Kitely Mentors Group Meeting, 3 April 2013: summary

[Marstol Nitely]

Attending meeting:
Ada Radius
Anna Adamant
Brian Roberts
Brigid Yoshikawa
Cider Jack
Daniel Voyager
Dennis Albion
Dot Macchi
Graham Mills
Ilan Tochner
Marstol Nitely
Minethere Always
Paislee Myrtle
Steven LePoidevin
Virtualbelfast Ireland

It was noted early in the meeting that log-on was taking very little time (Stio made it on in less than 10 seconds) and the world was experiencing very little lag considering there were 14 avatars attending at the same time (15 attended in total).

There was a good showing for the field trip to Dot Macchi’s Vertex to see mock-ups of the transfer stations created by Dot, with contributions by Ada Radius and Dennis Albion. Ilan explained that the reason for the field trip was because not everyone liked the current transfer station design. The last two mentors meetings have been spent discussing design alternatives.

First impressions of Dot’s design were very good. Ada Radius and Anna Adamant liked the prim work and color palette. Graham Mills described it as “very simple, very elegant.” Virtual Belfast Ireland (Stio), said “I think it’s very cool and very suitable for futuristic/steampunk, etc. builds.” There was a discussion concerning what changes might be made to the textures and transparencies. Brian Roberts thought the transparency in the floor was a bit disorienting. There was also a short discussion about using different Windlight settings.

The group hopped to the next station design, which contained a star scape texture compiled by Ada using Nasa images. Some liked the movement of the stars immediately. Minethere thought it was too fast. Dot and Brigid agreed. After Dot adjusted the speed, the group thought it was much better.

The group had a bit of fun imagining what could be added to the star display after Graham started it off by saying, “maybe have some fish instead then.”
Ilan Tochner: wales
Dot Macchi: sharks
Minethere Always: dragons!!
Dennis Albion: space fish?
Ada Radius: Flying Dutchman ship with shark feeding frenzy.

Ilan got the group back on track by asking what would improve the second design option. The discussion turned to textures and transparencies again. When asked about an additional texture, Dot explained that the last station design alternative she prepared had three textures and the current one had four (not counting the sign texture). Ilan said “we really don’t want to add textures if we can avoid it. This needs to load fast and it’s important that the sign is fully rezzed very quickly, so the person knows why they are here.”

The group moved on to another station. This one had a static field. Dot adjust the floor to match previously suggested changes. Minethere said it would be better with the texture animation. Anna Adamant said she liked the previous star texture more. Cider Jack said “I liked that with the 'end' of the sphere behind the sign, maybe if the texture slid from that end towards the back.”

The group took a final hop to the last station which had a star field with a nebula contributed by Dennis Albion. There were several adjustments to textures and animation was added. The nebula was popular, but the visible seams were not. Dennis said the seams could be fixed and recruited Ada to help him with the seams. During a discussion about the colors of the star field Dennis shared a little information, “if you like real astronomy, blue spectrum light means we're approaching that part of the galaxy/universe, Doppler effect, red shift is receding... I think that's how it goes.” After several tweaks, to the floor, windows, and star field animation the group came to a consensus. This was the favorite design and although a few minor improvements were needed, everyone approved.

[Constance Peregrine]

Thank you for yet another great summary Marstol

[Constance Peregrine]

good attendance-)) and good write-up synopsis Marstol-))

[Daniel Voyager]

I enjoyed the field trip to the transfer station. It's good to listen to the theme choices.

Check out my Kitely snapshots set on Flickr since March 2011.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/danielvoya ... 538385224/

[Constance Peregrine]

I enjoyed the field trip to the transfer station. It's good to listen to the theme choices.

Check out my Kitely snapshots set on Flickr since March 2011.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/danielvoya ... 538385224/

hey..great photo collection Daniel-))

[Marstol Nitely]

Great pix Daniel!

[Dot Macchi]

Thanks for the notes, Marstol.

Today, Ada has supplied some more starscape textures for consideration. I've put them in place, and Dennis's nebula texture is in the fifth station.

Details here: http://forums.kitely.com/viewtopic.php?p=1635#p1635

Please add feedback/comments to the transfer station discussion thread.