2022 CCUG meeting week #24 summary: Materials, ALM

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

The following notes were taken from my audio recording and chat log of the Content Creation User Group (CCUG) meeting held on Thursday, June 16th 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 Update

No changes to the list of official viewer through until Thursday, June 16th, leaving them as:

  • Release viewer: version 6.6.0.571939 – formerly the Performance Improvements viewer, dated May 25th – no change.
  • Release channel cohorts (please see my notes on manually installing RC viewer versions if you wish to install any release candidate(s) yourself).
    • Nomayo Maintenance RC (Maintenance N) viewer, version 6.6.1.572179, June 1.
    • Makgeolli Maintenance RC viewer (Maintenance M) viewer, version 6.5.6.571575, May 12.
  • Project viewers:
    • Performance Floater project viewer, version 6.5.4.571296, May 10.
    • Mesh Optimizer project viewer, version 6.5.2.566858, dated January 5, issued after January 10.
    • Legacy Profiles viewer, version 6.4.11.550519, dated October 26, 2020.
    • Copy / Paste viewer, version 6.3.5.533365, dated December 9, 2019.

General Viewer Status

  • Bugs are still being ironed-out of the release version of the Performance Improvements viewer.
  • It is hoped the Legacy Profiles project viewer will start to move forwards once more.
  • There’s a further dedicated graphics project viewer in the wings, which may be appearing in the near future.

Materials and PBR Work

Please also see previous CCUG meeting summaries for further background on this work, with notes specific to the reflection probe work available in my week #22 and week #20 meeting summaries.

Outline of Work

  • Work on an implementation of reflection probes which can be used both with PDR shading and with legacy content.
    • The overall aim of this work is to provide a means to support more physically accurate reflections in SL than can be currently generated (seen as a requirement for PBR support).
    • It applies to both PBR generated content, once available, and to legacy content.
  • Creating a materials type with an associated inventory asset. This  will initially comprise the ability to copy a texture entry (with its specific parameters) to inventory, to be followed by initial work to work implement a PBR graphics pipe in the viewer.

Reflection Probes Progress

  • Simulator-side support for reflection probes has been on test using an experimental view and simulator-side updates available on Aditi through the DRTSIM542 channel (Materials 1, Rumpus Room, Rumpus Room 2, and Materials Adult).

Materials Progress

  • Prototype Materials editor

    Work is continuing on glTF materials import, and the hope is to have something that is functional within “the next week or two”. This uses the same unpacking mechanism as Unreal 4.

  • Materials will be uploaded with an additional editor (shown right), which will allow some manipulation and delivery the materials as an inventory item when uploaded.
  • Supported textures / capabilities:
    • RGB albedo + transparency.
    • RGB Occlusion/Roughness/Metalness: R = occlusion, G = roughness; Blue = metalness.
    • RGB emissive.
    • RGB normal (- alpha).
    • Double-sized supported (disables backface calling before issuing the draw call).
    • Two-sided lighting (so if the back of a triangle is visible, it flips the normal around).
  • Functionality not initially supported will be the ability to change the UVU wrapping Mode (so everything will sill be repeat); no ability to change the metification / magnification filter per texture;
  • The process separates the materials from the mesh, so the materials can’t know if things like tangents are present.
  • Texture will initially have to be packed by a creator’s preferred toolset; once the project gets to a state of polishing, the importer should re-pack the textures itself, unless importing from a non-glTF source, in which case self-packing will still be required.
  • Normals will likely be MikkTSpace, as per the glTF specification, but work needs to be done to see if supporting this could lead to clashes with the current normal maps rendering. This does mean that current Normal maps will not work on PBR materials.
  • Uploads will be L$10 per texture, so L$40 if all four used.
  • Brad Linden is working on getting the import into inventory working.

ALM Proposal / Work

At the #week #23 TPVD Developer Meeting (notes here), it was indicated that LL are “leaning” towards removal of the non-Advanced Lighting Model (ALM) (aka “forward rendering”) rendering path from the viewer, leaving just ALM rendering (aka deferred rendering”).

  • This was triggered as a result of a bug report which initially appeared to suggest the Performance Improvements viewer unintentionally alters the render order of object faces. While it later proved that the issue was more an edge-case in the way a piece of content had been created, efforts to try to correct it and to ensure it rendered as desired in both ALM and non-ALM rendering, raised the question as to whether it would simply be easier to remove the non-ALM path.
  • Were non-ALM rendering to be removed from the viewer, it would:
    • Only be done if it can be shown that this does not adversely impact performance (e.g. ALM runs roughly as well as non-ALM for those using the latter) on the broad cross-section of hardware most commonly operated by SL users.
    • Include a slider to manage the number of rendered local lights, as these are unlimited under ALM but can cause performance issues on low-end systems; thus a slider will help those on lower spec hardware to determine how many local lights they wish to have rendered.
    • Likely include a “data saving mode” that will prevent the download of materials for those on metered connections (to reduce the amount of data crossing their connection) and / or help those who find that materials loading can impact performance. This will have a UI warning that when employed, some objects may not look the way they are supposed to look.
  • In terms of the last point above and “data saving mode” the focus is currently on how many users would need it *if* the Lab goes forward with the idea. This will help determine how much the mode is needed and how best to approach it.
  • Given the ongoing work to support PBR and a more rounded set of materials, moving to deferred (ALM) rendering without fallbacks to non-ALM rendering – providing, again, the caveats noted above can be met / implemented – will help ensure a more reliable / consistent viewing experience.

Rigged Attachment Render Order

In terms of render order of object faces on rigged meshes, LL are considering adding a “render order number” that can be used by creators to ensure the orderly rendering of faces for transparent rigged attachments (thus allowing pre-loading of textures on “invisible” faces, etc.).

  • This would hopefully overcome issues of implicit render ordering (which may change due to other viewer dependencies), and of interpretations of the rendering order by creators that can lead to the kind of issue noted in the ALM discussion above.
  • There are complications in attempting this -e.g. render order is not per object, but per mesh, and is part of an overall schema for rigged attachments (attach order, linkset order, face index order); questions around overall outfit changes, where multiple attachments are being made, etc.
  • Providing such an approach does not break masses of existing content, it would allow creators to continue to use the implicit ordering (and risk odd behaviours should LL make changes in the future that affect the order), or use the ordering system to explicitly set the order, no matter what changes might occur down the line.
  • None of this work should impact the attachment order, but could significantly reduce the number of avatar draw calls.

Next Meeting

  • Thursday June 30th, 2022.

In The Shambles in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
The Shambles, June 2022 – click any image for full size

Update, July 20236th, 2022: The Shambles has relocated.

The Shambles is the name Tolia Crisp has settled upon for the latest of her Homestead regions designs which she broadly offered to visitors under her Frogmore Land Management group / brand. And for those familiar with the likes of Frogmore and Mousehole, there are elements here that place The Shambles within the same realm of those settings, with much to set it apart and offer a sense of mystery and surprise.

The first of the former of these is that the location is described as being “up the River Foss”; this is likely a reference to the river of that name that flows through North Yorkshire, England, rising close to Oulston Reservoir and meandering roughly south for about 30 kilometres to join the River Ouse in York. This puts The Shambles squarely into Tolia’s theme of English settings, albeit within a location pretty much diagonally at the other end of the country compared to Frogmore and Mousehole with their Cornish locales.

The Shambles, June 2022

However, where Frogmore and Mousehole have their feet pretty much rooted in reality, The Shambles stands well to one side, a veritable potpourri of themes and ideas brought together in a surprising whole that delights the eyes. This is something that is immediately obvious on arrival: sitting behind the landing point platform and hovering over a broad channel that sits between village and an oddly denuded hump of an island, is a strange windmill, held aloft by downward-pointing rotors spinning away beneath it and the metal deck before it. In fact, with its larger sail turning slowly behind it, it looks not so much like a floating windmill as it does a fanciful flying house.

The landing point occupies a tiny islet connected to the village by a metal bridge around which tentacles rise from the coastal waters, adding a touch of Innsmouth to the setting.

The Shambles, June 2022

On the little waterfront across the bridge are hints which, together with the hovering house / windmill, help the setting lean towards the suggestion that is it steampunk themed. Cogs turn slowly on the wall of a cottage as a kind of mobile décor; a great gas boiler pumps heat into the cottage’s interior and, further along the waterfront, what looks to be the face of an old copper clock has been fashioned into a table where refreshments might be taken, watched over by a mechanical messenger owl.

However, it doesn’t take much to realise that the themes here run much broader than steampunk alone; close to the table mentioned above, for example, a poster hangs from the doorway of a magic shop proclaiming Harry Potter is Undesirable No 1, while the waterfront itself is probably awash with the engine noise from the Star Wars-esque flying vehicle which appears to have just passed overhead, zipping between rooftops and the bulbous bulk of a balloon moored by the landing point.

The Shambles, June 2022

Enter the main street of the village, and more of this blending of ideas unfolds before your eyes in ways that are genuinely captivating. A dieselpunk tricycle, driven by a great chugging internal combustion engine turning a pusher propeller awaits a driver; futuristic lasers zap between buildings; a steampunk style airship appears to have wedged itself into the cul-de-sac of the street, neon signs and LCD panels hang from walls…

This is a place where nothing is as it seems and unique elements are waiting to be found everywhere the camera turns. Take, for example, Cordelia Curiosus and the boulangerie adjoining it. Leaving the Buffy the Vampire Slayer reference in the name of the former, these initially appear to be ordinary places of business. But look again: the windows of Cordelia’s are aquariums, home to fish and corals, the water held in by a combination of window frames and – magic? Similarly the wall between the two shops is a shimmering face of water held back by something, the boulangerie a further haven for fish, turtles and aquatic plants.

The Shambles, June 2022

More touches can be found across the street, where a host of incongruities are gathering into a little vignette that offers so much. There’s a Victorian-era Bobby standing with his back to a pub cheekily calling itself the Scotland Yard, the walls of will are posted with a reward poster typical of those times and the front page of a newspaper offering the latest on the Whitechapel Murders – and the involvement of one S. Holmes, Esq.

The Bobby himself stands between a set of very futuristic packing cases before which floats a glowing umbrella projected by an equally glowing wand, none of which seems to fluster our good constable in the slightest – and nor does the London Police telephone box very definitely from the 1960s – so very definitely in fact, that one might be tempted to ask if it really is a police telephone box – and thus the entire vignette allows the imagination to take flight.

The Shambles, June 2022

Thus, wherever you roam, down through the village with its little stream and cornucopia of buildings, businesses and photo opportunities, or up on and between the rooftops, there is a lot to appreciate within The Shambles – far more than mentioned here. Yes, it is a little texture-heavy when loading; but it is nevertheless highly photogenic and offers more than a few places to sit down and pass the time. Those in the Frogmore group also get rezzing rights when visiting – but do please clean-up when done!

With thanks to Shawn Shakespeare for the nudge.

SLurl Details

Second Life: Nvidia Driver 516.40 Issues

Posted on by Inara Pey

Update: June 28th, 2022: this issue has been resolved with the release of driver version 516.59 – see: FIXED: Nvidia 516.59 drivers correct SL rendering issues.

Update: the issues described blow have also been noted on Nvidia drivers 512.95 and 515.48. If you encounter similar issues please check for driver version (go to Help → About in the viewer and then look for the line “OpenGL Version: X.X.X NVIDIA YYY.YY”,  where Nvidia YYY.YY is your installed driver); if you note a different driver to 51.6.40, please consider adding a note to the two official Jira linked to below, and in a comment on Beq’s NvidIa forum report, so other can see potentially affected drivers. Thanks. 

It is being reported that the latest Nvidia driver version 516.40, issued on June 15th, 2022, is causing issues for Second Life Users running either Windows or Linux who have updated to use it. As a result, the general advice is not to update to this driver for the time being.

In summary:

  • The issues are apparent when running the viewer with Advanced Lighting Model (ALM) enabled.
  • They can cause objects to flash or blink in and out, or can display rings or lines across in-world objects (as shown in the image below).
Image showing some of the artefacts created during scene rendering following an update to the Nivida 516.40 driver. Image courtesy of ermanart / BUG-232264

The following bug reports provide further information on the problems reported thus far:

  • Firestorm:
    • FIRE-31746 – “Updated nVidia Drivers now ambient occlusion causes graphic issues”.
    • FIRE-31747 – “Graphical Glitch that’s too distracting to ignore”.
  • Official Jira:
    • BUG-232264 – “Nvidia driver update causes rough lines in Second Life rendering”.
    • BUG-232268 – “NVidia driver 516.40 causes visual issues on latest viewers with ALM enabled”

In addition, Beq Janus of the Firestorm team has reported the issue via the Nvidia forums – see: Driver 516.40 Causing visual artefacts on Windows and Linux for Second Life viewers (OpenGL).

For those who have updated to driver 516.40, two courses of action are currently available to try to correct:

  • Minimum: disable ALM (Preferences → Graphics → uncheck Advanced Lighting Model. Note that this may not work when under Linden Water in Second Life, per BUG-232268 (above).
  • Recommended: revert to an earlier driver version or use the Nvidia Studio Drivers instead.

Again, please note that the issues are driver-related, and so not something either Linden Lab nor TPVs can address themselves.

Milena’s retrospection and introspection in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Kondor Art Square: Milena Carbone – Introspective

I have been fortunate to follow a large part of Milena Carbone’s artistic journey in Second Life. Since her first major exhibition of work I visited (Agape, February 2020), Milena has repeatedly demonstrated the inherent power of art to challenge, to question, to offer statements on life, politics religion and self, to engage and to provoke.

Her work has tackled subjects as diverse as the nature of reality, self-perception and the realities (or otherwise) of “god”; it has plumbed the depths of our humanity (and inhumanity), of identify and self, and even navigated the waters of quantum field theory and the Casmir effect.

Kondor Art Square: Milena Carbone – Introspective

Thus, whilst offering a retrospective of her work after just three years of exhibiting it in Second Life might be seen as something of an exercise in ego, it is not (for one thing, I know Milena is far too self-aware to allow her ego to get in the way of things). Rather, it is a chance for those who have not had the ability to observe the evolution of her work and explore her ideas and thoughts on life, human nature, reality and self, to do so by acquainting themselves with piece from her catalogue of work to date, and to consider the paradigms she explores and presents. Equally, for Milena, it is an opportunity to revisit her work from earlier times and consider it under the light of her current thinking and world-view.Hence why, in receiving the invitation from Hermes Kondor to mount a retrospective of her work within the Art Square of his arts hub, Milena opted to title the exhibition Introspective, and frame it around a central commentary and three questions. The latter initially appear to be offered as a means to help frame her continued presence within SL; however, they actually reach much further than this.

Kondor Art Square: Milena Carbone – Introspective

Within all three resides both a cry oft heard down the ages, and also a challenge to us all in the here and now: why, really, are we here; what purpose do we serve? When are we finally going to put pettiness and anger and hate behind us and truly learn acceptance of one another and embrace love for one another? When will we, quite frankly, cease the shouting din of childish behaviours and grow up as a species?

Around the introductory boards (which on their reverse sides offer copies of the books Milena has produced in reference to some of her exhibitions, thus offering further insight and means of retrospection) and against the edges of the square are pieces taken from Milena’s exhibitions. These start in the north-east corner of the square and proceed south and then around to the north-west corner, arranged in chronological order. Each is presented with text either from the exhibition itself, or designed to offer a framing for it – text which also, for those willing to read, muse and reflect, offering further reverberations of the core questions Milena asks.

Kondor Art Square: Milena Carbone – Introspective

These images, in and of themselves, also allow us to travel through Milena’s growth in both experimentation and in confidence with her ability to use the tools at her disposal to represent her art and her thoughts and in allowing her inner voices to speak in unison and / or equally.

Introspective is an exhibition that can be appreciated purely visually; however, its full richness comes in taking the artist’s hand and walking through her words and thoughts in reflection of the images and the introduction.

SLurl Details and Links

SL19B: your unofficial pocket guide to the celebrations

Posted on by Inara Pey
SL19B, June 16th through July 5th, 2022: The Steamworks

Second Life marks its 19th anniversary in 2022 with a week-long celebration of music, entertainment, art and more across 44 regions, nine of which are given over to exhibits from Second Life residents, and which include the companion Shop and Hop event.

With core celebrations running through until Sunday, June 26th, the birthday regions and the Shop and Hop event will remain open through until July 5th, 2022, and the theme for this year’s event is – Steampunk!

The gates have now opened, but as there was no opportunity for any previews by bloggers, etc., in advance, we’re all scrabbling around trying to put things together. Hopefully, however, this will serve as a shorthand guide, and my apologies for any omissions.

Key Events

In terms of major events, what does SL19B hold? Well, the best way the stay abreast of all that’s going on is via the official calendar of events, which I’ve embedded below.

  • Use the Week / Month options, top right to change the calendar view.
  • Click on any given line item on any given day of festivities to view more information, including teleport SLurls.

Grand Opening

Patch Linden will be formally opening SL18B at 12:00 SLT at the Arboretum, which will also be streamed as a You Tube Lab Gab special, in which Strawberry Linden will afterwards host a tour of the SL19B regions.

Meet the Lindens

As per usual, SL19B will feature a series of Meet the Lindens sessions, which can be attended in-world and live streamed via the Second Life You Tube channel. The sessions will all take place at the Arboretum, and will feature the following guests:

Day (Times SLT) Featured Guest(s)
Monday 20th June, 14:00
 Patch Linden, Vice President of Product Operations.
Tuesday 21st June, 14:00 Linden Lab Executive Chair Brad Oberwager and Technical Advisor Philip Rosedale
Wednesday 22nd, June, 14:00 The Marketing Team.
Thursday 23rd June, 14:00 Grumpity Linden, Vice President of Second Life Product and Mojo Linden, Vice President of Engineering.
Friday 24th June, 14:00 Meet the Moles of the Linden Department of Public Works.

Premium Plus Announcement

If all is still going according to plan, at least one of the Meet the Lindens sessions should see the official announcement of the Premium Plus subscription package: what it is, what it will contain, what it will cost and when it will be launching.

SL19B, June 16th through July 5th, 2022: The Arboretum stage

SL19B Music Fest

  • The Music Fest will kick-off at 13:00  SLT on Thursday, June 16th, and conclude at 22:00 SLT on Saturday, June 18th.
  • It will take place at three venues across the SLB regions, with one venue hosting the event on each day.
Time (SLT) June 16th – Arboretum June 17th – The Steamworks June 18th – Vernian Rotunda
09;00 Gates Open — —
10;00 — — Cylindrian Rutabaga
11:00 Opening Ceremony Oblee Tia Rungray
Noon — AnLaik Skye Galaxy
13:00 Marqs DeSade The Interplanetary Liberation Front Tempio Breil
14:00 Joaquin Gustav Randy De Lucia SEMINA
15:00 Joka Shuggah! Mimi Carpenter
16:00 Holly Giles Sam King Frogg Marlowe & Jaycatt Nico (Effinjay)
17;00 Angelikus Deo J Lively spiritLed
18:00 Ruvie Gatchie Agatha Nowles Jimmyt49 Dukes
19:00 Seth Regan Grace Loudon Mae Loved
21:00 — — John Rocky
21:00 — — Gabryel Nyoki

Shop and Hop

The SL19B Shop and Hop event is the largest S&H event thus far held.

  • 20 regions of shopping.
  • 400 creators offering 20% or more off of items.
  • Open through until July 5th, 2022.
  • Find direct SLurls to all participating creators here OR use the SLurls at the end of this article to jump to any of the Shop and Hop regions.
SL19B, June 16th through July 5th, 2022: The Vernian Rotunda

Other Points of Interest

The Tapestry of Time and Gift Area.

First presented in 2018, the region-wide Tapestry of Time presents visitor with a walk-through of Second Life’s history from 2003 through to the present day using images, text and videos. True, not everything has been recorded, but there’s enough within the region to be of interest to the historically minded.

within the Tapestry of Time can be found the SL19B Gift Area, offering gifts from the Birthday exhibitors and from merchants participating in the Shop & Hop event.

The Community Gallery

For 19 years, Second Life has offered us a virtual space to create, define and explore, bringing people from around the world together to create, share, discover new interests and make new friends, participate in games and adventures, to learn and discuss, and simply have fun.

For SL19B, the Community Gallery has been created to offer a place where visitors can share their memories of their times and adventures, memories that turned a virtual world into a community of Residents.

Pod Tours

Once again, Yavanna Llanfair‘s excellent pod tours will be circulating through the SLB regions. Hop on any that are free as they pass, or grab one from the pod tours station.

Exhibitor Regions

As is common for SLB events, the mix of content is varied, and the representation of interests broad. Role-play groups, arts, communities, are represented across the nine regions open to exhibitors; some are static, others are interactive in nature.

  • Direct links to the exhibitor regions can be found in the SLurls lists at the end of this piece.
  • Information / SLurls for individual exhibitors can be found in the SL19B Community Experiences pages of the Destination Guide.

Note that teleport boards are available throughout the region for jumping between them.

SL19B, June 16th through July 5th, 2022: The Steamworks stage 

Advice on a Better Experience

The SL19B regions – celebratory and Shop & Hop can get exceptionally busy. To help ease the pain for you:

  • If you have a high draw distance, reduce it to  as low as is comfortable for your enjoyment.
  • Turn off shadows in your viewer if you usually have them enabled.
  • Go to Preferences → Graphics and reduce the slider Max # Non-Imposter Avatars to a minimum and dial-down your Complexity slider.
  • Remove texture-heavy HUDs to free-up more texture memory.
  • To assist the simulator, remove unnecessary scripted attachments.
  • Dress lightly, avoid accessories of high complexity.

SLurls and Destination Guide Links

Core Event Region SLurls

All SLB regions are rated General.

  • The Arboretum – home to the Opening Ceremony, the Meet the Lindens sessions, the June 16th Music Fest line-up and more:

Arboretum 1 – Arboretum 2 – Arboretum 3

  • The Steamworks – home to the June 17th Music Fest line-up, and other entertainment:

Steamworks 1 – Steamworks 2 – Steamworks 3 – Steamworks 4

  • Vernian Rotunda – home to the June 18th Music Fest line-up, and other entertainment:

:Vernian Rotunda 1 – Vernian Rotunda 2 – Vernian Rotunda 3 – Vernian Rotunda 4

Exhibitor Region Landing Points

SLB Amaze SL1B Astonish SLB Astound
SLB Breathtaking SLB Captivate SLB Electrify
SLB Enchant SLB Fantasy SLB Imagination

Destination Guide and Other Links

2022 SUG meetings week #24 summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
The Forgotten, April 2022 – click any image for full size

The following summary notes were taken from the Tuesday, June 14th, 2022 Simulator User Group (SUG) meeting. It forms 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

See the server deployment thread for any updates.

  • On Tuesday, June 14th, the SLS Main and Event channel servers were restarted with no deployment.
  • A new RC viewer should be available for deployment in week #25.

Available Official Viewers

There have been no official viewer updates at the start of the week, leaving the current crop as:

  • Release viewer: version 6.6.0.571939 – formerly the Performance Improvements viewer, dated May 25th – no change.
  • Release channel cohorts (please see my notes on manually installing RC viewer versions if you wish to install any release candidate(s) yourself).
    • Nomayo Maintenance RC (Maintenance N) viewer, version 6.6.1.572179, June 1.
    • Makgeolli Maintenance RC viewer (Maintenance M) viewer, version 6.5.6.571575, May 12.
  • Project viewers:
    • Performance Floater project viewer, version 6.5.4.571296, May 10.
    • Mesh Optimizer project viewer, version 6.5.2.566858, dated January 5, issued after January 10.
    • Legacy Profiles viewer, version 6.4.11.550519, dated October 26, 2020.
    • Copy / Paste viewer, version 6.3.5.533365, dated December 9, 2019.

In Brief

  • The weekend some some issues with Group chat, with the Lab making some rapid fixes. Longer-terms fixes are still a work-in-progress.
  • With the disbanding of the Governance user group, it was confirmed that question, etc., on matter of policy should be passed to Support.
  • Friends Lists:
    • Some have reported that simulator that are running for “4-5” days are ceasing to send Friends lists to those logging into them, a issue only fixable via a simulator restart. This has been noted by LL and is to be looked into.
    • BUG-232256 “No longer receiving spare calling card when adding friends” has ben noted has an issue.