3pointD.com

After chatting with Hal9k Andalso of the Fabjectory 3D printing service, we met up in Second Life and Hal snapped some shots of my avatar to prep for a 3D printing session. What this really means is that I stood on a pose stand while he ripped OpenGL and texture data out of the Second Life client using OGLE (Eyebeam’s OpenGL Extractor). Hal sent along some cool shots of the avatar model outside SL, in some 3D modeling software that’s being used to clearn stuff up before the actual printing commences. (Click the image above for a larger version on Flickr.) “This is a bit of an experiment of us as we’ve never even attempted Prim hair before (and might never again),” Hal9k writes. “Your sunglasses were an unfortunate casualty as well as I couldn’t get something that looked ok for them.” No worries, I’ll just keep wee Walker out of the light.

Taunt brings news that IMVU users can now develop for their world-like 3D chatspace using SketchUp, the free 3D design program bought by Google some months back. [Via Chris Carella.] SketchUp is definitely gaining in leaps and bounds. As Chris says: “Between IMVU and Multiverse there is going to be a lot of SketchUp content out there, which will make it easier for people to assemble their own worlds.” It would be nice to see Second Life implement a SketchUp importer, but even though CTO Cory Ondrejka has gazed ahead approvingly to such an app, I imagine it will be a very long time coming. Should be interesting to see what people get up to in IMVU, though. (IMVU even has a tutorial up.) Will it suddenly become a much more complex and sophisticated “world”?

There are still tickets available for the two Yankees-Red Sox games that are to be re-enacted live in the virtual world of Second Life tonight and Sunday. The games are being arranged for MLB.com by the Electric Sheep Company (sponsors of this blog), and seem to be the first major league games to be “virtualized” in a world like SL. MLB.com and the Sheep previously put on the Home Run Derby in Second Life, an event that proved to be a pretty entertaining excuse to get together and socialize, for those who showed. Yankees-Red Sox is a serious rivalry, though, and it’ll be interesting to see whether these games lean more toward sports fans or more toward Second Life residents interested in getting in on the novelty factor. Either way, it should be a good ol’ time at the virtual ballpark. Get your tickets at SLBoutique.

A few of us from the Brooklyn metaverse crowd went to see Four-Eyed Monsters last night, a very interesting feature film about a young New York couple who end up documenting their every move via videotape and handwritten notes, only because they’ve decided not to actually speak to each other. While the film is not a documentary, it was made by the couple who it’s about, and their real lives and dramatized lives do begin to converge toward the end of the film. While it’s a movie about relationships (you know, the kind where two people “slowly start to meld into one beast that has 2 mouths, 4 eyes and 8 limbs and takes up 2 seats on the subway!!!”), it’s in greater measure a movie about the act of recording itself, and what it means at a moment in history when you can store, play back and share as much of your life as you like, with as many people as are willing to pay attention. In this case, Susan and Arin have created a virtual version of their real life together, and it’s interesting to ask what the differences between the two may be, if any — especially in light of similar trends in things like lifelogging, and in the fictionalization of a life like lonelygirl15’s. And if you stay with this long-winded post all the way to the end, you get to think about how this kind of logging of our lives might help enhance them in some future 3pointD world. (more…)

One of the questions about real-world brands coming into Second Life has been whether they would arrive with products that fit the world, or whether they’d simply show up with some money, hang out a shingle and leave it at that, hoping to garner whatever marketing pop might accrue. Most projects thus far have proved a pleasant surprise, and the latest is no exception. The Adidas outlet built by Rivers Run Red in the virtual world of Second Life has opened with an introductory product, the a3 Microride. Like the real-life shoe, the Second Life counterpart provides “the ultimate blend of bounce and flexibility with minimum weight.” In fact, it’s a great virtual-world product, acting like a kind of pogo stick for your feet, and with the option to keep bouncing you around as long as you’re walking over open ground. (more…)

GameSpy ran this story a few days ago, but for those non-gamers among 3pointD’s readers, I’ll point out that the Japanese postal service is releasing a set of collectable stamps based on characters and images from the Biohazard series of video games, known on these shores as Resident Evil. It’s neat for video game fanbois, but it’s also significant in that Japan is out ahead (of us, at least) in honoring games as a legitimate art form. The stamps will be on sale for two months only. 3pointD’s mailing address isn’t that hard to track down on the IntarWeb, so we invite someone to send us a letter using one of the Resident Evil stamps. Our first fan mail! If only…

Virtual Laguna Beach, the virtual world built for MTV using There.com’s technology, is still running slightly under the radar. But that isn’t stopping MTV from putting on some parties in their beachfront world. Though it’s currently in a kind of public alpha test, VLB is holding a fashion show this evening at 7:00pm Pacific Time. And on Sunday you can “come celebrate the top models by attending parties in their honor at the best clubs in VLB.”

The world, of course, is based on MTV’s over-produced hit reality show, Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County, now in its third season. The virtual world seems to consist largely of what the show consists of: socializing among young people, shopping, and a smattering of sex. Early members of VLB are reportedly fairly bold about inviting each other to virtual makeout sessions, but that’s nothing unusual for a virtual world. (more…)

The excellently named Fabjectory is the latest service offering to produce a physical model of an object that exists only in the virtual world of Second Life. For $75 and up, you can get a 3D model of your avatar, complete with detailed color textures applied. The project comes from one Michael Buckbee (aka SL’s Hal9k Andalso), who also runs Second411, a third-party search site for Second Life. I’m guessing the Fabjectory will produce better results than the other 3D milling service that was offered to SL residents, only because that one more or less withdrew its offer in the end for artistic reasons. I’m not sure of the exact 3D printing technology being used here (an email is out to Michael), but the site says the models “are built from a plaster material that is built up in layers to form the right shape.” Tao Takashi has a good roundup of the situation on his blog, and Amazon’s Jeff Barr has more. Order today.

If you’re in New York on Friday, September 22, and you want to talk metaversal shop, come meet up with us in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, at Zabloski’s Bar at 6:30pm. The meetup is being arranged in the wake of the Metaverse Roadmap summit and party, “for people actively working on or in virtual worlds who want a place to get together with metaverse colleagues to talk shop, work, opportunities, creative ideas, anything on your mind,” according to Jerry Paffendorf, who’s organizing it. I’ll be there, so feel free to drop by if you want to get involved in anything 3pointD, or chat about the in-world meetup for 3pointD readers that’s in the works (if vaguely). Brooktown, of course, is the official capital of the metaverse, so you won’t want to miss this one. See you there.

The Electric Sheep Company (sponsors of this blog) have a new beta project going on over at Sheep Labs that offers you an email notification as soon as the surname you’ve been waiting for in Second Life becomes available. [Via Clickable Culture and eSheep Christian Westbrook.] The service is useful because SL residents get to choose their own first names, but surnames must be chosen from a constantly changing list. New names are opened, remain open for a matter of weeks or months, and then are closed, making it possible to get a rough idea of when an avatar was “born” by looking at their name.

The Sheep now offer a service whereby you can watch the namespace to see if a name you’ve been waiting for becomes available. Innocuous enough, except that there’s been talk from various quarters lately of the fact that Linden Lab may change its naming conventions at some point in the not too distant future. As I blogged a month ago, one idea that’s reportedly been bandied about is to let users purchase unique last names that they would then be able to parcel out to new residents on a controlled basis. This may or may not go hand in hand with the idea that third parties may soon be able to sign up new members through their own sites. Either way, it’s an idea whose drawbacks may outweight its benefits. (more…)

While you’re in the listening way, check out the latest SecondCast, episode #31, in which Lordfly and I give our account of the Second Life Community Convention, and SL resident Taco Rubio declares that “the new black is brown, and the new brown is green.”

powered by ODEO

Well, it took me a while, not being particularly handy with various audio applications, but I’ve finally got the audio file (listen above) from our panel on the future of virtual worlds at the Austin Game Conference last week posted for your listening pleasure. Give it an ear and let us know what you think of the Big Ideas we’re bandying about. Is there in fact a 3pointD moment in the offing? Is it sustainable? Are there any ideas here we should be talking about at the 3pointD meetup we’ve been talking about lately? Let us know.

• MediaPost Publications - Marketing Outpaces Ad Spending, Money Follows Shift To ROI, Pursuit Of 18-34 Demo - 09/11/2006
  Juicy numbers. “At $309.9 billion, total marketing services spending is already the biggest part of the industry and is projected to grow at an average rate of 8.0 percent, outpacing the $197.6 billion U.S. advertising industry’s 5.5 percent rate of growt
  (tags: marketing new media)

Michael Dell, founder and chairman of Dell, Inc., sat for a “fireside chat” Q&A session at the Austin Game Conference and gave his views of how the PC would figure into the future of gaming. From his point of view, it sounded like game developers needed to step up to create games and applications that take advantage of the increasing processing power of the PC. Interestingly, this was somewhat in contrast with the remarks of game developer Raph Koster earlier in the conference. A transcript of Dell’s remarks below: (more…)

• Smoke Tree
  beautiful. “a sculpture in virtual smoke which presents a disquieting yet strangely plausible possibility.”
  (tags: art graphics 3d)

Award-winning science fiction Vernor Vinge, speaking at the Austin Game Conference, gave his vision of a future in which connectivity was literally in the air around us. Author of Rainbows End most recently, Vinge painted a picture of ubiquitous connectivity similar to the one narrated in that novel. So well connected will we be, according to Vinge, that “post-human” capabilities will arise from groups of people networked together. “It will be a very glorious thing to be an early post-human artist,” Vinge said. “Virtually every aspect of purpose, faith and fantasy could have a constituency in such a world.” His vision was compelling, though it remains to be seen how quickly it will be realized, or whether the discrete functions Vinge described won’t more likely take fuzzier forms as they come about. Below a transcript of his remarks: (more…)

Hackers gained access to the user database that governs the virtual world of Second Life this week, according to an urgent security announcment from Linden Lab. Though the exploit was shut down on September 6, shortly after it was discovered, a “detailed investigation over the last two days confirmed that some of the unencrypted customer information stored in the database was compromised, potentially including Second Life account names, real life names and contact information, along with encrypted account passwords.” No unencrypted credit card information was stored in the database that was hacked, but Linden Lab is requiring all users to reset their passwords. Oddly, it seems that no notice was sent to users flagging the problem. (more…)

I’m blogging this from the Austin Convention Center in Texas, where the Austin Game Conference is in full swing. The highlight for me so far has been (not surprisingly) the panel I spoke on yesterday with Corey Bridges of Multiverse; Raph Koster, formerly of Sony Online Entertainment and now of his own stealth virtual-world startup, which has just gotten a first round of funding, according to Raph; Cory Ondrejka, chief technology officer at Linden Lab, makers of the virtual world of Second Life; and moderated by Jerry Paffendorf, resident futurist for the Electric Sheep Company (sponsors of this blog). There’s an audio file of the panel that I’m going to post here as soon as I get hold of it, but for now I thought I’d share a few of the thoughts and opiniosn that I managed to remember throughout the thing.

If you can pardon my obviously biased opinion, it seemed to me that we rolled out a bunch of interesting thoughts and questions having to do with the future of virtual worlds (which was the topic of the panel), and, judging from the faces in the audience, managed to blow a few minds in the process. (more…)

• YouTube - Roddick vs Pong
  from january but new to me. play @ stoppong.com
  (tags: video tennis 8bit roddick pong)

Christian Westbrook of the Electric Sheep Company (sponsors of this blog) has made what sounds like a cool text-to-speech translator that works within the virtual world of Second Life. Each participant in a converation chooses a voice and a language that they’d like their chat translated into, and the device speaks the translation in real time. Listen to a sample on Christian’s blog, linked above. I haven’t been able to rendezvous with Christian to check this out, so I’m not sure whether the voice component works behind SL or streams in-world, but it’s a nice idea. Who knows, perhaps soon you’ll be able to listen to 3pointD while you go about your virtual business.

Wow, look at all those cars. Even better, watch this 3-minute video of them. [Via Jim Rossignol.] You’ll be surprised: seeing 1,000 non-colliding cars stream around a road course in the excellent racing game Trackmania Sunrise actually gives a look at something like an organized system tending toward chaos, or at least toward entropy. Beginning as a well ordered fan of hoods, roofs and airfoils (watch for this moment at the start of the race, just after the title card reading, “1K Project II”), the cars end up in a chaotic mess by the end, stuck into a pond at all angles. It’s a beautiful mess, though, and shows how even a single-player game can become something more than the sum of its software, in the right hands. (more…)

But a few visions of Ground Zero in Google Earth.

Back in March of this year Google lit up the blogosphere (including here at 3pointD.com and over at OGLE Earth) with the purchase of @Last Software, makers of the SketchUp 3D modeler. Their strategy was to utilize SketchUp as a free and easy means to expand the base 3D content available in the Google Earth viewer, create a website called the 3D Warehouse as a storage area for user submitted models, and provide a 3D Warehouse Network Link to glue all of the parts together.

Six months later, Phil Collinson’s World Trade Center (Under Attack) is one of the top ten most popular models in the 3D Warehouse. In fact, the 3D Warehouse Network Link presents Google Earth users the option to view no less than 43 additional structures for the WTC site, ranging from the original twin towers, the new Freedom Tower, several amateur design proposals, an over-sized aerosol can, the twin towers under attack by a giant cow…well, you get the idea. (more…)

As Alex Steffen at the World Changing blog points out, “we can’t build what we can’t imagine.” The city of Berlin, hoping to help build a better future for itself, is now in the process of catalyzing some imagination in a series of events looking at “the future of urban spaces in [the] world.”

As futuring goes, this seems like a great way to go about things, especially the series of citywide “experiment days” involved in the ExperimentCity project. This got me thinking about whether there couldn’t be a way to do a similar thing in virtual worlds. (more…)

Nat at O’Reilly posts a link to this animated map of a day’s traffic on Google. [Via CNet.] While it’s not live (though Google apparently has a live view at the Googleplex), it’s interesting to see that Google pretty much never sleeps in any particular time zone. For some nice live traffic-tracking apps (though not as 3pointD), check out the Digg Labs site.

• Apple - Trailers - 49 Up - Trailer 1
  The seventh film in the series…
  (tags: movie trailer 49up 7up)

The BBC is in production on an hour-long television documentary on massively multiplayer online games, and they’re looking for subjects to interview. If your avatar is “more like you than you are” — or even if you’re a more typical sort — get in touch with them and maybe you too can appear on British television. Email and more details after the jump. (more…)

A single prim hacked to enormous proportion in Second Life

The fundamental building blocks of the virtual world of Second Life are known as “prims” (short for “primitives”), and for various reasons come in sizes no larger than a 10 meter cube. But with the efforts to reverse-engineer the Second Life client going on over at libsecondlife (efforts recently given the stamp of approval by Linden Lab), it now seems something more is possible. Someone, reportedly someone at libSL, has been able to hack up a single 60×60 meter prim that not only doesn’t seem to require a script (which has been used in the past to make a small prim appear larger) but is copyable, transferable and partially modifiable to boot. That’s me up above, standing on the lower right corner of one I was given the other day. (Click the shot for a larger image.) While it could be very cool for builders, Linden Lab is reportedly concerned about the development for a number of reasons, and is trying to make the megaprims go away. (more…)