Final Push

Many of the major structures are in place on Wolverine Island. We are mostly focused now in textures, details, and simple scripts. A few small changes seem to be presenting themselves as we move forward. One is lights; I don't think we will want to use as many lights as appeared in the original plan. this would use up prims and I have found another way to solve the problem. If we use key lights that are brighter, we can illuminate particular areas just as well as if we had a number of small lights. I've already put some of these lights in place, but am still tweaking the intensity and the fall-off.

The image above is of Clement Greenberg working on the the Sky Tower's Bells. In the background appears the Simulation Building. As you can see, we made some changes. We added observation decks around each of the floors. The walls are also thicker to make it less likely for avatar names to pop through. And I think we found just the right height for each floor (8m) in our little powwows the other day with Ted, Memetic, and Dale. There may still need to be a set of suggestions for the use of the building, but I think we have created quite a unique space for medical simulations in Second Life.

Hank Rau has been amazing with making the structures of the Library, Private Auditorium, and the Admissions Building look easy. We can call him "Ars Geometrica" from now on.

Orientation Station

I recently discovered a possible resource (or resource example) for Second Life orientation called the Orientation Station ( another SLURL). It's pretty nice and has a good deal of lessons. I think we could create something similar to this that would be more targeted at faculty, students, and staff of the university. Any university policies regarding Second Life could be built into the training.

Medical Simulation at Ann Meyers

Ann Meyers recently conducted what they claim to be the "first medical simulation in Second Life". I missed it somehow, but a blow-by-blow can be found here. I'm not sure if it was quite as intense as some of the simulations that Wolverine Island will probably be doing, but it looked well attended.

The Life or Death of Second Life

I recently wrote an article on the N Formation Blog about recent developments and criticisms of Second Life.

Over the hump

I think that we can safely say that things are moving along on Wolverine Island. Personally, it's very nice to see all of it coming together. There are a few small changes we are making due to in-world revelations, but other than sore fingers everything is coming together smoothly.
Up next: Simulation Building Tests, Small Structures, Architectural details, Textures, Script Examples, Tweaking

Construction

N Formation is well under way with the construction of the buildings and land on Wolverine Island. Most of our focus has been on laying out the core areas and seeing how it feels. So far, we are focusing on the geometry of the buildings, using generic textures and will add other textures, once we have blocked everything in. If you're really interested in our progress, you could even visit the island to stop in and say hi.

BLUEprint Viewer

We've created a viewer so that you can see the BLUEprints easily.

HERE>> VIEWER

Bouquet

There is one structure on Wolverine Island that could only be built in Second Life. It is a lot like a bouquet of flowers (hence the name).

I have seen a lot of pods and pod-like things in second life. Often, they are a repetition of the same structure, again and again. Generally, I get lost in these spaces. So, I will build custom pods to hang on the main wire-frame structure. This will help to further create a sense of place, which we're striving for on the Island.

Below is the general plan for the Bouquet. Remember, each pod will be shaped differently and custom-placed on the wireframe.


Why this structure?
-Bouquets are what patients receive when loved ones arrive to see them. They are a sign of hope in medical facilities.
-In Second Life, people are like insects that hover around and digitally pollenate spaces. Why not make the architecture more like a bush of flowers? (we have done this with some of the other structures as well, but perhaps not in such obvious ways).
-The structure also reflects a site-map for a website. Clickable maps of this structure will be found at it's base and perhaps near the telehubs, where people enter the island, so that they can get to any room instantly.

Small Lights

These little lights will help warm-up the Amphitheater Complex a little.

GO BLUEprints continues...

Here are the newest "BLUEprints". I've updated the Library, colorized the Museum, and looked at the Amphitheater from the side.

Medical Education in Second Life

I was recently gathering together a few links about education and medical communities in Second Life, and I thought I'd put them up here on the Wolverine Island blog. I think they provide some good reminders and examples of what to do and what not to do.

-From the authority (wikipedia):Education in Second Life
-Someone claims that these are the "Top 10: Virtual Medical Sites in Second Life". Just ignore Number 9.
-The New Media Consortium has probably the best campus in Second Life:NMC(but I still have my criticisms. We'll save that for another post.)
-cheesey but informative videos with lots of techno music (or "machinimas"): O.U., NMC, TXSTATE, and more.

But I have yet to see anyone really utilize the possibilities that SecondLife provides for training simulations. I think this is one thing that Wolverine Island could be really good at; training scenarios that follow contingency trees of activity = hours fun and excellent comprehension.

Kiosks

While we are probably still thinking about the best ways to use kiosks, I have two main categories: Signs and Maps.
Signs will be found near every major structure, telling what it is, just like on the real U of M campus. Maps will be found all over the island, some large, some small. By clicking on the name of a location, your avatar will be teleported to that actual location. You can see that I put the name right on the map to avoid having to search for location #28 on the map.

Misc Blueprints

Here are a few more plans to get us started in-world with things like bridges, railings, and lights. The few blueprints that we have to create yet are the info kiosks and the "Bouquet" (The Bouquet is the tree-like structure with gathering pods in the sky, which I think will be very difficult to make blueprints for. I will do a basic layout, but I will also need to figure a lot out in-world.). So, I think we are very close to being done the blueprints. We'll just need more confirmations from potential users.

GO BLUEprints continued...

Blueprints take some time. Luckily, making a blueprint will speed-up the construction phase immensely. Here are a few that I have been working on:


(The Bistro is like the Angelo's of Wolverine Island)

Simulation Building

The Simulation Building, which will probably house the standard patient and operating room training simulations, will be a simple and subtle building. It will have an exterior facade (the curvey, dippy part), but the interior floors will be very flat to keep people from getting too lost inside. If these blueprints seem too confusing,please let us know.

Library Model

We created a quick wirefusion model of the new Library design. It really is the best way to view this structure. I'll be making blueprints for this, but the model does a much better job of conveying the form. See the link below.
LIBRARY MODEL

Clement with Landscapes

I (My avatar Clement Greenberg, that is) went to play on Wolverine Island for a few minutes today. I built a few landmarks. I think Hank Rau (RL: Jamie Cope) was there too, setting up a telehub and doing some gardening. We are like giddy little kids right now.

Terraforming 1.0.1

Before
After

go there now

Terraforming 1.0

So here is the first terraform iteration of Wolverine Island. I used Backhoe to preview it and to make this image. Jamie will upload it shortly.
All of the little plugs and holes are for reference points.

Library with a Twist

Over the weekend, as I tried to make a clearer image of what the new Library would look like, I made some realizations. First of all, the whole first floor was stairs! That seemed strange to me. And it seemed too symmetrical.
Several factors relating to the stairs and the symmetry drove me towards this design. I believe it opens up the center area and looks more interesting. I like the new structure so much that I don't think we need the "membrane" that we had before.
But it was such a tricky structure to draw that I had to make a model. Perfect medium. I think Jamie might throw this into a 3D applet.
The shaft in the center is like an elevator only without the elevator car.