Torley Lives

Taking many steps and folding them into one is extremely important to me: after the initial process has been learned, even memorized, I value saving time and labor on subsequent passes. It's no surprise I'm a YUGE fan of automation, and am severely keen on being able to replay compound actions at the click of a button or the touch of keys — thank goodness for macro programs like PhraseExpress.

Right now, I'm going to tell ya about virtualPhotographer from optikVerve Labs. It's an intuitive Photoshop plugin which adds photographic styles to your existing images. Glows, tints, grain — there's a lot packed into a compact but very usable interface. Since pictures are apparently worth thousands of words:

BEFORE

AFTER

That took me less than two minutes. It isn't the whole story — lemme get to that. But first, you'll want to know: not only does virtualPhotographer pack a nice selection of presets, the official website has even more as an extra… and a reference image too, which you can use to evaluate other plugins too! It's like the opticVerve folks are really intent on making you look good!

Next up, have a look at Auto FX Software's Dreamy Photo, which does what it says. The interface isn't as easy-to-use as virtualPhotographer; it's downright screen-eating and cumbersome, but it's capable of creating some really lovely effects out of a soap opera, romantic ballads album, or hallucinatory nightmare sequence. Your choice. I really like the rotate blur it offers — that's a unique twist I haven't really encountered before.

Both these plugins were used to enhance the above snapshot (taken at the Linden Village's Main Landing Point), titled "Better Then Glammer"; a touch of saturation and level adjustment were applied afterwards. With so many steps involved when I work on post-processed art like my Alternate Virtual Reality set, this makes it even easier to get great results rapidly.

Here's another one, called "Landing Spice" (because I'm on a Dune trip):

BEFORE|AFTER

And I hope if you're looking to touch up your modeling, build, etc. shots from Second Life — or heck, offline life! — that you'll find virtualPhotographer and Dreamy Photo to be useful too. Just don't use it to create false advertising a la bullshot, and I'll be pleased.

WAIT… one more thing!

Price? FREE.

One of my current obsessions is the amazing universe of Dune, and it just so happens I recalled recently that I purchased the tome from a thrift shop ages ago, but had never gotten around to reading it — life, as they say, got in the way.

Thanks goodness I found it tucked away in a drawer. And then, after seeing the 1984 movie adaptation by David Lynch, I began to read the novel. In retrospect, it's a good thing I saw the film first, because no less than 31 pages are missing — 123 to 154. It's very odd, because I examined the spine, and while weary and cracked with folds, there doesn't appear to be a discernable gap where pages might've just… fallen out. Furthermore, the novel is replete with bizarre typographical errors: on some pages, lines of text are repeated in a smaller typeface. At first, I thought it was a deliberate effect, but seeing enough of them has me thinking otherwise.

Besides the oddities, however, I'm up to page 248 now, mostly read in my spare time. What a great book it is! My edition was printed in 1975, shortly before Children of Dune of the original trilogy came out, and one phrase I note on the back cover which really stands out is how Dune is described as "imaginative literature".

It's easy to see where a lot of later sources, and sci-fi tropes — apostrophes and hyphens in alien names, feudal societies in space, effectiveness of antiquated weapons in the future, sandworms, unified religions, etc. — got their inspirations.

BEFORE: Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000 and Microsoft Intellimouse Optical

AFTER: Microsoft Wireless Laser Desktop 6000 and Razer Habu (published as a Microsoft product)

I previously raved about the Comfort Curve 2000 — cheap, solid, low-profile (short key travel) and with a unique, subtle curve which really aided my RSI. It's several months later and I still think it's a great keyboard, which is why I've upgraded to one of its big siblings, the Wireless Laser Desktop 6000.

First, let me get the cons outta the way:

• I paid more than I should've for this new set (my CC2000 only cost ~CAD$30), but as they say, time is money and I was in a hurry to get back to my computers and continue tapping away.
   
• You can't get a new WLD6k without its included mouse, which sucks. My harsh verbiage is precisely because that mouse is very similar in form the Wireless Intellimouse Explorer 2.0, which I've never been fond of: it's clunky, so heavy when you put the batteries in, and left me feeling like a spacefaring freightliner encountering a well-armed squad of Kestrel: in other words, helpless!
   
• Multimedia buttons can be reconfigured but have preset purposes. I know this helps give new users a direction and sense of what they're for, but let's just say I reassigned the clearly-marked Gadgets button to hide all open windows and show my desktop instead.
   
• If you've read that sometimes keystrokes get missed, this has been true — and annoying — in my experience so far, too. Every now and then, you'll be sure you pressed a key down, but nothing will appear, and since I'm very well-tuned to my typing rhythm, it feels like there's a little latency that throws my flow off: basically, it's annoying. Good news is tho, after experimenting with positioning the wireless receiver — it's currently sitting next to the Microsoft logo on the far right of the keyboard — it appears to have gotten better… as I'm typing this post now. Still, it's cautionably finicky, and I'm cautious of even putting the keyboard in my laptop while typing.
   
• But, the big upside to wireless is: with limited desk space, I can put the keyboard somewhere else when I pull my graphics tablet (Intuos3 6×8) up on the table. Very convenient instead of my previous situation, which was sitting scrunched up with the tablet on my life. This should make for better art; count on seeing Torley Textures VI — or whatever I decide to call it — soon.

Now, cons of the Razer Habu mouse:

• Control panel has scrunchy fonts and isn't very intuitive. For example, it feels like the various sliders have a very fine granularity. However, after pushing the "Apply" button, looks like your settings get quantized from 1-10. So why not just snap to those sliders in the first place?
   
• Also, loud breaking glass sound in the "Test Area" for "Double-click speed" is very painful on unexpected ears.
   
• Seems that the advertised macros are limited to 16 steps. Yes, this includes key-down and key-up, so pressing the "Q" key, for example, counts as 2 steps. Disappointing because a macro, by definition, and from my experience, should be far more extensible. It appears the 32 KB of onboard memory is used primarily for the firmware, not storing data like this.
   
• You have to stick on your own feet to the mouse with included adhesives. Very odd for a premium-priced mouse (I paid CAD$86.99).
   
• Scroll wheel doesn't appear to accelerate as drastically as my old mouse (I like very fine-tuned scrolling when I move the wheel slowly); maybe this is a Control Panel (IntelliPoint, not Razer Habu) setting I can change later, tho.
   
• Perhaps most painful of all, I wasted an hour of my time figuring out how to get the firmware upgrade to work. Ugh. Gracious thanx to this Razer Blueprints page, I got it sussed out.

Now then, with the negatives out of the way, what's good? A lot to speak of! I already feel a noticeable improvement in my typing + mousing quality and quantity, which is so important, first and foremost, for my health. Awhile back, I had awful RSI, and while things are noticeably improved, this also means they can keep getting better. So synergistically, combining both the Wireless Laser Keyboard 6000 and Habu (funny name: its source moniker is, as many of Razer's products, a serpent) together, and throwing aside the WLD6k's bundled mouse, here's what I appreciate:

• Leather wrist rest feels very nice. After typing with my wrists on a marble slab for while to build up endurance (like sleeping on the floor), this is really comfy. I think it's permanently attached to the rest of the keyboard, so I have no way of removing it safely. But then again, why would I want to? After putting up with so many lousy wrist-rests, and the fact that my previous Comfort Curve 2000 didn't have one (odd marketing, eh?), I feel way better with this setup. Coupled with the leather arms of my office chair, it's a consistent, delightful sensation.
   
• The keys exhibit a more upscale, plasticky, squishy feel than the CC2k's. But NOT horribly mushy. That essentially means they're not so noisy, but at the same time, seem to exhibit more resistance. Perhaps that's just perception, or the fact I banged hundreds of thousands of keystrokes into my CC2k and suitably broke it in. Thus, over the stretch of the new few months, I look forward to doing the same thing with the WLK6k. Time will tell.
   
• Function keys are compressed vertically, which means they almost take on the appearance of little gel candies, were it not for their black monochronism: they're not hard to hit, tho, and thank goodness, unlike V1 of the WLK6k — this is V2! — the Delete key isn't oddly shaped.
   
• While the keyboard is fairly wide because of all the buttons, the space is well-used. From previous experience, I found I didn't touch the fancy multimedia buttons all that much, but with this new opportunity, I may have to give it more of a go. Automation saves time, after all. I'm glad this keyboard has a zoom control — when I was using the Microsoft Digital Media Keyboard Pro (MUSHY KEYS… STAY AWAY!), I liked the zoom slider, even if it was really a bi-polar switch. Well, here they got it right: it's a two-sided switch. One end zooms out, the other zooms in. Works.
   
• The patented (I presume) Comfort Curve! A subtle bend, so keys aren't lined up in parallel, but rather, more naturalistically according to the angling of your arms. O, how I love this design: I never want to go back to "traditional" keyboards since the Comfort Curve has proven to be so remarkable. I don't type "normally" — y'see, most of my typing's done with thumbs and pointing fingers. Yup, hunt-'n'-seek. So I can't really use those ergonomic, split-style keyboards. But I can certainly run like an ace on this, and I felt it in the store when I was gliding my fingers over a demo unit. 'Twas incredible. For space considerations, it's extremely difficult to think there'd be a laptop keyboard like this, as fond as I am of my MacBook Pro, but… y'never know.
   
• NEGATIVE TILT! This is supposed to be more natural-feeling; I never understood why keyboards with legs would want to force your wrists up in an awkward position, aka positive tilt. I haven't experimented a lot with this yet, but it's supposed to be more ergonomic because it keeps your wrists straight. 90-degree angles, they say…
   
• All in all, a lot of the good things I had to say about the CC2k carry over!

I'd previously made several failed attempts to switch mice from my long-beloved Intellimouse Optical. A venerable pleasure to use, precise tracking, and with the 5 buttons I'd become familiar with. Ahhhh. At the same time, life does go on, and I believe I've found my new match. So, I shall talk positively about the Habu:

• 7 buttons! The usual 5 ('cept the side buttons are both on the left instead of one on each side, as was the case with the Intellimouse Optical), plus two more under the scroll wheel that are like little buttons. I've already assigned both of them to Second Life-specific functions: the top one does Ctrl-Shift-S for a snapshot, and the button one makes my avatar jump. Nothing like picture power, huh? If only I could get my WLK6k's keys assigned to advanced keystrokes too.
   
• Slightly-curved fit is a great companion for the WLK6k. Sadly, southpaws preferring to mouse with their left are outta luck, as this is a decidedly right-handed mouse.
   
• After I worked out the config kinks and set things up, I observed a noticeable degree in responsiveness improvement: I used to think my IO was smooth, but now that I've optimized the Habu, it clearly has the tracking edge: very comfy to zip up, target an icon, double-click, and go wherever I need to be next. I've already built some in Second Life today, and even tho I'm still acclimating to the change, I feel good.
   
• Right and left-click buttons are extremely clickable and satisfying, yet require a minimum of effort. Similarly, scroll wheel is notchy and loose, yet not out-of-control (as the close-to-worn-out wheel on my IO feels — I remember how tight that thing was at the beginning!). Middle-clicking is similarly very direct. The package actually comes with a way to pop the side panel out and change the positioning of those buttons via an alternate panel, but I like mine closer to the front, as the default has them, so I'll keep 'em as they are. For now.
   
• Blue glow is eye-candy, but after seeing the red of my IO for so long, it's an ice-cool touch.
   
• I got a new mousepad, a simple Allsop MousePad Pro, to go with it. Tracks great with the laser sensor. I haven't come across any jittery movements I didn't intentionally make yet!

In the course of both my work + play, I break my days down into blocks of time. Seconds wasted accumulated across weeks become minutes, become hours, etc. I'm especially reminded in recent times how it's worth paying a reasonable amount more for good tools if they help you do what you hope to accomplish that much better and faster, and without detriment to your health. I've continued to evolve how I use my computers as tools, and if you're a regular computer user, chances are you touch your keyboard + mouse more than anything else a day.

Philosophically, I'm also reminded of when I was an actively performing pianists, and the great lengths I'd go to, to find keyboards that worked for me. But I was very adamant in knowing what was out there, how so-and-so Yamaha would feel different from a Kawai, a Bösendorfer, or another Yamaha. You can never quite tell until you get on, and often, in competitions, there are times when you don't have an advance opportunity to tickle those ivories. Much as an Olympics fiasco some years ago, I remember when a grand piano of a different make — majestic as it was! — passively trounced competitors whose fingers had been attuned to another kind of instrument. Those little slips of precision become cracks, which grow into cumulative gaps.

To riff off a certain Mentat, it may be by will alone that you set your mind in motion, and thus, you use your mind to set your body in motion. You want to keep yourself together, so thrive on tools that serve your life well. Your health, as I've found, could depend on it.

I've noticed a pattern of myself on weekends, looking back a few days and sharing some destinations in Second Life which've made me smile. Pictures, as they did in the last bona fide installment, tend to come in twos. We continue… and as always, click through for the SLURLs!

Again, my incursions into adding subtle night-lighting to a scene go a long way. Quite owners, landowners don't optimize their properties for midnight, so I enjoy dressing up some temporary glows, then snapping photos to capture these moments of a virtual life lived. I once wanted a treehouse as a child, but to this day, have never actually been in one. So in some way, taking this picture points back at my youth's flights of fancy.

Some exceptional, fantastic extension to treehouses — these arboreals are clearly not Earth-domestic, and the stairs are of fine craftsmanship. I got here, as I often do, by looking through various Profile > Picks tabs. (Which I use at least as much as I do Search > Places.) Here, I think of Ewoks crossed with Jawas, enjoying volleyball on the beach. Queer (as in strange, not gay), I know.

BREAK OUT THE AMON TOBIN! Context: listen to the Splinter Cell 3 soundtrack for heart-pounding momentum:

This is the impeccably-constructed Nomad Hotel, part of the Smokin' Aces game which ran recently. I did my own little part in helping the operators correct their SLURL so gamers could find their way here. On the left, I simply did World menu > Force Sun > Midnight with no tweaking. Almost looks like the back of a police cruiser. The right is more subdued, and I was thinking of another famous hotel, the Overlook.

Two snapshots aren't enough; here's Cory Edo with her Thundercats t-shirt. She's quickly garnering acclaim for making orgasmic hotels. I can't wait for a third! Observe how the lights glow in accordance with the corridor. Then, CrystalShard Foo shows me the penthouse by Damien Fate. Visiting the other day was so pleasant, because I resaw a number of old friendlies I hadn't seen in ages!

International design in mind: to the left are Maximilian Milosz's elegant Euro-furniture. Now, don't take that as a constructive, nor a restrictive label: his work may be the visual equivalent to similarly named min2MAX compilation's techno leader, Richie Hawtin. And then, we have ebisuya Spork's paper lamps: very simple shapes with effective, grainy textures and the lighting convince me these things have dimension to them.

ROCK ON DINO PLANETS! IT'S LIKE ALL YOUR FAVE HEAVY METAL COVERS IN ONE! 'Nuff said. Work by Madcow Cosmos, who should really get together with ahkenatan Grommet.

This is the beauty you'll find out at the new Azure Islands' Aray region. I think they're really encompassing many manners of terrain: what's next, bayou or tundra? (I hope!) In the meantime, we've got this to enjoy: I spec'ed the lights, par for the course, and found myself feeling very atmospheric indeed. Also notice the ground feels sharded and rocky; a break from flat deserts we've previously seeen. 

I can only hope for "LET US EAT BLING TOGETHER!" to top the charts. Or, in some cargo-cultish way, to be used as a nascent greeting between tribeskin. Suitably, in Second Life, there are those who wear blingy shoes. Parody CD design by Patchouli Woollahra, original meme by Tateru Nino.

Bathsheba Dorn's got the Awesome Creatures Dept. mastered. These go beyond biomechanical: it's like a rocket sled grafted on to a big shell-dude, and a jetski crossed with an anemone… or something! I've left her an IM inquiring where to purchase these things. After all, anyone who leaves barrels of backed-up inventory must have some keen, lateral, chess-playin' insights.

And to cap this all off, I'll do a quartet, 'cuz 4's a lucky number. I'd like to warmly, graciously, ultraliciously thank each of you reading this who also happened to visit me during my Linden Village office hours yesterday (2007.01.26). First time I've committed to them, and several other Lindens s far — like Robin, Jesse, Rob, Pathfinder — have also put signs onsite with their schedules. With enough Lindens cross-departmentally, we'll be covering a lot of topics. Me? I'm eclectic and chaotic, so let the conversation flow like spice!

Background… I needed seating, so I got Timeless Prototype's Multi-Chair Crates. When you sit on one, it makes new chairs (up to 10) for additional visitors. I call them "retractable seats". I then went about retexturing them, and started to feel like the innards of my office was like the set, or better yet, the location of an actual sci-fi event. I watched a couple beautiful sunrises (in addition to RL, or offline ones), and later that day, I headed over to Pathfinder Linden's office in Ambleside… as he held one of his hours adjacent to mine.

On an experimental basis, what I may do next — in addition to this — is announce when and where I'm hanging out inworld by sending a snapshot to Snapzilla, SLBuzz, and Flickr. Then, I'll wait there for several minutes, until TPing to the next spot. I don't want to turn it into a "catch the Torley game", but rather, retain some sense of exploration while romping across the grid, travels across great distances which isn't economical, nor feasible, to do offline.

I had fun, learned a number of new insights (a must), and made notes about inworld locations to visit next. Lively conversation in a cozy group without an agenda is my kinda thang. Each step of the journey brings me to another!

Thanx again!