Many of us reported last week that development on Kirsten’s Viewer had been suspended due to Dawny being ill. As a consequence of her illness, Kirstenlee has had to seek full-time employment as well as needing more time to care for her.
Today, Hamlet Au published an interesting piece on the fact that if the (approx. 8,500) users of Kirsten’s Viewer were to each donate $6.00, then work could continue on the Viewer for an entire year. That’s not $6 a month – it’s $6.00 per person in total, or 50c a month.
Let me be clear here – as Hamlet is – this is neither Dawny nor Kirstenlee asking for money – this is a suggestion coming from Hamlet following-on from a conversation he had with Dawny. It’s not entirely clear what Kirstenlee’s views are – although I’d be surprised if they were any different to Dawny’s; the Viewer has been a major part of their lives for a long time now, and they have both put heart and soul into it, together with the rest of the team.
Hamlet isn’t suggesting people start donating right away – but rather they use the Kirsten’s Viewer site to register moral support – with dollars possibly coming later, once details have been worked out, and potential options looked at.
Sunday 18th through Wednesday 21st will see the Second Life Fashion Expert days take place in the official SL forums.
Each day of the event, up to 5 SL Fashion Experts will be standing by to share ideas and images, and to discuss the vibrant fashion scene in Second Life.They will be available from 09:00 through 16:00 SLT on each day of the event, ready to answer questions related to SL fashion and avatar appearance. In the words of the official blog post, “No query is off-limits!”.
I regard Duché de Coeur as a fabulous destination within Second Life, and an example of what can be achieved in creating a virtual community find out why.
The Firestorm team have released an optional update to the Firestorm 3 Mesh Beta release. The update is to deal with a couple of issues, as explained in the official blog post:
“A new bug was brought to our attention recently that effects region restarts while using our Metaharper skin in our Firestorm Mesh Beta. Basically, the region will fail to restart and be left in a state that only LL Support can fix. We traced the origin of the bug, fixed it and have updated our download files.
“If you are an Estate Manager who performs region restarts AND you use the Metaharper skin it is strongly advised that you download our updated version 3.0.1.22566 from our download links on this page. No other skin is effected by this bug. Alternatively, you can fix the issue yourself without installing this optional update by following the instructions listed on this page. http://wiki.phoenixviewer.com/doku.php?id=fs_region_restart_bug
“We have also patched a performance issue some people may be effected by which essentially drops performance when you have many IM windows open at once. If you have performance drops while having multiple IM windows open you may find an improvement with this optional update.
“If you do not fall into the above criteria there is no need for you to update or worry, aside from what’s listed above, nothing else has changed since our 3.0.1.22525 Mesh Beta.”
If you are affected by either of the above, download the update from here.
Sunday September 11th 2011 marks the tenth anniversary of the tragic events of 9/11 2001. To mark the date, numerous events are being held across Second Life throughout the day. There are also a number of Featured Events being held, and places within Second Life people can visit and join with others in remembering those who lost their lives during the terrible events of that day.
The following are provided to help those wishing to commemorate 9/11 in-world to do so.
Click on the images for further information.
Memorials
911 Memorial
Join the conversation and pay tribute to those who lost their lives to the tragic events of September 11, 2001 at this memorial.
Visit in Second Life
World Trade Center Memorial
Visit this tribute to those who perished in the attacks on New York City on September 11, 2001.
Visit in Second Life
9/11 WTC Stairclimb Tribute
Arrive and suit up in the gear provided at the base of the stairs. Next, grab a nozzle and hose. Begin your ascent up 110 stories in honor of and in tribute to the fallen firefighters of Sept. 11. This tribute is sponsored by the Aero Pines Park Fire Department, made up of RL, active and retired firefighters who train and mentor in SL every day. More info at http://firehero.org/stairclimb/.
Visit in Second Life
Events
9/11 Street Art Festival
Located at Toronto, this display will feature the work of various artists joining together to remember the tragic events of 9/11. The art comes in all forms, and focuses on the concept of “Find Healing. Find Hope. Celebrate!” The event is part of many sponsored by Blue Angel Memorial Garden.
Visit in Second Life
Wings Over London Air Show: 9/11 Tribute
Join the London community as they memorialize 9/11 with a special Wings Over London Air Show, featuring planes and flights by the Second Life Golden Tiger Pilots, a squadron of the Second Life Flying Tigers. Events in Hyde Park include daily air shows, planes exhibitions, and music events. Event held Sept. 11-16.
Visit in Second Life
Further 9/11 events can be found in the SL Destination Guide.
Dolphin 3 (official 3.3.0.3 (20418) is the latest V2/V3-based Viewer for Second Life to gain support for mesh object rendering. With it comes a raft of other features. So how does it look and behave?
As with all V2/V3-based TPVs, Dolphin installs directly, without the need to install any “official” Viewer. The installation is fast and smooth, and leaves you with the customary option of launching the Viewer directly upon the installation completing.
Given it is based on one of the latest code releases from Linden Lab, Dolphin 3 is the first to incorporate the new Second Life log-in screen – and kudos to Lance and the team for including it.
For those who have been using TPVs exclusively, the new SL Viewer log-in screen allows users to search SL for activities, events, destinations, etc., and log-in to them directly, without having to log-in to home / their last location, then run a search and then teleport. It’s a nice, tidy feature, and one I’ve reviewed previously. Not everyone will find it useful – but it would be nice to see it more widely available for those who do.
Dolphin 3: Features the SL Viewer log-in screen
Logging-in
Once logged-in, Dolphin 3 presents a very V3-like UI, with some subtle differences. The Navigation Bar gains a new button – ENVIRONMENT – while retaining LAND, while the toolbar and the bottom of the window retains the INVENTORY button from Dolphin 2.
Dolphin 3 UI: familiar with a little difference
The inventory button is something that has been seen elsewhere in V2/V3 TPVs, providing a means of quickly accessing the Inventory slider of the Sidebar. Dolphin 2 has always approached things a little differently, and in a way that could appeal to those who have no great fondness for the Sidebar – it opens a dedicated Inventory window floater.
Inventory floater: directly from the Inventory button
What’s more, clicking on the Inventory Sidebar tab doesn’t close the floater – it still opens and closes the Inventory slider, as per “normal” Viewer 2 behaviour. Working together, both the button and the tab thus allow for two Inventory windows to be opened with the minimum of effort, thus overcoming one of the major complaints concerning V2/V3. I’ve always felt this to be a smart move, and it is good to see it being retained in Dolphin 3.
The Environment button provides quick access to an updated set of Windlight settings, etc.,for the sky.
New Features Overview
Mesh object rendering is perhaps the major reason for Viewer 3, and by extension, the changes we’re seeing to Viewers in general at the moment. Dolphin 3 renders mesh objects as well as V3 or any other Viewer; I used my familiar examples from the Beta grid, and they rendered without issue.
Mesh rendering
Like all Viewers that can render mesh objects, Dolphin 3 includes the new prim count / PE counts in the edit menu.
Prim Counts and PE
Also as with the majority of TPVs at present, Dolphin 3 does not have any upload feature for mesh objects.Hopefully, this will change in the future for all TPVs that currently do not have the capability; but as I’ve mentioned ein the past, for most people the capability to see mesh objects is what matters, rather thean the ability to upload it.
Alongside mesh object rendering, Dolphin 3 supports the new native 64m maximum size – which it again, unsurprisingly, handles without fault.
Many of us reported last week that development on Kirsten’s Viewer had been suspended due to Dawny being ill. As a consequence of her illness, Kirstenlee has had to seek full-time employment as well as needing more time to care for her.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 