Firestorm 7.1.9: PBR, emojis and mirrors, oh my!

On Thursday, June 20th (SLT), Firestorm released version 7.1.9.74746 of their viewer. As indicated by the change in major version number (7), this is a significant release of Firestorm, one that brings it largely up to parity, in terms of core functionality, with the official Second Life Viewer SLV). Included in this release, as hinted at by the title of this article, are the following: PBR support – including all updates and enhancements released by the Lab. 2K Texture support. PBR Terrain. Mirrors. Emojis support. Assorted preferences, UI and menu updates.

Table of Contents General Notes Installation MacOS and Linux Linden Lab Releases Reflected in Firestorm 7.1.9 74746  PBR: Physically Based Rendering The Story So Far (aka Skip This if You’ve Heard it Before) But What Does it Mean? Possibly Useful Links A Note on Reflection Probes 2K Texture Uploads; PBR Terrain; Mirrors 2K Texture Uploads PBR Terrain Mirrors Emoji Support Firestorm UI Updates Preferences → Graphics General Tab Hardware tab Rendering Tab Other Preferences Updates Build / Edit Floater – Texture Tab Menu Updates OpenSim Updates Related Links

Update, July 6th 2024: as a result of some of the issues being experienced with the Firestorm PBR release, Runitai Linden is re-visiting memory use (e.g. VRAM use) and its impact on lower specification hardware, and the impact it can have on performance with a viewer to trying to remove some of the bottlenecks.

Note that the following is not a complete review of the 7.1.9 update, but focuses on the major updates, with additional notes as to why they have been made, and which may be helpful for those not familiar with the on-going updates being made the Second Life (glTF – see below). As far as I’m aware, there are no formal release notes accompanying 7.1.9.74746, just a brief timeline summary, so please excuse the lack of reference to same for additional information / credits.

General Notes

Installation

• Only download Firestorm from the Firestorm website. Do not utilise and other third-party site purporting to offer the Firestorm viewer, and remember Firestorm will never ask for log-in credentials in order to download a release version of their viewer.
• There is no need to perform a clean install with this release if you do not wish to.
• Do, however, make sure you back-up all your settings safely so you can restore them after installing 7.1.9.

MacOS and Linux

• Firestorm 7.1.9.74746 sees the viewer move to MacOS 12 with the deprecation of MacOS 11.
• The Firestorm team has been working with the Lab and other TPVs to build up the Linden Linux repositories to enable a re-launch of official Linux support. Currently, the Firestorm team is in the process of migrating their Linux support to use the updated Linux build libraries maintained by LL.

Linden Lab Releases Reflected in Firestorm 7.1.9.74746

• Graphics Featurette Viewer:
  • Viewer version 7.1.8.9375512768, June 2024.
  • Core features:
    •  2K texture uploads (with associated fees – see Possibly Useful Links, below right).
    • PBR materials terrain support.
    • Static and dynamic planar mirrors.

• Maintenance Y/Z:
  • Viewer version 7.1.6.8745209917, April 2024.
  • Core features:
    • My Outfits folder improvements.
    • Ability to remove entries from landmark history.
• Maintenance-W:
  • Viewer version 7.1.5.8443591509, March 2024.
  • Core features bug and crash fixes.
• glTF PBR Materials Maintenance-2 Viewer:
  • Viewer version 7.1.4.8149792635, March 2024.
  • Core features: second round of improvements and bug fixes for the PBR viewer release.
• Emoji Viewer:
  • Viewer: version 7.1.3.7878383867, March, 2024.
  • Core feature: Emoji support for local chat, Group chat and IMs (see below).
• glTF PBR Materials Maintenance-1 Viewer:
  • Viewer: version 7.1.2.7215179142, January 2024.
  • Core features: initial round of improvements and bug fixes for the PBR viewer release.
• Maintenance V(ersatility) Viewer:
  • Viewer: version 7.1.1.7039128750, December 2023
  • Core feature: displaying user-customized keybindings in chat.
• glTF / PBR Materials Viewer:
  • Viewer: version 7.0.1.6894459864, November 17 2023.
  • Core Feature: glTF PBR release (lighting, reflection probes, materials).

PBR: Physically Based Rendering

This is the most significant update with Firestorm 7.1.9, and represents some of the most clearly visible changes both in the viewer and how Second Life might appear. However, to provide some context on matters for those who may not be aware of all that is going on (and trying to keep things as concise as possible), some background notes.

The Story So Far (aka Skip This if You’ve Heard it Before)

Linden Lab has engaged on a project to extensively overhaul Second Life and bring in to parity with modern standards, specifically moving to compliance with the Khronos®  (graphics library Transmission Format) specification, regarded as the leading standard for sharing 3D and related assets (models, scenes, animations, etc.) across multiple tools and platforms. The first phase of this project (November 2023) focused on a shift to support PBR (Physically Based Rendering). This introduced the likes of: PBR materials, offered as an alternative to SL’s existing materials system (referred to as “Blinn-Phong” materials, rather than completely replacing them. Reflection probes (for more realistic lighting / reflections in second life. HDRI rendering for more realistic environmental rendering. This was followed in January and March 2024 with two bug fix updates to PBR. In June, LL released the Graphics Featurettes viewer, comprising: Further bug fixes and improvements.

Possibly Useful Links The Khronos® Group The glTF™ 2.0 Specification Physically Based Rendering High Dynamic Range Imaging SL Wiki: PBR Materials A simple introduction to PBR materials, reflection probes & glTF in Second Life (this blog) Reflection Probes and You (Kristy Aurelia)  Launching Mirrors, PBR Terrain and 2k Textures in Second Life! (LL) Mirrors, PBR Terrain, and 2K textures (LL) Lowering the Cost of 2K Textures: A Win for Premium Plus Members! (LL) PBR – Where We Are, Where We Are Going …  (Beq Janus, Firestorm) Creating a simple (prim) mirror with Firestorm (this blog)

• • Support for the upload of 2048×20248 textures and materials without any down-sampling to 1024×1024 resolution.
  • Provision for using PBR textures on terrain.
  • The ability to create static and dynamic mirrors in Second Life.

But What Does it Mean?

Broadly speaking, the move to glTF compliance in Second Life should mean:

• Deeper, richer environmental effects and lighting, with much improved reflections (including the ability to set reflection probes for better interior lighting and reflections – including planar “mirrors”).
  • However, some EEP settings can look darker due to the use of HDR.
  • Linden water can look very different – this is something Linden Lab will be addressing.
• Some significant changes to viewer rendering. Perhaps most notably, you will not longer be able to disable Advanced Lighting Model (ALM).
  • This is because PBR sees the removal of the rendering pipe (called the “Forward Renderer” which was used as the “fallback” when ALM was turned off.
• A potentially smoother, more straightforward workflow for mesh content creators, allowing them to use their tools (notably Substance Painter and, down the road, Blender), more efficiently and make the content they create more directly transferable between platforms.
• The ability for content creators to:
  • Continue to use the existing materials system (Blinn-Phong) while they get up to speed with PBR.
  • Immediately swap to using PBR materials and leveraging the benefits thereof.
  • The option of, if they wish, providing content using both PBR materials and Blinn-Phong materials as a “fall back”. Note that this is not required, and creators are under no obligation to do so – it is simply possible at present, and a matter of individual choice.
• However, there are some potential for viewer performance to be impacted, particularly if the settings for some of the new features are ramped-up and over-tax the computer running the viewer..
• For Firestorm, some significant changes to familiar UI elements, as outlined in this review.

A Note on Reflection Probes

An important element to understand with PBR is that of reflection probes – what they are and what they are intended to do. The following notes are not exhaustive, but will hopefully assist those who might require some explanation.

• Simply put, a reflection probe is a 360º degree image of the environment / setting within its physical volume which can be used to create approximate reflections of objects on suitably shiny surfaces, and can be used to add highlights or ambient light is defined spaces.
• Reflection probes only generate images based on what is within their volumes. Similarly, they only affect objects within their volumes.
  • So, if you have a shiny box and a sofa inside a reflection probe, and another box outside of the probe, the reflection of the sofa should be visible on the box inside the probe, but not on the box outside of the probe.
• Second Life uses two types of reflection probes: automatic and manual:
  • Every region has its own automatic probes – they are simply *there*, and cannot be directly manipulated.
  • Manual probes are users-created and can be used for specific effects (e.g. generating reflections of objects in a room on glossy /shiny surfaces within the same room. 
  • Manual probes always take precedence over automatic probes.   
• Probes can be one of two forms: Sphere or Box.
  • Sphere probes tend to give the best results and blend better. SL’s automatic probes are of the sphere type. Sphere probes  are generally good enough for most outdoor scenes.
  • Box probes are handy for generating reflections within thins like rooms, due to their shape. They are also ideal for creating mirrors (see below). They can be rotated to adjust their influence.
• When editing reflection probes:
  • You must enable Select Reflection Probes via the Build menu →  Options or within the Build / Edit floater so that you can right-click on them and select them for editing once created.
    • This is intentionally a non-persistent setting, as having it on all the time could prevent you from selecting objects inside a reflection probe’s volume. Therefore, you must do this once per log-in session when you intend to create / manipulate any reflection probe(s). 
  • The only parameters which can be used with an reflection probe are its position, rotation, scale, and specific settings assigned to it. All other parameters will be ignored. 

• Reflection probes use two ambient settings:
  • The EEP ambience set via Atmosphere & Lighting Reflection Probe Ambience (HDR) in the EEP Fixed Sky and Edit Day Cycle floaters. This is the “minimum” probe ambience.
  • The individual Ambience setting for a reflection probe, set via the build floater. This can be made to make the ambience of a probe more intense, if required (sometimes helpless when using probes in interior scenes.

Again, for a more detailed exploration on reflection probes, see Reflection Probes and You by Kristy Aurelia.

2K Textures, PBR Terrain and Mirrors

2K Textures

• Until now, texture resolution in Second Life has been limited to 1K (1024×1024) – however, it has been possible to upload 2048×2048 resolution textures but they would automatically be down-sampled to 1024×1024 for display.
• With this release, it is now possible to upload 2048×2048 texture without any down-sampling.
• This ability introduces new fees for uploading textures at 2K resolution:
  • Basic / Plus account: L$50 per texture.
  • Premium account: L$40 per texture.
  • Premium Plus: L$0.
• Important: these fees are currently implied for bulk 2K texture uploads, rather than explicitly warned about. If you are a Basic, Plus or Premium user who routinely uploads 2048×2048 textures to Second Life in the expectation they will be down-sampled to 1024×1024 and only incur the L$10 per texture fee – you will be automatically charged at one of the above rates when doing so.

PBR Terrain

This refers to applying 2K PBR materials directly to Second Life terrain (subject to you having region / estate rights in order for you to do so. It is not PBR terrain painting as seen in engines such as Unity or Unreal, but it should result in considerable improvement in the visual quality of terrain. However, note that currently terrain repeats are fixed, but a future update as a part of the ongoing work will enable custom texture repeats to be set, helping with Texel and reducing stretching when PBR materials are applied over changes in elevation.

Note: there is no provision for any legacy fallback when using PBR materials on Second Life terrain, so if used, those on non-PBR viewers will only see grey ground.

Mirrors

The release of the Graphics Featurette viewer finally allows the long-requested desire for real-time / dynamic mirrors in Second Life which do not require tricks with Linden Water or the user of lighting projectors (which could not reflection avatars anyway) or other sleight-of-hand.

How useful mirrors actually are in SL is a subjective issue, and one outside the scope of this review – as is how to create them. However, the following general points on mirrors should be noted:

• While there can be multiple mirrors within a scene  / room, only one will be properly active at a time – the one nearest the viewer’s camera. All others will generally only appear as shiny surfaces.
• Mirrors are limited to planar (that is, flat) mirrors, and the capability is not well suited for use with curved shapes / forms (such as the body of a car).
• Allowing mirror reflections in the mirror (set via options in Preferences → Graphics (see below) will have a performance impact.
• Mirrors are not designed to be worn as avatar attachments, and will not function correctly if used as such.

For instructions on creating a mirror, using either the new PBR options or Blinn-Phong materials, please refer to Creating a simple (prim) mirror with Firestorm.

Emoji Support

Emoji support was added to the official viewer courtesy of a code contribution by Kitty Barnett, the lead Catznip developer, and is now adopted by Firestorm with the release of 7.1.9.74746.

• Emojis are accessed through the Firestorm conversations floater, and are available for local chat, Group chat and IMs.
• To use them, two new icons have been added to the floater, to the right of the text input field (see image below).

• Clicking on the down-pointing arrow button will open a display of frequently-used emojis directly under the text input line (note: this will obviously be empty on first-time use).
  • Click on any of the listed emojis to and have them added at the current cursor position in the text field.
  • If you ish to close the display of emojis, click on the arrow button again.
• Click on the Smiley icon to open a floater of all the available emojis.
• The emoji floater includes a series of buttons to help with sorting / displaying emojis, as shown and described below, left-to-right.

• 1. All (“Search”): a scrollable list of all available emojis, split by categories.
  2. Recently / Frequently used: displays those emojis used most recently as well as those you’ve used most frequently.
  3. People and body: smileys, emoticons, “gestures”, human emojis (running, cycling, etc.).
  4. Animals and Nature: as per the label.
  5. Food & Drink: as per the label.
  6. Travel & Places: globes, regions, places, vehicles, time zones, etc.
  7. Activities: as per the label.
  8. Object: light bulbs, books, packages, calendars, locks, etc.
  9. Symbols: symbols, button, etc.
  10. Flags: as per the label.
• Emojis can be con figured using options on Preferences → User Interface → Fonts.

Firestorm UI Updates

Note: these are in addition to those already mentioned above.

Preferences → Graphics

PBR sees a number of changes to the Graphics tabs in Preferences. The following is intended to provide a brief outline of the changes, not an in-depth breakdown of their functionality.

General Tab

1. Revised shader check boxes, which sees:
   • The addition of a Screen Space Reflections check box (can impact performance when enabled).
   • The Mirror check box, must be checked to see mirrors working as such in Second Life (will impact performance when enabled).
   • The removal of the option to disable Advanced Lighting Model (ALM), as noted earlier in this review.
2. Reflection Detail: the type of reflections generated by reflection probes. Can be set one of: Static Only – generates reflections for everything except avatars; Static & Dynamic: generates reflections for everything including avatars; and Realtime. Generally speaking, the first two options should be adequate, depending on whether or not you wish to see avatars in things like mirrors  (and Static & Dynamic will have a higher performance hit).
3. Reflection Coverage: can be set to one of None, Manual, Manual and Terrain or Full Coverage.
4. Mirror Resolution: the quality of planar mirror reflections rendered by the viewer  – for Firestorm, this can be one of 256×256; 512×512; 1024×1024; 2048×2048. Higher resolutions will have a greater impact on viewer performance.
5. Mirror Update Rate: how frequently mirror reflections are updated. Higher rates will impact viewer performance.
6. Exposure slider.

Hardware Settings Tab

Extensive revisions in line with the updated viewer rendering including:

• Updated anti-aliasing from stepped options to the use of fast approximate anti-aliasing (FXAA).
• Removal of the dynamic texture memory options and the addition of an option to Override VRAM detection with a slider to set the amount of dedicated GPU VRAM.
  • Generally speaking, these options should not be enabled / altered.
  • They are only intended for situations where VRAM detection is reporting incorrect values.
  • Because altering them, seek the advice of Firestorm Support.

Rendering Tab

• Maximum texture resolution can now be set to either 512×512 or 1024×1024 rather than just 512×512.

Other Preferences Updates

• Move & View → View: removal of the option to Disable Minimum Camera Zoom Distance.
• Preferences → User Interface → Fonts: options to change the style of the Emojis and Emoji button.
• Firestorm → Build 2: option to toggle the Firestorm Texture tab on the Build / Edit floater  between the Firestorm layout and one close to the official viewer’s layout (and which uses a separate Edit Materials floater) – see Build / Edit floater, below.
• Firestorm → Uploads: new option to define the inventory folder into which uploaded PBR materials so be filed (default: Materials and altered by right-click on the desired folder in Inventory and using the Use As Default For submenu to select the asset type).

Build / Edit Floater – Texture Tab

• The Build / Edit floater Texture tab has the most visually extensive updates within Firestorm’s UI, including two layout options:
  1. The Firestorm Layout (default) which presents both PBR materials options and Blinn-Phong (“classic”) materials as two separate sub-tabs. When using this layout, the separate Edit Materials floater found within the official viewer does not have to be used.
  2. A layout closer to the official viewer, which uses a drop-down to select whether Blinn-Phong materials (labelled as “Textures”) or PBR materials (“PBR Metallic”) are to be used, and which updates the rest of the panel based on the selection made. This layout also utilises the separate Edit Materials floater as found in the official viewer.

• The two layouts can be switched via unchecking / checking Preferences → Firestorm → Build 2 → Use The New Firestorm Texture Panel in the Tools floater (requires restart).

Note: the Second Life object content menu will display an option to Edit PBR Material when right-clicking on an object using PBR materials. When selected, this will open both the Build / Edit floater and the Materials Edit floater regardless of which Firestorm Texture tab layout you opt to use.

Menu Updates

The following is a brief list of changes to the viewer menus. For ease of reference, it includes menu updates also mentioned earlier in this review.

• Avatar:  new option: Remove Selected Attachments. When one or more worn attachments are selected, will be enabled, and clicking will remove those attachments.
• World → Environment: new Midday (Legacy) day setting, using the non-HDR settings for midday (can make the day look brighter).
  • You can “disable” HDR sky rendering by setting the ambience in the Atmosphere & lighting tab of the EEP Fixed Sky and Day Cycle edit floaters to 0.
• Build → Options:
  • Select Reflection Probes. When checked, will allow any reflection probes in a scene to be right-clicked selected.
  • Show Reflection Probe Volumes. When check will show the volumes of reflection probes in a yellow tint.
  • Highlight Transparent: use as an alternative for CTRL-ALT-T for highlighting objects using transparency and Include Rigged Transparent – both relocated from Advanced → Highlighting and Visibility.
• Help → Whitelist Advisor: a list of Firestorm folders / locations that should be whitelisted with anti-virus tools should that latter give problems when trying to run the viewer, together with guidance notes.
• The following should only be toggled / used if you know what you are doing:
  • Advanced → Rendering Types: addition of the following toggles: Materials (ON), PBR (ON), Glow, Fullbright, Fullbright Alpha Mask (all OFF).
  • Developer → Force an Error: new option Force LLError, Message And Crash.
  • Developer → Render Tests: options for previewing HDRI skies and for glTF scene preview (this option for in-development work by LL).
  • Developer → Render Metadata: addition of toggles for: Reflection Probes, Probe Updates and glTF Nodes (this option for in-development work by LL); removal of Build Queue.
  • Developer → Rendering: removal of: the following toggles: Advanced Lighting Model; Automatic Alpha Mask (non-Deferred); Disable Ambient, Sunlight and Local Lights; Hover Glow Objects.
  • Developer → Rendering: new Dump Font toggles; new Debug Unicode and Camera Control toggles.

OpenSim Updates

• A new grid selector
• Improved teleport/hop handling.
• PBR terrain fallback (as OS support fallback textures).