Category: V1- Style

Update: Singularity 1.8.4 was updated with release 1.8.4.5434 on November 16th, after an issue with the coamera controls was discovered in the 1.8.4.5433 build. Not other changes were made, and the functions / updates described in this overview remain current for the the 1.8.4 release.

Thursday November 14th saw the release of Singularity 1.8.4.5433, which brought to the v1-style viewer a 64-bit Windows version to sit with the existing 32-bit Windows version, and alongside the 64-bit Linux offering.

The new release adds a good number of Lab-driven updates to the viewer, including materials processing support (which has been available in various pre-release / alpha versions of Singularity for a while), inclusion of Google Breakpad for better crash reporting, support for the GetMesh2 capability for improved mesh object downloading and inclusion of support for the new LSL particle options. The release also brings with it a host of TPV updates and improvements, either from the Singularity team or which have come by way of other viewers.

The following is a rapid-fire overview for the release, rather than an in-depth review. As always, for a complete list of updates and changes together with all attributions for originators / contributors, please refer the official release notes.

Materials, Particles, Breakpad

Materials processing support has been available for a while with pre-release and alpha versions of Singularity, and with 1.8.4.5433, they arrive in the release version. For those familiar with using materials (diffuse, normal and specular maps), the Texture tab on the Build floater presents the expected options in a familiar layout.

A couple of nice additions with materials are the Synchronize Materials check box in the main build floater, and the carry-through of the UUID field from the texture picker to the normal / specular map pickers. The former makes it a simple one-step process to keep parameter changes between the different maps on the face of an object in synch, while the latter makes it easy to apply maps using their UUID if known.

The particles support sees Singularity able to support the latest particle parameters, including ribbon particles and particle glow. However, while testing the viewer, I found that it does not appear to support the particle muting capability LL also introduced, whereby right-clicking on a particle stream will mute the corresponding emitter.

The Google Breakpad crash reporting system is enabled by default on first installing release 1.8.4. Providing such reports allows a TPV team to better understand and deal with potential crash modes within a viewer and identify and eliminate potential errors which can result in crashes, and users are therefore encouraged to keep the option enabled. However, if you don’t wish to send any reports, or don’t wish to be asked prior to a report being sent should you crash, you can change the crash reporting setting through a drop-down menu in Preferences > General (shown below).

 

Menu Updates

Singularity adds some nice little touches to the use of the pie menu, and adds the option to switch between using the pie menu and context menus.

• Shift-clicking on the central “hole” in the pie menu will either step you back through levels (if you have been using the More > option), or close the pie menu
• The pie menu can be displayed when in Mouselook by holding the ALT key and right-clicking. It can be cleared by holding the ALT key and left-clicking
• For those who, like me, prefer context menus, they can be enabled in place of the pie menu via Preferences > System > Use Context Menus instead of Pie Menus.

Other Updates of Note

This release of Singularity also includes the following updates:

• Inclusion of the latest fixes for the latest ATi/AMD Catalyst drivers
• Addition of the default camera presets to the Quick Preferences panel
• Several improvements to the instant message panels
• Improved reliability of the texture cache

• Mini-map updates:
  • right-click option to hide or show objects
  • Ability to show Whisper, Chat and Shout range rings (hat rings aware of OpenSim chat range settings)
  • MiniMapPrimMaxAltitudeDelta and MiniMapPrimMaxAltitudeDeltaOwn debug settings added to allow customisation of objects displayed on the mini-map based on proximity
• Linden tree animations re-enabled  (Advanced > Rendering > Animate Trees)
• Clicking on clock toggles display of local time
• Grid URLs can be entered directly into the login panel’s grid field, bypassing the need to open the Grid Manager
• OpenSim / Aurora sim updates, including:
  • Support for variable-sized regions
  • More OpenSim conformity
  • Issue with teleport failures and saving scripts taking a very long time on OpenSim regions run in the same simulator instance fixed
• And more, again, please refer to the release notes for details and for the code attributions of all updates.

Windows 64-Bit

The 1.8.4 release of Singularity sees the arrival of a Windows 64-bit version. There is a known issue with this version of the viewer, which lacks support for the  Quicktime plugin, so certain types of parcel media will not play. However, this does not affect streaming music and media on a prim (MoaP).

While my tests are far from conclusive, I have spent time running the 64-bit version on the SL Aditi (beta) grid and have encountered no problems or crashes.

Related Links

• Singularity 1.8.4 download
• Singularity 1.8.4 release notes
• Singularity blog

Singularity 1.8.3 has been released and as promised by Latif, it sees the recently added export capability updated.

With the new version, the Collada .DAE export option can now also include textures, rather than just exporting the bare prims. Additionally, it has the ability to apply texture parameters such as repeats, offset and others to the exported UV map, combine prim faces with the same texture and colour into one submesh and optionally skip transparent faces.

This makes the export tool even more powerful for those wishing to save their own in-world creations locally. Again, it’s important to remember that the export capabilities will only work if you are the creator of all elements of the item you are attempting to export – including the textures.

To export an item, including textures using the Collada DAE format:

• Make sure you are the creator of all parts of the item (and any textures used with it that you wish to export)
• Right click on the object and select More > More > Tools > Save DAE (if you cannot export the item, this option will be unavailable)
• A floater will open displaying information on the item, including the prims and textures you can export
• Use the Options section to define whether or not you wish to export the textures, the format in which you want them exported (.TGA being the default), and whether you wish to export the texture parameters (repeats, rotation, offsets, etc), and / or wish to skip transparent textures / consolidate faces
• Select a save location for the object and save it.

The item will be exported and saved, and can be uploaded as a mesh .DAE object into any grid supporting mesh / mesh uploads. Note that if you don’t have the right to export any of the textures in the object, they will be stripped from the copy of the object on export.

4096 Bug Fix

This version of Singularity also offers a fix for the “4096 bug” in OpenSim, wherein teleporting more than 4096 regions can lead to problems / failure. See also SVC-2941 and FIRE-11593.

Other Updates

In addition, version 1.8.3 includes the following updates Please refer to the release notes for the correct attributions):

• Restored Teleport, Pay, and Log buttons in the IM window
• Spanish translation update
• Audio code crash fix
• Fix for crash when RLV is enabled and viewing inventory forbidden
• Made  the map dot color for everyone else customizable
• New debug settings
  • ResetViewTurnsAvatar allows preventing avatar turning when camera position is reset after zooming (addresses VWR-27956)
  • LiruNewMessageSound allows users to mark a specific chat session important, so “ding” sound is played for every message, not just when the conversation first starts
  • NewIMsPerConversation when set will count number of new IM conversations, not just total number of new IM messages when the communicate window is closed
  • NewIMsPerConversationReset allows new IMs button’s visibility to be reset when the communicate window has been opened and closed
  • LogShowHistoryLines allows setting the number of lines displayed in a new IM window from the previous conversation.

Related Links

• Singularity 1.8.3 download
• Singularity 1.8.3 release notes
• Singularity blog
• Article on using the object export capabilities – John Lester (with comments from Latif Khalifa on texture export)

Singularity updated to version 1.8.1 on August 12th, as noted on this week’s viewer round-up summary. There are a lot of updates in the release, including extended import / export capabilities.

The following is a look at the principal updates in the 1.8.1 release. For information on contribution credits, please refer to the Singularity release notes.

Windows Download and Install

The new version has seen some extensive code clean-up, which may have contributed to the installer weighing-in at 5Mb smaller than the 1.8.0 installer. As always, installation was painless and quick; as this is the first time I’ve installed Singularity on my new system, I didn’t have any concerns about clean installs (which tend to be a rarity with Singularity away, as it just gets on and does the job).

Media on a Prim / Shared Media

The headline announcement for the release is that Singularity supports Media on a Prim (MOAP), the ability to see and interact with shared media (such as viewing a web page displayed on a prim, or watching a YouTube video, etc. Shared media AutoPlay is disabled by default, but can be enabled if preferred, via Preferences > Audio & Video and checking Automatically Play Prim Media.

Import / Export Options

While MOAP is the headline update for Singularity, it’s the enhanced import / export options which are liable to be of particular interest, especially to content creators.

In covering this, I’m going to stay first-off and in large, friendly letters, that Singularity respects object permissions. Therefore, it will only export those items for which you are owner and creator in full, and it will not let people run away and do naughty things.

Support for uploading .anim files has been added to Singularity 1.8.1, along with the following.

linden_ genepool Export / Import

For those working with avatar shapes, perhaps the interesting news is that Singularity 1.8.1 now supports wearable export/import in linden_genepool format. This means shapes supported in this format (saved as XML) can not only be used in Blender/Avastar, they can be re-imported into SL with the need to fiddle with the shape sliders after being modified externally using something like Blender.

Wavefront and Collada Export

Singularity 1.8.1 also includes the ability to export those objects to which you have full permissions (again, creations which are entirely your own) as .OBJ or .DAE files (as well as to .XML via the pre-existing Export option).

The options can be accessed directly by right-clicking on the object in-world and selecting MORE > MORE > TOOLS in the pie menu. If you do not have permission to export the selected object, the export options will be grayed out and non-selectable.

Voice Updates

Voice morphing becomes available in Singularity with 1.8.1. This subscription service provided by Linden Lab allows people to use – wait for it – voice morphing in Second Life, and has been a part of SL since the arrival of Viewer 2.1. With Singularity, options are accessed via the Active Speakers floater (requires Voice to be enabled, obviously), and the overall UI changes are shown in the image below.

Alongside this update is the ability to adjust your own voice volume from the Active Speakers floater.

Radar Updates and Avatar Lists Right-click Options

There have been a number of tweaks to the Radar floater with the new release, and those familiar with Singularity will quickly spot them.

This release also sees a right-click functionality added to avatar lists – such as the Radar – which allows you direct access to common actions you might want to carry out with another avatar, such as IMing them, paying them, offering them a teleport, and so on.

Web Profile and V3 Web Search Support

The Singularity avatar Profile floater now includes a button (top right) which will open the avatar’s web profile in a separate panel, allowing both it and the Singularity Profile panel to be viewed independently of one another and closed independently of one another.

Singularity 1.8.1 also sees an additional tab added to the Search floater, which contains the V3-style web search capability, and an option to search from a separate floater if preferred.

For OpenSim

For OpenSim, Singularity 1.8.1 now offers hypergrid map support and high-altitude building.

And the Rest

For a complete list of the top-line updates to Singularity 1.8.1, please refer to the release notes, which provide more information on things like LSL support updates, improvements to the script editors, the ability to start / stop scripts running in an item directly from inventory, notes on new  shortcut commands and chat bar commands, an improved auto response function, performance and stability updates, the latest available SSA code updates, and more. The release notes also credit those responsible for the various updates and improvements.

No Materials

The keen-eyed may have noticed there’s no mention of materials processing support. This is because the Singularity team opted to pass on adding the support with this release. Given that Linden Lab are themselves still working on the viewer-side code, and have themselves just made a significant set up updates available to TPVs and users within the Materials Project viewer, this is actually an understandable move on the Singularity team’s part.

That said, preparatory work has been carried out in readying Singularity for materials processing support, so expect it to appear in an upcoming release just as soon as the team are satisfied LL are not about to drop a significant set of updates on people.

Volunteers Needed

One other change which has occurred with this release is that F1 no longer opens Help, although it will still open a web browser window / tab. This is because the Singularity team are thinking about picking-up a V3-style help; however, they need more hands to make this happen. So, if you are interested in giving them a hand and have the necessary skills to make it happen, please give Siana, Latif or one of the team a shout in-world.

General Feedback

As ever, a tidy set of updates incorporated into a v1-style viewer which is solid, reliable and which shouldn’t overly tax older computers. For those looking for a v1-style viewer which supports SSA (which Singularity has done since the release of 1.8.0 in April) and which offers a very credible list of additional TPV capabilities, then Singularity 1.8.1 is very much worth taking the time to look at and to take for a spin in-world.

Related Links

• Singularity 1.8.1 download
• Singularity 1.8.1 release notes
• Singularity blog
• Article on using the object export capabilities – John Lester (with thanks to Latif Khalifa)

The Singularity team released version 1.8.0.4114 of their v1-style viewer on Sunday April 21st. The chief update with this release is for server-side baking / appearance, which I’ve covered extensively in this blog.

The following is a look at the principal updates in the 1.8.0 release. For information on contribution credits, please refer to the Singularity release notes.

Server-side Baking /Appearance Support

This isn’t actually a visible change to the viewer – but it is an important one.

Server-side Baking / Appearance is a major change within Second Life which is primarily aimed at reducing or eliminating issues of “bake fail” (when the avatar skin & clothing layers fail to render correctly and with remain blurred or show the avatar wearing the “wrong” outfit). This capability is being introduced in two parts: viewer-side support and server-side support, with the former occurring first.

Viewers which do not have the viewer-side support will not work with the Server-side Baking  / Appearance service once the server-side of the capability has been activated on the grid. People using them will increasingly see grey avatars around them. Therefore, it is essential that Singularity users update to Singularity 1.8.0.

For further information on Server-side Baking / Appearance, see the following blog posts:

• Avatar Baking: and the clock has started!
• Server-side Baking / Appearance update

Pathfinding Updates

Singularity 1.8.0 gains options to display pathfinding information on linksets and characters. These options are on the Tools menu > Pathfinding sub-menu, or by right-clicking on an object / character and selecting MORE > MORE > PATHFINDING from the pie menu.

For those unfamiliar with working with pathfinding, I have two summary articles:

• Pathfinding overview
• Pathfinding: playing inside buildings

Note this release of Singularity does not include navmesh support, so as to maintain compatibility with OpenSim.

Mesh Upload

Mesh upload capabilities also reach Singularity with the release of 1.8.0, with the incorporation of the non-Havok based uploader by Nicky Dasmijn.

 

Script Info

Script information can now be displayed for both your own avatar and for your current region in one of two ways:

• Right-click on the ground and select ABOUT LAND from the pie menu and click on the Script Info button displayed in the General tab of the About Land floater
• Right click on yourself and select TOOLS > SCRIPT INFO.

Either option will display the Script Info floater, with tabs for region memory information or avatar script information.

Continue reading “Singularity prepares for SSB/A” →

It’s been a while since the last Singularity update, and the team have been hard at work updating the viewer and making in-depth changes to a range of functionality as well as providing new features and options.

Version 1.7.3.3624 was released on Sunday January 20th, 2013, which saw the viewer gain, among other things:

• Merchant Outbox support
• Large group management support
• HTTP communications updates in line with recent v3 viewers.

Download and Install

The Windows download remains roughly the same size at previous releases, a touch under 23.9Mb. The release notes don’t explicitly mention the need for a clean install, but given I’m looking at the viewer for review purposes, I did my usual and removed the previous version (1.7.2) and all support files prior to installing. The installation process was, as ever, smooth and error-free.

HTTP Updates

Much work has been carried out on HTTP communications within Singularity in order to bring it into line with ongoing HTTP-based projects underway within the Lab.

Perhaps the most obvious evidence of this work is that this update incorporates Baker Linden’s Group Service code changes to support the management of large groups – which will now load successfully in Singularity and avoid the 10K members cap imposed on the UDP code for handling groups.

Additional work has been carried out on support of HTTP communications which is designed to both improve stability when using HTTP within the viewer and to pave the way for full support of further enhancement of LL’s HTTP services, including the upcoming new server-side avatar baking service.

Merchant Outbox

Version 1.7.3 of Singularity brings with it Merchant Outbox support (World -> Merchant Outbox). As with V3-style viewers, the outbox forms a separate floater, allowing folders to be dragged and dropped from Inventory with the same ease as v3-style viewers.

Right-clicking on objects in the Merchant Outbox provides the usual options of renaming / deleting them, together with an additional option to send them to your Marketplace store (allowing individual items / folders to be sent, rather than the entire contents of the Outbox see comments at the end of this article).

Snapshot Floater

The snapshot floater has been completely overhauled with this release, which now includes an option to upload images to your profile feed at my.secondlife.com.

The new floater is larger when opened-out, but offers a better snapshot preview, and is also somewhat context-sensitive with options; the temporary upload option is disabled, for example, when sending a snapshot anywhere other than to inventory. Aspect ratios have also been improved upon within the new floater as well, providing further flexibility when creating images.

Unfortunately, this release of Singularity does not appear to include the snapshot tiling fix (MAINT-628). I’m not sure if that is because of issues with the code fix or an oversight. However, increasing the images size to anything over my screen resolution when running in deferred mode immediately produced tiling lines – and actually did so on-screen.

 

 

Continue reading “Singularity 1.7.3: more than just a vignette” →