Making kids.... In Open Sim.

Hey All, Monday update,

I got tasked with creating a few child like avatars for OS, only snag I've ran into is the client server not wanting to save everything at once...but the basic inventory slots have been created, now to refine.

Emergency update, Ver 1.0

These clouds are getting me down.....

For the past few days my avatar has been a puff of smoke, this wouldn't be a problem; except for the fact that I've been tasked with avatar creation for Tuesdays meeting.

+ Kamal - create young boy and young girl avatar bodies and clothing.

+ - Join the OpenSimulator community http://opensimulator.org

I went ahead and contacted Richard, here's to hoping for a speedy resolution before I get swamped by homework for my other classes.

~Update~

Good news, I managed to fix my cloud issue. Avatar building is a go!

Bio Dome, Summon The Children!, Rainforests?

Thus far I've been working on building and texturing various objects for Open Sim that can be easily attached to avatars as a form of customization. Texturing complex geometry in SL/OS is, well.. not fun, and certainly not easy as dropping a texture on a simple wall or object. Avatar texturing requires the use of templates that map to the avatars body surfaces. I've obtained these templates and use them in Photoshop to generate the textures I need, then import them into OS. Fortunately, if there's anything that you can obtain tutorials for, it's creating clothing in second life.

http://nicolaescher.com/tutorials/clothing-in-second-life.php

Here's a look at using templates to create textures.

Progress on this project is going well, and I should have a complete space suit available soon. Here's a look at some beta clothing pieces, they are still tagged as objects, but that should be fine.

As far as the bio-dome goes, it looks like emails are being exchanged and I'm waiting for the link and foliage packs to show up in my inventory so that we can start cracking. The rainforest/blue crap project seems to be another area of communication break down. We were asked to work on it but as of this moment Isaac seems to be the only person who has been granted access to the prims for the project; as such I chose to continue my avatar work which turned into building child avatars for next meeting. I've already sent out an email on the open sim group but will be building on my own until I hear back from someone.

Systems Are 100% Operational...

Hello world... After many months I am back on blogger and this time to track yet another project, and maybe to even just casually blog about a thing or two. This is just an initial post to get the ball rolling... I've got homework to get back to.

http://www.myspace.com/ratatatmusic <- Amazing stuff...current band of the day.

FTP for everyone!

So..What is FTP?
FTP is an acronym for File Transfer Protocol. As the name suggests, FTP is used to transfer files between computers on a network, such as the Internet. You can use FTP to exchange files between computer accounts, to transfer files between an account and a desktop computer, or to access software archives on the Internet. Keep in mind, however, that many FTP sites are heavily used and require several attempts before connecting.

Why Use It?
Its a guaranteed way to share DATA, namely files over the internet with any one who can connect to the FTP server.

How Do I Connect?!
You can use a web browser to connect to FTP addresses exactly as you would to connect to HTTP addresses. Using a web browser for FTP transfers makes it easy for you to browse large directories and read and retrieve files. Your web browser will also take care of some of the details of connecting to a site and transferring files. While this method is convenient, web browsers are often slower and less reliable and have fewer features than dedicated FTP clients.
Command line FTP
You can also use FTP in a command line format from your Unix account, or your Unix or Windows workstation. For help, see What are some common FTP commands? For example, to start FTP, at the command line prompt, enter: this also works with CMD in windows!

What Connection Information Or Credentials Do You Need To Connect?
To connect to a FTP server you need the domain, this is the most important component...depending on if the server uses anonymous FTP or requires you to insert a user name and password will dictate what other credentials you will need.

Second life Redux.

This week we were tasked to hop, skip, and maybe even drive around orientation island din linden labs second life, trouble is I had already been to the orientation island and there really inst any way to get back....I tried doing a bunch of searches and was unable to find anything relevant..unless....orientation island changed formats..cause I joined the SL community almost a year or two ago. This may seem like an odd request but I'd have to ask that you explore my blog a little and take a look at a few of the stories I wrote before in regards to SL.

Becon The Coders To Come Forth!

Mozilla is a rare, if not prefect example of what can happen when minds are allowed to collaborate on a single project that interests them all. As with OS distributions such as Linux and other projects in the same category the increased programing efficiency that can be brought forth by allowing many people to interact with a software code. However overcoming security issues as well as financial issues can bring even the best project to a halt; and thats where it takes a little luck and allot of skill. Both of which the guys over at Mozilla have in spades.

Personally I believe open source is a great Idea, not only to spark competition with products developed by payware companies but also to inspire creativity so that products become more robust and the coding community becomes self aware of how diverse and talented people that aren't necessarily connected with a mother company can be.

The Bridge.

A long time ago, in an office or school far far away; I/O hardware was limited to keyboards , mice, printers and monitors; one had to type a command or click on a button and wait for the computers response. Just like the green and black monitors of old this hardware to will soon fade from memory, forced into the obscurity of Wikipedia and PC hardware books...but by what you ask. A new generation of I/O hardware is emerging that promises to seamlessly blend interaction with your digital world and your real world. Just one of these devices could fill an entire thesis paper but I'd like to cover a few of them rather briefly in this short blog post.

E-Ink, I'm sure you've heard this term floating around at one point in the other. E-Ink was originally a concept devised by OS programmers to allow seamless integration of written characters into TXT and Grahpics based enviorments, I.E your doctor drawing on your Xray on a touch screen pc. E-Ink has now evolved into a pratical replacment for printed media, one of the major issues of reading anything on a PC for long periods of time is eye fatigue; this is the main reason why digital distribution of printed content never really took off. New advances in E-Ink technology and even LED technology have allowed companies to solve that issue and the matter of power consumption. Below are three examples of said devices.
Toshibas New Sign.
Tokyo Subway
E-Ink Demo
Super Thin Display

This segways neatly into my next topic of interest, I-Displays. We breifly discussed I or Interactive displays in Monday's class with Microsofts Surface being the theme. For years end users and programers alike have tried to find a more natural way to interact with PC's and the content stored on them; trackballs, stylus, touch screens. These are just a few of the technologies that have surfaced thanks to work in this feild. Today however alot of the technology that was once relegated to high end users, coperate applications and in some cases military technology has slowly trickleled into the mian stream market. One of the most popular of these technologies is the interactive display, a screen that can be easily touched and manipulated with no obvious software layer. You just intuitively interact with the device and it excutes the desired command; and trust me it is as fun as it sounds. Here are a few video demonstrations after the break.
Data Vizulation And Traditional Interaction.
Analog Meets Digital
Sea Dragon
Water Board

The power of current day processors and GPU's makes this kind of interaction possible and not ludacriously expensive, ensuring that commercial and possibly even private acess to these technologies is less and less of a dream. Speaking of which..something I've been itching to show off, the new ATI Radeon 4870 GPU, packing GDDR5 memory running at speeds over 1ghz and only costing 300 dollars this GPU is capable of realtime video processing, physics processing and variable geomerty processing , it is also capable of putputing video and audio directly through a HDMI cable.
Tech Demo