Second Life and Virtual Worlds
Even if you are not an Imprudence user this is an important read.
The Imprudence team has a new release of the Experimental (Imprudence beta) viewer out. The building tools in Imprudence continue to improve. Also the Imprudence site is doing a good job of listing the changes in each new release. Rather than repeat that information here I think I’ll just touch on the changes I find interesting.
The Imprudence Viewer download and information.
KirstenLee has not released a new version. However, a teaser is up for version (40). It shows the new live chat system.
May be I missed something in the Snowstorm meetings. Improving chat has been there, but I don’t remember a new chat and interface coming.
Whatever, check it out here: Kirsten S20(40) Viewer Soon…
A new release of this viewer comes out about once a week. The latest on the 13th. The download is about 44mb, so it is a larger than average viewer. The download is here: Download Ascent Viewer. The release notes are here: Ascent Viewer Release Notes.
The first couple of times I tried to start the viewer it crashed. Started opening then just vanished. I assume it was doing something with the cache that failed. Caches are problems for all the viewers. I have written lots of tips in other articles about problems that are solved by clearing the cache. Many can be prevented by creating separate caches for each viewer. So, I’m not surprised when a viewer crashes the first and second time it is started.
Updated 2010-10-17
Everyone has questions about the new meshes now in open beta. Yesterday the Lindens in Nyx’s office hours had a meeting and answered many of the questions asked. I’ve separated out the answers from the chatter and added embellishment where I can. I have also fixed some spelling and punctuation… and probably added my share of mistakes.
You can find the transcript here: http://blogs.secondlife.com/thread/41151
Today the download for upgrading to OSGrid version 0.7 is up as are the instructions and a warning NOT to go online with the upgrade. Wait until the server change over is complete Sunday. The upgrade will NOT connect until then. Attempting to connect with the upgrade will cause problems. Wait.
Instructions are here: Upgrade procedure for upgrading your simulators to OpenSimulator v0.7 on OSgrid
The download link is there.
There are settings in the new INI files for Meshes, LightShare, and I found one for Media On A Prim.
There is a handy feature to turn off avatar face lights, which the developers consider silly. Hmmmph!
I think this article will also be of interest to SL folks. Because OpenSim is likely to become a free SL mesh builders’ sandbox. However, uploads on ADITI are free, so may be not.
I guess it depends on how one looks at mesh on OpenSim as to whether this is ‘coming’ or an old thing. RealXtend, a branch of OpenSim, has had mesh objects for some time. A module has been available for some time to allow OpenSim people to add messes to their SIM. What I suppose is coming is the ability for everyone to use and see the feature in OpenSim.
Most viewers have not supported mesh. There was no way to upload them, which pretty much stops their use. RealXtend has a special viewer. I have never gotten it to work on other grids, that is probably just me. With the Second Life Mesh Project Viewer out and the code being released Friday, that limitation is removed. Soon TPV’s (Third Party Viewers) will have support for uploading and editing mesh.