Viewers

General Viewer Information

#SL Texture Loading Freeze

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SH-2738 – Texture fetching freezes due to LLcurl. If you have seen textures refuse to download and/or rez completely you may be having a problem described in SH-2738. (There is no link because the JIRA item is one of the Lab’s private items. I should point out the JIRA tends to make items in some topics private, unless the Lindens remember to override it.)

Whatever the reason for privacy, this fix was included in an SL Viewer 3.2.5 build. Presumably it is in the Beta version of the viewer (246559) and later, but I can’t be sure. If you are having texture loading problems you may want to try the Beta version of the viewer.

Remember. The Beta is a beta and there is no guarantee it will work. It is a testing viewer, which means no whining about it. If you have a problem, file a JIRA report and send in your crash logs.

A related texture problem SH-2512 – Some avatar textures in welcome area never load on first visit. Could also be in this Beta release.

SH-1912 – Shiny metal texture characteristics entirely lost when Lighting and Shadows turned on. This fix could also be in the 3.2.5 version. Runitai made this fix in the Shining branch about 2 weeks ago. I see where it made it into the Dev Viewer (branch) about 12/12.

 

 

Firestorm-Phoenix QnA

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The Firestorm-Phoenix team is going to have a Question and Answer secession this Saturday. The announcement is on the Phoenix blog.

Firestorm Release

The meeting is at 1 PM SLT in three regions; Rockcliffe I, Rockcliffe Library, and Agile 3D. Arrive early and divide up by name:

Check your script weight before linking. Get it as low as possible.

Bring your questions about the viewers and their future.

If you can’t make it, they will have a video available later.

#SL Phoenix Viewer Problems

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Users have found some problems in the recent Phoenix 1.6.0.1591 release. Three errors were considered critical and quickly fixed. The result is a Phoenix 1.6.0.1600 release.

Visit the Phoenix Viewer Download page and get a new copy.

This release fixes:

  • Opening of scripts while LSL Preprocessor enabled causes crash to desktop. PHOE-3593
  • Scripted dialogs from deeded objects fail. PHOE-3600
  • Right click > wear from inventory is broken. PHOE-3583

#SecondLife Global Illumination

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You may not have noticed the Graphics Setting feature: Global Illumination. It began appearing in viewers some time ago. But, now it has disappeared from the SL Viewer. So, what’s up?

What it is…

Global Illumination is the label used to describe how light is handled in 3D games. Its purpose is to make lighting more realistic. It adds ‘reflected’ light effects. This means if you are standing with a blue wall to the right and the sun to the left, some blue light will be reflecting on to your right side.

Status

Back in May 2009 the Lab, Runitai Linden, posted a video showing new features they were working on. See: SL Tech Demo above.

The video (above) includes Mesh and Global Illumination. At about 1:34 in the video you can see a sun cycle that shows an example of Global Illumination. (GI) Notice how the sun seems to reflect off surfaces and illuminate other surfaces. That is the Global Illumination.

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Dolphin Viewer 3.2.0-22166 Review

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A new Dolphin Viewer version has made it out. I see it has a new build tool, Particle Editor, which is way nice.

Dolphin Viewer 3.2.0 Download

Dolphin Viewer Buttons Tool

Download and Install

The file size is about 26mb, on the small side for an SL viewer.

The install process is more like the SL Viewer install now, opening multiple little windows as it installs. These are indicators that files are being copied from a network location. Just like the SL Viewer these windows stall with 0 seconds remaining. One can leave them open for as long as they like. They’ll sit right there on your screen.

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Phoenix with Mesh

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The Phoenix Team has released a new version of Phoenix. This one has mesh support, as in it renders mesh.

Read Phoenix Viewer Mesh Update.

The team is warning this viewer is not their most stable release, at least they do not expect it to be.

They are also saying it is possibly the last version of Phoenix. There may future releases if needed. But, more likely not.

RLVa did not get updated. If you are looking for the newest and greatest RLV viewer check out Catznip. Kitty Barnett writes the Catznip Viewer and works on Firestorm’s RLV implementation.

Also, the team is providing less Phoenix support and focusing on Firestorm.