Tag: Mesh

Mesh: the roll-out

Posted on by Inara Pey

[POSTED 8:22PM PDT Aug 22, 2011] Rolling restarts for regions on the main Second Life server channel will be performed on Tuesday, August 23rd at approximately 5:00am PDT. Please make sure to save all builds and refrain from making purchases during this time.

Mesh: transformative? (w/thanks for Claudia222 Jewell)

With this simple notice, mesh commenced its roll-out to the remaining portion of the Main gird that has yet to see it (approximately 70%), as per the server release notes.So, assuming all goes well, the entire Main grid will be mesh enabled from today.

This isn’t the end of the mesh project, but really the beginning; thing’s are going to suddenly change overnight – it’s going to take time for mesh to make its presence felt, and as Linden Lab themselves admit, there will be further updates, revisions and improvements ahead.

As a result of this, we can doubtless expect the Beta “Viewer 3” to go to full release status shortly (if not today as well), which brings with it mesh support with some added features. Please see the update at the end of this article.

For those wishing to see mesh, issues still remain: the code for rendering mesh objects has yet to be incorporated into a number of third-party 2.x Viewers, and it unclear as to whether the code can be backported into the 1.x code.

In the meantime – a video from rockerfaerie featuring some of Claudia222 Jewell’s remarkable mesh art.

Updates

At 1300 SLT Nyx Linden confirmed the following:

  • All channels of the Main grid now support mesh except the BlueSteel RC channel (which one assumes will get mesh during the RC channel restarts on Wednesday 24th August)
  • The Default official Viewer is now Viewer 3 (currently 3.0.0.238864)

More on Mesh

Update 25th August

The “additional feature” referred to in this article was the ability to disable mesh rendering in a region. However, in commenting on a JIRA raised in relation to the capability, Charlar Linden stated:

Charlar Linden updated SH-2341:Status: Expected Behavior  (was: Open)   Resolution: Not Applicable – thanks – this flag would have no effect, and is being removed soon.

So it would appear the option to disable mesh is not intended to be a part of the Viewer.

LL provide Mesh region setting

Posted on by Inara Pey

Update Thursday August 25th: In a comment on the revised JIRA, Charlar Linden states: Charlar Linden updated SH-2341:Status: Expected Behavior  (was: Open)   Resolution: Not Applicable – thanks – this flag would have no effect, and is being removed soon.

Ciaran Laval has been investigating mesh from a sim owner’s standpoint, and came upon the fact that LL have added new regional controls related to mesh.

New region setting

As Ciaran reports, the latest mesh-enabled  Beta Viewer includes an option to allow / deny the rezzing of mesh objects within a region. By default, the option is set to ALLOW mesh, although currently, there appears to be a bit of a bug in the system – if you uncheck the option, it re-check itself on hitting APPLY. This may just be a hiccup in the Beta that LL are already aware of, but to be on the safe side, Ciaran has also raised a JIRA on the matter – be sure to WATCH it!

Given this issue with the option at present, it is not clear what will happen to mesh objects that are currently rezzed in-world should the option be toggled to disable mesh. Will they be returned, or will they fail to render in all viewers & any scripts they contain be disabled? One would hope for the latter (allowing for issues around collisions, physics, etc.), as the former could present a lot of angst.

The capability isn’t granular to the level of individual parcels, which is understandable given that mesh will impact an entire sim regardless of where it is placed. However, as things are refined and improved over time, it would be interesting to see if such granularity of control could be introduced in time.

Overall the addition of this capability is a very good move; mesh stands to be potentially very beneficial for Second Life, but it also carries not a few potential risks. Thus, the inclusion of this option allows estate / sim owners worried about negative impacts to disable mesh rendering from the start, allowing them to observe how mesh impacts the rest of the grid before opting to allow it.

Expect to see this option in main Viewer when the Beta is rolled over to a full release.

Mesh/Live Volunteer programme ends

Posted on by Inara Pey

Linden Lab has closed the Mesh/Live Volunteer programme and applications from private full sim owners to join the programme will no longer be accepted.

This can be taken as a further sign that the mesh roll-out is progressing, and according to Charlie Linden some 30% of the Main grid is now mesh-enabled, including both the Magnum and Le Tigre Release Candidate channels (Le Tigre was prepped for mesh last week, and the initial mesh project roll-out occurred on the 10th August).

The public mesh sandbox region (SLurl) is still available for use, which includes two adult-rated sims as well as the G-rated sims.

For those wishing to se mesh on the Main grid, or have a play, the “Viewer 3.0.0″ Beta candidate with mesh support can be downloaded here.

With thanks to Opensource Obscure

Mesh on the Main grid – update

Posted on by Inara Pey

Alongside the release of the Beta of “Viewer 3.0“, Linden Lab have confirmed that the following main grid regions are now all mesh-enabled:

  • All regions assigned to the Secondlife RC Mesh channel (presumably those sim that have, to date, been a part of the Mesh/Live Volunteer programme
  • All regions on the Magnum RC channel.

So, if you’re on the Magnum RC channel, want to play with mesh but haven’t been able to – now you can, subject to meeting the upload requirements (having Payment Information On File and completing the upload status tutorial/questionnaire) and possibly the OK from your sim owner.

The “Viewer 3.0.0” Beta candidate with mesh support can be downloaded here.

Get set for Viewer 3.0

Posted on by Inara Pey

It appears that Viewer 3.0 is about to arrive on our doorsteps.

Now, before you all start jumping up and down, it’s not another new version of the Viewer – well, not exactly – nor is it in any way an admission that Viewer 2 has “failed”.

Rather, it is all part of the arrival of mesh across the Main grid and not indicative of any major overhaul of the Viewer.

Opensource Obscure was the first to notice the change, and his digging got the following comment from Oz Linden, “the transition to the version number of 3 points to support the introduction of ‘import of 3D models’” (i.e. mesh).

Interestingly, the version number is on the latest development Viewer (3.0.1 (238085), dated 9th August) which does not support mesh; whereas the latest mesh project Viewer issued earlier the same day retains a 2.8 release number (2.8.2.(238103)).

Speculation is that the new version number will be officially announced at this weekend’s SLCC, ahead of the planned completion of mesh roll-out, which is due at the end of August.

Addendum

At 14:48 PDT, Linden Lab announced a Beta release of “Viewer 3.0.0” with mesh support was available for download and trial.

Linden Lab calls for more mesh volunteers

Posted on by Inara Pey

Charlie Linden reports there are currently 100 mesh-enabled sims on the main Grid – but LL wants to treble that number. In an e-mail posted to the the opensource dev group by Oz Linden, Charlie states:

We’re at about 100 regions right now – but we want to be at 300+ by the end of the week.

Now we want to accelerate the process, and to do that, we need more volunteers. If you have a region, or know a resident who has one, the mesh team would love for you to volunteer it to run mesh.

Those interested in joining the initial roll-out should go to the Mesh/Live Volunteers wiki page to find out more – including risks and limitations (programme is only open to private sim owners, Mainland sims cannot participate, for example).

For those wishing to see what mesh is like for themselves, there are a series of mesh-enabled sandboxes located around Mesh Sandbox 0 (Surl). However:

Alternatively you can visit Morbidette, a private sim that is mesh-enabled, but does not require you join the Volunteer Group – you will, however still need a mesh-enabled Viewer.

With thanks to Opensource Obscure for the info on the call for additional volunteers & info on Morbidette.