Viewers
Oz Linden was crashing so the meeting got a late start. Then only ran 20 minutes. Not anything new to talk about. But, there is an alarming change from the Beta Server group I’ve included as the last item in this article.
The RC Second Life Maintenance Viewer version 4.0.4.314579 has been promoted to the main release. This is the viewer that has a collection of fixes; crashes, memory leaks, input/cursor issues, graphics bugs, invisiprims, formatting, notifications, profiles lockouts, and more.
The invisiprims fix is a reversion back to previous behavior before a change broke them. There is a plan to do something with invisiprims. So, expect a future change. My advice is stop using them. We have better ways to accomplish the purpose they served.
The Second Life Quick Graphics Viewer version 4.0.4.314426 – is said to be nearing release. Oz says they only need to merge it up to the current main viewer version. If it continues to work well with the merged in fixes from 4.0.4.314579 then it is ready to roll out. I would expect the Lab to hold off until week 20, but they want QG with its Avatar Complexity Features out on the main grid.
Second Life Project Bento Viewer version 5.0.0.314884 – This viewer has updated from 5.0.0.313876 since I last reported. Oz tells us they are close to opening up use of the viewer on AGNI, the main grid. That means we can start importing ‘Bento’ animations to the main grid.
I think this is going add complexity to the animation market and the Second Life™ learning curve. For most of us, there will be little or no change. But, special avatars will need special animations. My little Fae Dragon avatar by Grendel in 2008 is now way out of date, being all sculpty and old skeleton animations. I am expecting some awesome new dragons.
Still my little Fae dragon is only 82k ACI, which is about the average of most of my new outfits.
Then there is the Second Life Project Oculus Rift Viewer version 3.7.18.295296 viewer, which has been going to update ‘soon’ for well over a year. Oz says they are working on it and is expecting an update ‘soon’. I think that they pulled people off the 64-bit viewer and kept people on the Rift viewer, says something.
The Lab is adopting the name ‘Jelly Dolls’ in place of Jelly Babies in the RC viewer menus. The babies name is trademarked. Legal is telling Oz to stay away from using that name. So, now the Lab is changing.
New RC Coming
A viewer version that has been on the shelf for some time is becoming active. This RC viewer deprecates the old inventory API’s. Once in place and tested a time will be set for when the server side of those API’s will be removed.
More pages… links below.
