Building group begins!

One of the projects I've just kicked off in Secondlife is a collaboration to build virtual models of some European space exploration vehicles. We are going to start with the Beagle 2 because we are all from the Open University and that was an OU project. It's terrible that often when you mention the Beagle2, people mock the fact that it got to Mars and then contact was lost. This is seen as a failure for the whole project. This belies the fact that building and flying Beagle2 was a magnificent feat in itself even though the science was not done. Credit should be given to all those dedicated people that worked on it. The very fact that the budget was next to nothing for this project makes you begin to see how amazing the achievement was.

So the group will convene next week. I'm taking a day out from study on Sunday to visit the Science Museum in London to photograph the Beagle exhibit they have there. I'm hoping I might be able to get some measurements too. The idea of the group will be to test how easy/difficult it is to collaborate on a build in secondlife. Not only will we build the model, but we will research it too. As well as secondlife for the build, we will also up date a Wiki, share relevant documents using Google Docs and possibly (a member of the group has suggested) update a blog on the progress of the project. The final product, if the group agrees, will be handed over the over International Space Museum. They really don't have too many European exhibits and I'm hoping our group, if the experiment is a success, will continue and build other models. I personally think it will be nice to see the finished product with all it's associated research on display somewhere.

In secondlife, a way to get really good results is to use "Sculptured prims". For this, you really require a 3D modelling package. They are expensive and freebies often watermark the drawings. BUT, those fantastic people at Google have done it again! I found Google SketchUp. I have no idea how this will work or even IF it will work with our project. If we decide to do some sculpted work though, it may well be a free alternative to other very high priced alternatives. Watch this space!