Romance and Exotics

So much newness was added to MOSP this week along with many upgrades, the photos won't all fit on the blog. You will just have to come and see for yourself!

Up first, a lovely new Spring garden area with flowering cherry trees and impressive mesh fountain can be found at the new Cherry Blossom Romance area. The space is only party full, but there are plenty of great filming areas as well as single and couple animations in both bench and fountain.

The Moroccan abode in SAND finally has furniture. There is even a hookah and other lounging areas not in this shot.

The new blue Beach Bungalow is packed full of brand new furniture. Color rules the day here. Great animations abound.

Don't miss the new outdoor seating on the deck. There is a superb newspaper reading and coffee drinking (same time) animation. Very realistic.

There are many new additions to the Medieval Village in SOIL.

Items were also added to the City Lights full sim build, Sound Stage 1 and the Sci Fi Pod.

A new basement jam pad is now on Sound Stage Two. There is lots more to this set than shown here, so stop by and take a look. You will need to bring your own drumsticks for awhile. The set doesn't give them out. I promise to make some soon. The animation is good though and that's important.

That's this week's round up; it's been a busy one. I'll have something STUPENDOUS for you next time.

Full Sim City and More

A new full sim city build is up at MOSP. It is minimalist as there are only so many prims to be had *wink* -- but there is VISTA. I love vista. I made some new mesh buildings at a great land impact value and scattered them around the whole sim-sized surround. There are a couple of streets. A corner with cars, transit terminals,  shops, a small park -- and VISTA. There is also a huge grassy area which could act as a concert in the park setting. Should you need special shop signs  for filming, just send me a full perm texture and I'll switch them out for you.

Also new is a beautifully textured dungeon. Doors and hallways lead nowhere of course, this is a "set", not a castle. I did make a pretty spiffy view from one of the grated exits. Desolate and foreboding, it is rock and brambles.

If you need extra flames, let me know. Derender any that you don't want to see. I left them unlinked for that purpose.

The center grill in the hall is phantom so that you can move easily to find your shots.

Both the haystack and the chopping block are now fixed and giving out items so that the well-animated props work correctly.

This thanks to someone who alerted me. MOSP is a big place, not only in land size but in "levels" and currently has about 50 sets. There is no way I can continuously check them -- well there is but I'm not going there :D.

So PLEASE if you find something not working or prims floating and such -- send and IM to Chic Aeon. I would appreciate that.

While I was fixing up the farmland, I added a small hilly set with some more realistic textures as the hay mound on dark green grass wasn't all that realistic. If you like that green grass, just derender the hills *wink*.

And here is my tip of the week; draw distance.  MOSP is getting fairly crowded now. Vistas could be difficult to come by -- especially on the ground. If you need a clean shot of "farmland" for instance, simply turn your draw distance down to a low setting. Magic, all those incongruous buildings disappear and you have clear skies and rolling hills.

New additions and replacements continue to appear.  This week it was in Peaceful Valley where the is a new very very vintage fridge in the Bayou Shack. 

When I started putting the first MOSP together -- and again when it was resurrected on LEA7 -- I wasn't terribly concerned with prim counts. I mean, a WHOLE sim! :D

But as more sets were added, those new land impact points became more important. So part of my self described job description for the future will be continuously updating existing builds with the emphasis on super quality and low land impact mesh.

My personal equation has something to do with visual impact in comparison to land impact costs. So some older prim buildings will certainly remain for awhile. They have their own charm and are some of the most popular places at MOSP.

But I suspect that in a year, most of LEA7 will be mesh, so much more can be fitted in.

And we want MORE! 

Cutting Room Floor

While I do have lots of newness to share with you, I am planning on sticking to my Sunday post schedule; eventually I may run out of goodness and I don't want to hurry that along. I reclaimed some prims yesterday so I have about 1500 again. I plan on leaving 500 available for rezzing, but there is still room for great new stuff. Other items will be retired and hopefully replaced with smart mesh builds that save on that nasty finite "prim" allowance.

Meanwhile since I am a blogger first and foremost, I decided to chat a bit as my newly finished (ohIreallyhopeso) film finishes processing. It is taking half an hour for 4:30 which means to me that I used a lot of filters (yep) and layers (you got it) and that I could use more RAM (well yes, but not for once a month).

So here is my philosophy of the day:

The Cutting Room Floor

If you have been making machinima for awhile, you know how long getting a four to ten second "fantastic" clip can be. Props, costumes, locales, animations, lighting -- it all takes time. Finally, if you are lucky, you get just what you wanted -- or sometimes serendipity sneaks in and you actually get something better than what you wanted. You smile with a sign of relief and move on to the next scene.

But what happens when those hard won seconds don't really fit into your film? That actually happened in my last two projects -- including the one that is now happily uploading to YouTube *wink*.

I am not the best machinimatographer in town, but I do pride myself on high production values and good editing. I spend MUCH more time in the virtual editing room than filming -- even with those hour for four second scenarios. I watch and watch and watch again: not only when the film in starting out but after I think I am done. And of course I am rarely actually done when I think I am.

Along the way there comes a point (not always but sometimes) when something just isn't right; something doesn't fit. And, it could be that scene I worked so long on. Ego comes into play here of course. I want to show off that great scene, but at what price. Twice now I have thrown away clips, cluttering the cutting room floor. Where the films better? Yes, they were. Am I glad I made the decision to let those scenes go? Yes I am.

Did I save them "just in case" there is a spot for them in another film?

You betcha!

What's New Mid May

There is a sunny new abode at Beach Walk. Filled with bright colors and an inviting deck with view, it currently features a kids room, a music room and a living room nook. More will appear as time goes by of course. Venture over and have a look!

The City of Lost Souls has some new decor. I had to smile when I saw this come in.  I was mightily happy to see some "good quality grunge decor" appear in my inventory.

Honestly this is lots of fun with some great animations including an under the table one (some adjustments in those X, Y, Z axises needed). I am working on getting a bit more grunginess on the walls but it will happen.

Grab a bottle of beer and enjoy!

Someone wondered awhile back if there were any Sci-Fi builds at MOSP. I had to answer "no" as that is not really my forte. But a hunt with some stellar items came my way and there is now a small but very impressive futuristic skybox available for those wanting a beyond modern locale. This table that I am sitting on plays music. Touch the different disks to illicit sounds, then press the control button (or do it in the opposite way as that works too).  I am thinking you could actually make your own soundtrack and record it here!

Newness for May

There's a spiffy new top of the line kitchen complete with animations over at the Newport Beach House (gray Cape Cod) at Beach Walk.  And yes, I cheated and used one of my fashion blog photos here. Let's call it human interest.

And while food is on our minds, there is also a great new picnic set complete with sputtering barbecue. A plastic pool lets the kids or adults (couples animations) cool off from the summer heat.

And there is a giant beer cooler -- well of course there is.

Find this all in the park at SAGE.

This spectacular boat is now docked (well there is no dock so maybe parked is a more correct term) down by the Newport Beach house at Beach Walk. 

It is in the sim proper and while you cannot drive it, you could certainly rez some pose balls and film a scene.

There are nearly 300 prims of detail. It is impressive.

Along with other small touches here and there is this fishing stool currently placed over by the lighthouse.

Sit down and the pole asks to be attached to your hand. Then fish with animation in the calm waters of Beach Walk.

I must say that the lighthouse is one of the most popular spots at MOSP. Whenever I am down on the ground there is often someone staring out at its solid presence against the sky.