Day: May 28, 2024

2024 SL SUG meetings week #22 summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
Mirai Melody, May 2024 – blog post †

The following notes were taken from the Tuesday, May 28th, 2024 Simulator User Group (SUG) meeting. They form a summary of the items discussed, and are not intended to be a full transcript, and were taken from my chat log and the video by Pantera – my thanks to her as always for providing it.

Meeting Overview

  • The Simulator User Group (also referred to by its older name of Server User Group) exists to provide an opportunity for discussion about simulator technology, bugs, and feature ideas.
  • These meetings are conducted (as a rule):
  • Meetings are open to anyone with a concern / interest in the above topics, and form one of a series of regular / semi-regular User Group meetings conducted by Linden Lab.
  • Dates and times of all current meetings can be found on the Second Life Public Calendar, and descriptions of meetings are defined on the SL wiki.

Simulator Deployments

  • On Tuesday, May 28, the Main SLS channel was restarted without any deployment.
  • On Wednesday, May 29th:
    • The BlueSteel RC channel should be updated with a re-deployment of the Spring Break Simulator update, after this had to be rolled back in week #20, and didn’t make the cut for week #21.
    • The rest of the RC simhosts will be restarted.

Upcoming Deployment

The major deployment for June is set to be Summer Fun. Among other things this should include:

  • Leviathan Linden’s game controller event work to support game controllers – although these will require a viewer-side update to expose the updated viewer UI.
  • Rider Linden’s work on the SL Combat System (SLCS) 2.0 updates (see my Combat User Group summaries for more).
  • LSL updates:
    • A new parameter to llRezObjectWithParams REZ_PARAM_STRING – allows the passing of a 1024 char string to the object being rezzed.
    • llGetStartString() to retrieve the string.
  • A fix for the notecard cache so that it a fixed amount of memory (enough memory to store 48 max-sized notecards) rather than the count of notecards.

SL Viewer Updates

No official viewer updates at the start of the week, leaving the pipeline as:

  • Release viewer: Maintenance X RC (usability improvements), version 7.1.7.8974243247, dated May 8 and  promoted May 13 – no change.
  • Release channel cohorts:
  • Project viewers:

In Brief

Please refer to the video for the following:

  • A further discussion on potential HTTP updates (such has the ability to read HTML).
  • A question on increasing the memory limit for scripts – in short, nothing in the works at present.
  • Both of the above sparked a general and overlapping discussion – please refer to the video below.
  • A request was made for a SL Combat 2.0 feature – the ability to teleport vehicles (which obviously could be used for other applications).
    • As Rider Linden pointed out, just one issue here is that regions (and parcels within them) can block object entry, and thus could cause teleports of vehicle at scale to go awry at times, as the teleport would have no way of knowing if vehicle entry is permitted at the destination location.
    • However, he requested the idea be submitted as a feature request so that it can be discussed internally.

† The header images included in these summaries are not intended to represent anything discussed at the meetings; they are simply here to avoid a repeated image of a rooftop of people every week. They are taken from my list of region visits, with a link to the post for those interested.

The Power of Hope at NovaOwl in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
NovaOwl, May 2024: Christian Carter – The Power of Hope

The Power of Hope is the title of the May / June exhibition within the ground-level gallery space at the NovaOwl Gallery, operated by Uli Jansma and Owl Dragonash. It features images by Christian Carter (and marks for me, I believe, the first time I’ve encountered his work in a solo exhibition)which are linked by a core theme, as symbolised by a vibrantly coloured butterfly.

[In] this exhibition I wanted to be uplifting. We all need more positive things, more smiles, more light.
Here I am telling a story about a butterfly that symbolizes a Hope and travels around the World. Travel with me…
Once you choose hope anything is possible.

– Christian Carter, The Power of Hope

NovaOwl, May 2024: Christian Carter – The Power of Hope

What follows, across the two halves of the gallery space is a journey of images, some of them framed by quotes or aphorisms emphasising the power of hope, even in the more desolate or downtrodden aspects of life. The art is loosely grouped within the galley’s halls in terms of style and presentation: within the larger, airer hall are very large format pieces leaning strongly towards a black-and-white / monochrome finish, with the sub-divided space of the smaller hall presenting pieces sized to suit its wall space and within which the use of colour is much more prominent.

It’s a highly effective approach; with their focus perhaps more on the realities of day-to-day life as well as touching on the more metaphysical aspects of hope, the monochrome images give a clear symbol of the latter through the focused presence of colour or the considered use of reflections on glass to suggest brightness (and therefore hope), whilst their broader monochrome composition offers commentary on the realities of the present.

NovaOwl, May 2024: Christian Carter – The Power of Hope

It is within this section that the exhibition has perhaps its most poignant pieces in the form of There is Always the Light and Despite all of the Darkness, both of which particularly speak to some of the malaise affecting modern society (waste and destruction / homelessness and our too-often indifference to it) – and the expression of hope that one day we will all overcome these issues and attitudes for the betterment of ourselves and others.

Within the smaller gallery space, the images are perhaps more metaphorical in nature, reflecting the aphorisms (some of which might be seen as truisms, but which are nevertheless lifted above the trite through Christian’s excellent artwork and use of colour). These are perhaps more uplifting images in terms of the richness of colour within them, although the underpinning truths they contain speak as clearly as those framing the monochrome pieces. In addition, further touches of social commentary might be seen in both some of the expressions written on the gallery walls and in the little 3D elements Christian has put together is support of his images (such as the little homeless bear in one corner).

NovaOwl, May 2024: Christian Carter – The Power of Hope

Visually engaging and with a positive message for the future built on reflections on life, The Power of Hope will remain at NovaOwl through May and into June.

SLurl Details