OFF WORLD BLOG

Trying to scoffold an activity so it fits into a short term means that certain details must be surfaced, processes prepared and scaffolds erected. The “builders academy” is a summary of the tutorial zone on planet Obscura and focusses on skills particular to this building task:

I made a machinema demonstrating techniques, and talking them through more regular tidy building practises, in the hope that if they do not want to read the worded instructions, they might take notice of a human voice modelling what they have to do. I am getting quite good at “multi-modal” explanations, and this is something that Virtual Worlds are particularly good for.

The idea is that cybernauts model, in 3D the readings they have taken in the field. The modelling then creates a 3D representation of the ore body in situ so they can then decide, based on researched costs and benefits, the most appropriate way to extract the ore.We present them with a “builders pallette” of the objects they need to complete the build – in this instance they are semi-transparent blocks that stack neatly, each representing different mineralisation readings. You can also see in the pit there is a starter grid, centred on the ore body, so they can start building from there without having to worry about aligning, scale and have an idea of extent and scope. Each pit has a “spoils” area to one side, so that later when they are demonstrating the mining technique they have selected, tehr eis somewhere to put their mined waste – again a nice demonstration of the fact that the stuff you dig up and discard has to go somewhere.

Most 3D worlds have limits, Activeworlds more than most in some regards, but I learned some valuable lessons in highly intensive, densely packed object arrays by trying to complete the activity we are asking the cybernauts to do, myself.

There is this thing called a “cell limit”, it is a PHYSICAL MEMORY limit the world, and I am guessing the rendering engine have whereby the total assets for a grid cell are limited. Each object instance, the NAME of the object, any ACTION scripting applied and any DESCRIPTION add to the storage requirements for that object. In the above screenshot you can see a rather sparse area of the world and a highlighted object alerts us to the fact that we have consumed 52% of the cell limit in that cell (you can see the cell grid in green and the current cell in red). This large cell usage can be explained when you realise there are 135 objects in that cell, most with HUGE names, most with create scripts etc.

This became a critical problem when I was testing the pit construction. Originally I had the blocks with lovely long names, and create scripts and a lovely long description in each – this meant that when I was 2/3 of the way through the building of my model, the WORLD prevented me from building any more in that cell … oops.

The solution was a re-making of ALL blocks (I changed the actual objects to be coloured and transparent in my 3D modelling program rather than do it with scripts in-world), gave them all tiny names (m1 .. m7) and pruned their descriptions down. the upshot of this is that I realise the object catalog that exists currently contains some obscenely wasteful object data – sure the names are descriptive but …

I like it that I am still learning in this project.

After the first cybernauts entered the world, it was clear that they did not have basic world skills, so I grafted an orientation zone (modified from Scientia) with things like how to move, fly, placemark, manage config etc.

We will be hosting meetings with experts – hopefully a balanced collection of mineral scientists, environmentalists and mining industry representatives – we needed a venue, so I built a sunken forum – quite like the roofline.

I incorporated a Q&A wall into the structure, so cybernauts could post questions for the visiting experts to answer – this form of Q&A has been successful in the past.

The forum is tiered – do not think I will bother with seats – avatars can stand overlooking a lit stage, view picture and sign displays etc, think it will suit the purpose well.

Cybernauts explore a mineral deposit via aerial survey, surface sample, and core samples, collecting data and observations, they need somewhere to research and conextualise these:

Interactives and static displays of rock types, classification, geological processes and explicit references to activities they must perform provide some nifty scaffolding for the task.

I went for a camp – feel, to give cybernauts an appreciation for the fact that often fieldwork requires this. Included is a camp-fire talk circle where they can meet privately in groups, sample tasks and a video tut on how to perform key actions – think it makes sense – we shall soon see.

Cybernauts investigate “What is mining?”, and look at Copper and Zinc mining in particular, we look at ore, appearance along with the commercial application of metals

Looking at styles of mines (open-cut and underground), we investigate the commercial aspects of each, asking the question “Why Mine?”

Consultation with various stakeholders is important, the social and ethical implications of Mining are explored, along with the perspectives these different people bring to the discussion.

We then explore the activities cybernauts are required to complete: “Your Mission, Jim…”

Down in the modelling pits, cybernauts use semi-transparent lego-like blocks to construct a 3d model of their field recordings

This mining science centre is now operational, time to move on to other activity centres.

Main habitation/industrial zone now done, it is time for detailing

The Mining Science Centre will house instructions on how to mine, costs/benefits, social and ethical issues around mining, and is adjacent to the world connect point (ground Zero)I built a power station, mightily influenced by an iconic English one (Battersea Powerstation) and rather naughtily had a pink plastic pig floating above it whilst I built it (thank you Pink Floyd for the inspiration, and the soundtrack to this build). I have added some “smoke” from a couple of the stacks, will have to check with the client to see if it is “green enough” of whether I am allowed to make it dark and nasty.The refinery beat me for a while, until I realised I had NO IDEA what one looked like – thank you interweb, it seems they come in all sorts of shapes, flavours (all dirty) – I decided on steel, colourbond and stacks with louvers in what in the end is an “L” shaped factory.The ECO HUT lives on a mountain, pristine and overlooking the industrial complexes below – we will look at rehablitation, ecosystem assessment, environmental impact statements and other things mining companies do before during and after the mining.Detailing can now begin – we have display boards, stuff to play with (using the in-world browser), perhaps some machinema, lighting and sfx. I also have some strategic points for “discussion circles” as I think groups will want somewhere out of the sun to go and have a private chat.

Happy that the majority of the infrastructure is now complete – plenty of room for modelling pits that cybernauts will use to construct scale models of the ore body prior to demoing their solution for mining it. Potential for rich, embedded, connected, collaborative and aligned with the curriculum learnings abound.

No idea what anyone else thinks so far … *tap tap tap* is this thing on? What do you reckon?

So our cybernauts will enter Minex5 (or “Oresome World” … yeah, don’t ask) and learn a bit about geological science

They will meet, greet, investigate some mineralogy and geoscience the head off to learn about environmental consequences of miningQuite happy with this structure – modelled on the Maritime Museum in Sydney, it has a multi-level atrium and some funky spaces that will be kitted out with activity boards.The “Eco Hut” is on a small range “One Tree Hill” overlooking the potential mineral bed, has a funky fan roof and is built around the one tree there.

Then they undertake an aerial survey of a large area mineral bed, interpret the results and build models of what they have found. I have placed ultralights around (all that tiresome walking gets a bit monotonous over such a large area) – you can see the aerial survey above, sector markers and boreholes in place. I may have to add some grid markers to make sense of the space – the rez distances are a pain – objects phase in and out of existence because they are so far away – nothing I can do about that unfortunately – is an Activeworld “feature” apparently.

Quite happy with the weekend’s progress – lots more to do but shape and sense beginning to emerge.

So, after designing components, I have begun placing them in-situ; the effect is to create a gridded area that contains core samples you can click on to shift out of the way, each shaft contains 12 mineralisation readings:

bore shaft, with workings exposed

The exploration field spreads over 20 x 25 bore holes, grouped in bunches of 5×5 to make a grid reference scheme that can be used to record data in the field:

bore hole layout

Punching holes in the landscape is fairly simple, and fitting caps is important so cybernauts do not fall through into the underworld (a bewildering experience even for me). It took a while to get the cap texture to wrap around the cap geometry acceptably so it blends seamlessly into the surrounding dirt, and also including a topsoil layer before the first core plug took me an age – the lighting model in-world differs from the modelling program (Wings 3D) so I am learning the manual adjusts necessary to make them inter-operable.

I have also begun to establish the exploration campsite (”Explorers rest”) which will contain some information about the exploration process, and have allocated space closer to ground zero for a resource district so that cybernauts can learn about mining science as part of the world experience.

Explorers Rest

Now one activity cybernauts will have to complete is a collection of bore-samples, detecting mineralization according to depth. The need arose for a scenic object that performs the function of a bore-hole cap.

I fired up wings, experimented with scale to determine the appropriate size to fit an entire grid point, then sculpted a hole that tapered so it would join to a tube primitive I made earlier.

Testing their placement was fairly straight forward – with the scale correct, they move and position modularly, and it allows me to manage how they will manage taking readings at depth – I thought about sliding core samples with meta information that would slide out of the way to reveal a deeper sample.

If the movement is not “global” then it will appear to move ONLY to the cybernaut that clicks on it, meaning multiple students can work on the same spot at the same time without interfering with each other – an important consideration if there is a class worth in at a time.

Working out how to texture, colour and so on, then on to layout of the mineral bed; progress being made.

On a purely practical matter, vestiges of the sample are still visible when they are rolled out of the way, so students can still access the data stored in them (you can see the brown fragments still emergent from the shaft wall) .

I think this will work well – what do you think?

So I have started work on a new world, full of mining science, called MinexV (or Oresome World … no, don’t ask). In it cybernauts will perform a mineralogical survey and then construct a scale model of the ore body they encounter.

Balloon Model

First phase of the survey is a MACRO survey from the air, in a grid they will take gross conductance readings so as to better identify what sectors are worth exploring further.

The aerial survey points need to be indicated somehow, so I thought of meteorological balloons, and made one. Well, yes, in truth it looks more like a party balloon, but the intention was there.

As cybernauts will need to be organised I began to think through ideas for controlling their search pattern, and came up with the idea of a paper plane (inspired by my 356 Origami Project) suspended from the balloon pointing in the direction they should travel.

Paper Plane Model

The idea, in-world is whimsical and should be useful, as I can use different colours to mark out grid locations.

In-World Air-borne Marker

I am still working out drill shaft appearances, and the mechanics of core sampling, but I think that can be done tidily so that multiple people can use the same resources at the same time without interfering with each other.

…so I got to thinking about the overall “sense” of the tutorial zone – never a good thing when I have lots of other things to do, but the new procrastination plugin kicked in and I ignored my streaming head cold symptoms and began tweaking…

Object market re-worked

It seemed to me that the tutorial “shells” were facing the wrong way (they faced the road and had their backs on the internal lawn area) – by rotating them 180 (and re-arranging the foliage) it feels a lot more inclusive, like the tutes and the object market relate to each other – they are ALL about the art of building so that was settled (at least in my own fevered brain).

I added a campfire talk circle, with a “cone of silence” around it so private group discussions can go on there, re-jigged the guided tour a little so it made sense and I think I am pretty well done here.

Tut Zone overview

Looking at it from above, it looks like there is very little here, but I know how long it has taken me to make, and feel pretty proud of it.

In the one compact u-shaped area we learn how to make, move, rotate, scale, colour, texture, script and select objects, how to film them afterwards and share our plans for doing so – nice, compact, accessible and … yeah, I know, talking to myself, you get that.

What is missing? Suggestions gratefully received.