My Hideaway

This week our assignment was to create alpha textures and incorporate them into our idea of the perfect hideaway.  I decided that my hideaway should be surrounded by scenery.  I chose to use a picture from my trip to the Smoky Mountains a few years ago.  At first I couldn't figure out how to make all four sides look the same but discovered that if I checked the flip box for horizontal, the picture would look the same all the way around.  I also incorporated the full bright option to brighten up my surrounding.

Next I knew that I wanted to use some type of log cabin and built the shell of one.  I utilized the half circle shape and stretched it so that it would resemble a log shape.  I then applied my gumball tree texture to the logs.  I have two enormous gumball trees in my "real" front yard and thought that this texture would be perfect to apply to the logs.

 
After constructing the cabin, I decided that I should make a few pieces of furniture to put at the front of the cabin.  I had planned on making a rocking chair but couldn't figure out how to make the "rocking" parts.  I constructed a basic chair and used plaid fabric for the back and seat of the chair.  I used my gumball tree texture for the legs of the chair.  I then constructed a simple table and applied my gumball texture to it.

 

I decided that I needed to incorporate some textures from my yard and utilized pictures of an arborvitae tree.  I started  with a triangle shape and stretched it to the desired size.  I then applied my tree texture to it and then placed my trees along the backside of the cabin.

I wanted to incorporate a picture of my "real" pond and thought that it would be fun to make it appear as if a bluegill fish was jumping into it.

 On the other side of my cabin, I chose to use several pictures of flowers from my yard along with a few pictures of butterflies that have visited my yard.  I took each of the pictures and make them transparent before attaching them to cubes that I had stretched to the appropriate size.

The ground cover is split as half mulch and half grass.  The mulch texture is one that can be chosen in Second Life and the grass texture is from my "real" front yard.

I wanted to build even more items for my hideaway but ran out of time.  I also found that it was very time consuming when trying to incorporate my own textures.  I did enjoy using my own textures but it did take a tremendous amount of time to bring it all to reality but it was all worth it.

Readings and Adventures in Second Life
This week I was only able to read the assigned readings.  Hopefully I will be able to have more time to explore Second Life articles next week.

Intellectual Property Rights in Second Life
This article was interesting and I'm glad that Second Life takes this as serious as it is in real life.  People often utilize trademarked and copyrighted items without thinking about the consequences of doing so.  I didn't really learn anything new as I am familiar with the process.

The Psychology Behind Games
I agree with all of the points made in this article.  Personally I feel that games are played for fun and as a way of escaping real life temporarily.  The value from playing games is that it expands the mind and keeps it in an active state.  I can see the value in using games to further education.