The following notes cover the key points from the Web User Group (WUG) meeting, held on Wednesday November 6th, 2024. They form a summary of the items discussed and is not intended to be a full transcript. A video of the meeting, recorded by Pantera Północy, is embedded at the end of this summary – my thanks as always to Pantera for recording it and making it available.
The Web User Group exists to provide an opportunity for discussion on Second Life web properties and their related functionalities / features. This includes, but is not limited to: the Marketplace, pages surfaced through the secondlife.com dashboard; the available portals (land, support, etc), the forums.
As a rule, these meetings are conducted:
On the first Wednesday of the month and 14:00 SLT.
Meetings are open to anyone with a concern / interest in the above topics, and form one of a series of regular / semi-regular User Group meetings conducted by Linden Lab.
Dates and times of all current meetings can be found on the Second Life Public Calendar, and descriptions of meetings are defined on the SL wiki.
Data Feeds: a re-cap on the new from the last meeting that the issues causing the breakages to the data feeds API metrics (number of users logged-in, etc), for use by external services, have been fixed.
Marketplace UI / Responsiveness Updates: defined as being in the “final stages”, with changes under review and subject to on-line feedback from users.
It was noted that a lot of what is visible to users is just “pieces” and a lot hasn’t been released as yet, with the intention that all the work is out by the end of 2024.
Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): as per the last meeting, is being extended across all of the Lab’s web properties to make them all consistent, so those opting-in to MFA will find at times that they may have to re-authenticate when accessing a wider range of Second Life web properties.
At the previous meeting the target for implementing this was within 4 (October – December 2024). In this meeting, less confidence was displayed that MFA would be deployed by the end of the year, and a more likely target is Q1 (January-March) 2025.
The reason for this appears to be competition for resources between the MFA work and another project.
Web Properties Responsiveness and Appearance: as well as working on Marketplace responsiveness, the Web team is now looking at improving the responsiveness of other web properties, and bringing them more up to the look and feel of those web properties like the MP which have been undergoing an update.
This is described as not being a large-scale overhaul of all web properties, but more an update to those which are looking particularly outdated.
Examples under consideration for this work include: Web log-in and Dashboard (secondlife.com), the Account pages, and the download page.
Make web maps more usable on smaller screens, and refining the left-side Destination Guide bar so it does not intrude so much into the map display on smaller screens.
Ensure that when a destination in the Destination Guide on the left is clicked, the map scrolls to the destination and opens an information pop-up that provides actual information on the location, not just the “Welcome to Second Life” boilerplate, as seen below.
LL are looking to make the information pop-up for destinations on the map selected via the Destinations Guide sidebar more meaningful than the default boilerplate text that tends to be displayed
“Stars” in MP product / store names: there have been complaints about the use of stars (e.g. via emojis / unicode, etc.) in the names of products / stores, which people feel are being used to give the false impression that the product / store is “star rated”. The web team is working on a means to prevent this.
[Video 22:34-26:30 and 30:54-34:34] Marketplace images being distorted, notably in the Related Products section of listings (see: this Canny report). This appears to be a clash between absolute image size and aspect ratio (the latter being quotes as 1:1 or 4:3 – when it is more 3:2). The 3:2 ratio also conflicts with viewer thumbnails being 1:1.
Alongside of this was a request to increase the (viewer thumbnail?) image size / aspect ratio (the latter might be subject to a Lab-raised Canny to allow the correct aspect ratio information to be stored with the textures to avoid the 1:1 default).
Concerning this the distorted images, Garfield Linden noted:
The fixes to images will be shipped after the next batch of fixes (which improves half of the issues with Related Items, as well as some weirdness when there is an error during product listing image upload fails) in our queue ships.
Preferences were also expressed for support custom image aspect ratios at upload and / or from a drop down of common aspect ratio options.
It was suggested that an overlay / crop tool might be provided to allow images to be suitably cropped to meet display requirements within MP listings.
[Video: 26:34-30:30] Embedding videos in MP listings: rather than simply lining to videos on You Tube, the option to use You Tube’s Embed capability to embed videos in MP listings.
Seen as a good move, if it can be supported, with the suggestion that embedded videos should be restricted to a maximum length to avoid abuse (e.g. someone creating a listing and embedding an entire movie from You Tube).
An alternate suggestion was a video thumbnail image which, when clicked opens up the video on You Tube, etc., or within a dedicated tab / floater, if possible.
Embedding would be preferable to direct uploading and / or front-loading, as the latter requires LL storage and front-loading could slow down page loading responsiveness.
[Video: 38:45-45:39] A discussion on further Marketplace categories / tagging.
[Video: 45:56-50:09] General discussion (with interruption!) on multiple shopping carts (focus on on dedicated for gifting) and labelling the Buy Now button to indicate it means buying for yourself.
The following notes were taken from the Tuesday, November 5th, 2024 Simulator User Group (SUG) meeting. They form a summary of the items discussed, and are not intended to be a full transcript, and were taken from the chat log and Pantera’s video of the meeting, which is embedded at the end – my thanks to her for providing it.
Meeting Overview
The Simulator User Group (also referred to by its older name of Server User Group) exists to provide an opportunity for discussion about simulator technology, bugs, and feature ideas.
Meetings are open to anyone with a concern / interest in the above topics, and form one of a series of regular / semi-regular User Group meetings conducted by Linden Lab.
Dates and times of all current meetings can be found on the Second Life Public Calendar, and descriptions of meetings are defined on the SL wiki.
Simulator Deployments
No deployments for this week, just rolling restarts across the grid.
Simulator Deployment Plans
The next simulator maintenance update will be Barbecue (or BBQ), which is currently awaiting further bug fixing. This should include:
Support for “alpha-gamma” which will allow an object owner to adjust some of the PBR alpha values that were impacting legacy things like hair.
A new warning on receiving direct IMs from Scripted Agents (“registered” bots). Rider describes this as “Bot confessions”:
Oh. One of the other items coming in BBQ. Bot confessions. With IM sessions with bots there will be a warning sent to the receiver that they are having a conversation with a bot. Also, for viewer developers, there will be a bit of metadata attached to the IM_NOTHING_SPECIAL that indicates the sender is a bot.
Following Barbecue should be Apple Cobbler, which should include:
llTransferOwnership which enables a prim give itself to a new user (subject to owner permissions already set).
An extended llGiveInventory to allow for a destination folder (system folders + RLV/a) to be specified as well (+ the use of a parameter list, so further options can be added in the future).
llMapBeacon – like llMapDestination, but a) does not necessarily open the map window; b) can optionally open the map, with or without focus. This will also require a viewer update.
A new function for detecting attachments. If it is running with an experience it will be able to detect HUDs that also have scripts with the same experience (e.g. to ensure the correct HUDs are being used – this will not allow anyone to script to find out all the HUDs someone is using).
SL Viewer Updates
No changes at the start of the week:
Release viewer: version 7.1.10.10800445603, formerly the DeltaFPS RC (multiple performance fixes, etc), dated September 11, promoted September 17 – No change.
Performance improvements: enhanced texture memory tracking, broader hardware compatibility and higher FPS gain; additional code to improve texture streaming on rigged attachments (e.g. if an earring is made with 2K textures, the viewer will correctly calculate the required resolution for the textures and download them, rather than downloading the full 2K textures), etc.
Aesthetics improvements: new Antialiasing setting – SMAA; Contrast Adaptive Sharpening; Khronos Neutral Tone Mapping (can be changed to ACES via the RenderTonemapType Debug setting).
UI Optimisations.
In Brief
Please refer to the video below for the following:
LL are still holding back on throwing the WebRTC switch across the grid, waiting for more users to move to WebRTC-enabled viewers.
The new function for detecting attachments / HUD in an experience, noted above, sparked a slightly interwoven conversation on “missing” attachments” and the detection of HUDs.
A discussion on the SL Lua(u) implementation and LSL. The official place for information on this is in this FAQ in the SL Wiki. A resident-written entry is also in the SL Wiki. In terms of LSL / LUA interoperability, see this section of the official FAQ.
Further discussion on llTransferOwnership, including the fact the end use need to accept the transfer of ownership in some kind of a dialogue, as per any other inventory transfer.
The “Bot Confessions” function sparked a further conversation on bots / Scripted Agents & identifying them (e.g. adding an indicator in the Profile of registered Scripted Agents), their use, etc.
† The header images included in these summaries are not intended to represent anything discussed at the meetings; they are simply here to avoid a repeated image of a rooftop of people every week. They are taken from my list of region visits, with a link to the post for those interested.
Hailey’s Mystical Forest, September 2024 – blog post
The following notes were taken from the Tuesday, October 29th, 2024 Simulator User Group (SUG) meeting. They form a summary of the items discussed, and are not intended to be a full transcript, and were taken from the chat log and Pantera’s video of the meeting, which is embedded at the end – my thanks to her for providing it.
Meeting Overview
The Simulator User Group (also referred to by its older name of Server User Group) exists to provide an opportunity for discussion about simulator technology, bugs, and feature ideas.
Meetings are open to anyone with a concern / interest in the above topics, and form one of a series of regular / semi-regular User Group meetings conducted by Linden Lab.
Dates and times of all current meetings can be found on the Second Life Public Calendar, and descriptions of meetings are defined on the SL wiki.
Simulator Deployments
No deployments for this week, just rolling restarts across the grid.
Simulator Deployment Plans
The next simulator maintenance update will be Barbecue (or BBQ), which is currently awaiting further bug fixing. This should include:
Support for “alpha-gamma” which will allow an object owner to adjust some of the PBR alpha values that were impacting legacy things like hair.
A new warning on receiving direct IMs from Scripted Agents (“registered” bots): if a Scripted Agent “right clicks” you and sends you a message, it will trigger a warning about sharing personal information with bots within the chat window.
Following Barbecue should be Apple Cobbler, which should include:
llTransferOwnership which enables a prim give itself to a new user (subject to owner permissions already set).
An extended llGiveInventory to allow for a destination folder (system folders + RLV/a) to be specified as well (+ the use of a parameter list, so further options can be added in the future).
SL Viewer Updates
No changes at the start of the week:
Release viewer: version 7.1.10.10800445603, formerly the DeltaFPS RC (multiple performance fixes, etc), dated September 11, promoted September 17 – No change.
Aesthetics improvements: new Antialiasing setting – SMAA; Contrast Adaptive Sharpening; Khronos Neutral Tone Mapping (can be changed to ACES via the RenderTonemapType Debug setting).
Game Control
Leviathan Linden noted the latest news on this work:
GameControl is in develop branch, not sure when it will reach an official release or find its way into TPV. Meanwhile game controller hardware support has been temporarily disabled on Mac (although it didn’t work very well there anyway since most devices are not recognized by the OS) until we sort out some “duplicate keypress” issues.
In Brief
Please refer to the video below for the following:
Reports indicate the the most recent simulator deployment appears to have fixed most of the lost / ghosted attachment issues experienced during teleport / physical region crossings.
A general discussion on RLV and possible #RLV folder structure, and RLV extensions to folders. For those curious about RLV/a, given RLVa is currently to be incorporated into the official viewer, please refer to (among other sources):
Further discussion on llTransferOwnership and llGiveAvatarInventoryList. Part of the latter included the extent to which scripts should be able to use it to create new inventory items (e.g. such as preventing it from using the Current Outfit Folder, whilst removing the burden of everything going to the Inventory root folder.
Both the RLV and LSL commands above lead to a wider discussion on inventory, folder structures, how / where items should be placed when received via script, etc., filtering inventory, and so on.
There is no current work on HTTP/2 for CDN and asset fetching. This is described as something LL want to get to, but keeps getting stalled due to the focus being on other areas of work. Monty Linden also noted a move to HTTP/2 may not yield any significant loading improvement over HTTP/1.
† The header images included in these summaries are not intended to represent anything discussed at the meetings; they are simply here to avoid a repeated image of a rooftop of people every week. They are taken from my list of region visits, with a link to the post for those interested.
Grauland / Primary Colors, September 2024 – blog post †
The following notes were taken from my audio recording + the video recording by Pantera (embedded at the end of this summary) of the Third-Party Developer meeting (TPVD) held on Friday, October 25th, 2024. My thanks to Pantera as always for providing it.
Meeting Purpose
The TPV Developer meeting provides an opportunity for discussion about the development of, and features for, the Second Life viewer, and for Linden Lab viewer developers and third-party viewer (TPV) / open-source code contributors to discuss general viewer development. This meeting is held once a month on a Friday, at 13:00 SLT at the Hippotropolis Theatre.
Dates and times are recorded in the SL Public Calendar, and they re conducted in a mix of Voice and text chat.
The notes herein are a summary of topics discussed and are not intended to be a full transcript of the meeting.
Release viewer: version 7.1.10.10800445603, formerly the DeltaFPS RC (multiple performance fixes, etc), dated September 11, promoted September 17 – No change.
Performance improvements: enhanced texture memory tracking, broader hardware compatibility and higher FPS gain; additional code to improve texture streaming on rigged attachments (e.g. if an earring is made with 2K textures, the viewer will correctly calculate the required resolution for the textures and download them, rather than downloading the full 2K textures), etc.
Aesthetics improvements: new Antialiasing setting – SMAA; Contrast Adaptive Sharpening; Khronos Neutral Tone Mapping (can be changed to ACES via the RenderTonemapType Debug setting).
UI Optimisations: lessening the impact of UI rendering on frame rates / performance (discussed more fully at 16:52-18:04].
Upcoming Viewers
ExtraFPS is described as having some “high priority” bug which require fixing before it progresses to release status.
The next RC viewer to follow ExtraFPS is likely to be the Maintenance B build, which includes work put on hold while the focus was on PBR and non-PBR related performance fixes.
Performance improvement will continue to be part of the on-going work with the viewer, but once ExtraFPS is promoted to release status, it is unlikely that the Lab will produce viewers dedicated only to performance fixed for a while.
From the comments made, it appears as if LL are going to try to pull work from what had been the Maintenance C RC viewer (also put on hold whilst the performance work was going on) into the next viewer build as well.
It was acknowledged that this approach may need toa delay in getting the updated Maint B viewer out and to release status, but it is hoped that in the long run, it will mean a faster release cycle with the viewer builds which eventually follow behind Maint B.
[Video 21:09-22:27] Vir reiterates that as the Maint B(/C) viewer appears, it should mark the return of Linux to the list of official viewer builds.
However, the Linux flavour will be based on code contributions rather than dedicated support from with in the Lab.
If things break with it, the Lab will attempt to fix them, but will not hold back viewer releases as a result of Linux-specific breakages / bugs.
The replacement of the Vivox Voice service and plug-in, with the WebRTC communications protocol (RTC=”real-time communication”). Roxie Linden is leading this work.
Key benefits:
WebRTC supports a wide range of real-time communications tools in common use (e.g. Google Meet), supporting audio, video and data communications, and is thus something of a “standard” approach.
Offers a good range of features: automatic echo cancellation, better noise cancellation and automatic gain control, much improved audio sampling rates for improved audio quality.
Opens the door to features and capabilities to voice services which could not be implemented whilst using Vivox.
Status
There is now a “pretty significant fraction” of users still using a non-WebRTC capable viewer.
LL would like this number to be further reduced before they completely pull the back-end support for Vivox. As such, the exact time frame on when the switch might be thrown is still TBA.
[Via chat throughout the 10-25 min point in the meeting, and with some Voice from approx 18 mins] It was noted that Voice roll-off under WebRTC should work the same as for Vivox, BUT the range at which is rolls-off completely is greater (60m).
Some have reported that this does not appear to be the case, with roll-off potentially not working at all (also reported at the last TPVD meeting).
The first part of this update referenced rigged attachment texture streaming as noted in the ExtraFPS summary, above.
Also as noted above, the work on improving performance has reached a point of diminishing returns for dedicated viewer updates, so future performance improvements will be folded in ither other viewer updates making it to the Develop branch.
The above noted, LL is still digging into specific hardware types where the viewer does not perform well (e.g. some AMD graphics chips) in order to determine what might be done to improve things.
If people running a viewer with the DeltaFPS code included are still fining they have very poor performance (e.g. single-digit FPS; an already low FPS cut in half, etc.), they are asked to file a Canny report and included information on their hardware (e.g. copy-paste their hardware information as displayed in Help → About, in the viewer).
[Video: 7:57-9:07] A change was introduced with the Delta FPS code such that if the viewer is running in the background on a system for more than 10 seconds, it will down-rez textures to prevent over-use of VRAM when it is not the application in focus.
This has received completely mixed feedback: some feel 10 seconds is too long a period to wait; others feel it is too short; those running multi-screen systems with SL on one monitor dislike the fact that when they focus away from SL to work on their other screen, SL “goes blurry”, etc.
As a result, LL is considering making this a switchable option, so users can decide whether they want to utilise it or not.
[Video 9:20-11:13] A discussion on using Vsync in the viewer vs. limiting frame rates (e.g. through the viewer or via something like the Nvidia control panel).
[Video 27:29-33:33] A discussion on brightness and gamma / PBR vs non-PBR / use of HDR rendering + tone mapping.
In terms of tone mapping, the decision is to move back o ACES as the default in light of feedback, but people will remain able to select Khronos Neutral or ACES through Preferences.
The long-term plan is to have tone mapping and colour correction per sky setting, allowing region holders / designs to choose which ones they want.
As such, content creators are reminded no to bake tone mapping in their base colour / diffuse map but let the viewer’s post-processing handle the tone mapping.
As per previous meetings: in order for PBR lighting to render anywhere close to correctly, alpha blending had to be switched from SRGB to linear colour space. This can cause some older content using Blinn-Phong, to look either more opaque or more transparent than in did pre-PBR.
The fix for this giving people the ability to adjust the alpha/gamma on per texture entry for the object (including no mod items)
A link was provided to an installer for a viewer with the code at the meeting, but this later generated a 404 error.
In Brief
The latter part of the meeting included a discussion on documentation + communication (e.g. communicating more fully the reasoning behind PBR – the move towards better and more consistent content using glTF).
† The header images included in these summaries are not intended to represent anything discussed at the meetings; they are simply here to avoid a repeated image of a gathering of people every week. They are taken from my list of region visits, with a link to the post for those interested.
The following notes were taken from the Tuesday, October 22nd, 2024 Simulator User Group (SUG) meeting. They form a summary of the items discussed, and are not intended to be a full transcript, and were taken from my chat log and Pantera’s video of the meeting, which is embedded at the end – my thanks to her for providing it.
Meeting Overview
The Simulator User Group (also referred to by its older name of Server User Group) exists to provide an opportunity for discussion about simulator technology, bugs, and feature ideas.
Meetings are open to anyone with a concern / interest in the above topics, and form one of a series of regular / semi-regular User Group meetings conducted by Linden Lab.
Dates and times of all current meetings can be found on the Second Life Public Calendar, and descriptions of meetings are defined on the SL wiki.
Simulator Deployments
On Tuesday, October 22nd, the Main SLS channel received an updated version of the simulator Doubtfire release, which incorporates a fix for the attachment issues that people have been seeing, together with a fix for the last of the problems for things like region traffic.
On Wednesday, October 23rd, this version of Doubtfire should be deployed to all RC channels.
Simulator Deployment Plans
The next simulator maintenance update will be Barbecue, which should include:
Support for “alpha-gamma” which will allow an object owner to adjust some of the PBR alpha values that were impacting legacy things like hair.
A new warning on receiving direct IMs from Scripted Agents (“registered” bots): if a Scripted Agent “right clicks” you and sends you a message, it will trigger a warning about sharing personal information with bots within the chat window.
Following Barbecue will be Apple Cobbler, which should include:
llTransferOwnership which enables a prim give itself to a new user (subject to owner permissions already set).
An extended llGiveInventory to allow for a destination folder (spystem folers + RLV/a) to be specified as well (+ the use of a parameter list, so further options can be added in the future).
SL Viewer Updates
No changes at the start of the week:
Release viewer: version 7.1.10.10800445603, formerly the DeltaFPS RC (multiple performance fixes, etc), dated September 11, promoted September 17 – No change.
Aesthetics improvements: new Antialiasing setting – SMAA; Contrast Adaptive Sharpening; Khronos Neutral Tone Mapping (can be changed to ACES via the RenderTonemapType Debug setting).
In Brief
Please refer to the video below for the following:
llTransferOwnership: concerns were raised over ensuring proper safeguards to ensure the function cannot be abused. For example:
If person A has edit rights to person B’s objects, and one of those objects has something like a money() event (or similar), and A drops a llTransferOwnership into the object, so it is automatically transferred, potentially exposing the recipient to an unexpected outcome (such as L$ transfer).
Safeguards against these potentials is to be investigated before making the function available.
The proposed new message for Scripted Agents raised a discussion on bots which have not been explicitly “registered” as a bot at creation still presenting a range of issues: spamming people, gaming the system, etc, and how better to manage them.
One suggestion is provided via this Canny report. The discussion covered other options / ideas.
The idea of llGiveInventory being able to target folders resulted in discussions of how far this should go, with strong opposition to the idea of the option allowing it to establish multiple sub-folders in a tree, or placing items in a system folder with out requesting permission first; and suggestions that maybe the extension should offer a means for the recipient to browse their folder tree and determine where the object’s contents should go (if at all possible).
Both of the above conversations became intertwined throughout most of the rest of the meeting.
Some have reported issues with Voice chat working on the official DeltaFPS viewer, even when Enable Voice Chat is checked. It’s not clear if this is an issue within the viewer or not. If the problem occurs, the suggestion is to toggle Enable Voice Chat off/on. If the problem persists – file a report.
Assorted end-of-meeting discussions on Lua (no actual news on status to give) and on issued such as scripted functions for easy PBR alpha switching – which unfortunately weren’t addressed due to the continuing discussions on the likes of llGiveInventory, and so missed.
† The header images included in these summaries are not intended to represent anything discussed at the meetings; they are simply here to avoid a repeated image of a rooftop of people every week. They are taken from my list of region visits, with a link to the post for those interested.
Mad Hatter’s Tea Room, September 2024 – blog post †
The following notes were taken from my audio recording and chat log transcript of the Content Creation User Group (CCUG) meeting held on Thursday, October 17th, 2024. There was no livestream or video for this meeting
Meeting Purpose
The CCUG meeting is for discussion of work related to content creation in Second Life, including current and upcoming LL projects, and encompasses requests or comments from the community, together with related viewer development work. This meeting is held on alternate Thursdays at Hippotropolis.
Meeting dates and times are recorded in the SL Public Calendar, and they re conducted in a mix of Voice and text chat.
The notes herein are a summary of topics discussed and are not intended to be a full transcript of the meeting.
Official Viewers Update
Release viewer: version 7.1.10.10800445603, formerly the DeltaFPS RC (multiple performance fixes, etc), dated September 11th, promoted September 17th.
Release Candidate: ExtraFPS RC, version 7.1.11.11074622243, September 30.
Aesthetics improvements: new Antialiasing setting – SMAA; Contrast Adaptive Sharpening; Khronos Neutral Tone Mapping (can be changed to ACES via the RenderTonemapType Debug setting).
Near-Term Viewer Release Roadmap
ExtraFPS work remains focused on bug fixes.
The first maintenance RC to follow ExtraFPS will be the Maint B viewer, which will include updates put on hold during the focus on performance issues plus additional updates, some of which may be further “post-PBR” performance / aesthetic improvements.
Maint B, as noted previously in these summaries, will have updates to help with Linux support / builds.
Maintenance C is also being put together, but updates changes have not yet be specified, outside of a desire to keep the changes separate to Maint B in the interests of keeping updates easier to manage.
Avatar LookAt / Eye Tracking in the Viewer
A conversation relating to avatar eye movement / use of Look At cross hairs (& the resultant drama it can cause (“Stop perving me!”), and whether because of the latter, the capability should be removed completely from the viewer.
The core problem is, even though the option for a user to see their own LookAts in the Official viewer is disabled by default, the data (cross hairs and avatar name) is broadcast to surrounding viewers, resulting in unwarranted drama (“Stop perving me!” or “You’re on the wrong viewer!”).
Various viewers handle this situation in different ways; some follow the SL viewer, other’s provide means to see the LookAt crosshairs from others whilst supressing their own LookAt data (e.g. so I can see your LookAt crosshairs (if not supressed), but you cannot see mine – possibly leading to more drama).
Given this, LL sought the best way to reduce the level of upset: remove the LookAt broadcast altogether, or limit it / make it subject to having be physically turned on through a debug. The consensus of replies appeared to be to limit it / disable it behind a setting.
This conversation also crossed-over into avatar head movement tracking the movements of the mouse (e.g. you move the mouse up to the menu bar and your avatars head tracks upwards, then you move to a toolbar to the side or bottom of the window, and your avatar’s head again tracks).
This is perhaps more immersion-breaking that Look Ats (drama on the latter notwithstanding) and as some TPVs allowing such head movement to be disabled, there was a consensus that this should be disabled / removed from the viewer.
Graphics Team Work
PBR Terrain Transforms and PBR Terrain Painting
PBR terrain transforms: As per my week #38 update, PBR terrain Texture transforms for applying scale, offset and rotation to any one of the four PBR terrain materials, have been developed for use in the viewer.
Currently the viewer-side options are setting behind debug flags.
The simulator support for this work is currently targeting the Barbeque simulator update, which is due to start deployment after the WebRTC simulator deployments.
PBR Terrain Painting: the work on PBR terrain painting (see my week #31 update for a summary and previous status) has been “shelved” for the foreseeable future.
While no specific reason for this was given at the meeting, it seemed implied that this work has been superseded by the need to focus on other work for the time being.
General glTF / Graphics Comments
In response to a question about additional glTF work, Runitai Linden confirmed that user-made shaders will not be supported, but blend shapes and (possibly) animation of texture coordinate transforms from Blender.
Displacement maps won’t be supported for the time being as their is no available glTF specification for them.
Given the percentage of people not using PBR enabled viewers, LL is considering adding a simulator-side update that can detect a non-PBR viewer, and then take the base colour and Normal layer from the PBR material and move them to the Blinn-Phong parameter, so users on those viewers will at least see some surface detail on PBR objects rather than only seeing then a flat grey surfaces or untextured prims.
In Brief
A fair portion of the meeting was taken up with issues pertaining to the New User Experience / Marketplace issues – both of which those Lindens (Engineers) at the meeting were unable to directly address as these areas are outside of their remit.
† The header images included in these summaries are not intended to represent anything discussed at the meetings; they are simply here to avoid a repeated image of a gathering of people every week. They are taken from my list of region visits, with a link to the post for those interested.
