When I find a new viewer I’m always nervous about using it. Since I approve all comments posted here I saw Sven idyll’s comment in the Exodus Viewer review. Feeling sad that we have lost Kirsten’s viewer, I’m curious. I have an Alt just for testing such viewers. Time to get him out… my guy is brave.
Milkshake? Logo
TPV Directory
The viewer is not listed in the Third Party Viewer (TPV) Directory. That doesn’t mean a lot for security. Viewers registered there are self certified. The Lab only removes them or refuses a listing for a known or obvious cause. So, there is little difference between a listed viewer and those not listed in regard to security.
One has to make a judgment call in regard to the safety of a viewer. There is no way to know, short of reading the code and compiling it yourself. So, one takes their chances, which is why I used an alternate.
The viewer has a Facebook page. For whatever that means. Cinder Roxley created the Facebook page for the Milkshake Viewer.
Web Site
It is sort of mandatory for a viewer developer to have a web site and blog about their viewer. If there is a web site for the viewer, I did not find it. However, Sven idyll did blog about the viewer. Sven is Swedish, so I have to use Google to translate the blog. Such translations are not perfect, so I sort of get the idea. See: Milkshake?
I am still wondering if ‘milkshake’ is missing something in translation as the logo is a cupcake…
If I understand correctly, Cinder Galthie is the SL name of Cinder Roxley. She is compiling a modified viewer. You can see Cinder’s site: Cinder in Wonderland. WARNING: the site is NOT office safe. Cinder is from Utah… not that it matters but at least the language is English, which blows up my Milkshake-Cupcake thing being a language issue.
Download and Install
Getting the viewer is easy and it’s the standard download and install. Milkshake Viewer Download. UPDATE: Dead link. See: Milkshake Viewer 3.2.6 (2) Review
The install uses its own folder. Plus it creates its own cache and logs locations. This means the chat logs are separate from other viewers. You can control the locations, if you want to change them.
At first I was not sure if Milkshake read my settings from SL because the defaults are similar to custom settings I use. But, after using it a bit I realized it hadn’t.
I did not find lots of information on the viewer. It seems to be based on LL’s 3.2.5 code.
Experience
The viewer is very much a V3 FUI interface. However the menus and Preferences are a bit different.
The Bandwidth was set at 2,300 mb/sec. and the cache is sized to 1gb. Definitely not my typical setting.
The Milkshake tab in Preferences has additional network controls exposed. Handy.
The top menu has a FILM item like Kirsten’s had. Its similar but I do not remember Kirstens well enough to say it is the same or different.
Preferences - Milkshake Viewer
Performance is good. In my house I get 10 to 25 FPS. Higher FPS after things rez. I am using the basic High setting. Flipping over to Ultra I drop to 3 to 7 FPS… :/ The render image is awesome. Turning off shadows jumps me up to 11 FPS. Turning off Ambient Occlusion makes almost no difference. Turning off Lighting and Shadows adds may be 0.5 FPS. Going back to High returned me to 20 to 25 FPS. As I used the viewer I saw some 30 FPS peaks.
I’m running a Duo Core2 2.4 Ghz w/4gb RAm and an nVidia GTX 560Ti. You can see what others are running, the performance they get, and add your information here: How Fast is Your Viewer? – Second Life.
The top menu has an nifty OFSSET feature. You can click on it and drag left or right to adjust your avatar’s height in relation to the ground. It’s great for sculpty and mesh shoes.
Next to it is a DRAW for draw distance. Dragging it sets your draw distance.
I did not see a Quick Rez feature.
Milkshake Viewer - Preferences
The viewer renders mesh and has the standard mesh uploader… well it has mesh upload. I’m not sure what code Cinder is using to make it work… or if it works. I haven’t tried it yet.
The viewer includes RLV.
It seems to have all the build tools. That includes Build Math and copy-paste triplets.
The right click on object menu has some novel items; Texture Refresh – to force a new download of a texture that is not rendering, Annoyance – it lets you blacklist, block, or Abuse report, Derender – which hides things and is good for photography to rid of avatars or objects the spoil the shot, Whichcraft – explodes or destroys objects. You have to be able to edit the object… I think.
In the top menu in World->Sun there is an option to use region defaults. That is something I’ve been missing.
There is no Grid Manager. It seems only the SL grids are listed. One could direct it to another grid by using command line options, as is common with some other viewers. But, the lack of a grid manager suggests the compatibility with other grids is not a priority for this developer.
Summary
It seems like a nice viewer. I think it has more features than most and it is fast. Also, the change rate is said by those using it to be rather high. Cinder said something somewhere about limiting it to one update per week.
Since there is little information about the maker of the viewer, use it at your own risk.
If you like the SL Viewer 3.2.x you will probably love this viewer. It is very much a V3 version with a load of extra features and it is fast.
Pingback: Milkshake: a New #SL Viewer | Logicamp
Pingback: Milkshake viewer - SLUniverse Forums
Those two preferences tabs are straight from Dolphin Viewer 3… and her website has not much about the viewer at all, only a video. the download link is not exposed anywhere either… and no link to sources…
Which two? Destroy and Explode? Viewers are changing fast enough I have trouble keeping up. I love the particle editor in Dolphin 3.
Attribution is a concern, as I mention in a reply to Hitomi.
Thanks for pointing that out Nalates. The interface that is shown in the video is a modified version of StarLight with the new CUI I am developing (colour changing UI) – see https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Viewer_Skins/Starlight it also has the Film menu and many of the other things that have been used in Milkshake (though there are extra panels). I have no trouble with others using StarLight in their TPVs and many use the StarLight architecture, especially Firestorm, and they also credit me with it, just as I credit KirstenLee and many others for the help and inspiration going into StarLight. It is just a shame that Cinder claims to pass this off as her own work without mentioning my work and presumably Kitty or Marine’s RLV stuff or anyone else she has purloined from. It seems that Milkshake may be a development of Frontier that was a spin-off from Singularity – it all gets so complicated sometimes.
Incidentally if you would like a full pre-release version of the StarLight CUI (with fully customisable viewer colours, more than in Milkshake) for a review just let me know.
I appreciate your take and viewpoint on Milkshake. The attribution problem is sticky. When one is trying to determine the character of the one building a viewer into which we are going to type passwords that access real money this is a consideration.
I’ve used your skins in the past. I like them. I appreciate the offer. I’ll pass because I change viewers so fast. Dealing with skins in an environment where the UI is changing so fast is too much for me. Once the UI stabilizes, I’ll start using them again.
Pingback: En ny viewer – MILKSHAKE | Svens(k) Idyll
If you look through the files in Milkshake you will find Dolphin’s logo. I have personally tested Hitomi’s Starlight against Dolphin and it works quite well. Starlight is a very good addition to the Linden’s own viewer and I can no longer use a viewer from Linden without Starlight.
Pingback: Milkshake stoppar nedladdning | Svens(k) Idyll
“The viewer is not listed in the Third Party Viewer (TPV) Directory. That doesn’t mean a lot for security. Viewers registered there are self certified. ”
I’ve heard this idea repeated a few times, but it is not true. Listing on TPVD should be the very first place an interested user should good for a basic gauge of “is it safe”. There are other aspects of a viewer to look at as well, but the TPVD listing is the natural place to start. Why?
1. Basic Sanity checking:
Before the listening is approved, LL does do basic due diligence on the viewer and the viewer team. The viewer team must register RL information with LL, so if something later goes wrong, they can be contacted. LL also insures to the best of their knowledge that the primary authors have a clean record in SL and meet a number of basic project quality criteria.
2. Able to be challenged:
Anyone can report a viewer on the TPVD for policy violations and LL will investigate. LL does investigate every single report. If the violation is deemed to be severe enough, the viewer will be removed from the TPVD.
—
For the above reasons, all viewers listed on the TPVD are defacto safer choices than ones that are not. They believed to be in good standing and can be challenged.
http://wiki.phoenixviewer.com/doku.php?id=is_my_viewer_safe
Your points are valid and accurate.
But, as to that making it a safe viewer, I disagree. I still have memories of Emerald. That a viewer is in the list only means no one has found a problem or complained.
Pingback: The Return of Milkshake | Svens(k) Idyll
Pingback: Milkshake Viewer 3.2.6 (2) Review