As autumn reveals itself to us, therefore the Keeping it Wild project has come to a remarkable end. It was a great few weeks in that the team at Autus went and created such wonderful projects in the virtual sphere that educate as well as entertain. Everyone on the team deserves a big round of applause as they have tirelessly worked over the last few weeks to make this project a success. In this blog we profile H, Ben and Nathen.

H

Solly: Hello H, can you please tell me about yourself and how you decided on your project?

H: I've been with Autus for some time now (2-3 years I think?), and while I started as a participant I've also done my share of volunteering, and some paid work. In my personal life, I like cats, reading (mainly fantasy/sci-fi) and dungeons & dragons.
The project I did here was to make a tutorial for a compost bin, which I pretty much picked because it came up on the list when we were brainstorming ideas and no-one else picked it. I based it on the compost bin in my back garden.

Solly: What ideas did you have in mind before settling on the compost bin?

H: Honestly? I didn't really have any specific ideas. I considered doing a birdbox or something but other members of the group requested to do that, and I don't really mind so long as I end up doing something.

Solly: Tell me a bit about how you build on the grid

H: Well, a good starting point is to consider the basic shapes involved in the object. Rez them out one at a time, and adjust the parameters in the build window until it looks close to the desired shape, then depending on the next component either rez another prim or shift-copy. Once all the parts are in place, link it together (selecting a suitable root prim) and resize if necessary; for small objects it can be useful to build them large and then shrink them down later.
After the shape is right, it's time to work on texture. OpenSim has a selection of textures that come included in the library, or you can upload your own.

Solly: Finally, what do you hope to gain out of the KIW project?

H: Depending on the function of the object, at this stage in proceedings it may be important to add some scripts.
Well, part of the reason I'm here is to support Kitty, but more generally I enjoy spending time in nature and I think it's nice to do something a bit different from our standard projects.

Solly: Thank you H

H: You’re welcome.

Ben

Solly: Hello Ben. Can you first tell me about yourself and what your project is?

Ben: Hello Solly. I'm having trouble getting fully motivated in this because I'm trying to find ways of getting a job.
I've been involved in a lot of other courses

Solly: Can you tell me what your project is and what inspired you?

Ben: In terms of conservation a tractor was one of the first things that connected to my interests

Solly: What tools in the virtual world did you use to create it?

Ben: The 3D building prims

Solly: What drew you in to create a tractor for this project?

Ben: Looking at this island I was getting the feeling of the area resembling a farm or a special land-preserving area and something told me some kind of vehicle might be needed

Solly: Finally, what is your hope to get out of this project? What have you learned?

Ben: There is a strong opportunity to learn gardening or horticulture techniques in a project like this if you look at what the other learners have been doing and finding out.

Solly: Thank you Ben.

Ben: Thank you.

Nathen

Solly: Hello Nathen, first tell me about yourself and your project.

Nathen: Well I'm Nathen a gamer and that’s the base of me and for my project I wanted to do something a little different.
With all the animals being noted in the presentation I did not once hear about bats so I thought I would do stuff about bat boxes.

Solly: Why did you choose bats?

I chose bats because they’re really cool and they need some love and a home too.

Solly: What tools in this virtual space are you using for your project?

Nathen: I just use the building tools that is built into this opensim system

Solly: Finally, what is the end goal of your project and what have you learned overall?

Nathen: Well I didn’t really learn anything new but I do hope my project will help people understand that bats are not creepy rabies infested flying rats people think they are.

Solly: Thank you.

• Click here to view the previous Keeping it Wild Blog Entry