A new SL project viewer was released on September 3rd. The Snowstorm Project viewer 3.6.5.280476, brings with it a number of issue fixes, and includes two capabilities new to the viewer:
A “request teleport” feature (STORM-1838) contributed by Jonathan Yap, which allows users to request a teleport form another user (currently with caveats – see below)
A group eject confirmation pop-up (STORM-1952), submitted by Cinder Roxley, which some may be familiar with from using TPVs such as Firestorm.
Request Teleport
The new request teleport capability, which I first reported on back in week 4, requires both viewers to be using the code for it to work (so for the time being it is limited to the project viewer). Where this is the case:
Select the person to whom you wish to teleport (from your Friends list or Nearby list, etc.), and select Request Teleport
Enter a message in the pop-up, if required, and click OK.
Request teleport: making a request
At the “other end” the recipient of the request will receive the request as an initial pop-up notification and within CHUI:
Receiving a teleport request – pop-up and CHUI message
The recipient can than either accept the request, sending a teleport offer, or reject it, in which case no message is sent.
The teleport offer is again displayed in the requester’s viewer as both as an initial pop-up notification (below) and within CHUI.
Receiving the teleport offer
Note again, that the system will only work where both viewers are running the new code (e.g. the Snowstorm project viewer for the time being). If someone on a viewer with the capability to someone using a viewer which does not have the teleport request code, the request will not be received / displayed.
Group Eject Confirmation
The group eject confirmation sees the official viewer get a new pop-up asking for confirmation when ejecting someone from a group, in order to help with issues where the wrong name is selected and ejected.
The new group eject confirmation pop-up for the official viewer
Again, as noted above, the release notes for the viewer provide a full list of updates in the viewer.
June 2013 saw Second Life celebrate its tenth anniversary as a publicly accessible grid. Now September marks the anniversary of SL’s (and OpenSim’s?) most popular viewer as Firestorm turns three.
Anyone who takes time out of their lives to sit down and work on a viewer, providing code and capabilities to enhance our times in-world, and the support so often needed by users, is an unsung hero of Second Life and virtual worlds. It’s no easy task, as I’m sure everyone at Firestorm and other TPVs – even at the Lab – can attest; get one thing wrong and you’re liable to get chased up the nearest tree by a group of users who, if not actively bearing pitchforks, tend to have pretty barbed tongues!
In this, it’s easy to forget that every TPV, including Firestorm, is built, maintained and managed by volunteers. They don’t get paid for their efforts; they don’t consider themselves to have any better grasp of Second Life and virtual worlds than the rest of us – they, like most people, just want to have fun and at the same time they want to make SL more fun for the rest of us. I think that sometimes, in calling for this feature or that feature in a viewer and then getting the hump when it doesn’t appear, we all lose sight of that simple fact.
Join the Party!
So it’s good when an opportunity comes around which lets us celebrate the work that goes into a viewer to take the time to say “thank you” to the folks behind the work. Firestorm users will have just such an opportunity to do so on Tuesday September 3rd, as the Firestorm team throw a Firestorm Third Birthday party at the Phoenix Firestorm support island. The kick-off time is 13:00 SLT, and there is an open invitation from the team to their users to come along and join the fun (well, region limits allowing!).
If you do want to attend, please keep in mind:
It is only the one region, so headcount will be limited. Sadly, with over 200,000 users, the team can’t host a party for everyone. However, people are liable to be coming and going throughout the celebrations, so if you don’t get in the first time – keep trying
As the party is liable to be very popular, please go along as script-light as possible; it’ll help the region, it’ll help others and it’ll help you. Detach anything you can do without when dancing / chatting – HUDs, scripted attachments, etc.
The Firestorm Kustom Kitty and a Special Pendant
To further mark Firestorm’s third birthday, Jessica and the team have joined forces with KittyCatS to develop a special, limited edition non-breedable custom Firestorm Kitty. The offer is limited to one per avatar, and the kitties are No Transfer. The kitty is fully functional & rumoured to be the cat that dined on the Phoenix. Whether this is true our not, the folks at Firestorm aren’t saying!
The collectables will be available from 09:00 SLT on September 3rd through until 09:00 SLT on September 10th, via vendors in the following locations:
Note that If demand is high, you may experience delivery problems. If a vendor faisl to deliver, please follow these instructions to initiate a re-delivery.
In addition, Zuri Rayna has produced a beautiful limited edition Firestorm 3rd anniversary pendant. This is available from the Phoenix Firestorm Support island until midnight SLT on the 3rd September – and it is stunning!
So Happy Birthday, Firestorm, and many thanks to Jessica, Ed and the rest of the developers, testers, helpers and the support volunteers at Firestorm. Here’s to many more birthdays and celebrations!
Both Kokua and Singularity issued what amount to maintenance releases in the latter half of week 35, with Kokua releasing version 3.6.4.29422 on August 28th, and Singularity releasing version 1.8.2.4929 on August 29th.
Kokua 3.6.4.29442
The release keeps Kokua on a par with LL’s code base, being built on the 3.6.4 code. The release notes identify a potential issue for Linux users with the last release, with Nicky reporting that:
A user on an older version of Linux reported an auto update issue that resulted in no working viewer. Kokua recently updated build systems from Debian Squeeze to Wheezy. While great for users that move ahead of the pack in updating their Linux distributions it left one user (and maybe more) without a working Kokua on their system. So, the request to upgrade was acknowledged and new Kokua was installed. But, it would not run then, when the old Kokua was tried it was stuck wanting to update.
Further testing revealed the issue appears to exist within LL’s Linux build as well, and a JIRA – OPEN-186 has been raised as a result. In the interim, the team have reverted to building using Debian Squeeze.
This release also sees Kokua gain two potentially useful features – one for mentors / helpers, the other for builders.
Kokua can now optionally display the age of an avatar in the name tag. The option is off by default, and can be enabled via Preferences > Kokua > General > Show each avatar’s age in their name tag. When enabled, the option defaults to showing the age for avatars up to 28 days of age. However, this can be increased / decreased as required, with 0 meaning avatar ages will always be displayed.
The idea behind this is to make it easier for mentors and helpers identify new starters in a welcome area, so that greetings and offers of support can more readily be made.
The new avatar age display in name tags (Preferences > Kokua > General) and the new button for duplicating values for size, offsets, etc., on maps
This release also sees Kokua implement a Duplicate Values button in the Texture tab of the Build floater. This allows the settings for the size, offsets, repeats, etc., set for a texture / normal / specular map to be immediately duplicated to the other maps on an object / object face, saving the need to manually set them in turn when applying maps. If there are no additional maps applied to an object / objects face (e.g. a diffuse map, but no normal or specular), the button is disabled.
The remaining updates for the release include:
Sit Here or Stand Up options are now only shown in the right-click context menu for objects
A Teleport Here option has been added to the context menus to go with the Sit Here option
OXP backup crash fix to prevent selecting individual object(s) from a linkset, rather than the selecting the entire linkset, from causing an immediate viewer crash
Links no longer include the trailing “?” in the link when asking to load the indicated web page in notifications
Fixed a variable scope bug in LLVOVolume::getApproximateFaceNormal().
Please refer to the release notes for further information.
Singularity 1.8.2.4929
The Singularity release comprises a substantial list of tweaks and updates, including a change to the .DAE and .OBJ export permissions when using the viewer on OpenSim, such that if the grid on which the viewer is being used does not support explicit “export” permission, the exporter now follows the rules set by the original Imprudence exporter.
Additionally, the update includes:
Additions:
Ability to save textures from the inventory menu
An option to open inventory folders in a new separate window
An option to show landmarks on map
An option to hear speakers at the same volume unaffected by position
Show Profile button on teleport and inventory offer notifications
Ability to show only legacy names for speakers (in Adv. Chat > Chat UI preferences)
Fixes for:
The German translation where login notifications appeared as ‘[FIRST] [LAST] is online’ instead of showing the actual avatar name
The crash when opening Bumps, Pushes, and Hits floater
Windows, audio volume control for plugins is now working allowing gradual falloff in volume for prim media objects that are farther away
Improvements:
Updated Spanish translation
Legacy (pre-multiwear) wearables on some grids showed as (body part) shapes. Clothing (not body parts yet) now show with a (new) red question mark icon in the inventory, and can be used again
Animation uploads save the values for ease-in/out parameters for future uploads
Disable/Enable UI shortcut changed to Ctrl-Shift-F1 on Linux since the default Ctrl-Alt-F1 is used for switching virtual consoles. The same has been done for the other ctrl-alt-F# shortcuts on Linux
Imported changes from Linden viewer to introduce consistent ground texture generation and fix crashes in mesh upload.
For details on the contributors for the above, please refer to the release notes.
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 Viewer Round-up 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
By its nature, this summary will always be in arrears
The Viewer Round-up Page is updated as soon as I’m aware of any releases / changes to viewers & clients, and should be referred to for more up-to-date information
The Viewer Round-up Page also 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.
Updates for the week ending: September 1st, 2013
Official LL Viewers
Current Release channel: 3.6.4.280048, August 27th – formerly the CHUIStorm RC – (download page, release notes)
CtrlAltStudio issued an Alpha version with initial Oculus Rift support, with version 1.1.0.34244 appearing on August 25th and 1.1.0.34256 on Sept 1st – core updates: “forward” is now the direction the headset is facing; ability to enter “Riftlook” without a headset connected; lighting rendering fix; ability to turn while seated (download & release notes)
Kokua updated on August 28th to version 3.6.4.29422 – core updates: parity with LL 3.6.4 code base; confirmation of Linux Squeeze / Wheezy build issue (with LL viewer as well – see: OPEN-186); ability to copy size, offset and rotation between texture maps; assorted tweaks (release notes)
Singularity updated on August 29th to version 1.8.2.4929 – core updates: translation updates; Export permissions adjusted for OpenSim; Show Profile button added on teleport and inventory offer notifications; animation uploads save the values for ease-in/out parameters for future uploads; Imported changes from Linden viewer to introduce consistent ground texture generation and fix crashes in mesh upload; + more (release notes)
Other Clients
Group Tools Installer updated to version 2.2.21.0, September 1st (no release notes supplied)
Lumiya updated to 2.5.3 on August 27th – core updates: advanced rendering; limited windlight (clouds, stars, time of day), anti-aliasing; ability to buy goods in 3D world view; improved small item selection capability; Adreno GPU fixes (2.5.0 release notes – core updates) – Google Play , Android Pit
Mobile Grid Client updated to version 1.21.1194 on August 26th – core updates:IM auto answer functionality if app is in background or screen is off (enabled via settings); small bug fixes and improvements (release notes)
In my week 35 project updates on SSA, I brought word that both Henri Beauchamp’s Cool VL Viewer (V1-style) and Marine Kelley’s Restrained Love Viewer (V3-style) have incorporated a means developed by Henri by which the new “hover” capability from LL can be used to make on-the-fly avatar height adjustments in a similar manner to the old TPV “z-offset”.
However, a slight error with the initial release of the new “z-offset” capability within the Restrained Love Viewer (version 2.8.5.3) meant that any changes made were only locally applied; they were not being passed to the baking service for onward transmission. This meant that while you would see your avatar’s height adjust, no-one else would.
Marine has rectified this with the release of Restrained Love 2.8.5.5. If you’ve already downloaded and installed 2.8.5.3, you’ll need to update for the capability to work correctly. As with Henri’s original implementation, there are a number of up-front points to note how things work, as they have changed from the “old” z-offset functionality:
As with LL’s hover feature, that avatar shape must be modifiable (if not, the Z-offset won’t work)
There will be a delay in setting the offset and seeing the final result because each change does require viewer / server communications. Multiple quick changes to the z-offset should therefore be avoided, as they may not propagate correctly.
Marine notes that there are a couple of niggles with her implementation, and that care should be taken with height adjustments.
In addition to the time taken for adjustments to propagate through the system, you may find that when they have done so, you avatar may appear a little higher or lower than you originally set. Should this happen, don’t juggle with the slider; wait another second or two and the avatar’s height will make a final adjustment and appear as you intended.
With this update, the slider will also adjust a seated avatar as well, although adjustments don’t show-up on-the-fly; instead you have to make an adjustment and wait for it to propagate via the baking service in order to see your avatar shift (along with everyone else).
The update is available for all three versions of Restrained Love, links below.
Update August 29th: There have been two additional updates with Lumiya since this review was published. Versions 2.5.2 and 2.5.3 both offer the same additional functionality as reviewed here, but include further fixes for devices using Adreno GPUs.
Alina has released versions 2.5.0 / 2.5.1 of Lumiya. The two versions, released on August 26th and August 27th respectively, comprises the same updates features-wise, but the 2.5.1 release includes an additional fix to correct a crash issue users encountered with devices using Adreno GPUs (such as the HTC One).
The focus for this release has been on rendering capabilities, with the 2.5.0 release notes summarising the updates as:
An advanced rendering mode for better visual quality
Limited windlight support (sky, clouds, stars, time of the day)
Drag-to-select pointer for easy selection of small objects in 3D mode
Ability to purchase objects
Fixed an issue with terrain not being rendered when 3D view is opened too early.
Advanced Rendering and Windlight
The number of rendering options already included in Lumiya is impressive. Advanced Rendering brings with it the ability to render in-world light and other visual effects, windlight support for clouds, night-time stars, setting the time-of-day in the world view, and anti-aliasing.
Advanced Rendering options: note that the capability must be enabled via a separate option in the Settings menu in order to access these options
The additional capabilities are added to the 3D View section of Lumiya’s Settings menu (device Menu button > Settings), although they are on by default. While they do offer some enticing options, they do make Lumiya very much more device dependent than perhaps has been the case with the client in the past.
For example, I found that with the Advanced Rendering options active, my Galaxy S2 struggled mightily to render an in-world scene, even with high quality textures disabled, max avatars dialled back to 1 and draw distance down to a minimal 48 metres. More particularly, it got very hot in my hand; something I’ve not encountered previously. Once rendered, the scene also lacked clouds (although I’d chosen a region with a cloudscape overhead on purpose), but stars were visible when switching the time to night. Because of this, I’ve not included images from my phone, but rather demo images Alina captured on a tablet device with more oomph than my S2 can manage, as they give a fairer indication of what can be seen when using the right hardware.
Lumiya has clouds – if your Android device has the power
That my S2 struggled isn’t surprising. There’s an awful lot of work for a small hand-held device to manage, even with just some of the bells and whistles turned on. Just as it is unrealistic to expect older computer hardware with limited graphics performance, memory, etc., to be able to handle all the latest shiny in Second Life, it’s also unfair to expect devices which necessarily have limited capacity to present everyone with the same level of detail with all the options ticked.
Starry, starry night / Paint your palette the Lumiya way …
Drag-to-Select
Another major new addition to Lumiya in this release is Drag to Select. This comprises a small hand icon in the top left of the world view, with the label Drag to Select. Following the instruction allows you to drag the icon (which changes to an arrow) and point to objects in-world, enabling you to interact with them more easily. Releasing the icon when pointing at an object will bring up the initial interaction menu, allowing you to touch, sit, etc., depending on the object.
Use Drag to Select to interact with in-world objects which may be too small to otherwise use long touch on
This is especially useful when using a small screen, where the finger can easily cover multiple items, resulting in some frustration when trying to long touch something for its menu. Do note, however that as the option removes your avatar from the in-world view, you can’t use it to touch your own attachments; nor does it appear to work on other avatars’ attachments.
Making Purchases
You can now shop ’til you drop with Lumiya. Simply find a vendor or object set for sale, long-touch it, and the pop-up menu includes a Buy Object item. Tap this for a final confirmation before buying.
You can now purchase things with Lumiya (account balance blanked on purpose)
Feedback
Another interesting update, albeit it one which may well tax some devices, prompting users to disable some of the options. Seeing windlight start to arrive in Lumiya is good, and helps the client to become more of a mobile alternative to a full-blown viewer for those on the move requiring their SL fix. Similarly, having the ability to make in-world purchases adds to Lumiya’s attractiveness. I also like the new Drag to select function, although its addition is starting to make the in-world view on small screens rather crowded. Even so, I’d rather have it than not.
I understand that in-world building is on the cards for a future release of Lumiya; now that will be interesting. I presume it’ll be a capability best suited to tablet devices rather than small-screened handhelds, but that’s no reason for seeing it excluded. It just means I’ll have to go buy myself a tablet! :D.
