A BIT OF DARKRODIN SLIPS INTO THE SEA

July 27, 2011

Since July 25, there have been big changes around the Darkrodin jut. Large chunks of land leading to the pier sank into the ocean. The 1 1 11 Room along with the the pier supporting it crumble into inventory. In their place, rises the new Medusa Pavilion, still under construction.

Currently, the pavilion is around 160 prims in size. The floors are being fitted for shadow and light effects. To create these shadows, I plot the shadow shapes on the floor by way of bars set at the angle of incoming light. This was an idea offered to me by Derek Michelson, and it works quite well. I then take an aerial screenshot of the floor with the bars delineating the coordinates for the shadow. In Photoshop, the next step is to draw in the shadows, slice into as many textures as I will be needing to cover a given area, and upload the alphas into SL.

BIBLIOTHEK L. ARTIS July 11, 2011

Today, I placed the shipwrecked Pelican galleon, that had been beached in the sands of the port, into the cliff face of Medusa Locks. It is the front half of the ship which now juts out into the airspace, meshed into the complex of village pathways and stairs. The Parcheesi game table was moved onto the new extended deck, affording an unimpeded view onto the bay. Below deck, I cleaned out the space, and while thinking about how to use the little room, my friend Lilia spontaneously recommended: a hammock and books! Echoing the bookshelves of the nearby Library of Darkrodin, the walls were thus squared off, to highlight the central hammock. Lilia, on seeing this also asked for there to be a beam of light descending onto the hammock. As she was the inspiration for this space, I named the cabin after her in her native language of German. Bibliothek means ‘library’.

MEDUSA LOCKS... retexturing. (Since late June, 2011)

Medusa Locks, which used to be a glare of white marble, has for the past two weeks been undergoing resurfacing mostly with my new texture from a Washington, D.C. trip.

Plâteau of Man Park expands... June 29, 2011

The Plâteau of Man Park was expanded a bit more to the South, causing an overhang above the entry of Paperback Pixels Café. It was a partial import of a park I had made at Hidden Hollow. The centaur statue was tinted darker, and moved from its western point of origin to the east. The space thus opened up, allowing the western portion a clean lawn and improved sight lines.

WATERFALL AT LIBRARY OF DARKRODIN. June 30 2011

The waterfall was added inside the library on June 30th, causing the librarians enormous effort to keep the books dry in the highly humid conditions. The librarians, a mouse and a monkey, await any of your questions at the base of the falls.

WATERFALL AT MAZE GARDENS. July 5, 2011

The transition between the running stream on Plâteau of Man Park, and the white waters of Maze Gardens, has been a long lasting problem spot. On July 5, after seeing the ideal water fall at a friend's sim, I acquired the same landscape feature. Fitting it into place required minor terraforming. The transition between the two streams visually flows better now. The pool at the base of the falls reminds me of the Japanese baths at outdoor springs. It's a tranquil hidden spot.

THE WEEPING GATE & THE LIBRARY OF DARKRODIN

May 17 + 18, 2011

THE WEEPING GATE

The removal of the upper floors to the Library of Darkrodin

Due to the low number of prims available for use on the sim, the upper floors of the Library of Darkrodin were taken into inventory today. The old build had been the first location of hunts on ACC Alpha, housed a display of readable books, and a collection of artwork. The Library which sprawled over the Plateau of Man park, now affords open sky above the gardens.

The complex build of over 800 prims was collected in 31 linked batches for inventory. The original camel tour was also removed. But the price to pay was for a reason. As I’ve been participating in the UWA art challenges, I need the prims for my sculptures. Having rezzed my most recent work on the calm North Shore of the sim, I built a large stone background to help frame the piece. The frame became so intriguing to me, that I kept developing it until a viable architectural build in its own right emerged. The new gate was so large and inviting, that I wanted to see if I could make some interior space for it, even though the structure hugs the side of a cliff. The solution struck me to hollow a tunnel thru the cliff into the interior space of the subterranean level of the Library of Darkrodin. The link was challenging but successful. Terraforming in such a densely developed area presented numerous barriers. There was no land to see over the city when in bulldozer mode, so I had to go to the bottom of the sea. Placing cube prims over the city scape to delineate a path for the tunnel, I then sunk them on Z axis below the sea to mark where the land needed to be chiseled away. It was a sandwich: ocean and land below, city and park between, and rezzed cubes above to show the path necessary to cut the tunnel. Next, I lined the walls in crystal, and refer to this tunnel as the Ice Cave.

Ironically, the placement of my sculpture “Immortal Blue” (which used 100 prims, and was the cause of my need to take drastic measures in recycling prims), was soon after replaced by another statue I’d purchased of a woman reading books... appropriate for the entry to a library. To commemorate the architecture of the library, the original dome was placed atop the new Weeping Gate. (Weeping refers to the giant old weeping willow tree that has always been in this area, combined with the sadness I felt at removing the original library). In this way, the old style is partially preserved, and gives an interesting look, as it hovers above the first dome I’d made for the gate. It produces a semblance of layering of domes.

Click this link to teleport to the Weeping Gate