Waterfalls

I did something unusual yesterday, at least for SL. I went for a walk.

Now, I will often buzz out in a random direction flying over sims looking for interesting things, but this time, I hopped on the nice Linden road half a sim from my mainland holdings and just went for a walk. Or perhaps, since I was being something that walks on all fours, a canter.

Walking about on mainland SL can be a wonderful experience, at least in places where people haven't destroyed the Linden public works that allow you to walk around, or even take the train. It immerses you in the random creativity of people and forces you to experience what is there instead of taking you to some known or intended place. Sometimes it even makes you go ... I never realized this was right next to that, and I go to both of them all the time. And it is only something that can be experienced by getting out of the insulated private islands and wandering about the mainland.

On this day I found quite a few interesting things, the first two of which are here as a set. They are waterfalls. Both wonderfully done. Both probably looking much better at night, which it was. The locations are where I was standing when I took the pictures.

Hamlin (28, 8, 80)

Paw Paw (44, 42, 83)

It helps, maybe, that there was a small plot of land selling bunnies and playing ChouChou on the audio stream right at the top of the first waterfall.

The Hexagon House

Slowly accumulating a store front inside the hexagon house in Tipsico.

At some point the furniture will be replaced by things I've made that are for sale. But for now I don't have much that goes with the theme except the modernist kotatsu.

The Hexagon House

The hexagon house was specifically designed to sit on a slope or a ridge line, meaning it is perfectly suited to the terrain of Tipsico.

I also bought up a good chunk of the ridge line in an attempt to de-flatten the sim, lots of which got leveled into 512 flat plot. Leads to a very strange geography along the ridge, where the old slope was close to 45 degrees.

No, the big thing next to it is not on my property. It is a house belonging to an old timer that was very well done for its time. Though there is a little pixel panic.

Tipsico Garden

First big fix was to change the architecture in place there.

Settled on my hexagonal platform house, which is bigger than it looks. An uncommon event in SL.

The garden is getting a makeover

The Tipsico garden is getting a makeover.

Tipsico was an Asian-themed sim for a while, mostly out of people just following the trend. We are trying to steer it that way again.

New addition to the fleet

I am working on a new addition to the fleet.

Okay, so the big airship is still not and done probably never will be, but the smaller ones are easier to work with (and complete).

More pics another time.

Portrait of an Artist as an Avatar

A interesting story about the intersection of the art world and Second Life, from the New York Times Magazine.

And a little AM Radio for good measure.

Lamp

Linux, Apache, no wait- ... Just a plain old lamp.

Well, a pretty awesome lamp I found while poking around foreign sims in Second Life this week.

That is me floating next to it for scale.

Rental Estates 6

The last of this set for now. I have some more buildings to build (and some old ones to complete).

Rental Estates 5

Rental Estates 4

Two shots of the waterfalls behind the rental estates.

Moo is actually the one building the falls, I just roughed out the terrain and added some trees.

Speaking of Airships

Me on the command deck of my airship, or as much of the command deck as actually exists so far.

By the way, beta versions of my airship are now available for purchase. They come as is, but with free installation and free updates. Just no promises the updates will ever happen. Purchasers are allowed to contribute updates. Though I am not paying anyone for them unless they are substantial. After all, I'm giving people an opportunity to buy in at 80% off. Anyway, it's my baby. I'll fuss over it as I please.

Rental Estates 3

The rental estates are currently in the shadow of my airship. They juxtapose very nicely in this shot.

Rental Estates 2

Two different shots from the front of yesterday's hexagonal pedestal house. The large structure in the center of the picture will probably have become something else in the next few weeks. Though we are actively trying to maintain an Asian theme on the ground level.

Rental Estates

On our new sim we are looking to rent smaller properties with houses pre-built on them. Each will be on its own parcel to isolate sound. Prim counts won't be all that high, but they well be cheaper than renting full plots of land from us.

So what follows (here and for the next couple of days) is a series of shots from the rental estates, which are still very much a work in progress, though people are welcome to inquire about renting (or buying copies of) the buildings that already exist.

First is my hexagonal pedestal house. It is not that big, but it is on top of the rise and will have some awesome views of the sim. One nice thing about renting smaller plots like this is we get to control and unify the landscaping.

For instance, this is the view of the waterfall off the back porch. The falls are still in progress too.

I now have my client set for foggy mornings. All of the shots were taken during the a.m. hours as the fog burned off.

Builds: Asian Modern 3

Some more shots of the Asian modern, which is going to be part of a rental complex in the islands as well as be available for sale.

Although not immediately evident from these shots, it is meant to sit on a hillside, with a rooftop entrance and a discrete back door on the first floor. Ideal for those steep waterside plots.

Builds: Asian Modern 2

An attempt at a low prim Asian-themed modernist structure. It ended up not looking too bad for a box. And I just realized one of the images is a repost. Oh well, they are beginning a long set, so I'll let it stay.

Builds: Asian Modern

Just some shots of an Asian modern block of a house I am putting the finishing touches on.

It is meant to sit in a reasonably steep slope. The building has a discrete door hidden away on the first floor as well as a rooftop entrance from the cliff behind it. There is also a small indoor koi pond at the base of the spiral staircase.

Builds: A-Frame

Currently working on an A-Frame that is a larger, nicer version of my house. The texturing is not done, but here is a view outside the upstairs window.

Builds: The Airship

Last shots in this set.