Second Life and Virtual Worlds
General Viewer Information
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:
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?
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.
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.
A new Dolphin Viewer version has made it out. I see it has a new build tool, Particle Editor, which is way nice.
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.
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.
As of December 7 there will be 9 days left to raise the funds to keep the Kirsten Viewer alive. Today 25% of the needed funds have been raised. Unless a white knight shows up or people get a move on, it looks like the Kirsten Viewer is a goner.
See: http://www.kirstensviewer.com/
Visit CrowdFunder to donate. Please pass this link around. Post signs in SL. You can pick up a copy of the sign at my place in SL.
Only 129 people have donated. When the 21(9) version came out it was the only TPV that could upload mesh. Hamlet thought all 8,000+ down loaders were dedicated users. I was sure it was more like 1,500 from previous months’ download numbers. Still I assumed there were more users that liked the viewer enough to donate. So far that is not the case. Seems we both over estimated.
One does get some benefit for donating toward the viewer. See my Previous Kirsten Update.
My image is an old one… the current image at Crowdfunder shows the current actual contributions.
Please do what you can to help.
The current main viewer for Second Life is version 3.2.1.244864. Of course, this version is available from the main Second Life download page. Also on that page is the Beta version of the viewer, which is now version 3.2.2.244666. And the link to the wiki page Linden Lab Official: Alternate Viewers with development, project, and alternate third party viewers is there.
Currently Second Life viewers are running slow. In my previous article I was researching how to get more speed out of my viewer. The information you need to diagnose your computer’s performance is there. How to get a Faster Second Life
The Direct Delivery Project Viewer is currently at version 3.0.2.239555. This viewer is currently for use on the ADITI grid where the servers are setup to test Direct Delivery.
Project viewers tend to come in two versions, the current Project Viewer and the Latest Build version. The latest build is similar to what many call a nightly build version. Today the Direct Delivery project’s Latest Viewer page is not loading.