Is now, as part one of final step, linked in the menu bar at the top of this page… well under the logo… so “close to the top.”
You can also access it via this link if you want to.
And part two of the final step is this thesis_analysis (in pdf format).
Well, actually it IS here… which means it’s there, in Second Life, and ready to be viewed.
I’ve had a few friends run around and test things. Thanks go out to all of the for finding little things that I could fix! And I’ve compiled the Digital short, which is exporting now, and will be published by the end of the day… assuming iMovie actually exports in the time it says it’s going to.
I decided not to show pictures of the actual space, so the movie and space has the most impact, but here is one I had to share…
As I worked, I developed a system where I pushed certain scripts out to multiple objects from one central server object. To make it easier to see when it was working, I made the server and the objects glow. The image below is one I snapped as I worked, just cause I thought it was fairly compelling.
My Avatar is the block floating in the middle of the glowing stuff. So much activity. And all because of some commands I typed in.
I do believe I’m down to the last few things… I’ve stopped indulging my “this is good, but this would be better” impulses. Mostly because I really feel like it’s just about perfect at this point. Well except for the name… I still have to come up with a name for the entire thing… I’m calling it an exhibit at this point too, because, it really is. An 3d, immersive, interactive, learning exhibit designed to teaching participants about some of the most important concepts related to xHTML and CSS.
So, after
dare I say it…
I think I’m done.
So, I’ve invited a few people to view and comment – well some have been doing so right along, but I invited a few more, hopefully their feedback will be good!
I love it when this happens. My one question is… if they were “expected difficulties” would that mean I could upload?
Oh well, I publish it more as a record that SL is far from an ideal platform to produce things, but still it’s the more flexible of those I’ve tried for this project.
This is another that needs no further explanation.
I’ve been adding a number of those little things on the “toward the end if there’s time” list, and thankfully there is (read: not ahead of schedule, but at least ON schedule!) but I hit this again… This another hurdle to developing in SL. It’s kinda like the web being down… no not your connection to the internet (and thusly the web) I mean the actual web.
But I presume it’ll be back soon and I’ll be finishing up within an hour or two! Then on to making my documentation “digitial shorts” (also called machinema in SL, but there are just screen recording with my voice and those are much more than that, so I’m purposefully not using that word)!
Some say it adds 20lbs, but in SL, where you can be sculpted to perfect, the only thing it adds is 3 meters… of distance, between it and the avatar. This has proven to be the biggest hurdle in all the things I’m doing. Odd, I know, considering all the other things I have to deal with… llScript, media imports, exports, embeds, and, oh yeah, the conceptual framework of this entire project. But, in all sincerity, the only thing that has thrown a “monkey-wrench” into any of my plans is the fact that the camera is not where they avatars eye’s are. Now, to be sure, I completely understand why this is, and agree that is should be back there, but figuring out how to deal with it has proven to be a bit of a challenge. It certainly changed how I build a few of the modules; Specifically the “HTML tunnel,” but really every item has been effected and re-engineered to accommodate this fact, and the fact that I can’t count on a typical user manipulating their camera.
All in all, though, I have to say it has proven to be a decent catalyst to be even more vigilant with respect to focusing on how the people who will use the space will indeed ACTUALLY use this space… in direct oposition to how I imagine they’ll use it.
I do believe there is a way to set the camera to particular spots, but this will be an “add on” if I have time, and not a primary function because I want users to be able to walk around these things… not just view them from one location.
Those words, or others similar to them, were said to me in the past few days when one of my “test subjects” (AKA Kate) was looking at one of the things I had built. I had described my original idea a while back, and she remembered it… and (thankfully) was willing to tell me she was not finding what I had build to meet that goal.
I say thankfully because it was a great impetus to re-evaluated all of them and ask myself if I was meeting me original goals. It’s pretty easy for me to stray from the original point when building these sorts of enviroments in SL – I really find the building and scripting to be fun, so it’s similar to a big canvas and a fresh piece of charcoal.
But, again thankfully, many of my peices are on target, it was just the “HTML tunnel” that needs some reworking. Which was the “original original” idea, so its not surprising that I’ve expanded and changed it a bit. But I reigned it back in and am QUITE happy I did…. it’s immesurably better in it new (refocused) form.
More user testing is planned after everything is all put together. These will be the purest “here’s the SLURL tell me what you think” tests… which I hope won’t yeild too many questions!
Ug. Ug. Did I say ug? Playing media in SL, generally speaking isn’t that difficult. A little snip of code, a url or two, and presto, you’re good to do.
But… that’s not what I had planned to use for all my signage. I had planned to use HTML on a prim to allow me to update and change things without having to upload new graphics over and over again. In theory it was brilliant. In development it was still feasible. It pruduction and practice… no so much.
The idea is that you can set the land you own (which translates to server space basically) to stream media of various types (audio, video, and even web content) and then show it on a prim. Very handy. BUT… if you want to have more than one thing play, depending on users actions… well, not as easily accomplished.
At first I was dividing the land into chunks and setting the parcel’s media to whatever I wanted to show. This was ok, with the exception of still needing to make sure the user had their “play media” setting on. Which is not a guarentee.
After I got fed up with sectioning and resectioning land in direct response to how often I reorganized my exhibit elements, I found a script that would allow me to automatically set the media when a user touches an item. CLOSE… INTERESTING… So I pulled it apart and perused the functions and things. Then wrote my own script that activated on collision (when something comes into contact with the object that holds the script) to set the media. Thinking, untimately erroneously, this would be perfect… as someone walks up to an item I could set the media to show info about it… again IN THEORY GOOD, but production proved to be too clunky, to slow, and to much of a wild card to use for such an important part of the exhibit.
So, the “dynamicly updating” posters for each section have falling away infavor of something I can completely rely upon… good ol’ static graphics. Which do cost to upload, but it’s $10L, which all things considered, is well worth the peace of mind 
I’m fairly certain this needs no extra explanation – at least not from me
I’ve seen examples of video clips used in-world to explain things going on, or provide “how-to” type tutorials. I could see this working if the clip was of an avatar, or if it included a narrator that was proportional to the viewer/avatar’s size. I suggest these options because I want to be careful not to over-extend the idea/use of video and include too much video, or clips that would make the experience one where someone could react by thinking “I could have watched that on a web page.” In short I want to be sure I stay true to the vision and be sure there is a reason this experience is created in SL. In someways these fits back into the argument against a HUD for this project as well. I plan for the experience to be IN SL, not simply on the screen in the SL client.