StormEye opens Saturday, February 21st at 1 pm SLT above The Aho Museum on the New Media Consortium campus, NMC Campus West sim. Ballroom dancing with dj Naydee McGettigan follows from 2-4 pm SLT. It may be found in Second Life by following
this link.
Douglas Story, a Chilbo Resident, has collaborated with the “scriptrix” herself Desdemona Enfield in a new art exhibit on the grid: StormEye. I had the pleasure of getting a couple of sneak previews of the piece with Douglas and later met up with both Douglas and Desdemona for some insight into the collaborative development of the interactive installation. It is now fully installed at The Aho Museum on the New Media Consortium campus, NMC Campus West sim. As an artist myself, it is interesting to discover how other artists develop their work. So I asked Douglas and Desdemona about their collaboration and they walked me through a description of the development of StormEye. So here, in a nutshell, is the “down home” version of the development of StormEye, particularly the mapping of the landscape:
1. BLOBS. Every project has to start somewhere-and this one starts with blobs. Think of clay on a potter’s wheel. Or, just think, blobs.
[10:07] Misprint Thursday: I have been though the exhibit several times-and I am interested in this landscape Desdemona-can you talk about the inspiration both scientifically and creatively for the sculpt maps?
[10:08] Desdemona Enfield: well, they are based on a profile that Douglas created.
[10:09] Desdemona Enfield: We had a small model of the StormEye.. and made an array of blobs which Doug adjusted.
[10:09] Misprint Thursday: nods-blob adjustments
[10:09] Douglas Story: I can show you a picture, if you like
[10:09] Desdemona Enfield: I used the blobs to interpolate then segment the pattern into interlocking prims.
[10:11] Desdemona Enfield: There we are.. blob city
Douglas begins the landscape design
2. CUPPING. Douglas wants the piece to be cupped in the landscape.
[10:11] Douglas Story: I liked the idea of having the landscape cup the object
[10:11] Misprint Thursday: OK-
[10:11] Douglas Story: and it goes to a warping of a sense of scale
[10:12] Misprint Thursday: so how did the maps come into play with this “cupping” idea Desdemona
[10:13] Desdemona Enfield: Well, I just duplicated what Doug had set up.
[10:13] Desdemona Enfield: My work was to take 32×32 samples and convert them 9 sculpts, nicely smoothed.
[10:14] Desdemona Enfield: with matching edges.
Douglas and Desdemona discuss the development of the landscape
3. THE BIG ONE. One mega prim is used with a sculpt map and the result is:
[10:14] Douglas Story: first we tried it with just one big one,
[10:14] Douglas Story: but this was too jaggedy
[10:14] Desdemona Enfield: It was a little jagged.
Perhaps, what they are trying to say, if I could boldly paraphrase: the big one was pretty jaggedy.
StormEye landscape in progress-Desdemona works on sculpt maps
4. WHIM Once the sculpt maps were built to perfection by Desdemona, Douglas worked on the landscape texture:
[10:24] Douglas Story: by the way, Misprint,
[10:24] Misprint Thursday: yes
[10:24] Douglas Story: at first I was going to texture the landscape in a realistic way
[10:25] Douglas Story: avoiding flowers….so I could (ahem) Grow As An Artist
[10:25] Desdemona Enfield: : )
[10:25] Douglas Story: but on a whim, I tossed some flower pics on the landscape
[10:25] Douglas Story: you can see one in this picture
[10:25] Douglas Story: on the right
[10:26] Douglas Story: the results were striking
[10:26] Misprint Thursday: yes-
[10:26] Desdemona Enfield: the effect was that of an desert….. burnt heat colors.. heat leading to afternoon storms.
[10:26] Douglas Story: the current texture is the inside of a rose, really
[10:26] Desdemona Enfield: I mean here on the landscape under StormEye.
[10:26] Douglas Story: and that goes to something else that interests me in art and science
[10:26] Douglas Story: how nature repeats itself
[10:26] Desdemona Enfield: The cream and violet texture was quite a different effect.
[10:27] Douglas Story: and one thing can stand in for another.
[10:27] Douglas Story: I love it when people mistake one of my pictures for something else entirely
[10:27] Douglas Story: “is that a sea anemone?”
StormEye landscape texturing documentation in the center.
This process brings us to how the landscape of StormEye looks now-very much like the red rock country of Southern Utah. And as it turns out, Douglas’ whim proved to be a visual match for their aesthetic. The texture on the landscape is in fact textured with one of Douglas’ macro flower photographs.
Douglas Story's photograph-floral close up
In it’s short life in the metaverse StormEye is already very well documented. You can read about it, see video, learn technical information, and find out about other contributing artists:
