Category: Second Life

Nara’s Forgotten Ghost in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Art Korner: Nara Ghost – Forgotten Ghosts

Update, June 27th, 2022: Art Korner has Closed.

Currently open within Frank Atisso’s Art Korner hub is Forgotten Ghosts by Nara Marcus (Nara Ghost), a quite captivating series of black and white studies that are wrapped within a personal theme whilst each piece carries its own narrative mood – although I very much doubt what is offered in terms of theme and narratives will be lost on any of us, as Forgotten Ghosts very much holds up a mirror into which we can all gaze.

Life can be a complicated thing. We can have periods when everything seems to be ganging up on us: tasks take longer to complete than expected, or become overly onerous; moods plummet; people around us all appear to be operating in their own gloom; worries about just about everything – life, work, health, kinds, parents, finance, etc., – seem to build themselves into insurmountable peaks all around us, and so on. But then circumstances change, and we find ourselves bursting through them, with life becoming brighter, lighter and something to be enjoyed – yet even when this happens, those darker times haunting us and perhaps informing us.

Art Korner: Nara Ghost – Forgotten Ghosts

These latter times – when feeling good, but the shadows are lurking – are the moments Nara explores within Forgotten Ghosts, part of the exhibition title reflects her avatar’s name, thus emphasising the personal perspective contained within the 16 images on display, something further emphasised in her use of urban environments for the images in reflection of the fact she is from a city background.

These are all images that have been carefully posed and constructed – and quite beautifully so – to capture the personal moods Nara wishes to convey. However, their brilliance lies in the fact that while personal to her, they each carry a richness of mood, emotion and / or narrative with which anyone viewing these pieces can identify. This is likely because, as Nara notes herself when introducing the exhibition, we tend to be more driven by the things that haunt us than those that don’t.

Every day, I try to live a healthy and happy SL, but the darker and moody vibes seem to be easier to connect with and drive me to create. I hope you appreciate it as much as I did, like the entire process and the end outcome.

– Nara Marcus (Nara Ghost)

Art Korner: Nara Ghost – Forgotten Ghosts

All of which make for an evocative and engaging display of art.

SLurl Details

2022 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 ending Sunday, May 15th, 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 version 6.6.0.571736, May 12.
    • 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.

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V6-style

  • Kokua: 6.5.5.48589 (non RLV) and 6.5.5.51893 (RLV variants) May 11 (all MFA) – release notes.

V1-style

Mobile / Other Clients

  • No updates.

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links

Time In Tilheyra in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Tilheyra, May 2022 – click any image for full size

Tilheyra (the name being Icelandic for “belong”) is a Full region utilising the private region land capacity bonus to offer a mixed public / residential environment. Designed by T Lefevre (Teagan Lefevre) to showcase her TL Designs brand, it was brought to my attention by Shawn Shakespeare.

Whilst it may well have an Icelandic word for its name, it shouldn’t be inferred that this is in any way an Icelandic themed setting. Quite simply put, it isn’t; rather, it drawing on influences from across northern Europe to produce an engaging, picturesque environment – albeit one with the potential to give some a few viewer issues when visiting.

Tilheyra, May 2022

Given the public / private nature of the setting, effort has wisely been put into keeping the two somewhat separated: the major public elements of the region sit to the north on an island of their own, a broad channel separating them from the larger part of the region, wherein can be found the rental properties – together with some further, more rural public spaces -, with the two connected via a stone bridge.

The landing point sits at the western end of the public island, sitting alongside a small pond shaded by trees. A walled path passing under a glass roof points the way to where steps climb up to a paved terrace, the home of a garden café. Two sets of steps run down from this, one into the main street running the length of a small business district, the other down to a promenade running eastwards and directly above the channel separating the two islands.

Tilheyra, May 2022

There’s a lot to take in along this little township, with various businesses (including the local rental office) among the building façades. Most of the businesses are built around the three sides of a little square within its own pond. Meanwhile, the promenade offers a pleasant walk along the waterfront, complete with steps down to a small wharf and views across to the southern island.

The eastern end of the island is dominated by a café bar with a walled outdoor seating area sitting beyond the bar building (the café part fronts the promenade). This seating area in turn gives way to a rugged headland guarded by a pergola that makes for a cosy retreat for couples at one end, and a deck running down to the water on the other.

Tilheyra, May 2022

Across the bridge, the southern island is far more rural; grass bridleways replace paved roads. As noted, this island is home to the region’s rental homes (and what may be a couple of other private residences – these are without rental signs but sit inside their own parcels, so without actually trespassing, I was unable to tell), so exploring should be tempered by the need to avoid intruding on people’s privacy. However, there are some public spaces here as well.

Chief among the latter is a stone walk leading down to an over-the-water deck and, somewhat opposite it along one of the bridleways, the ruins of a old house, perhaps once a manor home for the local land-owner, but which now remains only as a few broken walls within which sits a gorgeous wild garden and retreat.

Tilheyra, May 2022

The problems I referred to at the top of this piece come down to the fact that this is a region that is texture heavy – and many of those textures appear to be high resolution. This can make rendering scenes somewhat painful for those on mid-to-low end systems; even with DD reduced from my usual 256 to 128m and with shadows disabled, I had both issues with slow texture loading and texture thrashing (textures swapping from sharp to blurred and back – the first time I’ve had this on a persistent basis for a while) on my 4Gb GTX 970 (hardly the most modern GPU, I know – but pretty middle-of-the road for SL). So, if you are on a less-capable system, do be prepared to make some viewer adjustments.

Nevertheless, Tilheyra offers an engaging visit, and plenty of opportunities for photography.

SLurl Details

2022 Raglan Shire Artwalk in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Raglan Shire Artwalk 2022

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 2022.

This year, the the event runs from Sunday, May 15th, through until Sunday, June 19th, 2022. 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 2022: Marcel Mosswood and Barry Richez

Each year attracts well over a hundred SL artist – and this year is no exception. The depth and range of art on display is guaranteed to keep visitors exploring the paths and walks around the through the hedgerows – and if walking proves a little much, there are always the Shire’s tours to ease the load on the feet.

Also, teleport boards are provided to help people find their way around the exhibition spaces. However, given this is an opportunity to visit and appreciate Raglan Shire, 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: someone called “Pey” … 🙂

SLurl Details

All of the Raglan Shire Artwalk regions are rated General)

2022 TPVD meetings week #19 summary: PBR materials

Posted on by Inara Pey
RockMead, April 2022 – blog post

The following notes were taken from the video recording by Pantera (embedded at the end of this piece, my thanks to her as always for recording the meetings) of the Third-Party Viewer Developer (TPVD) meeting on Friday, May 13th, 2022 at 13:00  SLT. These meetings are chaired by Vir Linden, and dates for them can be obtained from the SL Public Calendar.

Important: as from this meeting, the TPV Developer meeting has moved to a four-week schedule.

Please note that this is a summary of the key topics discussed during the meeting and is not intended to be a full transcript of either. However, the video does provide a complete recording of the TPVD meeting, and timestamps to the relevant points within it are included in the notes below.

Available Viewers

[Video: 0:00-6:22]

On Thursday, May 12th:

  • The Makgeolli Maintenance RC viewer (Maintenance M) viewer updated to version 6.5.6.571575.
  • The Performance Improvements RC viewer updated to version 6.6.0.571736.

On Tuesday, May 10th, the Performance Floater and Auto-FPS project viewer updated to version 6.5.4.571296.

The rest of the currently available official viewer versions remain as:

  • Release viewer: version version 6.5.5.571282 – formerly the MFA RC viewer, dated April 26, promoted Wednesday, May 4th – NEW.
  • Project viewers:
    • 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.

General Viewer Notes

  • The Performance Improvements RC viewer remains the next in line for promotion to de facto release status, the latest update to this viewer awaiting data on crash rates prior to potentially being promoted.
  • MFA Enforcement: the eventual plan with multi-factor authentication (MFA) is to “enforce” it for all users who have opted-in to using it so that when logging-in to SL on a viewer without MFA support, they will see a message requesting they either swap to using one with MFA support or disable MFA from their Second Life account dashboard.
    • It is not clear when such enforcement will commence. However, the official viewer, Catznip, Kokua and Cool VL are all known to support MFA, and an MFA version of Firestorm is in the works, so it is likely that the “enforcement” could come in the relatively near future.
    • There will be no change to logging into the viewer for users who have not opted to use MFA or who decided to disable it on their account.
  • https://viewer-login.agni.lindenlab.com/ is a URL referenced in the viewer log-in code, but is currently a redirect and not actually used. LL is therefore planning on removing it.

Additional Materials Support / PBR

[Video: 7:19-20:36]

Note: please also refer to my recent (April / May) CCUG meeting summaries.

Two area of work are currently in progress.

Materials Assets Support

One element of work is to provide “full” Physically Based Rendering (PBR) materials support utilising the glTF specification.

  • This work is currently focused on implementing a new materials asset type that will allow materials surfaces created utilising the PBR workflow to be imported to SL and then applied to their desired object face(s).
  • LL hopes that creators using PBR will also supply textures entries (e.g. a diffuse map + normal & specular maps (if required) + associated parameters as we know them today in the build floater) so that systems / clients that cannot / do not run the supporting PBR code can display these texture entries instead, rather than leaving objects with blank faces.
    • It has been suggested than any such use of “fallback” texture entries be an automated process, rather than something that has to be done manually by the creator.
    • Longer term, there will be some form of LSL support for this as well, although the extent of this has yet to be fully determined. However, it is liable to be along similar lines to texture application using LSL.
  • Once defined, the materials assets will be stored using the glTF 2.0 specification.

Reflection Probes / Environment Maps

A parallel piece of work is adding sport to SL for reflection probes to update the generation of the environment maps (because the current cube mapping used by SL is limited and would not work will with PBR).

  • The key point here is that the introduction of reflection probes + updated cube maps will work with both “PBR” and “legacy” content.
  • This work has been underway for the last couple of weeks, including input from some content creators / viewer developers.
  • “Outdoor” probes will likely be subject to automated placement, but with a hierarchy applied such that they don’t override probes placed inside structures.

General Notes

  •  In terms of user testing, the approach to this work is similar to that taken with Mesh:
    • Testing will initially be carried out on Aditi (the beta grid) as things develop, allowing various “PBR” and “legacy” content to be uploaded and tested, well before anything is implemented on the main grid or made widely available to users through the viewer.
    • Content creators wishing to test content are strongly advised to join the Discord discussions and join in with testing from there.
  • glTF mesh object uploads: this is on the roadmap of things the Lab would like to include in the initial project. However, depending on how work progresses and time frames imposed, it may not form a part of the initial work that is shipped and slip to being “tackled at some point”.
  • Support for materials variants within the glTF assets (e.g. to allow colour variants in fatpack items) is also under internal discussion at the Lab.

In Brief

  • [Video 21:09-23:30] The simulator fixes for off-line Group and Friend invites failing to update following acceptance should be surfacing on the RC channels in week #20.
  • [Video 22:44-27:40] a discussion on rigged meshes and bounding boxes focused on a change that was made to overcome issues of people creating oversized bounding boxes for their rigged meshes in order to avoid providing LODs (and forcing the viewer to always render them at a performance impact) that was recently reverted.
    • Runitai Linden explained that the revision was actually the result of changes made within the Performance Improvements Viewer that clashed with the rigged mesh bounding box changes, and that there is still an open issue to ensure the rigged mesh bounding box is always an appropriate size.
    • This rolled into a broader discussion on the complexities of rigged mesh visual size, scaling, bounding boxes / LODs selection, impact of the animation system, etc.
  • [Video 28:04-End] The above leads into a discussion on LODs in general and the idea of auto-LODding content vs. (good and bad) custom LOD creation (and what constitutes “good” LOD modelling – e.g. basing on surface area or triangle count?), LOD / LI conflicts, and trying to strike an equitable balance such that LODs can be “properly” defined and used.
    • As this discussion covers a lot of ground, I refer those interested to the video.

RelayStock 2022 and Bid a Linden Bald in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
RelayStock 2022: main stage

RelayStock runs to Second Life from Friday, May 13th through Sunday, May 15th inclusive, once again bringing  a weekend of Peace Love and Hope and great music as the 2022 to help raise funds for Relay For Life of Second Life and the world-wide work of the American Cancer Society (ACS).

Paying homage to the summer of 1969 and all that was Woodstock, RelayStock is hosted by the RFL team of SL Relay Rockers and brings together Relay teams from all across across Second Life for a celebration of the Relay season. Teams raise their banners above makeshift tents and old VW campers as they gather for the three days of music and fun – and we’re all invited!

Entertainment Schedule

All times SLT – check the official event page for any late updates):

Friday, May 13th Saturday, May 14th Sunday, May 15th

15:00 – Biology Club
16:30 – DJ Scottland
18:00 – Quartz:  LIVE
19:00 – DJ Corruptor Annamemnon

10:30 – DJ Melina Firehawk
12:00 Noon – DJ Stormy Dench
13:00 – Keeba & Tiny Maniacs: LIVE
14:00 – DJ Cynthia Farshore
15:30 – DJ Marius
17:00 – DJ Myst.Xi
18:30 – DJ Dulcinea

10:00 – DJ Primi
11:30 – DJ Caesey
13:00 – Max Kleene: LIVE
14::00 – Todd Rutth: LIVE
15:00 – DJ Kayla
17::00 – DJ Trader Whiplash

Bid Lindens (and Moles!) Bald

2022 marks the 6th year that the Lindens have joined in the fun at RelayStock through Bid a Linden Bald (BALB), a further way of raising funds by bidding to see a team of Lindens and Moles go bald (in-world!) for a month.

This year, BALB opens the the start of RelayStock and runs through until May 19th, when the losing team will face the scissors! 2022 see a total of five mixed teams of Lindens and Moles participating, and bidders again determine who lose their hair by making donations (aka “bidding”)  to the kiosk(s) of the team (or teams!) they don’t want to see in-world with depilated domes.

RelayStock 2022: Bid a Linden Bald

The five teams from the Lab / LDPW participating this year comprise:

  • Team 1: Oberwolf, Grumpity, Izzy, Oatmeal, KB, Hobbes, TJ, Itsa Mole.
  • Team 2: Signal, Kreide, Mister Mole, Madori, Chipper, Obi, Cosmic, Simon
  • Team 3: Patch, Vanessa, Kady, CyndiB, Star Mole, Theresa, Whitney, Cammy
  • Team 4: Derrick, Sequoia, Jbo, Milli Mole, Frosty, Wendi, Kit
  • Team 5: Maximus Mole, Anna Mole, Vix, Volo, Spots, Dottie, Tommy

Last year the Linden and Mole teams combined to raise L$840,639, or US $3,361, raising the event’s all-time total to more than L$3.5 million.

RelayStock Linden Bears and Relay Rock Cows

This year, as well as making donations to the BALB team kiosks, people can also participate BALB by purchasing a Limited Edition RelayStock Linden Bear pack. Offered at L$250, each pack contains a pair of bears: one free standing and the other huggable. To obtain a pack, simply pay the vendor alongside the kiosk for the Linden / Mole BALB team you wish to support, and accept your bears!

Also available this year are the Relay Rocker Collectable Hero Cows. Offered at L$50 there are 6 to collect, or for L$150, you can get all 6 + a special bonus Hero Cow. Find their vendors (show below) on the hay bales a short walk along the track from the BALB area.

RelayStock 22: Relay Rocker Collectable Cows

So, let the spirit of the Age of Aquarius enter your life this weekend, don your kaftan (and galoshes!), put flowers in your hair and head on over to RelayStock for great music, great dancing, great fun – all in a good cause!

Event Links