My laptop and desktop have both updated with a new, big update recently. So, what changed?
Microsoft tells us we can now have 3D models… really!?! There is a Mixed Reality Viewer and a Mixed Reality Portal. The viewer will allow you to view 3D models and turn them 360×360. If you have a camera connected to your computer you can put the model in the image the camera is capturing.
Mixed Reality Viewer – 2017-OctCrazy
Microsoft quickly points one to a site they call Remix 3D, to get more 3D models. It requires a Microsoft account. Unless you are particularly alert, you had to open a Microsoft account to get your Windows 10 working. So, for most this won’t be a problem. But, opening a new account is easy. – This MS Account thing is obviously some nefarious plot to enslave the world…
Here is a tutorial from Riftcat for using LEAP to simulate a Vive Controller.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hgBNBvxytM
Obviously, you must have Riftcat. I’ll have to unpack my LEAP and see how this works. As it is hooking into the Steam software, this may well work with Sansar. But, that is another experiment.
A bunch of bloggers don’t know the difference between a URL and a SLURL. The simple explanation, if a web page link opens a web page, image, video, whatever in a web browser it is a URL.
Click each of the above to see the difference in behavior.
I’ll send flowers into the sky to find you
On the second one, Windows or your anti-virus may complain saying clicking this link may be a security risk. This is both of those saying ‘I don’t know what this is, so I’ll tell you it may be dangerous, just in case.’ But, if you go to the SL Maps page, the first URL, and look at the SLURL shown when you hover over “Visit this Location” link, you’ll see they are the same.
You can decide for yourself by going to the SL Maps page, the first URL, and looking at the SLURL shown when you hover over “Visit this Location” link, you’ll see it shows the same link address I show here.
Control
The behavior when clicking a SLURL is controlled by you. Settings in Windows and/or your web browser control what happens when you click.
The Firestorm team has made an elegant fix. See: Second Life: How to FIX SLURL’s (2016). Fortunately, it works for all viewers Linden and third-party. Unfortunately, it is a Windows-only solution. To get the proxy for SLURL control see: SLURL Proxy.
If you want a more technical explanation, see: Emerald Viewer vs SLURL (2010). While that is a 2010 solution that uses the old banished Emerald Viewer as an example, it still works. Just change the names to avoid the guilty.
This morning I see the Vive has dropped in price. The retail price of a new Vive is now a mere US$600. That is better than the previous $800. But still expensive. Vive headsets have been going on eBay for about $500 for some time. Gear VR units are going for $65 on eBay.
HTC Vive – Aug 2017
Sansar is supporting Oculus and Vive. I have neither. So, how well they are supported and how easy they are to setup with Sansar, I don’t know. I have yet to get my Gear VR working with Sansar. So, I know that is difficult. I think I am down to a ‘controller’ problem. I have an Xbox 1708 controller on order (US$20-30±).
If you Google on Vive and SL, you may get the idea Vive and SL will work for VR. That isn’t the case. The information is almost all 2016 stuff written before the Lab dropped their SL VR project and CtrlAltStudio stopped VR Viewer development. I have been able to get SL into 3D, not VR, with my Gear VR. Not really worth the effort. It’s a nice novelty.
I have used the old CtrlAltStudio Viewer to see SL in VR. There is no Bento support. Until someone decides to merge the CtrlAltStudio code and an updated Firestorm there is essentially no ‘native’ VR support for SL. There is some third-party software for various games to get them into VR. Most of those are for DirectX games, not OpenGL.
VR Controllers are still a problem for VR users. An interesting entry in the field is Neurable’s in partnership with eStudioFeature’s mind-controller… a think and it happens controller.
