IndieMetaverse Next Week

Hello virtual world fans of any platform!  Next week is our annual virtual world event "IndieMetaverse" in its second year.  You can find the calendar here but note that it is still being updated and confirmed on presentation times and dates.

You can find early details here http://jibemix.com/downloads/indie011.pdf .  We will have all details filled into the calendar and a supplemental "Presenters" PDF by weeks end.

This is a 100% virtual attendance event to show off positive, PG related projects found anywhere in the metaverse. To be considered as a presenter read the above PDF and contact us.  See you in 3D!

Avoiding Virtual Couch Potato Syndrome: How to create a web-embedded video display that interfaces with your Jibe world

With Jibe, you can create your own multiuser 3d virtual world and embed it on any webpage.

This means you can have your Jibe world living on a webpage along with any other web-based content you like.

Today we'll learn how to create an embedded video display on a webpage that works with a video channel switcher inside your Jibe world.

Upgrading ReactionGrid OpenSimulator Grids

After a lot of coding and testing, we're ready to start rolling out upgrades to our OpenSimulator grid clients. Based on OpenSimulator 0.7.2 code, the combination of new grid services and an upgrade to our ROAR administration modules will bring us up to date with other grids based on 0.7.2, and open up the HyperGrid network between all major grids on compatible versions.

Customers who have tested out the Alpha grid and are happy with the experience and want to try the upgrade are invited to contact us at http://metaverseheroes.com and we'll schedule your upgrade. As with all releases of OpenSimulator to date, the core platform is still in Alpha and while there are some great improvements to the codebase, there are still some quirks. If you're happy on your current revision, you don't have to upgrade, though if you want to HyperGrid you will likely want the upgrade soon.

The ReactionGrid OpenSimulator grid will be upgraded in a few weeks, we'll notify our core grid clients as soon as we have set a specific date for our upgrade.

Thanks for your patience while we took the time to prepare the code. We battled some amusing bugs, some frustrating missing features, and rebuilt several of those features to ensure our grid clients could continue normal operation. Our new deployment system should also make future upgrades easier. As part of the process we submitted some key patches to core OpenSimulator for the MSSQL platform, and will continue to do so for anyone else using the Microsoft stack for their OpenSimulator grids.

-- Chris Hart, CTO, ReactionGrid Inc.

"Interfaces for the New Decade" - Join us Online at The Tech Test Zone 2011 Conference on Nov 15th

The Tech Museum and The Tech Virtual are hosting a conference on "Interfaces for the New Decade," Tuesday, November 15, 2011 from 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM (PT).  This event will bring together interactive technology researchers, developers, and users for a conference and opening of The Tech Museum's newest gallery.

The conference has a great lineup of speakers presenting about the future of interactive exhibits.  And best of all, if you can't make it out to San Jose, you can virtually attend the event for free.

All of us at ReactionGrid have signed up to attend the conference online, and during the event we will also be in our Jibe virtual world Expo Demo where we'll be discussing the presentations.

So sign up to attend the conference for free and visit with us in Jibe during the conference if you'd like to chat with us about virtual world platforms.  You can watch the Test Tech Zone video while exploring the 3d virtual world at the same time.  Hope to see you there!

ReactionGrid's Expo Demo world in Jibe. 

Animating Evolver Avatars for Jibe using Animeeple

The Evolver website provides a great interface for creating avatars suitable for using with Jibe, but applying animations and importing them into the project takes some practice. A new video has just been posted to the JibeDownloads site with full instructions on how to take an Evolver avatar, and apply animations using Animeeple. Exporting an FBX model with animations from Animeeple requires a one-off licence purchase of $49 from the Animeeple store, after which you can export all the avatars you need ready for import into your Jibe project.

Animeeple Interface with an EvolverAvatar

Jibe customers should head to http://jibemix.com/jibedownloads and look in the Tutorials section for the new video.

ReactionGrid presenting at the "Midnight to Noon Conference for Second Life Educators and Researchers" on Oct 27

The folks at EduFinland are hosting a conference on October 27 called the "Midnight to Noon Conference for Second Life Educators and Researchers."

Although the conference is being held in Second Life, the presentations will discuss a wide range of research across many different virtual world platforms.




John "Pathfinder" Lester (Director of Community Development at ReactionGrid) will be speaking on a panel at 8am EDT on "The Future of Learning in Virtual Worlds."

And at 10am EDT, John will be giving a keynote presentation titled "The Significance of Contextual Flow - Exploring Jibe and Critical Affordances of Web-Based Virtual Worlds."

You can participate in John's keynote by visiting his Jibe world on the web during the presentation.

For more details, check out the conference website.  Here's a summary of the agenda:

"A 12 hour conference in Second Life for educators and researchers on education and virtual worlds with invited speakers from Europe and the US. The conference features presentations, panels, workshops, excursion and many other types of activitities.

Mark the date Thursday October 27, 2011 in your calendar now and join us in EduFinland archipelago on the lecture theatre on EduFinland III from midnight to noon (PDT)."

The researchers and educators at EduFinland have been doing outstanding work over the years, and this conference should be highly informative.  Hope to see you there!

John "Pathfinder" Lester and his favorite mug, courtesy of Finland.

ReactionGrid invited to present at the U.S. Coast Guard's "Innovation Expo 2011" in Tampa, FL

The U.S. Coast Guard holds an Innovation Expo each year, and ReactionGrid has been invited to attend and present at this year's Innovation Expo 2011 in Tampa, Florida on October 25th.

If you're attending the Expo, or if you'll be in the area and would like to meet with us, please drop us a line at create@reactiongrid.com.


The USCG Innovation Expo creates an environment for Coast Guard Innovators to resolve organizational challenges by showcasing their initiatives in a rich collaborative learning environment alongside other innovators throughout DHS and across Government, industry and academia.

One area of interest is 3d simulations and virtual worlds as platforms for immersive learning.   John Lester (Director of Community Development at ReactionGrid), will be giving two presentations on Tuesday, October 25th:
  
Keynote Speaker #2
11:30am - 12:00pm (Oct 25)
"Learning Through Three Dimensional Simulation and Virtual Worlds"

In this presentation, John will share his experiences using virtual world technology to enhance education and his current work at ReactionGrid to create web and mobile-based virtual word platforms for learning. He will describe best practices for creating effective alternative reality learning scenarios, common pitfalls when exploring immersive learning technologies, and ways to effect cultural change within an organization by using online collaborative environments.

Breakout Session #1
2:00pm - 3:00pm (Oct 25)
"Alternative Reality Learning: The Potential of Virtual World Platforms"

In this breakout session, John will lead a group discussion and hands-on demonstration of the potential of virtual world platforms for immersive learning. Specific examples of virtual learning environments using ReactionGrid’s Jibe platform will be presented, running on both the web and mobile devices, and attendees will be walked through a typical virtual world development workflow using the Unity3d editor and 3d mesh models. Attendees will also learn about the unique affordances of virtual worlds when they are integrated with existing social media (e.g., Facebook) and web-based educational content.

You can learn more about the Expo here and here.