Sunday, August 10, 2014

Hang Glider Launch Point

New Hang Glider Launch Point, Whimsy Kaboom

Mathieu Bathiat of Bora Bora Isles used to launch his hang glider from a volcano. I liked that, but because our volcano Pele is near the sim corner we've always launched our gliders from an island near the center of Whimsy. I've never been happy with it.

Last weekend Sweetie and I found ourselves on Bora Bora and saw this great launch platform for Mathieu's hang glider. I guess his volcano is gone. Sad, sad. It's sad when a volcano disappears from Second Life. It's as if a star went out. But I digress.


I bought Mathieu's launch platform and set it out near the temple to Bob on Whimsy. As luck would have it Sweetie logged in and immediately suggested I place it in the top of the huge banyan tree she recently placed on the sim.

Duh. Get the hang glider higher and create a logical place for its launch. I could have thought of that if I had a million years and a mind like Sweetie's!

So anyway, that's what we did. Photos follow.

From below the hang glider is screened by the tree. It's entirely invisible from many angles.


From above, the structure becomes apparent.


And now for views avatars will see as they walk about.

From the top of the island, a rope bridge leads upward


The bridge shakes back and forth, which is a bit discomfiting.


From the end of the bridge Mathieu's platform extends over the top of the tree. 


The view from the platform is commanding.


Thank goodness, Mathieu's platform was modifiable, so we were able to separate the platform from the rock on which it originally stood and fit the swinging bridge to the platform in a way that looks logical.


Modify permissions also allowed us to remove the sound script in the bridge and add a script to stop the collision sound when someone steps onto the rock. I hate the collision sound and have used the script extensively around Whimsy. IM me or drop me a notecard if you would like a copy.

No comments: