Private Islands Now Available

There are two levels of islands, Private and Deluxe. Deluxe is five times the size of Private, about the size of four Second Life sims put together, and will support 1,200 mesh objects (e.g. my whole house is one mesh object), up to 100 dynamic objects, and 1,000,000 triangles. Private islands are $14.95 a month, and Deluxe islands are $99.95 a month.


Currency is called Cloud Coins (CCs) and buying them via credit card was fast and easy. You can buy them "in-game" like SL offers. No separate webpage system like what Blue Mars had. 


Note: One key difference between Second Life and Cloud Party is the height restriction.  Cloud Party sets a build height restriction of 500 metres. Not sure why this is necessary since islands are not stacked one atop another.


More details are in the Islands FAQ at http://www.cloudpartytime.com/faq.html#islands

Here's my private island, called Library Island:

Animations

Work has also been charging ahead on avatar animations, including the first sit (the animation is in the chair, but the proper positioning still needs a bit of work):

Lilli Thompson has also been working on dance animations, even a pulsating multicolour disco dancefloor which automatically makes you dance like John Travolta!  (I would have liked to show you video, but unfortunately FRAPS doesn't work with Cloud Party for some reason.)

Looks like we'll have plenty of animations to choose from by the time Cloud Party steps out of beta test.

Of course, some animations don't quite work out as planned.  Fritz Meier tried to do one that consisted oh his head shaking side-to-side for "No", but instead he got this:

New Avatar Looks

Several People in Cloud Party have created new avatar looks for themselves.  I don't know how they did it personally, but I'm sure if you asked them they would tell you :-)  Here's Fritz Meier with a couple of looks:

And this is Jesse Thompson, who turned himself into a man made of glass:

The creativity on display after such a short period of time here in the Beginner Zone is amazing.

Ambling and Rambling...

Just ambling along today, visiting different cloud islands as usual.  I came across this lovely touch at the home of Klara Dioxin Krauftfleisch in Eden Point: a welcome mat that actually welcomes you when you step on it.

(And yes, I made that shirt today too.)

While I was in Spiffy Valley, Lilly McAllen very kindly invited me in to see her home.  She has excellent taste in decorating, as you can see (click to see larger versions):

(That's Lily in the final photo.  Thanks for your hospitality Lily!)

One Week!

Wow, It's hard to believe it's only been one week since I started exploring Cloud Party; it feels like longer. I've been spending a good chunk of that time trying to learn how to use the Maya software to create clothing for male and female avatars in Cloud Party and I have finally succeeded!

Maybe at some point in the future I may even become a fashion designer :-) and actually sell my creations but for now it's just a very fun hobby, and the compliments I get from the other avatars are worth it.

The picture is me wearing a shirt I created using Autodesk's Maya software, based on the basic male avatar skin. It took about two hours from start to finish.  Thanks to Lilli Thompson for her video tutorials and her helpfulness in answering my many questions; I simply could not have done this without her.  My first attempt at a dress turned out looking like a pterodactyl until she told me to switch from Y-axis up to Z-axis up before I exported the mesh and then everything was fixed.... whew!

My First and Second Shirts

And this morning I made my first ever male shirt, it only took me three go-rounds to get the mesh to fit this time.  I picked a computer text print for this first one:

And a pale blue pattern for the second one:

I may decide at some future point to go into an avatar clothesmaking business, but for now it's just fun.

My First Dress, Part 2

Success!  I was able to go through the entire process, and fit the dress I had made onto the Cloud Party avatar.  Here is Vanity Faire modeling the dress, with a much larger size model displayed above her.

The dress has holes in some spots where I need to expand it a bit more beyond the skin level, and the skirt didn't turn out at all the way I planned, but the most important thing is I figured out the entire process from beginning to end and came out with a product.  The rest is just tweaking.  Yay me!!

My First Dress, Part 1

Success!  I have created my first dress:

Uhhhh, but it's a little on the big side....

;-) Back to the drawing board....

Using Maya to Create Clothing

I am making great strides in learning how to use Maya to create avatar clothing, thanks to this excellent tutorial video by Lilli Thompson:



I have gotten as far as creating a dressmaker's rigging, which I can now use as the basis for various types of shirts, pants, and gowns:

I still have a lot to learn (the various ways of editing polygons, for instance) but it's a good start.

A Little Modern Art....

....never hurt anybody.  This large 3-dimensional art installation over the central fountain in the Occasional River neighbourhood was created by Eric H. Rzepka.

https://its.cloudpartytime.com/#25.6,-7.3,-32.5,-0.9_2128

What sort of art have you seen in your Cloud Party neighbourhood?  Leave me a comment and I'll be happy to come over and take a picture or two for the blog.

Dan Himanez, Home Handyman

Dan Himanez seems to be the man to go to if you want to make modifications to your cookie-cutter free home in Cloud Party.  He has covered over the flat roof of his own house in Misty Downs with a lovely gabled roof:

https://its.cloudpartytime.com/#24.3,121.8,-33.9,-0_2104

And he has also worked with Lia Serenade on her house, which is also in the Misty Downs neighbourhood, adding a lovely trellis to her back patio:

https://its.cloudpartytime.com/#36.3,166.9,-34.1,-1.9_2104

I am getting so many good ideas on what to do with my own place by looking at these and other fine examples!

Claudia222 in Cloud Party

Claudia222 Jewell is already a well-known and celebrated mesh creator in Second Life (here's a great introductory article by Inara Pey of SL).  Claudia has been spotted several times now in the virtual world of Cloud Party, rezzing several pieces of her signature works at the Beginner Zone:

I really hope that, when private islands are available for rent, that Claudia will take advantage of the opportunity to create a spectacular art installation here on Cloud Party.  Hell, I'd shell out for an island for her to do her work!  :-)

Every Virtual World Needs a Fritz ;-)

Fritz Meier is one of those people whom Cloud Party Inc. should probably hire as a quality assurance tester.  This German man is relentless.  If he can find a way to break something, he will :-)

From the very beginning of his time at the Beginner Zone, he has been exploring the boundaries of what has been possible to do with the already-well-known CP cannon from basic inventory.

First he created a cannon which fired boxes:

Then he created a cannon which fired cannons:

And finally he created a cannon which fires particles high into the air:

(It's at times like this that I wish I could record video within Cloud Party; for some reason I cannot get FRAPS to work with CP, so I have to find another solution.  Any ideas out there?)

The Seeing Eye

Some more pictures for your enjoyment.  Remember to click the thumbnail to see the larger size of each picture.

Please send in your photos (please include a URL if possible) and I'll post them here in the newsblog :-)

The Cloud Party Camera

One of the pieces of the Cloud Party virtual world user interface that I am most pleased with is the built-in "cellphone" camera, which allows you to take and save any number of pictures.  Although I can see the need to create folders and subfolders for those of us who are snap-happy, right now it is great fun to be able to record our island-hopping explorations.

Here are some pictures I have taken in the past week (no URLs for these photos, unfortunately):

Send in your photos (please include a URL if possible) and I'll post them here in the newsblog :-)

Fashion Update

Both Lilli Thompson and Ashasekayi Ra have been busy whipping up new avatar fashions for us!  Here are some photos of their latest creations, hopefully coming to a soon-to-be-opened Marketplace: