self identity #6 - Merging and UVW maps

Well I have found out how to put the 3d elements I have started making into the 3d box of environments I have already created. This is achieved using the merge tool and then arranging and scaling them down to size within the environments.

I also had to find out how to align the pictures within the environments and elements and this is achieved with the use of UVW mapping and aligning where the picture is placed. I have found this time consuming, as you have to sub divide the materials and give each an ID and within this complex layout it has proved difficult to do! However I am slowly getting there and step-by-step the environments are becoming more complete.

Below are a few screen shots of the environments so far although still a long way to go yet!

There.com - Goodbye!

Since my time on there has come to a close I felt I should write a short evaluations on my feelings of the virtual realm now I myself had experienced it...

Evaluation

After completing three weeks living in the virtual world I can safely say I am not planning on leaving the real world anytime soon. I crave the physical satisfaction of the real world, being able to touch things and use them, hugging someone and feeling them and seeing facial expressions and hearing the tone of someone’s voice. During the visits to the world I found myself feeling extremely vulnerable and uncomfortable. I did not like the thought that the people I was talking to may not actually be who they said they were and can see how this can lead to more serious issues out of our control in a virtual sense. I did however find myself enjoying the conversational side as my journey through the world progressed and could see how people can turn to the virtual realm for the sense of friendship if they find social situations in the real world daunting. Although I found that there seemed to be groups within the world that seemed to know each other well and were not always inviting towards others so meeting people and getting involved with ongoing conversations often proved tough so I often spent time alone exploring the world.

However a female avatar warned me the first time I went into the world to watch out for guys as they often ask for personal details. This an also be a major problem in the virtual world as when in a conversation you can often forget and give them out un-noticed especially when people talk to you in a tone suggesting they know you quite well which is often the case.

I found that the time of day had an effect on how many people were online and that during the day far less seemed to be around. Therefore meeting new people and asking about there experiences in the online world proved tough. Although daytime visits were useful in exploring the worlds whilst evening visits could be used more effectively for socialising.

Appearance plays a part in the virtual world to which I found interesting. I think the main reason for this is the start out clothes, if you choose to remain in them people assume straight away that you are new to the world and therefore chose to stay clear of you. However this is often the case as to change appearance and clothes permanently you have to pay. This is a key feature of the virtual world, having to pay to progress. Most activities and objects require a price, which can detour people form using the sites or progressing within them.

I found the weather recreations realistic due to the use of audio representing them making them more recognisable. However I often found that the graphics were not always that realistic which was a let down but of course is something that can easily be worked on. As can the level of interactivity which I felt other than on a social basis was very limited within the world.

So overall I felt the world was effective and realistic in the sense of social relationships it gave you with others. But I have definitely decided that my visits to the virtual realm are likely to return to slim to none.

Self Identity #5 - More 3D elements

I have been a busy bee and been working on the last of the 3D elements I have now completed the car seats and the basics of the car mirror but have yet to edit the picture for the reflection.

Identity Box - Box idea

I have been thinking about the interactive identity box and had a thought today about a game that I play which I could incorporate into my identity box.



It would work by the user joing the boxes as in the game however the cube would not explode when all boxes are complete but as each colour is to show that part of my identity. I am hoping next term I will be able to look into flash more to enable me to achieve this.

There #9 - Parrot Cove!

I felt the urge to carry on my board training and perfect my skills so made sure there was plenty of space in to hover in the next world I visited. There was a gigantic mountain and I decided to venture up it and fly to the peak to see if anything was up there. And I was happy to find that there was, welcome to parrot cove!! However it took a while for me to actually enter as there was a ring to keep the racers within the area and I couldn’t find the entrance for ages! But eventually I found my way in by accident lol.

Parrot cove was a racetrack, which could only be completed by hover or bike. The arrows guided you around the track and you could either beat a personal sore or take part in a race if other people were around to race of course! Keeping in with the name there was a group of parrots but they were static which I found disappointing as they could easily have been on a loop animation of looking around a ruffling there feathers but oh well :( and yet again you could not INTERACT!!!
So since there was not much else to do other than look at them I thought I would have a go at the track and get to grips with my board some more. The completion of the track was difficult not only due to my poor handling of the board but the fact that there were strong gusts of wind pushing you off course and off your board! I found this made it realistic of being at the peak of the mountain where you would expect there to be strong icy winds.

The first time round I completed the course in 2 minutes, which I was actually pretty proud of! But as the track proved to be addictive I had a few more attempts wanting to beat my score, which I am proud to say I did! Plus not only that I reached a new level of skill as a boarder and had no decided I much preferred travelling the world by transport atm especially my hover board and that walking was going to be a thing of the past!

Seminar - Walking legs

In todays seminar we looked at hierachys and how to link objets succesfully and distinguish which are best to be used to create the desired animation. To link in heirachy you should use the link button following the simple yet effective chant advised by Andy 'you follow you...'. The attach button should be used to link objects which you want to become 'one' rather than move as one. Finally the IK Solver option allows u to connect objects to move them like limbs which is very useful for animation however you have to create controllers to enable this to work fully. Below is the legs I have made and I will be animating them asap.

And then I will set to work on creating a silly walk for the task set by Andy.

Self Identity #4 - Pitures and 3D Elements

I have been working on the 3d elements to go with my box of enviroments one by one so that I can then ‘Merge’ them all into the box and scale them to the correct size within it. So far I have created the mirror for my room, a ballet bar and mirror for the ballet room and started making a bed for my bedroom.

While I was home this weekend I have taken pictures needed and have pictures of me from behind to be used as though looking in the mirror, me drinking a up of tea within my room, and pictures of my room to be used to decorate the walls of the box within the bedroom enviroment.
I also took pictures of me dancin in my Pointe shoes in prepeartion of my pixilation idea for the 2nd identity project of the interactive box.

I also photoshoped a picture of me in an outfit from a show and put it on a picture taken from side of stage where the stage lights can be seen. As I have decided to use the fact that there are 4 mirrors within my dance hall and I thought that I could show my progression through dance to reach being on stage.

There #8 - Malihini

Today I took a tour of Malihini and found many interesting environments within one world. There seemed to be a lot of white buildings and plants around the world and it was hard to decipher the shapes accurately to see what they were and in some cases it gave quite a cold undeveloped feel to the world.
I found a bandstand, which i'm guessing hosts shows as activities but unfortunately there was not one happening. Again though I was disappointed with the level of interactivity as you could not actually play any of them so it seemed pointless them being there when no show was happening.
After I ventured further into the world and found a windmill however it was not actually turning when I visited it possibly due to there being no wind within the virtual realm lol. I went inside to hoping to find something interesting but it was disappointingly just an empty room.
Within this world I found that when you entered different areas that had been created the environment itself changed. Sometimes the lighting would change perhaps to a light purple giving the world a surreal feel. And in some cases even the weather changes one it turned to snow and another was quite scary and was thunder and lightening and made the environment feel very unwelcome so I didn’t even enter the building!

There were some other interesting objects found such as a phone box in typical London styley. Although again interactivity was lost sine it was unable to even be entered let alone used. However I think it would have been a nice idea to enable a phone call via the phonebook and wouldn’t be too difficult to achieve and would make the world seem a lot more realistic.

Just at the end of this visit I decided to have a go at user my hover board at last! But to my disappointment the built up areas of the world have driving restrictions so I did not experience as much boarding as I would have liked. The driving restrictions were good as it meant that you were safe from being run down! However if you entered the restriction you were kicked off your vehicle and some had become stuck within these areas of the world, which was a downfall.

There #7 - Dating?!

Today I visited Coca Cola I found that all the buildings seemed undeveloped, as they were all white and the mass of white made navigating difficult, as it wasn’t always clear what were what as well as everything looking the same. I found a bench and started a conversation with yet another American! They seem to be everywhere in this virtual realm. He was rather charming and this was when I realised this could be a place known for meeting people something I didn’t know about! But this conversation was not the one I felt was worthy of blogging but I did feel my rather amusing conversation with MrSteel was worth taking your time to read. He cleverly got my attention saying 'nice to see you again' which I thought was amusing since I had never seen him before whilst exploring there. But I thought I would play along and see how far he went with it, which he continued to ask how’s the family which I thought was a clever way of making out that he knew a little more about me.

Another female avatar then interrupted our conversation saying that she was his girlfriend and how he had ended it after five minutes etc. I knew straight away she was young by the way she was typing and the things she was saying, and indeed I was right as she turned out to be only 12! I found it strange to think that a 12 year old was on a virtual world and could be chatting to anyone of any age and building relationships with them. It was then that I realised there are no representatives of age in the avatars, such as having a teenager, adult and elder which may be a better way of helping to represent people more safely in an online world. Which is an important issue that has yet to be dealt with especially with the age related issues, talking to another multimedia member who had seen an article on a news program about Paedophiles searching for younger girls in second life and transporting them to a special place, and I can see how easy it is since this 12 year old seemed to be obsessed with dating people on There. I also found it intriguing that I knew straight away that she was younger by her tone, which of course I couldn’t actually here in her voice but I could in my own reading of what she had written, and I realised its hard to put across a tone when typing a conversation and that an important factor of a real conversation is lost.

I also found it strange that whilst the guy was chatting me up using any line he possibly could, that he only wanted to date for an hour, it seemed that commitment was still not a priority and that within the virtual world it was easier to just date within seconds as you did not have all the insecurities you may feel when talking to someone in the real world.

Appearance again came into play as a key thing just as it does in the real world as he changed his appearance to help make me attracted to him more, however this was not successful since he was talking to me and personality is a lot more important to me then appearance.

Self Identity #3- 3D Elements - Ballet Bar

I have had a few ideas of 3D elements I could include within the Ballet eniviroment. The first of these was a ballet bar since this is present witin each of the dance halls I used to dance within at home. Therefore today I have created a 3D version using 3DS Max. It is pretty basic but it does not need to be anything spectacular as it has a pretty basic purpose within dancing itself.

Other 3d elements that could be included could be the theatre stage if I chose to go with a desired enviroment rather than one I could personally relate to.

There #5 - Ventrella Cafe

Today I first took a trip to sirocco, as I hadn’t ventured there yet. However I was disappointed as it seemed deserted and any interesting activities I could find to do would involve payment and as yet I am happy to say I have not be taken over enough by the virtual realm to pay out real money to experience it all! There was however a club where if you came at certain times you could get involved with a quest for the day but whilst visiting there were none taking place :( Although I felt this was a good activity as it helped allow you to explore the world and meet new people at the same time. However I decided to leave and try a different world in hope of finding a few more people around.

So I decided to venture to Ventrella Café where I found a series of get away homes that you could enter. However with a lack of people around again I felt the only activities available within them were to sit in numerous places alone. Within one of the rooms I found a piano but was disappointed to find that the only interaction available was to sit at it rather than actually use it. There was however a speaker playing music making it seem more homely as it didn’t feel as deadly silent as some of the other worlds.

I found what appeared to be a bed within another room and sat on it to see if any other gestures etc became available but to my disappointment there were no options such as sleep or even to lie down, this where I feel there lacks a realistic feel and is behind more advanced realms such as second life.

I realised I had never tried to swim in the water that was in each of the worlds and so thought I would give it a go but the avatar simply continued to walk when in the water which again was an area for improvement. However the water did have a realistic feel with the help of sound effects of waves and the fact that the water was animated to move in the fashion of a wave moving into the tide.

Along the sea front I found many homes and thought I would take a look around one to see if anyone was actually permanently living within them but as I had expected they did not seem to be occupied. I thought I would try out a dance floor whilst in the house as this is one successful item which does cause a change in interaction and gives more actions which are specific to the item in this case dance moves.

Next I tried out a hot tub to see if anything happened when I entered it or if actions became available. However nothing changed, I think my expectations were influenced by Sims were when you enter a hot tub the water bubbles and actions such as splash become available.

I then followed a ladder up to the top level but was disappointed in the level of graphics and movement when the avatar climbed it. It kind of jumped up rather than stepped and did not follow the ladder and one started you had limited control over the avatars movement.

So all in all after today’s visit I feel that more interaction is needed. Oh and I have also come aware that after using there during the day for the first time that there are time periods where usage is greater and this tends to be in the evenings when people seem to be in all worlds. Compared to today where I hardly saw anyone nearby at all.

Seminar - Furthering ideas

After today’s seminar I feel a lot clearer about where I am going with this project and have a much clearer idea to build on. The research I have been doing has proved useful and again provides a foundation to build my idea further. I have started looking into the creation of a box and looking how I can separate it into 3 sections which could hold different sections and successfully achieved the basics of this within the seminar today. I know need to concentrate firstly on environments and choosing 3 key environments key to me and my identity.

The above pictures show that the intersections do not overlap as each picture is complete within each box.

This is the perxpective of the final box showing an example of how the 3 environments would appear.

There #4 - Welcome Party!

Today I was talking with a greeter who actually works within the virtual world as a part time job. I found it interesting that someone could enjoy being part of a virtual world enough to work within it as I myself have still not been drawn in to this obsessive extent. She has been working there for two years now and when I asked why she chose this career move she said she had ‘always been a computer nerd’ which funnily enough I completely understood, and straight away she had a certain identity within my head making it clear why this would be one of her particular interests. Having the greeters is helpful as it gives you help first person and you can explain your problem to them in more abstract terms rather then when using a built in help file where you have to be specific. And in return they can explain step by step and even show you if possible within the world.

Once she found out I was pretty new to there she invited me to a welcome party which I decided I would attend to add to my experience within the virtual world. I know what I would expect at a party in the real world but how would a virtual one live up to reality?

All in all it was basically the same as a party in reality with groups chatting dancing and rather bizarrely a few pet dogs to play with; however which turned out quite entertaining. First I sat and chatted with a group of people and made a few more buddies. Many of them had been part of there.com for a while which can feel quite intimidating as the ‘newbie’ however welcoming everyone is which I’m glad to say most people you meet are. One of the other avatars commented on how realistic the whole experience felt and I have to agree when within a conversation you can get lost within it and with many people inputting as within a real conversation I have to say it does feel pretty realistic. The relationships you build with people also feel real as if you consider them a ‘buddy’ you are giving them a degree of trust.

After since hearing the dogs barking I eventually found them and thought I would see how realistic they were. Which they were surprisingly life like, just like any other puppy having a mind of there own and being playful and interacting when called by you to be ‘pet’. The greeter at the party also informed me they liked to escape which I found amusing and felt added to making the situation more realistic. You could kick a big ball for them although interaction with this was limited as you were unable to pick it up only kick it around which I felt let this interactivity down as in the real world this limitation wouldn’t occur.

Next I thought id try my hand at virtual dancing, which I also found enjoyable. Once you had picked your spot new ‘actions’ became available which were dance moves. The fact you were given choices was more realistic as you could create routines to the music. Once others noticed I was braving the dance floor they joined me which is similar to how things are in a club as everyone follows suit, and two guys decided to have a dance off which is typical in both reality and virtual clubs. I would like to attend another party to try and further interaction and dance with someone to feel how realistic the portrayal of this would be and if feelings come with it as they would in reality.

The music was very realistic since it was from a radio with actual radio stations being played which I liked as it brought a part of the real world into the virtual. It also provided a high level of interactivity as you could chose the radio station you wanted if you did not like the song that was playing.

Tutorial - Being Connected

After the lecture today on Being connected I have come to the conclusion that I am much more of a follower of post modernism as I take into account other peoples ideas and tend to value looking at situations within context, rather than having fixed ideals based mainly on history like that of a modernist view. I agree with the theories about communication, collaboration and sharing. This is because I feel that that when you share ideas it gives them a chance to develop into something greater and other peoples opinions can point out advantages and/or disadvantages that you as the creator of that initial idea cannot see. The use of cultural codes make sense to me since it opens up a wider audience for your ideas which to me makes a lot of sense as if you cant distribute your ideas successfully nothing will come of them. I feel that it is wrong to say that the use of cultural codes and common languages stop the individual ideas as it is still your ideas but voiced in a more universal way. Manuel Castells theory of using a common language creating connections of ideas made a lot of sense to me as if you are unable to voice your ideas successfully you are often left alone without the means of actually creating what you want without the help of others and if you try to achieve this it is very likely you will end up isolated and fail.
[(http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m4422/is_4_16/ai_54260069/pg_4) pages 4-6 most relevant]

The internet especially has helped to create a web of communication enabling to come with it sharing and collaboration, therefore meaning we are able to learn form each other and new ideas come with being interconnected (Valentina Culatti, Neural.it).

With the internet has also come about the idea of Web 2.0 a term explaining the large networks we are now apart of where we al share a context and can relate our ideas to each other, for example the use of Facebook, Blogger etc. Allowing links between sites to follow the expansion of ideas.

This has brought about viral marketing, which is based upon these links with people to promote and distribute ideas and products. Without the links within networks this method would not be possible. This is a key element to me as a multimedia student as it will provide a way of promoting my work within a network interested in this field possibly an idea for a way of promoting my portfolio to achieve employment in the future.

The lecture today made me realise the strength of being in a network allowing sharing and collaborations to occur and new ideas to be formed and developed.I believe we are all becoming interstitial nodes as we are all becoming a junction within at least one network within our life and indeed I for one am an interstitial node and proud of it.

There #3 - Try it huts

I have been using the try it huts today to get a new look and see how I feel this effects interaction. The try it huts allow the use of clothing and hairstyles on a trial basis without having to pay, and it is available to you for 4 hours. You get a limited choice but it allows you to for a change to feel a little more like yourself rather than a cloned figure.

I then went to the world CosmoGirl via the map, which I have found useful in transporting throughout the world.

I chose to try out my new look in CosmoGirl, as it is generally a busy world with a lot of groups sitting and chatting so it is a good way to meet new interesting people. I made some new buddies and found that guys were much more likely to talk to me with my new improved look and I found I could put a little bit more of my own personality in to the avatar sine I was feeling a little more confident with the help of my new look.

One of the people I met gave me some valuable information on when visiting Zephyr land about using a force field as it allows you to not be run over as I previously had been so next time I visit I will be sure to check mine is active.

I am beginning to enjoy starting conversations within the worlds more however I still feel vulnerable when interacting with others as I don’t like the feeling that you don’t really know the real person you are talking to which you always do when conversing in the real world. I am also still finding it hard to remember to respond to people calling me Freya as I forget they will not be using my real name within this virtual world. Although I can see the comfort people get out of the interaction which to be honest does feel very realistic when having a conversation and the fact that it is nice to loose yourself for an hour or two and be someone else for a change.

3D Max - Tree

Ok well another seminar down and im starting to get to grips with 3D Max and in the last seminar I made a tree which was helpful as I am becoming more familar with the program. Now I understand more about how to use the material editor and how to get the desired resultas well as how to apply it. We also went over skills we learnt last time which I felt has helped to reinforce them. Today I spent some time making a 3D environment for the tree to be within. Although simple I feel it is effective and this simple solution could be applied into making the 3D world for my avatar I will be making. Next I would like to add some animation to make it more interesting such as a camera zoom circling the environment and secondly perhaps the tree swaying as though there is a gentle breeze.