Day: August 10, 2011

Get set for Viewer 3.0

Posted on by Inara Pey

It appears that Viewer 3.0 is about to arrive on our doorsteps.

Now, before you all start jumping up and down, it’s not another new version of the Viewer – well, not exactly – nor is it in any way an admission that Viewer 2 has “failed”.

Rather, it is all part of the arrival of mesh across the Main grid and not indicative of any major overhaul of the Viewer.

Opensource Obscure was the first to notice the change, and his digging got the following comment from Oz Linden, “the transition to the version number of 3 points to support the introduction of ‘import of 3D models’” (i.e. mesh).

Interestingly, the version number is on the latest development Viewer (3.0.1 (238085), dated 9th August) which does not support mesh; whereas the latest mesh project Viewer issued earlier the same day retains a 2.8 release number (2.8.2.(238103)).

Speculation is that the new version number will be officially announced at this weekend’s SLCC, ahead of the planned completion of mesh roll-out, which is due at the end of August.

Addendum

At 14:48 PDT, Linden Lab announced a Beta release of “Viewer 3.0.0” with mesh support was available for download and trial.

BURN2 gearing-up

Posted on by Inara Pey

Burn 2, formerly Burning Life, is now gearing-up for action, having just had its Community Day on August 5th.

Scheduled for the week of October 1st through 9th, this year’s event is themed as “Rites of Passage”, defined as “There are moments of crisis and frisson in our lives which inform us that we’ve somehow crossed an inner threshold and are changed. Thus moving from one state of being into an unknown other obliges us to face our innermost insecurities, and it requires faith, a willingness to leap off the ladder of ordered existence. Our theme this year invites participants to join with others in creating rites of passage.”

Burn 2 – originally Burning Life – commenced in 2003 as an in-world extension / interpretation of the annual Burning Man event, dedicated to “community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance”, and held each year in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada.

Until 2010, the event was sponsored by Linden Lab, which also spawned a series of “afterburn” events that would be held throughout the year, including the 2004 Winter Expo and the 2010 Spring Fling.

This year, Burn 2 will, as a non-Linden sponsored event, be centred on two sims, Burning Man – Deep Hole and Burning Man – Silver Seed (SLurls), and the organisers are currently calling for help in a number of areas:

Full details of Burn 2 can be found at the Burn 2 website, and Chantal Harvey has produced a machinima to promote this year’s event: