2022 week #37: CCUG meeting summary – updated

Posted on by Inara Pey
Endless: Birdlings Flat, July 2022 – blog post

Update, September 19th, 2022: in response to the discussion concerning the upcoming mesh new starter avatars and encouraging creators to help develop an ecosystem of clothing and accessories for them (see In Brief, below), Alexa Linden forwarded the following comment to me:

Linden Lab plans to release devkits for our new Default Avatars after we’ve gone live with them. We’re waiting to make sure everything goes smoothly and no tweaks are needed. Once we’re happy with the results we’ll work on the documentation and devkits to make them available for ALL creators interested in supporting these avatars.

Alexa Linden, Septmber 19th, 2022

 

The following notes were taken from  my audio recording and chat log of the Content Creation User Group (CCUG) meeting held on Thursday, September 15th 2022 at 13:00 SLT. These meetings are chaired by Vir Linden, and their dates and times can be obtained from the SL Public Calendar.

This is a summary of the key topics discussed in the meeting and is not intended to be a full transcript.

Official Viewers Status

  • Release viewer: version 6.6.4.575022 – hotfix for Crash at ~LLModalDialog() – promoted September 15 – NEW.
  • Release channel cohorts (please see my notes on manually installing RC viewer versions if you wish to install any release candidate(s) yourself).
    • Maintenance P (Preferences, Position and Paste) RC viewer version 6.6.4.574750, issued September 6.
    • Maintenance 3 RC viewer, version 6.6.4.574727, September 1.
  • Project viewers:
    • Puppetry project viewer, version 6.6.3.574545,  issued on August 30.
    • Love Me Render (LMR) 6 graphics improvements project viewer 6.6.2.573263, July 21.
    • Performance Floater project viewer, version 6.5.4.571296, May 10.

Materials and PBR Work

Please also see previous CCUG meeting summaries for further background on this project.

  • Tangent spaces:
    • The glTF 2.0 standards are very specific about where tangent spaces are expected to be and behave. To this end, Second Life will use mikkTSpace tangents at least for PBR support.
    • There are internal discussions going on at the Lab as to whether this should be retroactively applied to existing meshes. If this is the case, meshes will have to be re-uploaded in order to have the correct tangents, do to the way bounding boxes are currently handled (the DA upload changes the coordinate frame of the original mesh, resulting in tangents being generated which do not match the normal map).
    • As it is, use of mikkTSpace tangents does increase Land Impact (LI), as the tangents are being stored inside the mesh alongside the normal information.  However, LL are currently running experiments to see if the tangents can be generated and stored without altering LI.
    • Until it is shown whether or not these experiments work, LL is requesting holding off on discussions about possible LI increases until they know what the likely scenarios is.
    • Alongside of mikkTSpace, this project will use per pixel binormal generation.
  • There is a mismatch between the colour space handling swatch in the viewer’s material’s editor and the glTF specification; the latter all calls for these colours to be in liner space, and in the viewer they are in SRGB space. This means that the values displayed by the swatch does not match the values which would be typed into a tool like substance Painter. It’s not currently clear how this mis-match will be handled.
  • Viewer:
    • Transparency and double-sided materials are now supported in the PBR development viewer.
    • To maintain commonality with the glTF specification, albedo in the PBR viewer is now called base colour.
    • Access to the PBR development server is via the Content Creation Discord channel, and requests to join that channel should be made in person at CCUG meetings. I am no longer able (at LL’s request) to furnish such information.
  • Again, this project is only focused on the materials elements of the glTF 2.0 specification, it does not including glTF mesh model import – although there is potential traction for this be a follow-on project, with the goal of eventually replacing COLLADA support for mesh uploads.
  • Ideally the Graphics team would like to structure work such that elements of the glTF 2.0 specification can be selected and then implemented within Second Life, thus presenting an “extensible” means of support the standard.

Puppetry Update

Please also refer to:

Notes:

  • Jiras from the Lab and users will now be available in the public Jira for ease of reference.
  • Meetings are held on Aditi (the beta grid) at the Castalet region Puppetry Theatre on alternate Thursdays at 13:00 SLT. The next meeting will be on Thursday, September 22nd, 2022.
  • Some users have been looking at using OpenXR  for Puppetry and enjoying some success.

In Brief

  • The New Linden Lab mesh New Starter avatar (see here for more): the project has reached the stage of the Lab (through the LDPW) generating a fixed set of content to support the avatar, which will be made available through the Library.
    • There is – as Patch Linden has indicated – the potential for content creators to be encouraged to support this new body and potentially provide a support ecosystem of clothing and accessories – although this will require a dev kit.
    • It’s been suggested that some existing clothing / accessory creators be invited to help test the new avatar.
    • Mention of the new mesh avatar triggered an extended discussion on the current state (and, for creators) pitfalls of the current multi-body / head marketplace and providing content, content efficiency, etc. As a more philosophical discussion (at this point in time) than a clear set of opportunities for improvements, the discussion largely falls outside of this summary.

Next Meeting

  • Thursday, September 15th, 2022.

Cica’s Pink Fairytale in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Cica Ghost: Pink Fairytale – September 2022

Every one loves a fairy tale, the opportunity to escape to a world where our imaginations can be exercised, to explore to lands far away, share in adventures and see good triumph. Fairy tales are stories we gain exposure to at an early age, and the four words that so often start them tend to remain with us forever – something English author Sir Philip Nicholas Outram Pullman once noted,  both in terms of the memories hearing the words can evoke and the escape they offer.

This power of fairy tales is the subject of Cica Ghost’s latest region-wide art installation which opened on September 12th. It takes as its foundation that quote from Pullman – an author who has perhaps enjoyed renewed exposure to a public courtesy of the BBC adapting his coming of age, multiverse-spanning trilogy His Dark Materials into a television series.

Cica Ghost: Pink Fairytale – September 2022
Once upon a time lasts forever.

– Sir Philip Pullman

Entitled Pink Fairytale, the setting offers an environment in keeping with its name: a pink landscape beneath a pink sky;  a place where pink flowers and trees climb towards the sky, and where the buildings and features of the setting resemble cakes and edibles topped with icing, and the cups of a carousel appear to be filled with ice-cream or some other delight, marking them as a haven for allowing the child inside to revel.

This is a place populated by animals and characters who in turn suggest stories and tales to the active imagination, where thrones with ears await a king and queen – or perhaps a princes and princess – the jug between them perhaps bringing forth thoughts of magic lamps. Elsewhere a princess can indeed be found, together with an entourage of geese – also often characters found within fairy tales –  and watched over by a elephant which, if not fairy tales, when certainly other famous childhood stories.

Cica Ghost: Pink Fairytale – September 2022

Scattered with little vignettes such as these and complete with Cica’s many places to sit or dance or – in the case of the bubble-burping fumaroles – float. Pink Fairytale is another light and fun installation form a Second Life artist who consistently offers us a reasons to smile. So, should you decide to hop over and experience Cica’s work first hand, do please consider making a donation to help her continue to keep us smiling.

SLurl Details

Linden Lab acquires CasperTech for Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey

On Wednesday, September 14th, 2022, Linden Lab announced it has acquired CasperTech, the multi-product and service company founded by Casper Warden.

Established around 13 years ago, CasperTech is perhaps most famous for its business support services such as CasperLet (for rentals) and – most particularly – CasperVend, a comprehensive, easy to use networked vending and sales management system for Second Life, together with a number of products from rezzing systems through to security orbs. The company even made a foray into providing an on-line market presence as an alternative to The SL Marketplace, in for the form of PrimBay – a service I looked at back in 2013, and which had been designed for merchant operating in SL and other virtual worlds.

Over the years, CasperVend in particular has proven a reliable service to merchants across Second Life, providing a comprehensive range of in-world point-of-sale and produce redelivery solutions, backed by a tools and capabilities that have made the system indispensable to SL content creators and merchants in the sale of their goods.  It is this service which likely featured largest in the Lab’s decision to acquire CasperTech.

Commenting on the acquisition in the official announcement, Patch Linden stated:

This acquisition will ensure that all of the existing CasperTech services in Second Life will continue to operate without interruption into the foreseeable future, but it also opens up brand new opportunities to vastly improve the experience for our users as our next step in the CasperTech and Second Life journey.  
You can expect to see the same great services that you know and love continue on, with all of the same functionality you enjoy today, but with closer integration into the Second Life ecosystem – and as such, an even more reliable and convenient experience.
We wouldn’t have gone forward with this move if we weren’t absolutely confident that it will be a positive change for all Residents and CasperTech customers.

Understandably, the Lab acquiring a business such as CasperVend is liable to raise concerns among those using the service. To this end, the Lab have opened a forum thread where questions and  / or concerns can be raised, and replies provided directly by the Lab – if you do have questions, either as a user of CasperVend or other CapserTech services and products, please ask your questions there; there is no guarantee questions asked in the comments following this article may not be answered.

In  addition, and broadcast shortly after the announcement, a pre-recorded Lab Gab session was streamed featuring both Patch Linden and Casper Warden,  and it is embedded below.

Links

2022 SUG meetings week #37 summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
Luane’s Underwater World, July 2022 – blog post

The following notes were taken from the Tuesday, September 13th, 2022 Simulator User Group (SUG) meeting. They form a summary of the items discussed and is not intended to be a full transcript. A video of the entire meeting is embedded at the end of the article for those wishing to review the meeting in full – my thanks to Pantera for recording it.

Server Deployments

For the most up-to-date information, please refer to the deployment forum thread.

  • On Tuesday, September 13th, the simhosts on the Main SLS channel were re-started without any deployment, leaving them on simulator version 574550.
  • On Wednesday, September 14th, all simhosts on the RC channels will receive a fix for BUG-232593 “Mesh physics shapes changing unexpectedly when rezzed on a 574611 sim”. This fix should not involve any other changes to the simulator version.
    • In short, there was a change that attempted to correct some bounding box calculations and in a couple cases it would wildly change the mass and centre of gravity.

Available Official Viewers

On Tuesday, September 13th, the Izarra Maintenance RC, version 6.6.4.574885 (dated September 9th) was promoted to de facto release status.

The rest of the current official viewers remain as:

  • Release channel cohorts (please see my notes on manually installing RC viewer versions if you wish to install any release candidate(s) yourself).
    • Maintenance P (Preferences, Position and Paste) RC viewer version 6.6.4.574750, issued September 6.
    • Maintenance 3 RC viewer, version 6.6.4.574727, September 1.
  • Project viewers:
    • Puppetry project viewer, version 6.6.3.574545, issued on August 30.
    • Love Me Render (LMR) 6 graphics improvements project viewer 6.6.2.573263, July 21.
    • Performance Floater project viewer, version 6.5.4.571296, May 10.

In Brief

  • Display names not updating correctly (see this grid status update): this may be related to a back-end server issue, rather than a table update issue, but is apparently still under investigation.
  • A general discussion on scripted access to block lists – although the use case wasn’t clearly explained (e.g. scripted access to one’s own block list – or others of others (and if so why & what about the potential for breach of privacy?)). This is now pending a feature request to clarify.
  • BUG-231802 “Prevent vehicles from entering parcels their riders cannot access”, together with providing a means for a viewer to request all active ban lines within a region – work still pending, and Leviathan Linden (the Linden Formerly Known As Andrew) offer some insights into the complexities of managing parcel ban collisions, which leads to further discussion wound into other topics.
  • BUG-232468 “[Feature Request] llGetObjectLinkKey() – A remote equivalent of llGetLinkKey()” –  may well by in the next-but one (or two) simulator maintenance update.
  • For specifics, please refer to the video below.

A Spoonful of Sugar 2022 in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey

Currently underway in Second Life through until Sunday, September 18th, 2022 is the annual Spoonful of Sugar festival in support of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)).

Also known as Doctors Without Borders, MSF was founded in Paris, France in 1971 as a non-profit, self-governed medical humanitarian organisation delivering emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural disasters and who might otherwise be excluded from healthcare around the globe. Support and treatment is given on the basis of need, irrespective of race, religion, gender or political affiliation.

Since its founding, MSF has grown to a movement of 24 associations, bound together as Switzerland- based MSF International. Thousands of health professionals, logistical and administrative staff – most of whom are hired locally – work on programmes in some 70 countries worldwide to provide medical and social care and support for a staggering 10+ million people annually.

Spoonful of Sugar 2022
How donations to SOS Help Every 3 seconds, someone in the world dies of malaria, many of them children. A donation to SOS of just L$100 gives one child a potentially live-saving treatment against the disease. 

In addition, MSF is often one of the first organisations to have feet on the ground following a disaster, and is also to be found carrying out vital work in work-torn countries such as Yemen, where over 91,000 people have been killed and many more wounded, injured and / or displaced in a 6-year-old war than gains little world-wide attention.

The 2022 Spoonful of Sugar event opened on September 3rd, 2022 with this year marking the 8th time the event has been held in Second Life. In that time the event has raised a total of US $100,000 for MSF – once again demonstrating the generosity of Second Life users. In all, ten regions are available for exploration, entertainment and – of course – shopping. The theme for this year’s event is Tahiti, and if that conjures images of tropical beaches, island paradises, palm trees, tiki huts and outrigger boats – you’d be right; the regions offer all this and more.

Spoonful of Sugar 2022

However, the theme and setting isn’t about getting away from it all. MSF’s brief is a broad one, and many regions in the tropics and along coasts are facing greatly increased environmental risk and exposure to increasingly severe natural disasters,  with MSF often on the front line dealing with the aftermath. As such, the SOS theme for 2022 is intended to encourage us to think about the challenges MSF helps those most at risk to face – and recover from, as the event  website notes:

We don’t “earmark” our fundraising for a specific aspect of what they do. We think they know best where the money is most needed. We do, however, want to change our focus for the event a bit. We’re going to explore more about MSF/Doctors Without Borders work with environmental issues, natural disasters and the pressing impact of climate change, focusing on their work within these specific areas and the people they help while doing this work. So join us at places on our planet that are both astoundingly beautiful and wealthy and yet devastatingly vulnerable and poor. Let’s understand this connection between environmental imbalance and the illness, safety and resource insecurity, facing so many on our planet,

– From the Spoonful of Sugar website

As well as the usual full range of music and entertainment available daily at the event, 2022 brings visitors the Get Crabby Hunt. Prizes can be found on the Hunt webpage, and participation requires joining the Get Crabby Hunt group  (L$500 – all proceeds to SOS / MSF)  Here I feel I must offer a suggestion to the organisers: it would be handy if the in-world banners / poster advertising the Hunt a) specified which group needs to be joined rather than a vague “group membership required”, and b) when clicked are scripted to present interested parties with the option of joining the hunt group.

The landing point for the event follows the familiar SOS format of providing extensive information on MSF’s work, with the focus this year being on the organisation’s response to environmental issues and natural disasters. Getting around from here is best achieved via the teleport boards – these are easy to find within each of the regions -, although boardwalks are available within the shopping regions and the entertainment / activities region so people can avoid getting wet feet when exploring these!

Spoonful of Sugar 2022

As always, Spoonful of Sugar is an event well worth visiting. Even if you don’t find anything to buy in the shopping regions, the donation kiosks will welcome your Linden dollars, and you can be absolutely sure that your money is going to a very worthy cause.

SLurl and Links

2022 viewer release summaries week #36

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

Updates from the week through to Sunday, September 11th, 2022

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

  • Release viewer: version 6.6.3.574158 – formerly the Profiles RC viewer, dated August 18, promoted August 30 – No change.
  • Release channel cohorts::
    • Izarra Maintenance RC, version 6.6.4.574885, September 9.
    • Maintenance P (Preferences, Position and Paste) RC viewer version 6.6.4.574750, September 6.
  • Project viewers:
    • No updates.

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V6-style

V1-style

Mobile / Other Clients

  • No updates.

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links