Author: Ryan Schultz

This Afternoon’s Office Hours

Egypt Afternoon 5 Sansar Office Hours 4 August 2017

This afternoon’s weekly Office Hours (at 4:00 p.m. PST/Sansar time) were held in a side room off the main room of the Voyage Live: Egypt experience.   From the main artefacts room, you take the middle one of the three doors off to the side of the main room, and you land up in a very detailed recreation of an archaeological excavation on the banks of the Nile river, the Cenotaph at Gebel es Silsileh, dating from 1450 B.C.  Jason Gholston (the avatar in the middle of the picture above, standing in front of the large grey sign and wearing the red and cream shirt) is Director Of Product for Sansar, and he spent much of our time together answering some of the more technical questions about the software project.

Here are some more pictures for you to enjoy.  As you can see, we had quite a good turnout!  Some very innovative uses of avatar attachments are already on display.

Egypt Afternoon 2 Sansar Office Hours 4 August 2017

Egypt Afternoon 3 Sansar Office Hours 4 August 2017

Egypt Afternoon 4 Sansar Office Hours 4 August 2017

Lead Community Manager for Sansar, Jenn, stated that she would be announcing the winners of the Creator Challenge Contest (which ended July 24th) very soon, so watch for a blog post!  I’m very excited to see who the winners are!

This Morning’s Office Hours

Egypt Sansar Office Hours 2 4 August 2017

Linden Lab has gotten into the habit of holding weekly Office Hours on Fridays at 9:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. PST/Sansar time at various experiences in Sansar.  This morning’s meeting was held at the beautifully done Voyage Live: Egypt experience.  (You can see the Lead Community Manager for Sansar, Jenn, in the centre of the above picture, standing next to the unfolded map in the bright red kerchief hair-do, acting as our very capable emcee for the meeting and fielding questions.)

Weekly Office Hours are one of the best ways of obtaining and exchanging information about the Sansar product as it evolves.  Everyone is welcome, so come on out and join us!

Egypt Sansar Office Hours 4 August 2017

Egypt Office Hours 4 August 2017 Snow

The bottom picture is courtesy of Mark Gibson (Snow), thanks Mark!

First Sansar Book Published

Pasted image at 2017_08_02 12_51 AM

Well, I should have predicted this was going to happen quickly!  Carl Fravel has announced that his book, the Sansar Creator’s Guide, which he had been working on since February, is now available for purchase on Amazon. Here’s the link if you’re interested. The book has a foreword by Draxtor Despres, is 135 pages long and sells for US$9.99 (your local price may vary depending on which country you are accessing the Amazon store from).

I wish Carl every success in his publishing venture. I know from experience how much work it is to document technical procedures, especially in rapidly evolving environments like Sansar!

 

Pick of the Day: Pop Loves Scotch

Pop Loves Scotch 4 3 August 2017

Pop Loves Scotch is described by its creator, Steve, as “a VR poem, for Jon’s father and my own”.  Jon is the American spoken-word poet Jon Goode, and Steve uses Jon’s moving narrative of living with his alcoholic father to devastating effect in an absolutely outstanding Sansar art experience, easily one of my favourite works so far this week.

Pop Loves Scotch 3 3 August 2017

Memories are evoked by unsettling dioramas scattered across a twisted landscape of fences and guns.  A couple argues, surrounded by a swirl of black women in fluorescent red hair.  A boy runs into a living room where a father stares blankly at a television.  A young man lies on the floor after being assaulted by his father, who challenges his other son to a silent stare-down.  The figures are several times larger than the size of the avatar spectator and painted in a vibrant patchwork of abstract colours.  And through it all, Jon Goode recounts, over and over again, the rhythmic tale of how much his father loved scotch.

Poppa Loves Scotch 2 11 July 2017

Pop Loves Scotch 6 3 August 2017

Pop Loves Scotch 5 3 August 2017

Go see this one.  It’s an amazing example of the immersive power of virtual reality in art.