A quick exploration of some of my old builds which may not be there much longer! Using the Space Navigator and running Windlight in Day cycle mode (the sun and moon take a minute or two to do a full rotation)  to produce lots of moving shadows across the landscapes, people and builds. Rather than just show shadows I was keen to tie some ‘psych trance’ music into fast moving space navigator footage hence the constant movement – all shots took into account the timing with the shadows too.

The whole process was about 1 hour of capture, 1.5 hour edit and 2 hours on music track. Music was composed on Logic Pro mostly using Spectrasonics Omnisphere plug-in software ‘processor-eating’ synth.

I had access to a top end NVidia GTX280 high spec graphics card and quad processor machin so I put all SL graphics settings at max for once! The video was captured at PAL resolution using Fraps and the raw files edited using Adobe Premiere.

To have a go at this yourself make sure you have a top flight graphics card from NVidia or ATI and then download the Shadow Viewer client from Kirsten here or I believe a more recent one (that I used) from Boy Lane here. I am not sure of the widespread use of shadows given the grunt your computer needs to handle this, windlight, voice on top of all the usual networking issues – but for those with computer horsepower it definitely brings the place to life.

Published & created under creative commons – attribution, non-commercial, non-derivative, 23 May 2009 in Sydney, Australia

My Second Life sim builds included: Esperance (AFTRS), ABC Island, Melbourne Laneways, Thursdays Fictions, Deakin, The Pond and others. (I would have loved to show some more commercial & arty builds but non-disclosure and all that!)

and a reminder of what it was like in its opening glory

Some creation details for those who like that kind of stuff: I used the wonderful space navigator for nearly all the ‘tracking/pan/crane/dolly’ type shots combined with fraps PAL capture, then converted using Canopus Pro 3 to PAL Quicktime DVs for a final edit in Final Cut Pro. A final save out to DV at same resolution and converts down to MP4s for online distribution. The whole process, capture, processing, editing took just over six hours – I know, I am slacking! The builds and sim terraforms took significantly longer (!) but the music a quick 35 minutes in two single takes, so excuse a few ‘bum’ notes!

A Second Life ‘Windlight’ Machinima, Filmed and Edited by GARY HAZLITT

Higher rez 95MB MP4 640/480 download available here.

Steinway Grand Piano and Classical Guitar improvisations both performed, in one take, by GARY HAYES

All featured sim builds and terraforms created and designed by GARY HAZLITT (some unamed builds still in development)

Gary’s builds or sim creations featured include: Esperance, The Pond, ABC Island, Cog Island, Marni, Thursday’s Fictions, Melbourne Laneways and others.

A Just Virtual Video Production © Gary Hazlitt/Hayes 2007

Another Gary, a bio one , managed to take over four hundred images plus hours and hours of sound so I could recreate what it is like to be out there, with you folk in one of your most popular cities. Umm very cramped I must say. Anyway as you can see below it generated lots of Second Life press interest and it was fun creating a few token, Second Life not possible in real life elements.

Here’s a SLURL too. and a load of links…

SL News – Australian city Melbourne Laneways comes alive in SL

Australia SL News Source SLOZ – Virtual Melbourne has arrived

Shhhhhhhh – melbourne laneways in second life. NOOOOOOOO

Second Life Insider – Melbourne Laneways comes to life at ABC Island

Victorian Government – Victoria – Would your Business benefit from a Second Life?

TheProjectFactory – Melbourne Laneways Come to Life for Multimedia Victoria

Boxxet Second Life – Melbourne Laneways comes to Life

Multimedia Victoria – Virtual Worlds (Melbourne Laneways Case Study)

GDay World – Melbourne Laneways in SL

Mal Burns Annex – Melbourne Laneways Comes to Life

Posted by Gary Hazlitt from inworld © 2007

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