Designing Digitally is proud to announce our acceptance into the Second Life Gold Solution Providers program with Linden Lab. Of the more than 250 organizations and companies in Second Life, Designing Digitally has been selected as one of the top 31 to be apart of this program. As a member of the Gold Solution Providers we will be in direct contact with Linden Lab, along side the other development teams, in bringing all users an even better Second Life. This short list of developers will help push the creation and evolution of islands in Second Life to the next level and we are very pleased to be a big part of this exciting virtual community.

Designing Digitally has just completed a task almost unheard of in the Second Life community. A fully customized island with 6 buildings AND a 2 minute 30 second machinima video promoting the island, in 2 weeks! The video itself was actually completed in about 6 days. From the development of the storyboard, to the recording of the audio and videos to the final approval of the finished video. Our client had a tight deadline to get this island done for a presentation and our talented team was able to step up to the plate and put in the extra hours each day to get the job done. More info on the completed island will come soon. For now, please enjoy the video:

Contact us today to learn how we can create your island and machinima video!

Our Second Life development project just added the bottom bun.

As we get close to finishing one:

We are in the meat of one:

And we just received the announcement that our latest island is ready!

We have seen this a couple times in our past and my team has really done well to balance all projects. The toughest thing to achieve is the proper balance between all team members working on each project, to ensure they all are developed within each time frame. Our "top bun" project is almost complete. Our "meat" project needs finished as quickly as possible because that project also corresponds with a web development project that connects this new island with the company web page. Finally our "bottom bun" project needs to be complete before that last week in April (did I mention that project also has a video with it which we will be scripting, creating audio for and developing, which ALSO needs done on the same deadline as the Second Life island!?).

Have no fear, ALL project will meet their deadlines!

Nick

One of the best things about developing in Second Life is the complete freedom. You can develop an island in any way, shape or form. For our latest project we are developing an island for a hospital, so for this we wanted a very relaxed and easy to use island for all visitors...and most of all we wanted simple. Well, simple to users doesn't always mean simple for the designer. We have just finished getting trees wrapped around the entire island and it looks great! It really helps close in the island and creates a very comfortable earthy environment. So whats next...? More trees! As you look out your window into the woods you'll probably notice that from a distance you can't see through the woods to the other side. This concept can be a little difficult to achieve in Second Life sometimes because the trees don't really "grow" and you don't have all the clutter (dead trees, weeds, small branches) close to the ground. So to fix this - you add more trees! With already a few hundred trees in place it wont take much more, but we want to create the closest illusion of the real thing as best we can.

As you can see from the above snapshot our team is moving right along! We have a process for each of our new islands that we follow. Of course this process can change from time to time depending on a few factors such as, location (single region or private island), time constraints, number of buildings/structures and even time of the year. On this project we are following our top secret process to a tee! We started by completing the overall layout of the island, placement of the buildings, walkways, etc. We have also started rough development of two of the major buildings and some of the bridges and other key points of the island. I’ve said too much! (but stay tuned I will give you more next week :) )

Designing Digitally, Inc. is pleased to announce that ThinkBalm has chosen Designing Digitally's Second Life island as the host location of their Un-Lecture #3 to be held on Friday, February 27, 2009 from 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM EST. We are proud and honored to be able to do so and encourage everyone to come visit! This event will be free of charge to any and all visitors so mark it down in your calendars and save the link below to get to our island on Feb. 27th! Click here for a link to our island.

Another project added to the portfolio! We have finished a small project in Second Life for a single building on a the "Mainland." As reported before, the building has a large foyer area that connects two large rooms, one for presentations and one to be used as an office. Knowing all the possibilities of Second Life, Informa wanted a place to conduct small meetings within their company and with potential clients. Informa plans to use this building for exactly that, while also creating a virtual presence for the company. Click here to view the portfolio images!

As we reported last week Miami Valley CTC has started a Second Life class that will run through the remaining school year. The class with be taught by Andrew in collaboration with Melissa Seifman from Miami Valley CTC. Students will learn programming, building, modeling, texturing, and terraforming. Towards the end of the class the students will be broken off into teams and asked to develop a project for themselves with only minor assistance from Andrew and Melissa (similar to the students at Sycamore High School). We hope to use this experience to help newcomers learn more about Second Life and enjoy their time in this wonderful virtual world.

As you may or may not know Andrew has been taking time each week to assist the Sycamore High School students in a class project. It started off as Andrew going to the high school (a local school in the area) and teaching two senior students the fundamentals of Second Life building and programming. Then with a good grasp of the material, the right resources and Andrews expert knowledge and assistance, the students were able to start the project right away. The students started developing a project together, pictured here:

They developed a functional science lab. Users walk up to the table and selected a specimen slide. They then click the specimen through the different chemicals clicking the bottle to add the proper amounts and chemicals need to complete the study. At the end the slide is inserted into the microscope for a closer look at what was created. The project was a complete success and we are proud of both of them for building a virtual science lab as their senior graduation project. The Miami Valley Career Technology Center has started a similar program to teach students about the possibilities in Second Life. More info on that next week!

We are very happy to announce that our latest Second Life island that we have been telling you about is now open to the public! You can now view Cybertec Campus through your own eyes (well I guess it's really your avatars eyes). Come visit this beautiful online campus! Click here to visit in-world Click here to view portfolio images