Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting
Shun. 沈 [untitled] decided to share his “Secret Summer Project.” Lots of people have summer projects, like putting in a garden, maybe landscaping, painting the roof, crocheting a baby blanket, but I doubt many have this for a summer project. If you think about it, cats would make great intergalactic explorers. They would probably enjoy sleeping for 100 years or more and since cats are perfect, they would represent the planet well. However, they might just take over the universe. I love the sweet humor of this picture and I really do believe cats are better suited to conquer the galaxy.
Today in “you can’t make this stuff up,” Meta has suspended my Facebook account because they suspect me of impersonating someone noteworthy
I could write a whole book but how ironic this is (oh wait, I did) but it's pretty fun to spend two-three years in research and interviews, writing about how Meta's leaders never really understood the Metaverse, couldn't even explain it to their staff, were never really passionate about virtual worlds and what made them meaningful, and how they sidelined people on their team who were. When all of that could be encapsulated by quoting this single tweet.
Beyond my book, here's some references on Meta's highly strange relationship with the Metaverse:
I'm here on Substack, and if you are too, please subscribe. I'm still seeding my Substack account with recent classic stories; if there's a decent readership there, I'll start putting my latest general interest XR/metaverse industry stories there too. SL-related posts will continue here on New World Notes and often appear first on my Patreon.
Hopefully it's not too confusing to be putting my content on multiple platforms, but it's been difficult to sustain readership and revenue on just NWN alone for, well, maybe the last 3 years or so. That's party due to the Ultraviolet Catastrophe that Philip Rosedale wrote about recently on (LOL) his own Substack — the open Internet so spammed over with AI slop, that people retreat behind various walled gardens. But I hope to continue New World Notes as a media brand until perpetuity.
So if you're reading this now and subscribed to my Patreon (and now) my Substack, thank you!
Inspired by Imogen Aurelia's call for a "Blackout August", in which the Second Life community takes a break from crowded, frustrating weekend shopping events, here are three gorgeous SL mainstores to visit and explore for fun and photographs, as well as shopping –recommended and photographed by Imogen herself.
First, above, is Bumrose Club & Equilibrium, a lovely tropical island cove that also sells furniture with spicy animations: Click here to teleport.
What you’re watching above looks like a podcast narrated by a chill Brit called Cliff Knotes, in an episode devoted to Second Life. But here’s the thing: The podcaster is AI generated, and the content that "Cliff" is discussing was pulled completely from Wikipedia.
This is Wikéo, a new YouTube channel and site which converts Wikipedia entries into bite-sized podcasts with various AI narrators. In full disclosure, it’s part of a project I’m consulting on (more on that later) but I have no input on Wikéo itself – other than challenging the co-designer, Clifford Champion, to generate these episodes about Second Life.
"Wikipedia is not perfect, but the value it’s brought to civilization is immense,” Champion tells me, describing his inspiration for Wikéo, “an amazing concentration of knowledge."
The problem, as he sees it: Though Wikipedia has grown ever more massive, most people using the Internet tend to prefer video and podcasts to reading. "AI is an opportunity to bridge that gap, to bridge what I call the format gap."
Five different foundation models go into activating the voices, with 8 different “shows” all delivering the same information from Wikipedia. He tells me Hugo the Honey Badger (yes, below) is the most popular.
To deal with controversial or highly sensitive topics (the Holocaust, serial killers, etc.) Wikéo has a scoring system which flags hot button stories, so an upcoming episode can be human-reviewed first. One option is to only publish episodes on extreme topics through “Professor Alexei”, Wikéo’s dry, highly academic-themed AI – that way, the podcast is informative without seeming emotionally manipulative.
An avid podcast listener himself, Clifford spent a lot of time analyzing what makes for an engaging show – not just the personality of the host and the topics covered, but the nuances of vibe and point of view.
Google, it should be said, has a variation of this podcast feature on its AI platform, but is offered more as a tool for researchers. Wikéo, Clifford tells me, is meant to be more of a media play:
“We're curating the content for you. If you already listen to podcasts, it's as simple as subscribing.”
And no, this isn’t meant to “replace” human podcasters:
This lovely machinima montage of an SL sim called Still Water Village (click here to teleport) was shot with the Firestorm viewer on high graphics using the region's shared environment WindLight. But from the moment you press play, you'll also likely notice a unique and appealing fluidity to the shots.
That's because this is not Second Life machinima as it's usually defined. Instead, explains creator HaileyNicole Resident, it's actually a series of screenshots she made, animated with PixVerse, a gen AI program.
"It touches nothing but her movement and what it thinks her clothes look like unless I tell it to add something like the dogs," Hailey tells me. "Usually I can have a mixture of SL clips and AI-animated clips, but this one was strictly animated in-world photos."
To create the individual clips, she feeds the SL screenshots into PixVerse (launched in January 2024), and gave the platform some prompt instructions — see below:
Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting
Z a d e posted this fabulously fun group photo that made me laugh at loud. I mean, look at those bazoooooms. I’m sorry, when they balloon to such a size, there is no correct way to spell them. I had to check out that picture more closely. And to my delight, I saw another person shot a group pic at the same time. Heaven! And a fun way of satirizing Second Life’s (all of society's?) obsession with extremely busty avatars.
In terms of searching for the balloon bras, sadly Zade is not a blogger, but I have high hopes for her co-snapping friend.
Anya Ohmai is both a seasoned Second Life mesh artist (she co-owns of the James&Dew SL brand) and professional 3D artist in the game/film industry; her Hollywood credits include Marvel’s Thunderbolts and A Minecraft Movie, and in games, she created 3D assets for PlayerUnknown: Battlegrounds’ cinematic commercial, among other titles.
In other words, she’s highly qualified to expand on my articles about shadow meshing in Second Life, offering expert references and advice on how much 3D artists should expect to make, both in RL industries and in Second Life. – WJA
By Anya Ohmai
In a recent post, Hamlet cited Ziprecruiter data suggesting that 3D artists in the game and film industry typically earnaround $40/hour as a starting wage. In my experience, however, that’s not the norm — rates like that are usually earned after several years of studio experience and a solid production track record.
Wage comparisons between Second Life and the broader 3D industry can be misleading — especially when they rely on inflated data or blur the line between freelance and salaried roles. That’s why I created this breakdown focused on waged employment: to help both SL creators and the brands that hire them better understand these conversations.
I wrote this because I believe context matters — for everyone involved. Without it, aspiring 3D artists may enter the industry with unrealistic expectations, or SL brand owners may be unfairly accused of underpaying despite offering fair compensation within the platform’s limits. My goal is simply to offer insight — so creators and brands alike can make more informed, realistic decisions without falling into comparisons that don’t reflect how either industry actually works.
Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting
PJ Blackherz captured herself enjoying a lovely day on her patio. The dogs seem to like the weather as well. If they were real life dogs, I would fret about them accidentally going between the railings and falling. I have a similar patio IRL though only half as deep, so it’s fairly useless. I lined it with bird mesh to keep my cat from jumping from the fourth floor. They are very nearsighted and it’s all a blur past 20 feet for cats and dogs. I kind of love this picture just because it captures the odd mix of pleasure and ennui that a hot summer day can create.
Wagner James Au / New World Notes 