Singularity 1.8.6: customise your toolbar and more

The Singularity team released version 1.8.6.6156 of their v1-style viewer on Thursday September 4th. The new release brings a hots of updates from the Singularity team, the official viewer and various TPV developers.

As well as implementing  range of new features within the viewer, the release includes various updates to the UI – Preferences panel changes, floater panel updates, etc., and offers Singularity users the option to customise the buttons the viewer displays at the foot of the window.

The following notes highlight some of the key changes to the viewer. As always, for a full list of updates and changes, and for full details on all accreditation for such changes and updates, please refer to the Singularity 1.8.6 release notes.

Customise Your Toolbar Buttons

This release of Singularity brings with it the ability to add / remove buttons from the viewer’s toolbar, a-la 3.x viewers. Obviously, buttons are restricted to the bottom of the viewer, but this is liable to be of interest to users as it allows some degree of customisation in the UI. 80+ button options are offered, providing a comprehensive range of options and possible button combinations to suit your needs.

Adding / removing buttons is a simple matter of opening the button chooser (View > Change Toolbar Buttons) and then checking those buttons to be displayed and unchecked those which are not wanted. The range of available buttons is impressive, and includes just about everything you’d ever likely want to see as a button. However, given the nature of the toolbar area itself, things can get a little crowded if you go nuts opening a tonne of buttons!

Preferences Updates

There have been a number of Preferences panel and tabs updates with this release, including:

• System > Security is now System > Security & Privacy, and includes the additional options:
  • Emergency Teleport (see below
  • An option to Render Muted Avatars
  • Announce in chat when people bump you
  • Lines from avatar to their Look At beacons
  • Customizable name display for Look At beacons
• Input & Camera
  • Azerty keyboard support
  • Realistic Mouselook
• Adv. Chat -> Chat UI
  • Format for names in lists
  • Autoscroll for automatic scroll to the bottom of chat when it gains focus
• Graphics:
  • Hardware tab > VSync – adaptive option (providing your driver supports it)
  • Depth of Field tab added
• Vanity->Main, Connect to neighboring regions: Save bandwidth & CPU usage by not connecting to neighbouring regions.

Floater Panel Updates

The following are either new, or changed floater panels with Singularity 1.8.6:

• Destination Guide (World >Destinations): for OpenSim,  allow the destination guide to change when Hypergrid jumping
• Default Avatar Picker Floater (World >Default Avatars)
• New media filter implementation
• Detailed Land Impact display
• The default permissions floater has been overhauled, it now matches the one found in the official viewer, with permissions for each individual type of item are offered

Emergency Teleport

Even been logged-out of SL during a rolling restart due to being AFK, or been caught by a restart when you’ve missed the warnings? Well, neither need ever be a bother to you again with Singularity.

Version 1.8.6 see the arrival of the Emergency Teleport feature. Preferences > System > Security and Privacy includes two slots into which landmarks can be dropped. Should you be caught AFK during a region restart, Singularity will attempt to auto-teleport you to the first landmark in the final 20 seconds before the restart occurs. If that destination is unavailable, the second LM will be used in a further attempt to teleport you.

In addition, Singularity also includes the STORM-1980 screen shake and restart warnings, and there is an option to automatically minimise the latter in Preferences > System > Security and Privacy, which can be found directly above the Emergency Teleport LM slots.

Mini-Map Enhancements

Singularity 1.8.6 offers a range of mini-map enhancements, including:

• Show parcel boundaries and parcels for sale:  mini-map menu: > Show > Property Lines /  & Mini-map menu: > Show > Property Lines

• Option to use world map textures: Mini-map menu > World Map Textures
• Scroll zoom is now based on where your mouse is, if centering on camera is off
• Option to show tracking circles around people selected on the radar while the radar is visible: Mini-map menu: Show > Radar Tracking Circles
• Marking on the mini-map changes custom colouring of avatar tags (on a per session basis)
• Implementation of the Exodus multiple selection tool:
  • On mouse-over, a circle is shown beneath your cursor, this is the effective range of right clicking to mark
  • Change the range by holding Shift while scrolling
  • Other menu functions invoked on right-click still only work on the closest dot to your mouse
• Prim torture limits are now standardised in line with other viewers.

 Build Updates

Version 1.8.6 brings with it a number of building updates, including:

• Avoid problems when meshes with invalid joint names are encountered
• Prim Alignment Tool updated
• Object Import/Export enhancements, including improvements from Cool VL Viewer – support for Materials (specular and normal maps), Object Physics and Light Image.

Game Controller Updates

This release adds support for the following game controls to Singularity:

• Xbox, Ouya and Dual Shock controllers (using motioninjoy as Dual Shocks, this will support the six axes)

Additionally this release includes support for Controller Keys, inspired by similar code and control-scheme by CtrlAltStudio Viewer:

• A = Alt, B = Shift, X = Ctrl, Y = Escape
• Back = Toggle Flycam mode (fun!)
• Start = Toggle Cursor mode
• Right Stick Click = Toggle Mouselook
• Left Stick Click = Jump/Fly
• PS Logo = Sit (Specific to motioninjoy as PS controller)

Other Updates Highlights

Singularity also includes the following with release 1.8.6:

• Group ban functionality (including Ban From Group option added to right-click menus in avatar lists)
• RLVa updates (RLV 2.8.0 RLVa 1.4.10)
• Updated Voice SDK from Vivox to version 4.6 on Windows and Mac
• Beacon enhancements  – blue and Red beams now denote the height of tracked position
• Option to Copy SLURL for an avatar’s profile added to the pulldown menu for IMs
• Couples animation auto-synch
• Prevent people from wearing their whole inventory
• Allow items that end up outside the main inventory to be moved to the Lost and Found folder
• Chatbar command “/regionsay msg” to do region-wide messages without needing to go through the region/estate floater for estate managers
• Portability Mode, have the viewer bring things like log, settings, cache, and chat logs along with it
  • Install to a USB, use –portable arg, or use the provided shortcut as a template
  • Settings are saved to a separate folder from the viewer, so don’t worry about removing the viewer folder when updating
• Numerous graphics engine improvements.

Feedback

Another packed update for Singularity which brings new features, enhancements and fixes that should keep Singu users more than happy. The ability to select which buttons are displayed at the bottom of the viewer window is a nice touch and liable to prove popular.

While my time running the viewer with my CTA (Crash Test Alt) was limited, she didn’t need a crash helmet or elbow / knee pads. There were, as expected, no bumps or crashes to upset things along the way, and the viewer performed flawlessly for me, apart from one small hiccup which caused the Linden Water in my home region to cease rendering after enabling ALM, Ambient Occlusion and Shadows (Sun/Moon + Projectors) and clicking the Apply button. Toggling Ambient Occlusion off / on fixed this, the problem didn’t repeat; so I assume this was more a matter of my GPU card have a slight spot of indigestion rather than an issue with the viewer.

All told, another great update to a fast viewer. Kudos again to the Singularity team.

Related Links

• Singularity website
• Singularity 1.8.6 release notes
• Singularity download page