Tag: Lumiya

Alina has been beavering with Lumiya, the Android client for Second Life. Earlier this month I reported on the release of the 3D world view in the client; since then she’s been working on both extending the capabilities of the world view and making a couple of them more robust, as well as adding some additional new features. This has resulted in a couple of rapid-fire releases : 2.0.2 and 2.0.3, both of which are reviewed here.

My review system is a Samsung Galaxy S2 i9100 running Android Gingerbread. Draw Distance on Lumiya is set to 96m, sounds are enabled, but media is off.

“Long Touch”

In reviewing the 3D world view last time, I made mention of issues I experienced with the “long touch” feature: touching the screen over an in-world object & maintaining pressure for a second or two to display information on the object. This didn’t work well with my Galaxy S2 i9100, and Alina reported it was a little unstable on other ‘phones as well. She’s now improved the  functionality, and it should work on all devices.

Touch-to-sit

The biggest world-view addition with this release is the ability to sit on poseballs and chairs. This again uses a a long touch approach – press a finger over the item you wish to sit upon and hold for a second or two in order to display a menu.

Simply tap the SIT ON button to sit. Note that if the item has an associated menu, you might get an additional TOUCH button, which will display the associated menu in the Chat window, if tapped.

The camera angle can be a little awkward once seated, although you’ll appear perfectly seated through other people’s Viewers. As you’ll likely be chatting or IMing when seated, the Lumiya camera angle shouldn’t be too much of a problem, and you can still orbit the around yourself to see what is going on.

 

Standing once more is obviously a case of tapping the STAND button in the lower right corner of the screen.

Minimap Options

Lumiya now has Minimap / radar functionality. You can access the map by tapping the Menu button on your device from any Lumiya screen except the in-world view.  The results are impressive, with the local sim shown complete with any parcel boundaries. The display is split-screen, with (in portrait mode) the map displayed to the top, and a list of nearby people below. Rotating the screen (if your device supports it), displays the panels side-by-side – useful if there are a lot of people around you. In both views, the list of people is scrollable if it extends beyond the panel boundary.

A nice touch with the map panel are two zoom buttons, allowing you to zoom in / out of the map (useful if there are a lot of people close to you). Tapping any of the familiar green avatar dots will highlight the avatar’s name in the radar list; conversely, tapping a name on the list will draw a circle around the appropriate avatar dot. Pressing on the name of someone in the radar list will display a pop-up menu, from which you can (with version 2.0.2):

• Open an IM conversation with them
• View their profile
• Pay them Linden dollars.

Note that there is a slight limitation with the radar, in that avatars beyond 1024m metres distance from you will not have their range accurately reported. This is due to a protocol issue within the SL code rather than a bug within Lumiya (and is why you will sometimes see distances in Viewer radar displays given as “>XXX” (where XXX is a value) on entering a region before the radar settles down properly). Alina hopes to have a workaround for the issue in a future release.

People Search

A People Search option is now available from within the Contacts screen. This allows you – as the name suggests – to search for a specific avatar using all or part of their user name. Search results are displayed as a list, and tapping a name automatically opens an IM screen with the option to open their profile provided by a button in the top right corner.

Chat Logs

You can now opt to save all chat and IM conversations to an SD card. This option is available via the SETTINGS menu (tap your device’s Menu button and then tap settings – note that because of the additional features in some windows, you may have to additional tap MORE to see the SETTINGS option).

Other Nips and Tucks

These releases also see:

• Offline IMs now include date and time when they were actually sent
• Chat windows now scroll to last message when on-screen keyboard pops up
• Issue with Group chat issue with messages not always being delivered is fixed
• Issue with some regions failing to render in the 3D world view fixed
• Numerous bug fixes and crash issue fixes.

Performance

Alina has been working on overall performance with the 3D rendering, which should benefit those using dual/quad-core systems. Certainly, when running on my Galaxy S2 over my local wifi connection, rendering did seem to be a lot faster – barely a 2-second wait from hitting the button to having prims and sculpts fully rendered. Running on 3G, there was still additional lag (unsurprisingly), but again, in terms of rendering, it was somewhat faster and smoother than version 2.0.0.  Avatar movement was still prone to some delay, although I didn’t find my Crash Test Avatar bouncing off walls when seen in a regular Viewer to anywhere near the same extent, as the overall response time from 2.0.3 encouraged quick, light taps of the arrow keys, rather than pressing and holding, which tended to be the case with 2.0.0.

Overall bandwidth use while on 3G worked out roughly the same between version 2.0.0 and 2.0.3: 5 minutes (with in-world rendering of my home and moving around) accounting for some 2 Mb of bandwidth (UK O2 network).

Opinion

Lumiya continues to grow, and the new additions with these releases make it an even more attractive option for those on the go who have an Android device and need to access SL. With options such as inventory access and improved avatar rendering coming in future releases, as well as other goodies, Lumiya is fast becoming the mobile client of choice for those on Android.

Related Links

• Lumiya home page
• Download (Google Play)
• Lumiya articles in this blog

Further update, 13th May: Alina Lyvette, Lumiya’s creator, passed word to me on the “long touch” issue with objects in the 3D view: “Yes, it’s not 100% reliable at the moment, it uses a makeshift solution of reading back the frame buffer instead of true collision test, and it’s known to fail unpredictably on so many phones. I’ll do a true collision test for the next release and it will be rock-solid, just need time to do that (and a few interesting tricks to make it work within Android limitations ^.^

Updated 13th May: Susie Bagley and Lirusaito have both commented that object information can be displayed in the 3D view; something I was unable to do on my own phone. This article has therefore been updated to reflect the capability. 

Lumiya, the SL client for Android, developed by Alina Lyvette  follows Radegast in becoming the second text-based SL client to offer a 3D rendering capability – and is the first to offer such a capability to mobile devices running the Android Os, with the release of version 2.0.0.

There are limitations at present – but this is an initial release, so please bear that in mind. The release notes describe them thus:

• No true avatar rendering (yet), avatars are displayed as default faceless figures.
• Terrain and sky are not textured.
• “Mesh” is not supported. Sculpted objects are (mostly) supported.
• Particle systems, local lighting and other fancy features are not supported.

I took the new version for a quick spin using my CTA (Crash Test Alt), after Latif Khalifa tickled my ribs about the release via Twitter.

Accessing the 3D renderer  is simple and straightforward: simply tap the 3D View button at the top left of the screen  after logging-in to SL via Lumiya. This will take you directly to the in-world view (which may take a little time to load, depending on your phone / connection). The view itself has two further buttons in the lower right corner, with up (move forward) and down (move backwards) arrow icons.

Once rendered, the View delivers a lot of detail, and managed to capture my PrimPossible piano perfectly, as well as other sculpts without problem, despite the caveat given against sculptie rendering in the limitations. You can pan left / right by dragging a finger across the screen; your avatar will also turn as you pan around (circular panning) – and your avatar will be seen to turn by Viewer users around you. The scene doesn’t currently pan up / down at present, but this doesn’t limit use. Avatar movement is a simple glide, rather than having any form of animation at present, but again, that in no way impacts on things.

As one would expect, rotating the phone will cause the scene to rotate as well, so for those with large screen sizes, the 3D view can be used in landscape mode, providing a wider field of view. About the only disconcerting thing some may find with the 3D View is that the default avatar form is a grey male – although we can expect this to improve as the capability is enhanced.

The view isn’t interactive, so there’s no actual touching of in-world objects to obtain menus, etc; for this you have to use the existing touch option, which does mean a certain amount of screen swapping, but again, nothing that is in any way problematic (although I did have a habit of tapping my ‘phone’s Back button once too often and ending up back in an apps window – but that was operator error, nothing to do with Lumiya!).

However, pressing on an object displayed in the view for a few seconds should display information about the object across the top of the screen (my thanks to Susie Bagley and Lirusaito for pointing this out, as the feature has not been working on my Galaxy S2).

Tapping your ‘phone’s Menu button will display options to open Lumiya’s settings screen (where you can alter your Draw Distance, for example), and to log-out of Second Life & Lumiya.

Performance

The Lumiya website notes:

• On modern phones and tablets with Tegra 2 chips and comparable hardware, it will give you around 5-10 FPS in quiet locations. Initial world generation takes a few seconds.
• On older generation phones with CPU frequencies in 300 MHz range, it will give you around 1 FPS at best, and initial world generation takes tens of seconds. It may still be useful to give you a brief idea of your surroundings.
• Draw distance can be reduced to improve performance, but not much.

I found that the 3D View ran very smoothly on my Galaxy i9100 S2 over my home wireless connection, with no lag or delay in processing. When running via 3G, things were obviously slower, with both initial rendering and actual movement showing lag, which leading to some amusement as my CTA, when seen through a Viewer, appeared to shoot across a room and proceed to repeatedly wallop a wall while still standing still in the Lumiya display. Light taps on the movement keys recommended to give the network a chance!

Bandwidth-wise I ran Lumiya on 3G with the 3D view enabled for 5 minutes while wandering around, which totted-up 2Mb of data usage. Hardly an intensive test, I know, but it gave a rough feel for things.

System Requirements

The Lumiya website notes the following on system requirements for running the 3D view option:

• It can work with plain old OpenGL-ES 1.0 without VBO support, but the performance will suffer a lot. Modern phones usually have VBO support, and Lumiya will use it when it is available.
• The native code parts are compiled for ARM processors (Alina notes that if people have Android ‘phones using other processors and would like to see the 3D rendering option on their ‘phone, they should contact her directly).

Opinion

It is early days for this aspect of Lumiya, and I’m curious to see where it goes and what else can be included (and added to the client as a whole). As it is, Alina is to be commended for what she has achieved; this is really quite a remarkable client capability to have, and really shows huge potential and promise.

Related Links

• Lumiya home page
• Download (Google Play)

The Lumiya text client for Android, which I reviewed last month continues to be enhanced with new features. Version 1.3.1, released on the 15th April. These introduce the ability to interact (to some degree) with in-world objects and the ability to carry out payment transactions (i.e. pay other avatars or objects such as rental boxes). These are two potentially useful additions for those who are on the go, and need to access SL to pay tier, etc., but don’t have access to the computer.

Making Direct Payments to Others

You can now pay people directly on Lumiya quickly and directly. From the main screen, tap your phone’s menu button, then tap CONTACTS, select the person you wish to pay from your list of contacts (tap to highlight), then tap you phone’s menu button again and tap PAY to display the payment screen, as shown in the sequence below (some steps abbreviated for clarity, as they say).

Using Touch

The Touch option within Lumiya is a potentially useful addition to the client and works with menu-driven objects that respond to a left mouse click. When starting Lumiya now, there is a new button displayed at the top of the main screen – OBJECTS. Tapping this opens a list of objects available to you. Be default, this is “limited” to in-world “descriptive” objects, although you can opt to extend it to include your own attachments and “non-descriptive” objects (so prims simply called “object” will be listed for example).

Tapping on the name of an object will open-up a further dialogue box that provides general information on the item – description, creator, etc., and which includes a TOUCH button (below).

It’s here that things might get a little confusing. One might expect tapping TOUCH to open the objects dialogue box – but it doesn’t appear to. Instead, an easily missed prompt is displayed at the top of the screen informing you that you have a NEW MESSAGE IN CHAT.

To use the object’s menu, you now need to use your phone’s return key to get back to the Lumiya main screen to see the dialogue box and menu (right).

This is slightly cumbersome but given the way SL works and Lumiya is configured with (obviously) limited screen space, it’s understandable.

However, there are one or two other issues with the approach as implemented. The application polls the entire sim you’re on for touchable objects. This means that you can end up with a very long list of items which cannot be sorted. Also, this list appears to include any sub-components of an object that themselves contain a script. The not only lengthens the list of objects (increasing scroll time), it also risks annoying mis-clicks when trying to access an item.

Both of these issues are negated by the fact there is a search option at the top of the list, allowing you to focus results down to a handful of items – or even the item you want to touch, if you know it’s in-world name.

Paying an object is as straightforward as paying a person – once the object is selected from the list, click the TOUCH button from its information page, and a payment page is automatically opened (right).

Currently, the system is restricted to activating your own attachments; I’ve no idea as to whether it will be extended to include attachment on others, which some might find useful.

Channel Recognition and Timestamps

Lumiya 1.3.1also adds channel commands to its capabilities (so “/102 command” will be recognised, for example), and also adds timestamps to chat. The latter can be turned off by unchecking TIMESTAMP IN CHAT in the Settings options (phone’s menu button->SETTINGS).

Opinion

The addition of interaction capabilities to Lumiya definitely makes it more of an attractive offering, the listing issue notwithstanding. Those on the go who have an Android phone are likely to find having a payment option handy, while the ability to at least interact with objects  helps improve the overall feeling of engagement with SL when one is unable to use a graphical Viewer.

Related Links

• Lumiya home page
• Download (Google Play)

Oz Linden recently dropped by this blog and made mention of Lumiya, a new Android text-based SL client. As I have access to an Android phone, and have previously reviewed the Mobile Grid Client for Android, I decided to check it out.

Lumiya, developed by Alina Lyvette, is relatively new – the initial release appears to have been on January 12th 2012, although this is version 1.2.1, so it is possible there were earlier releases prior to it getting to the Android market. The Lumiya website itself is very polished, and provides core information on the application, including screen shots, support details (e-mail), version history and links for obtaining the client either via direct phone download or the use of a QR code.

Unlike Mobile Grid Client, there is a download fee for Lumiya: some $2.95 (£1.87 / 2.24 Euros) at the time of writing this review. After that, usage is free – subject to network charges, etc., when accessing SL when roaming.

Logging-in

Once you’ve paid for the app and it has downloaded & installed, staring it will display the log-in screen. Enter your avatar name and password – not that by default, your password is saved, allowing rapid log-in in the future. When done, tap SIGN IN to get started. The first time you do, you’ll be prompted to accept the SL Terms of Service.

On logging-in, you will be presented with the Local Chat screen (see below) and if media is available at your log-in location, you’ll be prompted as to whether you wish to play the media over your phone or not. If you opt not to receive the media stream you can turn it on later via the Media menu button.

The Local Chat screen (above centre) is a little devoid of details. This provides the maximum amount of space for chat, but I can’t help wondering if having the Contacts buttons displayed might be a good idea, rather than having hidden within a menu option (below). I’m also, if I’m honest, not overly keen on the white-on-light-grey text / background combination at the top of the screen, which some users might find hard to read. That said, in a rather charming difference to just having your avatar standing around (often times with arms outstretched on either side), Lumiya animates the ground sit for your avatar, sitting you wherever you have logged-in – which is probably a more natural pose for those observing you from in-world.

All major functions for the client are accessed via you phone’s menu button. Pressing this presents the following options:

• Contacts: allows you to view your Friends and Group lists, and see who is nearby you
  • Tapping on any displayed name will open an IM / Group chat to the individual / Group
  • Friends online will have a green icon displayed next to their name
  • A sub-menu can be displayed, allowing you to swap to Local Chat, Recent or Landmarks (both below) or sign-out from SL
• Recent: displays the last lines of any recent conversations. Again, a sub-menu can be displayed, allowing you to swap to local Chat or Landmarks or sign-out
• Landmarks: lists any favourites you have set-up (V3.x & associated TPVs), and your landmarks. Tapping a favourite or landmark will open an option to teleport to that destination. A sub-menu can also be displayed, allowing you to (again) swap to local Chat, Recent or sign-out
• Media: enables you to see if any local media is playing & listen to it.
• Settings: accesses the client’s settings
• Sign-out logs you out of SL.

You can also use you phone’s Back button to return to Local Chat from any other screen / menu.

The Settings option allows you a set-up a number of client preferences:

• Start location: choose between last location visited or your default home location
• Always in status bar: shows your on-line status in the phone’s status bar (although I didn’t actually notice any different toggling this off / on)
• Message sounds: allows you to set a sound for Group chat / private IMs. If the option is unchecked, both are disabled. If checked, you can select a sound for each from a list (default is your default ring tone).

That’s pretty much it for the client at the moment. As it is fairly new, it’ll be interesting to see how it develops and whether features are added.

Opinion

While I find the Local Chat window perhaps a little too minimalistic, Lumiya is a lean client that does exactly what it sets out to do: provide you with a lightweight, mobile means of maintaining contact with those in-world when away from your computer. Once installed, the app may currently lack the capabilities in other text clients, but it does allow for fast and easy use for communications. The only issue I encountered with the app is that signing-out with a media stream playing didn’t shut down the stream; the only way of preventing this appears to be to go to the Media option and manually shutting-down the stream before signing-out. I assume this is the result of the app effectively calling a separate URL outside of the SL connection in order to play the stream.

For those who want a quick, fast means of accessing SL and who don’t necessarily need access to the likes of inventory, notecards, etc., or additional monthly use fees for the client, then Lumiya may well be the ideal solution.

Related Links

• Lumiya home page
• Download (Google Play)