Logos representative only and should not be seen as an endorsement / preference / recommendation
Updates for the week ending Sunday, December 24th
This summary is 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.
Official LL Viewers
Current Release version 5.0.9.329906, dated November 17, promoted November 29th – formerly the “Martini” Maintenance RC – No Change.
La virevolte (The Twirl) is a gorgeous Homestead region designed by Iska (sablina). Caught in a winter setting, this is a rugged region is a rugged setting, running from lowland areas in the west to highland regions to the east, surrounded by snow-capped mountains.
Where this might be is open to question – there are few clues in the form of architecture and wildlife, although the vehicles in the region are of European origin. But where this might be really doesn’t matter; what is important is the sheer beauty of the region’s composition, which uses muted tones and colours to considerable effect, both outdoors and inside the buildings scattered across the region.
The landing point lies in the middle of the region, close to a snowy track that winds from a headland on the west side, where an old lighthouse sits, then passes a log cabin sitting within its own fenced-off grounds before arriving at the foot of the eastern uplands. A narrow channel cuts into the land near the lighthouse, forming a small, oval bay spanned by an ageing bridge. On the south side of this channel lies an old stone-walled barn, a Citroen van parked close by.
This western side of the landscape is largely snow free – although as one travels eastwards, the snow makes its presence felt, both on the ground and as it falls from a sky filled with scurrying clouds that scrape their way over the tall surrounding mountains. This gives the perfect impression of a wintry cold front moving across the land, depositing snow as it passes, gradually hiding the tough grass of the region under a white blanket.
Within the deeper snows of this eastern side of the region, sits a cosy wooden cabin overlooking waters that cut into the landscape from the north to form a small bay and finger of water that cuts a small slice of land off from the rest to form a little island. This brackets the western headland, connected to it by a rope-and-wood bridge. Old ruins sit on this crooked silver of land, sharing it with a curtain of silver birch which line the banks of the water channel.
Behind the cabin, the rocky shoulders of a plateau rise in steps to where a barn has been converted into something of a club house or social space, with comfortable sofas and chairs, a pool table and general bric-a-brac. This is reached by way of stone steps cut into the rock, and which rise from the western end of the rutted track mentioned above. An avenue of small trees, their trunks bent into a series of arches, also runs from close by the cabin to the foot of the steps.
Rocks also rise in the south-east corner of the region, offer a small shelf where another, unfurnished, cabin sits. This can be reached by following the curve of a second track that branches from the first to swing around a low table of rock to provide access to a little depression in the land, where sits a well and a pair from benches – and stone steps offer the way up to the cabin.
There are one or two areas where the grasses to the east and north need to be set to phantom, but La virevolte is wonderfully wild, windswept and marvellous photogenic. It makes for a picturesque visit – and our thanks, once again, to Shakespeare and Max for pointing it out to us!
Queen of Dragons? Surrounded by Animesh dragons by Wanders Nowhere and used by Lucia Nightfire as Animesh test models
The following notes are primarily taken from the Content Creation User Group meeting, held on Thursday, December 21st, 2017 at 13:00 SLT. For the purposes of Animesh testing, the meetings have relocated to the Animesh4 region on Aditi, the beta grid – look for the seating area towards the middle of the region. The meeting is chaired by Vir Linden, and agenda notes, etc, are usually available on the Content Creation User Group wiki page.
Medhue Simoni live streamed the meeting, and his video is embedded at the end of this article – thanks to Medhue, as always, for the recording. However, the first part of the meeting is absent the video, so I’ve included two audio extracts of salient points raised, taken from my own audio recording of the meeting. Where the video is referenced, time stamps to the specific point of the video are provided in the text – click on them to open the video in a separate browser tab at that point.
Animesh (Animated Mesh)
“I like the name ‘animated objects’ because I think it’s unambiguous, but it takes a long time to type!” – Vir Linden joking about the name “Animesh”.
Project Summary
The goal of this project is to provide a means of animating rigged mesh objects using the avatar skeleton, in whole or in part, to provide things like independently moveable pets / creatures, and animated scenery features via scripted animation. It involves both viewer and server-side changes.
In short, an Animesh object:
Can be any object (generally rigged / skinned mesh) which and contains the necessary animations and controlling scripts in its own inventory (Contents tab of the Build floater) required for it to animate itself.
Can be a single mesh object or a linkset of objects (link them first, then set them to Animated Mesh via the Build floater > Features).
Has been flagged as and Animesh object in the project viewer, and so has an avatar skeleton associated with it.
Can use many existing animations.
However Animated objects will not (initially):
Have an avatar shape associated with them
Make use of an avatar-like inventory (although individual parts can contain their own inventory such as animations and scripts)
Make use of the server-side locomotion graph for walking, etc., and so will not use an AO
Use the avatar baking service
Will not support its own attachments in the initial release.
These are considered options for follow-on work, possibly starting with the notion of a body shape (to help with more fully-formed NPCs).
Animation Playback issues: as highlighted at the December 14th meeting, animations already running on an Animesh object don’t necessarily play for those entering the region where they are running, or update correctly when camming to them for the first time. This had been considered a viewer issue, but could equally be a simulator / viewer race condition wherein the viewer is receiving animation information before it knows what to do with it (and so is ignoring it). Vir is still looking into this.
Object Selection issues: this isn’t just an Animesh issue per se. Historically, selecting multiple animated objects (or an avatar) so they are displayed as wire frames has been handled “extremely inefficiently”, impacting local frame rates. A fix is in hand for this, and will be in the next update of the Animesh project viewer.
Animesh Release ETA and Limits
There is still no indication of a release date for Animesh. Work still to be completed / carried out includes:
It is worth repeating (again) that the current limits of tri count, LI, and number of attachments are purely for the purposes of performance testing, they are not the “final” limits for Animesh, some of which will hopefully be somewhat more relaxed / reflective of server / viewer capabilities when scaling Animesh use within a region.
The initial tri count limit (again, set for testing purposes only) was increased from 20K to 50K with the current project viewer release (version 5.0.10.330058, at the time of writing). As noted in my week #50 update, this increase had been requested for some time – although it appeared to be wanted more for testing proposed Animesh products, rather than testing the basic Animesh capabilities. Zooby’s has since issued a video of one such new product, involving both a wearable cat avatar, and which is also intended to support the avatar being used as an in-world Animesh object, once Animesh is released.
Animesh Use Cases
The focus for Animesh among creators thus far has been for avatars (NPCs), and creatures, pets and things like mechanoids (both free-roaming and wearable). However, there is potential for Animesh to be used for landscaping as well: tree boughs / grass moving in the wind, water features, etc., and the Lab is interested in discovering how much appetite there is among creators to use Animesh in this way, particularly when it comes to profiling performance and limits.
Skeleton Use and Bone Naming Convention / Parenting
An extensive discussion on using the skeleton bones.
[0:00-10:36] When talking in terms of unique Animesh objects, the skeleton can be re-purposed to suit the need, and not all the bones need to be animated. So, for example, in a grouping of plants, the leg, arm, wing, and tail bones could be used to animate individual plants (in principle, individual finger bones could be used).
As with any use of the skeleton, the important aspects are preserving the recognised bone naming and parenting hierarchy (although it is possible to constrain bones / bone groups for specific uses within Blender, then map this back to the SL skeleton, but it requires care and attention with a thorough understanding of the SL avatar).
This is where Animesh is attachments such as hair is of an advantage over hair that simply uses with avatar’s own skeleton. With the latter, the available bones are limited without potentially impacting the ability to wear animated hair with a Bento head (although there are “spare” ear and eye bones which could potentially be used to create an animated ponytail or pigtails).
Using a separate range of bones in Animesh hair offers greater flexibility – but then the issue becomes keeping the animations in the Animesh hair in sync with the movements of the avatar wearing it.
“Dropping” Animesh / Mesh
[11:50-15:31] Worn mesh cannot be simply “dropped” in-world. It has to be detached to inventory and then rezzed in-world from there. This has been seen as limited with Animesh pets, etc., where ideally people might want to pick a pet up and carry it and then put it down again (drop it). Making it possible to drop mesh is seen by the Lab as “kind of a hassle to do”, but it’s not currently clear how big or small a hassle it might be, as it would involve additional land impact calculations, physics updates, etc., none of which were given support when mesh was introduced. Thus, it could require an extensive simulator-side overhaul.
Bakes on Mesh
Project Summary
Extending the current avatar baking service to allow wearable textures (skins, tattoos, clothing) to be applied directly to mesh bodies as well as system avatars. This involves server-side changes, including updating the baking service to support 1024×1024 textures, and may in time lead to a reduction in the complexity of mesh avatar bodies and heads. The project is in two phases:
The current work to update the baking service to support 1024×1024 textures.
An intended follow-on project to actually support baking textures onto mesh surfaces. This has yet to fully defined in terms of implementation and when it might be slotted into SL development time frames.
This work does not include normal or specular map support, as these are not part of the existing baking service.
Current Progress
Viewer work has paused while some back-end baking service issues are resolved.
Other Items
How the Lab looks at Features
One oft-phrased point-of-view is that the Lab “only” think about features being used in a certain way – and this has at times been voiced for Animesh. Speaking at the meeting, Oz Linden sought to dispel this idea, pointing to the diverse ways capabilities are frequently used in SL.
Mesh Uploader
[18:15-22:44] Cost calculation issues: discussion on mesh upload costs noted in the viewer. These have long been an issues, where costs can alter due to the same model being automatically decimated differently with each upload, etc. These are most likely the result of errors in the calculations framework, and they are something the Lab is aware of, and might be the result of the removal of the SLM file from the uploader, which caused problems of its own. Those who wish to test whether the cost calculation issue is reduced by using the SLM file can do so by setting the MeshImportUseSLM debug to True.
[23:32-24:22] Mesh object names: Vir reminded people due to a limitation with Collada .DAE files mesh objects for upload via the official viewer cannot currently have spaces in their names. However, the Lab will be adopting the Firestorm work-around for this by allowing the use of underscores in object file names.
Bone Offsets
[26:44-29:18] Bone offsets: Vir points to an issue he encountered with an avatar model using a 75m offset for the mPelvis bone which, every time the offset was calculated, would cause the object to vanish from his screen until Reset Skeleton was used. This prompted the question whether should bone offsets have a constraint of bone offsets – such as no more than 5 metres, as is the case when offsetting using animations.
SL Viewer
The Wolfpack RC viewer (containing no functional changes to the current release viewer) updated to version 5.0.10.330113 on Wednesday Novermber 20th, 2017.
Nalewka Maintenance RC updated to version 5.0.10.330123 on Thursday, December 21st, 2017.
These likely mark the last viewer updates for 2017, leaving the rest of the viewer pipeline as follows:
Current Release version 5.0.9.329906, dated November 17, promoted November 29th – formerly the “Martini” Maintenance RC – No Change
It’s been over five years since I wrote about the International Spaceflight Museum (ISM) in Second Life. At that time, this two-region facility, offering something of a history of space exploration, had just come through something of a financial crisis (see here and here). Prior to that, my last visit was far back in 2012 – so I thought I’d hop back over for an update.
Comprising Spaceport Alpha and Spaceport Beta, and entirely funded by donations and sponsorship as a 501(c)3 non-profit, ISM is a large-scale undertaking, providing a good introduction to the history of space flight, charting many of the key events and the systems they used. It provides insight into international space operations covering – America, the Soviet Union/Russia, Europe, Japan, China, India – together with something of a look at commercial activities.
A visit starts at the main landing point / information hub. This features a citation to a letter from Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky, the Soviet Russian rocket scientist regarded as the “grandfather” of modern rocketry. Given as Earth is the cradle of humanity, but one cannot live in a cradle forever, the quote is from a phrase Tsiolkovsky wrote in 1911, which transliterates as Planyeta yest’ kolybyel razuma, no nyelzya vietchno zhit’ v kolybyeli – “a planet is the cradle of mind, but one cannot live in a cradle forever”. However, both this literal translation and the more popular quote point to the same ideal: that to grow as a species, humanity must as some point reach beyond the planet of our birth.
A path leads away from the landing hub towards ISM’s most impressive feature: the Rocket Ring. This provides models of some of the major launch systems used by countries around the world. This includes vehicles such as the V2 rocket – which both Russia and America utilised in their early post-war experiments; launch systems developed from ballistic missile systems – such as America’s Titan and Atlas; through to more familiar launchers such as the Soviet / Russian Soyuz and Proton families, and a look at some of the more recent vehicles to enter the market: SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy.
The ring is far from complete – systems such as Blue Origin’s New Shephard and New Glenn are lacking, NASA’s Space Launch System is missing (although the cancelled Ares launchers from the US Constellation programme are present, dominating the ring alongside Russia’s massive N1 lunar booster). However, space is limited, and what is presented is still a rich array of launch vehicles which, for those interested in the less well advertised space programmes – such as Japan’s, India’s or China’s, provides some excellent models of their current fleets.
Beneath the Rocket ring are further exhibits, including models of the Apollo Command and Service Module (CSM) and Lunar Excursion Module (LEM), the Gemini capsule, and a look at the lives of Tsiolkovsky and Robert Hutchings Goddard, regarded as the “father” of modern rockery. NASA’s Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) in both its original form, with rounded solar arrays and a more recent design, featuring twin rectangular solar arrays. Orion will use a Service Module based on the European Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), which used to haul up to 5 tonnes of supplies and equipment to the space station, and include the ATV’s unique arrangement of four solar arrays.
International Spaceflight Museum: an historical look at the ISS with the shuttle docked, and a European ATV resupply vehicle arriving. Also docked is a combination of Soyuz+Progress vehicles
Further out from these are further displays, including the Apollo Saturn 1B rocket, information centres and more. These also include interactive elements, such as a Gemini V / Atlas II rocket, which offers a ride up to one of the sky exhibits – that of the International Space Station (which can also be reached from the ground-level sit-on teleport kiosks). Also in the sky and reached from the ISS display, are models of the solar system.
Spaceport Bravo, reached via a runway-like bridge over which the first sub-orbital flight of SpaceShipOne is recorded, sits a reproduction of NASA’s Vehicle (or Vertical, as it was originally known) Assembly Building (the VAB). This is where the Apollo rockets and space shuttle systems were “stacked” and readied for launch, and where the SLS rocket will be assembled ready for flight. One of the bays in the VAB feature the space shuttle Atlantis, which has just been mated with its External Tank / Solid Rocket Booster units; the other features a Saturn V leaving the bay atop its crawler-transporter. Alongside of this is an Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF), the interior of which is somewhat sparse, but does offer models of NASA’s lunar rover vehicle and the Lunniy Korabl (LK) lander vehicle which formed part of the Soviet Union’s manned lunar programme aspirations.
Visually, ISM offers a lot to see, not all of which is expressed here – and at one time hosted a range of events (it’s unclear whether this is still the case). However, there are some disappointments. An attempt has been made to link exhibits to a wiki, but the majority of pages have yet to be populated, for example. Several areas appear a little sparse – such as the OPF building, as noted; all of which gives a feeling the ISM is caught in time – as if in the midst of a still-to-be completed update, including elements which might be relatively easily seen to. Take the photo map of the Florida space coast, for example. This shows the facilities at both Kennedy Space Centre and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, but has yet to be updated to reflect SpaceX’s use of Kennedy’s Pad-39A and Canaveral’s SLc-40 and SLC-13.
Even so, for those who want to dip their toes a little more deeply into the world of space flight, ISM retains a lot to offer, while across the water NASA’s Explorer Island offers an interesting looking back in history to the US space agency’s involvement in Second Life.
Now open at Galerie des Machines, Paris Couture and curated by Olympe (OLYMPES Rhode), is Steampunk Moods, a celebration of steampunk and Victorian technology, with a touch of ecological commentary. The exhibition features art by Gem Preiz, Melusina Parkin, Haveit Neox and Bénédicte Petiet.
“Straddling the reincarnation of the past and a certain idea of the future, Steampunk is primarily an aesthetic current of literary origin before developing on a multitude of other media,” Olympe states in the introduction to the exhibition. “A temporal paradox, it mixes centuries of fiction, Jules Verne, [Herbert] George Wells, popular culture, films, comics and other video games.” The art presented within the gallery’s halls reflects this in a most eclectic mix of 2D art spanning the virtual and the physical, and which mixes what might be termed “traditional” steampunk imagery with more familiar Victoriana and interpretations of the future.
The ground floor of the gallery features a selection of Gem Preiz’s stunning fractal art, and the first glimpse into the future. It’s well established that I’m a major admirer of Gem’s work, and the pieces selected for this exhibit reflect why. Gem’s fractal art is hugely evocative in painting visions of the future; they encompass everything from cosmology through issues of ecology and human development, touching – richly so – on concepts of architecture, design and culture.
Several of these factors are touched upon within the thirteen images presented here – but so to is a sense of mechanisation. Several of the pieces have the look and feel of great engines – or parts of engines; others seem to suggest great cogs and wheels. There are also other reflections of steampunk: hints of lenses, twists of grill work and plating that are almost decorative in look and feel – the finery that can so often be found in more delicate pieces from the era. Each image is uniquely beautiful and – literally – multi-faceted, demonstrating Gem’s multi-panel approach to his art that allow him to offer marvellously high-resolution pieces of his original art.
On the floor above Gem’s exhibit is an extensive display of in-world photography by Melusina Parkin, featuring steampunk elements found throughout Second Life, both large and small and presented in a suitably metal-walled environment. Many of the images present objects and scenes in Melu’s familiar close-up style, focusing our attention on specifics, rather than a broader scene, while still conveying an entire story to a piece. Several of them present familiar steampunk themes – powered airships: both dirigible and boat-hulled. Propellers also feature, while there are hints of Verne and Wells to be found.The models of Battersea Power Station, dating from the 1930s, might seem a little incongruous. But given it is an iconic emblem to industrial power, it is somehow fitting.
Passing through the display of Melusina’s art brings visitors to a second hall, where Haveit Neox’s contribution can be found. This takes the form of an iteration of his installation, The Miniature Goal, first seen in 2014. Within it, Haveit asks, “What if our physical world shrunk in proportion to the resources we drain from it?” As I wrote back in 2014, this is a fascinating piece; here it perhaps offers a slightly different look at steampunk. The technology of the latter is somewhat based on the consumption of fossil fuels and other natural resources, consideration of the consequences are perhaps not so at odds with the core theme.
Above the floor featuring the physical world art of Bénédicte Petiet. Again, the canvas here is broader than what might be regarded as “traditional” steampunk. Like Melu, Bénédicte presents the most of his images in close-up: machines, wheels, pistons, gears, relays … all are presented here. So to are what might be considered elements from outside the realm of steampunk itself: cars from the recent past, and even street scenes. With the exception of the latter – which appear to be a mini-exhibit in their own right – the rest of the images suggest something almost “retro-futuristic”: the past we can recognise presented through a digital medium of their future.
All told, a multi-faceted exhibition, well worth exploring.
There are no planned deployments for week #51. This will leave the grid running on server release 17#17.12.01.511131 (link to SLS summary page). However, given the RC channels have not been restarted in the last two weeks, there may be a rolling restart for all three RC channels on Wednesday, December 20th.
SL Viewer
The Nalewka Maintenance RC viewer updated to version 5.0.10.330111 on Tuesday, December 19th. This adds a further 11 fixes and updates to the viewer since the initial release of the viewer RC.
The Project Render Viewer updated to version 5.1.0.511446 on Monday, December 18.
The Alex Ivy 64-bit RC may also get an update during the week. However, at the moment the remainder of the SL viewer pipeline remains as per the end of week #50:
Current Release version 5.0.9.329906, dated November 17, promoted November 29th – formerly the “Martini” Maintenance RC – No Change
Release channel cohorts:
Alex Ivy 64-bit viewer, version 5.1.0.511248, December 11.
Voice RC viewer, version 5.0.10.330039, December 12.
Wolfpack viewer, version 5.1.0.3300001, November 30.
