Jack Linden posts today that the Mesh beta import programme opens today. As previously posted, Mesh offers the potential to revolutionise the appearance of objects into-world, and also avatars, clothing and the rest, and has been a long time coming to SL.
As one would expect, the Beta is active on the Beta grid and requires the use of a dedicated version of Viewer 2 in order to upload and import Meshes. The former is understandable – there is still much to be understood about Mesh without further screwing up the main grid; the latter decision, while unexpected, may yet see some howls from people not that enamoured of Viewer 2. BUT…in keeping with their promises at SLCC 10, and providing people have a little patience, the howls should be short-lived as the code base for the Mesh imports is targeted for release via Project Snowstorm wiki, so that Third Party Viewer developer can incorporate it into their own code.
It’s going to be interesting reading-up on feedback on the project and seeing how well LL respond to the feedback, particularly with reference to improving the Viewer side of things, which, as with everything else, is “still in development”. If we’re brutally honest here, LL haven’t responded overly positively when listening to valid concerns about Viewer 2 and its associated tools so far…
Nevertheless, this move should be welcomed; one still has concerns about the overall impact of Mesh on businesses across the grid; there is a potential for mesh to be more revolutionary than evolutionary in that regard – and many may not be able to easily adapt. Personally, I hope that we see the two types of content creation also meshing – with traditional builders who cannot manage Mesh creation able to work alongside those with Mesh skills who don’t have the desire to work with the older tools. But – time will tell.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 