Disillusionment

"This Is a terrible invention, it ruins all the hardwork people had to go through to make our necklaces" - Sinjo Drakes, regarding LinkRez

"As are all my items - these are 100% Hand placed prims - No Prim bot link rez generators used." - Mhaijik Guillaume, posted the same day LinkRez was released

Sometimes, the closed-mindedness of people just drives me to despair. People who seem to lack vision or appreciation of progress. Or, the hard work it takes to make progress.

I wonder if these people in the 1400's would have railed against Gutenberg as well? Granted, it's an imperfect analogy, but, like LinkRez, a printing press is only a tool. For beautiful lettering, it still requires that the movable type be envisioned, crafted, and carved. It still requires that somebody with literary ability create the content of what is printed. It allows ease of production far beyond what could be done by scribes laboriously copying pages by hand. And, like LinkRez, absolute crap can still be produced when the user lacks talent.

When I first announced I was working on LinkRez, one of my first comments started out "First off -- this really is NOT a Necklace Generator," to recognize that a mere tool did not make a user into a creator. Creativity, skill, and artistic vision will always be the most important aspects in content creation, not the possession or use of the tools.

Still, it's hard not to be disillusioned and discouraged by some people.

Meeting creative talent: Caliah Lyon and Argent Stonecutter

A few days ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Caliah Lyon, via a mutual friend. She's already shown herself a talented jeweler (Muse Jewelry in Imogen), and is now branching into watch-making. The watch-making is how I had the good fortune to meet her -- her watches needed a little more movement to them, so I wrote a script for the clock hands (hour, minute, and second), so that the timepieces would show the correct time.

The script was a fun little exercise, but best of all was getting the chance to see in person the exquisite detail work that goes into tiny prim sculpture. Let's just say that I was unable to even test the scripts, because I didn't even have the skill to select a watch hand, let alone manipulate it. Anyhow, I hope the watches will be released soon. In the meantime, I'll take the liberty of displaying the picture that she shows on her blog page:




Also, last night I got to meet Argent Stonecutter, who happened to be test-flying a very cool flying machine over the wide open spaces over Linji. I knew of Argent from his very informative posts in the Scripting forum, and just had to hail him. We had a pleasant chat, and showed off various scripting thingies we had each written. I got to pull out my ancient Lissajous prim thingie as well as a medium-sized geodesic dome, and he let me swoop and soar on his really incredible flying machine (I've got to get me one of those things...)

I think the best part of SL is meeting people who are talented and creative.

The Illusion of Privacy

Because scripting forces you to understand the "details" of how Second Life works, it sometimes reveals that more is possible than one might previously have thought.

"Privacy" in Second Life is somewhat of an illusion, especially when compared to real life. (Although, privacy in RL is also somewhat illusory as well.)

Most of us know that "talking" in SL can be heard by everybody within ~20 meters or so (and whisper within 10 meters, shout within 100 meters). Most of us also know that even if there are no other avatars within 20 meters, chat still might not be private, if there's a scripted object, a "bug" so to speak, within 20 meters that can "hear" your chat and then either record or relay it (although this is against LL's Terms of Service).

As far as I know, IM's are the only way to communicate privately in SL. There were some forum posts that even suggested that IM's are transmitted to and from the client program encrypted, so even packet sniffers should not easily be able to read chat.

But what about visual privacy? Unlike in RL, with a little facility, SL has camera controls that allow you to look around corners, through walls, etc. By default, this range is limited to about 50 meters, but that's still a lot of freedom. Sensors in SL can detect avatars within 96 meters, so some people think that if there are no other avatars within 96 meters, they have a semblance of "visual privacy."

I learned recently that this, too, is an illusion. It is possible to remove camera distance constraints completely. On quick testing, it seems that you can see anything within the same Sim, regardless of distance. You can also view the terrain / parcel boundaries many Sims away (but apparently not avatars or prims). So, even if there are no avatars within 96 meters, any avatar within the same Sim as you can see anything you are doing.

I think the bottom line is it would be good to assume that privacy (except, as far as we know, private IM's) in SL is purely an illusion.

---

How did I stumble upon these issues? Well, I've continued to play with my avatar sensor + radar HUD. It evolved because although I love my MystiTool, knowing simply distance to avatars seemed limiting, so I wrote the HUD radar.

But then I thought that only having relative position information was also limiting. If you were trying to find a friend you were following, and had gotten separated, wouldn't it be nice to be able to have a quick glimpse at their surroundings, to try to get oriented?

So, I updated the HUD / AV radar so that if you clicked on an avatar radar "blip", the script would take control of your camera and move it to a few meters from the avatar, pointing at them. Even at this point, the thought about privacy issues made me uncomfortable, so I hard-coded into the script a 5 second maximum "look time". But, this is a purely arbitrary limit.

Of course, I'm always tweaking and experimenting, and trying to see how far I can push something... So, I then learned about movement controls, and looked at some freely available scripts, and found that you could also very easily have the camera respond to your movement controls, to look around. But, I initially hit the 50 meter camera distance limit.

But, then I found that the 50 m limit is also arbitrary, and easily removed it.

Well, now I have an HUD / avatar radar that detects any avatar within 96 meters, allow clicking on a radar blip to move the camera to them, and then freely control the camera at its new position. So much for visual privacy in SL.

I'm sure some people will consider all this essentially public knowledge, but it was a minor revelation to me.

I still want to release my avatar radar HUD, but think it might be best to release it in a crippled form, with only quick-glimpse capability and without camera movement controls. But, it still makes me uncomfortable.

First Land, and good people

Yesterday, without any warning, Linden Labs announced the end of the First Land program. It was a bit disappointing, because I had actually upgraded to a Premium account just 7 or 8 days prior, in the hopes of someday acquiring a little parcel to call my own. I was going to write what I think of Linden Labs, but...

... instead, I'll just publicly thank some people, who will remain nameless. But you know who you are!

Thank you to the decent human being who had a parcel of First Land of her own that she no longer needed, and felt badly about what Linden Labs had done. She wanted to find someone to sell it to, at the far-below-market value of L$1 per square meter. Totally understandably, she didn't want to "give" it away to someone who would immediately resell it for a 10-fold profit. That's not what First Land was meant for.

Thanks to a friend who knew of my disappointment about First Land, for remembering me, and for connecting us.

It's silly, but it was such an exciting moment when I went to that parcel, and clicked Buy for L$512 and... I was a landowner! Sure it's not much, but it's a place to call home (and was immediately set as my new home location, LOL).

Really, it reaffirms my belief that there really are good, decent people out there, who choose to do something nice for essentially a random stranger, rather than to make a profit. Thanks again. I only wish that all the other Premium members who just wanted a little place to call their own, could also have been as fortunate as I.

Time to try my hand at writing a "scene rezzer", to make the most of this little plot :)

A few notes, and another wonderful concert

The FREE LoopRez v0.61 script, and LoopRez Deluxe packages are now available at SL Exchange and at SLBoutique, to give more options for distribution. It will still be less expensive to obtain them at Sirena Fashions, though.

The initial response to LoopRez Deluxe has been nicely favorable! I'm wondering whether it'd be rather gauche to ask permission of the people who sent IM's or posted nice comments to quote them, either anonymously or not?

There is now an open membership "LoopRez User" group in Second Life, for upgrade announcements and peer-to-peer support. Any bugs or problems should still definitely be reported directly to me though!

---

And on an unrelated note, I had the pleasure again of hearing Catherine Moody perform classical music on the piano last night. What a talented and charming individual! I can't highly enough recommend that everyone who has the least interest of hearing beautiful piano music try to hear her perform.

Sometimes I feel rather out-of-place, amongst the creative designers, skilled musicians, artistic poets and writers, and imaginative role-players that can be found throughout Second Life. Although I am slowly acquiring expertise and experience in scripting, still, it feels so very technical. I continue to very much admire, and rather envy, those who possess such an aesthetic sense. Perhaps if I try to hang around them, some of it will rub off ;)

LoopRez idea hodgepodge

Just collecting some random thoughts here about future things to play with (sort of a public journal of silly ideas).

• Right now, LoopRez duplicates a single object repeatedly in the path of an ellipse. Although each panel is at a different location with a different rotation, each object is otherwise identical.
  
  But, there's no reason why this has to be the case! It should be possible to send each panel a distinct, separate instruction that varies, for example: length (to form those dresses with a "V"-shaped cut-out in front, or high on one side + low on the other), color (maybe a gradient of a hue, from light to dark). In fact, this is exactly how the "BackAngle" adjustment works to increase the "poof", just in the back of a skirt.
  
  The only problem is that it would pretty much need a custom script written each time. The script wouldn't be complicated (I could see it being just a dozen lines long, and mostly the same each time), but would put it out of reach for most users.
  
  
• when a dress is in progress, each panel contains an active script (that's what the little green asterisks are signifying); when the dress is completed, the scripts delete themselves.
  
  Here's an idea that might cause horrendous lag, or might be fine (e.g., touch-activated + link messages): leaving some scripts in place. What might that be useful for?
• saving different sizes (S / M / L / XL), or lengths (mini-skirt through ankle length), triggered by user commands
• user-selected colors / tints
  
• a brief change in parameters, maybe even combined with an Animation or Gesture? I've always thought it'd be cute to have a Marilyn Monroe gust of wind effect. How might that be implemented? Perhaps a 1 or 2 second change in the flex prim gravity to negative JUST in the side panels, and then returning it to normal, combined with that famous pose of hers :) Anyone want to design a Monroe skirt and animation for me to play with?
  
  
  
• I really don't like the kludginess of the DropScript. I think perhaps actually editing a panel already in place (using Edit Linked Parts), and having the change propagate through the rest of the skirt, would be far more intuitive. This is probably #1 on my list of things to do.
  

It's also time for me to take on something new to learn about, in LSL scripting. Perhaps I will try my hand at writing a multi-tool. My idea is for it to have "modules" that can be dropped into it, so you only install what you want. It should also be possible to activate / deactivate modules that are present, to minimize lag.

Too many things to play with, too little time.

On the other hand, I've FINALLY bought some clothes in SL. Yes, after nearly 2 months, I actually bought a pair of shoes, and a sweater or two. I'm not much of a fashionista, am I? :)

Intellectual property and patents -- I don't think so

I got home to an interesting notecard from Jerry Martin, creator of a skirt generator that is sold on SLexchange.

I initially posted his notecard to me, but because a notecard might be construed as part of a "conversation", which would be against LL ToS to post under resident's expectations of privacy, I've removed it. The bottom line is that he tells me he has applied for a patent of his dress-making "invention," and that he suggests that I should be aware of the "patent pending" status of his "invention."

This is rather interesting to me, but doesn't make me overly concerned. I wonder what portion of LoopRez infringes on his yet-to-be granted patent? Possibilities include:

1. the parametric definition of an ellipse, consisting of:
   
• x = a cos (t)
• y = b sin (t)
2. dividing 360 degrees (or 2*PI radians) by the number objects you wish to place radially symmetrically
3. the equation for a tangent unit vector at a position on an ellipse, which is published in equations 89 and 90 at Wolfram's Mathworld
4. applying a fixed rotation to an object around a local axis (the "flare" rotation)
   
5. using llRezObject?
   

Another reason that I'm not terribly concerned, and would be happy to challenge his "patent", in the unlikely event that the United States Patent and Trademark Office were to grant it, is that it fails to meet 2 of the 3 criteria that all patentable inventions require: "new / novel" and "non-obvious." Multiple people have independently come up with the same method to place objects along an elliptoid path in space, including Ariane Brodie and Johanna Hyacinth.

My public reply to Jerry Martin:

Jerry,

Thank you for your notecard correspondence, which this time was readable. While interesting, I am going to proceed with my plans. Patent protection does not start until the actual grant of the patent. Feel free to inform me when this has taken place.

As you know, intellectual property of patentable inventions requires certain attributes, including new/novel, useful, and non-obvious. While the concept of the various "skirt generators" may be useful, the other 2 criteria are likely not met.

This idea may not be novel, as Ariane Brodie long ago released a script into the public domain that rezzed objects in SL in the pattern of a modified ellipse (http://virtualunderworld.net/arianeb/secondlife.htm). The mathematics she used to place the objects at a proper tangent angle were incorrect, but the tangent equations are also in the public domain, at http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Ellipse.html, equations 89 and 90. It was an "obvious" improvement to correct Ariane Brodie's incorrect mathematics to substitute in the correct tangent vector.

Finally, once in the public domain, it is usually not possible to successfully obtain IP rights. I point out that I freely released the LoopRez v0.6 script into the public domain, which includes both the non-original concept of placing objects in an ellipse, as well as the corrected mathematical formula of tangent vectors.

Again, thank you for your note. I will be posting our correspondence publicly as a matter of record at http://slged.blogspot.com.

Ged Larsen

---

I then proceeded to release LoopRez Deluxe, with the following response:

February 1, 2007

Ged Larsen


I have just spoken with an attorney and been advised to ask you
to cease and desist all and any occurances and references
pertaining to any device you have that infringes on my intellecual
property and or patent rights . Your looprez used as a device to
manufacture prim skirts or dresses clearly infringes upon my patent
pending process. Your failure to abide by and defience of United
States Patent Law , reluctance to discontinue sales and
distribution along with a public announcement to proceed with sales
and distribution after you were notified of the patent pending
status , clearly demonstate and consitutes willfull patent rights
infringement on your part. A snapshot has been taken of your blog
known as (geds anti-blog) to be used as evidence in the event a
trial takes place and will also be sent to Linden Labs legal
department .

Also if nessesary a court ordered Cease and Desist Order
prepared by an attoney will be presented to Linden Labs to wipe
their servers clean of your infringing product including any of
this product sold to other residents . That will cost me 3-5
hundred dollars to have done and I do intend to recover all and any
expenses that are a direct result of any legal actions that take
place against any person or persons that break the law by patent
right infringment on my product .

In addition I am drafting letter to be sent to the DMCA to
inform them that a copyright and patent right infringement of a
patent pending product is taking place on the servers at Linden
Labs .

In all fairness I will allow 24 hours for you to remove the
infringing product and any references to it being used to
manufacture prim skirts and dresses . Failure to comply will
put you at risk of further litigation and legal action brought
against you in a U.S. Court of Law .

With kind regards ,
Jerry Martin , Fashionetics

---

I don't think his claims have merit.

perhaps it really is time for a make-over

So, SL clothing designer extraordinaire Natalia Zelamanov wrote in her blog today about guys and their usual appearance in SL (bottom line: "Ive mentioned how shabby many guys dress in Second Life"

The 2nd or 3rd picture down in her entry (pretty much close to the "Before" look in her make-over) is a spitting image of me! Argh!

Well, I suppose I'll have to learn some clothing design. I thought I'd start off by trying to recreate some of these outfits.

I even have a color scheme picked out!


Look out SL!

LSL bloatware, and being antisocial

I feel like I've become a mini-Micro$oft, producing bloatware with unwanted and unnecessary "features". Yes, I ran into my first out-of-memory, stack-heap collision script crash.

The business end of LoopRez does the majority of its work in about 15 lines of code. Yet somehow, over the past month, with who knows how many hours of script twiddling, I now have 3 interacting scripts consisting of >1,200 lines of code.

Oh well. Perhaps the world of SL doesn't really want or need a motion-key capturing, multi-level dialog window using, chat-commanded, calculus-simulating, prim-panel feature duplicating, auto-object linking, floating status text-indicating, real-time interactive skirt generating tool. Time to cut out the useless stuff, and just leave the basics in place.

(Or perhaps, to remove just enough so that it all works again...)

---

I think that if SL is going to stay fresh and interesting, I'm going to have to get off the 600m in the air platform I've been hanging out on, and get back out into the "normal" SL world to see things, explore places, and meet people. SL can be a lonely place, all by yourself on a platform, and I think it's been getting to me.

a pleasant surprise!

I woke up to a nice surprise this morning.

Leaving myself logged in and "camping" overnight (a frequent habit, apologies if you IM and I don't respond -- most of the time, the computer crashes at some point and I never even get to see the IM), I peeked at the client and...

...someone had left a thank you note and a tip, for the LoopRez script! It kind of made my day, to know that people have found the script useful.

LoopRez is free for anyone to use, however they wish -- a gift to the SL community. But notes of appreciation are nice too :) (... and the tip sure beats hours and hours of camping! :) )

=====

On an off-note, being de-friended is kind of weird, when you have no idea why it happened. Oh well.