Computer Graphics World

January 2009 31 Virtual Worlds n n n n sponsoring contests and showcases for art and creations. It, too, has its share of ma- chinima tutorials and authors. The Why All of this brings us to this question: Why? Why spend good money on stuff that's not real? Why spend time searching out strang- ers when it seems there's never enough time to spend with RL (that would be "real life" to you and me) friends and family? e answer: Because it's fun. Playing in virtual worlds offers people the same kind of escape that others get from first-person shooters or from a romance novel. People are more engaged, they meet people, and they get to reinvent themselves. Studies have found that some people self-actual- ize through their avatars. People who cre- ate thin avatars for themselves may start a weight-loss program. Shy people can cre- ate more outgoing alter egos in the virtual world. Second Life's Rosedale is convinced that all online transactions will be carried out through avatars in the future. ere. com's Wilson sees virtual worlds as an ad- junct to other forms of communication, but he, too, expects to see more and more people communicating through avatars. ere is a virtuous circle forming around content creation on the Web, particularly when it comes to 3D. ere has always been a lot of interest around 3D modeling and animation, but it is a hard craft to learn, even with the arrival of low-cost tools, such as TrueSpace, which has been acquired by Microsoft, interestingly enough; SketchUp from @Last Software, acquired by Google (ditto intriguing); and the open-source tool Blender from Ton Roosendahl. But what good is all the effort to learn 3D if no one ever gets to see and appreciate your work? Online worlds change all that, and not only do they provide a showcase, but they also provide a marketplace. e same is true of video, machinima, and graphic images. Among the fairly recent creations is a new film being presented through Cinemax. Told in short installments, Molotov Alva and His Search for the Creator: A Second Life Odyssey tells the story of Alva, an accepting soul who has abandoned real life to take up permanent residence in Second Life. Alva ponders the age-old question of existence, with a Pirandellian twist: How do I define myself in this virtual world, and what about the filmmaker, Douglas Gayeton? What is the story of Molotov Alva? Is it really a documentary? Not in the sense we are used to, but filmmaker Gayeton opens the question. If Gayeton tracks the process and interactions of his fictional character, why isn't it a documentary in the same way that Borat is a documentary? e digital revolution means that all forms of media are being fundamentally redefined. e participants and creators in 3D virtual communities are in the vanguard of those who are doing the redefining. e early pioneers who built Habitat, Ac- tive Worlds and the myriad universes out there didn't really ex- pect the evolution of machinima. ey didn't anticipate TV series combining real- life instant messag- ing, videos, and vir- tual worlds, like the hit e Truth About Marika, a self-re- flexive thriller/puzzle presented by Swed- ish television that promised to get to the bottom of myste- rious disappearances of young people in Sweden. e show used re- alistic newscasts, and included a sub-plot in which characters accused Swedish TV of being in on the conspiracy. Clues were presented on the In- ternet and in the TV show, and it included characters living in Entropia. e series was addictive for many viewers who eagerly worked through the clues. e early pioneers certainly did an- ticipate visitors negotiating virtual worlds with the help of 3D glasses and controls, and they're going to see more of that sort of thing for industry as well as entertainment. In essence, virtual online communities pro- vide an architectural platform for scientists, creative people, and hobbyists alike. ere really are worlds within worlds, and they're all evolving according to the whims and desires of the people who live in them. n Kathleen Maher is a contributing editor to CGW, a senior analyst at Jon Peddie Research, a Tiburon, CA- based consultancy specializing in graphics and multime- dia, and editor in chief of JPR's "TechWatch." She can be reached at Kathleen@jonpeddie.com. Create 3D Faces Today! Take any photo and turn it into a 3D head. Use it as a morph with any application that reads OBJ, like Maya, 3DS Max, Poser, Lightwave, DAZ Studio, etc. Available in WIN/MAC $89.99 1. FaceShop 2. FaceShot 3D Camera system 3D Mesh on a budget. FaceShot comes with 2 Canon EOS XT cameras, mounts, hardware and FaceShot 1.0 software. Creates full 360° 3D heads with 30,000 polygons in minutes. Starts at $1,799 (Compare to similar systems costing 10x, 20x as much) www.abalonellc.com CGW_1 FOURTH:CGW_1 FOURTH 10/23/08 5:18 PM Page 1

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