My First Holodeck Scene

I began this process by trying to think of an idea that would work for a scene.  I came up with the idea of a Reading Room.  I began this room by making a shell out of three cubes and stretching them to make a floor and two walls.  I then lined the three stretched shapes up until they appeared as a floor with two walls.  I then applied a bluish-purple texture to the walls and floor and linked them together so that they would form one object.  I did think about creating a third wall and ceiling but I thought that it would feel too enclosed that way and liked the idea of the openness of the room.  Next was trying to figure out what to build and put in the room and I decided on a couch, a blanket, an area rug, an end table, a lamp, a plant and a bookcase with books and other various objects placed on it.

 

The Couch
To build the house, I used two cubes and two hemisphere shapes.  I then stretched each shape to the desired size and then moved the pieces together to form one piece.  I then applied a leather fabric texture to the back and seat of the couch.  I chose Select Face for the seat of the couch and changed the color to brown.  Then I applied a Leather Brown texture to the arms of the couch.

 

 

 

 
The Blanket
To build the blanket I used one cube shape and stretched it to the desired size where it would fit on the couch.  I then chose to edit the shape by right clicking on it and then choosing the object tab to apply Twist, Taper and Top Shear until the shape resembled a blanket.  I then applied a Zebra Skin texture and colored it pink.

The Area Rug
To build the area rug I used one sphere shape and stretched it to the desired size.  I then applied a Carpet Shag texture and colored it pink.

The End Table
To build the table I used one cylinder shape and one hemisphere shape.  I then stretched both shapes to the desired size.  I then utilized the Hollow option to completely get rid of the hole in the cylinder to make it solid in shape.  I then applied the Water Ripple Layer 1 texture to the base and colored it orange. The top of the table has a White Transparent texture applied.  Finally, I enabled the Full Bright option to the top of the table to brighten the transparency.

The Lamp
To build the lamp I used one cylinder shape and one triangle shape.  I then stretched both shapes to the desired size.  I applied Taper to the triangle so that it would look more like a lampshade.  I then colored the lampshade white.  For the base of the lamp, I colored it orange and utilized the Full Bright option to simulate light emitting from the lamp.

The Book on the Table
To build the book I used one cube shape and then stretched it to the desired size.  I then applied the Leopard Skin texture.

Coffee Cup on Table
I did not build this coffee cup.  It was a free item that I found in a search and felt that it would be in keeping with the idea of a Reading Room.

The Bookcase
To build the bookcase I used seven cubes that I stretched to the desired size.  I then placed each piece next to each other to provide the shape of a bookcase.  I applied the Stem 2 texture to the back of the bookcase and colored the surrounding frame and shelves orange.

The Plant
I did not build this plant.  It was a free item that I found in a search.  I love plants and would definitely have one in a Reading Room if this was a real room.

The Ship in a Bottle
I did not build this.  It was a free item that I found in a search.  I thought that it would be a good accent piece for the bookcase.

The Green Vase
I did not build this vase.  It was a free item that I found in a search.  I thought that it would be a good accent piece for the bookcase.

The Yellow Bowl
I did not build this.  It was a free item that I found in a search.  I thought that it would be a good accent piece for the bookcase.

The Painting
I did not build this and ultimately ended up not using it as when I rezzed my scene the painting was not where it was supposed to be.  This was a free item found in a search as well.

Linking Items

• I linked the table, the lamp, the Leopard Skin book and the coffee cup as one object.

• I linked the couch, blanket and rug as one object.

•  I linked the bookcase, books, ship in a bottle, yellow bowl and green vase as one object.

Once all of my items were built and linked together, I put the AVRS Scene script in the root prim of each linked object.  After that I right clicked on each linked object and chose Take so that each item would be placed in my inventory.

I created a New Crate by clicking on the Horizons control panel and clicking on New Crate.  I then renamed the crate Reading Room.  I opened my inventory folder and drug each of my newly linked objects into the contents folder of the new crate.  I then selected the Contents folder in the Horizons control panel and drug the crate into the contents folder.

When we first began this process it took a while for me to figure out how the pieces of the Holodeck worked.  I read the instructions and nowhere did it say to unpack any items.  Once I figured that out it was much easier.  Initially I couldn't remember how to get each object into my inventory but luckily Shawn was able to help me earlier this morning.  Thanks Shawn.  The only problem that I had while creating this Holodeck was that I could not find the New Crate option.  I ended up finding it, but the process was a little frustrating.  I'm glad that I was able to figure it out. My greatest satisfaction was seeing my Reading Room come to life from the Holodeck.  It worked!

Current Issues and Topics in Second Life
Over the last few weeks, I have concentrated my efforts mainly on building and have placed reading as secondary.  I hope to be able to read and explore more articles, videos, etc. about Second Life in the near future.  I have read the assigned readings for this week and will comment on them below.

I really liked the article entitled, "Teaching in Second Life Reflections a a Language Teacher."  There were so many good ideas about teaching using Second Life.  In "Anna Begonina's Shop Scenes" teaching others Italian by naming objects in a shop in Italian is a great way to implement a concept to learn a foreign language.  By naming these objects in another language such as English it just wouldn't be as effective.  By naming these objects in Italian, it enables the student to comprehend and learn the language more effectively.  I also liked The Owl and the Pussy Cat garden.  What a great way for a student to learn a poem by incorporating a 3D environment as a visual stimulus and reinforcing what the poem is about.  In "Shawn's Maze" students work together to find objects and this is a great way to build team building skills amongst students.

The article "Being there! Learning on the Holodeck" was right on track with the Holodeck experience as being immersive.  Since I first began learning and experimenting in Second Life, I can see the importance of immersion.  When a student feels immersed in an environment, I feel as though more is learned and retained as a result.  This has certainly been my experience thus far.

I also read an article online entitled "Betterverse: Nonprofits in the Virtual World" where Second Life is being utilized to simulate conversations of rural Indian farmers.  This is an educational project that educates farmers about how to predict climate change.  Implementation of these recorded conversations will be achieved by having lots of Internet hot spots across India.  I think this is a great way to continually educate people that otherwise would not have the opportunity.