Guitars in Second Life

One of the most impressive large-object-database apps I've seen recently is Second Life, a multi-user virtual reality environment that permits thousands of simultaneous users to share a 3D virtual world with consistent (if simplified) physics, and employ in-game modeling tools to create complex, optionally-scripted objects, which they then use and trade. Such trade has created a relatively vast economy: the financial potential of Second Life has begun attracting the attention of companies who see benefit in extending their brands into SL's virtual universe. Most recent of these is GM, who last week announced plans to build a virtual car dealership in Second Life.

The object modeling tools at the disposal of Second Life residents are -- like the databases supporting object storage and retrieval (each resident of second life can own a huge number of extremely-complex objects, and since much of the point of SL revolves around object creation, trade, and object environment enhancement, all numbers move rapidly towards asymtotes) -- both simple and powerful -- in many ways, superior to conventional engineering CAD systems. Here's a wonderful video, documenting the process whereby an artist in Second Life created a virtual guitar for use by the singer Suzanne Vega, who last August became the first top-line musical act to perform in SL's virtual reality.

Posted by John Jainschigg at 02:04 PM  Permalink