I’ve had a growl or two of late about LL not engaging on all fronts vis-a-vis communications. Well, to strike a balance, it would appear that things are moving in some areas.
Yesterday we had the news – form Rodvik himself via his profile feed – that last names are set to return. Today, Hamlet Au has picked up on the fact that the much-loved strapline Your World, Your Imagination is back in elements of SL advertising – specifically the website splash screen (below – something I tend to miss as I rarely get pushed back further than the log-in screen when visiting the site) and a new promo video.
Your world – back after too long
I’m not entirely sure about the descriptive text that’s paired with the strapline – “Play games with friends, role-play with vampires, shop for unique fashions”. All are true, but I can’t escape the feeling that the focus on vampires alone when it comes to mentioning role-play could be taken to mean that role-play in SL is “all about” vampire-related games and scenarios. Similarly, “play games with friends” is somewhat suggestive (to me) of a Facebook games environment, rather than anything remotely immersive. But then, I could be just nitpicking…
It’s certainly good to see Your World, Your Imagination back – and kudos to LL for returning to it; but let’s see something that goes with that that does more to present the broader canvas of SL. As a strapline, “Your world….” should be the gateway to a slew of creative ideas.
The new promo video, launched last week (with, dare I say, little or no fanfare) builds on the recent ad LL ran asking for people to star in a new promotional effort.
It’s a reasonable piece, clearly aimed at demonstrating there are “everyday people” involved in Second Life, rather than basement dwellers or other strange lifeforms sections of the media is given over to portraying as SL users. It’s certainly better than “Be your avatar”. But I’m still not convinced it actually gives any real feel for what SL represents. In this regard, I still maintain that the machinima community has a better handle on how to promote SL through this medium than LL or any PR company.
Taken together, the return of the strapline and the forthcoming return of last names does tend to show that LL are listening. Some might take these moves as being more superficial than a sign of anything deeper – and I personally would like to see more positive signs of engagement via the blog, etc (even leaving aside current forum efforts on the part of Community Manager Linden to start-up conversations, as pointed to by Ciaran Laval). But the fact that we are seeing the return of thing users have been requesting for a goodly while shouldn’t be dismissed outright.
One thing I am curious about as a result of these releases: back at SLCC 2011, Rodvik promised that towards the end of the year beginning of 2012 there will have a marketing campaign “of significant investment” to drive traffic into Second Life and hopefully towards SL merchants. I’m assuming the video and the return of the strapline is a part of this – but will we see any details as to how the campaign is to unfold? Any news at all on that front, LL? Any indications as to what we might be seeing and where we might see it?
Frank Ambrose, Senior VP of Global Technology, departed Linden Lab last week (with thanks to Hamlet Au for the pointer).
Known in-world as FJ Linden, Frank Ambrose joined the Lab in 2008, and while rarely seen in-world, he was responsible for instigating a major overhaul of the grid’s hardware infrastructure, work that resulted in both some bumpy times – but also in very welcome and continuing overall improvements.
I’ve personally long been a fan of FJ – his blog posts were always honest, open and articulate, and gave valuable insight into the operation of the platform and the goings-on at Linden Lab.
The reasons behind Mr. Ambrose’s departure are unclear, but he is the second member of the senior management team to depart LL in recent weeks, following on the heels of Kimberly Salzer.
Whether their departures are in any way linked in terms of either the overall direction the company is taking or as a result of Rod Humble “cleaning house” ready to appoint his own team, is entirely speculative at present.
Wheatever the reason, Frank Ambrose’s departure from the Lab is sobering and a little sad. I’d like to pass on my best and good wishes for his next endeavours (which aren’t currently listed on his LinkedIn page).
Dec 13 22:45: post updated with new information at the end.
Well…here’s interesting – and with thanks to Daniel Voyager, who is ever-vigilant on so many fronts, for picking-up on it and relaying the news.
It seems that the campaign to see a return of the last name option has gained traction in Linden Lab. As pointed out by Daniel, Rodvik commented on the last name situation via his web profile feed, thus:
This is excellent news – not only do last names seem set to return, Rodvik has gone so far as to indicate a planned implementation of early in the new year (albeit with the caveat of “hopefully”) – see update at the end.
This revelation is excellent news and demonstrates that in some areas, LL are still quietly listening and taking things on-board – so kudos to them.
What is especially interesting in Rodvik’s post is the comments on identity – these would seem to suggest that the new last name facility might be free-format (rather than selecting from a proscribed list that changes periodically, as with the “old” last name system), or that it might include an option for people to use their real name as their avatar name on signing up. If this is the case, then Rodvik’s comments on identity make perfect sense – people need to understand that providing their real life name as their avatar name is not a requirement of SL, or those that do need to understand the possible implications of doing so.
So – last names are set to return – good news indeed!
Update: 22:45 BST, 13 Dec
As this news has been spreading, Rodvik has made a further post on the subject:
Just to be clear Jan is when we will be giving a timeline/ plans on what we will be doing 🙂 Expect Q1 2012 for it actually to be done.
So the actual change will be later in Q1 2012 (quite possibly mid-to-later Q1, I suspect, given Rodvik’s clarified caveat).
This is turning in to the week I catch up on Viewers!
Lance Corrimal has released Dolphin 3.2 (3.2.0.22166), which sees his Viewer move to the new Flexible User Interface (FUI), and gain a few choice goodies as well.
Installation
Installation was smooth with the Windows installer, although it was interesting to see the a copy progress pop-up appear as files were extracted and copied to my install directory.
FUI and Updates
At first glance after installation, this would appear to be a simple adoption of the FUI with various other TPV updates. But if you think that – best look again. There may not be mesh upload in this release, but there’s more going on than meets the eye here.
Like Niran’s Viewer, Dolphin 3.2 tweaks the FUI a little – only rather than providing an area at the top of the screen where buttons can be added, Lance has incorporated additional buttons into the Button Toolbar:
AO ON/OFF and AO SETUP – for quick access to the Viewer’s animation override functions
AREA SEARCH – accesses the Area Search for Objects floater (WORLD->AREA SEARCH or CTRL-SHIFT-A)
ENVIRONMENT, provides quick access to the Environment Settings panel floater, otherwise accessed by WORLD->ENVIRONMENT EDITOR->ENVIRONMENT SETTINGS.
New button options in Dolphin 3.2
Note that by default, all four buttons are active when you launch Dolphin 3.2 from a fresh installation (all on the left side of the Viewer window), I’ve shown them in the toolbar floater out of convenience.
Providing buttons for the Viewer-side AO makes perfect sense, as does including Area Search (something not everyone is aware exists in and keyboard shortcut notwithstanding) and quick access to environment settings, which itself is an option people twiddle with a lot.
Dolphin 3.2 also gets the new snapshots floater, complete with the option to upload to your web profile feed. According to Lance’s notes, he’s also working on porting the option to upload snapshots to Flickr to the new floater, but will probably be a while before it appears in the Viewer.
This release also gains
The ability to turn your avatar around when walking backwards, again a popular viewer-side feature among TPVs
Firestorm’s texture refresh, which forces a re-fetch of the textures for an avatar or object which remains stubbornly grey on your screen (right-click & select from the context menu)
Firestorm’s object particle editor, which may yet be the subject of a separate blog post here
The latest RLV updates from Marine Kelley
The STORM-1713 fix, which corrects the issue of the mouse pointer flickering over UI elements that has been seen in V3.x.
Performance
Overall, performance on my system is comparable to the official SL V3.2 averaging in the mid-20s when I’m in a sim on my own, and dropping to around the mid-teens when sharing a sim with 5-6 others. All comfortable enough. With shadows enabled, this falls to an average of 6-8 fps, again pretty much in line with official V3 performance on my PC.
Opinion
Frankly, another robust Viewer from Lance that again builds on V3 to present a nice, tidy alternative with a good crop of additional features and options. The fact that it doesn’t have mesh upload shouldn’t be any hindrance to most – mesh rendering in the Viewer is fine. And one cannot blame Lance for wanting more time to consider what is the best fit for his Viewer when it comes to incorporating an uploader, rather than rushing to add the first that comes along.
If you’re looking for something that offers the V3.2 FUI, together with a good, solid selection of popular items from TPVs – radar, area search, Viewer-side AO, together with Lance’s own mods to the Viewer (including these excellent 3.2 FUI tweaks), then Dolphin 3.2.0.22166 is very much worth a look.
Note Dec 24th: The release version of this Viewer is now available. As such I have an update / continuation of this review, and have closed comments on this article (comments on the second are open).
Niran’s Viewer is an intriguing hybrid; forked from Kirsten’s Viewer, it includes everything that made Kirsten’s unique, as well as adding some very individual flavours from NiranV Dean and, in the most recent builds, the V3.2 FUI. The result is a Viewer that steps out of the box somewhat from what we’ve seen to date, offering some amazing capabilities – although you may find you need a high-end system to get the most out of it.
In Brief
Currently Windows only
Forked from Kirsten’s Viewer
Lots of graphics updates (including completely revamped graphics preferences)
New and unique menu layout
Viewer 3.2 Flexible User Interface (FUI)
Fast rendering on suitable machines
Additional ATi support
RLV/a
Mesh rendering and uploads
Lots more (did I mention fast rendering?)
Installer with default location
Installation and Logging-in
The installation is straightforward – and other than the installer being partially in German, offered no surprises per se
Like Marine’s RLV standalone installation, no desktop shortcut or icon is produced, so once installed, you’ll have to go play hunt the EXE in C:\Windows\Program Files\Nirans Viewer (assuming you use the default installer path).
This is no biggie, but I hope (as I’m a lazy cow) that NiranV will provide a defacto desktop icon in the future – that way my VistaMenu utilities for Win7 can grab what’s needed and I can keep my desktop nice and tidy with the minimum of fuss on my part :).
On start-up the Viewer pulls no punches letting you know you’re entering new territory, as the log-in splash screen demonstrates.
Log-in screen
Top left of the screen are the familiar Me and Help menu options – the former providing access to the Viewer’s Preferences. Over to the right of the screen is the log-in area, neatly laid-out and with three options in bold white text sitting under it:
Select Other Grids: the Viewer appears primarily aimed at SL, so this option provides access to the Beta grid
Settings: open the Preferences floater
Help: opens a set of additional options:
Sign-up: takes you to the official SL sign-up pages via your web browser
Forgot password…: opens the official password reset page in your web browser
Grid Status: opens the Grid Status page
About Niran’s Viewer: opens the HELP ->About Viewer pop-up.
It’s a nice arrangement, although my personal preference would be to see some take on the official V3 log-in screen – the Destination Guide, etc. – make an appearance. Perhaps that’s scheduled for a future build…
To actually log-in, you need to click on the LOGIN option after entering your username and password – tapping Enter doesn’t appear to work on this release.
The UI
Once logged-in, you’re again immediately aware that you’re in a Viewer that dares to break all the established rules.
Wot’s that? Buttons on the TOP? No menus?! (click to enlarge)
The Viewer clearly uses the V3.2 FUI, but NiranV has added the option to place buttons at the top of the screen as well as the sides / bottom – thus being the first to respond to requests for this capability. I’d still like to see VWR-27455 implemented for the FUI by someone, but just having the additional top area for use might make it easier for people to group buttons.
By default, the following buttons are available on first starting the Viewer:
Buttons can be removed, added or relabeled simply by right-clicking on an existing button and selecting the required menu from the displayed menu – CHOOSE BUTTONS opening the Toolbar Button floater. In a further step away from V3.2, CTRL-ALT-B will also open the floater, rather than CTRL-T, the use of which in V3.2 has caused some consternation amongst users, given that key combination has had a previous use.
The top of the screen is also conspicuous as it apparently doesn’t have a menu bar – no Me, Comm, World, etc. Instead we have the Navigation / Favourites Bar.
The Navigation Bar contains a wealth of information, looking at it from left-to-right: the familiar (to V2/V3 users) FORWARD / BACK buttons; then a panel of five buttons: HOME, WINDLIGHT FLOATER, SKY SETTINGS, WATER SETTINGS, and ABOUT LAND; the address bar area (as with V2/V3, right-clickable for additional options); Draw distance slider; Search option; account balance & BUY L$ button, and, at the right end, the media options with the time under them.
As with V3, you can switch between Navigation & Favourites or the Mini-location bars by right-clicking on the blank area of the Navigation / Favourites Bar and selecting your preference, but NiranV has extended this drop down menu to include the ability to configure which options are visible on the Navigation Bar, complete with additional options not displayed by default. In addition, the entire Navigation Bar / Favourites Bar has further configuration options within Preferences – something I’ll return to shortly.
But Wait! No Menus, You Say?!
Well, not exactly; I fibbed a bit :).
The menus are there, but are tucked away as Niran’s takes another innovative approach to the Viewer UI presentation. At the left-hand end of the Navigation Bar (or Mini-location Bar, if you display that), is the label “NV”. Clicking on this opens a vertical menu system which V1.x users should find somewhat familiar, despite the orientation, but those already familiar with V2/V3 might initially find a tad confusing, given the options listed are predominantly V1 menu labels.
Niran’s Menus
Having the menus displayed in this manner brings with it certain advantages; for one thing, the impact on your in-world view is minimised to the left side of the screen. There is also something more intuitive about this approach that makes using the menus somewhat faster and more intuitive: the action to select just about any option is a simple down-and-right action, making moving from menu to menu faster and easily than across-down, across-down, across-down…
NiranV has done a sterling job trying to align options with the first few menu headings (File, Edit, View) to reflect V1, which should help some with transitioning from V1 to the world of V3. However, the approach does have its own risk: V1 and V2/V3 are radically different in their menu offerings, so using similar menu titles could lure people into thinking they’ll find all the familiar options in the same sub-menus and locations – which isn’t quite the case. Similarly, as an established V2/V3 TPV user, I have to say I was initially thrown by the menu system when I first encountered it – although I quickly adapted to it and have to admit to preferring it.
A very nice touch in the menu system is the inclusion of an option to call-up the Grid Status page. This is particularly handy if you find you’re having problems, as it saves playing hunt-the-page through the SL website – and if you use the Viewer’s internal browser, the info is there without having to switch windows.
There is also a menu option called MY USEFUL FEATURES, which includes the STOP ALL ANIMATIONS option and REBAKE TEXTURES (for those unfamiliar with the keyboard shortcuts.
Preferences
This is another element of the Viewer that has been extensively revised, and nicely so. For a start, buttons are given a 3D polish and are clearly coloured: blue / tick = on; red / cross = off; grey = inactive / unavailable. Where buttons represent either/or options (e.g. name tags on/off), clicking one will turn it on and the other off.
Preferences – 3D buttons and a full revamp
Most of the main tabs also dispense with additional horizontal tabs. Instead, a “slider” action is used. Take chat as an example: open it, and you have the primary chat options, with a bar at the bottom labelled IM OPTIONS – click on that, and the IM options duly slide up into view. To swap back, simply click on the CHAT OPTIONS bar. It’s neat and tidy – although you need to keep your eye on things, as it’s easy to overlook a slider when looking for a specific option you’re used to seeing in a dedicated tab.
However, it is in the graphics tabs that the biggest changes are most readily apparent. There are two tabs – GRAPHICS and GRAPHICS 2, but they actually toggle between different presentations of the same settings.
Preferences -> Graphics
To the uninitiated, both can be something of a shock – the combination of options builds on Kirsten’s rendering pipe and offer enormous flexibility for setting the Viewer’s graphics capabilities. If you want, there are enough options here to take your world view right back to the earliest days of Second Life as well as bringing you cutting-edge in-world rendering – just take a look at NiranV’s blog post on the subject to see some of the results.
However, I’m not entirely sure that replacing the traditional sliders for some options with a button that toggles between “none”, “less”, “medium”, “more” and “many” entirely works; what is the scale of reference? How many is “many”? How few is “less”? There’s also the fact that the sheer number of options could be somewhat bewildering to many, and may, as a result, be ignored. But, for those into photography, etc., it’s worth taking a good look at what’s on offer.
Obviously, the two tabs are supposed to be used independently of one another, rather than together, and it is intended for people to use the one they find more intuitive. In this I was initially drawn to GRAPHICS, which is closer to what I’ve been used to seeing in other Viewers, but then I quickly swapped over the GRAPHICS 2.
Graphics 2
Shadow rendering appears to be linked to “glow” in this Viewer. This means that with shadows enabled, you can end up with a very bright sky, with the Windlight clouds glowing oddly.
Camera tutorial
Away from this, it’s worth going through the Preferences tabs and sliders carefully – there are other cool bits and pieces. For example, for those unfamiliar with the degree with which the camera position can be customised to give a much improved world view, NiranV has included a tutorial on the subject with some practical examples of options. This is something that other Viewers should have, as whether you’re tall or short, the default camera position for SL is far from ideal, yet most people live with it, simply because they’re not aware of how to modify things beyond fiddling with the default Preferences sliders. Huge kudos from me for this (friends know I’m a constant nag on the subject…!).
New snapshot floater (click to enlarge)
On the subject of cameras as well, NiranV has made a very subtle alteration to the camera smoothing, setting it to a default of 10 – and the difference in camera movement is stunning (allowing for differences in graphics capabilities on individual systems); panning is wonderfully smooth, as is zooming, with both exhibiting a gentle inertial effect as you stop the movement: rather than coming to an abrupt stop, the camera glides to a halt. Wonderful!
The snapshot option also includes the updated floater with the option to post snapshots directly to your web profile feed.
Nor does it end there: those that like their pie (menu) can have it (on by default), while those who like things in context (menus) and have their way as well.
Within PREFERENCES->VIEWER-> UI SETTINGS are a host of goodies, including:
The ability to increase / decrease the transparency of the Navigation / Favourites bars by disabling layers
Turn off the Favourites Bar independently of Navigation
Select which of the buttons Windlight Settings, etc.) should be display in the right-click drop-down menu
One-click teleport to SLurls displayed in chat
An ATi tweak
A collection of useful debug features that can be toggled on or off.
There is even an ability to enable / disable the new Direct Delivery “inbox” and “outbox” in your Inventory (although these can currently only be used with ease on the Beta grid) – but it gives you an idea of what it coming.
Performance
This Viewer is a fork of Kirsten’s Viewer, so one expects it to be resource demanding – and it is that, as soon as you start turning on the more advanced graphics features.
But to dismiss Niran’s as a KV clone with a tweaked front end would be a grossly unfair oversimplification. There has been a lot of under-the-bonnet work carried out, and I gather that NiranV went so far as to re-write OpenGL elements while waiting for LL’s fixes – and used an OpenGL release that is a lot more recent than that used by LL for their fix. This means that while the Viewer is resource-hungry, it is also blisteringly fast. Rendering is some of the fastest I’ve witnessed on my PC; I’m simply not used to arriving home and having sculptie items immediately pop out at me (no waiting several seconds), fully formed, as if going “Boo!” It’s really impressive.
Frame rates are equally stunning on my PC. At home, (370m above ground), with draw up at 360m, five others on-sm, and with settings comparable to those I use on Firestorm and Exodus, Niran’s screams past them at a rocketing 57-60 fps. At ground level, this drops to some 45-48 fps, which is still very credible.
Unfortunately for me, enabling shadows does slaughter my system: frame rates collapse to the low-end of single figures, and the Viewer demonstrates a notable stutter in camera movement. However, I got much the same with the last of Kirsten’s builds as well, so this is likely to be as much down to my graphics system and CPU getting a little long in the tooth as anything else.
Opinion
This is still very much a Beta Viewer, but even so, if you’re not into running shadows (or have a very high-end system), it tends to blow most others out of the water performance-wise. Obviously, as a Beta, there are rough edges; I’ve been running the Viewer on both the Main and Beta grids for a total of about 6 hours over the last few days, and crashes haven’t been infrequent; therefore, you should use it with caution. Also, as it is a Beta, don’t expect absolutely everything to be implemented – there is still a number of items listed as “to do” on NiranV’s website, and some options in Preferences are greyed-out.
That said, this Viewer is a serious contender in the usability stakes. For those who do want to try something that offers a different and flexible approach to the V3.2 UI, Niran’s Viewer is definitely one to watch. For those into photography and machinima and who have used Kirsten’s Viewer in the past, will find just about everything here they need. As it is, and even though there are a number of elements I’d like to see included in it, this Viewer has already moved comfortably into my top 3 “Viewers of choice”.
So, if you are looking around for a Viewer and feel like you can dare to be different, why not give Niran’s Viewer a try?
Yesterday, the much-anticipated release of Phoenix was made. Version 1.6.0 1591 brings with it the ability to render mesh objects.
This means that the majority of users in SL are able to see mesh objects rendered correctly in-world, if not import them. However, the release announcement from Jessica Lyon is liable to make difficult reading for some:
“We stated some time ago our active development commitment is now focused on the Firestorm viewer and that continues today. We still feel strongly that the end of V1 functionality is an inevitability, so it is more important to develop an alternative viewer for our users they will enjoy for when that time comes than to spend our efforts on a dying viewer and then leave our users with no alternative once it’s gone. However, we also promised we would try to keep the phoenix viewer alive for you until it is no longer feasible to do so. As you can see, we are not walking away from that promise, but it is important to understand that Phoenix is no longer our top priority. When necessary we will continue to keep it up to date with advances/fixes from other third-party viewers and provide them the credit they deserve for that work. But ‘we’ are no longer actively developing Phoenix on our own steam.
“Any future releases of Phoenix will be sparse and only if needed. I will not commit to saying this is the last Phoenix Viewer Release, but I will also not commit to saying it isn’t the last either. I will say… this is one of our last. As time passes we will determine if another release is absolutely necessary and/or sensible and make a decision then on whether another update is mandatory in order to keep our promise to you.”
While it may not be a popular move, one can hardly blame Jessica and the team for taking this position: maintaining an aging code base which itself is built on something LL no longer maintain (Snowglobe) is liable to become harder and harder as time goes on, and for a Viewer to remain functional and relevant, it needs to keep pace with the evolution of the grid and as the Phoenix / Firestorm project has made the step of producing a V2/V3 hybrid, it makes sense for them to focus on that work in order to do so, rather than splitting efforts (and doubling the workload) to try and maintain two sets of code.
As well as mesh rendering, this release also brings with it:
A signficant element not updated was that of RLVa – it was decided that Kitty’s time and focus is better spent on the numerous projects with which she is already fully engaged: her own Viewer (Catznip, reviewed here), working on bringing the spell checker to Viewer 3.x, her continuing support of RLVa for other V2/V3 TPVs, and so on). In the release blog, Jessica suggest that those wishing to update to the latest RLVa implementations should give either Firestorm or Catznip a try.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 