Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Wave Buyer's Guide

Unabridged Wave Buyer's Guide:
==========

Special thanks to Luscious Starship for her very significant efforts
in putting this together. We'd like to encourage any of you who have
more details regarding the characteristics of any of these waves to
provide us with any feedback or corrections.


SSi Waves: (Heather Goodliffe & Sebastian Saramago)
==========

Foam (Fluffy) waves: 10m wide, 0.5-1m high, "phantom" 2-prim waves.
You can configure how frequently they rezz, how many rezz at once and
what the sim Time Dilation and Sim FPS must be before they rezz. You
can also control how far apart multiple foam waves are rezzed as well
as whether a Group can turn them on or off. These are "phantom" waves
so your surfboard will actually remain on SL water while this foam
covers your feet :). With the correct surfboard (SSi or LSD) you will
surf when the surfboard detects your surfboard passing inside of the
foam. The surfboard will then gain some speed from the foam and will
allow you to surf inside the foam. These waves are the least
intrusive waves though they can get laggy if you run a lot of them
since there are 4 scripts per wave. These are the least expensive of
the SSi waves as well. ($L1400 no copy, $L6000 copy)

Pipes: 30m or 40m wide, ~8m high sections, but multiples can be run
together to extend as wide as you like. There are 8 surfing surfaces
per section (on the 40m) but 4 of the a surfaces are below the water
which results in a slightly less "high resolution" surfing surface
than the epics, but it is a compact intimate pipe type wave so it
"holds you in" and lets you maintain contact with the wave easily.
Also the 4 prims below the water act like a "foam wave" in a sense
because even though below water, the surfboard will still detect them
as a Wave 2.0 scripted physical object and make the surfboard surf
when it is close enough. These are great for practicing control as
you can set them up staggered and try jumping from wave to wave as
well as tempt fate at the edge of each pipe. A word of caution, if
you only have enough space for one of these sections, it will be
extremely difficult to surf with an HP5 surfboard because of it's
small width and height. Even if you have multiple sections running,
HP5 will be a challenge (though not impossible). ($L1600 no copy,
$L2000 no copy beta, $L7000 copy)

Epics: 30m wide, ~15m high sections, but multiples can be run together
to extend as wide as you like. There are 3 regular prims per wave
section that make up the surfable wave face on this wave. This results
in a medium resolution surfing surface that makes sharp turns and
agile maneuvers relatively easy. The wave face is not very steep also
which makes keeping your board on the wave easier. The surfable wave
face only goes up to around half the height of the wave, so be careful
if you start going near the wave crest because you might just surf
over and through the phantom part and end up off the wave. The splash
particle effects at the top of the wave crest are particularly
relaxing and appealing. (no longer available)

Cortes: 40m or 80m wide, 10m high, runs straight, regular break (left
side is a closing tube, right side is open). You can change the time
dilation requirements for the wave to rez as well as the minimum run
length (time) before another wave is rezzed. You can also change the
color and transparency of the wave. The wave riding surface is simple
yet subtle. There are actually 2 separate prims for surfing on which
have different tube surfing characteristics. The left side is shorter
and denser and makes for a great carving surface while the right side
is very open yet short providing a dense surfing surface great for
aerials. Splash particles and foam on this wave are very realistic
and placed just right where your surfboard's camera will see them in
great detail. At $L25k this wave is very expensive, but provides one
of the best carving and aerial experiences. ($L25000)


HP (Leogarto Burt)
==========
All HP waves come with a remote on/off wave sign to turn the wave on
or off, but other than that there are no adjustments or options for
the waves. You cannot control appearance, speed, direction, or access
to the wave. The wave generators are small transparent arrows that
point in the direction the wave is going to travel in so you need to
highlight transparent (Ctrl-Alt-T) to see them and adjust their
position when you set them up. HP recommends having at least 10m of
water below the generator at the rezz point so the wave does not run
into anything and de-rezz. The path of the wave only needs to have
the land 1.5m below the water surface for the waves to work.

Sunset: Available as 40m, 60m, 100m, or 200m wide, all 10m high.
Center breaking wave, completely transparent classic wave. The
transparency of the wave makes it blend into any color water and will
fit into its surroundings almost wherever you decide to place it. The
surfing surface of this wave is a single megaprim so turning sharply
and changing direction is not quite as easy as on the SSi high prim
waves. The wave is steeper vertically than it appears at first so it
is perfect for spectacular aerials but be careful that you do not lose
contact with the wave or you're almost guaranteed to belly. Since the
wave is very vertical it will push you forward probably more than you
think. If your surfboard is facing the shore for too long, you may
be thrown off the wave in front and your chances of bellying will
increase. This is a great wave for practicing turns because it
doesn't give much leniency for lazy or imprecise turns. Fyi, the curl
or break at the top of the wave is only phantom, so it has no affect
on how you surf the wave and is mostly just decorative. Being one of
the older waves created, the surfing surface still has a default wood
collision sound on it, so when your surfboard hits the wave don't be
surprised by the "knocking on your front door" sound that it makes.
The thing to remember about the Sunset is that you can't fight it; the
low resolution surface makes it very difficult to suddenly change your
mind about which direction you are turning, so plan your turns
deliberately and don't fight the wave and you will find comfort in
riding an almost pre-destined journey on this wave. (40m($L2500),
60m($L3500), 100m($L5000), or 200m($L7500) wide )

Joaquina: Available as 60m or 100m wide, regular or goofy breaking,
all are 10m high. The surfing "ramp" on this wave is particularly
nice because it starts pretty far in front of the wave and the sculpty
goes out even further so the feeling is very realistic. The ramp has
a more gradual upward curve to it, so unlike the sunset, there is a
lot of water level surfing area and having the wave push you off the
front is not as much of a problem on this wave. The sculpty also goes
very far back behind the wave so the depth and look of this wave from
a distance is outstanding. The only thing about this wave that is not
quite so realistic is that the foam goes backwards (downwards) on the
face of the wave which is the opposite direction of how water on a
real wave flows. (60m ($L4000) or 100m($L6000) wide, regular or
goofy breaking )

Jaws: Only available as 100m wide, changes height from 7.5 to 10m to
15m high. The surfing surface however, does not change height and is
a linked set of 22 megaprim partial spheres and is 15m high. This
makes for a very high resolution surfing surface especially on the
ends where there are lots of prim corners meeting. It also makes for
a more natural water like feel when surfing it since the spheres feel
like swells under your surfboard. It can be a bit tricky to ride in
front of this wave since the surface is not completely flat and you
may encounter "bumps" along your ride which give it a very realistic
feel, but if you bounce too high or too far out of course you may
belly as well. The texture, shape and sounds of the Jaws wave changes
as it progresses from a forming swell to a completed break. The
texture glows very brightly making the wave seem almost radioactive
like it is warning you of it's deadly power. It's a very dramatic
wave and beautifully sculpted. ($L15000)

Teahupoo: 100m wide, 10m high, diagonal breaking shape changing wave.
The Teahupoo wave is the flagship wave of HP and rightly so! This wave
has a 32 prim (maximum number of prims you can link on a physical
object) surfing platform made of megaprim partial spheres (somewhat
like jaws but even more detailed and higher resolution). This makes
the wave very very water like when surfing on it, with the feeling of
a water swell going under your surfboard as you surf across it. The
sculpty visual part of the wave is absolutely breathtaking as the wave
changes shape and the splash particles accumulate while the wave is
breaking. The foam travels in the correct direction and the wave
breaks diagonally over twice its width. Be careful surfing too close
to the left of the wave since you will fall right off as the wave
moves horizontally if you're going too fast towards the left.
Unfortunately there are no adjustments that you can make for the wave
to run straight or break more or less quickly, but if you ask Leogarto
I believe he can alter the wave to make it fit your sim (Archipelago's
teahupoo was modified to be able to do this). ($L20000)

Action:
==========
All waves include a really cool "Surf Performance" or surf conditions
sign that looks at the FPS and/or time dilation of your sim and tells
you whether you may experience heavy lag while surfing. The remote
controls are very feature rich, but place some limits as far as the
maximum time between waves rezzing and duration of the waves.

Nitro Waves: 30m wide, 5m high swell type physical waves with basic
sculpty. 9 prim surfing surface. Allows you to rezz 3 waves at once.
Rezzer must be below 5m so you must terraform your ground to go to 0m
or below 5m to set the rezzer down. Otherwise waves will not rezz.
Least expensive of any wave at $L799. Fully configurable menu driven
wave generator allows you to control speed, number of waves, frequency
and duration of wave, wave falling and rising height and timing
behavior. This wave acts like a physical fluffy. It's very easy to
swim or surf right over it since it really is shaped like a swell.
It's good for practicing speed control and control in general. Just
make sure you set the "Pusher type" to "B" so that all surfboards work
on it. By default it is set to type "A" which only works with Action
surfboards. ($L799)

Maverick: 30m, 60m, and 100m widths. Height is around 15m.The
surfing surface is composed of 8 long prims stacked on top of each
other which makes for a high resolution vertical surfing surface
across the entire length of wave. The menu on the Maverick wave
rezzer is even more extensive than the Nitro. It additionally
includes options to set the beginning and end wave appearance (color,
alpha, shininess and glow). This is a beautiful classic wave and
provides a very enjoyable ride in all sizes. The 30m might be a tad
small for HP5, but the gradual slope of the wave face provides a very
large surfing area for multiple surfers, lots of tricks or just a nice
relaxing ride. The high resolution on this wave gives you much more
control over when you want to make turns and when you'd like to change
direction, so take advantage of the high prim surface and paint the
entire surface of this wave silly! (30m($L2500), 60m($L3000),
100m($L4500))

V'ehicle Labs (Eathon Sands):
==========
Silver Wave: 40mor 80m wide, 15m tall,20m deep. 2 rows of 4 prims
make up the surfing surface and the wave is very deep making change of
direction in both horizontal and vertical directions easy. It also
makes a relatively small wave surfable by HP5 possible. The shape
changing sculpty is very detailed but since it actually changes the
sculpt of a prim as it moves, the transition between shapes is not
quite as smooth as it could be. The wave is still very surfable the
particles are well done as well. (40m($L4000) or 80m($L7500) wide)

Waimea Bay Swell: 80m wide, 9.5m tall, 16m deep. This wave has 2
rows of 8 sections with a shape similar to the swell, but completes
the full wave cycle and breaks in the end with a lot of frontal foam
including prim foam! A VERY high resolution surfing surface makes
this a dream to surf on, if only the sculpties could keep up! The
sculpties are very similar to the Waimea swell but also suffer from
being able to change fast enough. ($L8000)

Waimea Monster Swell: 80m wide, 9.5m tall, 16m deep. This is a
shifting prim wave. It is not a vehicle moving on water, but is
composed of prims that move. ($L9800)


LSD (Luscious Starship)
==========
All LSD waves come with a remote control. Some of the older models do
not have a beacon/thumper synchronizing remote control, but LSD will
give you one if you don't have one. The remote control is copy/mod so
it allows you to control more than one different LSD wave at the same
time. You can also resize it into a wearable HUD though it is
difficult to see as a HUD. The advantage (or disadvantage) of wearing
a beacon/thumper remote control as a HUD is that none of the waves
will rez if there is no beacon/thumper on the sim. So if you wear the
remote and don't leave it on your sim, when *you leave your sim* the
waves won't rezz! This could save load on your sim, but if you want
other people to be able to surf while you are gone, then you'll have
to leave a remote with a beacon/thumper running. The remote control
allows you to change the speed, height, frequency, frequency offset,
and direction of the moving wave. All waves can be made to move
diagonally or straight via the remote control. The remote control
also controls access to the configuration of the wave
(all/group/owner). On the wave generators you can drop notecards
into them with the username of the people you want to be able to click
the wave generator so you can give a very explicit list of people that
can turn your waves on and off and nobody will need to waste a group
to be able to gain basic control. The wave generators can be made all
completely invisible through a menu on the main remote, or all
completely visible. The wave generators and wave objects inside them
are also copy/mod so you can make multiple wave generators and have
the waves rezz with different parameters and in different orders. The
name of the buttons on the remote just need to match the name of the
wave objects in the wave generators, and you can basically control an
infinite number of different waves from the same remote and they can
*all run* at the *same time* over the *same water*. The waves can
travel in different directions and speeds, the only limits being your
imagination. LSD waves are all (so far) single object constructed
waves combining phantom and non-phantom prims in a single object.
This reduces the effect of lag as well as problems with people trying
to "click" on the wave and stop it. There are also LSD wave
generators that can rezz other manufacturer's waves and sync them to
the LSD thumper, not all wave types are supported yet though.

25m Swell, Sculpted Pipe: 25m wide, 1m(swell) or 5m(pipe) high, 5m
deep. For extremely space limited parcels, these waves provide very
basic surfing possibilities. As copy/mod waves however, you can
modify the wave objects and create your own wave shapes and sizes of
your choosing just using these waves for their LSD wave engine.
($L2000)

Colleen Swell: 200m or 100m wide, 100m or 50m deep, 2m high. This
swell is basically a large rectangular surfing platform. The easiest
and friendliest of all waves to surf. (($L3000) 200m or ($L2000) 100m
wide)

50m Jaguar Faulkes Fluffy (HP5 fluffy): 50m wide, 25m deep, 0.5m
high. Designed to allow HP boards to ride fluffy type waves, these
physical waves are mostly under the SL water and give you a very
watery ride no matter what surfboard you use! (L$3000)

200m Nelscott: 200m wide, 40m high, 60m deep. A pre-cursor to the
Nash wave, this wave has an even bigger surfing area than the Nash and
is probably the next easiest to ride wave other than a 200m swell. It
has a large roof like the nash, but the roof doesn't come down as far
as the Nash so it's not as threatening to surf inside. It's a very
friendly large wave. (L$5000)

80m Luscious Starship Phatty: 80m wide surfing surface, 100m wide
sculpty. One of the easiest waves to surf, this wave has a very large
wave surface and also has a frontal wave foam roll where you can sort
of "ride the channel" in front of the wave. At 80m wide, it's a little
narrower than a Teahupoo or a 100m sunset, so it makes for good
turning practice on HP5 as well. The wave has a full back so you can
surf up the back and over it to drop down the front. ($L5000)

Cyclops: 200m, 100m, 50m wide, 30m high, 60m deep. This is a large
classic barrel shaped wave. There are only 3 megaprims used for the
surfing surface, but the surfing area is so large in all directions
it's easy to stay close to the wave. The tube part of the wave face
is like a giant pipe wave, while the open side is more like a Joaquina
wave. This lets you jump like crazy as well as perform crazy turns
and flips inside the tube. The wave extends forward quite a bit so
there is a lot of surfing area and makes riding it with an HP
surfboard just as easy as any other surfboard. This wave in general
is very easy to ride just because the wave face has a very gentle
slope and it's so large it's almost impossible to fall off it.
(($L20000) 200m, ($L10000) 100m, ($L5000) 50m wide)

40m Bobbi Laval: 40m wide, 10m deep, 5m high. One of the most
challenging waves to ride in SL named after one of the best surfers in
SL designed to test your surfboard control limits. With particles
turned up to max, there is very little margin for error if you want to
stay on this wave. If you think you can surf with the best, and want
to take your skill to the next level, or if you just want to see a
fierce barrel roll across your sim, this wave is for you. ($L4000)

90m Colleen Brennan (goofy): 90m wide, 20m deep, 10m high. 5 prim
surfing angled surfing surface with 20m high jump ramp and physical
prim foam. This wave is mostly a swell, with just the beginning of a
break on the right side. The ramp in the middle of the wave is huge
so you can perform astounding aerials on HP5 or whatever board you
like! A large wave face also facilitates easy wave painting, carves
and cutbacks. ($L9000)

255m Outer Log Cabins: Available only 255m wide, 80m high, 100m deep.
This is *the* largest and most brutal wave in SL. It is a full sim
wide, and it is the only wave that physically attacks you while you
are on it. It drops giant physical "golf balls" (5m in diameter) of
foam at you while you are surfing it which knock you down the wave
face (should you attempt to climb up this massive wall of water).
The wave doesn't change shape and is basically just a single massive
mountainous swell with a curl on top. The fun of this wave is more
about pure size. You really feel tiny when you surf this wave, and as
a party wave it is definitely the ultimate! It's also probably the
ultimate lag generator since at any given time there are probably
30-50 golf ball colliders hitting each other on the way down the face
of the wave. ($L20000)

255m Cortes Bank: Available in 255m width, 70m high, 80m deep. This
wave is a very large vertical wall of water.. Unlike the Outer Log
Cabins which is a mountain of water, this wave is much more vertical
and behaves much more like a wall. There are no golf balls of fury
raining down it, but it's so steep, you may decide you want to belly
this one out! ($L10000)

50m Mick Mailbu (regular, goofy): 50m wide, 30m deep, 1m high. These
waves were created to simulate the waves that Mick Lunasea surfs in
Malibu California. Intended to be realistic in both scale and
rideability these are very friendly peaceful waves that allow for easy
surfing as well as extreme trick performance. The surfing surface is
only 3 prims but the surface is very flat and the wave crest acts
mostly like a "hook" so your surfboard will stay on the wave. This
wave is perfect for either small or large sims where a combination of
pipes and fluffies may be desired. Newer versions of this wave are
also low lag requiring only 2 scripts per wave. ($L5000 each type or
$L7500 for both goofy and regular)

150m Nash: Available only in 150m wide, 40m high, 80m deep. This wave
was built for Nash Laville to run on his sim at Zug. The surfing
surface is one of the deepest of any barrel wave in SL. The surfing
surface is only 4 prims for a very large area, but since the area is
so large and the slope of the wave is fairly level, for the most part
gravity will hold your board onto the wave and you won't lose contact
for any long period of time so you won't belly too much. The "roof"
of the wave is also very deep and extended, but it's mostly phantom so
it shouldn't affect your surfing much other than being visually
threatening. This is another great party wave since there is so much
surfing area to use you can easily have 3 or 4 surfers on it and not
run into each other. ($L15000)

200m "Painless Skytower": Only available as a 200m wide, 20m deep, 10m
high long tube. This wave's surfing surface is the equivalent of a
dual sided sunset. You can surf the front or back of this wave and
jump above it like you would a Sunset wave. It has an elongated tube
appearance with the color and streamline shape resembling pictures you
will see of the Pipeline in Hawaii. The tube look is just for effect
though since you can jump and surf right through it. This is a great
wave for practicing aerials. If you go over by mistake you can just
surf up the back and go back over and down the front. ($L8000)

30m Colored Pipes: 30m wide pipes approximately 9-10m high with
tropical water color. Pipes can be synchronized or staggered, and can
be set to move straight, diagonally and/or criss cross. Surfing
surface is same resolution as SSi, but the SSi has 2 scripts running
per prim for animating the water and detecting land (so on a 30m SSi
there are 14 scripts running (including the 2 in the root prim) while
this wave runs only one script in the root prim which controls all of
the linked prims animations as well as wave height, speed and
direction. ($L3000)

Kimmy Jigsaw Fluffies: Available in 40m, 10m widths, 1m high, 10m
deep, phantom waves. The 40m version of this wave is more like a
phantom swell wave where it is just a single phantom surfing object
moving through the water. The 10m version is a self replicating wave
in that as the wave travels along the water it will rezz more waves
just like itself to the sides of itself. These fluffies are very low
lag, only requiring one script per fluffy rezzed. ($L3000)

Nokandui: Available in 50m and 100m widths, 10m high. The pre-cursor
to the Crying Tiger, the only difference between this wave and the
Crying Tiger is that it's speed and breaking speed remain the same
regardless of the wind. The foam and water turbulence change
according to the wind, but the surfing surface changes the same wave
every time. (($L5000) 50m and ($L10000) 100m widths)

Crying Tiger: Available in 50m or 100m wide, 20m deep, variable
physical and visual height between 3m and 10m, breaks right visually,
though through the remote you can make it break right or left or
straight. The surfing surface is composed of 6 megaprims which change
physical shape as the wave breaks. This equates to about half the
surfing resolution of a standard SSi pipe which still makes sharp
turning possible though just a little more challenging. The speed of
the wave and how fast it breaks varies based on the wind speed and
direction. There are 5 types of foam which reflect the amount of wind
blowing when the wave rezzes; the faster the wind, the more intense
the foam and turbulence. The wave starts out as a true swell. If
you swim too fast directly at it, you will go right through or over
the wave like you would in reality. Then, based on how fast the wind
is blowing the wave will grow in height and depth and start breaking
from left to right. The visual and physical shape of the wave changes
as it breaks, so where the wave is breaking, you will be able to surf
up the wall of water and do fantastic aerials. Where the wave is
still a swell, you will still swim up and over or surf up and through
it. Where the wave has completed breaking and forms a tube, you can
surf in the tube but not out of the tube unless you are crouching very
very low. Where the wave is already broken and a tube has formed you
cannot enter the tube from the front of the wave either, you can only
enter near where the wave crest is breaking or where the swell is
forming. Since the wave is not very tall, and the tube breaks
completely, you can actually jump up on *top* of the tube and if
you're skillful enough you can ride on top of the wave to shore. The
foam and the translucent appearance of the water of this wave are
spectacular and very life like. It is definitely not the easiest wave
to surf because you have to be very cognizant of your position on the
wave and where and how the wave is moving to ride it properly, but
once you learn when to surf it like a fluffy, when to surf it like a
sunset, and when to surf it like a pipe I think it comes close to
surfing nirvana. (($L15000) 50m or ($L25000) 100m wide)

Shipstern's Bluff: 100m wide, 40m deep, 5-25m high. 3 full length
prims, and 2 half length prims make up the surfing surface. The wave
starts as a swell, becomes a wall of water, then breaks across the
entire length of the wave, finally closing as a foamy swell. Like the
Crying Tiger, this wave is affected by the wind. The swell growth,
the time it stays as a wall of water, and the foam type when it breaks
are all controlled by the wind. With the right wind conditions this
wave will break quickly. After it breaks it will surf like a fluffy.
The fluffy additional works with HP5 surfboards so no matter what
board you use, you'll be able to surf this wave. Depending on the
wind this wave may go through as many as 30 frames of animation
changing both its visual and physical shape. This is the only wave
where the visual as well as *physical* (surf platform) lifecycle of
the wave is complete - the wave starts as a swell, becomes a full
barrel tube, then the tube disappears and it lets you surf on the
white water foam left behind by the break. ($L25000)


Maoli Waves (Denise Frostbite)
==========
Maoli waves are constructed similarly to LSD waves in that the wave is
a single object, and there is not a separated pusher and sculpty.
That makes these waves very resistant to lag as well. There is a
simple on/off remote control much like HP's remote controls to turn
the wave on or off.

Nalu Ha'i: 80m wide, 10m high, 10m deep. Shape changing Kai Po'i. ($L8500)

Kai Po'i: 80m wide, 10m high, 10m deep. This is a maverick like wave
though possibly more similar to the Jaws wave by HP (since it is an
animated sculpty) but has 10 prims stacked on top of each for its
surfing surface giving it the highest vertical resolution surfing
surface in SL. It comes in 3 different textures and looks a bit
reminiscent of HP's Jaws wave at around half the price! The foam
textures also look a bit more realistic since they don't have glow
turned all the way up like Jaws. (L$8000)

Freestyle: 85m wide or 50m wide, 10m high, 10m deep. A Maverick wave
without the animation. Once again a very high resolution surfing
surface, just without sculpty animation. ( ($L4000) 85m wide or
($L3500) 50m wide)

Junior: 50m wide, 10m tall, 10m deep. A shape changing version of the
Freestyle. ($L5000)

Foamy: 40m wide, 1m tall, 10m deep. A small swell type wave resembling
the end of a teahupoo wave but the surfing surface is a actual high
resolution swell not just a barrel surfing surface with a phantom
sculpty that looks like a swell. ($L3000)