We’ve all dreamed about running “full” SL on mobile devices; while there are some great text-based clients available for both Android devices and the iPhone which offer a lot of functionality, it’s fair to say that SL doesn’t always feel like SL when the graphical element is removed. Whether we will eventually see SL accessible via mobile devices and tablets on a regular basis is open to debate – although with the likes of Unity, it’s hard not to believe there will be a time when graphical access to SL via such devices will be available.
In fact, where the iPhone is concerned, it wasn’t that long ago that it looked as if graphical access to SL might not be that far away, as the video below shows.
This concept demo was developed by Comverse back in 2008. It made SL on the iPhone possible by using a server sitting between SL and the iPhone to handle all the hard number-crunching, with the results being streamed to the iPhone’s web browser, with inputs from the interface being sent back to the server for processing, prior to being sent to the SL servers. The go-between server clearly has an impact on response times, but as Tech Digest said at the time, it wasn’t bad for a proof-of-concept at the time.
Sadly, the project never seemed to go beyond this demo phase, and there is now no mention of it on the Converse website. Still, it’s interesting to contemplate where the idea might have gone, and whether it might yet simply prove to be an idea a little ahead of its time, technology-wise.
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.
Updates for week ending: 8 April, 2012
Slightly late this week, due to Easter.
There were several changes last week, some of which fell just after publishing the Week 13 round-up. Changes are always reflected in the Round-up page as soon as I learn about them, so always best to follow the links to that page for the most up-to-date news.
The SL Beta and Development Viewers rolled out updated versions shortly after the last update, moving to 3.3.1.252229 and 3.3.2.252822 respectively
The Pathfinding Beta Viewer moved to release 3.3.2.252475
Dolphin saw a further release, 3.3.2.23722, which primarily comprised updates to the Build floater, with clean-up to Preferences and improvements to ID3 info on Linux
The Kokua team released an experimental version of their Viewer for the Mac
Niran’s Viewer saw a Preview release of version 1.33
Zen Viewer rolled to version 3.3.2.6, the release technical being this week, but as this summary is running late, it’s listed here as well
Cool VL Viewer rolled out 1.26.4.7 (.7b in the case of Linux due to repackaging). This release saw the port of the Merchant Outbox support
I received word via Twitter that the Astra Viewer is likely to be making a return to SL; as and when this happens, it will be added to this list.
The Cool VL viewer becomes the first V1-style SL Viewer to gain the Merchant Outbox for Direct Delivery. The new capability comes with release 1.26.4.7 (.7b for Linux due to a repackaging issue), released on April 5th.
There is no support for the Beta grid (Aditi) or the Beta Marketplace
The Outbox is implemented as a folder within Inventory, rather than as a separate floater
There is (currently?) no right-click->Copy to Merchant Outbox capability for items / folders, as seen in V3-based Viewers with Outbox functionality.
Coll VL Viewer: Merchant Outbox folder
To use the Outbox, simply drag and drop folders / items to be transferred to your SL Marketplace store to the Merchant Outbox folder. Or if you prefer, COPY and PASTE them.
If you are dragging one or more folders, a copy of each folder will be made in the Outbox folder with the same name as the original
If you are copying one or more objects into the Outbox folder, each object will be placed in a folder bearing the object’s name (same functionality as V3-based Merchant Outboxes)
To send items to the Marketplace, right-click on the Outbox folder and select SEND TO MARKETPLACE. A pop-up will be displayed in the bottom right-hand corner of the Viewer window upon successfully transfer (and will also note any issues encountered).
As is to be expected, all other constraints (number of items, nested folder levels, etc.) are the same within Cool Viewer and for other Outbox-capable Viewers (as these are LL-imposed contraints).
In testing the capability, I found it functioned smoothly and without any incident: all items dropped into the Outbox folder arrived safely (and suitably “foldered” themselves, where required), and the upload handled multiple items and nested folders without incident.
If there are merchants who have been waiting for a V1-style Viewer to implement Merchant Outbox support prior to committing themselves to Direct Delivery (and allowing for current Marketplace issues), then Cool VL Viewer now provides the answer.
One of the things that has always attracted me to Niran’s Viewer – and is drawing back to it now that performance has once again improved on my hardware – is the fact that NiranV Dean is constantly looking at the UI as a seasoned user of SL and other immersive software and trying to find ways to reorganise things within the UI – particularly menus and floaters. This has led to Niran’s Viewer being highly innovative in both look and feel.
In recent releases, this has been reflected in the fact that right from the moment you load the Viewer, you know you’re using something very unique: The log-in / splash screen has been markedly different from other Viewer for a while, and recently gained a video element to replace static images. The video – shot in the Insilico region – demonstrates the power of Niran’s Viewer as a Machinimatographer’s tool, and is beautifully overlaid with the log-in options without the latter intruding on the video itself.
I’d still link to see some kind of link to the Grid Status page (indeed, given LL won’t step-up to the plate on this one and provide a Viewer-based means for users to be aware of SL issues prior to logging in (not everyone uses the Dashboard). I’d like to see all TPV take a leaf from Firestorm’s book in this regard), but other than that Niran’s approach to the log-in splash screen is enticing. Once you’ve entered your credentials, the screen reverts to the familiar images, progress bar, mandelbrot-like animation and Niran’s famous (and amusing) tips.
Of Floaters and Preferences
Given this is a Preview of an upcoming release, I don’t intend to cover everything that NiranV is doing with the Viewer – I’ll take a broader look once a former release is made. Instead, I’d like to focus on the massive amount of work he’s been putting into the various UI floater panels – which, with this release – reaches the Preferences floater itself.
Now, I’ll be the first to admit that when NiranV first started to work on redesigning the floaters (the Build floater in fact, after revising the World Map), I wasn’t entirely convinced as to the result. Since that time, he’s continued to refine and improve his layouts and I have no hesitation in saying that they are reaching a point where my early concerns have been completely invalidated.
And evolutionary process: the redesigned Build floater as it first appeared in Niran’s viewer (top) and how it looks today
More recently, the work has extended to the People floater, allowing information of friends and groups to be presented in a way that easily scans on the eye and doesn’t require floater resizing or other messing around with each update that comes out.
The People floater showing the Nearby tab with mini-map enabled, and the Groups tab (edited for privacy)
Other examples of Niran’s work can be found in elements such as the Mesh Upload floater, which I looked at recently and which presents the necessary information and options without putting a size 14 footprint all over the in-world view.
Preferences: a Complete Overhaul
Version 1.33 of Niran’s Viewer brings with it something we’ve never really seen in the entire history of the SL Viewer: a radical redesign of the Preferences floater.
That you’re into new territory when accessing Niran’s Preferences is immediately obvious: there are no left-side tabs. Instead, primary options are accessed from a left / right scrollable tab list at the top of the floater, with additional sub-categories for a given option are displayed in sub-tabs access at the bottom of the current Preferences page being viewed.
Options have also been renamed in an attempt to make the tabs more reflective of the options they contain. By default, Preferences will open on the Communications Options tab (above). However, and in a move long overdue in Viewers: the floater will actually re-open to display the last tab actually in use / displayed when OK was pressed / X was clicked on to close the floater.
The tabs as currently displayed in Preferences comprise (from left to right across the top scroll area):
User Options: includes three sub-tabs:
General: analogous to the General tab in the official Viewer and containing the familiar language, content access (General, Mature, Adult), name tag display options and busy response, together with options to set name tag colours
Advanced: provides access to all popular camera, movement and mouselook options found within the official Viewer and TPVs
Privacy: displays the Privacy tab options (clear history, log file options, options for setting who can see you are on-line, etc.
Display and Audio Options: Combines the Graphics and Sound & Media tabs and comprises three sub-tubs:
Graphics: displays a re-ordered and improved graphics settings option list as shown below, with advanced options for deferred rendering only displayed when the deferred rendering option is checked. This tab also includes a button for accessing Niran’s own Optimiser floater
Re-ordered and clearer graphics settings
Advanced Graphics: displays all major advanced graphics options (glow definition, lighting, performance options (including visual auto-mute), etc., all logically grouped and accessed via dedicated buttons
Sound and Media: includes the volume controls, media playback options, Voice settings, etc., as found in Sound & Media in other Viewers
Communications Options: brings together the communications options variously found under Chat, Notifications and Colors, and presents them in three sub-tabs which also include the relevant popular TPV options such as MU* poses, OOC auto-complete, etc.
Viewer Options: presents those options usually associated with setting-up the Viewer, including the Setup tab, the Advanced tab and also include a dedicated sub-tab for RLV/a options, all in their own dedicated sub-tabs.
User Interface Options: includes all of Niran’s Viewer’s comprehensive UI customisation options, including the ability to set the colour and transparency of all commonly used floaters in the UI. Includes three sub-tabs: UI Colors, Skins & Themes and UI customisation.
Feedback and Thoughts
NiranV Dean continues to push the envelope in terms of re-working the Viewer UI. In terms of the changes to Preferences, I think the approach taken has a lot of merit and actually provides a much faster means for one to locate options (after traversing the initial learning curve). The layout is easy to use and options have been brought together with considerable thought. Obviously, there is a degree of re-training one must go through to use the Preferences with ease, but this isn’t exactly mountainous and shouldn’t be cause for complaint.
Were I to critique it at all, it would be in that the User Options and Viewer Options contain some degree of cross-over in terms of what they do. As such, even after spending a good deal of time using the Viewer it can still be confusing as to where a given set-up function might be – do I go to User or Viewer (or even the Viewer sub-tab under User Options?). I’m not sure how this could be avoided without having something of a mess in terms of one page displayed a multitude of sub-tabs, but I do feel that these are areas where further work may be required – and is probably being considered, given this is only a preview.
Now, if Niran provides a means to left / right align buttons (I’m not so much fussed by top / bottom alignment on the left/ right, if I’m honest, as I don’t place buttons to the side of the screen) and gets the chat bar so it can be “docked” to (or at least aligned with) the bottom of the Viewer window, I’ll be one very happy bunny!
Performance-wise, 1.33 is perhaps the best release of Niran’s Viewer I’ve run on my PC recently, with respectable frame rates at my standard settings in the high 20s / low 30s. Enabling deferred and shadows does still crash this – and rather more so than recently LL Viewer releases, with an average frame rate of just 7-9fps with shadows on running my normal defaults (see the Review System panel on the right of the main page of this blog). However, Niran’s seriously kicks bottoms when it comes to the sheer quality of the world-view generated when running deferred with shadows: the lattice-work of the roof of my house casts beautifully crisp shadows that suffer none of the “greying” or blocky fuzziness I’ve experienced with other Viewers.
Crisp shadows
I’ll have a further look at updates and changes to 1.33 when it reaches a full release status.
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.
Updates for week ending: 1 April, 2012
This last week has been a busy one, with numerous updates, some connected to Direct Delivery, others as a result of RLV updates.
The SL Development Viewer rolled through two rapid releases: 3.3.2.252228 and 3.3.2.252611
The Direct Delivery Project Viewer remains available, post-DD roll-out. A hint about further updates, or simply waiting to be removed?
Dolphin saw two rapid-fire releases, with 3.3.0.2700 primarily gaining the latest RLV updates and the Direct Delivery Merchant Outbox, and 3.3.1.23706 primarily adding mesh upload capabilities from Kokua
The Kokua team released an experimental version of their Viewer for the Mac
Update April 1st: Dolphin Viewer has been updated to 3.3.1.23706. Percipal updates comprise the Kokua mesh uploader (Nicky Perian), Firestorm’s ability to attach a short message to avatar-to-avatar payments, and some fixes to the gstreamer audio playback and client-side AO.
This week sees the Restrained Life Viewer and Dolphin Viewer gain Merchant Outbox functionality for Direct Delivery.
Restrained Love 2.8.3.1
The V3.2-based standalone version of Marine Kelley’s Restrained Love Viewer is built on the standard V3.2 code, with a number of UI improvements. Marine develops the Windows version, with Kitten Ninetails maintaining the Mac and Linux versions.
As well as the arrival of the Merchant Outbox, this version sees a number of updates and fixes to the Restrained Love capabilities within the Viewer, all of which can be found listed on Marine’s blog. In testing the Merchant Outbox on the Windows version, I found it worked without any problems, while the revision to the position of the draw distance slider helps make this more usable.
Dolphin 3.3.0.27000
This release brings with it support for the Merchant Outbox for Windows, Mac and Linux. In addition, as an added and welcome tweak, Lance has doubled the length timeout on the Outbox so disconnects should be less frequent than may be experienced in other Viewers.
The remaining updates comprise:
The “RLV Height offset” slider is now wide enough to be properly functional, and has a reset button.
A checkbox to disable rendering of attached light sources has been added in Preferences->Dolphin Viewer 3->Graphics.
A fix for scripted sounds from FireStorm has been imported that makes scripted sounds play correctly the first time.
Codebase has been updated to official 3.3.1 source from SnowStorm.
RLV has been updated to 2.08.03.01.
Performance
Both of these Viewers are using the latest 3.3.1 code release from LL, which has yielded some stunning results on my “regular” system. Together with the latest SL Viewer (3.3.0 (251182)), I experienced the following frame rates on my home sim with 4 others present on the same region:
Average fps, no-deferred / no shadows, @ 390m: 45fps
Average fps, no-deferred / no shadows, @ ground level: 36fps
Average fps, deferred / shadows active, @ 390m: 20fps
Average fps, deferred / shadows active, @ ground level: 18fps
While visiting a popular store (Graves main store), with seven other avatars present, my frames rates were: 32 fps with deferred rendering / shadows off, and 14fps with deferred rendering and shadows on. Taken together and in terms of running with lighting / shadows enabled, these figure represent the best results I’ve had for any Viewer running on my PC, and leave me hoping that similar improvements will be seen in other Viewers as they cut over to the 3.3.1 code.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 