Category: Viewers

Speedlight: Gold capabilities and recent updates

Posted on by Inara Pey
via Speedlight

Speedlight, the browser based / Android Second Life client, continues to be developed and updated, with new or improved capabilities being added almost weekly. The following is a round-up of some of the more recent updates, and well as some I’ve not previously mentioned, including the Gold-only Mass IM tool.

Transfer Gold Status between Avatars

If you have two or more avatar accounts connected to your Speedlight account, one of which is Gold status, you can now transfer that status between your avatar accounts. Handy if you find you suddenly need a second account to briefly have the advantages of Gold, but not sufficiently long enough to justify an additional subscription or for becoming a Speedlight Patreon member.

To move your Gold status between avatar accounts:

  • Log-in to Second Life via your Speedlight account and then log-in to Second Life with the account that is not Gold.
  • Click / tap on the Make Gold option on the right of your avatar box.
  • The Gold upgrade screen is displayed. This now includes the name(s) of any Gold avatar accounts you already have under the title Take Gold From Another Avatar.
  • Click on the avatar name from which you want to transfer Gold status.
  • The Gold status will be removed from that account and conferred on the account you are using. Note that no confirmation is given, but the current logged-in account will list itself as being Gold.
Swapping Gold status between accounts

Word View

Rendering Updates

April 22nd, 2020 saw a series of updates to the rendering system generating the 3D world view. These include:

  • In-world objects are now load quickly in low quality, then get a higher quality when you look at them.
  • The distance fogging can be turned off if preferred.
  • The draw distance can be adjusted.
  • Linden Water level is correctly displayed.
  • Multiple performance improvements / fixes.
  • Updated scene information panel that can be toggled on / off.
  • UI touch joystick now allows walking and rotating.
  • Gold only: seated avatar mannequins are now rendered.
  • Overall 3D UI is more compact.

Updated Scene Information Panel

The world view information tab has been updated, and comprises four core elements:

  • The Scene Progress display link (generally open by default). When open, displays the land, object and texture load data.
  • The 3D Settings display. When open allows you to:
    • Toggle the distance fogging on/ off.
    • Increase / decrease your draw distance (default 50m).
  • Your connection status:
    • Green – you are connected to the region simulator.
    • Red – you are not connected to the simulator and will need to relog.
  • The current region coordinates of your camera.
The Scene Information panel and options

Notes on this panel:

  • It can be expanded  / reduced by clicking on one or other of the scene process or 3D settings links.
    • One click will toggle from one to the other.
    • Clicking on the same link twice will either expand / close it or close / expand it, depending on its initial state.
  • Be careful with setting the draw distance too high; this could place additional data transfer load on your connection to the rendering server.

Accessing Avatar Profiles in World View

An option I’ve not previously covered in discussing the 3D world view is the ability to view another avatar’s Profile directly in the world view.

  • Click / tap on the avatar.
  • The avatar’s Profile opens on the right edge of the world view.
  • The Profile buttons will function as follows:
    • The Send IM and Notecard buttons will switch you to the IM window in the client.
    • The Pay L$ will switch you to the L$ and transactions window in the client.
    • Offer Teleport and Offer Friendship will open an invitation in the world view.
Another avatar’s profile can be displayed in the world view by clicking on the required avatar mannequin

Send Note Cards via IM

Introduced on April 16th, Speedlight’s Note Cards from IM allows you to:

  • Send a note card directly from an IM session.
  • Reply to a received note card in an open IM session with a *new* note card.

Sending a Notecard Using IM

  • Open an IM session with the person to whom you want to send a note card.
    • Note that you can already be chatting with them, and simply wish to send additional information.
  • Click / tap on the down arrow to the right of the Send button at the bottom of the IM display to open a list of options.
  • Click / tap  on notecard.
  • The text input area will expand to display:
    • The note card title field, which will default to “From [avatar name] [time stamp].
    • The body text area.
  • Change the title as required, and use the text entry field to write the contents of the note card.
  • Click / tap Send to deliver.
The send a note card from IM capability

Reading the Replying to Note Cards via IM

Should you receive a note Card via an open IM session, the text of the IM will be displayed in the main IM window, as shown below. A button displayed at the end of the note card text that allows you to reply using a fresh note card..

Receiving the text of a note card in IM, and replying using a note card

Again, the note card fields at the bottom of the IM window should be filled out as requires, and the Send button used to send it.

Gold Only: Mass IM Tool

This is not a new feature to Speedlight, but this is the first opportunity I’ve had to review it. In short, it does exactly what the title implies: allows you to send a single IM to multiple recipients.

Accessed via the IM option in the left side menu, Its use is self explanatory as well:

  • Enter the message in the top field.
  • Add a list of intended recipients in the lower left field, one name per line (this must be avatar names, not group names).
  • If required, check / tap the Save Sent Messages to Speedlight IMs to save a copy of the message to your IM logs.
  • Click /tap the Start Delivery button.
  • As the IM is delivered to each name on the list, a confirmation of delivery is displayed in the lower right text field.
    • You’ll also receive a notification on the status of each delivery.
The Speelight Mass IM option (Gold only)

Observations

The ability to transfer a Gold membership between avatar accounts is an excellent move for those who may occasionally need to have an alt access the more advanced world view available to Gold accounts, or to remain on-line without hourly re-logs. Similarly, the notecard updates in the IM options makes Speedlight even more flexible as a communications tool.

The world view rendering performance improvements should also be a welcome update for Gold members (I didn’t notice and particular increase for free accounts, but that might have simply been my connection). I did find the the problem of the avatar not stopping walking once in motion, as reported in my April 8th Speedlight update, to still be present; while I’ve heard two other users say they’ve had the same problem as well, I’ve no idea how widespread it might be.

That issue aside, Speedlight  – while still very much in an beta stage of development – continues to progress. Watching the Discord server channels for the client, I’ve been impressed with the degree of communications from the team responsible for Speedlight, and their willingness to engage with users.

Related Links

2020 viewer release summaries week #17

Posted on by Inara Pey
Logos representative only and should not be seen as an endorsement / preference / recommendation

Updates for the week ending Sunday, April 26th

This summary is generally 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 Current Viewer Releases 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. This page 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.
  • By its nature, this summary presented here will always be in arrears, please refer to the Current Viewer Release Page for more up-to-date information.
  • Note that for purposes of length, TPV test viewers, preview / beta viewers / nightly builds are generally not recorded in these summaries.

Official LL Viewers

  • Current Release version  version 6.4.0.540188, dated April 15th, promoted April 20th. Formerly the EEP RC viewer – NEW.
  • Release channel cohorts:
    • No Updates.
  • Project viewers:
    • No updates.

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V6-style

V1-style

Mobile / Other Clients

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links

2020 viewer release summaries week #16

Posted on by Inara Pey
Logos representative only and should not be seen as an endorsement / preference / recommendation

Updates for the week ending Sunday, April 19th

This summary is generally 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 Current Viewer Releases 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. This page 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.
  • By its nature, this summary presented here will always be in arrears, please refer to the Current Viewer Release Page for more up-to-date information.
  • Note that for purposes of length, TPV test viewers, preview / beta viewers / nightly builds are generally not recorded in these summaries.

Official LL Viewers

  • Current Release version  version 6.3.8.538264, dated March 12, promoted March 18th. Formerly the Premium RC viewer – No Change.
  • Release channel cohorts:
    • EEP RC viewer updated to version 6.4.0.540188 on April 15th.
  • Project viewers:
    • No updates.

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V6-style

  • No updates.

V1-style

Mobile / Other Clients

  • No updates.

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links

Bright Canopy, the streaming service for SL, discontinued

Posted on by Inara Pey

I admit I’m getting to this somewhat late, although I don’t recall seeing it reported elsewhere among the blogs, etc., I try to read.

In January 2020, Bright Canopy, the one remaining streaming service for Second Life (and OpenSim) ceased operations. I’m actually a little embarrassed by not having noticed the change, given that I played a very small role in it getting started.

While possibly not a well-known service, Bright Canopy was officially launched at the end of August 2015, having come about (at relatively high speed) as a result of the folding of the SL Go streaming service. SL Go had, in turn, been the first functional SL streaming service, put together with LL’s help by former game streaming company OnLive. It established a small but loyal following before it came to an end after OnLive was forced to sell its IP to Sony as a result of not being able to generate the revenue through its various services (including SL Go) it needed to remain viable.

At the time of SL Go’s demise, I ruminated on the potential of the Lab running a streamed SL service through Amazon AppSstream (see: Could the Lab use Amazon AppStream to “replace” SL Go?), and that prompted Second Life user and app developer Bill Glover to comment:

Let’s just do it ourselves! You really got me thinking. I’d can launch a service right now if I get enough folks for Beta.

Bill and Jeri Glover: creators of the Bright Canopy service

Bill and his wife, Jeri, set about working on the idea whilst user Nebadon Izumi, also picking up on my ruminations, started his own tests using AppsStream,. I reported on his work a few days later (see: Using Amazon AppStream to stream a viewer – although sadly Nebadon’s video that originally accompanied that article was later removed from You Tube), and as a result of that article, Nikola Bozinovic, founder and CEO of Frame, a cloud-based service focused on delivering Windows applications to users, suggested his service could be used to deliver Second Life through the cloud.

Nikola Bozinovic, founder of Frame, worked with Bill and Jeri to make Bright Canopy happen, with Frame eventually acquiring Bright Canopy as a service in June 2016

Bill and Nikola quickly got their heads together, and within 24 hours, they had their own proof-of-concept running, delivering the official SL viewer over Frame via Amazon (as an aside, even while Bill and Nikola were in discussions, I tried Frame directly for myself).

As a streaming service, Bright Canopy did incur a cost for users – initially US $17.00 a month (necessary as operating costs from both AWS and Frame needed to be covered), but it continued where SL Go left off, offering both the official viewer and Firestorm to users for the same quality of graphics delivered to almost any computer / device as offered directly by the viewer. Over time the service expanded, adding Singularity to the list of viewers available, together with Blender and Gimp for those who might want CPU / GPU horsepower for their content creation work.

I actually lost track of Bright Canopy in the years post 2016, but it continued to be available, and several friends continued to use it as an away-from-home alternative to their viewer. My interest was stirred again in late 2018, when I caught the news the Frame itself had been acquired by Nutanix, as I was curious as to what it might mean for Bright Canopy. But as nothing appeared to change, I once again lost track of things.

However, as Jodi Serenity – who used the service on occasion – informed me, things did change at the start of 2020, with Nutanix discontinuing Bright Canopy and an offering. No reason (such as lack of subscribers) has been given, and Jodi informs me she has no recollection of any e-mail that may have been circulated ahead of the suspension of the service.

The ending of Bright Canopy means that currently, there is no longer a streaming service for Second Life. However, the landscape for accessing the platform without resorting to a full blown viewer has also changed in the years since SL Go and Bright Canopy first arose. Apps like Lumiya have shown what can be done in terms of client apps that can also render the world, and we currently have Speedlight the Android / browser client with its nascent world rendering capability, while LL themselves have hinted their own iOS  / Android client may eventually progress to world rendering.

Bright Canopy running Second Life through Frame, offering those on low-specification computers to enjoy the full graphic richness of the platform with (allowing for network vagaries) low latency

Of course, none of these options render Second Life to a fidelity that can be achieved by a streaming service – but they have the advantage of being offered at a lower price. That said, the cost of streaming is also slowly changing, and even the Lab has been pondering whether they might want to offer a service at some point in the future – so it is very possible (if not probable) that Bright Canopy’s passing is not the last we’ll hear of a Second Life streaming service.

2020 viewer release summaries week #15

Posted on by Inara Pey
Logos representative only and should not be seen as an endorsement / preference / recommendation

Updates for the week ending Sunday, April 12th

This summary is generally 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 Current Viewer Releases 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. This page 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.
  • By its nature, this summary presented here will always be in arrears, please refer to the Current Viewer Release Page for more up-to-date information.
  • Note that for purposes of length, TPV test viewers, preview / beta viewers / nightly builds are generally not recorded in these summaries.

Official LL Viewers

  • Current Release version  version 6.3.8.538264, dated March 12, promoted March 18th. Formerly the Premium RC viewer – No Change.
  • Release channel cohorts:
    • No updates.
  • Project viewers:
    • No updates.

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V6-style

  • No updates.

V1-style

Mobile / Other Clients

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links

Speedlight: looking at the 3D world view

Posted on by Inara Pey
via Speedlight

At the end of March 2020, Speedlight, the browser / Android Second Life client, extended its world rendering capability to Free account holders whilst also offering Gold members the ability to move their avatars around.

Over the last few days, I’ve had the opportunity to take Speedlight’s world view for a test on both Free and Gold accounts, and this article is intended to act as both an introduction to the capability and to provide insight into where it stands at this stage of its development.

Before getting down to specifics, it should be remembered that it is still very early days in the development of Speedlight’s rendering capabilities – what is seen here is by no means anything close to what might be considered a “finished” product. Avatars, for example, are only presented as rudimentary “manniquins”, as the emphasis thus far has been on rendering in-world objects, and the Speedlight team plan to improve avatar looks in the future.

The Speedlight world view showing our living area at home. The rendering is acceptable, although there are some niggles that will doubtless be addressed in future updates (e.g. in this image, the “glass” doors rendered as soid grey objects, the ceiling rendering as black). Certainly, they are not enough to detract from what has been achieved at this early stage of work

Also at this point in time, the world view doesn’t offer any avatar / object interaction (no right-click options, etc.), and interaction (chatting, IMs) with other avatars is via switching tasks using the left menu. Other points worth keeping in mind with the world view are:

  • As I understand it, Speedlight uses an intermediary server for organising asset data information for download to the client, and this can have an impact of how fast a scene can be rendered. It also means that rendering can occur in “bursts” as object and texture data is collected (visible in the information bars at the top of the world view panel – see below), so it’s perhaps preferable to refrain from changing your camera view / moving your avatar until the scene has loaded.
  •  Key differences between Free and Gold accounts in terms of world rendering are:
    • Free accounts do not (as of the April 1st 4.093.0825 release) have the ability to move their avatar, but can orbit / zoom their camera.
    • Gold account can move their avatar via the Arrows keys when running in a browser, or via the on-screen “joystick” when using the dedicated Android app.
    • I understand from Speedlight support that the number of textures / objects a scene loads is “capped” for Free accounts at present, in order to prevent the intermediary server from being flooded with requests to handle asset information.
  • The world view requires a minimum of Android 7.0 to work on an Android device (either using the dedicated app or when running Speedlight through an Android flavour of a web browser). As I only have Android 6.0.1 at my disposal, this precluded me from trying Speedlight’s rendering on a mobile device.
  • In order to limit any excessive load, rendering is limited to a radius of apprximately 50-60m around your avatar / camera, with objects fading into haze – an effect that helps disguise what might otherwise be glaring “holes” in a scene.

Accessing the World View

  • Log-in to Second Life via your Speedlight account and Open your avatar account.
  • The Summary screen will be displayed.
  • Click / tap the 3D World View option in the left side menu.
  • If you have not run the 3D world view during the current session, a blank window is displayed with the message: Avatar Is Not Rendering 3D World.
  • Click / tap the button under the message to start the rendering process.
  • Rendering will commence, with a warning that it could take 2 mins. Given the variables involved (complexity of scene, information fetching / caching, network connectivity and speed, etc.) this is a not unreasonable estimate.
  • The information bars at the top of the world view (see image below) will report the land area, the number of textures and objects that are being processed / loaded.
The world view explained: 1: the X, Y, Z region coordinates of your avatar; 2: object and texture load count – will change as you cam / move / teleport. 3: horizon hazing at the limits of the pre-set draw distance; 4: avatar mannequin – displays a small green arrow (not always visible) to show direction being faced / avatar will move in (Gold only); 5: information bar – Gold membership shown; Free accounts have a yellow panel located on the left of the world view, carrying different information

Observations

Given this is still very much a first cut at scene rendering, what is presented is impressive, if with some niggles to be addressed, as noted above, and with things like dealing with blended alpha masks and with some transparent surfaces, etc.). However, these will hopefully be addressed over time.

Movement also seems to have a degree of latency surrounding it – possibly because of the use of an intermediary server on top of general network / connectivity aspects. This can be particularly noticeable when ceasing avatar movement, which can result in a degree of “rubber banding” as the avatar’s position as estimated by the client is updated with its position as recorded by the simulator. As such, I found it preferable to use light, repeated taps on the movement keys rather than holding them down for extended periods.

I also encountered a peculiar issue with my avatar simply refusing to stop walking, even after a teleport; something that I could only remedy by relogging. It’s something that may well be unique to me, although I’ve reported it to the Speedlight team just in case. Should anyone trying Gold membership with Speedlight encounter a similar problem also advise the Speedlight team?

Overall, and in terms of appearance, it is not unfair to say that Speedlight’s world view is pretty much on a par at this point in its development with that Lumiya’s world view during its earliest days of development – and look how far that went over time. Whether Speedlight will go on to mature to a similar level of capability with its rendering obviously remains to be seen. However, given that development is only a couple of months old (and niggles aside) what has been produced thus far is not to be sneezed at, and I look forward to continuing to cover the client’s development in the future.

Related Links