Saturn's Moonlet in Second life

Object Name: Saturn's Moonlet

• Title: "Saturn's ring may be caused by 'moonlet' " & "Bright 'star' near March full moon is Saturn"
  
• Creator: Dianna Padilla (Dianna Button)
  
• Date: March 6th 2009

• Summary: My work represents Saturn's new discovered moonlet! Saturn's outermost ring may spring from a newly-discovered "moonlet" only one-third of a mile wide. My project has six rings and a rotating moon around the planet.
  

• News Sources: http://blogs.usatoday.com/sciencefair/2009/03/saturns-ring-ma.html & :http://www.earthsky.org/radioshows/53009/bright-star-near-march-full-moon-is-saturn
  

• Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klpzpDWTY9w
  

• Interaction: My model depicts rotating Saturn in the middle. It has six rings to represent the fact that Saturn is the 6th planet outward from the sun and the most distant world that you can easily see with the unaided eye. "The moon's discovery and the disturbance of its trajectory by the neighboring moon Mimas highlight the close association between moons and rings that we see throughout the Saturn system," says Cassini imaging team scientist Carl Murray of Queen Mary University of London, in a statement. ; and thus my model.
  

• Motivation: Planets are being researched everyday. Searches for worlds similar to ours is the subject of many investigations out there. Also some time in March, Earth passes between the sun and Saturn. This means that the planet will be opposite of the sun in our sky. The full moon is also opposite the sun. So, Saturn is near the full moon and seen to the human eye as a really bright star :). What more motivation do I need than to reenact this into Second Life!

• Description: For Saturn I used an Orange texture to match the picture as much as I can. For the moon I used a blue coral texture since it created the illusion of a moonlike surface. Because the rings mesh well together I simply shaded them many different colors making sure that the last ring( the outermost ring) was clearly distinct. In order to hover text was challenging since the rotation of the planet and the moon was scripted about the prims' center. I had to make an invisible object that hovered text inside of Saturn.

Second Life

bject Name: Stairway to Research

• Title: "Derry Firefighter Trains To Climb Stairs For Cancer Research"
• Creator: Dianna Padilla (Dianna Button)
  
• Date: Feb 13th 2009

• Summary: My work represents the stairs that the Firefighters will climb. The stairs represent the 68 flights of stairs he will climb. The money is there to show the money the firefighters are raising for such a great cause like Cancer Research.

• News Sources: New Hampshire News http://www.wmur.com/news/18693595/detail.html

• Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iI1KuEEDxmQ

• Interaction: My model depicts a red staircase. The Red represents the firefighters. (Fire House is red, Fire truck is red etc.) Anyone in Second Life can climb the stairs just like firefighters and when the top is reached there is a stack of money. This money represents the $6000 firefighter Ed Gannon has raised for the family of 8-month-old Abigail Crooker, who was born with cancer in her lower back. Next to the stair case stands an American Flag. This is here to represent the fact that these firefighters are American and are spreading their sacrifices not just with America but with the world. Because cancer research is a global effort. By clicking the flag or the setting as a whole you get link back to this blog.
  
• Motivation: Cancer Research is a worldwide contribution. Cancer affects the lives of millions worldwide. It seemed like such a great thing these firefighters, that already sacrifice so much for the good of other people, are willing to put time aside and train to climb stairs. It made me realize that if they can put that much time and effort to help Cancer research, then I can put time and effort to show off their efforts in second Life. If I cannot tell the world of their good deed, at least I can tell Aesthetica.
  
• Description: For the Stairway, I used the redwood texture and a Red Color. This Stairway took me the most time. I have to admit I am no artist and this is much more difficult than people think. However i worked really hard to get this stairway perfectly aligned. The flag pole was one of the first things I learned how to do. It is a very simple pole that has a base and a ball point on the top. It also has a flag. I tried to make it waving but it got complicated because when you flip it around the flag is now backward. Therefore I needed to create a double sided flag. The money only took me one thin flat green surface which i could duplicate to make a stack of money to represent the $6000 that was raised so far. Then I added scripts to explain my setting, I added a floating Red Smokey texture circle with the news heading. To be honest, the whole setting is filled with simple objects, that just happen to make a staircase. However, it represents a good cause. My project has about 41 prims and 4 scripts. Three of the scripts are hovering texts and one of them is a link to my blog.