Ellen and Ernest would like to thank all the HG Safari members for coming over to the grid last night, it was an absolute pleasure to see you all! and thank you Thiriza for a wonderful write-up of the evening which you can view here

https://hgsafari.blogspot.com/2022/09/the-art-factory.html...

We were only able to show you a small fraction of what the Art Factory has to offer so do visit again soon or even better join our group of talented artists!

GACHA Shop

Because of this always annoying I can't fill the stores on Needful Things permanently with new items. Even creating (reasonably) appealing images takes some time. For this reason I created the < GACHA ROOM > on Needful Things, where you can pull a random item out of the vending machine. A few machines only give you one item every 24 hours, but most of them you can click as many times as you want - until they finally give you the item you want :) .
The gachas work without (game) money or anything like that; just click on them and see what they give out....
Enjoy!

***
GACHA Shop

Aufgrund dieses immer wieder lästigen kann ich die Läden auf Needful Things leider nicht permanent mit neuen Items befüllen. Schon das Erstellen (einigermaßen) ansprechender Bilder nimmt einige Zeit in Anspruch. Aus diesem Grund habe ich den < GACHA ROOM > auf Needful Things eingerichtet, wo ihr euch ein zufälliges Objekt aus dem Automaten ziehen könnt. Ein paar Maschinen geben nur ein Objekt alle 24 Stuunden aus, aber die meisten kann man beliebig oft hintereinander anklicken- bis sie endlich das ersehnte Item ausspucken :) .
Die Gachas funktionieren ohne (Spiel-)Geld oder dergleichen; einfach anklicken und abwarten, was sie ausgeben....
Viel Spaß!

Last week saw the passing of one of the greatest artists of the last century. Portuguese born Paula Rego, who has died aged 87, once said that she liked “to work on the edge”, and her many series of paintings and drawings, about the subjugation of women, abortion and the marriage market, cut across social perceptions of the role of women, and disrupted the male view of women and their sexuality.

The Art Factory has lovingly recreated a replica of the Cascais museum that houses much of her work. The Architect Eduardo Souto de Moura was from Oporto, Portugal. https://www.designboom.com/architecture/eduardo-souto-de-m...

Cascais is located near Estoril where Paula grew up and Ericeira where she lived and worked with her husband Victor Willing. Paula studied at the Slade school of art and died peacefully on the 8th of June in North London.

https://opensimworld.com/post/88948

Hey everyone, we are at last on the final details of the sims, but on Saturday 21st May 2022 Stark is back, we back!!!!!

There is a Grand Opening Party starting at 11am SLT through to whenever, and sometime prior to 11am Stark will be opened to the masses!!! ;-) There will be another announcement on Saturday when the veils are finally lifted.

As always Stark will roll out the rainbow, Love, Pride and Respect to all and Mattie will be playing the tunes, a great mix of favourites to get Stark back up and grooving!!!

Join us if you can and let's have a great time!

Das Soul Grid bedankt sich herzlich für alle Glückwünsche .
Es war ein wundervolles Wochenende mit viel Spass, guter Laune und ganz vielen lieben Freunden
Wir freuen uns auf das nächste Jahr mit euch .

Soul-Grid living with friends ja das ist das was wir am Wochenende erlebt haben . Vielen Dank euch allen

10:00 PDT Warm-up with Bella Diesel
11:00 PDT Janice Mills, a smooth voice with heart and soul. Live at Tosca.
Afterwards we party until the lights go out.

Celebrate with us, celebrate with friends!

2 years Soul Grid

I was told SUNFLOWERS are the national flowers of Ukraine hence FLORA offfers u a mesh pack (up til 90 of them for 1 single prim) for FREE and FULL PERM! Available at GARDEN AREA at BOX 02. Enjoy :)

Ps. And before someone starts complaining about pic sent, I`m not against Russian people but against this sh*t war....

Ein neues Jahr heißt neue Hoffnung, neues Licht, neue Gedanken und neue Wege zum Ziel. Einen guten Start ins Jahr 2022 das wünsch ich Euch!
A new year means new hope, new light, new thoughts and new ways to the goal. I wish you a good start into the year 2022!

The Snowfall Expanse
https://youtu.be/44iGtczRJjQ
Go in skates and a scarf, you can have fun in the snow, it is very big you need time to visit it, there are ski slopes in the mountains, then you can go to the Christmas market, visit the castle and the house of Santa Claus. Don't be in a hurry or don't enjoy this region, have fun, thanks to everyone it was a great job.

Pink Floyd - In the Flesh! Or is it In the Mesh? Ernest and I spent all day bringing album cover art to life today. A different spin on art, but the installations are pretty amazing to see! Come by Battersea and see for yourself!

The Art Factory is about art and artists. At The Art Factory, we display art; we appreciate art; we learn about art; and, we promote art. We have over a dozen galleries dedicated to in-world artists, where they show their innovative creations. As such, we are beginning a feature called Meet the Artist.

This week we want to introduce to you, the very talented Nice Minik.

Ms. Minik, can you tell us a bit about yourself and your art?
My interest for VL-Photography started back in InworldZ with some photos of dancing Avis.
In 2017 the "Nice Minik" on OSG was created to try out "hypergriding" and to build a photo-studio with backdrops and "flat" lighting for Avi photo sessions.A visit of Ellen and Ernest in my first little gallery changed my virtual life.
Since that day I explored the photo-features of Firestrom and tried a lot of light-effects to make my inworld-photos more interesting. It comes in handy to be a prim builder (for certain backgrounds) and I also learned to create poses in the meantime.

And what are you doing artistically now?
Nowadays I can display model-sessions and themed series at "the Art Factory". And I was able to create some issues of the Stark Magazine.

So, what's the motivation behind your work?
Some of my work just tries to show beauty. Some may be a bit provocative. But I always try to find the mood, lighting and angle to take photos, that "tell a story". And sometimes I can even achieve that goal.
One thing stayed consistently through my development as an inworld-photographer: what you see is what I saw. That means, that I never do after-works on my photos.

What do you enjoy most about creating art in virtual worlds?
Besides that, I very much like to show virtual life in a way, that makes viewers enjoy what I enjoyed or maybe get an impulse to think about certain aspects.

Thank you for the interview, Ms. Minik!

Please stop by The Art Factory Reloaded and check out Nice Minik's art! It won't disappoint!

Living with friends ...
Amazing community
wir sind mal wieder mächtig stolz auf unsere Leute. Einfach weil sie sind wie sie sind,
weil sie " living with friends" nicht nur als geklauten Slogan nehmen,
sondern dieses feeling jeden Tag leben. Dafür sind wir sehr dankbar .

Ein aufregendes Jahr liegt hinter uns.
Wir hatten Verluste.
Manche taten weh, manche weniger.
Wir hatten aber auch Gewinne
Der größte Gewinn war
Teil einer funktionierenden, lebensfrohen, lebendigen Gemeinschaft geworden zu sein.
Teil eines Grids zu sein,in dem Freundschaft nicht nur ein geklauter Werbeslogan ist.
Teil eines Grids zu sein, dass eigenständig zurecht kommt.

Dafür sind wir sehr dankbar. Unseren Bewohnern und allen, die uns dies ermöglicht haben, wie auch unseren zahlreichen Besuchern.
Möge die Zeit der bollernden Heizungen und prasselnden Kamine die Herzen der Menschen erwärmen und der Duft der Tannenbäume
all den Menschen die schlechten Gedanken vertreiben

Wir wünschen Euch allen ein besinnliches Weihnachtsfest, einen sensationell schönen Start ins neue Jahr und bleibt gesund.

Euch allen ein besinnliches und herzerwärmendes Weihnachtsfest

wünschen Euch Nasti und Rudi vom Soul Grid

*** LARCH TREE V- Larix sibirica V3 (version 3). Thx my friend Alfred (from sim WELCOME (https://opensimworld.com/hop/85057/) she gave a better model for these trees as seen at RL, so I could work on blender - once more released at FLORA, BOX 04, FOREST AREA (ground area). All FREE and FULL PERM. Seasonal textures included and leaves has a soft animation. Enjoy :)

CHERRY TREES PACK * FREE and FULL PERM available at FOREST AREA (ground) at BOX02. Animated particles are in mesh and separated prim so u can remove it when playing seasonal (textures inside). Enjoy :)

FLEETWOOD Hill Plates
Create Your Own Landscape – Flexible, Detailed, and Exactly the Way You Imagine It!

Anyone who has ever designed a large landscape in OpenSim knows the challenges: Traditional sim terrain offers limited possibilities, and conventional mesh terrain plates often have a problem with their textures. When the plates are enlarged, their textures are enlarged as well. Grass suddenly looks enormous, and the landscape loses its natural appearance.

With the FLEETWOOD Hill Plates, a whole new world of landscape design possibilities opens up!

Whether you envision rolling hills, winding hiking trails, expansive valleys, or idyllic lakes – create your own landscape using freely combinable mesh terrain plates without permanently modifying the original sim terrain.

Two Texture Layers – Countless Design Possibilities

What makes the Hill Plates special is their combination of two linked texture layers.

The lower plate features a detailed, baked PBR material that gives the terrain its original surface appearance.

Above it sits a second plate with a traditional Blinn texture, offering additional possibilities for customizing the appearance of your landscape.

This allows you to combine grassy hills with rocky terrain underneath, for example, or create entirely different types of landscape surfaces.

Automatic Texture Tiling – No Manual Adjustments Required!

One of the standout features is the fully automatic texture tiling of the upper plate.

Enlarge or reduce your Hill Plates as you wish: The texture tiling automatically adjusts to the size of each individual terrain plate.

Blades of grass remain blades of grass instead of suddenly turning into giant plants just because you enlarged a terrain plate.

There is no need to calculate texture repetitions or manually readjust tiling values. The system takes care of everything for you.

This makes designing large landscapes much more convenient and ensures a consistent texture scale, even across terrain plates of different sizes.

One Slider, Many Different Surfaces

Would you like to see more grass? Or would you prefer to highlight the rocky PBR surface?

With the adjustable transparency of the upper plate, you decide how strongly the two texture layers are combined.

From a fully visible grass texture to subtle blends and the original PBR surface, a wide variety of effects is possible.

At 100% transparency, the upper plate becomes invisible, revealing the complete PBR material underneath.

This allows you to change the appearance of your landscape without having to create new meshes.

Your Landscape, Your Textures!

The Hill Plates are not limited to the included textures.

Simply replace the texture on the upper plate with your own grass, sand, soil, snow, or stone texture.

Automatic tiling works with your own textures, too!

By using seamlessly repeatable textures, you can create a wide variety of landscape types and give neighboring terrain plates a consistent texture scale.

Combine Freely and Make Changes Anytime

The Hill Plates are freely placeable objects.

You can move, rotate, scale, and combine them to create larger landscapes. Mix different hills, shape valleys, create pathways, or build a secluded lakeside landscape.

Want to change something later? No problem!

Unlike traditional terraforming, you do not need to reshape the actual sim terrain. You can rearrange your landscape at any time, replace individual elements, or completely redesign the entire area.

Thanks to automatic texture tiling, even terrain plates of different sizes can be used while maintaining a consistent texture scale.

The possibilities range from small decorative landscape elements to large, individually designed regions.

The Highlights at a Glance

Two combined texture layers: baked PBR material and a traditional Blinn texture.

Fully automatic texture tiling of the upper plate, even when resizing.

No manual calculation or adjustment of tiling values required.

Adjustable transparency for individual combinations of both texture layers.

Full visibility of the PBR material when the upper plate is set to 100% transparency.

Use your own textures – with automatic tiling included.

Freely movable, rotatable, and scalable mesh landscapes.

Combine different terrain plates to create unique landscapes.

Redesign your landscape at any time without permanently modifying the original sim terrain.

FLEETWOOD Hill Plates – Your Landscape. Your Ideas. Your World.
iscover the possibilities and create landscapes that match your imagination!

You can find the FLEETWOOD Hill Plates in my Mainstore at Fleetwood Beach.

Hot Damn BBQ!! Summer will behind us but your BBQ doesn't have to leave, hell no! Gracie and Dexter's dump is where to find Marianna's Hot Damn BBQ kit, everything you need to get that smokey goodness right down to the flaming charcoal briquette~ At the dump near the flaming dumpster! three.hills.grid.outworldz.net:8002:Gracie and Dexter's Community Dump AI critics yes I did exaggerate the ad flames but this baby has flames and hot coals!

Always Evolving

Many more ideas are still hidden away in the mind of Mike Fleetwood, waiting to be brought to life.

Fleetwood Beach is therefore not a finished project, but a region that is constantly evolving. New buildings, technical gadgets, vehicles, interactive systems and unusual attractions are gradually being created and integrated into the world of Fleetwood Beach.

That is why a visit is always worthwhile. Those who return later will often discover new details, try out new features or experience areas that did not even exist during their previous visit.

Fleetwood Beach is always changing – and there is always something new to discover and try out.

I would like to warmly thank everyone who attended the vigil in memory of Azraella last night. It was a beautiful moment, and I know there will be others.
We gathered around a memorial in her honor—one that will remain in place. Everyone is welcome to visit and leave a token in her memory.

hop://grid.virtual-worlds.zone:8002/VWZ%20Welcome/122/169/...

The photo accompanying this post is not of Azraella, but of one of her virtual artists, Tiggy Roy—an artist I have been a fan of since day one. While the physical features may differ, the heartfelt message suits her perfectly.

Rest in peace, my friend.