Second Life

Things about SL

KirstenLee S21(3) Released Review

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KirstenLee Viewer S21
KirstenLee S21 Logo

Today KirstenLee has released the first complete version of S21… well… one that is not a release candidate. I’ve been enjoying using the Release Candidate 2 version for several days. I’m happy to see this version out. My impressions of the viewer follow.

Install

The install program shows the version as 2.6.0.3, which shows the viewer is using the newest possible code from Linden Lab, who’s Development viewer is at 2-6-0-219259. The ‘3’ is KirstenLee’s development iteration as 219259 is the Lab’s. The Lab is averaging 68 iterations per day, which is pretty impressive. I suspect KirstenLee has far more iterations than the version numbers show.

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Multi-Chan Hax

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UPDATE: 3/2012 – This was neat, but the site with the download is down. It may come back or there may be another download site. I do not know of another site and we can only hope the site comes back.

Photoshop CS4 and 5 Extended allow one to skip using HAX and work directly on the 3D avatar model. Blender will also allow import of the SL avatar model. One can use its texturing and painting tools to work directly on the model.

So, unfortunately, as with many things, HAX and this article are out of date.

UPDATE: claireharford has started hosting the files needed for Multi-Chan Hax. LINK

This is neat. If you are a clothes maker in Second Life, you need to know about this way of making clothes. Clair Hartford posted a tutorial on the SL blogrum today.  I think the thing is awesome. I’m excited. If you want to make seamless clothes, this is something you really want to know. This process has been around since 2009 and I’m just now finding out about it. Darn.

[youtube N1AyEuB0b6M]

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Second Life Server Updates Week 2

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Here is an update on the changes happening with the grid servers.

The Encroachment Project, the feature to allow one to remove prims encroaching on their property, failed to pass its test in the Blue Steel Release Channel. That means it is stuck in Blue Steel for another week with new fixes applied. With any luck it will roll to the main grid next week.

The Le Tigre channel was testing the new Simulator Shutdown code. It passed its tests and was rolled to the main grid. This code improves several things on the server side of the Second Life Grid. Faster simulator restarts and fewer inventory problems are two expected improvements.

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Singularity 1.5.3 Viewer Review

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Playing with the new group limit I was joining all the viewer related groups I found. The Singularity group is one I joined in the process. The other day that got me a notice that a new version of the Singularity Viewer is out. I’ve never used the viewer. For that matter I’ve never heard about it. It is not in the TPV Directory. But, I’m curious so I wanted to try it. I have an avatar just for testing viewers not in the TPV Directory.

The viewer’s web site is, of course, Singularity Viewer. It is a nice looking site. They have a knowledgebase, download, forum, and a link to the Github for the source code. The forum appears to be a Google Group, not what I think of as a forum.

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New Things Coming to Second Life

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There are several projects now making their way into the Release Channels and soon to the main grid. None are as fun or exciting as mesh, but they are things that should make SL faster and nicer to play in.

Faster Non-Texture Assets

Monty Linden attended Oskar’s office hours meeting. There is a small project (small code-wise) coming to the grid soon that will speed up non-texture assets moving through the system. Now is that cryptic or what?

Seems Monty means sounds and wearables. The change won’t be as dramatic as ‘Compression’ is for region crossing, but it is expected to be significant and have noticeable effects. The change has to do with making the process smarter, whatever that can mean in this case. Monty describes it as removing artificial slowdowns… which may have mostly to do with making the path things take through the system more efficient.

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Second Life Mesh Update 2011-01

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Second Life Mesh
Image by M_Shahab @ Flickr

Not much excitement in this area lately. Development is proceeding. The Lindens are not saying when they will arrive on the grid and more and more people are whining about that. The Lindens are not going to say ‘when’ until they have all the complex problems solved. I’m not expecting to see them hit the release channels for 2 or 3 months and I think that is optimistic. 🙁

Nyx Linden said in the last office hours meeting for mesh that they are looking at how to roll out mesh. Discussion is about a staged release. No real decisions so what is actually going to happen is up in the air.

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