Second Life Community Conference (SLCC): Aug. 24-26

For anyone intersted in attending the SLCC 2007: Chicago!

Registration and hotel booking has not yet been announced, but keep an eye on the site for updates that should be coming shortly.
http://slcc2007.wordpress.com/
Machinima Track:
http://slcc2007.wordpress.com/machinima-track/

Join the SLCC Googlegroups discussion list:
http://groups.google.com/group/slccdiscussion

Torley Linden's Video Tutorials

Admit it! We all need them. Take a look at Torley Linden's tutorials:
Torley's Video Tutorials
New Videos include:
How to create and send a Notecard
How to use Undo
How to make a flag that waves in wind
How to make tiny prims
Yea, Torley!!!

Second Life: Academic Libraries & Student Avatars: Poster Session and Machinima at ACRL in Baltimore

Meet the librarians behind the avatars at the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) poster session in Baltimore this weekend. This 10 minute "light-weight" machinima was created to promote the comeraderie that is Second Life.
Librarians of Second Life: http://blip.tv/file/180218

Ma-chin-i-mark-et-ing

Catch "the falling star" and a glimpse of Vincent Van Gogh's Second Life as you experience the permanent exhibit constructed by Tr3ssis Virtual Worlds of the Netherlands.

View the YouTube version

Click To Play

Machinima created for the opening of the Virtual Starry Night Exhibit, March 30, 2007 by HVX Silverstar (a.k.a. Bernadette Daly Swanson).
*The Falling Star* (excerpt) Music created and performed by Uwe Drechsel
www.insilmaril.de
Tr3ssis Virtual Worlds
www.tressis.nl
In Second Life
http://slurl.com/secondlife/kythio/59/188/105

Second Life Voice in Beta with the Beta Viewer!

If you are interested in testing the voice beta in the Second Life Beta Viewer, you will need to download the beta viewer software. Be sure to keep your original Second Life Software in tact, as the beta viewer is for testing purposes only and is a separate piece of software.

March 28th SL voice beta announcement
Read Joe Linden's original announcement from February 27th.

Second Life Machinima Tutorial, White Paper & Forum

Check out the zipped machinima tutorial file posted on the Second Life web site: Intro to Machinima: zipped file for PCs only.

Eric Linden's White Paper: "Eric Linden's Machinima in Second Life"


Also of interest: Second Life Movies & Machinima Forum

Don't miss Machinima Guru, Moo Money, at Cybrary City open air auditorium on March 5th

Moo Money will be giving an introduction to the built-in camera in your Second Life software. Join us at Cybrary City open air auditorium for the session on Monday, March 5th, 2007 at 2:00 PM. Thank you to ZnetLady for making the arrangements and to Abbey Zenith for providing the space in Cybrary City.
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Cybrary%20City/209/61/24/
Join the Second Life Library's googlegroup at: alliancesecondlife - googlegroup

Machinima Institute on ALA Arts Island Coming Soon

The Machinima Institute will be opening in the Spring of 2007 and will provide Second Life residents with a location for machinima displays, events and immersive group instruction. Thank you to Lorelei Junot for the wonderful location and inspiration for librarians, students and library visitors who will be introduced to machinima for recording their SL lives and sharing it via YouTube, Blip.tv and other social software sites.
Info Island Machinima Institute, ALA Arts InfoIsland (149, 161, 31)

http://slurl.com/secondlife/ALA%20Arts%20InfoIsland/151/164/47

Machinima instruction from Kiwi Alfa Feb 15, 17, 19

Machinimatographer, Kiwi Alfa, will be continuing to give free machinima classes on the Fox Atomic Sim (Feb. 15, Feb. 17, Feb. 19). It's the same class with options for date/time.
This class will provide you with the basics for using the free scripted camera (Alt-Zoom Camera Update) to create smooth shots.
The sessions will be hosted on Fox Atomic island.
Join in and enter the upcoming machinima contest.
This class is hosted by Kiwi Alfa.
Where? Fox Atomic Sim
When?
Feb 15th - 12:00 PM SLT/PST
Feb 17th - 03:00 PM SLT/PST
Feb 19th - 12:00 PM SLT/PST
SLurl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Fox%20Atomic/131/145

Machinima: Permission to Shoot?

Posting by Caliandris Pendragon from Second Life Insider:
Machinima in Second Life: Permission to shoot?

Electric Sheep Blog Archive for Machinima

Interesting postings from the Machinima category of Electric Sheep's 'Out to Pasture.'
Machinima Archive

Squirrelverse: Graduation Village for new teens to Second Life - 18 and older

Graduation Village in Second Life opened on Saturday, January 20, 2007.
Operated by Squirrelverse (http://www.squirrelverse.com"), Graduation Village is a privately owned education services facility on the Main Grid that has a dual purpose - to give Teenagers aged 18 and over a place to hang and to meet informally with adult educators and librarians, and to be a focal point for the provision of commercial education and business services. Contact Fleet Goldenberg "in world" for further information.
SLURL:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Kaunis/20/221/293/

A FLV version of the file is available on from Library Famous on blip.tv. The FLV file on blip is an On2 VP6 encoded FLV file. The original file was in Quicktime and was taken into the Flash 8 encoding module to create the FLV file. Much better. I'm learning as I go, so the machinima will look better as we move along.

If you are interested in joining the Library Famous (machinima actors guild) group in SL, just search using the groups tab. If you join the group you will be asked to join us in the upcoming video about librarians in SL.

Now for YouTube's version of the video. This is an MPEG4 file saved to the spec suggested by YouTube. Due to compression of the files in order to host the worlds' video collection, the videos on YouTube aren't as clear as the FLV files on blip.tv.

Save video (different format) via YouTube
On YouTube, select the small version of the file by clicking on the icon at the lowe right side of the player (2nd from edge).

Mashups: YouTube's Deal with Warner

YouTube: the deal with Warner
According to YouTube, Warner is the first label to support YouTube users' creativity by authorizing free use of their music content.

Read about the YouTube deal.

Five Mash Up Resources for Music and Video

Great article on Mash up resources for music and video:
Mediadescri.be

Sources include:
OWL Multimedia: find music through music
Splice
Barenakedladies allowing their fans to download multitracks and remix, make their videos, Tshirts, etc.
Tagloops
WGBH Lab Sandbox

Making a One Minute Machinima in Second Life

Read the complete article on machinima.com:
Full article: Making a One Minute Machinima in SL

By Chris & Becky Carella of The Electric Sheep Company

Their tips include:
Suppressing the UI (ctrl-alt-1).
Making sure your cursor is not showing!!

Fraps Alternative for OSX

Take a look at arena's second life blog for a detailed tutorial on using Ambrosia's Snapz Pro X version 2.0.3 (Intel mac).
http://aeneaideas.wordpress.com/2006/12/02/machinima-in-sl-on-mac-os-x-a-tutorial/

http://www.ambrosiasw.com/utilities/snapzprox/

Eric Linden's Top 10 Machinima Tips

First, create an avatar and download the Second Life software:
http://www.secondlife.com.
See the Community Media site: http://secondlife.com/community/media.php

Eric Linden's Top 10 Machinima Tips for Second Life

1) Set up your screen capture software. I recommend downloading FRAPS (http://www.fraps.com/) to capture your footage. FRAPS captures very clean footage while maintaining the best possible frame rates.
2) For dolly shots, contact Alt-Zoom Studios http://alt-zoom.com/
to get their free, scripted camera object. This is currently the best scripted camera in Second Life, and will give you the ability to capture smooth camera moves.
3) Try to isolate your action in a way that prevents extraneous background objects and scripts from coming into view. This will help you maintain a more consistent frame rate ? especially if there is a lot of action in the scene.
4) Try capturing in mouse-look mode. You can get smoother camera movements this way.
5) Try to capture footage in a larger format than what you plan to deliver it in. For example, I always capture at 640x480 when I know my output is going to be 320x240. You?ll maintain higher quality throughout the editing process this way.
6) Try to limit the number of actors in any given scene. Having a lot of avatars within a scene ? especially if they are all using unique animations or have a lot of attachments ? will reduce your frame rate.
7) Always capture several frames in front of- and at the end of your action. This helps greatly when you?re editing scenes together.
8) Try not to move the camera too fast; this can be confusing for the audience and disrupts continuity.
9) Try several views of the same action sequence. Capture more than you think you?ll need. You can always delete. This will allow you to make more creative decisions when you?re editing.
Related Articles: Making a One Minute MachinimaMaking a One Minute Machinima in Second Life.
10) Hide the Second Life UI (ctrl+alt+1) when capturing.

What is a machinima librarian?

For the purposes of this blog a machinima librarian is you; a bibliographer with an interest in video-making within a real-time 3D virtual environment using video game technologies and various video editing software. Take a look at the Machinima FAQ for everything you need to know before reaching for the Shift-Cmd-a in keys Second Life.

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