learn new things or make a mistake, and I find that it is many times easier to start again than to fit what I already have.
For instance I learned how to “cut” a box into several pieces so you can make individual bits all using the same base sculpted object. If you can see it in the picture I made each section separate, but they are actually connected with a tiny strand. The stand should be invisible in SL.
What you see in the picture will become the toes and part of the foot. I’ll need several more pieces like this to make each of the parts. Then in SL they can be linked together to make the whole.
Just now I had a scary moment when I thought I forgot to make the correct amount of pieces for the toe, then I remembered it is a four-toed statue.
To decorate Turtle Beach for winter I ventured out to make my first real Second Life building project. I wanted to make an icy, snowy creature rising from the sea and climbing onto the beach. While it looks nothing like I originally intended, I am really happy with the result. This is what I created, the Snowggoth!:
The tentacles are sculpted tree limbs Trill gave me. I resized them and they stopped looking so much like tree limbs.
Everything else I made from scratch. The body is spheres. I just fiddled with the settings and learned about what kinds of things I could do. Then I put a bunch together and moved them around.
The eyes were easy to make, a sphere inside a hollow sphere slit open. Those are my favorite part. I made three versions of them and scattered them about.
The maw was the hardest part to get to look right. I tried all kinds of things and ended up with two round plates, see through with a black water sprite with a motion script in them. I have them going in different directions to give the illusion of depth. I think it works pretty good. I’m pretty happy with it overall, and really a whole lot better then I thought I’d end up with. Next year I should know sculpting a lot better so I can make it even better.
I’ve been learning to make sculpted prims in Blender for Second Life. I’m working on a leg. I have the general shape so far. The detail will be the tough part.
This is a job I was offered when talking to Jack Pitts who moved in just a few islands over at Camelot. It’s really nice to meet new people and instantly have something to talk about, like LOST (now have a guess what this leg will end up as).
I was next door at Los Arbolos and saw Jack in a hot air balloon and teleported via sitting into the balloon and introduced myself. SL is zany like that.
I’m getting good support for making sculpted prims from youTube and good people in SL. It’s not as tough as I thought, once I got the basics down.
First this this week I was off to see the Wizard, the wonderful wizard of steampunk Oz, in five parts! One Two Three Four Five or All At Once!
Want to make a shiny for your pretty? Need help learning how to turn a rusty old rivet into a stunning work of jewelry? Don’t wait for those tiny cogs to string themselves and pre-order Steampunk Style Jewelry from Ornamentea and get a free starter kit with all manner of nifty gears and gizmos!
Speaking of gizmos, read about a new game Machinarium and try the demo. It’s a whimsical point-and-click adventure, a style of game play that I grew up with. I played the demo for a few minutes and am waiting to get back to it.
Got an old watch? Turn it into something ornamental.
Good heavens! A book with a beautiful cover and it’s full of sky pirates and goggles and steam!
Some lovely Second Life attire that is both whimsy and perfect for that fancy dance ball.
Tired of setting your bubbling drinks on a boring end or coffee table while watching the teletubes? Try these tables on for size.
I’m thinking of getting a land tank to defend from whatever nefarious ruffians and/or zombies that might try to attack. Donations accepted to help me defend the world by purchasing one.
I found a gallery with some generally wonderful steampunk imagery, including an octopus pendant.
Want some books? Here are some suggestions.
Some more Second Life goodness: Steampunk Pixies! (And how to become one!)
Would a steampunk synthesizer make mechtronica music?
For the grand finale, and I do mean grand, check out these amazing moving pictures of Fleet Week in New Babbage, STEAMPUNK TOWN! Seriously, this is fantastic, beautiful, and wonderful.
Tonight I edited a story called Breakdown. It’s about a man going to see a summer blockbuster movie, but he has trouble getting there. I used feedback from the writing group to make changes. I feel it is a much better story now. I’ll be reading it Sunday at West of Ireland in Second Life.
I’ve almost ran my writing bar to 100% this month! It’s been a writing bonanza.
Speaking of editing, I’ve got to edit all ten Stan Prolongo stories, checking for my infamous tense shifts, and some typos. Should go quick. It’s on tomorrows schedule.
So, had my first planned reading. I had three folks show up, My Wife, Mick Bordet of Some Other Scotland (check it out, you’ll like it), and Crap Mariner.
Not the turnout I had hoped for (although I like all those people). A few problems I think caused the low numbers.
A. Little in the way of announcement.
B. Same time slot at West of Ireland readings, so folks would choose that over some unknown guy.
C. Stuff happens.
I’ll post notices (as opposed to only IMs) in the groups that I can in advance so more people know and can plan.
I’m going to try for 6pm SLT Wednesdays, that way it wont conflict with West of Ireland, where I read sometimes, so people who like me there can hear me at the beach too
Had fun though, read a few stories, got to ‘meet’ Mick for a few moments before he got to tired to stay up. It was 330am his time, so I’m glad he made it out even for a couple stories.
I don’t have a guitar for my avatar yet, but I had a little concert at Turtle Beach and while I sang Creepy Doll by Jonathan Coulton, something odd happened. Spooky.
Crap Mariner took a good picture of the reading yesterday.
I’m reading a few 100 word stories at Third Life Books in Second Life this Saturday at 5pm SLT. Be there!
