The Island of Milk&Cream

[Penny Patton]

Been building a lot lately. One of the projects I've been working on has been redoing what was a clubhouse for some friends of mine. I took their club, "The Milk and Cream Clubhouse" and turned it into "The Island of Milk&Cream".

 

They had a whole quarter sim to work with and I love sprawling environments with lots to explore, so I built a floating island that rests edge to edge with the parcel boundaries and set about filling it with all kinds of little nooks and crannies to explore.

 Zoomed this far out you can't even make out avatars on the island. A quarter of a sim is a huge amount of space. Like all my builds, I love to showcase just how large SL can actually be. I "put my money where my mouth is" when it comes to my articles on building in SL.

No Photoshop doctoring of these screenshots, either. This is how good SL can look with shadows, my custom depth of field settings and my custom windlight day cycle.

I've always wondered why LL has never tried to upgrade their own windlight defaults to make SL look this nice.

 

I put lots to explore in this build. In addition to everything on the surface of the island, like the dairy farm and the treehouse club, there's various quiet spots in the forest like a campfire that seats up to 10, quiet cuddle spots along the river bank, and the more curious and observant might find the island's three hidden secret areas.

 

 

 You can't see it from this screenshot, but this hidden grotto is filled with animated effects. The water is several layers of ripples, waves etcetera. Particles spray from the bottom of the waterfalls and the cavern walls are covered in an animated reflection effect from the water's surface.

 I also make extensive use of sound in SL. A rickety series of ladders and scaffolding creaks under a howling wind. You'll hear the various rivers and waterfalls before you see them. A campfire crackles in the darkness. There doesn't seem to be much concensus in SL about sound volume so some areas make all their sounds really loud so you need to turn your speakers down, others use sounds so quiet you won't hear them unless you crank all your volume options up. I've tried to keep the volume of the sounds around what you'd find in a videogame, so if you just finished playing Mass Effect 2, Dead Space or Fallout: New Vegas you shouldn't need to adjust your volume to enjoy the sounds here.

There's still a lot yet to be done. I plan to redo the airship dock and the treehouse itself once 64m prims and mesh are available. Still, there's p0lenty to see now. The build does have its share of adult content tucked into the barn, the treehouse's private rooms, and the hidden areas and tends to draw a lot of "colourful" avatars, something to keep in mind when exploring.

 You can visit the Island of Milk and Cream here.

[Maryanne Solo]

I will definately be snapping some piccies there thank you Looks superb!

[Ishtara Rothschild]

That's really great work! I found the place a few days ago, or rather, I found it again. (I've often visited the old Milk & Cream treehouse back in the day, although small-chested me always felt a bit self-conscious around all those well-endowed ladies ). The photos don't do it justice. Next time I'm there, I'll turn my sound on.

[Faithless Babii]

Forgive me in advance if I wandered "off piste" in this sim- but I visited this place today to take some photos for the blog...wandered around a bit..and was pretty shocked to find some rather unusual animations in some of the out buildings...its a Mature sim...and its in the showcase...with that sort of thing around I was a little shocked?

(I went to take a photo standing beside the horse-then noticed that perhaps...it wasnt the best location..moved to another barn only to find uhmm "milking equipment")

[Ishtara Rothschild]

Are you sure it's M-rated? The previous two locations used to be adult, if I remember correctly. Seeing that this is a private estate, it might be an oversight by the sim owner.

[Faithless Babii]

Yes, I was there just today...and I checked. I suppose its permitted if its not advertised? But whoa...thats kinda hardcore activites for a showcase sim. (Im talking about the horse thing in particular,Im really no prude)

[Erwin Solo]

Wonderful photos!  I'll visit.