Welcome to Scripting

I looked through so many of the options and the one I decided I wanted to do in the beginning was setbuoyancy because it said that it would make an object float - I thought that would be neat to see and to be able to make happen myself. However, there wasn't a full page on it in the lslWiki so it didn't give me an example to use in the script. So, I tried to make it work with what it gave me and it took awhile. I finally brought it to the water and realized that I needed to make the object a "physical" object to get it to work which by then I had tried so many things that at that time I had the settings on ultra float (which is anything higher than 1) and this means it won't just float, it will float UP above the water. Sooo, my object then went up out of the water and into the sky so far that eventually a note came up on my screen saying that my object was put in my inventory because it had went out of world. haha! So basically, I succeeded by making my object float so high that it went out of Second Life. It was quite the exciting ending to all my different tries to make it work.

When I got sick of working on the buoyancy, I also did one with llsetalpha which I made it turn my box almost invisible when I touched it. That's what my picture is of - You can see the box to the right of me in Second Life.

Close up of Andy

I decided you could barely see Andy in the last post so I got a close up of him. Also, his name is Winner Rogozarski in Second Life. I love it.

Creating Avatars and Objects

Meet Andy Roddick in Second Life! I am a huge tennis fan and I am specifically a big Andy Roddick fan, obviously, so I decided to try to create him. And this was quite a hard task. I searched everywhere for a hat and then I couldn't really change the hair that the hat came with. Then it was hard to find free tennis/ workout clothes so I kind of had to just make an outfit up which worked out just fine. It's funny though because when I was working on all the different parts of his face I thought he looked a lot like Andy but then at the very end when I thought I was about done I didn't think he really looked like Andy Roddick at all. haha so I might need some more work on this trying to recreate people on Second Life. It was a lot of fun, I just need to spend more time on it.

This is me and my first objects I made in Second Life! So, I tried to at least be a little creative and I made a tennis racket, because my avatar that I created is a tennis player AND that's what the random yellow ball is there for because I had made a tennis ball to go with it. However, I decided I wanted to play with my tennis racket so I left clicked on it and selected "take" on the menu and it disappeared and I haven't seen it since. I was pretty sad about this. So, then I just continued with my lamp post and decided I would just make a chair to go with the lamp post. The lamp post does give off light which I thought was cool. And it's shiney metal. :) And the chair does make for a nice picture.

Machinima Used for Multiple Causes

I'm going to talk about two machinimas I saw as the most influencial and useful out of all the ones I looked at. First, there was a machinima made by Global Technology Public Relations who made the machinima to get company's who are interested in being involved on Second Life to come to them to help with reaching their public. The machinima was very well done with one girl leading the video as well as clips being shown of meetings they have planned, or an area for a speech to be made, things like that. Their area for the meetings that they planned was very well built and neat looking. I thought this was a well done advertisement for them illustrating that their knowledge of specifically Second Life can help companies with their promotion in the virtual world.
The second machinima I liked was for a social cause illustrating the awful atmosphere and cruelty that is going on in Guantameno (I don't think I'm spelling that right) prisons. They made this virtual Guantameno to be able to put other people's virtual self through the same experiences that people are going through in this country in order to create a want to help in real life.

I liked how most of the machinimas, like we talked about in class, are very simple. They are just browsing around the area that they are talking about. This makes it easier for the audience to understand what is trying to be said and what's going on. Sometimes, the virtual people who were suppose to be talking weren't even moving their mouth, but it didn't matter. The point that was needed to be made was being heard through the different scenes and views shown in the machinima with the addition of the background voice. I think because Second Life is still so new, machinima needs to be simple to help others understand and not be intimidated by it.

Browsing Around Second Life

I had a very nice venture around Second Life today and I visited five new places that I have never been to before. The first place I visited was Hippiepay Island which was on the list of “popular places” in the search bar. This place was very colorful and fun. The main idea is you can go there and take surveys to get free Linden bucks. However, I tried to do one and the catch is that you have to give them your email and some other information so that the company can send you advertisements and stuff like that. I decided I would rather not do that. Maybe later when I really wish I had some money on Second Life. But, my trip there was still worth it because I found an area with two different kinds of drums that I could play and HEAR what I was playing. One of the sets of drums were the Congas. I even took a snapshot of myself doing this because I was so excited about it.
The next place I visited was Money Tree Island which is another site where you can take surveys and get money for it. The neat part of this island was it actually had trees with money on it but you couldn't take it. I left pretty quickly because I found another part of the island where there were just a lot of pictures of girls and that was just uncomfortable. So, then I just went to the NMI Island and looked at the map of islands that are around there. I ended up picking an island called Helicon Campus. It was a REALLY pretty island; I started in a forest next to a waterfall. It even had the sounds of birds and other animals in the background. Some of the other things it offered on the island were jetski, cliff diving, Holland stables, and a beach. I got to Jetski! I believe this was an educational island to get people more aware of things you can do in Holland and more aware of Holland college.
I wanted to go to some other university’s islands as well so I first went to Clemson’s Island. Their main idea is that it is an online community called Thothica SL which they want to be a place for discussion and invention with the area of Arts and Sciences. There wasn’t too much on the island yet but there were three posters of projects that people are working on. One is making an art show which the student is going to leave on the island. Another person is making a replica of a dutch historical building called the waag. This island interested me enough to want to come back later to see these projects when they get done. The last place I visited was Penn State Isle which is also being used for several research projects. The four projects were an art museum, the Hacienda for Spanish students, a virtual library, and an education technology services area. All of their different sections for each project were so elaborate, nicely put together, colorful and looked like lots of work was put into them. However, nothing was really finished or even started. For example, the art museum didn’t have any pictures or anything in it; But the building was huge and beautiful. This island and the Helicon Campus Island were my favorites because they were so sophisticated looking with lots of details. The details were what struck me as the most important during my tours because they made each island different in its own way. Also, it gave you more to look at.

New Media Island Adventures

My Five Things I did on NMI Island:
1. I threw the football on the football field in the UGA tailgate area.
2. I walked around the butterfly garden at the Chattahoochee Nature Center.
3. I stopped at the skydiving exit off 400 and went skydiving! This was my favorite activity.
4. I searched for golden nuggets at the Dahlonega, GA Gold Rush off 400, although I’m not sure I actually got any money from the nuggets that I found.
5. I danced on the Virtual Jam dance floor with a few other random people.

Orientation Experience

Orientation Island was very strange at first.  It was hard to tell if people were talking to me or not.  The hardest part for me was putting the ball on the table, which made me laugh because I knew it shouldn't be that hard.  I really enjoyed learning how to drive the cars around even though I wasn't very good at it.  Since my orientation experience, I have been able to walk and fly around Second Life a good amount.  The funniest part was when I danced for the first time because the dances were crazy.  It took me awhile to figure out how to get to the New Media Island but it was really exciting when I did because there was actually something I recognized there.  And I got free shirts at the tailgate! :)  Overall, it has been exciting to use Second Life but also a little boring because I haven't had anything specific to do while I am on it.  It will be fun to have actual tasks with this class.

My Real and Virtual Photos