Early on, BlakOpal and I decided that we did not want to simply port over our content from Second Life. I had done some testing and found that, as I expected, bringing over creations made for a previous generation world resulted in something that might look a little better, but wouldn’t be as good as a piece made specifically for the new platform. The BlakOpal Levant Suit in SineSpace draws inspiration from the same designs and patterns, but heads in a new direction to make the most of this beautiful new world.
Then And Now
It boggles my mind to look back at some of our work from Second Life. I’m proud of the work we did there. We had a lot of fun and I think simultaneously pushed the envelope for what could be done with the technology at the time.
Though the textures on the original piece were all created at a much higher resolution, technical limitations of the platform meant we had to work in lower resolutions in-world. Looking back at the original design and some of the patterns, we moved the design forward. The new piece is more detailed than even the original source patterns, plus we designed it using advanced PBR materials. Subsequently, each piece to look great in a variety of different regions and lighting situations.
Advanced Materials Are Amazing
In addition to what we make for virtual worlds, BlakOpal and I make a wide variety of art in the real and digital worlds. We love working with different tools and materials. We love how light shines, illuminates, and reflects off different surfaces. We’ve both worked on projects with photo-realistic materials. In the past, that required a lot of additional work to set up, plus specialized software and a lot of time to render.
Previous generation worlds like Second Life made an effort to support advanced materials, but fell short of a truly PBR (physically based rendering) model. It was pretty good at the time, but largely revolved around tricks (like baked lighting) that content creators would pull to force an item to look like it was in a particular environment. The results looked great in certain places, but not so great everywhere else.
SineSpace and Unity do support PBR, so our advanced materials render accurately in real-time. Whether you’re outdoors or indoors, in a brightly lit room or dimly light nightclub, whether the lights are white or colored, the piece will look like it is actually in that environment.
The BlakOpal Levant Suit is Available Now
All the items are now available in the BlakOpal Designs shoppe in-world as separates, and also in a number of bundles. Click here to find out more about the Levant Suit Update. The suit bundles include 5 pieces (tails coat, shirt-vest in 2 colors, pants and socks) for male avatars. You can also find them using the Shop button in the SineSpace client. Buy for yourself or as a gift for a friend. The Levant Suit in SineSpace look great as a set but you can also mix and match them to create countless different looks. Read on to learn more about each of the individual pieces.
Tails Coat
A gothic, victorian-inspired brocade jacket with long coattails and metal buttons. It can be worn separately, and also as part of the Levant Suit ensemble (which pairs well with the BlakOpal Oxford Shoe). Features high quality model, advanced materials and cloth physics (where available).
Shirt-Vest
A beautiful gothic and victorian-inspired shirt, silk brocade vest, and cravat combination. Standing collar and metal/gem button details. It can be worn separately or also as a part of the Levant Suit ensemble (which pairs well with the BlakOpal Oxford Shoe). Features high quality model and advanced materials.
Pants
A gothic, victorian-inspired pair of button-front trousers with beautiful side trim details. You can wear it separately, or you can also wear it as part of the Levant Suit ensemble in SineSpace (which pairs well with the BlakOpal Oxford Shoe). Features high quality model and advanced materials.
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