Mario Siqueira (0719547)

ON SCULPTED PRIMITIVES

In Second life objects are created by

combining a set of types of
primitives. Among them the newest
and most different from the others is
its nature and behavior is the
sculpted primitive. Sculpted
primitives are generated by deriving
the colour values present in a special
type of texture: the sculpted texture.
Those values correspond to a xyz
coordinate point in space. Sculpted
prims allows the creation of organic
shapes using a single primitive
instead of several and thus lowering
the bandwidth necessary to render
it. On the other side, a sculpted prim
takes longer to get fully rendered,
requires specialized third party
software for its creation, and does
not behave physically according to its
final shape but instead as either a
sphere or a plane.

DAZ3D Hexagon 2.5 offers out-of-

the-box support for Second Life
sculpty creations. This was used to create several experimental sculpties used in the early experimental
simulations and ultimately used to model the “nouveau table” pictured here. When imported to the
virtual environment the sharp edges were smoothened beyond the initial intention. That is due to the
way sculpted prims are rendered in Second Life, there is a practical limit to how sharp the corners can
be. Sharpness can be improved by adding extra faces around the corner.

Other third party tools used to create sculpties include SculptyPaint (all around modeler, has a specific
module to create single prim stairs), SL-PRIM-LATHE (creates radial sculpties based on 2D path section)
and SL_PRIM_EMBOSS (creates embossed sculpties based on shades of black in a 2D image).
Mario Siqueira (0719547)

ON OPENSIM PLATFORM

OpenSimulator, often referred to as OpenSim, is an open source server platform for hosting virtual
worlds. While it is most recognized for compatibility with the Second Life client, it is also capable of
hosting alternative worlds with differing feature sets with multiple protocols.

At the initial stage of this project a locally hosted OpenSim environment was used for early
experimentation and training with building and terraforming in Second Life-like world.

Terraformed island in OpenSim

Replica’s of the final exhibition

space at Nuggy were recreated
in this island for purpose of
training and experimenting.
Mario Siqueira (0719547)

ON INSPIRATION

As research for this virtual exhibition project places were visited. Photos with description follow.

Neptune Bar at Iron Fist (213,45,26)

This small but intricate bar was built as a display of techniques to achieve high realism with
light and shadows, overcoming some of Second Life’s (SL) technical limitations. The whole room

Rezzable’s Black Swan (231,15,2003)

Is considered to be the first paid virtual exhibition

with several dark themed and surreal scultptures.
Mario Siqueira (0719547)

HERICK STRAAF ARCHITECTURE (111, 217, 24)

This display rooms has several interesting aspects such as chair and frames shadows. Also
interesting to notice is the use of blurred white textures as a “baked” spot light.

ON BUILDING

Experimentation
Mario Siqueira (0719547)
Mario Siqueira (0719547)
Mario Siqueira (0719547)
Mario Siqueira (0719547)
Mario Siqueira (0719547)