Tag: Kokua Viewer

Kokua, the SL and OpenSim v3-style viewer, updated on Tuesday February 18th to version 3.7.1.30956. With it came support for the Lab’s Fitted Mesh solution and the Facebook log-in hotfix.

As well as bringing the viewer up to parity with the Lab’s code base through to 3.7.1, this release also sees a set of updates from the Kokua team, the core of which can be summarised as:

• The Mac version of the viewer (issued as a test version in January) is now available as a release version with this update, thanks to the help and support of Mac users
• The Draw Distance slider on the status bar is now turned off by default as new users were apparently confusing it with a volume slider. It can be re-enabled via the debug setting ShowDDSlider (Advanced > Show Debug Settings)
• The Windows version of Kokua now uses the FmodEx library for music streaming, and incorporates the avatar name in the title bar (port from Firestorm)
• Opensim variable-sized regions and Aurora Sim regions are now supported
• A number of issues with the UI have been resolved with assistance from CtrlAltStudio’s Strachan OFarrell.

Refresh Scene

Perhaps the most interesting update to Kokua with this release is a new Refresh Scene feature. This is primarily aimed at mitigating the missing prim issue, and can be accessed through both the Commands and Advanced menus or by pressing CTRL-ALT-SHIFT-R.

When selected, the option carries out a number of tasks:

• Basic Shaders are deselected, increasing the viewer’s frame rate and allowing the viewer to more quickly pull-in the basics of a scene
• A message is sent to the viewer log, allowing the viewer to run a little longer without the shaders
• Basic Shaders are re-enabled to complete re-dressing the scene, which should now be correctly rendered.

Other Notes

There have been some reports in the comments following the release notes of issues running the 64-bit Linux version of the viewer on Ubuntu, which are apparently under investigation.

I did encounter initial issues running the viewer on 64-bit Windows using my Crash Test Alt, which saw the viewer repeatedly going non-responsive within a minute or so of logging-in. However, I confess to not having performed a clean install,  so this particular issue could have been as much my end as anything else. When I did perform a completely clean install, the issue went away. So if you do encounter issues, try a clean install, if you haven’t already.

All told, another nicely packaged update to Kokua, one which probably hides a lot more in the way of under-the-hood changes than might at first appear to be the case. The Refresh Scene option is an interesting approach to resolving the missing prim issue, and may well prove to have other benefits in the future as well.

Related Links

• Kokua 3.7.1 release notes
• Kokua blog
• Kokua downloads

On Saturday January 11th, Nicky Perian announced a test version of a Mac build of Kokua is now available, and has also issued a call for assistance from Kokua / Mac users.

The blog post reads in part:

Several hours ago the first Mac build completed and I logged on to Second Life beta grid, Aditi. Rebranding from Second Life to Kokua is needed. If there are Mac users that would like to help in this area please respond and I’ll help set up a build environment on your system. I would like Mac users to test and provide look and feel opinions as comments to this post. If there are bugs please report them to our issue tracker.

Having a Mac build of the viewer has been one of the more popular requests made to the Kokua team, so if you have a Mac system and are willing to help out test-driving the new Mac build and reporting back both opinions (via the Kokua blog post) and on any issues you discover (the latter via the Kokua issue tracker, as indicated above), please download the viewer from the Kokua nightly builds directory.

Similarly, if you are willing to help with rebranding the viewer from Second Life to Kokua (which, as noted above, will require a viewer build environment created on your system which Nicky can provide help with setting-up), do please contact Nicky either directly (via in-world IM or through the comments on the Kokua blog post.

(Please do not leave feedback or offers of assistance on this blog, they may not be picked-up.).

Release Notes

• Kokua Mac test viewer available – Kokua blog
• Kokua nightly builds directory – for the latest build downloads
• Kokua issue tracker

As regular readers here will know from my weekly SL project reports, Linden Lab is (among other things) working on the final clean-up of the Server-side Appearance (SSA) code. A large part of this work is directly linked to inventory handling, and is being referred to as the Advanced Inventory Service version 3 updates (AIS v3).

The primary aims aim of these updates is to address a series of inventory issues outstanding from the implementation of SSA, and to aggregate some operations that are currently multiple things into a smaller set of more powerful APIs. As noted in my last update covering AIS, the viewer-side code has reached a point where the Lab is both keen to progress with further testing. This being the case, the Lab has asked TPVs if they could incorporate the updates into experimental versions of their viewers so that they might assist with the testing.

Integrating the AIS v3 code isn’t as straightforward for those viewers which support both OpenSim and SL as it is for those that are focused solely on SL, as the AIS updates have been combined with a removal of the old client-side baking code from the viewer, as this is no longer required by the Lab. So in order to ensure avatar baking continues to work when users log-in to an OpenSim environment, those TPVs supporting both environments with a single viewer are having to ensure the client-side code is not lost when incorporating the new SSA / AIS updates.

On November 6th, Nicky Perian reported that Kokua has now done this, and has a test viewer for Windows available in the former version 3.6.9.30799, which is available in both 32-bit and 64.bit flavours.This viewer both includes the AIS updates and retains the client-side avatar baking code.

As the AIS code is still under development, it is not recommended that either version of this test viewer is used as the primary viewer for logging into Second Life. The primary reasons for making the viewer available are to:

• Allow SL users to test inventory transactions, including changing avatar body parts and body part parameters (for example, eye colors) using the dedicated test regions which have been established on the SL Beta test grid Aditi (sunshinesls, sunshinesls1, sunshinetest, sunshinetest1)
• Allow OpenSim users to also test inventory transactions and avatar baking on an OpenSim, and check for any unexpected changes to expected behaviour when compared to the latest release viewer.

Related Links

• Server Side Appearance (SSA) — Phase II testing – Kokua blog
• Kokua Testing Best Practice for Experimental Viewers
• AIS updates in this blog

Kokua have released a further update in the form of version 3.6.3.29169 (August 23rd). With it comes some important notes, and the addition of the .DAE (Collada) object export capability.

Installation Notes

This is the first release from Kokua to use the auto update mechanism from Linden Lab, which was incorporated into the viewer with release 3.6.2. However, for Windows users, there are two important points to note:

• If you are a Windows user and have a pre-3.6.2 version of Kokua installed on your PC, you should first try to run the viewer and allow the auto-update process to fetch and install the latest release. This should work OK with versions of Kokua at least back as far as version 3.6.1.28998 (June 28th 2013).
• Because all Windows versions from 3.6.2 onwards are installed into a folder called Kokua (rather than Kokua Viewer). So if you have a version older than 3.6.2 already installed on your PC, note that the new version will be installed alongside it, rather than over it. If you then subsequently remove the older version using the uninstaller, your settings (located in C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Kokua) will be lost – so make sure you back-up / move this folder before removing any old versions of the viewer & then restore it afterwards.

Those on older versions of Kokua (pre-3.5.1? I’m not entirely clear on this from the blog post) may find that the updater will direct them to install the official SL viewer from the Lab. As Nicky points-out, this is not some conspiracy to force people into using the SL viewer. Should it happen, quit out of the installer and use the Kokua download links (and take note of the 2nd bullet point above).

Collada Export

The major update for Kokua 3.6.3 is the inclusion of the Collada .DAE export capability which was recently added to Singularity, together with the ability to export objects in Wavefront .OBJ format. As the Singularity team made the export options available under a LGPL licence,  Jessica Wabbit has extracted the.DAE export capability and contributed to Kokua.

The export option works in exactly the same manner as with Singularity: it respects object permissions, and you can only export those objects for which you are the creator and owner.

To export an item which fit the criteria, simply right-click on it and:

• If you are using context menus, select EXPORT > COLLADA DAE
• If you are using the pie menu, select MORE > MORE > EXPORT COLLADA DAE

Either option will open a window allowing you to save the object to your hard drive. Once exported, the object can be used into applications which support the editing of .DAE files and / or imported as mesh to other virtual environments.

Note that if you do not have the requisite permissions to export the item, the export option will be unavailable on both menus.

Currently, the system only exports naked prims / sculpts (no textures), but this may be changing in the future – keep and eye on the Singularity team for news.

Commenting on the export capability, Kokua’s Nicky Perrian has said that if there is sufficient interest, the option to export to .OBJ may also be added to the viewer.

Additional Updates

This release sees Kokua use the Lab’s viewer 3.6.3 code base, and the following updates / additions:

• The upcoming OpenSim Community Conference grid on OS Grid has been added to the grid drop-down list
• Some tuning of the auto-update feature
• Addition of a plain text chat history option in the chat preferences tab
• Addition of new “Permissions” sub-menu for friends on the People floater for setting the usual options of whether friends can see when you’re on-line, etc. Enabled options display the requisite icon alongside the avatar’s name
• Addition of group and role UUIDs at the end of the group’s General and Roles panels.

Feedback

Another, small, tidy update with Kokua which adds what is likely to be a popular feature, given the excitement which followed Singularity’s release with the export options. Using Kokua 3.6.3 myself (although again very briefly due to RL commitments), I found it to be fast, stable and smooth – pretty much as with 3.6.2.

As I already had 3.6.2 installed, I allowed the auto-updater to upgrade me. This actually took a few seconds to acknowledge that an update was available (the delay seemed to be longer than the official viewer, which often has the update pop-up appear as soon as the splash screen has loaded). This tiny point aside, update was smooth and returned me to the log-in splash screen when finished, with 3.6.3 ready to go.

It’s great to see Kokua rolling along like this.

Related Links

• Kokua 3.6.2. release notes
• Kokua blog
• Kokua downloads