Category: Second Life

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

Luane’s Magical World in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Luane’s Magical World, May 2023 – click ay image for full size

I had not intended to write about two fantasy / magical places in Second Life one after the other, however, after visiting Xanadu Forest (see: The mystical magic of Xanadu Forest in Second Life), I found that a trip to LauneMeo’s wonderful environments, this time to visit Luane’s Magical World, her most recent creation on her Homestead region, Le Monde Magique.

Luane’s Magical World, May 2023

Luane has a well-deserved reputation for producing engaging, romantic and photogenic environments – and that is the case with Magical Worlds, a place where dragons and alicorns and albino elephants wander the shallow waters under the watchful eyes of giant translucent tubers and silvan trees and fae folk flits and sit upon plants and under the shade of trees in green and pink blossoms rising from a lush carpet of grass.

Luane’s Magical World, May 2023

This is a place of serene beauty, a garden of many faces and many spaces, the first all awaiting discovery, the second all offering places in which to retreat and spend time. The primary landmass forms a circular island sitting in the south-east quarter of of the region. Home to the landing point as it sits overlooking crystal waters bounded on their far side by the silvered wetlands.

Luane’s Magical World, May 2023

While the waters are protected by transparent surfaces making them walkable, to maintain the illusion of the setting, easiest way across the water is to take the ice0like stones as they form a path around the water’s edge and along the wetlands – although beware the odd alicorn also wandering the path.

To describe this setting is really an exercise in futility; it more than speaks for itself. Just be sure to take the time to seek out everything awaiting to be found here – there is likely to be more than a casual wander and camming around might reveal. As such, I don’t plan to say more here; instead I’ll simply leave some further images to offer a shallow reflection of Luane’s creativity in the hope they will encourage you to go and see for yourself. You are unlikely to be disappointed.

Luane’s Magical World, May 2023

 

Luane’s Magical World, May 2023

 

Luane’s Magical World, May 2023

SLurl Details

2023 Raglan Shire Artwalk in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Raglan Shire Artwalk, 2023

Raglan Shire, Second Life’s Tiny community, has once again opened its doors to people from across the grid as participating artists and visitors are invited to the Raglan Shire Artwalk 2023.

This year, the the event runs from Sunday, May 14th, through until Sunday, June 18th, 2023, inclusive. It  offers an opportunity not just to appreciate a huge range of art from both the physical and digital worlds, but to also tour the Shire regions and enjoy the hospitality of the Raglan Shire community.

A non-juried exhibition, the Artwalk is open to any artist wishing to enter, and has minimal restrictions on the type of art displayed (one of the most important being all art is in keeping with the Shire’s maturity rating). All of this means that it offers one of the richest mixes of SL art displayed within a single location in Second Life, with 2D art is displayed along the hedgerows of the Shire’s pathways and tree platforms overhead and 3D art among the community’s parks.

Raglan Shire Artwalk, 2023

2022 attracted 150 artists, and 2023 is set to match that number, with many artists participating for the first time. As such, the  depth and range of art on display is guaranteed to keep visitors exploring the paths and walks around and through the hedgerows – and if walking proves a little much, there are always the Shire’s tours to ease the load on the feet, together with the teleport boards to help move visitors swiftly around and through the different display areas. But that said, I do recommend exercising your pedal extremities and doing at least some of your exploration on foot – just keep in mind people do have their homes in the regions as well.

Given the number of artists involved, there isn’t a published list of participants, but anyone interested in the world of SL art is bound to recognise many of the names of the artists here. The Artwalk is also a marvellous way to see art from both our physical and digital worlds and for catch artists both familiar and new to your eye. Just don’t try to see it all at once; the Artwalk is open for a month, which gives plenty of time for browsing and appreciating the art without feeling overloaded.

Raglan Shire Artwalk, 2023 – shameless self-promotion…

SLurl Details

All of the Raglan Shire Artwalk regions are rated General)

2023 week #19: SL TPVD meeting summary (PBR terrain)

Posted on by Inara Pey
Dragonfly, March 2023 – blog post
The following notes were taken from my audio recording and chat log transcript of the TPV Developer (TPVD) meeting held on Friday, May 12th 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.
  • As a rule, these meetings are:
    • Generally held once a month  the third or fourth Friday, at 13:00 SLT at the Hippotropolis Theatre. See the SL Public Calendar for specific meeting dates.
    • Open to all with an interest in viewer development.
    • Conducted in a mix of text and voice.
  • The notes herein are drawn from a mix of my own chat log and audio recording of the meeting, and are not intended to be a full transcript.

Official Viewers Status

General Viewer Notes

  • Inventory thumbnails viewer: work is progressing and a public-facing viewer should be available in the “not too distant future”.
    • The viewer-side work to support emojis is now more-or-less complete, and release of any project viewer is pending some additional back-end work.
  • There will be changes coming to the Second Life System Requirements, minimum specifications:
    • Mac OSX will be set at version 11.
    • Window 32-bit is liable to be dropped.
  • LL is close to completing the move of viewer builds to Github Actions. This has involved getting many of the 3rd party libraries for the viewer updated and refreshing all build dependencies.
  • This work also means that the Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF) for media handling is being updated.

Terrain “Mini Project”

  • There is a project underway to provide PDR support for terrain.
  • The overall scope is not clear, but it apparently exploits an asset-checking weakness in the simulator code related to terrain, allowing the use of Materials asset IDs in place of the usual texture  IDs, allowing them to be applied to the ground.
  • 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.
  • It is hoped that this work will be available in a project viewer Soon™.

In Brief

  • PBR Materials mini-update:
    • Overall visual quality is pretty much where it will be when the viewer reaches formal release status.
    • There are still issues with rendering the sky – such as alpha glitching on the Sun. This is being worked on, but it is unlikely to see an imminent solution / viewer update.
    • Other known issues are also being worked on and progress is being made in clearing them.
  • A general discussion of the on-line  / off-line friends issues (frequently raised t the Server User Group meetings) – see BUG-232037 “Avatar Online Offline Status Not Correctly Updating”. As per notes from that meeting, the UDP fix does not appear to have had the desired impact in helping to reduce the issue, and LL are looking at the matter again.
  • A lot of general chat on WIP regarding PBR Materials and reflection probes, most of it relating to issues likely to be addressed – please refer to the video.
  • A general discussion on possible standards for avatar “metaverse interoperability” which runs through the latter half of the meeting. As a theoretical discussion rather than something LL is working on, please refer to the video.
  • There is also some further discussion on the Puppetry project, however, this will form an addendum to my recent Puppetry Project meeting summary, as it is more relevant there.

 Next Meeting

  • Friday, June 9th, 2023.