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Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Las Islas Naima Waves-Ocean Huge

Las Islas Naima Waves-Ocean Huge

 

By: Naima Broome

Cost: L$6000

Permissions: No Mod/Copy/No Transfer


Specifications:

One very large prim, does not change shape, animated texture, prim does not move

Two prim sizes 120 x 120m and 256 x 256m.

 

What’s in the Package:

There are 5 different types and 21 different configurations of these large Ocean Waves.

 

What You Need To Know:

-       A basic understanding of Second Life.

-       A basic understanding of Edit Mode.

-       A basic understanding of Terraforming.

 

This review is a little different from my previous examinations of your favorite waves, this wave cannot be surfed, but will add a realistic touch to your surfing area. Lets face it not every wave in the ocean is going to give you that once in a lifetime ride, there are many that we all watch roll on through; this is that type of wave.

 

Naima’s creation is a huge prim with an ultra-realistic wave animation running from one end of the prim to the other. The animation is just spectacular and finishes off you ocean in a very realistic manner. The creator recommends this product for “off shore” and I would agree these waves are better seen from a distance.

 

Set up of this wave is a snap! It’s placed right on the ocean surface and starts animation with no input needed. I would always suggest placing any object in edit mode so you can adjust it immediately without picking it again. Once you have placed the wave you can move it into the optimum location. Another suggestion would be to move it as far to your ocean’s horizon as it will go. This will allow you to have part of the prim “off-sim” which will create a fantastic look of infinity on your ocean.


When occupying the same space as your surfable waves the Naima Ocean Wave will not interfere with your ride or the performance of the wave. I have my Naima waves running in tandem with a large Sunset wave and there has been no affect on ride or the performance of the wave. Additionally I’ve seen no real degradation of sim performance.


As far as compatibility I have tested the Naima waves with; Sunset, Pipeline, Foam and Maverick waves and had no problems. This product can be paired with any of the shoreline waves out there to create a finished look to your beach. A great look is having the Naima Ocean Waves end about 10-15m from your beach with a shoreline wave running in the rest of the way.


In scoring this wave on my patented and totally subjective scale I would give this wave a 9 out of 10. The beauty, simplicity and cost make this a must have for any sim owner that has an ocean.


If you would like to see this product go to:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Las%20Lagunas/216/224/21/

If you would like to purchase this product:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Las%20Lagunas/216/224/21/

 

As always this is only my opinion, always try it before you buy it!

Friday, October 16, 2009

Waves in Review: Sunset

Sunset Waves (Ondas Olas Waves)

By: Leogarto Burt


Cost:

40m L$ 3,000

60m L$ 4,000

100m L$ 6,000

200m L$ 8,000


Specifications:

Sculpty Wave, One Shape Start to Finish, Animated Texture and Particle Break


Length: 10m

Width: 40m, 60m, 100m, 200m

Height: 10m


What You Get:

01 - Sunset Waves Control Panel;

01 - Sunset Waves Generator (40m or 60m or 100m or 200m);

01 - Sunset Waves Install Instructions Notecard;

01 - Metric Ruler;

01 - Surf Point HP Landmark.


What you need to know:

- How to use Edit Mode

- How to use Terraforming Tools

- Know your lot size

- Have a basic understanding of the SL system


Another great sculpty wave in Second Life is the Sunset Wave. The wave has nice rise and good breaking. The animation is very nice, but the wave is fairly transparent so looks best with your graphics turned up as high as you can go without crashing.


Now riding this wave is fun, wait let me stop here! Just so everyone reading knows I love surfing every wave. Ok back to the wave, I recommend the 100m or 120m wave due to the nice long ride you can get out of it. The wave is pretty forgiving to cut backs and has nice height for spinning and other tricks. I myself like long rides that allow you to move up and down the face of the wave, which the Sunset is well suited for. My only objection to the wave is its acute face angle, this is purely a personal preference and I know many people that love that aspect of it.


The wave is very easy on the sim and runs well on a HS sim. I have my Sunsets running on an HS with lots of other action going on and it never lags! The Sunset is in the mid price range of waves out there and is at a price point that most sim owners can handle even if they are not building a surf themed sim.


The wave is very easy to set up and comes with multilingual text. One nice feature of this wave is its remote wave controller. The on/off is packaged nicely into a beach sign that will blend into any setting. As with most waves beach design is key to having a natural looking wave, so experiment with terraforming and get your wave to break and fall nicely into the water. This wave is a simple setup and has no menu. The wave run duration is totally dependent on terraforming. The best feature of this wave is that Leogarto is always willing to come and help you if your not sure what your doing.


Considering all of the pros and cons I would give this wave a 7 out of 10. I would honestly recommend this wave to any surfer or sim owner thats looking for a nice simple to set up Sculpty Wave!


If you want to see the Sunset Wave in all its glory try Tsunami Beach, its my favorite Sunset Wave spot they have giant sunsets running one after the other in rapid progression. Additionally you'll love the black sand beach.


SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/tsunami%20beach/233/127/21/


If you want to purchase this wave check out HP4’s headquarters at Crab Island. This place is very cool and check out Leo’s other creations you will really love the HP4 Surfboards!


SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/crab%20Island/196/76/30/


As always this is only my opinion, always try before you buy!

Friday, October 9, 2009

Waves in Preview NEW EPIC

The New EPIC Wave by SSI

I had an opportunity to pose a few questions to Sebastian Saramago about the new EPIC wave under development by SSI. I had been hearing a lot of rumors regarding the wave and its possible features so I thought I’d go right to the source.


Q-

Sebastian; being the Co-Creative force behind SSI what has been the progression of wave development that lead to the creation of your new EPIC Wave?

A:

We always had the desire to make surfing more dynamic. The new wave is an attempt to bring some innovative design characteristics in to play. We always wanted to develop a way that looks great, and rode even better. Working within the confines of Second Life has been a challenge.


Q-

It seems like sculpt is the “wave” of the future, no pun intended, what advantages does the sculpted wave have over the standard linked PRIM wave?

A:

There are many advantages to the linked prim wave actually. The cool thing about the sculpted wave is that you don't get the seams and synchronization issues. We started developing the one prim sculpted was back when sculpted prims were first available. Of course, and many know speed to market has not been our strong suit do to the real life schedules Heather and I have. Our competitors will always wait for new innovative ideas from us, then try to imitate the look and feel thru reverse engineering. Its a great compliment to us. Just as in the real world, people always look to the best then try to follow the style. Same as in SL. People will continue to look to us for the innovation. We really change and shape the market in this way. Bottom line, if SSi has it under development, you can be sure the competitors are working to keep up and follow suit. That's the way it should be in a free market.



Q-

I have surfed and also own just about every wave available in SL; what will be the biggest difference between the “New” Epic and the existing “EPIC” that everyone knows and loves so well?

A:

There was a lot of thought and planing into the way the wave is shaped. The goal was to have a wave that looks great, yet also lets you do more then just surf on a half pipe. The new shape will offer swells in sections that allow for jumps and tricks when timed just right. Also, one side of the wave has a low lip, and a graduating edge that leads to the mostly enclosed curl of the wave. When ridden by a skilled rider, this will allow for some amazing combos on the wave.


Q-

Was there any features that you really wanted to add to the wave, but decided against due to performance of complexity?

A:

Sure, always. There were some effects for looks that I wanted to add, but its always a balance between lag... which equals suitability, and performance and constancy. I have not given up on some feature that Heather and I are working on. I cant say at the moment for obvious reasons, but we have some great plans.


Q-

As you know there are a few Sculpted waves out there right now ranging from very expensive to very affordable where will you position the “New” EPIC wave?

A:

My intent is to make the new wave available to most of the public. That means competitive pricing. Truly, that's the only thing that gave our fellow wave makers a slight edge in the past.


Q-

Finally; I know your getting ready to launch the “New” EPIC wave shortly, but is there anything brewing in the way of advanced surfboard development you may want to share?

A:

Yes, the board have been in development for some time. I know people get disappointed in us for not being faster to market with things. However, we do love what we do, and are still working at it. We decided that the new boards must be complete before we roll out a major update. Many people have seen some of the improvements in the 6.4 design. I would say this design is about 55% of what the final board will be. We listen to our surfers and have taken note of the features they would like to see. Such as competition mode, that will make each board preform to the same standards for far competition, with registered scripts that let Judges know if board is not in comp mode. Also, duel riders, more animations, and more customizations options right out of the box.


If you would like to see the wave in second life got to

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Dive%20World%20SouthWest/78/53/51/


Thanks to Sebastian one half of the creative team at SSI for letting us get a preview of what's in the pipeline at SSI

Friday, October 2, 2009

Waves in Review Maverick

Maverick Wave

By: bobn4uyes Winkler


Specifications:

Sculpty Wave, one shape start to finish. Animated texture with particle curl.

Sizes:

30m - L$2,500

60m - L$3,000

100m - L$4,500


Group/owner menu system, Compatible with most boards,

Menu driven visual appearance.

Realistic sounds, particulate effects. Total control menu system.


What You Get:

The Wave of your Choice (with Decoration and without)

Controller

Setup Instructions


What you need to know:

- How to use Edit Mode

- How to use Terraforming Tools

- Know your lot size

- Understand Physical & Phantom objects

Have a basic understanding of the SL system


First let me say this wave is very easy to setup, but be sure to read the instructions. The Controller is great, you can control just about every aspect of the wave; speed, height, duration and frequency just to name a few.


Like all waves beach terraforming is key to have the wave finish realistically. Experiment with the end of the run to make it as smooth as possible, also make sure that there are no obstacles in the way so it finishes off nice and natural. The “through” of the wave is fairly shallow which helps when designing your beach.


The “decoration” version of these waves is cool too. Just be sure you have the room to run them this option adds a bit of area to the wave and it only comes in the 30m and 60m versions.


Riding these waves is all the fun you could ask of a virtual surfing experience. The wave has a large face and is very forgiving on cutbacks. You’ll spend more time surfing and less on your belly. The face of the wave provides ample space for pro and amateurs to perfect their style.


If you really want to see what these waves can do check out the YouTube link, courtesy of Kekoa Arbizu, under my website links. All in all I give this wave a 9 out of 10, its fun to surf, easy to setup, very affordable and best of all runs great on HS sims!


Heres where you can buy the Maverick:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Action%20surf%20sk8te/176/155/22/


Heres where you can surf the Maverick

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Tortola/110/39/21

Welcome

Hi All,


This is the first posting of what I hope are many. Many of you may know me, but I'm sure a lot of you don't. I own the Monkey Cove Region which is dedicated to Surfing and living the surfing ideal. I also have Surf Shop 6 where I try to make available every surfboard produced in SL.

So far we have a really good cross section of what's out there, not everything but probably the best selection in SL. This site won't be a commercial for Monkey Cove or my shop, I would really like to provide objective commentary on the technical part of SL surfing; the waves, boards and locations that make us all love surfing in SL.

Being a Real Life surfer and engineer I'm fascinated by the working and interactions of surfing in SL. So I hope to provide useful information to the surfing community in SL and attract new people to the fun of Surfing in SL.

Thanks,
SYX