Update:version 1.11 with an out-of-memory crash fix is now available. If you have downloaded 1.10 and are experiencing crash issues (memory use exceeding 1.25Gb), you might want to download this version.
Niran’s Viewer is one of the two most capable graphics Viewers in current development – easily standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Exodus (which has in some respects gained far more attention of late).
Niran’s hasn’t been without problems – simply because it is so advanced (possibly too advanced for some people’s tastes). While NiranV Dean has worked hard to present a range of graphics controls that are more intuitive (using settings such as “low”, “medium” and “high”, rather than numeric sliders, etc.), it is possible that people have been so used to the slider mechanisms may find his newer approach a little more confusing.
I’ve tried to follow Niran’s development from Beta onwards because, well, I like it. Rather a lot. Things for me went a bit squiffy with release 1.02, which simply refused to work with my PC (or my PC with it, not sure which way around it was), and some of those issues carried over into 1.03.
Release 1.10 redresses all of that with a nice set of nips, tucks and updates that have so far given me a very pleasant ride and which again point to why those with a bent for photography, etc., in SL should take Niran’s Viewer for a spin. It is based on the very latest LL 3.2.7 (Project) code base, and includes all the latest Shining fixes to boot!
Graphics and Rendering
On the graphics / rendering front, Niran has re-worked the original sky glow defaults from V3 into the Windlight preset for the Viewer for those that find the Niran’s Viewer glow defaults a little too bright. You can find them under the Sky settings, with names such as “Realistic” should you wish to swap over to them in preference to the Viewer’s own glow defaults.
Niran’s Viewer glow default……and using the “Realistic” preset (V3 sky default)
Within the Graphics panel itself, NiranV has been fixing various bits and pieces – adding tooltips, etc., and also, God bless him, adding default (*) indicators alongside options so that it’s relatively easy to get back to a starting point when making adjustments. This I’ll treasure him for, as I’m no graphics expert, and have confused myself once or twice playing with settings on a number of Viewers.
UI
Clean UI
The most obvious difference in the UI for those who are familiar with Niran’s Viewer & who do a clean install), is that there are only 7 buttons on-screen by default, and these are both icons-only and moved to the left / right sides, potentially maximising the in-world view.
Visiting PREFERENCES->VIEWER->UI reveals the alpha / beta options have been expanded, with the ability to enable / disable the mesh parametric deformer alpha being added to the other options.
Alpha Beta options expanded
On the parametric deformer, NiranV notes, “For all you that wanted to disable it, you will now find the option to do so … untick it and re-wear any mesh or the whole mesh AV to make it update and look normal, the reason why it doesn’t auto update like in Exodus is easy, Qarl’s code adds an update to mesh nearly every second or less , this results in flickering mesh shadows and totally freaking Meshes on other people , i took that one out , contra is that you have to “refresh” it then , but it definitely works better :)”
Received Items and Merchant’s Outbox both in Inventory
I took a quick plunge into the Beta grid to give the Direct Delivery options a go, now that the public Beta is underway.
Enabling the Received Items and the Merchant’s Outbox will add both to your Inventory panel (in difference to the official Project Viewer, which has the Merchant’s Outbox as a separate panel).
In testing the options, I found the Received Items side of things worked as expected. However, I was unable to test uploading goods, as the Merchant Outbox section refused to let me drop anything into it, which I’ve reported to NiranV.
This issue aside, I find NiranV’s approach to Direct Delivery more intuitive than LL’s – having the Merchant Outbox included in the Inventory panel means one doesn’t need to have yet another panel open and floating around, and dragging-and-dropping will be much easier. Other TPV developers, take note.
As a slight aside, don’t be confused if you see “Niran’s Viewer” popping up in place of “Second Life” (such as in the Merchant’s Outbox, which refers to “Niran’s Viewer Marketplace” rather than “Second Life Marketplace”) – this is the result of an accidental global replace of “Second Life” with “Niran’s Viewer” by one of NiranV’s colleagues on the project…
Opinion
Small, from an end-user perspective, but very welcome and tidy changes to the Viewer that do much to encourage its more widespread use. Performance-wise on my usual machine, and on my usual sims (the usual caveats in place), it ran well – better than 1.02, giving me performance on a par with Exodus with or without shadows enabled, and a very smooth run. There are still some things I feel are missing from the Viewer – but these are personal choices, and they won’t stop me from using this Viewer alongside Exodus in my fledgling attempts at SL photography.
If you’re into photography and / or machinima, then Niran’s is definitely a Viewer to take a look at.
NiranV has released two further updates to Niran’s Viewer for the New Year.
Version 1.02
Version 1.02 brings with it enhancements to shadow rendering – what NiranV calls multi-level shadowing, which sees alpha objects casting shadows (something I’ve actually recently noticed in V3.2.6 and specifically Milkshake, wherein the decorative glass panels I used a a house build now render shadows…).
The version also incorporates Nicky Dasmijn’s mesh uploader code, making Niran’s the second TPV to adopt her code.There are also a number of bugfixes and tweaks that address minor issues withing the Viewer.
Mesh uploads using Nicky Dasmijn’s code
Another noticable change is with the loading screens – gone is a snapshot of your last in-world view together with the MotD and progress bar. Instead, there’s a mandelbrot-esque design in the lower left corner, images from NiranV’s in-world explorations and assorted hints and tip displayed with the load progress bar. All-in-all a refreshing change.
Niran’s: new loading screens
Version 1.03
An experimental release, version 1.03 brings with it the parametric deformer alpha release, so those who wish to try-out the deformer (particularly clothing designers) can do so. Note that it might not work in all instances; a lot depends on how the mesh is weighted.
Given it is experimental, NiranV informaed me that the code would likely be removed from the next release of the Viewer (which currently does not have a time frame).
Note: Sometimes running in-depth reviews of Beta Viewers is a risky business, as you can get hoist by your own petard. Niran’s is a good example of this: while I was plunging into the Beta, NiranV was hard at work getting the Viewer ready as release version 1.0 as a Christmas present to SL. So here’s an update drawing on my original Beta review.
In discussing this Viewer, one of the things NiranV asked me to emphasise is that it shouldn’t be regarded as a fork from Kirstens – not so much because the latter has been discontinued, but because so much work has gone into this Viewer which NiranV has worked on from scratch that it stands as a Viewer in its own right.
Note also that this review is based on the 1.01 patch release.
Installation and Appearance
The Installation EXE for Windows is 33.5Mb in size and currently is still a WinRar executable, rather than a full installer – so still no desktop shortcuts, but NiranV notes that this might change in the future. Logging-in reveals the first major change: gone is the blue UI, which several have commented on. As Niran puts it, the blue skin, “Has been stashed into the corner of the room and now Darkness is my default skin, which is aimed at giving a whole new era of Second Life skins.”
The skin certainly is dark, and the blue Azure skin is still available through Preferences for those that like it. The move makes the Viewer look more V3-like, although it is noticeably darker than the default V3 UI skin, and the yellow / gold elements and an additional depth that is lacking in the V3 skin. Sadly, Darkness does lose the ability to set a level of transparency on the menu bars by stripping away texture layers. There is also a further skin – Ashen Blood (no preview within PREFERENCES->SKINS, but you can activate it OK); this adds something of a red tint to NiranV’s Darkness skin.
Beyond this, the initial appearance on logging-in remains unchanged, with the same default button options displayed to the left, right and top of the screen, with the bottom of the screen remaining clear.
I have to admit, I’m actually less a fan of the top button area than some; and my first act on using this Viewer is always to move the top buttons to the bottom of the screen. Doing so not only puts the buttons in a more familiar location – if the top button bar is empty, it is possible to align items such as the camera controls directly against the bottom edge of the Navigation Bar, rather than having something of a gap between the two. However, in terms of giving people wider choice in button placement, it’s a good addition. Prior to the release, NiranV and I discussed the Viewer, and I asked about making the buttons so they could be aligned to the left/right (for the top & bottom bars), or top / bottom (for the left & right bars), and while NiranV said this could be done, no commitment was given to including it.
Graphics Preferences Changes
One of the key changes between this release and the Beta previously reviewed is with Graphics Preferences. In the Beta, there were two Graphics tabs, which presented the same information in different formats. The GRAPHICS 2 tab has now gone, to be replaced by ADVANCED GRAPHICS, the latter having previously been in a snazzy “slider” within the original GRAPHICS tab.
In my original piece I commented on the use of drop-downs that use terms such as “none”, “less”, “medium”, “more” and “many” when selecting options, commenting that I’m not sure it entirely works. However, NiranV took time out to explain the reasoning behind this move: “The whole new Layout was born when so many people asked in Kirsten´s Group, what does ‘Object Quality 10.0 mean? What happens when I set X Quality to X.X?’ People couldn’t really understand those values. So I came with a better idea, changing the layout to something a lot of games use: simple drop-downs which give you easier to understand options. I mean, everyone can think of what Low, Med , High mean, and that High is obviously higher/better than Medium.” Which is a fair point.
Within GRAPHICS, there is a new button – OPEN OPTIMIZER.This opens a very snazzy and dynamic panel, that NiranV described to me as, “A small Graphics floater that has all really important features packed into a small, fast and nice looking window allowing easier on-screen changes to graphics without FPS loss due to [having] Preferences open.” It’s a nicely executed idea.
The Optimiser has five button displayed on it, clicking on any one of which will cause a range of options to slide out below the Optimiser bar, while also blanking the remaining buttons to avoid confusion as to which is being used.
Graphics Optimiser
Clicking on the option again will close it, and display all the buttons on the panel once more. This is actually a very neat approach to settings people tend to tweak a lot – and the design of the floater means that it can be left “on” by default without taking up too much screen display.
Among the options within the Optimiser lay a comprehensive set of controls relating to Depth of Field and Shadow rendering that should bring joy to th hearts of those who have previously used Kirsten’s Viewer for their photography and machinima.
Shadow and DoF settings, all now easily accessed via the Optimiser
All-in-all, it’s a great approach to fast and easy access to core features, and one I’m sure many would like to see replicated in some degree in other Viewers. Again, if you don’t use the top button bar, the Optimiser can be pushed up neatly to the top of the screen, close to the Navigation Bar, where to doesn’t really hinder the in-world view and provides ready access to core graphics functions.
As NiranV explains in the blog post accompanying the release, a huge amount of work has gone into the graphics side of the Viewer, and those on suitable graphics cards should notice the difference between this and the previous versions. Sadly for me and my Ge9800 GT, little discernible improvement was had; shadows render fine, but the overall performance falls through the floor into the living room in terms of FPS, so I cannot give an accurate testimony as to the overall improvements.
FPS issues aside, rendering on the Viewer remains blisteringly fast – I still can’t get over arriving in my garden to find the sculpted trees rezzing fully formed as rapidly as just about everything else, rather than having to look at a series of blobs and vaned spheres while the Viewer works out what to do with them…
Animated Trees
A while ago, Linden Lab started turning off “classic” elements of Second Life from the newer Viewer code. Two items so affected are the old “classic” clouds at around 300m altitude, which no longer render, and “animated” trees and plants (those tree and plants that would sway in an apparent breeze. I assume both were deactivated to help with performance (although both can still be seen with V1-based Viewers).
I find the removal of both no great loss to SL as a whole, but for those that do like to see the tree animation, then NiranV has included an on/off toggle within the GRAPHICS tab of Preferences, which will re-enable the animated function for Linden trees.
IM Panel Revisions
Niran has given the IM panel a substantial overhaul, and come up with a panel that is quite possibly the best in its class. By default, IMs appear in separate windows, but as with other Viewers, they can be nested into the same floater.
Some of the changes to the new IM window are immediately apparent: the range of very clear, easy-to understand icons down the right side. However, if you’d like more space to display IM conversations without spending the window, and don’t want to use the buttons – click the vertical bar between the text display and the buttons – the buttons will slide neatly away to the right. It’s a very slick and tidy approach, which NiranV describes thus, “My goal is to bring a completely new experience in Second Life Viewers, different from everything you’ve seen; take good things and make them even better or completely redo them. The overhauled IM Panel is only one of those things.”
Now you seen them, now you don’t – IM panel buttons
Map Updates
Another of “those things” that have been improved is the World Map. A slide function has been included that allows the Legend / Find section of the map to be hidden, providing a larger display area when Legend / Find aren’t required. Additionally, Legend / Find are semi-transparent, again allowing for more of the map to be visible even when both are open. Finally, and in a wise move, the Zoom function has been moved to the left of the map itself, so it is still possible to zoom in / out while keeping Legend / Find closed.
Map: transparent Legend / Find, which can be hidden (click >>), and the re-positioned zoom option (left) – the grey area behind it is actually a region, not the background to the zoom slider
Patch Updates
The 1.01 patch includes a fix for floaters that might open wider than intended on some screen resolutions – I didn’t have this issue myself with the 1.0 release, but if you find some of the floaters looking somewhat on the large size on your screen, you might want to download and install the patch files, which also add some additional touches to the Darkness skin.
Opinion
In discussing the Viewer, NiranV had this to say to me recently, “I strive to create the most advanced graphics/UI Viewer giving the User full control over nearly everything … I like to say ‘SL is only as good as YOU make it’, [and the] same goes for Graphics. I guess its pretty obvious that there is enough stuff to play with for a long time if you look into Preferences and explore the UI.” That this aim has been achieved is evident from seeing the results on-screen – as the following video from NiranV demonstrates:
Certainly, there are some issues with the Viewer that can be experienced, simply because it is so cutting-edge. NiranV has been aware that people have had a few problems, and passed comment to me prior to this release that, “In final release I will also add option to turn graphics back to normal, as I used the new Shiny and SSAO for a long time now, and people already were complaining about up to extreme performance decreases when enabling SSAO. [So] people will be able to set the LL default SSAO again which will increase FPS drastically again but also decrease visual Quality dramatically.” So if you do have performance issues, try flicking back to the LL defaults.
The key thing about this Viewer is the amount of effort that is going into it to present an exceptionally high quality user experience that capitalizes on things like the FUI and some creative thinking on the part of the creator. Had I a system capable of utilising this Viewer to maximum impact, I’ve little doubt it could become my primary Viewer.
With radar (without those functions people might find to be invasive), the option of Pie Menus, the inclusion of Lance Corrimal’s maths functions within the Build menu, RLV/a and a host of other popular TPV features, Niran’s Viewer brings together a lot in a flexible and effective Viewer that pretty much stands in a league of its own.
Important: Please note that the LINUX version of the Viewer is maintained by Miguael Liamano, and not NiranV Dean. As such, all support issues / requests should be addressed to Miguael not NiranV Dean.
Note Dec 24th: The release version of this Viewer is now available. As such I have an update / continuation of this review, and have closed comments on this article (comments on the second are open).
Niran’s Viewer is an intriguing hybrid; forked from Kirsten’s Viewer, it includes everything that made Kirsten’s unique, as well as adding some very individual flavours from NiranV Dean and, in the most recent builds, the V3.2 FUI. The result is a Viewer that steps out of the box somewhat from what we’ve seen to date, offering some amazing capabilities – although you may find you need a high-end system to get the most out of it.
In Brief
Currently Windows only
Forked from Kirsten’s Viewer
Lots of graphics updates (including completely revamped graphics preferences)
New and unique menu layout
Viewer 3.2 Flexible User Interface (FUI)
Fast rendering on suitable machines
Additional ATi support
RLV/a
Mesh rendering and uploads
Lots more (did I mention fast rendering?)
Installer with default location
Installation and Logging-in
The installation is straightforward – and other than the installer being partially in German, offered no surprises per se
Like Marine’s RLV standalone installation, no desktop shortcut or icon is produced, so once installed, you’ll have to go play hunt the EXE in C:\Windows\Program Files\Nirans Viewer (assuming you use the default installer path).
This is no biggie, but I hope (as I’m a lazy cow) that NiranV will provide a defacto desktop icon in the future – that way my VistaMenu utilities for Win7 can grab what’s needed and I can keep my desktop nice and tidy with the minimum of fuss on my part :).
On start-up the Viewer pulls no punches letting you know you’re entering new territory, as the log-in splash screen demonstrates.
Log-in screen
Top left of the screen are the familiar Me and Help menu options – the former providing access to the Viewer’s Preferences. Over to the right of the screen is the log-in area, neatly laid-out and with three options in bold white text sitting under it:
Select Other Grids: the Viewer appears primarily aimed at SL, so this option provides access to the Beta grid
Settings: open the Preferences floater
Help: opens a set of additional options:
Sign-up: takes you to the official SL sign-up pages via your web browser
Forgot password…: opens the official password reset page in your web browser
Grid Status: opens the Grid Status page
About Niran’s Viewer: opens the HELP ->About Viewer pop-up.
It’s a nice arrangement, although my personal preference would be to see some take on the official V3 log-in screen – the Destination Guide, etc. – make an appearance. Perhaps that’s scheduled for a future build…
To actually log-in, you need to click on the LOGIN option after entering your username and password – tapping Enter doesn’t appear to work on this release.
The UI
Once logged-in, you’re again immediately aware that you’re in a Viewer that dares to break all the established rules.
Wot’s that? Buttons on the TOP? No menus?! (click to enlarge)
The Viewer clearly uses the V3.2 FUI, but NiranV has added the option to place buttons at the top of the screen as well as the sides / bottom – thus being the first to respond to requests for this capability. I’d still like to see VWR-27455 implemented for the FUI by someone, but just having the additional top area for use might make it easier for people to group buttons.
By default, the following buttons are available on first starting the Viewer:
Buttons can be removed, added or relabeled simply by right-clicking on an existing button and selecting the required menu from the displayed menu – CHOOSE BUTTONS opening the Toolbar Button floater. In a further step away from V3.2, CTRL-ALT-B will also open the floater, rather than CTRL-T, the use of which in V3.2 has caused some consternation amongst users, given that key combination has had a previous use.
The top of the screen is also conspicuous as it apparently doesn’t have a menu bar – no Me, Comm, World, etc. Instead we have the Navigation / Favourites Bar.
The Navigation Bar contains a wealth of information, looking at it from left-to-right: the familiar (to V2/V3 users) FORWARD / BACK buttons; then a panel of five buttons: HOME, WINDLIGHT FLOATER, SKY SETTINGS, WATER SETTINGS, and ABOUT LAND; the address bar area (as with V2/V3, right-clickable for additional options); Draw distance slider; Search option; account balance & BUY L$ button, and, at the right end, the media options with the time under them.
As with V3, you can switch between Navigation & Favourites or the Mini-location bars by right-clicking on the blank area of the Navigation / Favourites Bar and selecting your preference, but NiranV has extended this drop down menu to include the ability to configure which options are visible on the Navigation Bar, complete with additional options not displayed by default. In addition, the entire Navigation Bar / Favourites Bar has further configuration options within Preferences – something I’ll return to shortly.
But Wait! No Menus, You Say?!
Well, not exactly; I fibbed a bit :).
The menus are there, but are tucked away as Niran’s takes another innovative approach to the Viewer UI presentation. At the left-hand end of the Navigation Bar (or Mini-location Bar, if you display that), is the label “NV”. Clicking on this opens a vertical menu system which V1.x users should find somewhat familiar, despite the orientation, but those already familiar with V2/V3 might initially find a tad confusing, given the options listed are predominantly V1 menu labels.
Niran’s Menus
Having the menus displayed in this manner brings with it certain advantages; for one thing, the impact on your in-world view is minimised to the left side of the screen. There is also something more intuitive about this approach that makes using the menus somewhat faster and more intuitive: the action to select just about any option is a simple down-and-right action, making moving from menu to menu faster and easily than across-down, across-down, across-down…
NiranV has done a sterling job trying to align options with the first few menu headings (File, Edit, View) to reflect V1, which should help some with transitioning from V1 to the world of V3. However, the approach does have its own risk: V1 and V2/V3 are radically different in their menu offerings, so using similar menu titles could lure people into thinking they’ll find all the familiar options in the same sub-menus and locations – which isn’t quite the case. Similarly, as an established V2/V3 TPV user, I have to say I was initially thrown by the menu system when I first encountered it – although I quickly adapted to it and have to admit to preferring it.
A very nice touch in the menu system is the inclusion of an option to call-up the Grid Status page. This is particularly handy if you find you’re having problems, as it saves playing hunt-the-page through the SL website – and if you use the Viewer’s internal browser, the info is there without having to switch windows.
There is also a menu option called MY USEFUL FEATURES, which includes the STOP ALL ANIMATIONS option and REBAKE TEXTURES (for those unfamiliar with the keyboard shortcuts.
Preferences
This is another element of the Viewer that has been extensively revised, and nicely so. For a start, buttons are given a 3D polish and are clearly coloured: blue / tick = on; red / cross = off; grey = inactive / unavailable. Where buttons represent either/or options (e.g. name tags on/off), clicking one will turn it on and the other off.
Preferences – 3D buttons and a full revamp
Most of the main tabs also dispense with additional horizontal tabs. Instead, a “slider” action is used. Take chat as an example: open it, and you have the primary chat options, with a bar at the bottom labelled IM OPTIONS – click on that, and the IM options duly slide up into view. To swap back, simply click on the CHAT OPTIONS bar. It’s neat and tidy – although you need to keep your eye on things, as it’s easy to overlook a slider when looking for a specific option you’re used to seeing in a dedicated tab.
However, it is in the graphics tabs that the biggest changes are most readily apparent. There are two tabs – GRAPHICS and GRAPHICS 2, but they actually toggle between different presentations of the same settings.
Preferences -> Graphics
To the uninitiated, both can be something of a shock – the combination of options builds on Kirsten’s rendering pipe and offer enormous flexibility for setting the Viewer’s graphics capabilities. If you want, there are enough options here to take your world view right back to the earliest days of Second Life as well as bringing you cutting-edge in-world rendering – just take a look at NiranV’s blog post on the subject to see some of the results.
However, I’m not entirely sure that replacing the traditional sliders for some options with a button that toggles between “none”, “less”, “medium”, “more” and “many” entirely works; what is the scale of reference? How many is “many”? How few is “less”? There’s also the fact that the sheer number of options could be somewhat bewildering to many, and may, as a result, be ignored. But, for those into photography, etc., it’s worth taking a good look at what’s on offer.
Obviously, the two tabs are supposed to be used independently of one another, rather than together, and it is intended for people to use the one they find more intuitive. In this I was initially drawn to GRAPHICS, which is closer to what I’ve been used to seeing in other Viewers, but then I quickly swapped over the GRAPHICS 2.
Graphics 2
Shadow rendering appears to be linked to “glow” in this Viewer. This means that with shadows enabled, you can end up with a very bright sky, with the Windlight clouds glowing oddly.
Camera tutorial
Away from this, it’s worth going through the Preferences tabs and sliders carefully – there are other cool bits and pieces. For example, for those unfamiliar with the degree with which the camera position can be customised to give a much improved world view, NiranV has included a tutorial on the subject with some practical examples of options. This is something that other Viewers should have, as whether you’re tall or short, the default camera position for SL is far from ideal, yet most people live with it, simply because they’re not aware of how to modify things beyond fiddling with the default Preferences sliders. Huge kudos from me for this (friends know I’m a constant nag on the subject…!).
New snapshot floater (click to enlarge)
On the subject of cameras as well, NiranV has made a very subtle alteration to the camera smoothing, setting it to a default of 10 – and the difference in camera movement is stunning (allowing for differences in graphics capabilities on individual systems); panning is wonderfully smooth, as is zooming, with both exhibiting a gentle inertial effect as you stop the movement: rather than coming to an abrupt stop, the camera glides to a halt. Wonderful!
The snapshot option also includes the updated floater with the option to post snapshots directly to your web profile feed.
Nor does it end there: those that like their pie (menu) can have it (on by default), while those who like things in context (menus) and have their way as well.
Within PREFERENCES->VIEWER-> UI SETTINGS are a host of goodies, including:
The ability to increase / decrease the transparency of the Navigation / Favourites bars by disabling layers
Turn off the Favourites Bar independently of Navigation
Select which of the buttons Windlight Settings, etc.) should be display in the right-click drop-down menu
One-click teleport to SLurls displayed in chat
An ATi tweak
A collection of useful debug features that can be toggled on or off.
There is even an ability to enable / disable the new Direct Delivery “inbox” and “outbox” in your Inventory (although these can currently only be used with ease on the Beta grid) – but it gives you an idea of what it coming.
Performance
This Viewer is a fork of Kirsten’s Viewer, so one expects it to be resource demanding – and it is that, as soon as you start turning on the more advanced graphics features.
But to dismiss Niran’s as a KV clone with a tweaked front end would be a grossly unfair oversimplification. There has been a lot of under-the-bonnet work carried out, and I gather that NiranV went so far as to re-write OpenGL elements while waiting for LL’s fixes – and used an OpenGL release that is a lot more recent than that used by LL for their fix. This means that while the Viewer is resource-hungry, it is also blisteringly fast. Rendering is some of the fastest I’ve witnessed on my PC; I’m simply not used to arriving home and having sculptie items immediately pop out at me (no waiting several seconds), fully formed, as if going “Boo!” It’s really impressive.
Frame rates are equally stunning on my PC. At home, (370m above ground), with draw up at 360m, five others on-sm, and with settings comparable to those I use on Firestorm and Exodus, Niran’s screams past them at a rocketing 57-60 fps. At ground level, this drops to some 45-48 fps, which is still very credible.
Unfortunately for me, enabling shadows does slaughter my system: frame rates collapse to the low-end of single figures, and the Viewer demonstrates a notable stutter in camera movement. However, I got much the same with the last of Kirsten’s builds as well, so this is likely to be as much down to my graphics system and CPU getting a little long in the tooth as anything else.
Opinion
This is still very much a Beta Viewer, but even so, if you’re not into running shadows (or have a very high-end system), it tends to blow most others out of the water performance-wise. Obviously, as a Beta, there are rough edges; I’ve been running the Viewer on both the Main and Beta grids for a total of about 6 hours over the last few days, and crashes haven’t been infrequent; therefore, you should use it with caution. Also, as it is a Beta, don’t expect absolutely everything to be implemented – there is still a number of items listed as “to do” on NiranV’s website, and some options in Preferences are greyed-out.
That said, this Viewer is a serious contender in the usability stakes. For those who do want to try something that offers a different and flexible approach to the V3.2 UI, Niran’s Viewer is definitely one to watch. For those into photography and machinima and who have used Kirsten’s Viewer in the past, will find just about everything here they need. As it is, and even though there are a number of elements I’d like to see included in it, this Viewer has already moved comfortably into my top 3 “Viewers of choice”.
So, if you are looking around for a Viewer and feel like you can dare to be different, why not give Niran’s Viewer a try?
Update: version 1.11 with an out-of-memory crash fix is now available. If you have downloaded 1.10 and are experiencing crash issues (memory use exceeding 1.25Gb), you might want to download this version.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 