Category: Second Life

Second Life: Tilia Pay to handle all USD-related transactions

Posted on by Inara Pey
via Linden Lab

In July 2019, Tilia Incorporated, a wholly owned subsidiary of Linden Lab, officially took over the management of activities such as processing credit out of second Life (that is, withdrawing funds as US dollar balances the platform), and and US dollar balances held by Second Life users (see: Tilia has officially launched operations with Second Life*, August 2019).

Now, in an expansion of Tilia’s role with Second Life, Linden Lab has announced that as from Monday, May 26th, Tilia Inc, via its Tilia Pay service, will be managing all US dollar transactions related to Second Life, including those involving conversion of funds to other currencies.

This means that, as from Monday, May 26th, anyone:

  • Making a payment through one of their indicated payment methods – credit card, debit card, PayPal, or Skrill (as indicated on their Second Life account), such as purchasing Linden dollars.
  • Adding a new payment method to their Second Life account.

Will be consenting to the Tilia Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

The change is being driven to both comply with regulatory requirements across a number of U.S. states and to leverage he enhanced fraud and money laundering safeguards that Tilia Pay provides.

The important things to note here are:

  • All Second Life users should be familiar with the Tilia Terms of Service (and Not just those who have either a US dollar balance associated with their account and / or cash-out money from SL).
  • Users will not be explicitly asked to confirm their agreement with the Tilia ToS / Privacy Policy. Rather, when paying with a payment method (e.g. credit card) or adding a new payment method to an account, a users will see text stating that by proceeding with the transaction, they are agreeing to both the ToS and Privacy Policy.
  • This move does not:
    • Introduce any new fees.
    • Require users to submit any additional information to Tilia Incorporated or Linden Lab.
    • Change how L$ transactions are conducted in the Viewer or in the Marketplace.

Readers are asked to read the Lab’s official blog post on the change for further information relating to it. In addition, questions or concerns should be directed to the forum thread on the matter – questions cannot be officially answered through this blog.

Related Links

An Endless Yes in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Yes – Endless, May 2020 – click any image for full size

In April 2020, we visited SombreNyx’s latest design for Endless, her full region (see A journey to Orkney in Second Life). It’s a region we’ve often visited to appreciate Sombre’s work, and it has also been the home to at least one build  –  located in the sky over Sombre’s work – by Jackson Cruyff. It was Jackson’s work that drew us back to Endless, as he has recently completed another sky build.

Entitled Yes, this new build that keeps up with the rugged island feel of Endless 58-58N, albeit with a more mountainous look to it. It is also a most unusual setting, as Jackson explains:

A set of rickety structures, barely held together, creaky and possibly perilous. On the mountain top, optimism against all odds, and turkeys.

– Jackson Cruyff

Yes – Endless 58-58N, May 2020

From the landing point – a wooden deck built over an outcrop of rock sitting just off shore from the main island – a rope bridge points toward the route of exploration. Not that the latter is hard to miss; directly in front of any arrival, the island rises from grassy lowlands to the high rocky peak of it single mountain that tend to beckon to anyone on the landing point deck.

Trees and bushes are scattered over the lowlands, which undulate gently while rocky outcrops mark the coast. There are no beaches to be found here, and no distractions from the main features of the island.

These take the from a set of five wooden board walks, each raised on stilt-like legs. Each offers something different: a walk out over the waters of a small bay, a circular walk looping around a central deck, a figure-of-eight that offers an infinity walk over bushes and a camp site; a second circular walk that passes endlessly through a rocky arch in the mountain’s foothills; and the greatest of them all, a swirling climb offering the way up to the summit of the mountain.

Yes – Endless 58-58N, May 2020

From a distance it is possible to mistake the latter walk as perhaps part of an old-style roller coaster, or scaffolding designed to enclose some form of tower or similar structure. Only the long arms connecting it with the flank of the mountain suggesting it is in fact something else.

The impulse to climb this structure first is completely natural – but I’d urge you to leave it until last, and explore at least a couple of the other board walks first. I say this because this large structure makes for an interesting climb. Vertigo is not a common sensation people tend to experience in Second Life, and few things in-world tend to be a challenge to the senses. However, these are the feelings a climb around and up this walk can cause.

Yes – Endless 58-58N, May 2020

I say this not in any way negativity; rather it is to Jackson’s credit that a walk up the spiralling board walk can result in very real sensations of giddiness. In this I’d venture to say a walk up to the top of the structure is one of the more unique experiences found in Second Life.

Once there, a more sedate walk along the uppermost outstretched finger of the board walk will take you by stair, ramp and additional climb to the mountain top, where can be found a deck on which to appreciate the view and the aforementioned turkeys.

Rounded out by a subtle sound scape that is again in keeping with Endless 58-58N, Yes is a location well worth taking the time visit and appreciate.

Yes – Endless 58-58N, May 2020

SLurl Details

  • Yes (Endless 58-58N, rated Adult)

Previewing Lab Gab with Izzy Linden & the return of the Solution Provider Directory

Posted on by Inara Pey
via Linden Lab

The next edition of Lab Gab will be live streamed on Friday, May 22nd at 10:00 SLT (18:00 UK; 19:00 CET). For those who have not seen the official blog post about it, the segment will feature Izzy Linden of the Second Life land team.

Izzy has been with the Lab for some 13 years, working with the Land Team in various roles. Most recently he has apparently been working on a new Solution Provider’s Directory, which will be a core part of time on the show.

For those unfamiliar with it, the Solution Provider’s Directory formed a part of the Second Life Solution Providers Programme, this provided the means for businesses and organisations seeking specific skills – scripting, building, etc., – to make contact with individuals or companies / organisations providing such capabilities. At its height, the original solution provider programme included general users active within Second Life through to “gold” solution providers – those who had formalised their status (e.g. as a company of some form).

Izzy Linden with Lab Gab host Strawberry Linden

The original Solution Provider programme comprised a dedicated micro-site on the “old” Second Life web properties, and was supported by an in-world group and mailing list (SL Dev), a dedicated in-world region, and a series of SL wiki pages. However, it entered something of a decline from around the start of 2010 onwards, and in May 2012, the Lab announced the programme was to be wound down – see: End of the road for the SL Solution Provider Programme).

Since then – as far as I’m aware, the Solution Provider Directory has lain largely dormant, but as the Lab Gab announcement notes, it is now being revived (and in fact has two “full service” providers already listed), apparently driven in part by the number of business enquiries Linden Lab has received as a result of the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.

Exactly whether or not this means LL will attempt to revive the broader aspects of the old Solution Provider Programme – direct links to relevant micro-sites such as connect.secondlife.com to better surface information on solution providers, together with a mailing list / in-world group and and supporting region, etc., – remains to be seen (although I’ve dropped a question or two on this ahead of the programme!).

If you have any questions for Izzy about concierge work, the Land Team and / or the solution provider programme, you can submit your own questions via the Lab Gab Google form.

As usual, the programme will be streamed via YouTube, Facebook, Mixer, or Periscope, and if all goes according to plan, I’ll have a summary of the video (and the video itself) available soon after the the broadcast, for those unable to watch live.

Melu’s Roadside images in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Melusina Parkin: Roadside

Currently open at Melusina Parkin’s gallery is Roadside, her latest collection of images taken from around Second Life, which will continue through May and June. Presented in Melu’s familiar and captivating close-up style, they present a series of pictures with a theme of road trips – but with a very specific focus, as she explains in the introduction to the exhibition:

Diners, motels, pump stations, garages are elements of a “road popular culture” developed in wide spaces crossed by monotone and endless roads. We can’t imagine a motorway without them.

Like mountains, hills, fields, lawns and rivers, they are part of any landscape we see when travelling through the country.

– Melusina Parkin

Melusina Parkin: Roadside

So it is that we have a series of images of motel signs, petrol (gas) stations and pumps, parked vehicles, wooden walls of motel cabins and more, each one offering a unique take on the idea of the Great American Road Trip. Within them are many of the icons of that tradition – the coupé with its top down, the ribbon of dead-straight road vanishing into the distance, the metal-sized roadside diner, the pannier-laden motorbike, and so on. However, they are presented in such a way that rather than simply offering a scene for us to appreciate, Melu once again frames them in a manner that invites a story.

Take Roadside 3, for example: a battered yellow coupé sits parked in the foreground, inviting us to consider it: it’s condition, who might own it, where might they be going, and so on. Then, beyond it and through partially shaded windows, we can see the familiar bright red vinyl seating of a diner – something that always inspires a feeling of warmth and comfort, and our thoughts are similarly comforted with ideas of good food and rest in a friendly environment, whilst also broadening the story of the owners of the car: what might they be eating, what conversations are going on at their table, and so on.

Melusina Parkin: Roadside

Similarly, Roadside 5, with the motorcycle parked before petrol (gas) pumps immediately spins out thoughts of the freedom of riding the open road through to (perhaps) thoughts of iconic road trip films like Easy Rider. And so it goes on around the four walls of the gallery space (a single room at the top of her store).

There is perhaps a wider context for this exhibit as well. June will mark Second Life’s 17th anniversary with the familiar Second Life Birthday celebrations taking place. The theme for this year’s event, the theme is road trips and vacations, so Melusina’s Roadside might be said to offer a lead-in to the celebrations.

Melusina Parkin: Roadside

SLurl Details

2020 Simulator User Group week #21 summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
Sea Brook, April 2020 – blog post

The following notes were taken at the Simulator User Group meeting held on Tuesday, May 19th. Not a lot was discussed in terms of meaningful reportage (again), so just a short update on server deployments / official viewer updates.

Simulator Deployments

Please refer to the simulator deployment thread for updates.

  • On Tuesday, May 19th, the majority of the grid was updated to server maintenance release 541970, comprising:
    • A fix for a bug that disabled the “Acquire an Experience” button for some premium users – see Bug-228676.
    • Internal fixes.
  • On Wednesday, May 20th there should be two RC deployments:
    • 542403, to fix the group notice archive timestamps bug – going to Bluesteel, LeTigra and Preflight.
    • 542391, with further updates related to the cloud migration – going to Magnum and Snack.

SL Viewer

On Tuesday, May 19th:

The remaining official viewer pipelines are as follows:

  • Release channel cohorts:
    • FMOD Studio RC viewer, version 6.4.2.541570, issued May 11th.
    • CEF Special RC viewer, version 6.4.1.541204, dated April 30th.
  • Project viewers:
    • Mesh uploader project viewer, version 6.4.2.541645, issued May 15th.
    • Copy / Paste viewer, version 6.3.5.533365, December 9th, 2019.
    • Project Muscadine (Animesh follow-on) project viewer, version 6.4.0.532999, November 22nd, 2019.
    • Legacy Profiles viewer, version 6.3.2.530836, September 17th, 2019. Covers the re-integration of Viewer Profiles.
    • 360 Snapshot project viewer, version 6.2.4.529111, July 16th, 2019.

 

Tutorial: Viewer Camera Presets

Posted on by Inara Pey
The default viewer camera placement has long been the bane of the Second Life viewer. Placing the camera well above and behind the avatar, it gives an awkward over-the-head view of the world, rather than the more intuitive over-the-shoulder view seen in many video games.

While the camera’s debug settings have allowed a custom camera preset to be set-up, it has never really been possible to easily create, save, and swap between presets according to need.
Table of Contents

The Camera Presets controls, developed and contributed by Jonathan Yap, the developer responsible for the graphics presets options in the viewer (see Avatar Complexity and Graphics Presets in Second Life for more), changes this. It is a capability that allow users to create one more more custom camera presets within the viewer to suit particular needs and then save them. This means, for example, you can now have a camera position for general exploring, another suitable for combat games, another for building, etc., all of which can easily be accessed and used at any time.

This tutorial explains how to create and use presets via Camera Presets options.

Note: at the time of writing, the camera presets options are only available in the official viewer, version 6.4.2.541639 or later.

UI Elements

There are five UI elements associated with creating and using camera presets:

  • The Camera Presets icon and drop-down – presenting the means to quickly access and use created camera offsets.
The Camera Presets icon, found in the top right of the viewer window, and a populated version of the drop-down that can be displays on clicking on it.
  • The Camera Controls floater. This provides access to provides access to the following:
    • The familiar “on the fly” controls for positioning the camera / selecting any of the pre-set camera positions, setting the camera focus or switching to Mouselook. These can also now be used to create a custom camera preset.
    • Camera Position floater for creating new camera presets numerically.
    • Save Camera Preset floater – save any preset you have created or replace an existing preset with new values.
    • My Camera Presets floater – allows you select and delete any preset you have created, or reset your camera to one of the viewer’s default front, side or rear camera positions.
    • In addition, the Camera Controls floater includes a drop-drop menu to provide quick access to any custom camera presets you have created.
The Camera Controls and camera presets floaters – click for full size, if required

Creating a Custom Camera Preset

Using the Camera Controls

  1. Open the Camera Control floater by:
    • Hovering the mouse over the Custom Preset icon at the top right of the viewer window to open the drop-down and then clicking the Open Camera Floater button OR.
    • Clicking on the Camera Controls (Eye) button in your viewer’s tool bar, OR
    • Selecting Me→Camera Controls… from the viewer menu bar.
  2. With the Camera Control floater open, clicked the required view button (Front, Side, Rear) if required.
  3. Use the camera orbit, slide and zoom controls on the left of the camera floater to position your camera as you would like it to be relative to your avatar.
  4. When you are satisfied with the camera position and angle, click Save As Preset button in the floater, and:
    • Either make sure the Save As New Preset radio button is selected and type a name for the preset in the text box.
    • Or click the radio button for Replace a Preset, then click the button to display a list of current presets and highlight the one you wish to replace (including one of the three default positions, shown in italics).
  5. When you have entered a name or made your choice, click Save.
Using the camera controls to create a camera preset

Using the Precise Controls

If you have a numeric set of camera and focus offsets you use (e.g. such as those provided by Penny Patton, or use the table below to set your camera to some typical view points):

  1. Open the Camera Control floater by:
    • Hovering the mouse over the Custom Preset icon at the top right of the viewer window to open the drop-down and then clicking the Open Camera Floater button OR.
    • Clicking on the Camera Controls (Eye) button in your viewer’s tool bar, OR
    • Selecting Me→Camera Controls… from the viewer menu bar.
  2. In the Camera Controls floater, click on Use Precise Controls.
  3. In the Camera Position floater:
    • Enter the X, Y and Z figures for the camera offset position.
    • Enter the X, Y, Z figures for the focus offset position,
    • Use the slider to set how near / far the camera is to be positioned from your avatar.
  4. When you are satisfied with the camera position and focus, click Save As Preset button in the floater, and:
    • Either make sure the Save As New Preset radio button is selected and type a name for the preset in the text box.
    • Or click the radio button for Replace a Preset, then click the button to display a list of current presets and highlight the one you wish to replace (including one of the three default positions, shown in italics).
  5. When you have entered a name or made your choice, click Save.
Setting a precise position for a camera preset

The following table offers Penny Patton’s recommended positions for over-the-shoulder camera presets.

Over the Left Shoulder
 Centre
 Over the Right Shoulder
Camera Offset
 X= -2.0
Y= 0.4
Z= -0.2		 X= -2.0
Y= 0.0
Z= -0.2		 X= -2.0
Y= -0.4
Z= -0.2
Focus Offset
 X= 0.9
Y= 0.7
Z= 0.2		 X= 0.9
Y= 0.0
Z= 0.2		 X= 0.9
Y= -0.7
Z= 0.2
Offset Scale Slider
 1.5 1.5 1.5

Using Your Custom Presets

From the Presets Icon

  1. Hover the mouse over the Custom Preset icon at the top right of the viewer window to open the drop-down.
  2. Click on the required preset name to select it.

From the Camera Controls Floater

  1. Click on the Use Preset button in the Camera Controls floater.
  2. A drop-down of custom camera presets is displayed.
  3. Click on the required preset name.
  4. The preset is selected, and the button updates to display the preset’s name.
Using a custom camera preset

Deleting or Resetting Default Presets

Notes:

  • You can only delete custom presets and reset default presets.
  • No confirmation is requested: actions will be immediately implemented – so if you have overwritten one of front, side or rear camera position presets, your custom version of that preset will be lost when reset.
  1. Display the Camera Controls floater.
  2. Click the gear icon.
  3. The My Camera Presets panel opens (may default to the top left of your screen).
  4. Hover the mouse over the preset you wish to delete or reset.
    • Custom presets will display a trash can. Click it to delete the preset.
    • Default presets will display a reset icon. Click it to return the preset to its original values.