Day: April 30, 2016

Project Bento User Group update 13 with audio

Posted on by Inara Pey
Project Bento – extending the SL avatar skeleton
Project Bento – extending the SL avatar skeleton

The following notes and audio were taken from the weekly Bento User Group meeting, held on Thursday, April 28th at 13:00 SLT on Aditi. For details on each meeting and the location, please refer to the Bento User Group wiki page.

Note that this update is not intended to offer a full transcript of the meeting, nor does it present the discussion points in chronological order. Rather, it represents the core points of discussion to Project Bento, grouped together by subject matter were relevant / possible.

Issue Fixes

Partial Joint Offsets

As noted in my last update, one issue facing Bento is in how best to handle defining partial joint offsets – a mesh that specifies the override positions for some of the joints but leaves  other joints alone, which would allow different meshes to be mixed and matched to create an avatar look. Currently, the viewer doesn’t handle  multiple root bones in a mesh with partial rigging correctly, and to help correct this, Vir Linden has published a proposal for moving forward. Essentially, this would filter out any joints which have a position unchanged from their expected default, even if the mesh claims to use an offset, with only a very small adjustment (0.1mm or greater) is required to have a joint treated as having its own offset.

Offset and Slider Conflicts

Another issue which has been discussed recently is that joints offsets (notably translation offsets) can conflict with adjustments made using the appearance sliders, resulting in adjustments made using the sliders “snapping back” to their original location on leaving edit shape or following a relog or after removing / rewearing the avatar mesh.

An adjustment has now been made so that where an offset has been set for a joint, adjustments made using the sliders which only affect the offset will be ignored, only changes to the scale of a joint (length, height) made using the sliders will work. It is thought that this fix will also address the likes of BUG-11854.

Work in progress: Aki Shichiroji demonstrates a wearable wyvern utilising Bento bones for animation.
Work in progress: Aki Shichiroji demonstrates a wearable wyvern utilising Bento bones for animation.

It has also been noted that BUG-10991, “[Bento] Mesh rigged to the new joints either partly disappears, collapses or melts when viewing that avatar as an imposter” has not been fixed with the latest version of the project viewer. It will hopefully be one of the issues addressed with the next update.

Next Viewer Update

The above fixes, coupled with other work which has been carried out are regarded as being sufficient to kick-off another update to the project viewer, although there is a further piece of work Vir hopes to include. If all goes according to plan, this should see a new version of the Bento project viewer appearing in week #18 (week commencing Monday, May 2nd).

Animation File Size Limit

Currently, there is a file size limit of 120 Kb on animation files enforced by the back-end servers. With the increased number of bone available for animation. As it is now possible to animate a far large number of joints, some creators have started to find this limit a problem, and a request has been put in for it to be increased (see BUG-11836).

While there is potential for this to be done, it is currently unclear how much the file size limit should be increased. There are also other considerations to take into account, such as the intention for animation assets to be moved to the CDN for better delivery.

If there are specific examples of animation with large file sizes which could be attached to the JIRA as examples, they would be welcomed by the Lab. It has also been suggested that the Lab establish a best practices guide for animations files on the wiki.

This lead to a brief discussion on interpolation and the differences between .BVH and .ANIM animations, with Vir providing background information on how each are respectively handled.

Sliders for Remaining Bento Bones

While many Bento bones  – notably those of the face / head – have been tied-into the existing appearance sliders, there are still those which do not have slider support because they would require the development of dedicated sliders. this has been considered outside the scope of the initial Bento work, and it is far from certain it will be taken up in the near-term future, if at all.

Part of this comes down to the added complexity further sliders would thrust into the viewer UI, and also – as Vir explains – because the use of many of the Bento bones is intended to be arbitrary, therefore providing sliders to adjust them may not suit all of the uses to which they might be put, and cause further confusion / unpredictable results when used.

Continue reading “Project Bento User Group update 13 with audio” →

The hidden paths of Osprey Ridge in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey

Osprey Ridge; Inara Pey, April 2016, on Flickr Osprey Ridge – click any image for full size

Osprey Ridge is a homestead region within the United Sailing Sims located eastward of Blake Sea and a place we’ve often passed when our sailing or boating. Open to the public, the region has been landscaped by Markarius Viper and is cared for by Flo (SweetFloXO) and presents a pleasing environment in which to spend time.

The best place to start a visit is at the moorings on the north side of the island, sheltered from the passage linking Blake Sea with Second Norway by a natural grassy breakwater. From here, visitors can walk eastwards along the moorings and the beach to come to a cosy summer gazebo sitting alongside a reedy pond, or head inland along a wooded track which winds its way to a sturdy and comfortable log cabin.

Osprey Ridge; Inara Pey, April 2016, on Flickr Osprey Ridge

The cabin sits nestled between tall columns and plateaus rising to the south and west of it, topped by tables of grass from which tress grow. Of these more anon; for now however, take the path onwards around the front of the cabin, and it will turn southwards and lead you between more trees and under the shadow of a another mesa on the east side of the region bore your arrive at the southern shore, a deck overlooking the open waters, with another ribbon of beach pointing westwards.

If you prefer, there is a track on the west side of the cabin, just within the tree line, which leads the way to the waters at the foot of the rocky cliffs, which are in turn spanned by a bridge made from the trunk of an old, fallen tree. From here it is possible to pass between the tall mesas on either side to reach the south-western corner of the island, or scramble over the rocks and into the cavern beneath the west side plateau.

Osprey Ridge; Inara Pey, April 2016, on Flickr Osprey Ridge

The cavern is a place of peace, watched over by a fae waystone which, for those running with ALM enabled, casts patterns of light across the surrounding rock faces and over the pool of water in which it sits. A narrow opening on the north side of the carven provides a short-cut back to the moorings, which eagle-eyed visitors may have spotted as they followed the rack down towards the cabin from the north side of the island.

The broad, grassy tops of the plateaus are home to a tree house, a camp site, Greedy, Greedy and a romantic cuddle swing. A wooden bridge connects the two plateaus, but how to get up to them without flying or double-click teleporting actually defeated Caitlyn and I (we eventually went the double-click TP route).

Osprey Ridge; Inara Pey, April 2016, on Flickr Osprey Ridge

The region could perhaps benefit from having the moorings on the north side parcelled-off so that auto-return could be set to say, 60 minutes, to allow those arriving by boat to come ashore and explore without fear of their vessel poofing to Lost and Found as soon as they do so, but this is a minor point. Osprey Ridge offers a pleasing visit to those passing or who are looking for photogenic spots within Second Life, with plenty of places up high and at ground level for simply sitting and enjoying the environment or having an intimate cuddle (including a bed suspended from the trees in the woods!).

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