Category: SL Tech

Mesh starts rolling in July

Posted on by Inara Pey

The Mesh timeline has been published. Well, “timeline” is a bit of a stretch, but the details are now out. To save you from clicking a link, here’s the announcement in full:

“Of all of the things that excite us about Second Life, and there are many, Mesh is near the top of our list. Since the Mesh Project Viewer has been available, many content creators have given it a try on the test grid and we have only seen a small glimpse of the unlimited creative potential that this technology brings to Second Life. On behalf of everyone at the Lab, we want to thank everyone who have participated in the test and created these cool videos demonstrating the power of Mesh. 

“So, now that you are excited about trying it out on the Main Grid, we wanted to share the launch time line, as promised.

“In July, we will enable a limited set of regions to use Mesh and will it roll out, in a phased approach, throughout August. By the end of August, everyone in Second Life will be able to import Mesh objects. Of course, if we run into unforeseen issues or bugs, then this time line will need to shift. 

“We know that you must have a lot of questions regarding policies, costs, and how Mesh objects will be weighted. Although we cannot share these details yet, we will continue to keep you informed on our progress and other relevant news on this blog. 

“So buckle up and get ready for a whole new wave of creativity in SL.”

Or you can read the above here.

Mesh has been a long time coming – and the announcement is somewhat welcome, a little more depth-of-detail would have been helpful. I’m assuming at this stage that the regions for the initial roll-out will be connected to a specific Server Release Channel. If so, will sim owners on that channel be given the opportunity to opt out until later in the roll-out? Mesh is obviously a complicated subject, hence the caveats in this announcement – but I certainly hope we’ll be seening a greater depth of information as July draws closer.

Search Project Viewer released

Posted on by Inara Pey

Linden Lab have released a new Viewer Project to sit alongside their exiting Mesh-enabled Alternative Viewer. This is the Search Project Viewer, which is promising to deliver a new and better Search experience in Viewer 2.

Given that Search has long been a contention where Viewer 2 is concerned – where it initially started out as a massive step backwards in so many respects – the fact that LL have moved it to a dedicated Viewer should be welcome news, in that it gives people the opportunity to properly test the new features, provide feedback and for LL to finally ensure that Search is providing what the user community wants and expects.

I’m not going to go into a long review of the new engine – Ciaran Laval has already done that, and I see no reason to repeat the work he’s done. Certainly the new Search looks very promising, although some of the more irritating problems with the engine remain – such as the number of steps you have to go through simply to be able to see the information you want to get to, regardless of the fact that the Search engine can finally now locate it.

What is interesting to note is that Linden Lab state in the blog post that:

New search will soon be available to you in the official SL Viewer and we will not be implementing it for the 1.23 Viewer. To be clear, you can still use the 1.23 Viewer, but search functionality will be impaired once new search is released into general availability, after the test period. 

Specifically, searches using the ALL and GROUP tabs of the 1.23.x Search will be impaired. So, where does this leave existing 1.x-based Viewers? Again the blog post provides a part of the answer:

 (We cannot speak to which Third-Party Viewers will adopt the new search technology.) All of our development efforts are focused on making SL Viewer with Basic and Advanced modes exceptional for all Residents–new and seasoned. 

In other words, as far as the “official” version of Viewer 1, already frozen in development in many respects, this pretty much marks the end of the road, and it will by up to TPV developers themselves to overcome any functional impairments in search by adopting the new “search 2”. How easy / difficult this might be remains to be seen, but it would certainly seem to add to the burden 1.x TPV developers are having to carry in their attempts to keep things going.

Given that many are already producing Viewer 2 alternatives (Dolphin 2, Firestorm, Kokua, Kirstenlee’s S21, to name but four), this might push them towards making a full and final switch to Viewer 2-based development and allowing any 1.x Viewer offerings they have depreciate.  This many not be a popular move among the wider user community should it happen, but the fact is – and Oz Linden has pointed out – there is a lot coming down the tracks in terms of new functionality within the Viewer that trying to maintain two code bases, or simply trying to backport functionality into the older code, may simply reach a point where it is no longer viable.

If you wish to try out the Project Search alternative Viewer, you can fins the downloads on the Alternative Viewer wiki page.

Voice comes to the Basic Mode Viewer 2

Posted on by Inara Pey

Viewer 2’s Basic Mode gains a new feature today – that of Voice.

While I don’t use Voice myself – I have nothing against it, I just move largely in the world of role -play in SL, and Voice can be illusion-shattering in that regard – I think it’s a pretty good option to have within Second Life, and adding it to the Basic Mode makes sense. To a point.

The problem is, a lot of things are “coming” to the Basic Mode (or have been indicated at coming) – currency, for example. To be fair, I’ve suggested some additions myself, although they appear to be fewer than those LL are contemplating. Which leads to a problem I’ve touched on before.

If LL keep adding to the Basic Mode, how long until it ceases being the “Basic Mode” and becomes “The Viewer”?  The function of a Basic Mode, I thought, was to ease new users into the Second Life / Viewer experience. Ergo, it makes sense to keep the Basic Mode relatively simple and clean. While things like Voice are very useful to have, the fact remains that if things keep getting added to the Basic Mode, then it won’t be long before any advantages gained in introducing it are going to be washed away.

In discussing this with Rodvik a while ago, I pointed out the need to provide a better transitional experience between the Basic and Advanced modes of the Viewer. It’s something he apparently generally agreed with, although he also appeared to imply that Basic might be more to do with making Viewer development more iterative, and that at some point in the future, Basic may merge with Advanced – presumably because the code base has been overhauled and made somewhat more modular, making future Viewer maintenance a lot easier.  If so, this throws the purpose of the Basic Mode into a whole different category than “simply” being a tool to help new users – and it’s future becomes somewhat more intriguing.

Personally, while I’m all in favour of making the Viewer a lot more modular (something I understand Bagman Linden (Jeff Petersen) is quite keen on) to the point of potentially making elements of the Viewer “optional”  / “installable as required” where users are concerned, I still think that the Basic Mode holds a lot of potential where new users are concerned, providing LL address its current shortfalls without overloading it with features and providing they add the means to bridge the gap between it and the Advance Mode smoothly.

It’ll be interesting to see which direction they do opt to take.

Phoenix gets jiggly

Posted on by Inara Pey

In something of a surprise move, Phoenix have released version 1102 of the Viewer. While an update was anticipated following the Ogg Vorbis Library files issue, the extent of this update took many by surprise, including as it does the Viewer 2 Avatar Physics code.

Yes, bouncing bewbs (and bums and bellies) using the official Linden code within Phoenix.

However, this isn’t a fad release: there have been reports that Viewers not using the LL Avatar Physics code are failing to render avatars that are using the Physics Layer correct (remember, Avatar Physics is a worn layer, like clothing, Alpha and Tattoo layers). So this inclusion of the code is as much about fixing this issue within Phoenix as it is about giving people bouncy bits.

To further encourage people to upgrade to 1102, the Phoenix team are including a set of pre-defined Physics Layers, each created by a different member of the team, which are ready-to-wear for both male and female avatars (yes, men can have wobbly bits as well!). For that want to make their own, there is an easy-to-follow tutorial from Phoenix.

Other fixes with the release include:

  • Removal of old Breast physics code as it is now obsolete and no longer compatible
  • Addition of further user-created WL Presets
  • Set “Let Scripts Control My Play Button” to OFF by default. Prefs> Audio & Video>
  • Fixed local lights issue for Mac users (could only see 2 local lights rather than the default 6)
  • Security fix with OGG Vorbis Library (see above)
  • Addition of Linden chat color options in Prefs>Text Chat>“Color text for linden text chat”
  • Open buttons for logfiles, Chat logs etc on Linux and Mac fixed. Prefs> Network & Folder>
  • Further sculpt fixes
  • TP Failure crash fix
  • Blank media texture crash fix.

Performance on this release (for me) appears somewhat better than 1050, and on a par with 977 Beta (which I had to roll back to following the 1050 release). However, given the Ogg and Avatar Physics “fixes” this is really a necessary upgrade than an optional one.

Viewer security exploit revealed

Posted on by Inara Pey

Nalates Urriah reports that Linden Lab have confirmed there is a security exploit involving a flaw in the Ogg Vorbis library could lead to Viewer crash issues. It’s not thought that the exploit can either perform privilege-escalation or arbitrary code-execution on users’ systems.

The flaw has been known about since 2009, but the exploit is fairly recent. Ogg files are in widespread use, so this is not an issue specific to the Viewer code. Linden lab has responded to the situation by issuing a patch and an advisory for all TPVs to recompile their binaries for all TPV viewers.

At the time from writing, updating executables for Kirstenlee’s Viewer (S21 7a) and the Firestorm Previews have been released.  Links for the Firestorm downloads (which do not appear to be available on the Phoenix website) are available as follows:

Note that all of the above three releases of Firestorm should be clean installations, not installed over any previous release (which should be removed first).

Other TPVs will doubtless follow, and users are advised to keep an eye on the various Viewer-related blogs and update as required.

Addendum May 16th

Phoenix have released an update that fixes this issue (and others). Find it here.

Mesh: timeline due end of May

Posted on by Inara Pey

It has been confirmed that Linden Lab will be publishing a timeline for the roll-out of Mesh at the end of May.

Note this is not the actual roll-out of Mesh itself; it is the timeline on what will happen when. It’s a good move on LL’s part: people have been hungering for Mesh for a long time, and all that has been happening on the Beta grid had increased overall levels of excitement / curiosity / confusion / demands to see it “now”.

Mesh is potentially one of the most revolutionary new aspects to be introduced to SL in a long time – at least in terms of content creation and technology. It will possibly completely redefine entire market sectors in terms of both the look of objects, how they are created and the skill sets required to produce them. It can be applied to almost anything – objects, building shells, vehicles, so the impact is potentially huge, although there do appear to be some limitations as to precisely what can be achieved  – and how much will be modifiable – within mesh objects.

Castle exterior by Ash Soyinka (31 prim equivalent) image copyright Pupatron

Take just one market sector, the one I’m most familiar with: buildings.

The potential here is mind-boggling: beautifully sculpted exteriors to buildings that mimic their real-life (or fantasy!) counterparts, and for the equivalence of a few dozen prims, and fitted-out inside with traditional prim-made floors, etc.

Avatars are another area where mesh could revolutionise things. While our current avatars are themselves mesh creations, they are somewhat limited; augmentation currently requires the use of prims and sculpties – both of which can be cumbersome. Mesh imports allow avatars to be massively altered / augmented – so the potential here is massive, although there are allegedly some initially limitations as to what can be done with such rigged meshes.

Given the sheer scope of impact mesh represents, then defining a timeline / roadmap leading to its roll-out is undoubtedly a good move. While there is much about Mesh that probably won’t become apparent until after it is “live” – precisely how popular mesh designs will be, what they will do to the market sectors where they are principally used, precisely what the initial limitations will be, how these will be overcome, and so on, there is still a need for people to have as much information in advance as it is possible to give. This can only be achieved through full and proper communication and avoiding the desire to give into pressure to simply “get it done”.

We’ve waited a long time for mesh – kudos goes to LL for dealing with its arrival sensibly and in a step-by-by manner that has fully engaged with the user community on the Beta grid, and which look set to continue now on the main grid. Hopefully, the new timeline will do much to clarify where everything stands with regards to mesh, and in the coming months, we’ll see even more engagement between users and Lab as we move towards it’s arrival.

Timmi Allen’s awesome 27-prim equivalent model of the 2010 Ferrari F10

Further Information

All images in this report copyright named individuals; objects copyright named creators.