Category: Viewers

The Speedlight client for web browsers and Android, continues to be developed apace, with a number of recent updates delivering further functionality, including:

• The ability to teleport, including via landmarks.
• The ability to buy and / or sell land.
• The initial 3D world rendering capability (currently only available to Gold subscribers).

Teleporting

Speedlight now offers two means of teleporting around SL:

• Via the summary screen.
• Using inventory landmarks.

Via the Summary Tab

If you know the name of the location to which you wish to teleport, you can do so directly from the Summary tab when logging-in to Sppedlight and Second Life (see Speedlight: access SL via a browser (incl. mobile devices for details on creating Speedlight accounts and linking them to your Second Life account(s) if required).

• When you are logged in to Second Life with Speedlight, click on your avatar’s name on the left-side menu to display the Summary tab (if it is not already displayed).
• Click the Teleport To… option under the name of your current location. The location display changes to a field where you can enter a SLurl Or Region Name.
  • As you start to type-in a SLurl / name, the field will further change to display spaces for (optionally) entering the X, Y, Z coordinates for the location.
• Click the Teleport button.
• The location map should update to show you have moved to the desired location.

Teleport via a Landmark

• When you are logged in to Second Life with Speedlight, click on the Inventory option in the left-side menu.
• Open your Landmarks folder and click on the Landmark you wish to use.
• The landmark’s details are displayed in the Inventory Details tab.
• Click the Teleport button to teleport.

Buying and Selling Land

As of March 2020, it is possible to buy / sell land using Speedlight.

Buying Land

As with a viewer, you need to be on land that is for sale in order to purchase it.

• In the Summary Tab, click on the About Land link displayed to the top and right of the map.
• The About Land tab is opened, detailing information relating to the land – location, name, description, whether it is for sale or not, etc.

• At the bottom of the tab will be a combination of up to three buttons: Sell Land, Buy Land and Abandoned Land.
• Click Buy Land.
• A summary of the land you are about to purchase is displayed, giving information on size, purchase price etc.
• If you want to purchase the land:
  • Click the check box to accept the covenant (required whether or not a covenant is displayed). This enables the Purchase Land button.
  • Click Purchase Land.
  • To cancel a purchase, return to the Summary tab display without clicking the Purchase Land button.

• Providing you have sufficient funds on account, the purchase will be made, and the summary screen will update to display your purchase has been made and display you as the owner.
  • Note that you may be required to complete additional steps to make full use of the land – such as contacting the estate owner and request group access for rezzing rights, etc. These are land-dependent and outside the scope of this article.
• With the land purchased, you should be able to rename it and change the description, and use the Parcel Options link to set the parcel’s capabilities (Fly, Build, Object Entry, Run Scripts).

Selling Land

To sell land you have permission to sell:

• In the Summary Tab, click on the About Land link displayed to the top and right of the map.
• The About Land tab is opened, detailing information relating to the land – location, name, description, whether it is for sale or not, etc..
• At the bottom of the tab will be a combination of up to three buttons: Sell Land, Buy Land and Abandoned Land.
• Click Sell Land.
• The Land Management summary is displayed.
• You must now:
  • Set the price for the land.
  • (Optionally) set an avatar name against the sale (so the land can only be sold to that avatar, if required).
  • Set whether or not any objects on the land are to be sold with the land.
• When you have done so, click the Set Land On Sale button.
• The summary tab will update, and will display an orange Cancel Land Sale button, should you wish to cancel the sale at any time prior to a purchase being made.

3D World View

Speedlight’s 3D world view is in the early stages of development, but is currently available for Gold subscribers to test. The capability comprises two elements:

• The client-side world renderer.
• A “world storage” server-side database. Details on this are not clear, but I assume it is a server operated by Smartbots that received asset data from the Lab (via CDN) and then feeds that data to the client.

The renderer has a number of limitations / issue at this point in time, all of which are being worked on:

• Limitations:
  • Avatars can only be rendered in “mannequin” form.
  • The renderer will not draw avatars seated on objects.
  • There is no avatar / world interaction (so you cannot touch objects, etc).
  • Avatar mannequins  cannot walk or move (teleporting is possible).
• Issues:
  • Semi-transparent textures will render in black.
  • Other texture issues may be encountered.
  • Numerous additional problems and issues to be resolved.

Obviously, the “mannequin” avatar form is only rendered by Speedlight, Those using a viewer will see your avatar fully rendered when you are logged-in to SL via Speedlight.

For those wishing to try the 3D renderer / help with its development, Gold subscriptions are available at L$1990 (US $8.00) a month, and can be purchased in L$ through the client for those wishing to obtain an early look at the capability.

Feedback

A good set of updates, along with a series of issues fixes made in the end-of-February 3.059 release that demonstrate Speedlight is continuing along a steady development path.

It’s still – as noted – early days for the 3D renderer, and before anyone complains at the avatar appearance, lack of functionality, etc., at this point in time, it’s worth pointing out that 3D world rendering in Lumiya started from a very similar point, and went on to become flexible and usable, so time should be allowed for Speedlight’s capabilities to develop.

Related Links

• Speedlight Website
• Speedlight Documentation
• Speedlight Discord server
• Speedlight in this blog