General News – Page 3 – Organica & The Wilds

Two new items released, additional important notice about updates + more

A new Elm tree is now available – with all new trunk & textures for green, autumn and winter foliage! Available scripted and non-scripted for texture change, as well as mod/trans or mod/copy.

While I must confess a fondness for the colour red, I decided not to go the garish route when deciding what to make this year for Valentines. Instead, I hope that this dogwood arch, which features two trees entwined by a simple heart chain, will appeal to those seeking a more elegant and natural solution. This item features small white flowers on green foliage, along with falling petals on click. It’s offered mod/trans or mod/copy (particle scripts are trans only for m/t tree and copy only for m/c).

Both items are available on location at my store in Organica sim.

On updates:

Due to the addition of Display Names (with no accompanying account name) on the transaction record, I will be unable to deliver automated updates to any users who go by their display names. If you fall under this description and note an update announced on this blog, you MUST provide a transaction record by IM, Notecard or Email in order for me to hand-deliver your update.

In addition to this, product updates will no longer be sent automatically to buyers of mod/transfer items. There are a number of reasons for this: Mod/Transfer items are by nature not copyable. Delivering updates without requiring the return of the original ones would leave buyers of these mod/transfer items with double the product they paid for. Additionally, there is no way for me to track items that were transferred to other people.

If you have purchased a mod/transfer item from me in the past and would like an update, I will be happy to provide one as long as the following conditions are met: Please collect all of the items that came with your purchase in a folder, labelled with the correct product name, adding (UPDATE REQUEST) and your account name.

Example: [ Organica ] Bristlecone Pine 1 (m/t)-UPDATE REQUEST-Your Name.

Send me (Aki Shichiroji) that folder and allow some time for me to get to your request. I try to get to these as soon as I can, but depending on available time it may take a few days.

As a reminder: it’s easy to give the gift of a mod/copy product from Organica by left-clicking on any vendor box to bring up the gift dialogue rather than paying the vendor directly.

Land Now Available:

A limited supply of residential land is now available in Organica’s sister sim, Sylvan, for those who are looking for a quiet, mature area to make their home. The area is fully landscaped but allows for some customization of course. All parcels have an ocean or waterside view and range in size from 1760-2944sqm. A small reserve fee is set for the ‘purchase’ of all parcels and is considered a one day reserve that will be credited to your rental box once has been set up.

Please be sure to read the notecard provided by the info boxes on site for full covenant details prior to placing your reserve!

Parcel size	Prims	Weekly price
Parcel 1 – 2944sqm	673	L$1218
Parcel 2 – 1760sqm	402	L$728
Parcel 3 – 1840sqm	421	L$762

New release, Sept 20, and update on gift cards

Hi Folks!

Thanks for your patience over the past couple of weeks in regards to the vendors.

Switching to the new vendor system was less painful than expected, but I’m still ironing out some final details. All vendors should be operational though. Gift certificates for the new system are now available – as a reminder, any old gift certificates sold prior to September 2010 are now invalid. If you’d like to redeem them, you’ll need to IM me (Aki Shichiroji) and drop the gift card on me in-world so that I can give you an equivalent (and valid) one. Please note – from now on, all gift certificates are valid for 365 days from first point of use. These cards will not be renewed or extended beyond this length of time.

As promised, a new item is now available; This post’s update is Bristlecone Pine #2 – it’s a great compliment to the original Bristlecone Pine and will lend itself well to a boreal forest environment. It comes green, frosted or snowy, in sizes small, medium and large. Texture change editions are also included.

Of note: recent announcements regarding the impending mesh beta have likely reached your eyes recently. I’m really looking forward to being able to provide new and more efficient products. Despite argument from a few parties otherwise, mesh promises to really be a game-changer as far as content is concerned. I think we can all look forward to new and interesting things in all sectors.

I’ll be mostly away this week due to some work commitments, but hope to sit down and work on new stuff soon. If there’s something in particular you think might be neat to see at Organica, shoot me an IM or notecard and let me know – now’s a great time.

Vendor changes, partial downtime Aug 26-Sept 3

In the coming week, I will be migrating all vendors from the existing vendor system to a more reliable reporting system that will make things easier for me to manage and will be more efficient over all. While the current system has not been particularly laggy and transactions occur regardless, I have been finding some significant miscommunication and error reporting between the vendor and web-server of late, so I am switching to a different service.

Gift Certificate service may be variable or unavailable this week since there are quite a number of vendors that must make this transition; I would recommend that Organica customers refrain from making gift certificate purchase until such time that all the vendors are switched over. This should be complete by Sept. 3, 2010.

What does this mean to you as an Organica customer?

– Regular purchases will be minimally affected as I must make the transition on each individual vendor (there are hundreds). If there is an issue with one and you see that I am online (yes, it shows publicly when i am online), please do IM me and I will endeavor to help you out as best I can 🙂

– Gift certificates will not be available for purchase until all vendors are switched over. If you require a custom gift delivery, please IM me directly for service.

– Older gift certificates will no longer work after this week. If you purchased or received a gift certificate, you must IM me to exchange it for a new gift certificate of equivalent value.

– After the switch, items can be purchased either for one’s self or as gifts (without the need for a separate gift certificate). This will include both mod/trans and mod/copy items.

– The new system will open up possibilities for loyalty reward programs and coupons – more on this later after the switch is made.

New releases will be announced and make their way on to the sales-floor after this vendor transition is complete.

Please do feel free to IM me if you have any questions or comments.

Thank you for your patience during this time of transition.

Succulent releases, Hunt & RFL wrap-up.

Thanks to all who helped to make the SL House and Garden hunt a success! It was crazy busy and I’m really happy to have heard the feedback surrounding the hunt item!

I realize two releases in as many weeks is more than normal – hopefully this doesn’t come off as being too spammy – but I am going away for SLCC this weekend and would rather put out something for you now than wait until afterward.

Two new items are now available;

These are great for ground cover in a dry, rocky or sandy environment. Both are available now both inside the store and out on the grounds.

Related to releases, some of you have noticed that the bougainvillea gate vendor disappeared this week; this is because RFL has concluded. All told, total sales for the item raised $36000L for the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life! Thanks for your support! The gate will now be made available normally in both mod/transfer and mod/copy editions.

Also, as the SL House and Garden hunt promotion has concluded, sales for the Alder bonsai have also resumed as per normal in both mod/transfer and mod/copy editions.

More items will be on the way some time after SLCC.

As always, these and other items are available at my store in Organica.

Organica 2010 Photo Contest Winners

By now I’m sure quite a number of you are very anticipatory about the winners of the contest. In total, six entrants sent in three entries each.

The judging process was pretty difficult – there was quite a variety of excellent shots and the judges had difficulty concurring on pictures overall. Three rounds of judging were undertaken – each judge chose three photos according to the listed criteria – their top three favourites, picking a maximum of one photo from any one entrant. This left us with a total of 8 chosen photos, which were taken to the second round, which had judges rank from 1 through 8 which they liked most. Rankings were added up and the photos with the lowest number (IE: highest ranking) were found to be the winners. A third round was undertaken to break the tie for third place.

Our judges were Astrin Few – Live musician and administrator of the Live Music Enthusiasts group, Moo Money – well known machinimatographer and texture guru, and Sandusky Kayvon – developer for The Wastelands and co-editor of the Post-Apocalyptic Press.

The winners are:

For third place (L$2500):
Entry #1 by Melodie Darwin

For Second Place (L$5000)

Entry #2 by Vesper Dreamscape

and for 1st place, winner of L$10,000:

Entry #3 from Carthalis Rossini

All Qualified Entries:

Melodie Darwin

Vesper Dreamscape

Carthalis Rossini

Eclectic Wingtips

Roy Howley

Griete Rasmusson

Late Entries:

Bakahatsu Otsuka

Today is the big day!

Organica celebrates its official opening this afternoon from 4-6PM SLT with some great tunage, prizes and discounts for today only!

Join us in Organica Sim for your chance at some pretty valuable gift vouchers,

The sim is presented in two parts that will combine what regular visitors will be used to based on the previous store set-ups both in Sylvan and abroad:

First, much of the sim is devoted to displaying new stock. Visitors are free to explore the ground level areas and will find vendors for stock on display next to most items.

Visitors will additionally be able to browse vendor boxes for most stock within the Japanese styled building just west of the store landing point.

Out with the old

Sort of. Some of you will have received updates for your products earlier this week or may be receiving further updates soon. Many items were updated to use more efficient foliage and rather than making you buy new ones, they were passed out to existing customers on record. If you have one of the following items and haven’t yet received an update, please pass me a notecard with your transaction number or a screenshot of the edit menu that comes up when you edit your tree and sit tight – I do have records, but they are plentiful, very old, and archived. Since I am also in the middle of organizing events for today, there may also be some delay in my getting back to you right away.

Updated Items: Cherry 1, Cherry 2, Japanese Maple 1, Spruce 2, Trident Maple 2

***Trident Maple will be sent out later today – please wait until after March 21 to send inquiries about this update***

Some items have been withheld from sale and are on hold pending update or retirement. If you don’t see something you were looking for, please ask.

There are other items that are being retired from display entirely due to age and lack of space. These items will be found in the store on the right-hand side at permanently discounted prices. They may at some point be retired from sale entirely, though such will be announced specifically at some later point on the blog or through notecard.

In with the New

This package of young sugar maple trees includes five different seasonal foliages – Spring, two Autumn shades, Winter and Lit. A first for Organica also is texture change scripts (which were also included with the Trident Maple 2 update) which are available as a seperate single tree in the package for those who wish to use them.

These trees are available in three sizes and are great as broad forest items. They include both spring and autumn foliage, scripted and unscripted.

A taller, fuller edition to the Japanese Maple series, this tree reflects the lush and humid nature of the natural environment Japanese Maples hail from. This tree is again available in green and red foliage, along with a scripted edition which can switch between the two.

This is an arched trellis covered in bougainvillea vines and will be the first of Organica’s contributions to this year’s Relay for Life campaign for the American Cancer Society.

On Scripted Trees
I have long debated about the use of scripts to control tree textures since folks have a tendency to use so many trees at a time. Particularly in light of the lower prim offerings many tree stores offer today, the potential for increased lag server side is certainly there. I’m not going to say the scripted trees I have begun offering are ‘lag free’, since no scripted object can ever claim that no matter how many times those words are bandied about in all-caps.

With that said, the scripts in each tree presented thus far have been found to average 0.03ms each, which is quite reasonable on a sim that is performing properly. For those who are a bit more script conscious, non-scripted editions will always be provided for every foliage texture used in the scripted edition.

Photo Contest!

As part of the fun going on at Organica this month, I’m please to announce Organica’s first ever photo contest!

The Basics:

– Submit up to three (3) of your best photos taken in Organica Sim.

– This contest is FREE to enter and the first, second and third place winners will receive the following prizes:

1st place: L$10,000 prize

2nd place: L$5,000 prize

3rd place: L$2,500 prize

– Contest ENDS at 12 Midnight, April 21, 2010

– Photos will be judged by three independent, impartial judges, and winners announced no later than 12 Midnight, May 1, 2010.

The Details:

– Photos must be sent to organicaphotocontest2010@spacylittlecowgirl.otherinbox.com no later than 12 midnight, Wednesday April 21, 2010.

– Photos can feature anything as long as they are recognizably taken in Organica, don’t contain adult content and are not defamatory in any way to any party or individual.

– Each contestant must submit ONLY photos of their own creation.

– Each contestant will be entitled to win only one of the three prizes, despite entry of several photos. The allowance for up to three photos gives entrants the opportunity to display the breadth of their work and allows the judges a larger pool to pick from. The selection of one photo for a prize will immediately invalidate the contestant from any other prize. This is to keep the contest fair and fun, while allowing folks the freedom to display their creative ability.

– By entering this contest, you consent to the publication of the photo (attributed to you) on the Organica blog, in Organica’s Flickr Contest pool, and in-world. All intellectual property will be respected and the photo will not be used in any way shape or form except to discuss the contest.

– There are vendors on the grounds, situated near some items. You will not be expected to photograph these – in fact I would encourage you not to. You can remove these vendors from view prior to taking your snapshot by opening up your Advanced menu (if you don’t have it revealed already, it’s control+alt+shift+d on a PC and command+alt+shift+d on a Mac), select Rendering>Hide Selected. Then right click>edit each prim from the vendor (there are usually 5 in total) to erase them from view on your screen.

– Photo-editing IS permitted as long as the content is recognizably taken on Organica sim. Understandably, not all viewpoints and shots will be optimal and you may wish to tweak your visual treatments. This is fine!

Updates, fixes and news!

Updates and Fixes
Mod/Copy Owners of the Cherry Trees 1 & 2, Japanese Maple 1 and Spruce 2 will have received updates to their products this week. These updates include some feature updating, bug fixing, and expansion of available sizing, depending on which set you bought.

Mod/Transfer Owners who wish to update must send their mod/transfer editions of these trees to me (Aki Shichiroji) in a folder clearly marked with their name in ALL CAPS. I will send the appropriate replacement as soon as possible.

News!

Yup, I’m pretty close to the official opening of the new sim! There are still many things i need to take care of, but I really hope you can make it to this exciting event for Organica! There will be music, there will be shopping, there will be fishing, prizes, great scenery and more! Join us on March 21, 2010 from 4-6PM in Organica sim!

Winterstock! (and more)

Organica will be participating in Winterstock this year!

Various new and coming holiday offerings will be available here for about a week to help promote the opening of the event, and will be placed at the main store after that point.

These are the first of a set of offerings that are on the way from Organica, along with some big changes and releases (hopefully) coming soon, pending available time.

The new spruce trees feature all new sculpts and textures and are between 3-4 prims each. The abstract pattern trees are new sculpts and textures, and are available either individually or by pack of all five. As always, these offerings are copy/mod.

Recent News, upcoming events, and setbacks

June has shaped up to be crazy!

This week alone, Organica has participated in Land Expo as part of Akimeta Metaverse Development Solutions, I’ve been making a buncha stuff for my other business, Kitheres, I gave a discussion on landscaping this morning, and next week will be participating in Fantasy Faire, as part of Kitheres, as well as the Solution Provider Conference, put on by LL!

So it’s with regret that I have to say I don’t have a lot to provide for you this update, other than a new huge oak, located on the north end of the store.

It’s huuge, 9 prims total, uses obong sculpts, and should probably be used sparingly 😉

More is on the way over the next few weeks, however I need to say at this point that i’ve recently been encumbered by a fairly distressing turn of events.

Mainly – a large portion of the stuff I sell at Organica got copybotted at some point in the past two weeks. I spent the majority of today tracking down the immediate holders and copybot accounts, but there is no garantee that more knockoffs wouldn’t show up again at some point.

Copybotting is insidious, frustrating, heartbreaking, and worst of all prevents true content creators from doing their job: making new stuff for you.

What I wanted to say to you is this – Thank you all for your continued support and appreciation of my work, be it through your purchase or just your enjoyment of the store and sim. I know that without it, i’d never have found out about the theft in the first place. I hope that you all do and will continue to support original content creators, while taking steps to be aware of and avoiding scammers and copycats.

I’m not sure that there’s much more I can say, except that I hope to get back on track this coming week as things calm down a bit, and make some new products… so keep your eyes and ears open for that in the next couple of weeks.

On a parting note, I was able to put together a very short fly through of the sim this week in preperation for my booth at Land Expo – Sylvan isn’t by any bit of imagination ‘complete’, but i hope you will enjoy this short clip of the sim i put on Youtube.

Thanks for reading this. Have a great weekend!