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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.

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.

Theme Song

From boingboing, some fan-tastic techno-kitsch at its best.

And right after having caught up on Girl Genius, who could ask for more?

Builds 23: Skybox

One of my pet peeves in Second Life is the skybox.

Not that I have anything against people who want to live up in the air, apparently harboring some illusion of privacy there. Rather the problem is that most skyboxes are just that, boxes. Usually just a normal ground dwelling house lifted up into the air, caught in a perpetual state of not falling.

So my most recent build, and probably what I will be working on for a bit, is skyboxes that look like they have every reason to be floating in the air.

This is my first one. It also makes a good place to dock my airship, which admittedly is bigger than it is.

Builds 14: More Airship

A shot of the airship overlooking the sim. It is at times like this that you realize how small Second Life is. Each sim no bigger than a high school athletic field. Here we are with the camera cranked to 512m and four sims in the picture, yet it all encompasses only a third of a mile or so.

And the interior, which I am working on. Found some nice wallpapers that look right when deformed by tapered prims.

Builds 12: Small Electropunk Aircraft

There, I coined a new word. Not as evocative as steampunk though.

Shots of the little vehicles inside the hangar bay seen in my last builds post.

Will add som better shots of them on their own later.

First, the electroskiff, for ferrying passengers and cargo to and from the ship. Okay, so a little lacking in guard rails. Don't worry, it is woefully underpowered and moves very slowly.

Second, the escape pod, with me sitting in it.

In spite of the small size, it comfortably seats three, two passengers and the pilot. I still have the finish the pilot seat. Need to find a motorcycle pose first though. Then it is time to start playing with scripting it to really fly.

Don't need the name "escape pod" fool you. It is designed to fight its way to freedom if necessary. Aside from a slug gun on the top, the pointy bit on the front is more than decoration. It is part of a system that allows the entire ship to act as a plasma weapon. Sort of a targeted EMP with enough power to burn holes in anything in front of it. Use it sparingly though, takes alot of electricity to generate fields that reach plasma state. The main ship can do the same and has the benefit of not having to be pointed at its target like this little thing. Of course, the EMP itself isn't quite as devastating in a world that has not yet invented the transistor. Difference engines don't really care about electrical disruption, though it can magnetize any magnetizable parts and keep them from interacting properly. Still, don't want to be right in front of it when it goes off.

Builds 11: The Airship

Some more of the current work in progress, an electro-steampunk airship.

Okay, have to say that shopping for clothes to go with the airship is as much fun as building it. And it is probably going to make me go broke. My favorite to date is a toss up between ~silentsparrow~ and BareRose. Current best outfit is a toss up between Black Mist and ~thorns~. Though the new underground ~silentsparrow~ store definitely wins the battle for innovative design, assuming you can figure out how to get in. (Gee, is that a storm on the horizon? Maybe you should look for a place to take shelter ...)

Anyway, two undercarriage views, with some prims that look to be out of place. I'm going to have to check on that tonight. The second shows the inside of the hangar bay.

Builds 10: The Airship

More airship.

No, I'm not house proud. Not in the least. Why do you ask?

This is a nice shot looking into the main entrance foyer. You can see the folded-up gangplank as the grill on the far inside wall.

A nice view of the top of the engine wheels as seen from the passageway connecting the front and back of the ship. They are also connected on the level above where you can walk across the open deck, but this is not recommended at high atmospheric elevations where the air is thin and the temperature very cold. Besides, aside from a hatch locking down the hangar bay on the bottom, there are no air locks on the ship. It is not really designed for space flight. Though the techs at the research lab are working on a field to create a self-contained bubble of air around the ship. They have gotten as far as moving the air with us in the engine field, but it bleeds off far too rapidly, give at maximum two hours of external air when beyond the breathable atmosphere. Only really useful for speedy emergency rescues ... mostly of lab techs getting cocky about the integrity of their new high atmosphere flying devices.

Builds 9: The Airship

Some more shots of my airship in progress.

First is a view out from the engineering control room onto the engine. Yes, the control board has no controls on it yet. I am looking for some good control panel textures that don't involve things like bakelite knobs and backlit dials.

The glassy sphere in the middle is a battery that is made of a substance I am not allowed to discuss, but that has a very high capacity. It can keep the ship aloft for weeks without a recharge. As it expends it is consumed from the middle out. When it starts looking like a transparent hollow glass bauble, worry.

It is linked directly to the drive system, which draws the most power, and there is a reciprocating electric engine on the far side (need to get a picture of that) to drive the mechanicals on board the ship.

It is hard to see on these shots, but the entire power source and engine arrangement rests in a cradle that looks a little fragile. In part this is because the engine does not push or pull the ship, it moves it as a unit. A benefit of field-based drive systems. It is also in part because the engine and power source are not as stable as they could be, so the cradle and lower girders are rigged to be blown out in an emergency so the engine can be ejected. Reserve power should be enough for a semi-controlled landing by carefully destabilizing the antigravity field generators. Try to land on water and try to evacuate any small craft from the lower hangar bay and seal all hatches before hitting said water. Mobility and buoyancy are both good things.

Builds 8: The Airship

Some more airship shots. Got quite a few. Will be posting them sporadically.

A clean viewing angle so you can get a better idea of what you are looking at. Yep, that sim it is sitting in is my sandbox, and there is a previous building sitting there in the next sim over.

Yes, the paddle wheels really are the propulsion system, but no they don't turn. They generate a field that creates thrust to move the ship. At some point I hope to create a glowing ball lightning animation that loops through the paddles creating a sense of movement.

Another moody view from the bottom which shows the forced perspective of the SL rendering engine very nicely. The angled metal plates are four field generators all at right angles to each other. For you conspiracy buffs, it is the basic format of Telsa's anti-gravity field generator, purportedly impounded and covered up by the U.S. and Polish governments. Okay, his drawings used rounded disks, but I like my design better.

Builds 7: The Airship

My current build.

An airship. A steam punk airship.

Okay, so it is sort of lacking in steam, but thanks to Telsa's advanced in solid state batteries and field effects, it is a nice robust electric airship appropriately decked out for the Guilded Age. The entire front of the airship is even a formal ballroom, because, well, what's an airship without a ballroom?

It is still very much a work in progress.

First, a nice moody shot because I needed some new wallpaper.

And a simple side elevation for those who like boring mechanical views. The ship is roughly 70 meters long. The ballroom is at the front, with storage and and engineering below it. There is a working gangplank on the other side of the two story entrance foyer to the ballroom.