Category: Second Life

2026 SL viewer release summaries week #6

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, February 8th, 2026

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.
  • Outside of the Official viewer, and as a rule, alpha / beta / nightly or release candidate viewer builds are not included; although on occasions, exceptions might be made.

Official LL Viewers

  • Default viewer 2025.08 – 7.2.3.19375695301 – maintenance update with bug fixes and quality of life improvements – December 2 – No Change.
    • Notable addition: new VHACD-based convex decomposition library for mesh uploads.
  • Second Life Project Lua Editor Alpha viewer 26.1.0.21525310258, February 3 –  NEW.
  • Second Life Project Voice Moderation viewer 26.1.0.20139269477, December 12 – No Change.
    • Introduces the ability to moderate spatial voice chat in regions configured to use webRTC voice.
  • Second Life Project One Click Install viewer 26.1.0.21295806042, January 26, 2026 – one-click viewer installation – No Change.

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V7-style

  • No updates.

V1-style

  • Cool VL viewer Stable: 1.32.4.20, February 7 – release notes.

Mobile / Other Clients

  • SL Mobile (Beta) version 2025.1075 (A) / 0.1.1078 (iOS) – February 5 – Bubble Chat and fixes.

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links

February 2026 SL Web User Group

Posted on by Inara Pey
The Web User Group meeting venue, Denby

The following notes cover the key points from the Web User Group (WUG) meeting, held on Wednesday February 4th 2026. These notes form a summary of the items discussed and is not intended to be a full transcript. Pantera’s video is embedded at the end of this article, my thanks to her for providing it.

Meeting Overview

  • The Web User Group exists to provide an opportunity for discussion on Second Life web properties and their related functionalities / features. This includes, but is not limited to: the Marketplace, pages surfaced through the secondlife.com dashboard; the available portals (land, support, etc), and the forums.
  • As a rule, these meetings are conducted:
    • On the first Wednesday of the month and 14:00 SLT.
    • In both Voice and text.
    • At this location.
  • 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.

Updates

  • The past month has largely been focused on planning and information gathering as the Web team works out priorities for the year ahead. As such, direction an initiatives may change as decision are made based on information gathered.
  • Current work in progress:
    • Marketplace responsiveness work (i.e. making it more Mobile-friendly), particularly focused on the Marketplace home page and including things like category total to the site navigation sidebar, possibly making the Feature Items on the page high contrast.
    • Refresh of the viewer log-in splash screen, described as “same item, just a different arrangement”. This will b an iterative process within viewer releases as updates are made.
    • Possibly adding the long-requested ability to search by region on the web maps – although this is described a “complicated”. This work might also include some clean-up of other web maps issues that have been raised.
    • A clean-up of legacy codebases.
    • Upgrading the log-in infrastructure.
    • Release of the viewer log-in email modal, asking people to make sure they have a valid email address on file with LL.

In Brief

Also refer to the video.

Marketplace

  • Question to attendees:  if you were a merchant, which Marketplace page would you like to have responsive and would be the most useful to you? currently, Search and listing pages are responsive.
    • This got side-tracked somewhat be a request for data on the number of Mobile users using the Marketplace and questioning why Mobile users would want to have access to the Marketplace, given “they can’t wear anything” (so what? I frequently brose the MP via my PC’s browser without having the viewer running; doesn’t stop me from buying stuff for later, even if I cannot wear it when using my browser; the same is likely true for established users on Mobile).
    • In terms of Mobile responsiveness and merchants – would a merchant use Mobile to manage their listings, etc., over logging-in via their desktop / laptop and managing their stores?
    • A broader preference was expressed for the consumer experience on on Mobile to be more responsive.
  • The Variants / Style work – allowing one listing to have all the colour options for an item – which under Reed Linden’s time at the Lab was a focus to the point of being promised at the “first deployment” in 2023 – appeared to ultimately get swallowed by a black hole. There may be a (further) move to get it back onto the roadmap.
  • A discussion on providing the cost of items in two currencies on MP listing – L$ and local currency (or USD), the idea being to put how much items in SL cost in real terms to help new users. There are complexities to this.
  • Suggestions for the  “Related Items” in listings  should also have:
    • A “Quick Buy” button to add them to the shopping cart without having to open the actual listing and then add it.
    • A “Quick Demo” button to obtain the demo of an item (if the creator provides one) without having to go to the main listing and then click on the demo link and then add the demo to the shopping cart.
    • Both of these options could also be added to Search results as well, allowing people to click through a list of search returns and add the items they want to their cart.

General

  • Question to attendees: which web property would you like to see all nicely polishing and “finished”? Maps was inevitably referenced (as was having the SL Map on the viewer splash screen – which is most certainly a non-trivia project to undertake, together with specific pages in the MP and web search.
    • My preference would be for the Second Life dashboard to be overhauled (elements made more directly accessible, navigation improved, use of drop-downs for things like Groups and Friends lists, options for better input from LL – such as “mini posts” offered as pop-ups within the dashboard, as was once the case, etc.). The dashboard is a core centre for information but looks terribly dated in layout.
  • Canny often receives suggestion for new Canny categories. Should these be submitted individually or as a “group” of suggestions? Group them.
  • It is unlikely that Web User Group meetings will move to a more frequent cadence than once a month as some have requested (ironically, they have also stated other meetings can be “dry” – possibly as a result of them being held too frequently, leaving some meetings with little to discuss).
  • Several subjective opinions were expressed:
    • Banning gacha because “I don’t like them” (so don’t use them – and let those who do carry on).
    • No icons in MP category listings because “I hate them”. Well, they serve an accessibility purpose and are cross-language –  although subjectively, I’d personally like to see some of them made more relevant to their category – what has a figure apparently hanging by one hand from an invisible branch have to do with “Apparel”? Why not an icon an actual item of apparel – pants or a shirt or a dress? If people have to decode an icon by reading its label, then the point of the icon is lose.
    • The icons discussion led to a suggestion that LL should see if descriptions / definitions could be added to categories, so that a mouseover or click would display them.
  • A general discussion on whether gacha items are “use items” or not (yes and no) and to whom the gacha market is aimed.
  • Various discussions on payment methods and other topics in the last third of the meeting.
  • Whilst not a topic for this meeting, it was suggested that the SL URL create.secondlife.com is confusing, suggesting it is for general content creation, whereas the actual portal to which it resolves is focused solely on SLua / LSL scripting(why not script.secondlife.com?).

Next Meeting

  • Wednesday, March 4th, 2026.

An artistic tapestry of love in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Akimori, February 2026 – Mareea Farrasco: Tapestry

Currently open at the Akimori, a part of the Akipelago complex operated by Akiko Kinoshi (A Kiko), is an exhibition by the talented Mareea Farresco. It is entitled Tapestry, with the subtitle Medieval Fantasy.

Presenting nineteen images, this is a narrative exhibition, unfolding a story of a maiden and her encounter with a travelling troubadour in medieval times. Mixing images of landscapes with images of avatars, the images are designed to be viewed in a specific order, starting with the image of cathedral, located on the far left of the information board listing the names of all 19 pieces. From here, the story progresses past the introductory board and on around the worlds of the exhibition space.

Akimori, February 2026 – Mareea Farrasco: Tapestry

Thus, the pictures progress from the cathedral and through the streets of a medieval town, their ordering suggestive of a walk taken by the maiden, out of the town and past the tall towers and strong walls of a Norman-style castle standing proud on a hill. As they continue around the walls, the pictures introduce us to the maiden with a subtle hit of her love of music, before moving on to her encounter with the troubadour and the blossoming of an apparent relationship – one which we instinctively know will not last.

The images themselves are beautifully processed to give the appearance of paintings produced if not within the period of the story, then possibly by one of the great masters of the renaissance period, the start of which overlapped the end of the medieval. This is particularly true of the images of the unnamed town and its guardian castle, all of which are rich in detail, capturing moments in time. The images of the maiden and her troubadour are equally engaging avatar studies, vividly telling the tale of love and loss (or is that perhaps abandonment?)  and the inevitable hurt and loss.

Akimori, February 2026 – Mareea Farrasco: Tapestry

In this, Tapestry appears to offer a story within a story: just how genuine is the troubadour in his feelings for the maiden? Is it a genuine love, or the opportunity for a dalliance as he goes about his travels, singing his songs to whomever will pay him, staying only so long in any one place as meets his needs before his inevitable wanderlust causes him to move on? From the perspective of the maiden, their relationship is real, and she is clearly heartbroken following his adieu and departure. From this, our imagination might build a number of possible tales within the tale, adding a personal depth to the images.

With the exhibition space decorated to match the tone of the images, Tapestry is an engaging and expression exhibition, ideal for art lovers and storytellers.

Akimori, February 2026 – Mareea Farrasco: Tapestry

SLurl Details

2026 week #6: SUG meeting summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
Whithermere, January 2026 – blog post

The following notes were taken from the Tuesday, February 3rd, 2026 Simulator User Group (SUG) meeting. These notes form a summary of the items discussed, and are not intended to be a full transcript. They were taken from the video recording by Pantera, embedded at the end of this summary – my thanks to Pantera 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 is held every other Tuesday at 12:00 noon, SLT (holidays, etc., allowing), per the Second Life Public Calendar.
  • The “SUG Leviathan Hour” meetings are held on the Tuesdays which do not have a formal SUG meeting, and are chaired by Leviathan Linden. They are more brainstorming / general discussion sessions.
  • Meetings are held in text in-world, at this location.

Simulator Deployments

  • Tuesday, February 3rd, 2026:  the SLS Main channel simhosts were restarted without any deployments.
  • Wednesday, February 4th, 2026:
    • Simulator release 2026.01 (Kiwi) should be deployed to the BlueSteel and preflight RC channels.
    • All remaining Release Candidate channels will be restarted without any deployment.
    • A new server-side SLua update will be deployed to the SLua Beta regions. This will support a new permission “PERMISSION_PRIVILEGED_LAND_ACCESS”, allowing the llSetParcelForSale function to be used (and potentially other parcel settings in the future), but will require a viewer-side SLua update.
  • The simulator release to follow that – 2026.02 – has been given the code-name of Loganberry, but it’s too early in development for details to be provided.

In Brief

Please also refer to the video, below.

  • Leviathan Linden had two announcements concerning his current work:
    1. He has a proposed resolution for the false error report when failed rez on mesh, whereby an attempt to rez from inventory onto some mesh surfaces result in a failure to rez and incorrect error message.
      • He describes the resolution as “a workaround hail mary” rather than an outright fix: if the first attempt fails, the serve will try again try again using the bounding box of the mesh object. See: also: Why can’t I rez on my mesh table/floor/bed in Coming to Firestorm soon… A couple of new features for builders and non-builders alike.
      • He further noted that during the rezzing request to the simulator, the viewer supplies a line segment: ray_start and ray_end, and it is possible that ray_start and ray_end might be insufficient to actually hit the mesh object’s collision shape when that shape is different from its visible shape.
      • The led to an on-going discussion in the meeting.
    2. He has also started a further look into issue #3469, comment 2819987122, whereby some uploaded assets have the incorrect number of faces on the server, and trying to set the textures on those faces appears to work on the viewer but a) if the object is cloned, the new clone doesn’t have the texture changes and / or b) the original object will revert to a pre-texture change state at a later date. He has an idea for a possible fix, but is not sure it will work, so wishes to test the idea before passing further comment.
  • Monty Linden indicated the annual simhost certification work is still in progress. He further noted:
    • The Kiwi release includes an update which should be highly compatible with the current certificates. But if anyone who has experienced issues with past certification updates should test on the Preflight or BlueSteel RC channels following the Wednesday deployment.
    • Current relevant expiration dates are: Agni – 23:59:59 GMT on March 13th, 2026; Aditi – 23:59:59 GMT on February 28th, 2026.
    • As per the last formal SUG meeting, he hopes to automate the recertification later in 2026, and the certification process will change slightly at that time.
  • Harold Linden has been “working on a lot of things surrounding SLua but not specifically SLua itself. These include:
    • Refactoring  the definitions repo where all LSL constants and functions and how they behave are documented, because the repo was becoming unwieldy. He passed on thanks to all those who have helped contribute to the repo.
    • Further work on the `require()` RFC. The new release that’s coming out won’t have any new features, but the release after that should have `table.append()` and `table.extend()`, and _maybe_ some of the SetPrimParam list-building wrappers., adding: “Basically, if you’ve noticed how annoying it is to build list for setprimparams, it’ll be much better with these changes. Hopefully.”
  • Roxie Linden gave an overview of recent WebRTC updates:
    • Most WebRTC improvements are going into the voice servers, so the simulators shouldn’t have and effect on WebRTC quality.
    • LL is working on spatialization improvements, which might be released as soon as this week.
    • The latest updates to the WebRTC server appear to have fixed the majority of crash issues.
    • March remains the tentative release month for grid-wide WebRTC, the the sawp-over occurring as a part of the normal simulator deployment cycles.
  • A broad discussion on scripted capabilities (e.g. giving inventory to attachments (possible) and deleting inventory from attachments (not possible); setting script pin from setlinkprimparams (on Rider’s personal roadmap); adding inventory operations for other prims in a linkset.
  • General disucasions:
    • SLua: it has (TimeProviderFactory.new():build()):askForTime() – equivalents to NUX time.now) a discussion on the SLua editor and its capabilities, SLua and HTTP.
    • LL is not currently carrying out any keyframe motion (KFM) work. This expanded into a general discussion on ideas for KFM work.
    • Ideas for better LOD performance.

Date of Next Meetings

  • Leviathan Linden: Tuesday, February 10th, 2026.
  • Formal SUG meeting: Tuesday, February 17th, 2026.

† 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.

2026 SL viewer release summaries week #5

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, January 2nd, 2026

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.
  • Outside of the Official viewer, and as a rule, alpha / beta / nightly or release candidate viewer builds are not included; although on occasions, exceptions might be made.

Official LL Viewers

  • Default viewer 2025.08 – 7.2.3.19375695301 – maintenance update with bug fixes and quality of life improvements – December 2 – No Change.
    • Notable addition: new VHACD-based convex decomposition library for mesh uploads.
  • Second Life Project Lua Editor Alpha viewer 7.2.3.19911032641, December 5 –  No Change.
  • Second Life Project Voice Moderation viewer 26.1.0.20139269477, December 12 – No Change.
    • Introduces the ability to moderate spatial voice chat in regions configured to use webRTC voice.
  • Second Life Project One Click Install viewer 26.1.0.21295806042, January 26, 2026 – one-click viewer installation – NEW.

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V7-style

  • Black Dragon for Windows –  5.5.2 February 2, 2026 – release notes.

V1-style

  • Cool VL viewer Stable: 1.32.4.19, February 1, 2026 – release notes.

Mobile / Other Clients

  • No updates.

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links

2026 week #5: SL CCUG and Open Source (TPVD) meetings summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
Hippotropolis Campsite: venue for CCUG meetings
The following notes were taken from:

  • My chat log of the Content Creation User Group (CCUG) meeting of Thursday, January 29th, 2026 and my chat log of that meeting
  • Pantera’s video (embedded at the end of this article) and my chat log of the Open-Source Developer (OSD) meeting held on Friday, January 30th, 2026.
Table of Contents

Please note that this is not a full transcript of either meeting but a summary of key topics.

Meeting Purpose

  • The CCUG meeting is for discussion of work related to content creation in Second Life, including current and upcoming LL projects, and encompasses requests or comments from the community, together with related viewer development work.
    • This meeting is generally held on alternate Thursdays at Hippotropolis and is held in a mix of Voice and text chat.
  • The OSD meeting is a combining of the former Third Party Viewer Developer meeting and the Open Source Development meetings. It is open discussion of Second Life development, including but not limited to open source contributions, third-party viewer development and policy, and current open source programs.
    • This meeting is generally held twice a month on a Friday, at 13:00 SLT at the Hippotropolis Theatre and is generally text chat only.
  • Dates and times of meetings are recorded in the SL Public Calendar.

Official Viewer Status

  • Default viewer 2025.08 – 7.2.3.19375695301 – maintenance update with bug fixes and quality of life improvements – December 2 – No Change.
    • Notable addition: new VHACD-based convex decomposition library for mesh uploads.
  • Second Life Project Lua Editor Alpha version 7.2.3.19911032641, December 5 –  No Change.
  • Second Life Project Voice Moderation viewer 26.1.0.20139269477, December 12 – No Change.
    • Introduces the ability to moderate spatial voice chat in regions configured to use WebRTC voice.
  • Second Life Project One Click Install viewer 26.1.0.21295806042, January 26, 2026 – one-click viewer installation.

Upcoming Viewers

Viewer 2026.01 – One-click Installer / Updater

  • Now available as an alpha viewer (above).
  • As the name suggests, triggers a one-click install / viewer update process.
  • Is still being worked on, with a focus on ironing out some kinks in the one click install, including an uninstaller for old non-velopack viewers that can be triggered when required, the usual registry stuff for Windows, and so on.
  • Also includes improved monitoring / logging of viewer freezes and crashes, etc.

Viewer 2026.02 – “Flat” UI, Font Changes

Example of the upcoming flat UI. Via: Geenz Linden / Github #4681/2
  • This viewer is to be part of the Lab’s “first impressions” push to make SL resonate more with incoming new users and hopefully encourage them to keep logging in.
  • Will include a new “flat” UI (as seen in the Project Zero (viewer in a browser) version) which comprises things like a font change, a colour scheme change,  and generally giving the viewer a more “modern” look and feel. This is not a major UI overhaul in terms of overall look and feel, more an aesthetic one.
  • Font changes within this viewer are currently described as “experimental”.
  • Also looking like it will include a log-in landing refresh.
Example of the upcoming flat UI. Via: Geenz Linden / Github #4681/2

General Viewer Notes

  • Work on clearing viewer bugs and implementing smaller feature requests into the viewer is continuing, so users can expect more of this, allowing for other priorities in viewer work.
  • On the viewer development side:
    • There should be some vcpkg movement in the near future. A Pull Request for this work via a third-party developer is apparently in progress, but will not be shipped immediately on approval. Rather, it will be allowed “soak time” so other developers can assess impact on their build pipelines downstream and the like.
    • There will also be some CMake project changes, although these appear to be more of a “modernization” push, to bring CMake in the viewer into line current CMake project norms.
  • LL is contemplating bringing back viewer maintenance releases to try to encourage some TPVs to pick-up bug fixes and incorporate them faster into their viewers (rather than waiting for a major viewer update which includes bug fixes to get to release status and then merging them).
    • If this is done, the maintenance releases will be “much smaller in scope” than past maintenance updates (so a kind of taking bug fixes that are flowing into upcoming major viewer releases, cherry picking them and then QA’ing and releasing them as a small update to the viewer.
    • Those TPVs at the meeting indicated this could either add to their workload or that they would not alter their existing workflow due to overheads, but instead will continue to cherry-pick upstream fixes as a part of their own release cycles.
  • In response to questions on whether Kitty Barnett’s RLVa code contributions will be included in the official viewer (and which are currently pending fixes she has submitted for RLVa avatar appearance fixes anyway), Geenz Linden stated:
If we did, it’d likely be a very progressive and targeted thing that we do. And hopefully not in a way that significantly makes downstream more difficult to maintain. It’s a longer discussion that needs to be had basically. 
    • This led to concerns that LL could end up implementing a variant of  RLVa that is at odds with the current RLV/RLVa API, and effectively end up being ignored for being incompatible. In response, Geenz further noted:
I’d prefer one that everyone can participate in if we do go that route so we can be more targeted with others helping to guide that. Last thing we want to do is make it take 7 months to ship a TPV just because we made a change to RLVa. We also have to consider overall content compatibility and such.
  • Also as per the last meeting, official Linux support is aligned with the in-progress SLua viewer .

“First Impressions” Context

  • This work is focused on trying to ease that first experience for a lot of new residents to try and drive up retention numbers.
  • The work is seen more-or-less as experimentation at this point in time, but the goal is to drive up first day engagement among incoming new users to encourage them to continue to log-in to SL.
  • Work on this is on multiple fronts, and more will be shared on it in due course.

Grid-Wide WebRTC Deployment

  • The Lab is currently looking at a March deployment of WebRTC voice across the grid, but this is subject to possible change.
  • The viewer server is currently in a beta soak test (see: WebRTC Voice Open Beta is Expanding).
  • The last major server crash has been fixed, and there have been none since that fix went in.
  • There is an upcoming fix – see Pull Request #5322  (included in viewer 2026.01) – to address some of the issues with voice dropping. The recommendation is for TPVs to get this into their viewers for a good user experience.
  • An upcoming server-side update will hopefully address some of the issues with WebRTC spatialisation (e.g. voice volume varying greatly with even small camera position movements on the part of a listener).
  • Additional connection tweaks for WebRTC have been made to the 2026.01 viewer to help improve voice performance (e.g. to improve auto-reconnect).
  • Feedback on people’s experiences with WebRTC is still being sought (notably via the beta testing).

SLua Update

  • An update to the SLua project viewer is forthcoming.
  • As noted above, this will bring with it support for Linux
  • Still no confirmation as to when SLua will go live across SL

General Discussion

OSD Meeting

  • SSR and PBR water real time reflections and shadows: Geenz indicated that work is progressing on this and that when available, it will be given “a proper” alpha/beta/Release Candidate process.

  • The was noted that whilst improvements on SSR and PBR water reflections are being made, they will never 100% match pre-PBR views without a lot of work being put into optimisation, what would likely still result in mixed feedback without any significant win.
  • This led to a general discussion on addressing water reflections and shadows.

CCUG Meeting

  • PBR lighting: still on the list of potential updates, but requires “quite a few” server-side changes in order for it to happen.
    • The existing SL lighting system has a range of constraints dating back 20+ years, and so would require significant modification in order to enable PBR lighting support.
    • As such, this is currently viewed as being on the back burner for the foreseeable future, while other things are worked on.
  • A question was asked on whether it would be possible for an Animesh using only ten bones in total to have a lower Land Impact / rendering cost than one rigged to 10 out of the 110 bones of the default skeleton. Short answer: no, not without custom rigs.
  • Custom rigs themselves are acknowledged as something SL should have, but the work involved in enabling them is extensive and touches on multiple areas (e.g. re-targeting bones for clothing fits; re-targeting animations – and even a couple overhaul of the animation system -, etc.). There is also work to be carried out elsewhere that would yield benefits for things like quality of life which are of a higher priority. As such, custom rigs are not something currently on the roadmap.
  • In-world mesh creation tools: unlikely to be a thing, as the implementation would be costly in time and effort, and likely would not measure up to the capabilities of external tools like Blender.
  • It was asked if the import route for rigged meshes could be “streamlined” without the need for AvatarStar / MayaStar. Neither of these tool are actually a requirement for rigged mesh import / export, rather they are tools that can help with the process of rigging from within SL. Meshes that have been correctly rigged and weighted using external tools should import correctly through the current import mechanisms (COLLADA or glTF).
  • Overhauling the mesh import file format  / process through the support of something like OpenUSD is an idea that is being mulled over within the Lab. However, a) this is not something that is likely to be prioritised in the next 12 months; b) it is something that would require a lot more in the way of discussion before moving towards it; c) there is still work to be done in improving the import / export of currently supported formats before trying to add to them / replace them.
  • Materials import for meshes: this is something the Lab wanted to implement for glTF mesh import (rather than having to import materials separately).
    • However, due to the way in which asset uploads to SL work, it proved to be more a complex issue than first thought.
    • The hope is that the work can be returned to in the future, possibly using a new import flow that is more in line with other platforms and tools, but this is not something on the current roadmap.
  • PBR specular support: this is still something Geenz would personally like to get done, but it is currently sitting behind various other items which need to be completed / implemented in order to clear time for working on it. Also, this work does have impacts on things like the glTF upload validator, scripting, simulator support, managing glTF overrides (which are currently not well handled) etc., all of which would have to be factored into the work and which are outside of Geenz’s immediate responsibilities.
  • In terms of extending glTF support in general (PBR specular, IoR, etc.), the preference at the moment is to fix more of the existing issues / bugs within the existing PBR capabilities before adding further options.
  • The meeting was somewhat sidetracked by talk on the use of bots, ToS bot violations, Tiny Empires, etc., the majority of which are more of a Governance issue.

Next Meetings