SL Unearthed: urban

Showing posts with label urban. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Photospot: Soho Studio Cafe

Photospot on SL Unearthed is a semi-regular feature that highlights a Second Life spot that is a cool place at which to take portrait photos inworld. Not an entire sim, not even a complete parcel, but just a single specific location - a spot - with portrait opportunity.

Did you know there are entire sections of New York City faithfully (in spirit at least) reproduced in several areas of Second life - including mainland? True, true. My avatar got to feeling a bit like a starving artist, putting all his monies into his wardrobe and art supplies; not a lot left for living quarters. I imagined him in some spartan Soho loft, with a bed in one corner, a small refrigerator nearby, a table surrounded by canvasses, an old cassette tape player for some ambiance while working. And of course, a gated freight elevator for access.

Alas, I didn't find the loft apartment of my vision. However, I did find today's Photospot: a Soho studio cafe of sorts, where down-and-out artists of the neighborhood can meet up to talk shop over a cup of the strange brew that the Tooter Claxon coffee machine on the premises offers. And I found it at the edge of New York City -- which is on the Heterocera Atoll, right where one would expect it, naturally. *grin*

"Spartan" accurately describes this space, but there are some hidden features. The straight-back chairs come equipped with several poses for both males and females. Also, Build is enabled (with a generous 10 minute autoreturn), so you can rez out your own poseballs here or even add your own furniture and other props for the time of your shoot.

Windlight works beautifully here, helping you change the time of day or to accentuate the New York weather. Fun with shadows can also be had; the flooring looks especially nice with a stream of sunlight dancing across its surface.

On the street side of this space, a couple busses and taxis can be seen. To the opposite, a railroad track passes close to the building. During the time I was there, two city transit trains and a locomotive passed by. If you hope to catch one in your shot, watch your mini-map for green dots moving along the tracks (or engage a friend to become an engineer for the time you're there). I had good luck shooting outward from within the studio cafe, although not very good results trying to shoot into it from outside. The windows are dirty in both directions, but on the exterior, they're nearly opaque.

I didn't rez any painting supplies, but I did take advantage of the enabled Build to rez a "keep your eyes on this" prim, shrunk it down to about 0.05, and made the texture transparent. I also turned off particles (under Advanced > Rendering Types). I thought maybe 10 minutes wouldn't be long enough for me, so I was keeping the prim selected and I didn't want my selection effects to show up in the shots. Why do I call it a "keep your eyes on this" prim? Because as long as I have it selected (or unselected, if it's Alt + Clicked), the avatar's eyes will look at it. When the focus prim is moved, the eyes move to follow it. Keeping a prim selected (or Alt + Clicked) while still lining up your shots can involve some tricky camera maneuvering, but if you've got the patience, it's worth it to avoid those times when the eyes insist on aiming toward the forehead or ears.

Gotta love a virtual world.

Style notes: Tweed suit by Gabriel, skin by Faces Studio, hair by A&A, eyes by Sterling Artistry.

Flickr members: you're invited to join the SL Unearthed Photospot group and add your pictures taken at Photospot locations to the group pool.

Take note that very little in SL stays the same for very long. After even a short while, Photospot locations may be gone or changed in a significant way that renders their SLurls ineffective as originally intended, so be sure to grab these opportunities as they come!

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Photospot: Inner City Sidewalk

Today's Photospot is bringing us to a neglected and decaying section of a large metropolis. The sim of Sinners Heaven (home to BC322, Black Maria and other punk/grunge shops), is a highly detailed build with gritty textures and heaps of realism. This is where we'll find our inner city sidewalk.

Our spot is marked by a couple of discarded banana peels. Unlike most objects around here, these peels are fairly fresh. Be careful you don't slip on them - unless you want a different kind of picture! You can catch some intriguing views in nearly every direction from here. You could even try shooting down from overhead and include the cool streetlamp/telephone pole. I was partial to the long view up the street northward.

There are active crows flying in this area which might work with your shots. Also, there are myriad framing devices, including building and car windows, fencing, barbed wire, a gnarled tree and steel grating. The scale of ruin and disrepair that surrounds you could be cause for depression except for the copious amount of love and attention behind each and every carefully placed prim. It may not stand out at first glance, but the longer you hang around, the more plainly obvious it becomes.

The more you look, the more you can appreciate the effort that's been put into this sim. Just this one spot for today. You could return here again and again and never see it all. But what you do get to see is worth it, each and every time, and your camera will come away filled with souvenirs.

Style notes: Clothing is Delirium Style, and the hair is Black Maria.

Flickr members: you're invited to join the SL Unearthed Photospot group and add your pictures taken at Photospot locations to the group pool.

Saturday, January 5, 2013

Photospot: Virtual Decay

The Second Life Destination Guide has a large number of categories to help you narrow down a particular point of interest. The categories seem to cover everything from Education to Fantasy, from Cosmic to Duran Duran. Oddly enough, there's no category for general City/Urban, but if there were, today's Photospot in the Virtual Decay sim would be one of the top selections.

The theme here is urban decay in a virtual city, exactly as the name suggests. This is the home of the Virtual Decay mainstore, specializing in urban grunge. You'll find the store easily enough with a look around, although it cleverly blends into the surroundings. (Hint: Check the old warehouse by the hotel.) There are other stores scattered around here, too. Some are thriving on the other side of the neglected exteriors. Many of them are old, worn and abandoned, urban photo opportunities waiting to happen.

The SLurl I'm offering sets you down on a roadway. This spot provides excellent views in all directions. Just when you think you've seen it all, take a little turn and you'll spy something new. And, if you tire of the road, have a little wander. Anywhere you go, there are more richly textured visuals to appreciate. You'll get some excellent portraits here indeed.

Flickr members: you're invited to join the SL Unearthed Photospot group and add your pictures taken at Photospot locations to the group pool.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Photospot: Penthouse patio

If you go looking too hard for the "penthouse" in today's Photospot, you'll end up disappointed. This wonderfully wide ledge on a building in the Korea1 cityscape could be a real penthouse patio if there were a penthouse nearby, so we're just going to pretend there is one. The SLurl (follow the beacon if the region's landing point grabs you) will bring you to one particular corner, but the ledge goes all the way around the building; be sure to explore the visual possibilities from all directions.

The windows of the (#cough#) penthouse can be shot through, either from the exterior or the interior. In certain lighting, buildings seen through the glass can even appear as if they were being reflected. Play around with Windlight and experiment.

This patio might be a bit austere, but there are so many stories it could tell. The time I spent here was quite enjoyable; just me, my camera and this lovely avatar smiling back at me. Gotta love SL.

Flickr members: you're invited to join the SL Unearthed Photospot group and add your pictures taken at Photospot locations to the group pool.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Photospot: Neko Catwalk

You don't actually have to be a neko to enjoy today's Photospot location. This rickety, wooden structure on the edge of "Mystery Man City" by Persephone Despres is a great spot for a neko, but it would also work well for many other types, from urban vagrant to superhero. You'll be landing, appropriately enough, near a photo lab! But don't get too excited -- they appear to be closed. Head up the catwalk instead. To reach our target spot, you'll need to climb a rope, take a couple steps and climb another rope, then walk up to the next level and climb a third rope. (You can climb yet another rope if you want to go all the way to the top.)

To the west is all ocean, which can help make a cool picture in itself, but we're turning our camera to the east so there will be a full urban vista behind our model. From here, we get a good view of Mystery Man City. Set up your favorite poses and start snapping. Jump around, cavort. Get a "feel" for the location and the field of view limitations (such as if you don't want open water in the urban setting).

I didn't want the climbing ropes in my pictures, so I made them invisible - at least to me. On newer viewers there's a trick called Derender, but some of us are still running older ones. I enabled Advanced > Rendering > Hide Selected, then right-clicked a rope and chose Edit. Holding the Shift key, I selected the other rope so that both were selected. As soon as I selected them, they became invisible. I only needed to keep them in Edit mode. To make that activity invisible, too, I used View > Hide Particles so my selection "effects" would go away. I would have also hidden the pose balls (for the climbing), but they seem to be on a temp rezzer and each time they refreshed, they become a new object which is no longer selected. Rather than trying to re-select them each time they refreshed, I decided it was easier to deal with them in post. (Judicious cropping can often eliminate small unwanted items.)

Whenever you select something, your avatar will often automatically react by turning toward that item or pointing to it. That's not an issue if you're working with a model, but if you're your own model, be sure to select whatever items you want to hide first, then position your avatar and frame the shot.

Include both railings in your pics for a sense of the immediate locale, or catch just one. Take shots from afar, take shots up close.

If you feel uninspired, remember that you can always mix it up a bit. Take a few shots, change the clothing, take a few more. Remember that poses can often look very different from a new angle; turn the avatar around and work those camera controls. Change the lighting, take a few shots, change the lighting again. Within one shot or eighty, you'll find the image that's a keeper, the one that says oh yes, that! That's how it feels up there on the neko catwalk in the heart of Mystery Man City!

Flickr members: you're invited to join the SL Unearthed Photospot group and add your pictures taken at Photospot locations to the group pool.

Monday, October 17, 2011

Virtual Attire Pumpkin Hunt!

It's that time of year again, and Virtual Attire is holding the annual pumpkin hunt. There are 37 pumpkins to find, and each one has goodies inside that will appeal to anyone with an interest in neko, punk, cyber, goth, elfin, scene or combinations. Men, you'll have to search twice as hard for half as much, but there are enough prizes for you to make it worth your while, too (and some of the accessories from the female gifts can readily be scaled up for the male avatar).

The pic below shows just five of the 37 prizes. (Skin, shape, hair not included.) The pumpkins are not exactly hidden, but scattered enough around the shops of the area to give you a pretty good tour as you track them down. While hunting, maybe you'll also have a chance to hop on a lucky chair or two!