Logos representative only and should not be seen as an endorsement / preference / recommendation
Updates from the week ending Sunday, May 22nd, 2022
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: version version 6.5.5.571282, – formerly the MFA RC viewer, dated April 26, promoted Wednesday, May 4th – No change.
Release channel cohorts:
Performance Improvements RC viewer updated to version 6.6.0.571939, on May 20th.
Serene Footman continues his renewed region design partnership with Jade Koltai, with the two opening their latest offering to Second Life users on May 21st, this one taking us deep into Mexico and the ghostly settlement of Ojuela.
Located within the state of Durango, Ojuela initially gained some notoriety in the 17th century as a place where gold and silver could be found, both having been discovered there by Spanish prospectors in 1598. However, it was the discovery of assorted minerals – some 177 different types in all, including adamite, calcite, legardite, rosasite and fluorite – that really spurred the mining operations in the area.
Ojuela, May 2022
By the 19th century, mining operations had given rise to a small settlement on the mountain housing the the mine, and this underwent significant expansion as miners tbrought their families to settle with them and a railhead was established for transporting mined minerals to nearby Mapimí.
It was at the end of the 19th century that the town’s most famous landmark – and focal point for Jade and Serene’s build – was constructed. This is the impressive Ojuela Bridge, designed by Wilhelm Hildenbrand. With a span of 271.5 metres, on completion in 1898 it was the world’s the third longest suspension bridge. However, by the time it was completed mining at Ojuela – now under the control of the Peñoles mining company (today the second largest mining conglomerate in Mexico) – was starting to experience increasing issues with shafts flooding and waning mineral deposits.
The Mexican Revolution of 1910-1920 did not help with production at the mine, and following the end of the fighting, Peñoles opted to withdraw, leasing the mine back to local miners. However, by the early 1930s, with the mine suffering from severe flooding and the accessible mineral veins exhausted, Ojuela was abandoned, bringing to an end around 350 years of continuous mining which had yielded 6 million tons of thoroughly oxidised ore carrying 90 million ounces of silver, 0.6 million ounces of gold and 1.8 billion pounds of lead.
With the mine abandoned the town was left to nature, and today little remains. However, the Ojuela Bridge has been luckier. A major restoration project was started in the late 1980s, culminating in it being fully restored and re-opened as a pedestrian bridge (and tourist attraction) in 1991.
Ojuela, May 2022
Given they only have a single region to work within, Serene and Jade have – as always – captured the core essence of their subject perfectly, blending the region with a surround to offer a real sense of being in a mountainous setting. From the massive bridge gantries – built be Serene – through to the surrounding peaks, they’ve taken a huge amount of care to offer an engaging mix of physical fidelity at scale with the original setting and a degree of artistic licence.
Fore example, the remnants of the Ojuela township, are perhaps more complete here than in the physical world Ojuela, where they are referred to as “ruins” and “foundations” – but this adds to the attractiveness of Jade and Serene’s Ojuela, allowing visitors to gather a sense of how it might have appears in the years following the immediate abandonment.
Ojuela, May 2022
The bridge itself cleverly uses Serene’s own work and commercially-available bridge elements and is simply a masterpiece, spanning as it does the deep gorge that comes complete with the shadowy entrance to a cave (or older mineshaft) that can also bee seen in many photographs taken around the actual bridge. The model fully captures the cabling of the original and the sensation evoked when crossing it is such that all it needs is a couple of materials surfaces to allow the natural creaking of wood in response to walking on the boards together with the susurration of a breeze through the cables, as one would definitely have the sensation of crossing the actual bridge.
As is usual for the team’s work, Ojuela includes multiples places to sit and appreciate the setting, together with local wildlife and the use of a gentle soundscape to add definition and depth to a visit.
Ojuela, May 2022
Admittedly, I’ve opted from a brighter daylight setting with the images here than has been created for Ojuela, the region’s environment being more of a twilight nature, but this shouldn’t put you off visiting: Serene’s and Jade’s work is always richly engaging and rewarding to see whilst it remains available to appreciate.
Vibes Gallery: Almost Blue(s) – Anaya Oneiro and Tutsy Navarathna
Almost Blue(s) is an ensemble exhibition featuring the work of 16 artists brought together in the gallery spaces at Vibes Gallery, curated by Eviana (eviana Robbiani).
The introduction to the exhibition speaks pretty much for itself – and is expanded upon in the halls itself.
Because blue is favoured by so many people, it is often seen as a non-threatening colour that can seem conservative and traditional. Blue brings to mind feelings of calm or serenity. It is often described as peaceful, tranquil, secure and orderly. Blue is often seen as a sign of stability and reliability.
Vibes Gallery: Almost Blue(s) – Peachy Holst, Hermes Kondor and Kiron
The artists participating in the exhibition comprise:
Theatre 7: Kimeu Korg, Meilo Minotaur, Shane Spero, Sonic and Karma Weymann.
Theatre 9: Mya Audebarn, Evie Heights, Matt Marcus, Jo Molinaro, Ooxooi and Cate Vogel.
The majority of the artists offer two or three images that encompass the overall blue theme, with the majority of the images taking the form of avatar studies, some of which use blue tinting / lighting to convey a mood / emotion (as with Jo Molinaro. Mya Audebarn or Anaya Oneiro) or offer a narrative frame for a story (e.g. Matt Marcus or Tutsy Navarathna). Some sway toward broader tonal pieces to convey emotion / ideas (e.g. Kiron or Ooxooi), whilst all offer an engaging and richly diverse series on pieces that demonstrate individual talents to the fullest.
Vibes Gallery: Almost Blue(s) – Mya Audebarn, Cate Vogel and Jo Molinaro
Adding a sense of emotion and depth to each of the theatres are additional words – the lyrics from Almost Blue by Elvis Costello, the represents of music through the colour blue – or, if you prefer, the description of the tones musical instruments in terms of the colour blue -, which serve to add a further layer of interpretation to the pieces on display.
With pieces that both contract and compliment whilst reflecting and interpreting the central theme through multiple ideas, forms and narratives, Almost Blue(s) is an engaging exhibition set out within a gallery space that doesn’t leave you feeling overwhelmed by the pieces on display.
What The Buzz, May 2022 – click any image for full size
November 2022: What the Buzz has relocated. Willow Creek appears to have closed.
The Destination Guide led me to a little corner of Heterocera called What the Buzz. Designed by Emm (HeyEmm) and located within the larger Willow Creek National Park – a place I’ll be covering in more detail in a future piece.
What the Buzz is, to quote Emm:
An interactive bee/pollinator reserve. Wander the path and stop at the yellow signs to learn about the different ways that YOU can help save and protect our precious pollinator population. Try your hand at virtual farming with the DFS Community Garden or relax at Firefly Lake and take in all of the sights and sounds.
What The Buzz, May 2022
Bees are the major type of pollinator in many ecosystems that contain flowering plants; so important that of the estimated one-third of the human food supply dependent on pollination actually receives it via bees, either wild or domesticated. They are thus a vital – if declining, due to a variety of reasons – role in the lifecycle of plants.
This and more is covered with What the Buzz, a walk through a garden-like setting, rich in plant life and areas in which visitors can learn about bees, their habitats, pollination, keeping bees, and more. Signs along the way can be touch for information, and – if they wish – also learn about the “Digital Farm System (DFS) through the What The Buzz Community Garden, where a number of vegetables, herbs and crops are being grown.
What The Buzz, May 2022
Located on the main trail that winds its way through Willow Creek National Park, What the Buzz can be explored on foot or via horseback (horse rezzer at the park’s main landing zone for those who don’t have their own to wear).
It is clear that Emm has taken considerable care in putting the setting together: areas of interest are clearly marked, and touch signs will either provide well-written information on bees and bee-keeping via note card or take you to website where further information can be obtained on helping bees in the physical world, such as creating your own pollinator garden.
What The Buzz, May 2022
At the same time, the garden spaces, located alongside an orchard, the park’s lake, offer opportunities for a careful walk within a Nature’s lap, places to sit and relax, and sits as a good place to start an exploration of the Willow Creek park as a whole
Rounded-out by a fitting soundscape, What the Buzz is a charming, informative and photogenic setting well worth visiting and wandering through – and I’ll be taking more of a look at the park as a whole in the near future, as noted!
The following notes were taken from my audio recording and chat log of the Content Creation User Group (CCUG) meeting held on Thursday, May 19th 2022 at 13:00 SLT. These meetings are chaired by Vir Linden, and their dates and times can be obtained from the SL Public Calendar.
This is a summary of the key topics discussed in the meeting and is not intended to be a full transcript.
Official Viewers Update
On Wednesday, May 18th, the Performance Improvements RC viewer updated to version 6.6.0.571869.
The rest of the official viewers remain as:
Release viewer: version version 6.5.5.571282, – formerly the MFA RC viewer, dated April 26, promoted Wednesday, May 4th – Non change.
Release channel cohorts:.
Makgeolli Maintenance RC viewer (Maintenance M) viewer, version 6.5.6.571575, May 12.
Project viewers:
Performance Floater project viewer, version 6.5.4.571296, May 10.
Mesh Optimizer project viewer, version 6.5.2.566858, dated January 5, issued after January 10.
Legacy Profiles viewer, version 6.4.11.550519, dated October 26, 2020.
Copy / Paste viewer, version 6.3.5.533365, dated December 9, 2019.
Materials and PBR Work
Please also see previous CCUG meeting summaries for further background on this work. In summary:
Three core elements of work:
Work on an implementation of reflection probes which can be used both with PDR shading and with legacy content. This formed the focus of this meeting.
The overall aim of this work is to provide a means to support more physically accurate reflections in SL than can be currently generated (seen as a requirement for PBR support).
It applies to both PBR generated content, once available, and to legacy content.
Foundational work in creating a materials type with an associated inventory asset, as per the week #16 meeting. This will initially comprise the ability to copy a texture entry (with its specific parameters) to inventory, to be followed by
Initial work to work implement a PBR graphics pipe in the viewer.
The viewer gets to work with 256 reflection probes, which take the form of spheres or boxes within a region.
Anything within a sphere or box will receive reflections from the cube map rendered from the centre of the sphere / box.
Some of these probes will be automatically placed in open areas of land where there are objects, etc., by the viewer.
Additional probes can be created by users using prims tagged as probes and placed where they want to influence the reflections being generated (e.g. inside rooms, etc.).
Baking for reflection probes will be automatic, and updates will be handled at least once every 30 seconds.
There is a performance hit with the capability, and this is still being adjusted so that it will hopefully not be overly onerous.
Elizabeth Jarvinen (Polysail) is working on the current light shader to enable legacy content to receive the reflection probes without looking “too different” and look like it belongs in the environment along with PBR content.
Materials /PBR Work
Progress continues in developing a “materials” type with an associated inventory asset capable for containing PBR materials data.
LSL access to said materials is regarded as being “tricky”, simply because the materials will be an asset type loaded by the viewer.
What is being proposed is to have the ability to “override” elements of the asset (e.g. colour or texture) via LSL by applying the changes to the properties of the object face to which the materials is applied.
So, for example, the LSL override says, “OK. I know this material has a texture UUID inside it – I don’t know what it is, but I want this face to use MY texture UUID instead” – so the material asset itself is not changed / updated, but the UUID defined by the LSL code is displayed, rather than the texture UUID defined by the asset.
If the materials asset type subsequently be changed, then the overrides applied via LSL to the object face are automatically dropped until such time as new overrides are applied.
This is seen as the most flexible approach, as it protects the integrity of the materials asset (in a similar manner to texture data) whilst also allowing the flexibility of using colour variants against an asset type (such as in the case of a sweater using a single materials asset, but with multiple colour options in the pack or in allow a HUD to alter the tint of an object that uses a materials asset).
Nothing of significance to report on the PDR shader work.
In Brief
Custom pivot point work: currently awaiting simulator updates & will require viewer-side changes.
A fix has been implemented in the viewer to speed-up opening media / web floaters (such as search). This should be surfacing in the next Maintenance RC viewer (“Maint N” to follow the Makgeolli Maintenance RC).
An upcoming simulator release should have a fix for objects failure to rez when users first log-in. .
Masks. Whether physical or otherwise, have always been a part of humankind’s multi-faceted cultures, and also a part of life itself.
Every day we use masks of one form or another, whether we recognise this fact or not, as a means of projection and / or as a means to try to shape how others perceive us (for example: the manner in which we project ourselves at work, is not the same as how we present ourselves among family; who we are in courtship is not necessarily reflective of who we are going to be in marriage, and so on).
We use these masks so subconsciously, that the majority of times we’re not really aware of them. Even when we are alone, we will often adopt and outlook or frame of mind to mask the anxieties and fears that might otherwise plague us. However, there is another way we use masks: to hide that which we do not wish to see. Whether it is the homeless man asleep on a park bench or the images of war and strife on the television or those fears the come upon us in the night, we mask them out out by focusing our attention elsewhere in the park or in the room or in our thoughts, so we are no longed plagued by what we are seeing / thinking.
The Carbone Studio: Milena Carbone – Masks
It is these latter uses of masks – the tuning out, the looking elsewhere, and on on – that Milena Carbone uses as the central theme to her latest exhibition, called simply Masks, and which is currently open within her personal gallery space at the Carbone Gallery.
I wanted to explore our relationship to the mask, an object that dates back to the beginnings of time mankind … to ask the question of the masks that we do not see as masks; what hides our sight, our anxieties, our fears, ours disgusts; what hides the real that we do not wish to see.
Milena Carbone
Offering a series of nine images (together with support texts and quote) in the minimalist style that Milena executes so well, Masks explores our subconscious use of masks and projection in a manner that is both stark and richly nuanced, each with layers of narrative to be peeled away.
For my part, I found myself drawn to The Tyranny of Truth, with its triple layering of ideas of courtship, the manner in which “truth” can be used as means to enforce authoritarianism (look at the stance of the figure in white), or an inconvenience to be denied, shied away from (the attitude of the masked figure), together with We’re Fictions and Burned Out.
The Carbone Studio: Milena Carbone – Masks
These latter two in particular framed – and to me – the ideas that whether we are aware of it or not, we frame ourselves in so many masks we risk losing ourselves within fictional projections and that when all has been peeled away of the masks in which we shroud ourselves, nought by a shell of whom we might have been remains. In this, We’re Fictions and Burned Out brought to mind two further quotes which might also frame this exhibition along with the Banksy quote (itself a variation on Wilde’s more famous comment on masks) Milena uses with the exhibition, and those quotes are:
You wear a mask for so long, you forget who you were beneath it.
– Alan Moore
And:
We all wear masks, and the time comes when we cannot remove them without removing some of our own skin.
– André Berthiaume
Masks is a carefully understated exhibition that actually has a lot to say.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld