Daniel Voyager reports a bit of a mesh update tidbit from an interview with Linden Lab CEO Rod Humble. While we still have no ETA for the mesh roll out, they expect to have a timeline for the roll out this month.
I think this is the first timeline for SL development that I will have seen since joining SL 3 years ago. there have been lots of road maps. But, I don’t remember a timeline. Once we have a timeline it will become a matter of whether people believe the Lab can keep to the timeline. Only time will be able to answer that question. But, it will provide a guide for developers.
Read more on Daniel’s blog: SL Mesh, Update 3
In the video you are seeing several things. The vehicle (made by arton Rotaru) is a mesh object. I suspect a combination of mesh and prims. You may also notice the shadows. Those appear to be the dynamic Sun/Moon shadows not available in the current SLV 2.5 viewer, except via the Debug Settings or TPV’s.
Also the headlights are the new Projectors, which are also available in SLV 2.5 via the Debug Settings. The taillights are also projectors. The Projectors have been around SL for awhile now. But, they are part of the dynamic shadows feature. The computer requirements to use them is still way high. So, few people are trying to use them.
Vehicles can only be made with limited number of prims, 32 I think. Mesh should hopefully allow more complex vehicles to be animated. In any event this vehicle is pretty nice.
Mesh is definitely going to change the appearance of things in Second Life. This mesh house is an example. I came across it on the Preview Grid (ADITI) where people are experimenting with mesh.