How immersive can you get? How immersive have you gotten?

Thank you

Skiing was another thing that was definitely a "Sarah" thing. I remember we used to talk about it a lot. I'd told her that I wasn't fond of snow and due to disabilities, it was out of the question for me to even think of trying it, but I questioned her a lot about why she enjoyed it. She described it in such vivid detail, that once I discovered skiing exists in SL, I was moved to try it. I shot this dance video as a result and dedicated it to her:

http://phoenixasol.blip.tv/file/314485/

Excellent! I like the big strut through the chorus. The band has a different vocalist from when I used to listen to them back in the day.

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it!

Such an unusual experience filming that one. Once I got a good eyeful of what shooshing down a mountain on a pair of waxed slats looked like, I'd decided to make the video and set about planning. But, while scouting the perfect location to film, I found a sign that TPed me to a different place with slalom, and then there was this pool which was so magical, it screamed for this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm8cTJl7pko

Definitely had to go with that one first... switching gears in the whole pre-production, and come back for Snowblind!

Unfortunately I can't access YouTube - it's banned in my neck of the woods. The proxy server doesn't get a result either. I guess I could do something with DNS myself but I'm kind of phobic about tampering with my connection.

Understandable.

I was able to get a version of this onto blip, however it will be temporary. In the process of attempting to do this, I found that my 500 gig external drive has some problem and I couldn't access any of my thousands of hours of work stored on it. Ever hopeful that a data recovery center can do something to recover them, I hope to replace this temporary copy that I downloaded from youtube and uploaded to blip soon.

http://phoenixasol.blip.tv/file/2228839/

your video's bring back memories for me..

i was trying to remember if i have really ever been immersed in sl and i would say when working on the routines with dancers at one of the clubs i was part owner in..i was definitely immersed.
i think at the time i was putting in 5 to 8 hours a night of just dancing by myself for almost a month straight just to learn where all the animations i had would link into smooth moves with each song until a routine was perfect so people could not see us go through animation changes..

we had 5 to 8 girls in back and a lead in the front..
i remember i had like oh god i think 7 huds..4 huddles full of dances..i would link me and the girls to 3 of the 4 then keep the lead linked to them all..then the lip control huds and stage huds plus running my stream so i could keep all the dances in order to their songs..

we did things from Diana Ross and the Supreme's and the Bangels and god so many others..we had outfits for each song..
it was a lot of work but it was so enjoyable..

i wish we had made movies..i had so many huds that i could barely see anything but me and the girls..so there was no way to make any from my screen..

Dancing is something a person can really get immersed in for sure
i really enjoyed your videos.they brought back some very fun memories

I am so sorry to hear that. I lost almost a year's work when my backpack was stolen in 1982, and since then I've been downright manic about backing up everything I can. Particularly with modern high-density media: anything you don't have at least two copies of on separate devices... you don't really have.

Immy:
I LOVE this kind of role play and Glass sounds amazing. Having a character that is never out of character is where it's at for me. I think that's why I loved Caledon with my alt so much. There isn't necessarily a story to try enacting - you just interact with others all the time as the character you are trying to be. I had to give it up because it was taking way to much time away trying be person in real life and two people in SL.

I have failed miserably at regular role play where you must create a story with a goal, but I do like the idea of SL as a crazy surreal world where fantasy, history, the far future, and dream worlds alike all interact. I kind of hate it that RL so often bleeds through, though I have gone ahead and let Weston's real life persona bleed through a little anyway. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

I almost wish there could be a separate grid where it's all role play and no story or goal - just interaction. I would love to speak with a UFO alien and a flamingo (for instance) at the same time and have them behave as such and not talk about lag or LL policies or the weather or other RL things. Bleh.

Phoenixa:
That was a beautiful, if sad, story and reinforces my interest lately in the paranormal.

The problem is, this is really hard to do because if there's no story line, there is also no depth to any such role. Anything that the alien says is.. well, just random.

Keeping Glass around has been very fun. Some of her interaction rules limit her reasons for speaking so she's very easy to casually play. Her makeup and behaviour are and are intended to be rather mysterious. So, it's been easy to giver her frequent and sporadic visits to Caledon and just watch her interact with whatever situation comes her way. I've found it to be a great way to keep things low key and easy to maintain without losing any Immy-time at all. (^_^)

Sometimes Caledon can be tough to RP in. She's generally around the university regions and that place is full of helpers and new residents who are more tech and mentor minded. She has generally been accepted as a fixture around the rezzing area and someone to approach to hear a story for a while. She doesn't have all the sordid details over how she came about. But, what story she does know has been engaging and a joy to watch her share. (^_^)

She has this little stalk-ish habit that frightens me though. She'll latch on to someone and follow them from about 10 paces away if nobody else engages her. Gladly she understands that her pistol is for defense only. But, there are times when I see a little glimmer in her eye.... (O.o)

That's very true. There are things you can do in lieu of a story though. In Glass' case I gave her a history and a motivation. In brief...

Her history:
She was created by a person with a tumultuous life in a location with a shaded history. (^_^)

An unknown and unfortunate event occurred. Leaving her physically damaged and left to decay for a long time. (^_^)

Recently she was able to rise up from her passive decaying state to be found in front of a cafe by it's owner who conveniently makes, maintains, and cares for dolls. (There is another person involved. A friend of mine.) (^_^)

Her motivation:
She is waiting for something with no known clue as to what she's waiting for and was told to never change her appearance given the chance that she may be waiting for a person also trying to find her. (^_^)

She seems to be pursued by another doll that looks nearly identical with her in form, but, in full color and apparently a much more supernatural being. (^_^)

I've been working from there. This is really briefly snipping the direction I'm taking with her, and, as I've said... She's taken on a life of her own. If you ever want to hear her story, try to find her around Oxbridge around noon time on weekdays. (Luch break at my RL job :3) Don't mob her though. She seems to be subject to the whims of whispers in the wind, and if the air is too loud around her she may retreat into hiding. (^_^)y

( Heh... Pretentious to no end, no? =^-^= )

I love skiing in SL. Would've loved to learn how in rl, but too old and scared of falling and breaking something. The Natasha Richardson tragedy also made think twice about it. May her soul rest in peace.

Immy (and the other world RPers here), how much time do you spend actually RPing as opposed to waiting for the right people to show up or doing non-role things (eg, helping those who ask for help?)

When I go to RP I spend the whole time RPing unless someone else takes me out of my immersiveness. Even if it is just me by myself in my own head interacting with the enviroment. I can happily spend an hour or two and only speak a couple of words.

Let me give an example: In one place I RP I am a novice healer in a fairly hostile enviroment. I belong to a family that has its own little territory that is fairly safe. My characters has her own detailed back story, and a couple of RPed things that shape her current life. Typically I will start my RP there by arriving.. checking if anyone is around. Maybe greeting a few I know. Suspiciously watching any I don't and figuring out if they belong.. if they are safe. Sometimes I might get pulled into conflict, but the majority of the time it is quiet. After I access the current situation I will usually prowl around our area... making sure it is safe. I may try to find a spot to rest or relax. There is a neighbor I have had run ins with and not fared to well. My character is very obsessed with him and staying safe from him. I will spend a lot of time looking at his home, wondering if he is in there. Sometimes fleeing if I see him. Sometimes following from what I feel is a safe distance. Spying on him. I spend a lot of time trying to become stronger..

Anyhow.. you get the idea. I totally immerse in that character and her concerns. I interact with whatever happens... plus if I want more interaction I can leave my families lands and go into the bigger city area. That has its risks though. For me personally, I find that unless an RP is really going strongly two hours of immersion is about my max.

As Immy, I'm perptually playing off the crowd. If someone laughs at a joke, I keep joking. If someone asks a question, I advise. It's all a dynamic and, as a volunteer, it's all about supporting those around you. (^_^)

Anything less would be self-serving and would build up walls between myself and the crowd. (>_<

As Glass, she is her own person. I don't put in heavy emotive prefixing with her chat. At most a "\me smiles" or a "\me frowns" does just fine. When she's talking, I stick to conversation alone. But, Glass is not a helper or volunteer. So it's out of place for her to answer questions of a technical nature. Even commenting OOC is out of line. Example, some people were talking about their cars once. Her response was simply "Horseless carrages frighten me!" and let the conversation continue. It made for a moment of dry humor, she stayed IC, and everyone got a little chuckle out of it. (^_^)

I give Glass about an hour inworld each day. The rest of the time is Immy-Time. =^-^=

SL time?

*Hits Philip with spitwads* - Yeppers. =^-^=

Thank you so very much! I was fascinated reading about the process you detailed with a group, thank you for sharing that!

Some folks have asked why I dont switch off my interface, but they just do not understand that I'm using it. Folks are usually watching the avatar dancing, and dont notice the numbers changing much, or the flash of typed chat as I whisk in a gesture. Others have suggested different huds than I use, but to me, setting up a dance in advance by noting on a card:

1. abc dance 20 seconds
2. xyz dance 50 seconds

well... I'm sure it has it's uses, but it loses the spontaneity and pure body explosion for me. As a dancer 30 plus years ago, especially in school.. we had to do solid routines. Naturally with five or 30 dancers, everyone's kick had to be *this* high and exactly on *that* beat. Yes I did enjoy that too, but where it was truly at for me was putting on some album up in my room and cutting loose. (It did suck a bit when that album had to be on 8 track and the loud "CA CHUNK" cut the song in half)

Only one of my videos was fully choreographed, the rest are basically improvised on the spot. Each time I want to film a dance, I do make a rough track sheet with an animation map of which animations match or compliment a song's tempo or even tempo changes. From there, it's a matter of the same focus I've had for any performing art I've been involved with. Wait until the right wave comes along, pull it up from the core of my soul and dive in. After I've shot the footage, I watch it for an hour or so before I decide if I like it enough to do post production. Most of the time, I've nailed it on the first take and my first time seeing the footage, I'm usually surprised at what I was able to throw in there. Occasionally I see something that I cannot wait to zap the post production through and get it uploaded.

At least dancing in secondlife with mp3s playing, there is no "CA CHUNK!".

Even though I am just sitting, doing this with some mouse clicks and typing in some gesture triggers; I find the result is delightfully close to RL dancing. The process fools my body into the same endorphin releases I was so hooked on years ago when all I ever wanted to do was dance... and could, without breaking everything twice.

Also, in the same way, that feeling I used to get in RL dancing and now get in secondlife of really nailing a music phrase, fantastic isn't it?

Still wishing for a 100 animation Quick Pose HUDDLES. Wearing 8 of those might just about give me a full enough palette without having to juggle them.

Yep, that's still a dream.

Thank you, I'm truly hopeful it's recoverable. We can see the files, they just aren't playing. And naturally when some genius at a data recovery place miraculously revives it, I will have it on 2 externals. That's a lot of work over the last couple of years.

Bummer about your backpack getting swiped, understandable you'd be manic about backing everything up twice!

Absolutely! Of course, bouncing down a hill in a clear globe must be one of those "only in SL things". While yes I've seen them on TV and folks having fun with them, I dont think we'll see too many extreme daredevils flashing off down a ski slope in one, lol!

Thank you, she was really something and never got close to realizing her true potential. I dont think most of her family knew that she could play a few tunes on the guitar and had such a sweet voice full of heart. Maybe someday I can get a few of her poems from her mom and make some songs out of them.

Paranormal? Yum!

i was looking at your buttons and the first thing that came to mind was..now that is the way to do it..
having them all out there on one page instead of clicking to turn a page on a huddles to get the animation switched..plus being able to see..i think that is so neat..

i just remember having to set the huddles on the far left page 1 with it's animation for the the lead blocking myself from the other huddles then setting the animation i had the other girls on into motion..
then when the time came switching to the animation i had set for me in the next move..then changing the girls then unblocking me from the huddle where we would all fall into the same animation at the same time with an animation i chose that theirs and mine would smoothly fall into..rinse and repeat until the song ended lol

it is a rush to get the timing right with the song and the other dancers animations and my animation and the looking as if we were all singing at the right times...it was so worth it when it all fell together..

a lot i don't think understand that you can feel it and it can be draining after because it does trick your mind as you said..

i think the huds with buttons are the best thing since ice water..
remember before there were any good huds or a stop button on the animations??lol
i remember dancing for a club i was at for a long time and having to keep my inventory opened and having to open and close animations to make the switch from one to the next in a smooth transition..
then when the stop button came out you could keep them on your screen..then huds came out and it was like heaven and a biscut lol

the hud you have or the design you have to make your switches..is that something you designed yourself?
i use the huddles for the buttons and really all the rest of the stuff i never use..and they are so darn bulky lol
notthat i really dance much like the routines anymore but it would be nice when i go out with friends to clubs..i could see them at least lol

Before finding the quick pose huddles, I had tried a few other methods. Nothing was even close, and one called the "switcher" was like a light switch on the side of my screen with three pages of animations. Way too frustrating trying to dig through that and naturally hitting the "next cool phrase" in a song was out of the question. I felt almost like I was picking up a "dancing for dummies" book complete with feet cutouts on the floor each time I wanted to change dances. Very cumbersome.



While I can imagine that is difficult and requires a lot of practice to get that split second timing down and provided lag allows you... there is a benefit to that. Dancing on the QuickPose Huddles, I'm soloing. Group dancing isn't possible with it when I'm wearing it. Six of one, half dozen of the other?

I do have several abranimations dance spheres loaded with dances that are for group dances (so fun watching my guy friends doing strippy dances, lol!). I'll usually throw in a move here and there.

The HUDDLES quick pose huds could be placed on the ground though in a build area. I'm sure if a group of dancers were in an IM, and the leader typed out a number, it might almost work. (Lag would have a say in how synchronized everyone was).

I've also wished for a "do everything I do" appliance which wouldn't just have others doing the anims I chose for us, but also the gestures, and with that same one click ease. Ah, always free to dream, indeed.




Absolutely. What a rush! There is a spot in my dance video to 25 or 6 to 4 on blip.tv

http://phoenixasol.blip.tv/file/480699/

around 1:30. I was blown away just what I did in that five second span, and didn't realize until I'd seen my footage. So far, this is still my favorite of all the dance videos I've made. It was a song I'd pretty much worn out the tape dancing to back then, and so many of the phrases, connections, intensity builds and blends really worked in this video. When I saw that one spot, I was reminded of dancing in my room throwing some acrobatic move and having one of my parents calling up to see if I was okay. Poor dears were on the first floor listening to me thumping away up there over their heads.



Yep, and my body remembers, even after all this time. A toe point on screen, and mine still tingles when I see it. The walkovers, I still feel the elation of the first time I was able to do one (finally, after months of working my back to get it flexible enough!).




/me looks down, toes the ground and admits: If someone dug really hard at youtube, they'd find one of my dance videos where I had to dance with the animations up on the screen. The location was scripts disabled, but the land was so gorgeous married with the passion and poignancy of the song, I just had to, even though it looks rather junked up with all that on the screen. One of my fans didn't seem to mind and admitted to watching it many times so far.



Thanks for filling in the history. Thankfully by the time I joined, there were stop buttons on them. I couldn't imagine dancing before that, must have been something only the truly addicted would deal with for very long. Of course though, until they put that on there, you probably didn't realize just how convenient it would be, and even easier with huds, chims and spheres. I know I'd have been that way, lol! Heck I'll have 20 fails uploading one small move from my animations program until I find the one that works the way I want it to sometimes. The best we can with what we have



In my dance tutorial, I have a list of creators and animators. For those HUDDLES, I did a seperate bit of footage showing the actual vendor sign for them. They're created by Keiki Lemieux.

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/User:Phoenixa_Sol#The_Quick_Pose_Hud_from_Huddles




You must mean the EZAD? I'm sure someday I'll drag mine out and poke, plunk and plot with it. It looked so complicated as I read through the card a bit, and of course when my attention span spun off the text on the card, I wound up dancing.

Pick a dance from up to 180 on my screen. Push button, dance.

I'm guilty of breaking out in spontaneous fits of dancing when certain songs come on the land radio which blows studying a note card out of the water sometimes. Someday, I'll set up that Intan too. (same problem, lol!)




These QuickPose HUDDLES rock for that, but again that's just for me dancing alone. Song change to a slow one? Instantly I'm spotting the slow dances around the 8 huds and hitting those musical high points. (Sometimes I'll even swap out one of the 8 for one of the 36 full HUDDLES quickpose huds I have). Change to a fast song? No problem, gesture a full twisting layout step out flip and hit the floor with something groovin like Sine's Roundabout while I scope out the on deck faster dances. One click, I'm there, plus they're so reasonably priced. ($149L each).

Yea, I'd say I'm pretty immersed

well maybe sometime in the future we can make a video together..that would be fun i think..
my new thing is someone bought me one of those OD guitars...they showed me their stage so i went and found a free one and they saw how much i was getting into it that a few days later i was given a beautiful BC beast..i love it =)

i have another hud to add to the collection now hahahahaha
it's actually fun playing with those and the mic hud they have now..

i end up playing and before you know it hours have went by..

i'll hve to stop in your shop sometimes also..i'm always looking for new animations =)

What if the crowd are
a) bored and idling, or
b) talking about free money and howling?