Second Life – Tangent Lass

Catch Up

So, it’s been ages since I posted, because I’ve been running before the wind, as the saying goes. I have a few minutes right now, though, so I thought I’d try to catch up, and let people know what’s in the works.

The main project is an update to my website. It’s been years since it was updated, and it’s long past time that it was done. But it’s a huge job, because it’s a huge site.

The last time I worked on it, too long ago to remember, I only did half the site before I got busy with other things. The half I didn’t do, of course, was the Grove. Yes, sadly, those pages have been there, untouched, for longer than some adults who might read this have been alive. Whew!

When I got to the Altar page, I realized the main picture there is way, way, way too small for current standards. When I first posted those pages the web was a whole different, and much slower, place.

Which meant that I needed to re-render the altar scene. But I couldn’t just dust off the old scene and render at a higher resolution, because the software I used, Infini-D, has been gone for many years. (It was sold, resold, smushed together with Ray Dream Designer to make Cararra, and sold again some time last century. Literally. Cararra is owned by DAZ now, but it can’t open the ancient Infini-D files as far as I know.)

Anyway, I use Modo these days, so I rebuilt the scene from old .obj files I saved when I realized that Infini-D was going, going, gone.

Which meant that I was essentially making all new models based loosely on the old models.

Which meant, as long as I was redoing them all, it wasn’t all that much more work to bring them into Second Life. Where the altar set that I still had in my in-world store dated from 2004. (That’s the thing about getting old. You have to keep redoing and updating work that you finished long ago, because the world has changed.)

So. For the last couple of weeks I’ve been eyebrow-deep in modo, making altar ware for Second Life. I have enough of them finished now that I put them together into an Altar Set.

Altar Set in Second Life — Altar Set for Second Life

You can get it now at the Second Life Marketplace, or from The Broom Closet on my sim, Livingtree, in SL.

I still have plenty of pieces that are finished in modo, but need to have the SL textures and LODs made. Things like the Athame, wand, chime, incense that uses self-igniting charcoal, and so on. You can see them in the raw test render that’s the Featured Image for this post.

Well, mostly raw. I just noticed that I have one lens flare there, because I was experimenting to see if the idea I had for lens flares would work. But I need to render it with the lighting I intend to use, and the proper gamma, and all the rest of that stuff. It’s not going to look like that when it’s done!

I’ll be bringing everything into SL except the hyacinths. I didn’t remake those, and the mesh is way too dense for SL. I substituted the rosebuds, instead.

Anyway, now that the basic set is in there, I’m going to be concentrating more on the website. No idea when it’s going to be finished, but hopefully sometime before the end of summer. I might need to change it in chunks to make it, but people do that, sometimes. Right?

So that’s what I’ve been up to. Now that the pressure has eased a bit, I hope to be able to post more often, and show you where I am, and how far I’m getting.

Because I can’t keep working at the pace I’ve been trying to maintain. I’m too old for that!

So, let me know what you think about all of this!

Until next time!

The Arcade in SL, September 2017

It’s the first of September, and once again, the Arcade is open in Second Life. It’s been five years now, and it’s still going strong!

I was in the first Arcade, and I’ve been in lots of them (but not all) since. I’m there again this time, with a bunch of Corn Dollies.

Corn Dollies Key image — The Corn Dollies Key

It’s all Marianne McCann’s fault. She was the one who begged for them. I was going to do this set a long time ago, and then got distracted, and only did one. I put that one in an Arcade set called Grandma’s Attic, which was really a whole lot of things that I had sitting around in my workroom, but had never really finished, or finished and never put up for sale. I have a lot of things like that, at any time.

But Mari never forgets, especially when it’s something she really wants, and so she kept nudging until I got this set done. If you like them, thank her!

There are 12 in the set, plus the reward.

Many of them are scripted; for instance, there’s one with a quilt, which lets you swap between 3 different quilt patterns. There’s one with a parasol, that lets you choose from 12 different parasol designs. There’s one holding a bird, that plays birdsong when you touch her, until you touch her again. There’s one with a working lantern that has all kinds of different options. There’s one with a bubble wand, that lets you toggle the bubbles on and off. There’s one on a swing that can really swing.

All of them let you change the colors of their skin, hair, apron, dress, and kerchief (or hair bows) separately, so you can have them look just the way you want.

You can also use your own pictures for the one with the quilt, or the one who is painting, just by dragging them over the quilt or picture that’s there.

The Reward is only available during the Arcade, and is copy/mod, no transfer, so you won’t be able to pick her up at any of the sales or trades. This is your only chance to get her, and only by playing the machine 25 times. She’s holding a jack-o-lantern that’s really a light, with all the options (including changing the light color and brightness.) It’s a bit early for Halloween, but it won’t be by the time the Arcade closes on September 31.

Corn Dollie Jackie, 25 play reward — The Reward you get for 25 plays!

So go ahead, and try your luck at my machine at The Arcade! All the dolls (except the Reward) are mod/transfer, and all of them are 1 LI at the size given. You can shrink them small enough to put in my dollhouse, or make them huge, although LI goes up as they get big (of course.)

While you are there, don’t forget to pick up the Birthday Presents! You’ll find them on the huge cake in the middle of the venue. Happy Birthday, Arcade!

The Arcade September 2016 Round is Open!

It’s that time again, and The Arcade is open for the September round.

Items from the R(SW & YKFK Gacha machine at The Arcade in Second Life — R(S)W Playful Pastimes 2 – Arcade Sept. 2016

Marianne McCann and I have collaborated on a set of Retro toys for this round. (I did the mesh, and she did most of the textures. Mari also did the animation in the plane. We both worked on the scripts.)

If you’re a resident of Second Life, you can visit our Gacha Machine at The Arcade, and try your luck! It’s just L$50 a try, and everything is mod/transfer.

All of the items do something. The tops jump onto their tips and spin when you touch them. Touch them again, and they fall over. Or just wait, and they’ll fall over by themselves after a bit (because this isn’t a dream.)

When you touch the handheld pinball games, you hear the plunger, and the ball rolling, and then the ball appears in one of the slots. It’s exactly like really playing it! (Or as close as I could manage, in SL.)

The sliding puzzles scramble or solve themselves with a touch.

If you wear the plane, your avatar holds it up in the air. If you touch it, you get a really cute kid voice making a plane noise, so you can run around pretending the plane is flying.

The ray gun water pistol is the most fun! If you wear it and go into Mouse Look, you can shoot a cascade of water at your friends! The disks on the front of the gun also light up and spin when you’re in Mouselook, so everyone knows you are ready to douse them at a moment’s notice.

If you play the machine 25 times, you get a special Reward; a tin Police Box Bank.

Tin Police Box Bank - Reward for playing the gacha machine 25 times — R(S)W Playful Pastimes 2 Reward – Arcade Sept 2016

There’s no other way to get it, and it’s only available during this round of the Arcade, so if you want one, you have until September 30. Unlike all the rest of the things in the machine, the bank is copy/mod, so you won’t be able to buy, beg, or borrow one from anyone.

When you touch the bank, you’ll be able to hear the coins dropping into it. There’s also a script in the Instructions (in the Object Contents) that lets you turn it into a tip jar, if you want to.

So that’s part of what I’ve been up to! Hope you enjoy it, and if you’re in Second Life, I hope to see you there!

New Story on Patreon

I just put a new story up on my Patreon page, for those people who subscribe at $5 a month or more.

This could be you!

The story is from a collection that I’m tentatively calling The Dreamweaver’s Tales. Here’s the introduction for the collection.

The Dreamweaver

Introduction to the Dreamweaver’s Stories
by Robin Wood

Long ago, in the Before Time, our arm of the galaxy twirled through a spoke of the Cosmos that was filled with Enchantment. In those days, all the world was thick with Magic, and fantastical creatures roamed land and sea, bringing joy or terror, according to their natures.

There were many kingdoms then that have since fallen to dust, and even the ever-so-very-great grandchildren of the ancient Kings and Queens no longer remember their names.

You might be one, all unknowing.

In one of those kingdoms there was a mighty city, with walls and towers of shining alabaster that blazed white in the sun. Many-hued banners snapped in the breeze at the tops of the towers, and the air was filled with the perfume of a thousand flowers.

There was a bustling marketplace there, where hundreds of merchants hawked their wares under colorful canopies. There were rows of booths filled with amazing fabrics, shimmering in the sunlight. There were hidden nooks where mysterious figures shrouded in robes stiff with mystical embroidery sold jeweled treasures glimmering with magic. There were pens and cages filled with animals from every corner of the globe, from small crested dragons no bigger than your thumb to towering, tusked creatures that were armored for war. There were sections filled with a thousand musical instruments, all inlaid woods and gleaming strings. There were whole squares given to selling foods from plain bread rolls to the most exotic spiced confections you can think of.

Imagine it, if you will.

Picture the rows of booths, each with its bright awning to shade the buyers and sellers. Picture the sunlight, dazzling as it reflects from polished wood, metal, and precious stones.

Picture the sounds with your mind’s ear; the sweet notes of women singing of perfumes and baubles to entice customers. The harsh bellows of men outshouting each other in their attempt to engage the crowd. The calls of the livestock, the peals of metal chimes, the snatches of song played by wandering minstrels, the calls of the street performers, all mixed into a cacophony that somehow blends into a busy, harmonious whole.

Picture the scents with your mind’s nose, perfume, and heat, the spicy musk of the wooly beasts, spices, rare woods, meltingly delicious desserts, and the cool fragrance of growing plants.

Picture the crowds, dressed in clothing from all the world, feathers nodding in an elaborate head dress here, long sleeves flowing there. Bare feet, scarlet slippers, and tooled leather boots with curled toes all vying for space on the red porphyry pavement. Children in splendid finery, and children in little more than rags laughing and playing as they slipped through the crowds together.

Let us follow two of them, a boy and a girl in plain homespun with just a touch of embroidery, as they race below the elbows of their elders.

Together, they weave their way past the booth where an old, old woman is selling sweets dripping with honey. Past the fat, bearded old man with ranks of toys. Past the young woman with bunches of bright ribbons. Not even pausing for the flute player, or the puppets, or the man with a basket of silky-furred puppies.

Down to the far corner of the market they run, to a nondescript tent of dusty brown, with a single silver star on a deep blue banner trailing down the side.

Here they pause, catching their breath and each other’s hands. And then they lift the flap and slip inside.

Inside, all the noise and light from the market are gone. Inside, it’s quiet and cool, and stars glimmer in the twilight. Inside, it’s outside, on a still hilltop, on a summer evening.

There are other children here, and grown-ups, too, all sitting in a circle, watching a still figure draped in white.

For a moment she remains motionless, as we settle in the circle with the others.

Then she lifts her head, and smiles gently.

“I spin you a dream,” her soft voice stirs her listeners. “a dream from the Borderlands between this world and the next.”

Then she lifts her hands, and starlight and dream-stuff pour between them. She gathers it up, spins it into shimmering strands, and from the strands she weaves a visible dream. A dream of shifting colors and flowing shapes, of light and substance. Of pale shadows and strong sparks.

A dream of Good and Evil. Of how our smallest choices can make huge differences. Of the warmth and courage of the human heart.

This is a Dreamweaver, and these are some of her Dreams.

The End – Or perhaps The Beginning

If you want to read the first one now, instead of waiting for a month for it, you can support me on Patreon.

There will be another story posted here tomorrow; it’s the next Kip Andrews. Those are written in a totally different style than the fairytales, like the Dreamweaver’s stories. You might like it better, or you might not. I’d love to hear one way or the other.

Finally, for people from Second Life, the mesh for the hammock that I showed yesterday is finished!

hammock for Second Life, work in progress, with no textures — The finished mesh for the hammock.

I still need to make all the textures, the LODs, bring it into SL, and assign animations and script it so the hammock will swing. So yeah, next week, at the earliest.

In the meantime, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and I’ll see you tomorrow!

Picture – a shot I took in a glassblower’s booth at the Michigan Renaissance Festival in Holly, MI. I wish I knew whose work it was, but sadly I didn’t keep a note of it. (If you know, please tell me!)

News – Second Life, Writing, and More!

Sorry for vanishing like that! I got sick, and the medicine the doctor put me on made it really hard to focus or do much of anything. But I’m better now!

I have been trying to get some stuff done while I was gone. First off, I got a citronella candle out for Second Life.

I’m pretty pleased with it. Like the res of my candles and lamps, it works (either Local Lights or Fulbright.) I don’t really see the point of a light that doesn’t light!

It’s also color changing; there’s a script to change the color of the candle or the bucket, although since it’s copy/mod you can also just change it all manually, if you prefer.

If you would like to know more about it, you can see it in the SL Marketplace.

I also released a stool to go with the café table and chairs. That was week before last, but I had a story that I blogged that day, so I was going to wait to talk about this, and then I got sick.

It has 12 sit poses, is also copy/mod, and you can find out all about it in The Marketplace as well.

Speaking about SL, there are only two weeks left of The Arcade. As always, when it’s over you’ll be able to keep playing my machine on Livingtree; but you won’t be able to get the special Rewards for playing the machine 50 times ever again. So if you want those, you only have a couple of weeks to get them!

There won’t be a new item out in Second Life this weekend, because the thing I’m working on right now is going to take me longer than that to finish. I think it’ll be worth the wait though.

Test Render - Hammock for SL in Progress — Test Render – Hammock for SL in Progress

It will come in three parts; the hammock itself (I still need to make the pillows but they’re coming,) the stand, and the shade canopy.

That’s so the hammock can swing. Swinging in the hammock is important! It also will mean that if you have trees, you don’t need to use the stand. And if you don’t want the canopy, you can save the LI and not have it.

It will probably wind up tweaked a bit from what you see in the picture, and it needs textures and things, of course. It is, after all, a work in progress. But I thought you might like to see what I’m cooking up.

On the writing front, I’m in the process of editing a book about Wicca that I wrote nearly 10 years ago now, but then Life happened and I forgot to do anything with it. Michael reminded me about it, so now it will see the light of day!

It’s for people who aren’t necessarily interested in joining the religion at all, but who want to know something about it because they have friends, neighbors, or clients that are Wiccan.

With any luck, that will be available in the next month or so.

The next Kip Andrews story will be published here on my blog on Saturday. I hope you like it.

If you liked the last one (Stormy Weather) I’d really appreciate it if you could review it on Amazon. If you want to read it again, you can read it for free if you happen to subscribe to KindleUnlimited. Otherwise, the book is only 99¢.

If you want to read my stories early, you can join my Patreon. I would really appreciate your support.

I’m also starting to work on the redesign of the site, in my copious free time. (Haha.) Since there’s not a whole lot of free time, it might be a while before you can see it, but I’m working on it.

So, that’s what I’m up to at the moment!

Thanks for reading, and if you have a question, comment or suggestion, please let me know.

June Arcade!

The June 2016 round of The Arcade in Second Life is open!

This round, I have a pressed wood dollhouse, complete with all the furnishings!

The furniture all comes in at under 1LI per piece. The dollhouse itself is 2 LI (because it has a working door, and all those windows have real glass – or perhaps it’s plastic – in them.)

All the furniture is very detailed, and some of it, like the kitchen table and chairs, is designed to be easy to tint whatever color you like! There’s even a dollhouse to go inside the dollhouse.

The dollhouse itself is carefully textured to show all the parts of the rooms that aren’t removable furniture; things like posters on the walls, a kitty clock in the kitchen, fireplaces, and kitchen cabinets. The outside has a richly landscaped texture, like a real pressed wood or metal dollhouse.

The Arcade has a new “thing” this round; if you play the machine more than 50 times, you’ll get a special Reward. It’s only available for this one month. It’s no-transfer, so you won’t be able to buy them anywhere, and we have all agreed not ever to sell them anywhere else.

My Reward is a mailbox and lamppost for the dollhouse.

The lamppost lights up, of course, and you can also change the color of the light, make it auto (on at dusk, off at dawn) and all the other things you can do with my lights.

The mailbox has a toggle. The first time you touch it, the flag goes up. The next time, the flag goes down, and the door opens so you can see the tiny little pieces of mail. The third time, the door closes, and it’s back where you started.

As always, I’m pretty excited about The Arcade. There’s a lot of really good stuff in it! You can see all of it (not just mine) at The Arcade June 2016 Shopping Guide.

If you’re an SL Resident, it’s a lot of fun, and a great way to get amazing stuff for very few Lindens!

See you there!

Arcade Ready!

The stuff that I’ve been doing for the June round of the Arcade in Second Life is all modeled, textured, and scripted (in some cases,) the instructions have been written, the Permissions have been checked, and all the Keys and sneak peeks are ready to go. In other words, it’s all done!

The only thing remaining is to put it out at the Venue, and I’m ready to do that as soon as it opens. Well, the next morning, anyway. I’m not staying up until 3:00 am my time to put things in the machine.

Which means that my time is my own again. Which, of course, means that I’ll be able to blog once more. Of course, you probably figured that out already, because you’re reading this!

I’m planning a fairly serious blog post tomorrow, about Transgender issues. It might take me longer to get it all written, but I’m hoping not.

On Saturday, of course, there’ll be a new story! Yay!

I’m not planning to post much more about the Arcade here, but I’ll have new sneak peeks up every day on my Flickr stream, if you’d like to see more.

On other fronts, I’m mostly doing a lot of clean-up and maintenance work. (Did you know that it is possible to fill a 3 TB hard drive?) I’m also trying to pull all the things together to start my Patreon page.

So that’s what I’m up to! How about you?

Picture Attribution; Sneak Peek from the Arcade June 2016 in Second Life. Marianne McCann plays with Robin Sojourner’s Arcade set.

Getting Ready for Arcade in SL

I’m spending most of my time getting ready for The Arcade in Second Life at the moment, so I don’t have the time I’d like to work on other things. (I’ll have Sneak Peeks of the things I’m making soon!)

That’s why I haven’t posted in a few days, and probably won’t post again for a few more. In a way, it’s frustrating, because there’s a lot of other stuff I’d like to do, too. But for now, the Arcade has to be my main focus.

Once that’s out of the way, the first thing on the docket is to get Stormy Weather up on Kindle. That’s the short story that I posted on April 9, with the notice that it would only be there for a month. Since it’s been a month, it’s gone now. I had planned to have it up on Kindle before I took it down, but it didn’t quite work out that way. With any luck, it’ll be there in a couple of weeks.

After that, I’m planning to get my Patreon page off the ground. It’s really just waiting for the videos that are required. The script for them is written, but the recording hasn’t been done, mostly because I was sick for a few weeks there and my voice wasn’t… umm… shall we say “recording quality.” It’s fine now, but Arcade.

I also need to learn a bit more about some animation apps before I can have the film I want, so that might hold it up a little, but shouldn’t be too long.

The story that will be posted in two weeks is written, and so are the first few stories that I’m going to have as part of my Patreon Rewards, so at least that’s not going to have to wait. There will be a new story on May 21 for sure!

So that’s where I am right now! I thought I’d let you guys know, so you’re not wondering if I’ve given up on keeping a blog, or doing the other things.

Thanks again for your patience, and for reading!

Hugs all around!

Image made using Canva and Photoshop.

New Table and Chairs for SL

I was pretty sick over the weekend, so I’m late getting this out; but I have a new set of table and chairs for Second Life®.

Originally I made them for Marianne McCann’s in-world coffee shop, The Pen. The coffee shop is loosely based on a real one, and these are based on the real table and chairs from there!

You can learn more about them (and even buy them if you’re an SL™ resident) at The SL Marketplace.

Anyway, I’m doing better today, and with any luck, I’ll have a post that’s more than just a new product announcement tomorrow!

See you then!

Second Life – New Signs

I’m in the middle of a career change, as some of you might know.

For the last decade or so, while I struggled with my health, I’ve been working primarily in Second Life®. Now I’m doing better, I’m concentrating more on my writing.

But it will be while before that can pay the bills, so I’m still working in SL™, too.

Yesterday, I paid my Arcade fee (by proxy. I can’t manage being up at 3:00 am to get a machine.) So I’ll be there again when the next round opens on June 1. In the meantime, I’m working on other things to sell. I’m hoping to manage one New Thing every week or so. If all goes according to plan, the New Thing will come out on Saturday, when there’s a Fishing Contest on my island, Livingtree. For the duration of the contest, you’ll be able to get it for half price.

Last Saturday, I released a sidewalk sandwich-board / café sign, with a chalkboard on both sides. It comes with several pre-made chalk notices, and is designed so you can easily put your own message on it. If you’d like to know more about it, (or even buy it, if you happen to be an SL Resident) it’s up on the SL Marketplace.

It’s not as easy as it looks, trying to juggle two very different jobs, but it’s something that most beginning writers have to do, even if they are (technically) senior citizens when they start to write. Besides, I like SL, and have a lot of friends there. I plan to keep my island for the foreseeable, so I might wind up continuing to work there even after I’m able to earn my primary income from writing.

Wish me luck!

The Dreamweaver

Introduction to the Dreamweaver’s Stories by Robin Wood

The End – Or perhaps The Beginning

Introduction to the Dreamweaver’s Stories
by Robin Wood