Month One

Week One - Romance or Marriage

 

At the end of week one I look just like I did at the end of DAY one -- well I may have changed sunglasses. So much for fashionista status. I may try making a jaunty hat next week, clothes are way beyond my intent level at the moment.

Is this is a romance or a marriage -- the Cloud Party experience? Difficult to tell at this point. The tech is definitely impressive; the price at free and unlimited can't be beat. Things aren't perfect of course; this is a frontier. That may have been why my first build turned out to be this landscape.

It's good to be creating again. Mesh without physics concerns is SO much more fun. Different rules here of course and adjustments need to be made, but I am enjoying myself and that is what really counts.

Events of the week included the addition of clouds for all with the promise and preview of more sky sliders and the code so we can have our own styles should we want to play Mother Nature. 

Week Two - Seeing Double

I have been "ghosted" before but never able to see myself as a ghost. Actually pretty cool!

I was working on a build for a new area that will include a Treasure Hunt -- actually the whole point of the build. When I came back from blender, I saw another gal that looked just like me. Since there aren't that many variations on a theme in the wearables yet, I just though it odd that we would match. I could fly however and 'the other gal' stayed still. Hmmm.

I turned on my nametags (off by choices for years) and noted that Chic Aeon was away inside the building. She was however ALSO there moving around outside. Had to smile at that. Logging in and out didn't fix the issue but finally the interloper exited the building.

Much accomplished this week with some major additions to The Mesa which I hope to have ready for the public in a few days. Just making those little details now. Also working on prizes for the hunt. It will be free of course as many folks, like me, have no coins.

I added quite a few small but useful tips to the MESH page (see top toolbar).

Cloud Party news this week is the availability of video streaming. I also ran into a fellow machinimatographer who gave me a link to some important tips for making video in CP.

Learning lots.

Week three was a biggie for me with three builds published.

Last, fastest and easiest was the California Dreamin' area, a square kilometer of color that takes you back (just in case you were actually there) to the 60s.

And if your parents or OMG Grandparents were of that generation, it gives you a taste of that time.

There WAS lots of color, Pop Art and "floating" items in the skies.

Do some exploring and come away with a complete retro house and landscape.

The Mesa was the first build I worked on when coming to Cloud Party, a small piece of the Southwestern United States where I lived for awhile.

There is something magical about the high desert, you feel closer to the elements there.

Vista abounds and low hills form a personal space for contemplation. Pull up a hale bale and let the desert sing you a song.

My shop is coming along and open to the public. Of course these days there isn't that much public - LOL. But that's OK.

I managed to make a candle flame and a glowing ball with particles. Still not wrapping my head around that, but improving.

Inworld video was introduced this week. It worked and then it didn't, but I suspect it will work again. That's why they call it "beta" *wink*.

Week Four - Late Afternoons

I am happy to say that I haven't been running into myself at CP -- as often. It comes from going to another Chrome tab and not actually "logging out" and then returning. So at least I know the why of it these days.

I spent the week working on a Halloween build and am pretty much complete and quite happy with it. Will take another look tomorrow and see what might need to be tweaked.

After a month here I feel a bit more competent. I haven't ventured out all that much, too many things I want to build and much learning to accomplish still. I am very happy here which is a good thing as life as we know it may be gone from SL. My enthusiasm is certainly not there and I have taken a vacation from blogging at Phil's Place -- something I have only done twice in over five years.

I will be adding to my blog in a more typical manner now, single posts and such. Very few folks come here except for the tutorial, so it is more of a diary at this point -- a history of roads traveled.

New this week for the historical record was a theater template and the integration of Occulus Rift. Lots of small additions in the build menu appeared, a couple disappeared and I can see that writing more tutorials may not be too helpful. Things change so quickly at this stage that they will likely be outdated soon. I have certainly watched some that no longer have much relationship to our current tools.