Month: February 2019

2019 SL User Groups 8/2: Content Creation summary

Posted on by Inara Pey

COBKOBO; Inara Pey, January 2019, on FlickrCOBKOBO – blog post

The following notes are taken from the Content Creation User Group (CCUG) meeting, held on Thursday, February 21st, 2019 at 13:00 SLT. These meetings are chaired by Vir Linden, and agenda notes, meeting SLurl, etc, are usually available on the Content Creation User Group wiki page.

Animesh Follow-On

  • Vir has been assisting with the clean-up following the inventory issues users experienced over the weekend of February 9th /10th. These apparently impacted a number of SL’s back-end services and are still being worked on.
  • A planned change for Animesh designed to throttle the number of complexity updates for avatars and Animesh objects actually never made it into a release viewer. This will now likely get pulled into the (non-public) viewer repository where Vir is experimenting with Animesh follow-on work.
    • The lack of this throttle has meant that some TPVs have implemented their own throttles on these complexity updates to reduce their potential impact.
  • Will there be attachment points for Animesh? Currently unknown. Vir will be investigating options; attachments to Animesh won’t function in quite the same way as avatar attachments, so the optimal mechanism needs to be determined, if possible.
    • One option might be to have attachments behave as part of the Animesh linkset, but have a flag set for them that forces them to be displayed in the required location when used.
    • This doesn’t allow the full range of capabilities seen with avatar attachments, but it would allow the attachment to be made, and the Animesh complexity calculations to be properly updated.

Environment Enhancement Project

Project Summary

A set of environmental enhancements allowing the environment (sky, sun, moon, clouds, water settings) to be set region or parcel level, with support for up to 7 days per cycle and sky environments set by altitude. It uses a new set of inventory assets (Sky, Water, Day),  and includes the ability to use custom Sun, Moon and cloud textures. The assets can be stored in inventory and traded through the Marketplace / exchanged with others, and can additionally be used in experiences.

Due to performance issues, the initial implementation of EEP will not include certain atmospherics such as crepuscular rays (“God rays”).

Resources

Current Status

  • It is hoped that the current project viewer version of the EEP viewer (version 6.0.2.524476, dated Tuesday, February 19th) will be the last before EEP moves to viewer release candidate status.
    • There are still a couple of bugs to be hunted down which may impact the promotion.
  • Rider hopes to see the viewer go to RC status before the sider code for EEP moves beyond the LeTigre and BlueSteel simulator RC channels, to allow more widespread testing of the viewer once it is in RC without the risk of bugs impacting other simulator updates.
  • People using the EEP viewer (project or RC, once it has been promoted) should see no difference in behaviour when using it on non-EEP regions.

Bakes On Mesh

Project Summary

Extending the current avatar baking service to allow wearable textures (skins, tattoos, clothing) to be applied directly to mesh bodies as well as system avatars. This involves viewer and server-side changes, including updating the baking service to support 1024×1024 textures, but does not include normal or specular map support, as these are not part of the existing Bake Service, nor are they recognised as system wearables. Adding materials support may be considered in the future.

Resources

Current Status

  • A further appearance server update is required to fix the “black skirt” issue that can result in an avatar appearing to wear a long, jet black “skirt” when seen in the BoM viewer.

Multiple Texture Uploads

  • BUG-226352 requests multiple suitable image resolutions are made available when uploading textures. Image courtesy of Beq Janus

    As noted in my previous Content Creation UG meeting notes, there was some discussion on textures and uploads, during which, Beq Janus suggested making it possible for users to select more than one image resolution when uploading textures to the viewer.

  • The idea here is to encourage people to experiment and see how the different resolutions work on surfaces, rather than always automatically opting for the highest resolution (e.g. 1024×1024), which might not always be required.
  • A feature request was subsequently submitted for this – see BUG-226352 – which has been accepted.
    • It’s not clear if / when this might be implemented, although it is acknowledged as being “a nice thing to have” (particularly given the different resolution mipmaps are generated at upload anyway, but only the selected resolution is made available).
    • It is not clear how much would be involved in the necessary back-end updates required to support the idea.
    • Also, the usual caveat: “accepted” means the idea is something the Lab is interested in tracking / possibly investigating. It doesn’t automatically mean a feature request will be implemented.

 

Isadora and Morlita at Diotima Gallery

Posted on by Inara Pey
Diotima Art Gallery: Light in the Labyrinth

Currently on display at Diotima Art Gallery curated by Redi (Red Bikcin), is a shared exhibition of art by Isadora Alaya (Otcoc) and Morlita Quan. While very different in form, the two exhibitions are perhaps drawn together through something of an abstract edge to each of them.

Located in the front part of the gallery space, Isadora present 14 images under the title Light in the Labyrinth. These offer a mix of themes – landscapes, images of art in SL, avatar studies – all of which are joined by a use of colour that tend to set them apart from the more “usual” style of landscape or avatar study we’re all perhaps familiar with. This gives some of them the “abstract” edge to which I refer.

Diotima Art Gallery: Light in the Labyrinth

It really is this use of colour that makes these pieces striking. I particularly found myself drawn to Savannah Flow and Tell You What’s Lost. The former is a glorious piece in tone, lighting and depth that brings the elephant to life in a most fascinating way. The latter, meanwhile, presents in both image and title a perfect reflection of one of SL’s most original regions,  Whats Lost Spirits (about which you can read more here).

With pieces like these and the stunning monochrome Powder Drift (Night Before Zazenkai), Isadora’s Light in the Labyrinth is an absorbing display of art.

Diotima Art Gallery: Morlita Quan – Dissonances

For Dissonances, Morlita Quan contrasts her images to those of Isadora by presenting them within a white space that sits opposite of the dark setting for Light in the Labyrinth. In doing so, she draws a subtle link of connection between the  two exhibits.

I’ve long been an admirer of Mori’s beautifully fluid and organic abstracts, and the twelve pieces offered here fully demonstrate both the organic and abstract look and texture to her work. Abstract the images may be, but the influence and inspiration of nature is evident within each piece presented here, the majority of which lean towards monochrome, while those incorporating colour do so in a soft, subtle and – dare I repeat it again – organic manner. The fluidity of the pieces is largely self-evident; several of the pieces are liquid in their form, and this is further added to by the wave-like animation evident in the floor.

Diotima Art Gallery: Morlita Quan – Dissonances

The choice of title for this exhibit is interesting. Dissonance means a discordant combination of sounds or a lack of agreement. Yet within these pieces there is a harmony waiting to be found. Yes, on first look, the pieces – particularly the two laying on the end wall of the hall – may seem jarring; however, the very nature of these pieces, the intricate curves and patterns of circles tends to wash any sense of discord to one side.

Together, Light in the Labyrinth and Dissonances made for a worthwhile shared exhibition and visit.

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A visit to historic Boardman in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Boardman – click any image for full size

There are many historic sites scattered around Second Life, some better known than others. Svarga (read here for more), for example, or The Man, Governor Linden’s mansion, the Ivory Tower of Primitives, to name just four. Then there are places to celebrate the history of Second Life, such as the SL Historic Museum (read here for more) and Maps of Second Life (read here for more).

One of the historical location that perhaps doesn’t get much of a mention outside of the Destination Guide is Boardman, one of the earliest experiments of a themed community established in Second Life that dates back at least a decade, and which is now overseen by the Boardman Preservation Society.

Boardman

It’s a fascinating curio to visit; a living reminder of how Second Life once was. A prim build, formed around a network of little roads and sidewalks, in which sits a little suburb setting of houses and community buildings: a town hall (complete with a picture of Jack Linden, former head of the Land Team who departed LL at the end of 2010), a church, and ice cream parlour. The roads are shaded by Linden trees from the library, while the houses – although largely empty – sit within their own little lawned gardens.

Being an early example of community building in Second Life, Boardman is subject to some of the earliest zoning requirements in Second Life. These can be obtained from the information kiosks scattered around the town and in assorted signs, and date all the way back to January 2003, which itself makes them an interesting read.

Boardman

A central (literally as well as figuratively) feature is an open air market space. This was specifically established to allow Boardman residents to sell their goods – as long as they were within the required guidelines – via a 13×8 metre stall. It is at the market that some names and logos can be found that will have a certain resonance among long-term Second Life residents: Sion Chickens (although none of them are around!) and Adam Zaius for example. There are even some vendor boards still present and working! You can, however, pick up Mr. Greggan’s Whimsical Full Perm Freebies, for a look back at SL mechanics circa 2007/8.

As well as exploring, visitors can take a walk to the waterfront and try their hands a few games or simply enjoy the Sun. While you’re there, say hello to Captain Nomad as he builds his new boat.

Boardman

Boardman may look dated when compared to modern mesh builds, and the total ban on even limited terraforming to smooth out the land in places can result in some buildings looking oddly placed. However, as a site of historical reference, it makes for an interesting and diverting visit.

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2019 SL User Groups 8/1: Simulator User Group and EEP oddities

Posted on by Inara Pey

A Way of Life; Inara Pey, January 2019, on FlickrA Way of Life – blog post

Server Deployments

Please refer to the server deployment thread for the latest news.

  • On Tuesday, February 19th, there was no deployment to the SLS (Main) channel, leaving it on server maintenance package 19#19.01.25.523656; however, region on the channel were restarted. The planned update for the channel was again postponed due to a late-breaking bug.
  • On Wednesday, February 20th, 2019 the RCs are likely to be updated as follows:
    • BlueSteel and LeTigre should receive EEP update server maintenance package 19#19.02.16.524516, comprising the following fixes:
      • BUG-226252 [EEP] Please create an internal error code for llReplaceAgentEnvironment() & llSetAgentEnvironment() that distinguishes whether an agent does not have the experience allowed and if the experience is not allowed at their location.
      • BUG-226246 [EEP] llGetEnvironment() reports SKY_LIGHT fade_color as a rotation instead of a vector. (SKY_LIGHT only returns vector light_direction and vector total_ambient. fade_color is removed https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/LlGetEnvironment)
    • Magnum should receive server maintenance package 19#19.02.16.524515, comprising further internal fixes.

SL Viewer

The EEP Project viewer updated to version 6.0.2.524476 on Tuesday, February 19th. The remaining viewer pipelines remain as  follows:

  • Current Release version 6.0.1.522263, dated December 5th, promoted December 13th, 2018. Formerly the Spotykach Maintenance RC viewer – No Change.
  • Release channel cohorts (please see my notes on manually installing RC viewer versions if you wish to install any release candidate(s) yourself):
    • BugSplat RC viewer, version 6.1.0.524348, dated February 13th. This viewer is functionally identical to the current release viewer, but uses BugSplat for crash reporting, rather than the Lab’s own Breakpad based crash reporting tools.
    • Estate Access Management (EAM) RC viewer, version 6.1.0.523351, dated January 23rd.
    • Love Me Render RC viewer, version 6.0.2.523177, dated January 16th.
  • Project viewers:
  • Linux Spur viewer, version 5.0.9.329906, dated November 17th, 2017 and promoted to release status 29 November – offered pending a Linux version of the Alex Ivy viewer code.
  • Obsolete platform viewer, version 3.7.28.300847, dated May 8th, 2015 – provided for users on Windows XP and OS X versions below 10.7.

EEP Deployment Oddities

There are some oddities being witnessed while EEP is being deployed. These should all go away once the code is fully deployed on the servers and the viewer code has reached all release versions of viewers.

Day / Night Cycle Differences

With the EEP updates currently on around 20% of the main grid, it is possible for very different values to be returned to the viewer when travelling between adjacent EEP and non-EEP regions, and this has been causing some confusion. Rider explains it thus:

EEP changes how the time is calculated. llGetSunPosition is dependent on the environment. It was not before. Legacy regions determine the beginning of the day differently than EEP regions. So until [they] have been [updated] there will be some disruption.

The way the start of the day has changed. It is now GMT-8, this [also] may not align with neighbouring legacy regions.

Other Oddities

  • There are also reports of jarring region crossing transitions that can sometimes occur when moving between regions with different EEP settings – see BUG-225689.
  • Stars on EEP regions will appear black against the daytime sky when seen on a non-EEP viewer with Advanced Lighting Model (ALM) enabled, or as white stars with ALM disabled.

Marketplace Gifting

There is an issue with the redelivery of gifts made via the Marketplace that (depending on the age of the original gift delivery) might result in the redelivery going to the sender, rather than the intended recipient – see BUG-226124. If you encounter this, please raise a support ticket.

Catznip R12.1: Animesh and more

Posted on by Inara Pey
Tuesday, February 19th, 2019 saw the long-awaited release of Catznip R12.1 – the release coming a little over a year since the last update.

The key feature with this update is support for Animesh, although it also sees Catznip come up to parity with the Lab’s viewer cove (release 6.0.1.522263 at the time of writing), which means there are a lot of bug fixes and other tweaks within the viewer.

 Table of Contents

 

Catznip R12.1 also introduces a number of features and enhancements directly from the Catznip team.

These notes are designed to cover the most visible changes with the release. For details on specific bug fixes, please refer to the R12.1 release notes.

Log-In Splash Screen

The first major change with Catznip R12.1 can be seen within the viewer splash screen. This includes a revised destination panel and revised information tabs.

Web Links

The splash screen now includes five buttons located to the left of the large Catznip logo. These are links to:

  • The Catznip Patreon page.
  • The Catznip Flickr pool (empty at the time of writing).
  • Clearer buttons to Catznip on Google+ (although Google+ will be closing on April 2nd, 2019), Facebook and Twitter.

Destination Guide Panel

The Destination Guide panel has been overhauled for better access to destinations by selected category and to display information, as outlines in the image below.

The updated Destination Panel of the Catznip log-in screen

Revised Information Tabs

The log-in screen information tabs located below the destination panel have also been revised, so it contains the following tabs:

  • What’s New: primarily useful during Catznip beta releases, when it lists all the JIRAs that were fixed or added for that particular beta.
  • Grid Status: displays information from the Second Life Grid Status RSS fed.
  • Modem World: displays posts recorded by this blog’s RSS feed.
  • Reddit : displays recent threads from the Second Life Reddit community.
  • Seraphim: lists blog posts recorded in the Seraphim blog RSS feed. Clicking the location column will set your login location to that specific event.
The log-in screen information tabs

Note that the tabs are considered experimental, and feedback on their inclusion from Catznip users is requested.

Lab Derived Updates

This version brings Catznip up to parity with Linden Lab release viewers through to release version 6.0.1.522263 (formerly the Spotykach RC viewer, promoted on December 13th, 2019. Major updates in that release include:

  • Voice Server:
    • Second Life: Vivox version 4.9.0002.30313.
  • Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF) Dullahan:
    • Dullahan: 1.1.1080
    • CEF: 3.3325.1750.gaabe4c4.513446.
    • Chrome: 65.0.3325.146.

Animesh

Animesh allows the avatar skeleton to be applied to any suitable rigged mesh object, which can then in turn be animated using suitable scripts and animations contained within the object’s Contents. This opens up a whole range of opportunities for content creators and animators to provide things like independently moveable pets / creatures, and animated scenery features.

While Animesh is likely to primarily be used by content creators, it has been designed so that any suitable rigged mesh can be converted to Animesh directly from the Build / Edit floater. Do be aware, however that simply converting an object will not cause it to start animating – you’ll need suitable animations and a script to run them. Like any other object utilising animation, this is done by adding the animations and scripts via the Edit > Contents tab for your converted object.

A razzle of raptors? Animesh used to animate rigged mesh raptors from Linden Lab

The best way to get started with Animesh is to use the available resources. These include:

Continue reading “Catznip R12.1: Animesh and more” →

Wiona L at DiXmiX

Posted on by Inara Pey
DiXmiX Gallery: Wiona L

On February 15th, a new exhibition opened at DiXmiX Gallery, curated by Dixmix Source, is a small exhibition of art by Wiona L (dx61005). It’s a small but engaging exhibition located in the gallery’s Grey hall / foyer area.

Wiona describes herself as a “so-claimed SL photography enthusiast, wanderer,” Wiona undersells herself somewhat. the 12 images in this exhibition reveal a photographer of talent. Avatar studies these may well be, but the majority of them have such a playful, natural air about them, they present themselves very much as pictures taken “in the moment”, rather than being painstakingly posed to give the appearance of being so. This alone makes this exhibition perhaps different to others that have been offered at DiXmiX.

DiXmiX Gallery: Wiona L

Take Lets Go To The Pier and I Can Hear The Autumn, for example. The former (seen above) has a wonderful air of intimacy about it; an image caught by one part of a couple who are out and enjoying their time together, so much so that you can almost hear the title being exclaimed in delight by the blonde-haired woman, with its accompanying laughter as they run to the pier in question.

Meanwhile, I Can Hear The Autumn alongside it (and to the left of the top image) presents an image of a gentle moment from someone’s afternoon: a young girl resting in the warmth of a lowering sun after a long and satisfying ride, her bicycle resting against the verandah rail on which she sits. It’s a moment of quiet intimacy captured whilst she was lost in thought and unaware of the camera’s presence.

DiXmiX Gallery: Wiona L

Only the two large images in the collection break with this idea of moments of natural expression caught by the eye of an unknown photographer. While they bare witness to the same artistry and skill as the other ten images in the collection, they nevertheless have more of a feeling of being purposefully posed to achieve the desired shot, rather than being a purely happen-stance moment caught in time.  I say this not in any way as a criticism of either picture, but rather out of the fact that they do stand apart from the rest – hence why, perhaps, they are displayed across the foyer from the rest of the exhibit.

But that is a purely personal view. There is no doubting this is an engaging exhibition, rich with story, beautifully presented and well worth taking the time to visit.

SLurl Details