2021 CCUG and TPV Developer meetings week #9

Posted on by Inara Pey
Wildwood Gardens, January 2021 – 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, March 4th 2021 at 13:00 SLT, and Pantera’s video recording of the TPV Developer’s meeting of Friday, March 5th, a copy of which is embedded at the end of this article.

The majority of the TPVD meeting was given over to a discussion of the texture cache issue, together with a general discussion on the simplified cache structure and also on Jelly Doll avatars.

These meetings are chaired by Vir Linden, with dates available via the SL Public Calendar. The venue for the CCUG is the Hippotropolis camp fire, and the TPV Developer meeting is held at the Hippotropolis Theatre.

SL Viewer

[From the CCUG meeting & TPVD Meeting]

Release Roll-Back & Issues

  • The Simple Cache viewer, version 6.4.14.556088, had to be rolled back following its March 2nd promotion due to a number of bugs (e.g. cache location not being adhered to – BUG-230337; uploads of textures above a certain size were failing – BUG-230295).
  • The roll-back saw the Jelly Doll improvements viewer, version 6.4.13.555567 (originally promoted on February 17th) revert to being the de facto release viewer.
  • However, the roll-back resulted in some users who had updated to the Simple Cache viewer users experiencing a corrupted texture cache when using an older version of the viewer.
  • Unfortunately, LL are having problems consistently reproducing the texture caching issues, so it is unclear how matters will be resolved.

This means that for the meantime:

  • Those experiencing texture issues on the official viewer as a result of having used the Simple Cache viewer and then rolling back to, or installing, another version should try clearing cache and re-starting the viewer.
  • Until the Lab have more of a handle on the texture cache issues:
    • Those RC viewers that had been internally merged with the Simple Cache viewer will also be rolled-back to an earlier version.
    • Internal viewer testing procedures will be reviewed.
    • TPVs that have also merged the Simple Cache code will also likely need to roll back their code.
  • One suggestion for resolving this issue is for the official viewer to increment the texture cache version number, forcing a complete wipe / reset of the cache
  • Independent of the texture caching issues, and due to BUG-230337 and BUG-230295, the Simple Cache viewer will go back to a development status so the issues can be fixed.
    • Firestorm apparently has fixes for these particular issues, and these may be contributed to LL.

General Viewer Notes

  • A new Maintenance RC viewer – Eau de Vie, version 6.4.14.556149, was released on March 4th.
  • The Custom Key Mappings viewer updated to version 6.4.14.556098, also on Thursday, March 4th.

The rest of the official viewers in the pipeline remains as follows:

  • Release channel cohorts:
    • Love Me Render (LMR) 5 project viewer, version 6.4.14.556118, February, 23, 2021.
  • Project viewers:
    • Legacy Profiles viewer, version 6.4.11.550519, October 26.
    • Copy / Paste viewer, version 6.3.5.533365, December 9, 2019.
    • Project Muscadine (Animesh follow-on) project viewer, version 6.4.0.532999, November 22, 2019.
    • 360 Snapshot project viewer, version 6.2.4.529111, July 16, 2019.

There may be a viewer promotion during week #10 (commencing Monday, March 8th).  While no final decision has been made, it is possible the LMR 5 may be the viewer that gets promoted.

Viewer Rendering

[CCUG Meeting]

  • Euclid Linden continues to work on separating UI rendering from general scene rendering in order to improve overall viewer performance.
    • Currently the UI is completely redrawn every frame, along with the rest of the scene, whether or not it requires update.
    • This can take up to 40% of the rendering time, depending on the complexity of the scene being rendered, with around 10-20% being an average, so it is hoped the changes will particularly help those on less-capable systems.
    • There may be some subtle / slight reduction in UI responsiveness under certain circumstances, so a means to tweak the UI update rate may be provided via something like a Debug setting.
    • Note: this work is not physically altering the appearance of the UI, only the frequency with which it is drawn.
  • Ptolemy Linden continues to work on more general rendering performance improvements and rendering bug fixes.

In Brief

  • [CCUG] Map tiles are still being worked on. In the future the lab may look to implement a new means of generating the Map tiles in a more robust way.
    • The Lab has an internal proposal for updating terrain textures, but it has yet to be formally adopted.
  • [CCUG] Allow upload of ground  constrained animations – on the LL’s list,  but has not been looked at as yet.  Vir believes that as the capability is already supported (but undocumented) is should only require an alteration to the simulator animation code to ensure the constraints are correctly understood.
  • [TPVD] Firestorm has entered QA, with a release planned for mid-March.

Date of Next Meetings

  • CCUG: Thursday, March 18th, 2021.
  • TPV Developer: Friday, March 19th, 2021.

Beira da Ribeira in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Beira da Ribeira – March 2021

Recently opened in Second Life is a new region design by and Fred Hamilton (frecoi) and Lotus Mastroianni. Beira da Ribeira (roughly translated at “border river” or “riverside border”) is a lush forest setting strongly suggestive of the Amazon rain forest that is both simple in presentation and yet layered in potential message.

Cut into three main and unequal parts by the passage of water, the region’s two larger landmasses are home to a rich rain forest style environment – tall trees offering high canopies that leave the land below so in shade that little else has the opportunity to gain either the height of the trees or the density of their foliage. Instead, the ground is given over to a tangle of roots, ferns and low-lying shrubs through which natural trails speak to the passage of wildlife among the  shadows.

Beira da Ribeira – March 2021

Between these two arms of the forest and sitting with a fork of the river, is a pair of islands, the larger of the two forming the third principal land mass. It  is separated from the smaller island suggests by a shallow channel of water that suggests they were once joined, but have separated perhaps as a result of rising waters – perhaps the result of seasonal rains.

That rainfall  is liable to be a factor here is shown by the fact that the little village that has grown on these islands (and extends along one bank of the river) is raised up on long-legged platforms. Made of rough-cut boards, it comprises simple houses and structures  made of whatever materials came to hand: wood, corrugated metal, clay tiles …

Beira da Ribeira – March 2021

Those who built the village appear to live off the waters around them and responsibly use available timbers for their boats and buildings (the logos around the town indicate the villagers are licensed to use local wood), while their lifestyle presents a curious mix: the buildings are all clearly hand-made, somewhat makeshift, but they are not without modern amenities: a generator sits on one palette, providing power together with the solar panels located at the far end of the village. Also, a row of water butts are racked over the generator, apparently drawing clean, drinkable water from somewhere well beneath the river.

Beira da Ribeira – March 2021

Even so, and despite the power and the presence of a little café-bar, it’s fairly evident that this is not a wealthy place; it merely sits in the passage of wealth that passes overhead in the form of microwave communications being relayed by the tall mast rising from a nearby hill. But as poor as it might appear, the village carries with it a strange sense of warmth and homeliness that is attractive.

Its presence also speaks to the changing times within the the Amazon: close by within a clearing is a trio of thatched huts that bring to mind the tribal heritage of the Amazon basin, a heritage that – thanks to the arrival of “civilisation” – has in places migrated over time to places like the riverside village, gradually adopting modern abilities as and where they can.

Beira da Ribeira – March 2021

The landing point for the reason sits to the north-west and is a reminder of the manner in which the rain forest is being exploited  – be it for wood, to create room for agriculture or the extraction of other natural resources. It presents a tract of land entirely denuded of trees, the ground laid bare to the ravages of the wind, former tree trunks, cut and sized, either aboard ship ready for transport or piles awaiting their turn for shipment.

While it is far from clear, the float plane moored by the town might belong to those responsible for the deforestation; it’s unlikely it belongs to anyone living in the town – although it might just be responsible for bringing curious tourists to the basin, hence the café-bar with its two neatly-kept dormitory rooms.

Rich in detail – particularly throughout the village – with birds, animals and reptiles also awaiting discovery, Beira da Ribeira is a fascinating, natural setting which – as with all builds be Lotus and Fred – offer plenty of opportunities for photography.

Beira da Ribeira – March 2021

My thanks to Shawn Shakespeare for the pointer!

SLurl Details

Cica’s Stars in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Cica Ghost; Stars

Thursday March 4th saw the opening of Stars by Cica Ghost. Occupying a Homestead region, Stars is once again an interactive setting that makes for fun exploration.

Caught under a blanket of starfish-like stars (make sure you have your viewer set to use the Shared Environment), the setting has something of a Steampunk feel to it in general appearance, incorporating many echoes of Cica’s past installations waiting for those who are familiar with her work.

Cica Ghost, Stars

The town is laid out in something of a grid, with the landing point pretty much at its centre. laid out around it are squares and road and assorted buildings, some of which stand as a frame for the setting, other of which can be entered into and explored, or offer places to sit and chat.

Some of these houses resemble the tall slender houses found in the likes of Burlap and Sunny Day, or echo the look of those seen within Bridge and Donkeys or seen painted in Rocks and Drawn Town. Among these are fish and seas creatures, some hanging from pipes or forming strange wheeled sculptures and vehicles or sitting at rooftop decoration;  whilst very different in tone, these nevertheless tickle fond memories of Under the Sea, while echoes of places like Little Town and more also await discovery.

Cica Ghost, Stars

Which is not to say Stars is not a unique environment – it very much is; but these little touches, which include Cica’s stick man on his bicycle still fighting the wind and the rabbits from from Burlap forming a part of the town’s puppet theatre and the keys on the wall of the house interior, add depth to the setting that can be very personal to those who have followed Cica’s work.

This is a place that introduces new characters as well, notably in the form of the wheeled, tin hatted robots rolling back and forth on their single wheel, or offering music to dance to under the stars. And throughout the entire setting are places for visitors to dance or sit or ride (from swings to vehicles) and simply have fun together. And when exploring, do be sure to check the terrain covering – it offers some  art of its own.

Cica Ghost, Stars

Rounded with a quote by Charles A. Beard (or Ralph Waldo Emerson, depending on your choice of attribution, together with Martin Luther King Jr., and others in a slightly altered form), Stars is another richly engaging place to explore – do be sure to have the local stream enabled when exploring! And should you find them as engaging as I did, Cica’s robots at their friends can be purchased from the store in one corner of the region.

SLurl Details

  • Stars (Meropis, rated Moderate)

March 2021 SL Web User Group summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
The Web User Group meeting venue, Denby

The following notes are taken from my recording of the Web User Group (WUG) meeting, held on Wednesday, March 3rd, 2021. These meetings are generally held on the first Wednesday of the month, with dates and venue details available via the SL public calendar.

When reading these notes, please keep in mind:

  • This is not intended as a chronological transcript of the meeting. Items are drawn together by topic, although they may have been discussed at different points in the meeting.
  • Similarly, and if included, any audio extracts appearing in these summaries are presented by topic heading, rather than any chronological order in which they may have been raised during the meeting (e.g. if “topic X” is mentioned early in a meeting and then again half-way through a meeting, any audio comments related to that topic that might be included in these reports will be concatenated into a single audio extract.

Web Properties Updates

  • General post-Uplift work is continuing, much of it internal to the Lab. This means that it is likely to still be a while before new features and capabilities (including the Marketplace) start to be worked on again, although issues will continue to be addressed.
  • Name Changes: the next refresh of Last Name options will likely be in June 2021, around the time of the Second Life birthday. This should also see the list of last names put into alphabetical order.
  • As noted in my UG meeting summaries in week 8, the Land Store was re-enabled after encountering post-AWS transition issues. Further problems were encountered over the last weekend of February 2021, but is believed these have now been fully resolved.
  • A new link has been added to the secondlife.com home age + related pages. T-shirts and Gifts will take people directly to the Lab’s physical world merchandise store hosted by Red Bubble.
The new link to the SL / LL merchandise on Red Bubble can be found in the footer of secondlife.com and associated pages.
  • There have been non-user visible updates to the back-end of the communities services pages, and the World API has been updated to correct an issue with information being fed to the viewer splash screen.

Marketplace

  • A lot of work has been put into the Marketplace back-end systems.
  • This work includes:
    • Correcting the delivery delay issues that were being encountered.
    • Fixing a 404 error appearing on some pages.
    • Fixing a error with store managers being unable to open the correct management page.
    • Correcting the need for Support to clear Unavailable Item errors.
    • Updates to the French language pages.
    • Fixing an issue with new users being unable to log-in to the MP.
  • MP updates used to be published to the forums, but it has been suggested making them available more as release notes might be beneficial. This will be looked into.
  • BUG-230262 “Marketplace Website Bug/Error” causes people to be randomly logged-out of various web properties (notably the Marketplace). It is not clear if this is related to single sign-on confusion or a problem that is more generic or browser-specific.
  • It has been suggested that reviews on MP purchases be subject to a timed delay (e.g. you cannot leave a review for, say 24 or 48 hours following an MP purchase), to allow the purchaser time to contact the creator in the event of problems / confusion, etc., and act as a deterrent against bad reviews airing from simply misunderstandings, etc. The Lab have requested this be made as a formal feature request so that it can be properly reviewed / considered.

Single Sign-On

  • Single sign-on is now in place across many of the Lab’s web properties.
  • This means users with multiple accounts cannot have different accounts signed-on to these pages at the same time.
  • See Single Sign On, Coming Soon for more.
  • This should not be confused with Two-Factor Authentication (2 FA), which is still in development / discussion and no deployment date is currently available.

Premium Plus

  • Roll-out of Premium Plus was delayed in 2020 for a number of reasons, including the AWS migration work and the impact on the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.
  • The feature is currently being re-evaluated, including whether it should be rolled-out as originally planned.
  • In addition, further work may be required as a result of the migration work.
  • In short:
    • Work on the feature will be resumed in due course.
    • There is no identified date for when this might be, or when roll-out may commence.

Mobile Client

  • iOS Version:
    • Issues resulting from the last round of Apple Store testing (apparently related to how chat / communications are handled) have been addressed.
    • These fixes are currently subject to internal testing at the Lab. Providing this is successful, the app will be passed back to Apple for further testing at their end.
    • It is hoped the latter will occur towards the end of March 2021.
  • Android:
    • Development is still behind that of iOS.
    • However, the Lab now has devices to allow internal testing of the Android flavour of the app, although it will still be a while before anything becomes visible for users to test.

In Brief

  • User-created grid-wide experiences are still on the cards, but again, the capability is not being worked on at present, and there is no available time frame on when work will resume nor any indication of potential deployment.

Next Meeting

  • Wednesday, April 7th, 14:00 SLT.

Daantje Bons: Art and statement in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Nitroglobus Gallery: I Have to Show You Something

Note: The art exhibition described in this article contains images that might be considered as sexually suggestive, with some also including female nudity.

I Want to Show You Something is the title of the latest exhibition mounted by Dido Haas at her Nitroglobus Roof Gallery, and once again it presents something that is unique to Second Life, whilst also marking the second time in the gallery’s history that art from the physical world has been place on exhibition.

A collaborative installation, I Want to Show You Something features the images of Dutch photographer Daantje Bons, presented through the use of projected images created by Venus Adored to give the illusion of 3D pieces embedded in the walls of the gallery.

Nitroglobus Gallery: I Have to Show You Something

For this reason, it is essential that visitors have their viewer’s Advanced Lighting Model (ALM) option enabled (Preferences → Graphics → ensure Advanced Lighting Model is checked), otherwise the art will not be rendered (note that, in difference to the instructions provided at the landing point, you do not need to have Shadows enabled to view the installation; however, I would suggest setting your time of day to Midnight).

Based in Utrecht, The Netherlands, Daantje Bons is a highly regarded photographer whose work is prominently featured in Dutch newspapers and magazines such as De Volkskrant, NRC Handelsblad and LINDA, and internationally in the likes of VOGUE Italia, FRAME, Kurier and Huffington Post, as well as being displayed in galleries across Europe.

The playful subversiveness and pleasing aesthetics of Daantje Bons’ fine art photography draw the eye, but the inherent contradictions make these images resonate and linger in the mind.

– Meredith Greer, writer

Nitroglobus Gallery: I Have to Show You Something

Her style is perhaps best described as Contemporary Feminist, her approach that of presenting her own femininity or re-imagining femininity with a sense of provocative humour and a sexuality; their presentation and apparent contradictions intentional as a means of both capturing attention and encouraging the observer to think more deeply about the subject presented within each piece.

This is all plentifully evident with I Want to Show You Something, a selection of 14 primary images around the walls of the hall, with three “collage” style of image projections to be found in a floating ball and cube, and via a “well” projected onto the gallery’s floor. These are all pieces that may well cause some discomfiture with the more conservative mind and raise smile in the more salacious, simply because of their overt sexuality.

Bons’ images are surprising, funny and often risqué — like a guide to puberty mixed with an untrustworthy recipe book with a surrealist twist

– Priscilla Frank, Huffington Post

Nitroglobus Gallery: I Have to Show You Something

The latter takes multiple forms, some obvious (flowers over the female genitalia), a raspberry covering a nipple, a string of pearls held between lips and tongue; other are possibly more subtle: petals held between lips; a chilli sliced partially open … all resonate with the observer, even if one may feel that sense of discomfiture. But these are not just pieces to provoke; they are in many respects self-exploration – what does it mean to be a woman? How doe masculinity and femininity affect how we see / express our sense of self?

Rich in content, sometimes swaying towards double entendre I Want to show You Something is an exhibition that operates on two levels, and you can learn more about Daantje’s work through her website.

SLurl Details

2021 SUG meeting week #9 summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
Ambient Hideaway, January 2021 – blog post

The following notes were taken from the Tuesday, March 2nd, 2021 Simulator User Group (SUG) meeting.

Server Deployments

Please refer to the server deployment thread for the latest news and updates.

  • Tuesday, March 2nd saw a rolling restart of servers on the SLS Main channel as a refresh, but no deployment.
  • Wednesday, March 3rd should, if the notes are comments have been understood, see the following:
    • Server update 2021-02-17.556138 will be deployed to the Oranges RC channel (formerly part of the BlueSteel channel said).
    • “A couple more region tests” (per Rider Linden) planned for LeTigra and Magnum.
  • In addition, a fourth mini-RC channel, called Ferrari has been set-up.

Restarts are described as still having the kinks worked out within the new environment.

SL Viewer

On Tuesday, March 2nd, the Simple Cache project viewer, version 6.4.14.556088, dated February 22nd 2021, was promoted to de facto release viewer. Release viewer rolled back to version 6.4.13.555567 (Jelly Doll improvements) originally promoted February 17th.

The rest of the current pipelines remain as:

  • Release channel cohorts:
    • Love Me Render (LMR) 5 project viewer, version 6.4.14.556118, February, 23, 2021.
    • Custom Key Mappings project viewer, version 6.4.12.553437, January 7, 2021.
  • Project viewers:
    • Legacy Profiles viewer, version 6.4.11.550519, October 26.
    • Copy / Paste viewer, version 6.3.5.533365, December 9, 2019.
    • Project Muscadine (Animesh follow-on) project viewer, version 6.4.0.532999, November 22, 2019.
    • 360 Snapshot project viewer, version 6.2.4.529111, July 16, 2019.

In Brief

  • “Good progress” continues to be made on fixing the Map tile update issue, including the map stitching when zooming out (which was seen as the last problem to be resolved), but there is still no date as to when a fix may be deployed.
  • An extensive discussion took place regarding a delay in scripts starting in rezzed objects which can be variable for reasons unknown – other than the fact the delay seems to be minimal when a region has been recently restarted, but grows in time to 2-3 seconds the longer the region is up. However, the delay does not appear to relate to the usage of the region or its complexity (scripted objects within it).
    • Some appear to believe the delay is related to changes made in 2019 to try to improve script performance in general (and thus can be “easily fixed”).
    • Others have suggested the issue could be the result of some for of throttle being triggered.
    • The problem is having something of a “knock-on” effect in that some users have taken to pre-rezzing items and having them in an alpha / transparent mode around their avatar until needed – which is impacting region performance further.