Author: Inara Pey

Eclectic virtual world blogger with a focus on Second Life, VR, virtual environments and technology.

2023 week #20: SL CCUG meeting summary: mirrors and PBR terrain

Posted on by Inara Pey
Small Town Green, March 2023 – blog post †

The following notes were taken from my audio recording and chat log transcript of the Content Creation User Group (CCUG) meeting held on Thursday, May 18th, 2023 at 13:00 SLT. 

These meetings are for discussion of work related to content creation in Second Life, including current work, upcoming work, and requests or comments from the community, together with viewer development work. They are usually chaired by Vir Linden, and dates and times can be obtained from the SL Public Calendar.

Notes:

  • These meetings are conducted in mixed voice and text chat. Participants can use either when making comments  or ask or respond to comments, but note that you will need Voice to be enabled to hear responses and comments from the Linden reps and other using it. If you have issues with hearing or following the voice discussions, please inform the Lindens at the meeting.
  • The following is a summary of the key topics discussed in the meeting, and is not intended to be a full transcript of all points raised.

glTF Materials and Reflection Probes

Project Summary

  • To provide support for PBR materials using the core glTF 2.0 specification Section 3.9 and using mikkTSpace tangents, including the ability to have PBR Materials assets which can be applied to surfaces and also traded / sold.
  • There is a general introduction / overview / guide to authoring PBR Materials available via the Second Life Wiki.
  • Substance Painter is also used as a guiding principal for how PBR materials should look in Second Life.
  • Up to four texture maps are supported for PBR Materials: the base colour (which includes the alpha); normal; metallic / roughness; and emissive, each with independent scaling.
  • Given the additional texture load, work has been put into improving texture handling within the PBR viewer.
  • In the near-term, glTF materials assets are materials scenes that don’t have any nodes / geometry, they only have the materials array, and there is only one material in that array.
  • The overall goal is to provide as much support for the glTF 2.0 specification as possible.
  • To provide support for reflection probes and cubemap reflections.
  • The viewer is available via the Alternate Viewers page.
  • Please also see previous CCUG meeting summaries for further background on this project.

Status

  • The RC glTF / PBR viewer was updated to version 7.0.0.580085 on Tuesday. May 16th.
  • Work is continuing to try to fix the issues with pre-PBR skies looking “broken” in the PBR viewer. This is seen as the last major fix required to the viewer, the rest of the required work being seen as or “maintenance” fixes rather than major breakages
    • The probable solution for the sky issue is to use the reflection probe ambience as a hint as to how the sky should rendered. If the ambience setting is zero, various environment sliders such as Brightest (currently referred to a Gamma in the viewer) should respond in much the same way as they do in pre-PBR viewers. Otherwise the sky will be rendered as PDR / HDR.
    • This is acknowledged as being something of a kludge, but is seen as a easiest way to maintain rendering for non glTF / PBR scenes.
  • Water reflections: the glTF / PBR viewer includes updates to the rendering of Linden Water reflections.
    • These are seen as being “not as good” as water reflections seen in non-PBR viewers, but they run with a lot less in the way of overhead on the viewer.
    • The reduction in reflection quality is the result of no longer doing a full rendering pass on Linden Water, and the decision to do this was made to offset the cost of reflection probes and planar mirrors (see below).

Screen Space Reflections and Mirrors

  • Screen Space Reflections (SSR) – (non-SL overview):
    • Now supports both glossy and “stupid” roughness values, with “good” performance, and supports adaptive sampling rates.
    • SRR will apply to “everything” in a scene.
    • The same approach taken with SSR will also be used for planar mirrors.
  • Planar mirrors:
    • Geenz Linden is working on both occlusion culling (at what distance from an avatar / camera should mirrors render) and general mirror constraints (how many mirrors should be active for an avatar at any given time). There are currently no plans to limit mirrors on the basis of size.
    • The latter will most likely initially be set to one, and if there are multiple mirrors within range of an avatar, only the nearest will have reflections actively rendered, the rest will simply render as glossy surfaces.
    • The distance culling is unlikely to exceed 12 m, and there are cases (e.g. some Linden Homes regions) where it would be best suited as being a lot less, to avoid situations where someone has a mirror in their home – but it is impacting their neighbours’ rendering.
    • The rate of update for mirrors might be throttled; a decision has not been taken on this as yet.
    • The limitations are unlikely to have debug overrides (although this might change in part for some as testing progresses) in order to prevent people from inadvertently crippling their frame rates. In this latter regard, Geenz notes:  “The performance sucks, the use cases are limited, and you should plan accordingly.”
    • Rendering takes the form of: reculling the scene from the perspective of the mirror, re-rendering that scene into the G-Buffer, re-shading that scene in the deferred pass, and finally re-rendering semi-transparent objects – all of which is intensive.
  • The intent: LL want to get to a point where SSR and reflection probes should be sufficient for more reflection use-cases. Mirrors should only ever used in exceptional cases where SSR and reflection probes cannot achieve the desired effect (i.e. the shiny metal coffee pot on the table and the “glass” on the picture frame on the wall should both utilise SSR / reflection probes for the reflections on their surfaces and not be set as a mirror).

PBR Terrain

  • As per my TPVD summary for Friday, May 12th, there is a project underway to provide PBR support for terrain.
  • This is seen as a means of leveraging PBR Materials to offer some quality improvements to terrain ahead of any longer-term terrain project which might yet be considered / actioned.
  • The idea is to enable the use of Materials asset IDs in place of the usual texture IDs and applying them to the ground.
  • An initial alpha build of a viewer supporting this work is available through the content creation Discord server. However, note that it is only alpha and unsupported outside of the project at this time.
    • Please also note that at the request of Linden Lab, I am unable to publish details on how creators can obtain access to the content creation Discord server. Those who are interested should wither a) attend a Content Creation User Group meeting and request access there; or b) contact Vir Linden to request details on how to request access.
  • As this is purely a viewer-side change, it does not require a server-side update, but for testing, the viewer should preferably be used on Aditi (the beta grid), where there are materials available within the PBR regions expressly for testing the capability. There is also a debug setting in the viewer which allows it to be used “anywhere”, but this is described as currently “hacky”.
  • This work also sees an increase in the overall texel density for terrain, raising it to 1024×1024, and the texture repeat has been doubled. The latter may only be a temporary move, with discussions at LL revolving around various ideas such as hex tiling.
  • Important notes with this work:
    • It is not terrain painting. It is the application of PBR materials – terrain painting is described as “something that’s on the radar” at LL.
    • The work does not include support for displacement maps.
    • The work is currently only viewer-side, with no corresponding server-side support, the idea here being to prototype what might be achieved and testing approaches / results.
    • It is viewed as a “mini project”, which can potentially be built upon to include elements such as simulator support (including EM tools, etc.).
    • Given the above point, there are also discussions on how best to handle the default grass texture for land (which is just a basic diffuse map) if the PBR terrain work is to go mainstream. Currently, updating this is not part of the mini-project.

glTF and the Future

  • glTF “phase one”: PBR materials (current project).
  • glTF “phase two”: mesh asset uploads support and scenes (up to, but not including animations).
  • glTF “phase three”: animations, morph targets, etc.

Next Meeting

  • Thursday, June 1st, 2023.

† 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 gathering of people every week. They are taken from my list of region visits, with a link to the post for those interested.

Cica’s Secret Garden in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Cica Ghost’s Secret Garden – May 2023

For her May 2023 installation, Cica Ghost has used the writings of Frances Hodgson Burnett for a source of inspiration – or perhaps that should be reference; specifically in this case, the third of her most famous works of children’s fiction The Secret Garden, published in 1911. Not that build lifts ideas directly from the novel; rather – and as is the case with Cica’s designs – she uses a quote from the opening of Chapter 25 in the novel to frame her design: And the secret garden bloomed and bloomed and every morning revealed new miracles.

However, whilst the novel goes on the wax lyrical robins and eggs and  the miracle of flight and (to children’s thinking) a house with 100 rooms “no-one ever goes into”, Cica offers us something equally engaging and magical: a place where butterflies flit, crows keep watch, flowers bloom (to themselves blossom into butterflies)  –  hippos frolic.

Cica Ghost’s Secret Garden – May 2023

Yes, hippos; a creature with a long history within Second Life, where they have been an unofficial mascot for a good portion of the platform’s 20-year history. Sadly, this association is perhaps something unknown to more recent residents, with even the SL National Hippo Day of February 15th no longer being widely observed; nor are they to be seen “skipping through SL stomping bugs”. However, evidence of this long association can still be found within the viewer as an echo of even the Lab entering into the spirit of things (CTRL-ALT-SHIT-H for those not in the know).

Given this, and the fact that 2023 marks the 20th anniversary of Second Life officially opening its doors to the public  – and, indeed, of the forum conversation that kicked-off the the unofficial adoption of hippos as a mascot, that they should be a part of Cica’s Secret Garden is highly appropriate.

Cica Ghost’s Secret Garden – May 2023

The hippos can be found right across the garden, both outdoors and within some of the garden houses to be found across the garden’s undulating landscape. Caught under something of a heavy sky, the garden has a slight feel of being a little untended, the shadows and low light adding to its mystery (perhaps another indirect reference to the novel?). This makes exploration more interesting – particularly if you are able to run the viewer with Shadows enabled (not a requirement, but certainly a nice-to-have), allowing things to slowly emerge from the darkness.

As is usual with Cica’s builds, there are multiple opportunities for sitting and watching visitors come and go, and for dancing and having a little fun. So, this being said: Happy Hippos – go enjoy!

Cica Ghost’s Secret Garden – May 2023

SLurl Details

A LemonCliff café in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
LemonCliff, May 2023 – click any image for full size

Of all the Second Life continents, Gaeta 1 is perhaps the oddest. located off the north coast Corsica, it sits isolated, alone and unfinished, having only a west coast, and partial coasts to the north and south before it ends abruptly as one travels eastwards, as if someone got bored mid-way through laying down its regions and wandered off to find a sandwich – then forget where they left the continent.

The smallest of the Mainland continents with roughly 140 regions to its name, it is also the most sparsely populated – although this is not the result of its small size; rather, it is because much of the land remains either owned by Linden Lab or simply undeveloped.

LemonCliff, May 2023

This is not to say it is without its charms. Along the west coast, for example, the Lastness Marina, sitting at one end of one of the continent’s two paved public footpaths. Here, visitors can drop into the local lighthouse, rez a boat and take to the waters along Gaeta 1’s navigable coast.  Or, if preferred visitors can pop next door and enjoy a sojourn at Lily Cloud’s LemonCliff beach bar and café.

Occupying almost 6,000 square metres of coastal land, LemonCliff is a delightful setting, offering a mix of outdoor and indoor setting, the latter taking the form of a ranch-style villa converted into a café sitting above a small beach front and within a its own garden space, the low surrounding walls forming a parapet as they look down on the beach and a small car park.

LemonCliff, May 2023

With a central hallway cutting through it from front to back, the café is neatly split into two wings. To one side and with shuttered windows, sits the café proper, offering coffee and smoothies with a choice of cakes and fresh lemon juice. Across the hall sits a comfortable saloon, a place suitable for afternoon tea at the right time of day, and in the evenings as a retreat where wine and aperitifs might be enjoyed, the windows to the front overlooking a small patio, and to the rear they provide a glimpse of the semi-wild garden.

A broad terrace parallels the rear walls of the café, passing through this garden to give access to the café from the car park, and also to a garden pergola and a raised patio and seating area to the rear of the coffee bar where beverages can be enjoyed under the shade of parasols.

LemonCliff, May 2023

Also to the front of the café is a table set for a little cheese and wine tasting, whilst steps run down to the beach and what looks to have been a cobble-topped wharf sitting at the waterfront -although the tide appears to have retreated long enough ago to leave a stretch of dry beach between the wharf and the sea, allowing the cobbles to become the home of a Greedy Greedy table.

Bracketed to one side by falls tumbling into a small channel running into the open water and a deck built out over the water on the other, the beach offers a view out over the open ocean to the west, and a means to enjoy the setting sun. Meanwhile, the deck sits as a place for cocktails and a little crooning / dancing.

LemonCliff, May 2023

Sitting alongside the marina and a small coastal residential area, LemonCliff beach bar and café is a charming and easy-going visit – and when you’ve enjoyed its welcome, there’s always an opportunity for boating along the coast or a walk along the winding public path as it meanders north and east.

SLurl Details

2023 SL SUG meetings week #20 summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
Borkum, March 2023 – blog post

The following notes were taken from the Tuesday, May 16th Simulator User Group (SUG) meeting. They form a summary of the items discussed and is not intended to be a full transcript. A video of the entire meeting is embedded at the end of the article for those wishing to review the meeting in full – my thanks to Pantera for recording it.

Server Deployments

  • On Tuesday, May 16th, the SLS Main channel servers were restarted without any deployment, leaving them on simulator release 579747.
  • On Wednesday, May 17th, a new simulator release will be made to the BlueSteel RC channel. This contains configuration changes on to help support the new “Social Casino“.

Viewer Updates

On Tuesday, May 16th:

  • The Maintenance S RC viewer, version 6.6.12.579987, dated May 11, was promoted to de facto release status.
  • PBR Materials project viewer updated to version 7.0.0.580085.

The rest of the pipelines remain as:

  • Release channel cohorts:
  • Project viewers:

Region Crossings

This took up a major part of the meeting.

  • BUG-227303 – “collisions makes a script stop running and revert its mono status” is still causing headaches, despite a recent attempt to stomp it. Rider Linden is going to attempt a test configuration set-up with the theory that the issue might be related to transfers between physical simhost server, rather than between simulators.
    • This came with a suggestion that those experiencing the issue should provide a detailed summary of where / when and – particularly – how they encountered the problem and, if possible supply him with the vehicles in use at the time the problem was encountered.
    • A further suggestion was made that those who experience the problem and have hight ping times to the servers (and a means to accurately repro the issue) invite Rider to ride with them and witness the problem first-hand and in real time, in case it is related to network latency.
  • BUG-233691 “Animesh re-renders at lowest LOD for extended interval after long-range llSetRegionPos” – whilst not strictly a region crossing issue, it can be experienced on a region crossing. It is believed a fix is currently in the PBR RC viewer.
  • For full details on the discussion, please refer to the video, below.

In Brief

  • BUG-232037 “Avatar Online Offline Status Not Correctly Updating” – work is in progress on a further fix, and will be included in an upcoming simulator maintenance release.
  • The last part of the meeting is a general discussion on LSD, pivot points, the glTF specification. Refer to the last 20 minutes of the video for details.

† 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.

Wicked’s monochrome Ocean Dance in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Heartsong Erotica Galleries: Wicked Eiren Ocean’s Dance

Wednesday May 10th 2023 saw the opening of a new exhibition of work by Wicked Eiren at the Heartsong Erotica Galleries owned and curated by Luanamae Heartsong. Entitled Ocean’s Dance, this is a small but utterly captivating selection of black-and-white / monochrome pieces is located in the West Gallery at Heartsong. All of the images feature the-artist-as-the-model, and all convey and emotional depth and narrative strength.

I first encountered Wicked’s avatar-focused SL photography in June 2022, when Dido Haas hosted Body Language/The Invisible Woman, an intensely powerful visual narrative focused on Wicked’s life as someone suffering from Complex Chronic Disease – also known as Central Sensitivity Syndromes (CSS) and it resultant psychological impact, in terms of both the condition and the reaction of others around the sufferer to their situation, it can cause (see Art and Complex Chronic Disease in Second Life).

Her condition has not robbed Wicked for her zest for life; she is passionate about the things she enjoys, and as a practicing Buddhist, she does her best to offer a positive, loving outlook in her interactions with all living things she encounters and refusing to allow the demands of CCD / CSS deny her her womanhood as much as she can.

Heartsong Erotica Galleries: Wicked Eiren Ocean’s Dance

This attitude is very much present within the images presented within Ocean’s Dance, a selection of 16 greyscale images, six of which are reproduced as  split monochrome works  on three free-standing displays, all of which feature oceanside settings. All are deliberately untitled (other than the name of the exhibition and a number), there only supporting text coming in the form of a single-stanza ode in celebration of the ocean’s call. In this, Wicked notes:

As a creator, I like the image to transcend the viewer into a memory or emotional that is purely of their own intimate personal journey inspired by my work [and] not to be formed from any “title” I might place on it. So please step in and don’t be afraid to dip your toes!

– Wicked Eiren

By leaving the pieces so open to interpretation like this, Wicked does indeed invite us to go where our thoughts opt to walk as when look at the images in this series – a freedom enhanced by the fact that there is not explicit order to viewing the pieces; just enter and appreciate and let go of your imagination.

Heartsong Erotica Galleries: Wicked Eiren Ocean’s Dance

For me, Ocean’s Dance is once again a celebratory story; the freedom visible in each of the pieces, be it expressed by pose or windswept hair or expression or scudding and seemingly roiling clouds or the foaming splash of a wave, is only too apparent. These are pieces that speak to the core desire of being free in and of oneself to express a vitality and sensuality of life and desire free from labels and unencumbered by thoughts of how the resultant images speak to an audience.

I could continue to was lyrical about Ocean’s Dance, but honestly, and as with Body Language/The Invisible Woman, this is an exhibition which deserves to be seen first-hand.

SLurl Details

2023 SL viewer release summaries week #19

Posted on by Inara Pey
Logos representative only and should not be seen as an endorsement / preference / recommendation

Updates from the week through to Sunday, May 14th, 2023

This summary is generally published every Monday, and is a list of SL viewer / client releases (official and TPV) made during the previous week. When reading it, please note:

  • It is based on my Current Viewer Releases Page, a list of all Second Life viewers and clients that are in popular use (and of which I am aware), and which are recognised as adhering to the TPV Policy. This page includes comprehensive links to download pages, blog notes, release notes, etc., as well as links to any / all reviews of specific viewers / clients made within this blog.
  • By its nature, this summary presented here will always be in arrears, please refer to the Current Viewer Release Page for more up-to-date information.
  • Note that for purposes of length, TPV test viewers, preview / beta viewers / nightly builds are generally not recorded in these summaries.

Official LL Viewers

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V6-style

  • No updates.

V1-style

Mobile / Other Clients

  • No updates.

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links