Getting Started with OpenSim

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Apr 10, 2009 - Tutorials- http://digiteendreamteam.blogspot.com/. Classroom Mentoring ... http://sourceforge.net/project
NetGenEd Project & Flat Classroom Projects

Getting Started with OpenSim On ReactionGrid & Orientation for NetGenEd By Trevor Meister, co-lead teacher for NetGenEd Orientation

2009

Co-lead Teachers for ReactionGrid Orientation for NetGenEd 2009 Author: Trevor Meister, Sponsor Digiteen Island, Founder Learning on the Edge http://learningontheedge.com/ Editor: Vicki Davis, Teacher - Digiteen Island, Cool Cat Scratchpost – Avatar: Cool Cat Whitman

  Table of Contents  A Brief Explorer's Guide to OpenSim ........................................................................................................................3  Introduction ..............................................................................................................................................................3  Step 1 Register ..........................................................................................................................................................4  Step 2 Download Client ............................................................................................................................................6  Step 3 Sign Into ReactionGrid ...................................................................................................................................7  Step 4 Orientation ................................................................................................................................................. 11  NetGenEd Orientation Links .............................................................................................................................. 11  When you Enter ................................................................................................................................................. 12  Moving Around with the Map ........................................................................................................................... 18  If you’re meeting your Mentor: ......................................................................................................................... 19  Other Tutorials and Resources .............................................................................................................................. 19 

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Co-lead Teachers for ReactionGrid Orientation for NetGenEd 2009 Author: Trevor Meister, Sponsor Digiteen Island, Founder Learning on the Edge http://learningontheedge.com/ Editor: Vicki Davis, Teacher - Digiteen Island, Cool Cat Scratchpost – Avatar: Cool Cat Whitman

A Brief Explorer's Guide to OpenSim 

Don't Panic! Times for Mentoring – http://netgened.wikispaces.com/Project+Timeline Tutorials- http://digiteendreamteam.blogspot.com/ Classroom Mentoring Sign Up Form - http://tinyurl.com/reactiongrid Judges/ Advisors/ Educators/ Others Sign up Form - http://tinyurl.com/reactiongrid-mentor Press - please contact Joanna Griffiths Marketing and Communications Manager The Tapscott Group Phone: 416-830-1664 email: [email protected] Co-Lead Teachers for ReactionGrid Orientation – Trevor Meister, Cool Cat Whitman Lead Orientation Classroom – Digiteen Dream Team, 9th Grade Students, Westwood Schools Camilla, Georgia

Introduction It is not the intent of this guide to be a comprehensive work; more like a collection of starting points, tips, clues etc. that will allow you to get in-world and start exploring. It is important to know that a virtual world platform built on OpenSim is quite different from some of the more commercial Virtual Worlds you may encounter. For some of those, the experience is like being “stranded” in a big city like New York with a platinum visa card. You can often pick the style of your apartment and assemble your space easily by choosing from what is already available, and may be able to purchase “virtual goods” with real money. “OpenSim” is more like being shipwrecked on a tropical island with nothing more than the clothes on your back, a well stocked tool chest, and your ingenuity. It is getting easier all the time, and as more people join a grid, the community produces things and often shares with others. Most of the Opensim grids I have visited do not have $$ economies set up yet, and some do not plan to get involved with exchanging real money for in-world currencies. There are three basic parts involved in becoming a “gridizen” on an opensim grid such as Reactiongrid. The first two parts can be done in any order, but if you start with the first one listed, everything flows nicely.

1) Register for a free account at http://reactiongrid.com. In the registration process, there is now an option to choose a ready made avatar from a selection of reasonable male and female avatars. This alone will make the process so much easier. 04/10/09 1:50 PM

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Co-lead Teachers for ReactionGrid Orientation for NetGenEd 2009 Author: Trevor Meister, Sponsor Digiteen Island, Founder Learning on the Edge http://learningontheedge.com/ Editor: Vicki Davis, Teacher - Digiteen Island, Cool Cat Scratchpost – Avatar: Cool Cat Whitman

(Note: In the “early days”, everyone got a generic “ruth” female avatar, and it took a bit of work to change the appearance. In fact, with new students and teachers, this was often the most frustrating step. )

2) Download and configure a client that can be used to access the grid. If you already use Secondlife, you can use the same client, but need to jump through a couple of hoops to send it to reactiongrid instead of Secondlife. For Mac users, this may be the only option currently available. Windows and Linux users, can use an alternate viewer client know as Hippo opensim viewer. Links to download and configuration tips are provided from the registration page. (Note: you can use these to access second life and the Second Life browser to acces Open Sim.)

http://forge.opensimulator.org/gf/project/opensim-viewer/frs/ http://sourceforge.net/project/platformdownload.php?group_id=235285

3) Part three is to launch the properly configured client, connect to the grid, and begin to explore and navigate your way around the main grid.

Step 1 Register Go to http://reactiongrid.com and select Register from the Main Portal menu.

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Co-lead Teachers for ReactionGrid Orientation for NetGenEd 2009 Author: Trevor Meister, Sponsor Digiteen Island, Founder Learning on the Edge http://learningontheedge.com/ Editor: Vicki Davis, Teacher - Digiteen Island, Cool Cat Scratchpost – Avatar: Cool Cat Whitman Enter in the information as required in the form, select the avatar you would like to use as your starting point, scroll down a bit and fill in the “captcha” security form (bot screener) and I think that is it.

Note from Vicki: Some of my students had an issue with red asterisks appearing and then not being able to sign up – we think this happened when they used the avatar name of someone else. I had them refresh the page and enter new information and it worked. The next screen that appears, will confirm your registration and provide links to helpful information regarding the downloading and configuration of a suitable viewing client.

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Co-lead Teachers for ReactionGrid Orientation for NetGenEd 2009 Author: Trevor Meister, Sponsor Digiteen Island, Founder Learning on the Edge http://learningontheedge.com/ Editor: Vicki Davis, Teacher - Digiteen Island, Cool Cat Scratchpost – Avatar: Cool Cat Whitman

Step 2 Download Client

Unless you have to use the secondlife client (if you own a mac), I would recommend following the link provided to download the Hippo client. Down load and install the Hippo Client and then launch it. • http://forge.opensimulator.org/gf/project/opensim-viewer/frs/ • http://sourceforge.net/project/platformdownload.php?group_id=235285

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Co-lead Teachers for ReactionGrid Orientation for NetGenEd 2009 Author: Trevor Meister, Sponsor Digiteen Island, Founder Learning on the Edge http://learningontheedge.com/ Editor: Vicki Davis, Teacher - Digiteen Island, Cool Cat Scratchpost – Avatar: Cool Cat Whitman

Step 3 Sign Into ReactionGrid You will notice that your background will be different, most likely showing the splash page to Osgrid, another popular opensim based grid. That will be fixed soon. 1) Enter Username At the bottom of the page is where you enter your username, First and last name are the ones you entered during the registration process, and the password will be the one you entered while registering as well.

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Co-lead Teachers for ReactionGrid Orientation for NetGenEd 2009 Author: Trevor Meister, Sponsor Digiteen Island, Founder Learning on the Edge http://learningontheedge.com/ Editor: Vicki Davis, Teacher - Digiteen Island, Cool Cat Scratchpost – Avatar: Cool Cat Whitman

2) Click on Grid Button Do not log in yet, or you will be taken to osgrid and be denied. (...unless you have an account there and used the same login info and password...which is unlikely). Click on the grid button to open up the grid settings window. 3) Add the Grid (First Time Only) In this window, begin by clicking the “add” button, the middle of three buttons near the top. It should then automatically change the option in the select a grid drop down to (new) from what ever the default was. Note: This must be done the FIRST time the computer userid logs onto ReactionGrid. From then on, you can click the Grids button and the down arrow and ReactionGrid will show up.

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Co-lead Teachers for ReactionGrid Orientation for NetGenEd 2009 Author: Trevor Meister, Sponsor Digiteen Island, Founder Learning on the Edge http://learningontheedge.com/ Editor: Vicki Davis, Teacher - Digiteen Island, Cool Cat Scratchpost – Avatar: Cool Cat Whitman

4) Aquire ReactionGrid Server Information This is probably the most important part of the whole process. In the space beside login uri, type the following information EXACTLY AS SHOWN! http://gsquared.info:8008/ This is what tells the Hippo Opensim viewer where to go to connect to reactiongrid. Click “Get Grid info” and the rest of the fields on the page should become populated with information as shown in the following screenshot. Click OK.

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Co-lead Teachers for ReactionGrid Orientation for NetGenEd 2009 Author: Trevor Meister, Sponsor Digiteen Island, Founder Learning on the Edge http://learningontheedge.com/ Editor: Vicki Davis, Teacher - Digiteen Island, Cool Cat Scratchpost – Avatar: Cool Cat Whitman

Note: Grid information above may change. Once this step is done, you are essentially ready to connect to the grid. In case the platform did not change automatically to OpenSim, ensure that it is the selected platform. (The only other choices currently are Secondlife and other). Optional – Set Reactiongrid as your default (will prevent student or teacher error.) You may wish to set reactiongrid as the default grid using the button to the right of the select grid drop down. Click ok, or apply and then ok, and you are ready to

5) Click Login.

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Co-lead Teachers for ReactionGrid Orientation for NetGenEd 2009 Author: Trevor Meister, Sponsor Digiteen Island, Founder Learning on the Edge http://learningontheedge.com/ Editor: Vicki Davis, Teacher - Digiteen Island, Cool Cat Scratchpost – Avatar: Cool Cat Whitman

Step 4 Orientation NetGenEd Orientation Links For the NetGenEd Project, there will be courses and orientation made available on a first come first serve basis to those who request it. Times for Mentoring – http://netgened.wikispaces.com/Project+Timeline Classroom Mentoring Sign Up Form - http://tinyurl.com/reactiongrid Other Mentoring Sign Up Form - http://tinyurl.com/reactiongrid-mentor Press Please Contact - Joanna Griffiths Marketing and Communications Manager The Tapscott Group Phone: 416-830-1664 email: [email protected] 04/10/09 1:50 PM

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Co-lead Teachers for ReactionGrid Orientation for NetGenEd 2009 Author: Trevor Meister, Sponsor Digiteen Island, Founder Learning on the Edge http://learningontheedge.com/ Editor: Vicki Davis, Teacher - Digiteen Island, Cool Cat Scratchpost – Avatar: Cool Cat Whitman

Refer to “Meeting your Mentor” at the end of this book if you’re meeting a mentor.

When you Enter You should land on the welcome sim (both avatars I just made for my twins landed perfectly) or very close. If you happen to find yourself in the water nearby, don't panic...click “fly” and on your keyboard press the “page up” button to gain altitude until you clear the water. Use the “arrow keys” to go forward,back,turn left,turn right and navigate back over to the platform. Press & hold the “page down” button to gracefully land on the platform, or just click “stop flying” to fall to the platform in a less than graceful manner. (Of course, you could just continue to fly around as it is the preferred form of travel for many). Now that you (your avatar) have arrived safely, you are free to look around. My advice is to take things slowly the first few times you log in. There is an incredible amount of information being processed for the first time during those visits. If you try to fly across several sims non-stop, or visit a whole bunch of different places in rapid succession, you are likely to overload the client. This can result in several unpleasant experiences including a “hard crash” where your client just shuts down without warning, or a “softer crash” where the client informs you that you have been logged out and gives you the option to “quit”. Then there is the ever popular getting stuck in a flight path that you no longer can control...once you have passed the outermost sims and are heading into the great blue yonder, you aren't coming back...select “quit”. Basically if you find your self “stuck” and/or deformed in some way and unable to control movements, it is time to quit and log back in.

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Co-lead Teachers for ReactionGrid Orientation for NetGenEd 2009 Author: Trevor Meister, Sponsor Digiteen Island, Founder Learning on the Edge http://learningontheedge.com/ Editor: Vicki Davis, Teacher - Digiteen Island, Cool Cat Scratchpost – Avatar: Cool Cat Whitman

If this visit is for a specific reason, such as visiting a particular location, the info board on at the welcome sim has several buttons that link to a variety of locations on the grid. Clicking on them will trigger a pop up menu with information and an offer of a navigation tool known as a “landmark” that will be stored in your inventory if you choose to keep it. Since many of you reading this are likely doing so as part of the Net-gen project, a good starting point would be Digiteen Island, which is the button I clicked on in the above image.

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Co-lead Teachers for ReactionGrid Orientation for NetGenEd 2009 Author: Trevor Meister, Sponsor Digiteen Island, Founder Learning on the Edge http://learningontheedge.com/ Editor: Vicki Davis, Teacher - Digiteen Island, Cool Cat Scratchpost – Avatar: Cool Cat Whitman

After a few seconds an image of the location will come into view, and to go there, you can just click on the “teleport” button, and wait while your avatar is relocated to that sim.

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Co-lead Teachers for ReactionGrid Orientation for NetGenEd 2009 Author: Trevor Meister, Sponsor Digiteen Island, Founder Learning on the Edge http://learningontheedge.com/ Editor: Vicki Davis, Teacher - Digiteen Island, Cool Cat Scratchpost – Avatar: Cool Cat Whitman

You'll see something like this for a few seconds....and then...

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Co-lead Teachers for ReactionGrid Orientation for NetGenEd 2009 Author: Trevor Meister, Sponsor Digiteen Island, Founder Learning on the Edge http://learningontheedge.com/ Editor: Vicki Davis, Teacher - Digiteen Island, Cool Cat Scratchpost – Avatar: Cool Cat Whitman

You will arrive at the destination on the landmark. Just be patient and wait for a while to allow the textures, objects, other avatars (if there are any) to “Rez”, or become visible to you. Depending on the complexity of the build, how many scripts are running, how many avatars are present, this can take a while, and you may experience “Lag”, a general sluggishness in performance. Normally this goes away and you can start exploring.

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Co-lead Teachers for ReactionGrid Orientation for NetGenEd 2009 Author: Trevor Meister, Sponsor Digiteen Island, Founder Learning on the Edge http://learningontheedge.com/ Editor: Vicki Davis, Teacher - Digiteen Island, Cool Cat Scratchpost – Avatar: Cool Cat Whitman

Same scene after some “Rez” time. There are quite a few more objects that have become visible. See how many differences you can spot between the two pictures. Now you can begin exploring. Once you have made it this far, you are past the worst stage. There is still much more to learn, but you can now do so at your leisure, and can search out many online resources that discuss the finer details of operating an avatar in SL/OpenSim. If you visit often, you will undoubtedly run into other gridizens who are usually more than happy to answer a few questions and share a few tips. In fact, if you hang around in the welcome sim area long enough and “act lost”, it usually doesn't take very long for someone to notice and drop in to see if you need a hand.

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Co-lead Teachers for ReactionGrid Orientation for NetGenEd 2009 Author: Trevor Meister, Sponsor Digiteen Island, Founder Learning on the Edge http://learningontheedge.com/ Editor: Vicki Davis, Teacher - Digiteen Island, Cool Cat Scratchpost – Avatar: Cool Cat Whitman

Moving Around with the Map Another way to travel to new locations is to use the map. Clicking on the map brings up a map of the grid. You can scroll around and zoom in or out on specific regions. (Note this also takes a bit of time to load and become visible...patience...) You get an overhead view of the different regions and you can also tell where people are by the green dots. Double clicking on a location will initiate a teleport to that location. You can use this to explore other sims, or if you double click where there are green dots, you will be teleported to a location where others are and may be able to help out or answer a few questions.

Okay, lets leave it at that for now. As mentioned earlier, there is so much that could be said, but others have likely already said it so much better than I could. This will at least allow you to get signed up, and on the grid fairly quickly with minimal frustration. (I cannot overstate how much easier the process is now with the pre-built avatars- you can thank the reactiongrid team) Once on the grid, take it slow at first, but then as your comfort level rises, be bold and explore. If you are coming on grid 04/10/09 1:50 PM

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Co-lead Teachers for ReactionGrid Orientation for NetGenEd 2009 Author: Trevor Meister, Sponsor Digiteen Island, Founder Learning on the Edge http://learningontheedge.com/ Editor: Vicki Davis, Teacher - Digiteen Island, Cool Cat Scratchpost – Avatar: Cool Cat Whitman primarily for a specific event, it is a very good idea to visit several times before hand and do a bit of research. This is still fairly new technology, and there are going to be glitches. Give your self time to experience some of them when there is time to trouble shoot and get help, and remember...don't panic, the worst that can happen is you may have to log in again, but you can't break anything.

If you’re meeting your Mentor: 1) Enter in the grid. You will have an email from your assigned mentor and should give them your avatar name. They will email theirs to you.

2) It is easiest to get up with them by friending them. When you friend someone, you can see when they are online. (You may unfriend at any time.) Click Friends at the bottom of the screen.

3) Click Add. 4) Type in their name and click Find 5) When their name comes up, you click their name and click add. Once you friend them (or they friend you) – they will offer you a teleport to your sandbox for the day. For now, there is no audio, so you’ll need to watch the screen for instructions.

Other Tutorials and Resources •

http://digiteendreamteam.blogspot.com/ -= Student produced tutorials on OpenSim



http://opensimuser.wordpress.com/2008/06/15/opensim-install-and-configurationtutorial/



http://opensimuser.wordpress.com/ - if you look you can find some things for beginners.



Second Life features all work in here except for voice (until the awards show) and some advanced physics properties – so resources for second life also will work.

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