Emilin Nakamori’s Physical Machines

I was in Second Life Friday night when I got an IM from someone, an Emilin Nakamori, “Good evening :) I believe I may have a story that your newspaper may be interested in.” She told me she had made a machine in Second Life that moved without the need for scripts, “specifically, a weight-driven pendulum clock escapement (an escapement keeps the pendulum swinging).” Curious, I chatted with her for a few minutes via IM before heading to where she told me she was, in the sandbox in the Whitmyre sim.

What she told me sounded familiar, and it was. I had met her at her exhibit during SL5B at her exhibit just across the path from the newspaper’s (Events June 27). Meeting her again, I came across a dark-haired lady wearing a Victorian dress with a necktie and Steampunk-style glasses on her head. We greeted one another, her having added a laptop with a Victorian look to her typing animation. Bringing up our last encounter, she told me, ”Oh, the gear demonstrator I had at the SL5B was driven by a script; the excapement is entirely mechanical. I had to set up a pendulum and time its movement to find the proper length here. I apparently got it wrong nonetheless; Sidewinder Linden said I probably didn't make allowances for time dilation :P ... It’s performance is unfortunately erratic; Sidewinder Linden could not offer a possible reason, but, as the saying goes, ‘The wonder of a dancing bear is not how gracefully it dances, but that it dances at all.’ ;) “

She then rezzed the pendulum machine, which slowly went in motion, “Theoretically, that pendulum should have a period of 6 seconds; the mechanism pushes it into a faster period, however.” She had been working on it since late June, and still had to have it assisted by a script. She rezzed another machine, “That is the mechanical clock movement I have worked up; I need to find a constant supply of power to mate the escapement to the movement to have a complete mechanical clock.” She had heard of sailboat races driven by simulated wind in the sims, and wondered it that could be a possible power source, “if the SL ‘wind’ can move a sailboat, why not a windmill?”

Emilin went on, “I have been considering a ‘waterwheel’, which uses temporary physical prims as weights on one side of a wheel. I have a proof-of-concept...” She then rezzed a wheel and ball-dropper that dropped metallic balls on the wheel’s cups, spinning it, “As you can see, there is inertia, but it dies out very quickly.”

I asked Emilin, “Has the changing of the Second Life viewer altered the performance of your machines, as it does some AOs?” She told me, “Not that I know of. I believe Havoc 4 was a much greater factor; several people told me at the SL5B that they had tried working with gears, but they were too unstable to hold together long enough to function.”

She then mentioned another physical machine that had been well received by others, and rezzed what she called a Physical Chain Demonstrator Base, “You click on the rotating arm to start or stop its rotation. If you change the orientation of the base, the script malfunctions.” Commenting at one point, “Unfortunately, I am no scriptor; that is why I got into physical machines ... Perhaps I should have gotten fascinated by something that isn't too ephemeral to sell ;) ... Sooner (usually, alas) or later all of these machines break, even if not left running.
The important thing, to me, about these machines is that they interact with the SL environment AS AN ENVIRONMENT, not as a computer program, as a script does.”

Going on, “Designing these machines is a constant juggling of a need for precision and having to allow enough space for collision avoidance, with a bit more thrown in to allow for lag. These machines use server physics time; put a few of the chain demonstrators in a sim and start them up all at once and it would probably crash the sim ;) The first version of the clock movement used 10.1ms physics time; I reduced the gear count and it fell to 5.6ms.” The then noticed one of the machines had stopped, “Foo. The clock's already broken :/ “

Emilin then mentioned, “Desmond Shang, founder of Caledon, decided he wanted me to build him a steam engine, so I made him one.” She then rezzed a piston steam engine about 25 - 30 ft high with the name “Desmond’s Folly,” “He liked the name, anyway; he decided it was too small... “ “So he wanted a more massive engine?” I asked. “Yes.” She then brought out a giant of a machine that must’ve been over a hundred feet tall, “He told me to throw it back and bring me its pappy.” “Whoah! Or the Mother of All SLengines.” I commented. Emilin grinned, “Oh, this is probably one of the largest objects ever made in SL that consists of linked parts.” I saw one of it’s two cylinders fly off, taken off my Emilin, “It DOES work better as a single-cylinder, although once it ran for about 45 minutes :)” “Well, the biggest engine like this that I've seen .... yes, I saw the second one coming apart.” “I ran into the limits of how distant parts can be and still be linked.”

At this point a Bubblesort Triskaidekaphobia walked up, “Still working on it, Emilin, or just showing it off?” “Showing this one off. Its successor is too large to move; I am going to try Rez-Foo. It has a 55m diameter piston...” “Wow! That's crazy! Where did you put it?” “3km over Saint Kitt Islands ... It's not open to the public as yet.” She then rezzed a picture of another engine, a single piston one. But the one clue to it’s *massive* size was standing on it’s wheel, “See the little black speck on the flywheel? It is I ;) ” She told is it was, “Somewhere around 100m tall; its base is 100m square. It would JUST BARELY fit into this sandbox ... Actually, it would have to be taller than 100m; the trapezoidal supports are 60m tall, on a base that is 8m thick. So it must be over 150m tall. A small skyscraper.”

Bubblesort asked if a train could be made. Emilin answered, “That is what Desmond Shang wants to do, eventually; he has someone working on scripted physical ‘steam molecules’ that would expand and contract at a set rhythm in the cylinders to push against the piston; it would have to be a multicylinder engine, though, as a flywheel is essential to keep a one-cylinder engine going past dead center, and with inertia as damped as it is in SL, a flywheel is really just a decoration.” “Could it be done without making steam like that?” “Oh, certainly; these engines here are spun by a rotation script, with the pistons and tie rods moving strictly by physics.”

Bubblesort soon left, and Emilin turned back to me, “The big engine is still going, as a single cylinder. ;) Half an hour, now.” She then told, “The main reason I would like your paper to feature this is so others can find out about it and hopefully work on it themselves; I started a group, Virtual Mechanics, for interested people. I am hoping there are people out there who will take the idea and hit the ground running with it ;) Well, the really big one is under development (basically, it doesn't work, and may never do so), but the one here has been shown to the public. ;) “

“But really,” she looked back at the first machine, “I think the escapement is the important thing, as it does not use scripts at all, yet functions.”

I thanked her, then noticed she had changed the title over her name to “Madgirl.” Being a reader of online comics, I asked her if she was a reader of “Girl Genius” by Phil Foglio. She smiled, and after talking a little about the comic, she gave me a replica of the Heterodyne trilobite emblem.

It was then that the two of us parted ways, presumably the maker of these physical machines, part science and part work of art, going back to business.

Bixyl Shuftan

Archipelis Designer V2.0 annoucement / Nice tool for SL

September 2008:
The Archipelis company is pleased to announce the availability of the version 2.0 of Archipelis Designer.
Technology:
Archipelis Designer takes a different approach to creating 3D models by simply drawing its shape! Just draw the contour of the various shapes of the model (for example: the head, the body, the legs) and Archipelis Designer automatically merges them and applies textures. It is also possible to use a picture or photo as a background and follow the contours on it.Thus, very simply and in about ten minutes, it is possible to create realistic organic models and to export them in widespread 3D formats like VRML, 3DS Max, DirectX or Google Sktechup and moreover Second Life.
It's so intuitive... This brand new version 2.0 is much faster, more accurate, can work up to 6 textures, can handle 3D interactions, can export the result to the Second Life platform...
All that for 38 euros for Apple Mac OS X and Windows.
Company:
Archipelis is a young company located near Bordeaux, France. It started its activity in the beginning of 2007 by providing Archipelis Designer, a 3D tool for both beginner and advanced 3D designers who wants to create 3D content in a fast way. Now, with the sucess of metaversed worlds, Archipelis is entering and focusing on this market with new applications.

Rustica

I have seen sculpted prims used a lot in building and furniture but this castle took my breath away, it was like stepping back in time, so perfect was the atmosphere created.
Rustica was built for the purpose of selling furniture and that is well designed, functional and also has a sense of fun when you read some of the poses :)
Maxwell graf the creator welcomed us and explained some of his reasoning:
Maxwell Graf: We just opened a day or so ago, but have had a store for some time on the mainland.
Maxwell Graf: This is the furnishings store, but also to explore.
Maxwell Graf: The other sim next to it will be a village of prefabs in the style of the castle.
DV: You have worked a lot with sculpts here?
Maxwell Graf: Yes. there are over 5000 sculpties in this building.
DV: How long did it take to build?
Maxwell Graf: I began Feb 23.
DV: And how long have you been making furniture?
Maxwell Graf: Since Dec. of last year
DV: I love the names you give the poses? A sense of humour or in period?

Maxwell Graf: Well, i wanted to say something with them...make it more a part of the item, integrated somehow, instead of sit or relax or

whatever. plus, it gave me a chance to use some dark humor.
JamesT Juno: I love this !
Maxwell Graf: These were some of the first I did, most of my items have opening doors and drawers, cabinets, etc. or some kind of functionality.
JamesT Juno cams around
DV: How do you fit the very modern elevator with rustica?
Maxwell Graf: Well, its really a jumble of various architectural styles and periods here... not architecturally or period correct. A number of earlier influences.
Essentially, I wanted it to appear as if I had put a modern usage inside an older structure, and adapted it.
He certainly succeeded this is a place worth seeing.
Search for Rustica and go to see this amazing castle and the great furniture 4 whole floors and lots of nooks to explore. Just be careful where you explore you may not always like where you find yourself (remembers being in a cell underwater).
Dana

Designs of a higher Caliber

Some may think this section is just about Fashion so why is it called 'Design' ?
Because this section is about all kinds of things that are made in SL; some creative, some fashionable and some just truly beautiful and of course some are all three which is where I introduce Aurelius.
Aurelius Draken is the designer and builder of Caliber and Rivendell his furniture is amongst the most beautiful I have seen and I have a lot of it in our home (well before the wedding plans) I decided to chat to him about it and find out more:
Dana Vanmoer: Tell me how it all started, was it Nyre clothing range or your furniture?
Aurelius Draken: It was my furniture, and buildings. We had bought our first property, and couldn't find the things we wanted. Especially not for our library room, so I started making our own. Nyre became interested, and I taught her the basics of prim building, which she then took and branched into clothing all on her own.
I've always lusted after the library from the movie, "My Fair Lady", and since this was cyberspace, it was finally very feasible to realize :)
DV: How you you describe your furniture style?
Aurelius Draken: No matter what Nyre and I build, be it her clothing or my furniture or my structures, there's always one guiding, overriding principle; beauty. That's what we strive for, to make something that the eye finds very pleasing, something that your hand wishes to trace the graceful lines. Each line of furniture comes out of a lot of research and imagination; I try to make the furniture realize a concept, a theme. One line is Elven in conception, another is Victorian (mostly research and immersion in the ideas behind it), yet another is Gorean. The latest line is a Gothic Celtic theme.
DV: Do you ever think about how high prim it is, does it worry you?
Aurelius Draken: Prims are always a worry! I would love to build with complete disregard to the number of prims, but the reality of SL makes that unworkable. I try to be very efficient in my designs, and I use sculpties where I can. It's a balancing act, because while a sculpty may save prims, it causes as much lag as if I had used 10 prims. A lot of people are starting to figure out that sculpties aren't the be-all answer, but they do have their place. Some times, though... a design just has to use to the prims to still be beautiful, and credible. I'm really not fond of 'low prim' furniture that depends on textures, it's an illusion that's swiftly pierced, and once that happens, you're no longer in an immersive environment.
DV: Tell me about the apothecary and medical equipment?
Aurelius Draken: The medical equipment is a case-in-point for what we consider to be the cornerstone of Caliber :) . It's completely customer-driven. We listen to our customers, and prospective customers, actively soliciting their ideas, suggestions, and feedback. Customer service is extremely important to us, Dana. In many ways, we operate by the rule of treating our customers the way we would wish to be treated. The medical equipment began because, a bit over a year ago, there was very little on the market for SL doctors, so we had requests that we responded to. In turn, our customers have been fabulous, and we feel very fortunate in that regard. We hear a lot of horror stories from other content providers, but we've been blessed to have a really great group of customers. We try to be accessible to them, listen to them, and treat them as the VIPs they are to us.
DV: I know you started with several shops what led to a whole sim?

Aurelius Draken: We used to be located with a well-known property renter here in SL, and had a great relationship there for many months. But eventually, it became clear to us that it was time to move forward, so we searched and found a sim at a price we could afford. Once here, we decided to continue with our eclectic notion of blending Victorian and Elven styles together, and this sim really let us be creative in not only holding the new flagship store, but also providing interesting and beautiful things on the grounds for our visitors to enjoy. Our original place was much the same in that regard, we prefer to create an environment that people want to spend time in, rather than depending on contrived methods of traffic creation. Yes, we have a few camping 'chairs' now, but that's as far as we're willing to go. Towards that end, Rivendell itself now boasts a lovely promenade at the store level, horse and carriage rides, a gorgeous night club, and a build of Elrond's House of Rivendell on the ground below, reachable through the 'Elven Elevators'. There's riding paths, and the ground level has become exactly what what hoped for; a beautiful, relaxing place for people to play or take it easy in.
There's lots of places around the 'Net where you can meet people, chat, build communities... but SL permits anyone who has the desire, willpower to learn, and a vision, to bring that vision into virtual-being, with very little effort and resources compared with what it would take to do it in reality. SL is literally a place where dreams can be made manifest, where I don't have to tell you what I'm imagining, I can *show* you. To me, that's just phenomenal, and I can see a day where the next step will become feasible; when someone will figure out a way to make in reality, what we make here.
Aurelius Draken: Pictures don't begin to do it justice. You have to come see it for yourself, sit in it, use it, to see and understand. In our old store, I couldn't put many pieces out, we just didn't have the prims for it. Consequently, my furniture sales were very low.... But here, we have most of it out, and finally, people can see it, and they've demonstrated that they like what they see.

I know I like it :) and the texture change table and chairs I absolutely love.
If you are looking for high quality then this is a place to visit, the furniture is displayed all around the Caliber store, see it for yourself and I bet you don't walk away empty handed.
Dana