The following is summary of changes to SL viewers / clients (official and TPV) which have taken place in the past week. It is based on my Viewer Round-up Page, which provides 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 being in adherence with the TPV Policy.
This summary is published every Monday, and by its nature will always be in arrears. Therefore, for the most up-to-date information on viewers and clients, please see my Viewer Round-up Page, which is updated as soon as I’m aware of any changes, and which includes comprehensive links to download pages, blog notes, release notes, etc., for Viewers and clients as well as links to any / all reviews of specific viewers / clients made within this blog.
A relatively quiet week. I’ve attempted to add summaries of what might be regarded as “core” changes / fixes to Viewers (where possible); these aren’t in any way supposed to be exhaustive – that’s what release notes and change logs are for! Hopefully, they’ll give a flavour for what has changed within a release.
I’m curious to know how many find these summaries and the main Round-up Page useful, and whether the additional information on release changes as seen here would be more appreciated if seen in the main Round-up Page.
Updates for the week ending: 17 June, 2012
SL Viewer updates:
Beta version: 3.3.3.259197, June 12th – core fixes / updates: VWR-8761 Cannot delete object description; VWR-21538 SLVoice does not exit after viewer exits; SH-2668 “ocean” water is always 20m high instead of the Region Water Height; SH-2689 worn mesh rezzing issues; improved language support (VWR-21538, VWR-23844, VWR-26542, VWR-28950; implements STORM-1819, Ternary/graded shadow support (release notes)
Development: rolled to 3.3.4.259223, June 9th
Pathfinding: 3.3.2.259040, June 11th
Dolphin Viewer rolled to 3.3.924419 on June 14th – core changes: fixing graphics bug partially breaking UI; updates to latest LL Dev Viewer & Marine Kelley’s RLV 2.8.3.2; incorporation of Liny Odel’s fix for SH-3153
Niran’s Viewer rolled to 1.41 on the 11th June – UI tweaks, Windlight preset additions and tweaks, additional work on translating panels & right-click menus; bug fixes for Viewer crashing on Invalid Texture Index and RLV/a minimap issue (release notes)
Cool VL Viewer rolled to 1.26.4.17 on June 9th – core changes: fixing render crashes due to objects rezzing badly / incompletely (& a hardening of render code); improvements to the Search floater; additional v3.3 code backports, including: latest LLCurl and increasing ban line height to 5000m; arrow keys can still move avatar with chat input floater open (but not focused) (change log)
It’s been relative quiet on the Viewer front of late. However, there is now news emerging about two TPVs: Kokua and Firestorm.
Kokua
Nicky Perian has updated the Kokua code on Bit Bucket to release 3.1.1.22989(Beta-1), dated June 11th. Available for Windows and Linux, it is unclear as to how “official” this release is – there is no blog post associated with the release, nor does it appear on the Kokua wiki download page. Notice of its arrival has, however, been doing the rounds on Twitter.
I’ve not had a close look at it as yet, but it appears the release is more about bug-fixing and general enhancements of the current code (with fixes code that addresses both SL and OpenSim) more than prepping a major release and shouldn’t be treated as such – or even as a recognised experimental until the team release further information. As it stands, the release still references itself in places as the “Second Life Viewer” rather than Kokua, again indicative that this is very much still a work in progress. One thing it does do away with is the console window that would open on starting the Windows version of Kokua (and which you had to keep open while logged-in to SL in order to avoid the Viewer crashing).
I’m not recommending the release be put to general use – that is down to the Kokua team; rather I’m reporting that the version’s availability has been reported on via Twitter. Those wishing to know the exact status of the project should keep an eye on the Kokua blog, where hopefully there will be an update soon.
Firestorm
After an extended period of quiet from the Firestorm end of things, I recently noticed Jessica Lyon logging back in to SL once more after what appeared to be something of a period of absence. She’s provided a blog post at Firestorm entitled “Progress Report” , which indicates that the team had in fact eased off from development; with some taking an outright break from things, as burn-out was becoming a factor.
The announcement highlights three things:
The team has new developers in the form of Holy Gavenkrantz, who has been a regular code contributor to both Firestorm and Phoenix, and Armin Weatherwax who, co-incidentally enough given the information on Kokua above, was formerly a lead developer on that project
And update on the status of the Firestorm 4.1.1 release, which is still officially labelled “coming soon” but which will include various requested tools and capabilities including Growl support, an LSL pre-processor, additional Windlight effects an “improved build floater”, and a host of goodies
The news that the team is branching development for Firestorm between Second Life and OpenSim.
This last point is interesting, as Firestorm has been gaining popularity among OpenSim users (Kitely even set it as their default Viewer).
The use of Viewers to access both SL and OpenSim has been the subject of much debate in the last couple of months since Linden Lab announced they were sub-licencing elements of the Havok physics engine. This requires that any applicable Viewer using the licenced code to only connect to LL’s own servers. In May, Jessica gave a hint that the Firestorm team were considering their options vis-a-vis SL and OpenSim, commenting on SLU that:
There is the possibility that we could have Havok code disable when the viewer is not logged into the SL grid. I have asked Oz if this would be acceptable and he is looking into it. If it turns out this is NOT acceptable, we will provide two versions of our Firestorm viewer. One for SL and one for everything else.
While she has not followed-up the comment with further information directly, it would appear from the blog post that – for whatever reason – the Firestorm team has opted to take the route of developing two flavours of the Viewer. It will be interesting to see how this actually plays out.
Lumiya continues with what amounts to almost weekly releases, with version 2.0.4 arriving in Google Play on June 10th, bringing with it the first cut at inventory support, as well as a host of other features.
Inventory Features
The inventory capabilities comprise the ability to view your inventory; copy, rename, move and delete inventory items; edit asset permissions and the ability to share inventory with other users. The inventory display can be accessed from most of the Lumiya screens via your device’s Menu button, and uses the familiar suitcase icon.
Inventory access in Lumiya (click to enlarge)
Tapping INVENTORY will display a familiar folder list, ordered in the default System Folders to Top mode. Currently this can’t be changed, but the inventory capabilities are still evolving in Lumiya, so this may not always be the case.
As with the inventory panel on any graphical Viewer, you can navigate through your folders – simply tap on a folder to refresh the screen and show its contents. To work your way back up through your inventory, tap the BACK button at the top of the screen not the Back button on your device. The latter will quit you out of inventory and return you to the screen you were displaying prior to accessing inventory.
Also, note that Lumiya will remember your last position within inventory for as long as you remained logged-in to SL, and that it is this position that will be displayed when you next access inventory; thus it is very easy to switch in and out of inventory when performing a number of activities with Lumiya. You are only returned to the top-level of your inventory if you use the on-screen BACK button or if you sign-out of your current SL session and then log back in.
Asset information (click to enlarge)
Tapping on an item in the inventory window will display the asset information for the object (see right). If the item has any editable permissions associated with it, this screen will include an EDIT PERMISSIONS button. Tapping this button will display a pop-up where you can set those permissions to which you have access: tap on the required check boxes to assign (green tick) or remove rights. When you’ve finished, tap Save Changes at the bottom of the pop-up to save, or Cancel to leave the permissions unchanged. Tapping either will return you to the asset information screen.
Tapping either of the PROFILE buttons in the asset information screen will display the associated profile information (owner or creator). Tap the Back button on your device to return to the asset information screen.
If you perform a long touch on an object item in inventory (press and hold for a couple of seconds), a pop-up menu is displayed allowing you to copy (permissions allowing), rename or delete the object as well as providing another means of displaying the object’s asset information.
To copy an item of inventory, display the pop-up menu and select COPY, navigate to the point in your inventory where you wish to paste the copy of the item and then tap the SAVE HERE button displayed at the foot of the screen. Note that:
At this point in time Lumiya doesn’t support inventory links
When you have copied an item, the originating folder for the item will be displayed, not the location to which you have copied it.
Edit and create notecards in Lumiya & embed attachments (click to enlarge)
The inventory functions additionally allow you to:
Teleport directly to a location by tapping on the associated landmark in your inventory
Open and read / edit (subject to permissions) any notecards in your inventory
Create new notecards by tapping on the Menu button on your device and then on New Notecard. When creating notecards, be aware that:
The notecard will be created in the current folder you are browsing, not the notecard folder
You can add landmarks and other notecards to a new notecard by tapping on your device’s Menu button and then on Insert Item – this will open your inventory display, allowing you to navigate to the landmark / notecard you wish to embed; tap on the item to add it to your new notecard.
Sharing Inventory
Inventory can be passed to another user (permissions allowing) via the CONTACTS screen using either the CONTACTS or NEARBY lists to select the person to whom you want to give inventory and then tapping on their name to open an IM window.
With the IM window open, tap your device’s menu button and select SHARE ITEM. This will take you to your inventory window, where you can locate the item you wish to give. Tapping on a full permissions item will automatically transfer it to the selected individual. Tapping on a Transfer / No Copy item will generate a pop-up warning you that you are about to transfer a No Copy object; click on OK to complete the transfer.
If you are offered an item of inventory, a message will be displayed in an IM window from the person offering you the item (as with graphical Viewers). Clicking on Accept in the IM window will open your inventory window, and you can navigate to the folder in which you wish to save the item. When you have located and opened the required folder, tap SAVE HERE to save the received item. Note that you can also DECLINE unwanted inventory offers, which are discarded.
Group Notices
Group notice with an attachment (click to enlarge)
Lumiya 2.0.4 also includes the ability to send group notices (with attachments). Note that in order to use this function, you must be in a group role that allows you to send notices (be an owner of the group, for example) – if you do not have such a role, the group notice option will not be displayed in Lumiya.
The option is accessed by tapping CONTACTS and then opening the IM window for the group, then tapping the Menu button on your device and selecting NEW NOTICE.
A button near the top of the screen allows you to access your inventory to attach items to the notice – once an item is selected by tapping on it, you are automatically returned to the notice editor, and the button switches to display REMOVE, allowing you to remove the item (and replace it with another if you so wish).
Opinion
This version also sees a number of nips and tucks to Lumiya; hardware keys are now supported in the 3D world view, log-in performance has been improved for those with large contact lists, etc., all of which make 2.0.4 a further very positive step forward for the client, bringing some important functionality to the client. Currently there is no support for wearing / adding clothing and attachments, but again, this is only the first release for inventory handling within Lumiya; things will very probably improve as the functionality is enhanced.
This is also the first version of Lumiya I’ve got to use on Android 4.0.3 ICS – largely because I’ve only just got my Galaxy S2 updated. I encountered no problems running on the new OS, while overall, 2.0.4’s performance on the S2 continued to match that of earlier releases on both wifi and 3G.
With all of these recent updates, Lumiya is now firmly in the lead in providing mobile access for SL on the Android platform, making it the obvious choice for those running suitable phones or Android tablets.
This is a weekly summary of changes to all SL Viewers / clients of which I’m aware and which are in popular use across the grid / listed in the TPVD. Detailed links to said Viewers / clients can be found in my Viewer Round-up Page. The links supplied in this summary are either to change logs or to reviews within this blog.
An interesting week which saw the Libretto text client updated for the first time in a year with the roll-out of version 0.17. Dolphin issued a new version, but graphics issues have meant that downloads have been rolled back to last week’s release until fixed. LL’s Pathfinding Project Viewer received an update as the roll-out of pathfinding draws closer, while Lumiya joined the “usual suspects” with a further weekly release, this one incorporating inventory controls.
Updates for week ending: 10 June, 2012
SL Viewer updates:
Beta version: 3.3.3.258769, June 4th (release notes)
Development: rolled to 3.3.4.259223, June 9th
Pathfinding: 3.3.2.256513, June 6th
Dolphin Viewer rolled to version 3.3.9.24419 – June 14th (release notes)
3.3.9 graphics issue fixed.
Exodus has introduced nightly builds ahead of the next release
Niran’s Viewer rolled to 1.41 on the 11th June (release notes)
Zen Viewer released version 3.3.4.1 June 10th (release notes)
Cool VL Viewer rolled to 1.26.4.17 on June 9th, (change log)
Lumiya rolled out version 2.0.4 on June 10th (release notes)
Libretto rolled to version 0.17 on June 10th (release notes)
As well as working on the next release of Exodus and rolling out a series of nightly builds, the Exodus team are also staging an exhibit at this year’s SL9B celebrations – and they need help from their users!
In asking for my help in putting out the call for assistance, Geenz Spad explained the situation thus, “Basically, we’re setting up a Made in Exodus exhibit for photographers and machinimists where they’ll have a chance to show people what they’ve got.”
Exodus at SL9B
The team is looking for three things from photographers:
Samples of their work, preferably taken using Exodus’ HDR features
A statement on why they use Exodus and how its features benefit them in their work
A logo for their establishment (if appropriate).
For machinimatographers, the team needs:
A URL to the video (shot using Exodus) they’d like showcased
A statement on why they use Exodus for their work, and how its features benefit them when filming
A logo for their establishment (if appropriate).
Submissions containing the required information should be made to Geenz Spad, either in-world via IM or notecard, or via e-mail to: geenz-at-exodusviewer.com.
This is a weekly summary of changes to all SL Viewers / clients of which I’m aware and which are in popular use across the grid / listed in the TPVD. Detailed links to said Viewers / clients can be found in my Viewer Round-up Page. The links supplied in this summary are either to change logs or to reviews within this blog.
A number of updates last week, including the SL Official Release, Dolphin, Restrained Love, and Lumiya, as well as from the “usual suspects”: Niran’s, Zen and Cool VL.
Updates for week ending: 3 June, 2012
SL Viewer updates:
Release version: rolled to 3.3.2.258114 on May 29th, which includes the Local Textures option
Development: rolled to 3.3.4.258391 on May 30th
Dolphin Viewer rolled to version 3.3.8.23798 – May 30th (release notes)
Exodus has introduced nightly builds ahead of the next release
Niran’s Viewer rolled to 1.39 on the 29th May (release notes)
Restrained Love rolled to 2.8.3.2.(3.3.4.23490) on June 3rd (release notes)
Zen Viewer released version 3.3.3.7 May 30th (release notes)
Cool VL Viewer rolled to 1.26.4.16 on June 1st, (change log here)
Lumiya rolled out version 2.0.3 on May 29th (release notes)
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 