Kawaii City, February 2023 – blog post
The following notes were taken from m y audio recording and chat log transcript of the TPV Developer (TPVD) meeting held on Friday, April 14th 2023 at 13:00 SLT.Meeting Overview
The TPV Developer meeting provides an opportunity for discussion about the development of, and features for, the Second Life viewer, and for Linden Lab viewer developers and third-party viewer (TPV) / open-source code contributors to discuss general viewer development.
Maintenance T RC viewer, version 6.6.11.579154, April 6th.
Performance Floater / Auto FPS RC viewer updated to version 6.6.11.579238, April 4th.
Maintenance S RC viewer, version 6.6.11.579153, March 31st.
Project viewers:
PBR Materials project viewer, version 7.0.0.579401, April 11 – This viewer will only function on the following Aditi (beta grid) regions: Materials1; Materials Adult and Rumpus Room 1 through 4.
Puppetry project viewer, version 6.6.8.576972, December 8, 2022.
Future Viewer Notes
Inventory thumbnails viewer: work is progressing well, however as well as viewer changes and additions to the inventory database (the latter of which has been completed), it will require updates to the Avatar Inventory System (AIS) and a simulator update, so the will be no project or RC viewer until this back-end work has been done.
Work has resumed on providing emoji support in the viewer (Oh, joy.). This work is based on a contribution from the Catznip viewer.
The viewer has been updated, but is still at Project Viewer status.
A new dynamic exposure setting has been added to improve tone mapping.
Bug fixing work is continuing, and Brad Linden is working on getting PBR Materials to work more robustly over networks with heavy loads.
The hope is that the next viewer update will clear QA for release as an RC viewer, so that it will be available when the back-end / simulator support gets deployed to the Preflight simulator channel which Rider Linden hopes to achieve in week #16.
Making the PBR work more widely available by enabled Agni (Main grid) support and moving the viewer to RC status is seen as a key test of how will the Graphics Team has managed to both support the PBR rendering and maintain the broad look and feel of SL as it appears under the current rendering.
Genesis is working on an update which will include and expanded Preferences, together with the ability to search Preferences.
A general discussion on a third-party viewer (Rust) that is in development, but not ready for prime-time, server-side rendering and a ringing of the memory bell for the Pelican (IIRC streaming viewer LL toyed with back in around 2007). Please refer to the video, below.
Nitroglobus Roof Gallery: JadeYu Flang – Sans Titre
Now open at Nitroglobus Roof Gallery, curated by Dido Haas, is an engaging exhibition of 2D and 3D art by JadeYu Fhang. This doesn’t actually say a lot, because the fact is, JadeYu never fails to engage the grey matter with her art; her work is constantly evocative and provocative, brining forth a narrative with which to draw her audience in.
However, this exhibition comes with a slight difference in terms of a deliberate haziness of intent on the part of the artist, a haziness intended to further engage the observer’s eyes and minds.
Nitroglobus Roof Gallery: JadeYu Flang – Sans TitreThis haziness starts with the exhibit’s title: Sans Titre (“Untitled”, or if you prefer, “Without Title”), which as JadeYu notes, is an intentional step so as not to sway visitors with preconceptions ahead of arriving at the gallery and witnessing the work first hand. This haziness then continues through the works themselves, the intention being to leaving interpretation of at least the 2D elements to the eyes and thoughts of the beholder.
Which is not to say there is not a central theme running through this exhibition, or that it is in any way random in content or execution. Rather the reverse: the theme is made clear; however, the artist’s intent it more about using the theme as a basic framework with which to allow us to view the works and generate our own understandings of the drawings presented, rather than have the images serve to underscore the theme itself.
Nitroglobus Roof Gallery: JadeYu Flang – Sans Titre
This actually brings me to an awkward crux: how best to offer insight into Sans Titre without impinging my own (and ultimately subjective) description of that theme, and thus colouring your reaction to the images and 3D sculptures? As such, this review is a little more circumspect than my usual offerings relating to exhibitions at Nitroglobus, as I’d rather try to keep JadeYu’s desire to provide a framework of theme, rather than direct people to specifics – so I’ll minimise things by quoting her own words:
Let’s call it a matter of violence inside bodies, facial expressions (3D) leading to the intention of erasing the other person, as suggested in the images (2D). The papers around the women? These papers indicate words, insults and other ignominy which are thrown in women’s faces throughout their lifes. Words loaded with hatred and violence “the killing words”. Nothing is written on the papers… it’s up to you to imagine what could be there.
Why women?
They are like the symbol, the mirror of those who through a brutality, a destructive will seek to destroy. To destroy everything that in no way corresponds to fluidity and natural roundness. Flexibility and openness is not the order of the day, the preference is for the square shape and it must be respected, locking up any will to exist outside the frame.
– JadeYu Flang
Nitroglobus Roof Gallery: JadeYu Flang – Sans Titre
With those words to guide you, I’m go to say anything else, other than to say that – again as is usual with JadeYu’s work – San Titre is stunningly visual in both the 2D and 3D art presented. Instead, I’ll leave you to pay a visit and both witness and cogitate JadeYu’s work and the realities it explores, for yourself.
The following notes were taken from the Tuesday, April 11th 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, April 11th, the SLS Main channel servers were re-started without any update.
On Wednesday, April 12th the majority of the RC simhosts should be updated with simulator release 579248, matching the release previously deployed to the BlueSteel RC.
Upcoming Simulator Releases
As soon as it clears QA, the simulator support for PBR Materials will be deployed to a limited RC channel – most likely Preflight. This will be ahead of the viewer moving to RC status, but will allow users on the PBR project viewer to test content without having to necessarily log onto the Beta grid.
An upcoming pair of simulator releases currently going through QA focus on a range of bug fixes, including:
Spurious errors from llSetKeyFrameMotion.
Collisions between vehicles and their riders on a region crossing.
The bad throttle on llReturnObjectsByOwner (as raised in the previous SUG meeting).
Avatar on-line/off-line notification issues (which comprise multiple issues, and LL have attempted to fix as many as possible).
A further simulator update focused on region crossing improvements is in development, but as of this meeting, there was no ETA on when it will go to QA or be ready for deployment.
Viewer Updates
Release viewer: Maintenance R viewer, version 6.6.10.579060, dated March 28, promoted March 30th.
Maintenance T RC viewer, version 6.6.11.579154, April 6th.
Performance Floater / Auto FPS RC viewer updated to version 6.6.11.579238, April 4th.
Maintenance S RC viewer, version 6.6.11.579153, March 31st.
Project viewers:
PBR Materials project viewer, version 7.0.0.578921, April 6 – This viewer will only function on the following Aditi (beta grid) regions: Materials1; Materials Adult and Rumpus Room 1 through 4.
Puppetry project viewer, version 6.6.8.576972, December 8, 2022.
In Brief
See the video for:
A general discussion on region crossing bugs related to region crossings.
A discussion on security orbs.
A discussion on No-Mod items, the permission system and the pains caused by No Mod, and the potential to tweak No Mod (or offer a “No Mod(ish)” permission, so that users can still make small changes to No Mod objects (e.g. tinting), whilst allowing the creator to still “protect” their product.
For region restarts, Linden Lab is considering adding a capability that would automatically teleport avatars to a designated “alternate home” if their home location is unavailable at the time they try to TP out of a restarting region, and if the “alternate” is not available, then move them to a Safe area.
Photo Café, April 2023 – click any image for full size
I’m starting this piece with an apology. In early March, Kika Yongho dropped me a note card about her new parcel Photo Café, which had just opened at that time. With all that’s been going on in the past month, the note card slipped down my “to visit” list to the point where I didn’t get around to popping along until Easter, a month after I’d received the invitation to visit.
Occupying a little under a quarter of a Full region utilising the private region Land Capacity bonus, Photo Café is defined as a place where Second Life photographers can socialise and participate in moderated text chat about all things related to photography and photographic art in Second Life. The location – and its related group ~ Photo Café – Photographers ~ is operated by Kika Yongho, Duraya Resident, Kapaan Resident and DaneAlbion Resident.
Photo Café, April 2023
The setting is open to all to visit, with visits commencing on a sky platform where acceptance of the local Experience is required to progress. It sits as a disused railway cutting arcing between two tunnels in what might be a rain forest style of environment and with the second of the tunnels forming the teleport point to the ground on attempting to walk through it after accepting the local Experience.
The teleport leads to the “mouth” of the tunnel at ground level. Primarily designed by Violette Rembrandt and SL partner Lucifer Morningstar – the couple behind the Wonderland 2.0, a place I wrote about in November 2022 – the setting continues the tropical / rain forest theme whilst folding into it a sense of fantasy and other-worldliness in which strange giant fungi and floating islands vie with tall trees, tumbling falls, all watched over by a full Moon and a ringed planet under a blue, star-spangled sky.
Photo Café, April 2023
Central to the setting is a huge and ornate gazebo – the unmistakable work of Elicio Ember – which serves as the focal point for meetings and discussions, its floor area circled by chairs and sofas, the rule of debate / discussion mounted on boards. A small art garden forms the centrepiece to the gazebo whilst the columns and upper reaches are draped in vines and plants, helping it to blend into the surrounding landscape.
Within this space is a little secret, one that continues the fantasy theme. It’s not entirely obvious in nature. In fact when I cammed around the meeting area and saw what lay under it, I anticipated the teleport would lead down to it; so I was intrigued when I found myself high up in the sky, standing within one of Desert Blossom’s Void Dreamscape scene rezzing environments and a choice of over 40 scenes waiting to be rezzed. Getting back to ground level from the Dreamscape also had me a little mystified, as I didn’t spot any obvious teleport (although I did find the Flower Gate leading outside), so resorted to using Firestorm’s Teleport History to drop back down to the ground.
Photo Café, April 2023
Oh? What’s that? How do you find the way to the Dreamscape? I’ll let you find that for yourself. All I’ll say is, ladders that appear to go down through holes may in fact go up. Also, remember, teleports here are experience enabled, so you may want to try walking on / through the ladder, rather than trying to touch-teleport (I had to bump into it a couple of times for it to work). How the scenes might be used is a matter of choice – but they do make interesting photography backdrops.
As well as the gazebo, with its curtain of waterfalls backing it, the location offers other places to sit and relax, including a beach house and – sitting high-and-dry on the rocks – an aged submarine.
Photo Café, April 2023
I gather discussion groups are held every two weeks, on Saturdays at a noon SLT, with the most recent having been on April 8th. More information on the location and the group can also be found at the Photo Café website, where information on events and transcripts of past discussions can also be found by those interested in joining the group.
Once again, apologies to Kika for not writing about Photo Café any sooner.
Logos representative only and should not be seen as an endorsement / preference / recommendation
Updates from the week through to Sunday, April 9th, 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
Release viewer: Maintenance R viewer, version 6.6.10.579060, dated March 28, promoted March 30th – NO CHANGE.
Maintenance T(ranslation) RC viewer, version 6.6.11.579154, April 6.
Performance Floater / Auto FPS RC viewer updated to version 6.6.11.579238, April 4th.
Project viewers:
glTF / PBR Materials viewer, version 7.0.0.579401, April 10 – This viewer will only function on the following Aditi (beta grid) regions: Materials1; Materials Adult and Rumpus Room 1 through 4.
Cover Second Life front-end web properties (Marketplace, secondlife.com, the sign-up pages, the Lab’s corporate pages, etc.).
They are not intended for the discussion of Governance issues, land fees / issues, content creation & tools, viewer or simulator development / projects. Please refer to the SL calendar for information on available meetings for these topics.
A video of the meeting, courtesy of Pantera, can be found embedded at the end of this article (my thanks to her as always!), and subject timestamps to the relevant points in the video are provided. Again, the following is a summary of key topics / discussions, not a full transcript of everything mentioned.
Marketplace
Recent Updates and General Notes
There have been changes made to Marketplace Search. For example:
Now, by default (and assuming no search terms have been entered), displaying a merchant’s store page will list their products by newest first).
Merchant and Store names are no longer included in the Product search, but are now apply considered when using the dedicated search tab.
Some of these updates have caused confusion, so an official blog post has been published to explain them and the reasoning behind them.
These changes, and those noted below, are being actively monitored by LL, and further adjustments may be made based on the metrics they are seeing / feedback from Merchants / consumers.
In addition:
The checkout cart has been updated to allow up to 99 list items to be stored in it (the previous limit was 10).
The cap on the total number of search returns, implemented with the last set of Search updates (a total of 50 pages of results) has been rolled back, so that Search will now list all results matching a given search.
Unless Boolean, etc., operators are used in entering search terms, Search will now attempt to string together words entered into it and search based on the string (e.g. so whereas entering “blue shirt” would previously have listed items matching “blue” or “shirt”, it will now attempt to limit results to results which have “blue” and “shirt” in their descriptions.
Upcoming Changes
“Marketplace spring cleaning” is about to start.
This means that if a merchant has not logged-in to the MP for two years, and they have listings which have not seen any sales in the part year, those items will be unlisted.
Similarly, if the Merchant has not logged-in in two years and nothing has been sold through their MP store in the past year, the entire store will be unlisted.
This work will be blogged about by the Lab as the work starts.
E-mail verification: thus far, e-mail verification has not been a requirement for Merchants to use the Marketplace. This will be changing so that e-mail verification will be a requirement. Again, this will be subject to a blog announcement as it comes in.
LL is looking at ways to make keywords more effective and reduce the amount of keyword abuse / spamming; however no decisions on direction with this has yet been reached.
In Brief
Requests for MP changes:
Add a “date listed” field to all MP listings (and possibly a “date updated” field).
Put a mechanism in place to prevent people using the Buy Now button when trying to buy an item as a gift for someone else (e.g. a warning that it does not apply to purchasing gifts).
Allowing “sub-stores” wherein Merchants who produce products of different types / for different markets can list their products in “sub-stores” under their main brand without the need to create avatar account to run individual stores. This is something that has been requested numerous times, and LL has previously indicated as something that could be considered, although the idea seems to have been lost along the way.
As an alternative to this, it was suggested that Merchants should have the means to categories products in their stores (e.g. have a dedicated category for discounts / special offers customers can easily reference without have to search the entire store.
BUG-233043 “On the Marketplace Opengraph Metadata tags no longer work” – this prevents the sharing of links to products on various social media platforms from including previews on the item, with only the URL being displayed. It has been a problem since the end of 2022, and was raised again in a request for the Lab to look into it.
Those attending the meeting were asked for thoughts on customers being able to leave product reviews without any verification that had actually purchased the product.
This was largely seen as a bad idea, due to the potential for malicious comments / griefing.
However, there is a possible use-case here in that it allows users purchasing a product in-world to leave a review where otherwise they have no public voice – although with CasperVend now owned by Linden Lab, and the promise of integration between the two, this might offer a path to allow purchases made via CasperVend vendors to be flagged as “verified” and thus allow their review on the MP.
The length of MP URLs and difficulty in using them – together with requests for LL to provide a means of shortening them was discussed.
The question was raised as to the Destination Guide either being properly curated so that non-existent locations could be removed – or a means provided to allow users report those locations they find no longer exist in SL (or at least as the given region). This is something that will be passed back to the Destination Guide team.
Next Meeting
Wednesday, May 3rd, 2023. Venue and time per top of this summary.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 