Pic of the Day - Join GFC

GFC Engineer Wolfie Foxdale's spock "It would be most logical to join the GFC" model

Who would argue against a large cartoon style spock standing next to the sandbox stating how logical it would be to join the GFC (GalaxyFleetCommand). Would you seriously debate such reasoning, question vulcan logic on the subject?

Nah, it wouldn't be logical to do so. If you like sci-fi, partial to a bit of fan based trek and not already a member of the group and have a secondlife account then why not come visit the sims, have a look around and in the face of overwhelming logic join the group.

Some GalaxyFleetCommand Locations to visit (requires Secondlife account)

Station Welcome Area

Sandbox

Klingon Village

Holodeck (RP sets)

HQ

Markets - Ground Market - Space station Mall - Infinity Market

Rental Skybox - Constellation Homes - Station Homes

Airport

Have Your Say About Secondlife TOS Changes

Recently Linden Labs changed their terms of service to the dismay of many secondlife members. This kind of thing isn't uncommon when companies change their TOS. What has concerned many creators is the further expansion of the rights to the content they make inworld.

Many feel there creations now can't be claimed as their own and the TOS eludes to owning anything within SL irrespective of who, when and how it was made.

There are a few links below which may better explain the update and a survey which people can fill out to help get views on what the community thinks about the situation.

Community Page
Secondlife TOS
Survey

The Crimson Sidewider

This week we got to name one of the Red Squadrons exclusive ships in the AAC which was built and scripted by Jin Tao, each squadron which includes  the beginners Sigma (Green) squad and advanced Nova (Blue) squad will get their own line of exclusive ships, but this Sunday in the AAC event people were given the opportunity to fly an early version of the ship to help see how people thought it would handle. The general consensus was it handled extremely well.

The ship boasted a handful of popular combats systems so it could  dogfight against other ships, this included vice and pcs. In addition is also been equipped with JCS which is a system richardjm Weatherwax has developed and is used in a variety of systems already in the group, the advantage of using something like this is that its easier to change aspects of the system to fit the groups needs as its essentially built in house.

Also by including a API it will allow other scripters (programmers) the ability to use the code in their products for the group without needing direct read access to the core script.

These ships look fantastic and have some cool features like the ability to teleport through the sims wormholes plus an awesome explosion effect.

At the WAM (Weekly AAC Meeting) members got the chance to pick and vote on their favourite name for the ship, the only stipulation being it needed to be named after an animal. After throwing a few names out, a little deliberation, the name "Crimson Sidewinder" was considered the most popular.

Members of Red Squadron I'm sure will look forward to tearing up the skies with this little ship, so hold onto your helmet and reach for the stars.

First Contact Weekend

As the story goes in the star trek movie "First Contact", the vulcans landed on April 5th 2063 and made contact with the human race for the first time. To celebrate Social Events put on a weekend event starting Friday 5th to Sunday 7th.

A special set was created to replicate the campsite where initial first contact was made, which included the bar, with jukebox and the Vulcan survey ship, the T'Plana-Hath. Which were created by members Richmerk Resident and Wolfie.

Many spent most of the their weekend in the sim at the campsite chatting and partying away, there was plenty of dancing going on throughout the event. A video screen was put up to watch trek related content and on Saturday the GM (General Meeting) was transferred to the camp scene and we had our weekly meeting there. This was followed by more group partying and conversations about trek, life, the universe and everything.

Everybody seemed to have had a good time and we look forward to the next big event.
More Pictures HERE

Mesh Rigging Gone Wrong

The Task was to rig a mesh object for an RP

The Result

Something which looked like a transporter accident.

New Edition to the Pheonix Station

Wolfie relaxing after all his hard work

Our new recruit C3C Wolferine Foxdale was already on his first task of building a monument for the mall in the Phoenix station, carefully monitored by myself keeping him in line :)

This is just one of the amazing things which have been going on in recent months with the young recruit working a long side cadet Richmerk. Together they have made the phoenix bar and I look forward to holding many events here.

A job well done.

Visit the monument HERE

New Bar Beams Down

Like a thief in the night the new bar in phoenix station was slotted in place for all to see. It's a much large area than the previous temp bar that was in place before or Quarks bar in the the other DS19 station. This one is significantly bigger giving more space for dancing  and more options for placing activities around the bar area.

A theater section has been added with genuine type movie seating so people can watch the latest streaming content. Its a distance enough away form the bar so not to interfere with peoples enjoyment there. Movie nights here we come.

From the get go in the design concept was the bar needed to be spacious and not cramp, capable of supporting different area's where people could be doing their own kind of things, but not feel too far away from the central focus point.

The dance floor had been made roomier with a gorgeous sketch like animation on the floor and ceiling which has to be seen. If you look careful at the DJ table you'll notice the legs are actual upright enterprise ships, "So Darn Cool".

Windows surround the room so you get a view looking off into space at ships that maybe docked or flying by, adding a more space like feel to the place, reminding you that though cosy, your still on a space station.

Below the Bar you will find a mall section which will be where vendors can sell an assortment of items. There are 4 ports where ships can dock using the free docking system which will be made available to add to their ship builds allowing pilots and captains to fully immerse themselves into connecting with the station as you would if you really wanted to fly there.  To get to and from the ports you'll find two styles of doors, one a TOS type of sliding door, bring you back to that old 60's feel and another more metallic circular iris type you would have seen in some sci-fi movies. From the Mall floor up to the bar you can't miss the tree's with cube leafs which add something very original to the establishment.

If your ship can't dock then you can always fly into the groups largest hangar bay and make you way up from one of the available lift stops.There's still more work to be done to the area, adding activities and some little touches along the way.

We are happy the way its coming together to create a place people have already said is a nice cosy welcoming area, a nice place to chat, relax, party and hopefully we'll be adding a few surprises, so watch this space in space.

If you have a Secondlife© Account and want to Visit follow link HERE

Leaked blurry B/W Winter ball Photos

With the winter ball rapidly approaching some sneaky Romulan like figures have infiltrated the GFC, passing through its defenses unnoticed. Blurry pictures have been taken and no doubt past to some nefarious organisations. Communications has been intercepted and decrypted.

<Message decrypted> 

GFC Bi-Annual ball being held again, expect plenty of promotions and medals to be handed out... rumors of Hollywood like speeches, the thanking of every kind of deity, their parents and the guy they see down the road sitting outside the shop who they said had inspired them.

The themes is claimed to be engineering, our spies noticed a warp core pulsating, we couldn't get close enough to examine the technology, some have said  there will be a large transporter ship which will send it to a different location for the actual event, they maybe using a wormhole we have noticed to get it there quicker.

One report is there may be a quiz, admirals audio address, gifts to give out, dancing and many hours of joyity. We shall keep you informed of any further development. 

Ball Date:

GFC Bi_annual Ball
Saturday 19th January 2013
2pm SLT
Secondlife Location: Ball Location
Invitation link: HERE

< End Message>

Creating Mesh Without The Pain

So you what to take advantage of the prim saving properties of using mesh but don't want to go through all the pain of having to use out of sim 3D software on your computer and  relearning the wheel again. If you have a few spare L$ burning a hole in your pocket (around L$ 5,000 should do it) you may be able to afford something like Mesh Studio, this is a specially made product which takes the standard inworld prim objects and turns them into a mesh object.

We have a couple of videos which give a basic explanation on how this works.

If it sparks your interest you could always give it a look, like anything, purchase at your own risk, we take no responsibility if something goes wrong but all the kudos if you like it, I can't say fairer than that <Evil Grin>

SL Market: HERE
In world: HERE

Native German version of SL Intro/Review Mesh Studio Video HERE

Free....Any cheaper and they'd be delivering it to your house

With all this talk of mesh and sculpts and how expensive it is to use some of the 3d programs needed to create higher quality builds, adoption has been helped by the fact software like Blender has been high quality, available and free.

But, for a limited time ( March 31st 2012, now extended to the end of April)  a company known for high quality 3d software that can create Secondlife content have announce they are giving away some of their most noted software for free, it may not be the companies latest versions, but the software is very capable of produce quality work. They aren't just giving away the main software but a large variety of useful utilities, character and object models, tutorials and materials.  So quickly get down to the Daz 3D website and nab those goodies before they come to their senses from the obvious concussion they are suffering from wears off.

Link http://www.daz3d.com/shop/

What is he building now

Mystery plane, office, facility... Many are asking but few know what hovered over the sandbox earlier today. It didn't shop Sereana, Snapper and Kal all fighting for a parking space on the roof.

On inspection it has 2 helipad, 2 floors, one with seems to house a relaxation zone and the other a working area of some sort.

Richardjrn Weatherwax will be releasing more details about this soon so watch this space.

Good things come in small packages.

Its always nice seeing a new build being created in the sandbox and afew days ago  Starr Jetaime showed us the latest miniature GFC building she has been working on. Probably the most difficult of all the buildings to replicate but I'm sure you will all agree she's done a fantastic jobs. We are looking forwards to seeing the other replica's planned like the Constellation market.

Now let me see if I can locate my office from here.

More Pictures HERE

Borg Promotion

Congratulation to Seven of Nine (zannadu Resident) on promotion to Crewman 1st Class (C1C) for
her contribution to the Away Team Set Project, organisation skills and planet access. I'm sure there are many other promotions to come.

Away Team Set Project Premiere

Its a little hard to believe the Away Team project is only about a week and a half old. It was about this time last week that they finished working on their first set which got its premiere today during the Gibraltar RP.

The concept was simple, make new original sets and sets on demand. In that space of time the team of Seven of Nine (zannadu Resident) , katie Zwilling, Rokks Resident and Richard Weatherwax have not only delivered on both those concepts but have done it with quality and speed.

Its always a bit nervy when you first try out a project on its target audience as you create a perception of what that project is, how it functions and what it should feel like to the audience and its always interesting to stand back and watch peoples reactions, did we get it right, was there something we could learn from the experience?

When putting the team together I wanted to see what could be achieve when you allow creative people to let rip with their imagination and that's what they did with the first set which resembled a borg junk yard.

The most interesting aspect when watching the team talk about ideas was how they took two opposite views and married them in a symbiotic fashion which not only worked but usually worked better. Its a concept i've always believed in, the best idea should win and be implemented. Its a rarity in most work you see in RL or SL, but its something that this team excelled in and I believe it has been the key to their success so far.


The first thing that hits you with the borg set is its dark and foreboding nature, everything about it is grim, from the dark green sky, imposing borg cube which rotates above the set to the broken beams and falling scenery, the flames in the main room and lava streaming outside.


There were also subtle and beautiful touches, like the bright green liquid pouring out of the giant tanks, the traps built in the scenery which collapse when you walk on them, beams that fall from the sky to smashed Borg alcoves and escaping cubes and spheres which shoot into the airy sky.

But its not all eye candy, the team also made you work for your rp experience. It wasn't just a simple case of making stuff up, you also had to go where the set led you which meant traversing obstacles to reach a pad on the floor at the top of the room. To get there required balancing on beams and jumping on ledges which was more akin to playing a computer game. Maybe this wasn't what most people expect from an RP but it shows the team are willing to try new things and encourage new ways of rping.


When the Rp was over I think we all felt we had experience something which was different from the norm, where the story didn't just come from your head, the set helped set the tone of the story and planted possibilities which players can use or ignore.


The Away Team Set Project is still in its infancy  but has reminded us of the talent we have in the group and demonstrates that RP's can be whatever we want to make them as long as the imagination is there to build and play it.

Thank you Seven, Katie, Rokks and Rich you've done the GFC proud and proved what is possible in application, imagination, teamwork and respect. All features which should be the corner stone of every division and i'm grateful to be lucky enough to have it in mine.

Picture Gallery 1
Picture Gallery 2

More Away Team Pictures Released

With Mondays Gibraltar RP moving closer and the premiere of the new "Away Team Set" just a few days away  more pictures highlighting the sets have be been released, stolen or put on here in the most blatant and cheapest way of courting publicity I've seen since the last episode of Big Brother.

The two sets of pictures show some of the location that have been worked on so far,

The Borg set picture depicts some of the team talking about various aspects of the design, large movable objects and and bright use of flowing textures are one of the sets most appealing features. Also the eerily  sky has to be seen to be believed which gives you a foreboding feeling in the gut of your stomach when you witness it.

Set 2 on the other hand is a far more welcoming set, placed on turrets sticking out of the water holding up what appears to be a starbase containing many floors. There seems to be a medical like centre with moody lighting and in another room an object poking out of a pool like structure, what can that be, what's it for and what can it do?

To find out more you'll need to join the RP's which will be using these sets in the future.

Get your first taste of them on Monday 11am SLT Gibraltar RP.

Away Team Sets Have Arrived

You may have noticed the new Gibraltar Borg header ads and the previous crash site one. It seems other's have too as we've been asked afew times why the borg are coming...I dunno, maybe they were hungry and heard you were serving meat loaf or maybe it could be the an RP set built under the new Research "Away Team Set" project.

The project consists of bringing small teams together to create sets for RP's, original designs and on request. The first set created by Seven of Nine (zannadu Resident)  was used in the Gibraltar RP afew weeks back and was a great hit. Click HERE for pics and RP LOG.

But since then new members  Rokks Resident and katie Zwilling  have been added to the team and their first custom borg set is finished and ready to use. What the project will strive for is high quality, fast turn around and innovative scenarios for GFC RP's. As of writing the team are well into their second custom set with more to come.

Sneak Peek, wait until you see inside

You'll hear more about them and their sets towards the run up to Mondays RP and beyond, so watch this space for more info as research has slapped a no peeking sign on the sets until Monday.

A new dimension in GFC Rping and Building has just arrived.