Viewers

General Viewer Information

Kokua Viewer Project Update

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You probably know the Kokua Viewer is the replacement for the Imprudence viewer. There are alpha or experimental versions of the viewer that you can use on Second Life and OpenSim grids.

Kokua/Imprudence Viewers

You probably don’t know they are up to version 3.3.4.23807, which is based on the Second Life™ viewer code version 3.3.4 Release 3.

The Kokua blog is: Kokua/Imprudence Blog, not very original, but very practical.

The Kokua Viewer Download… looking for a link? There really isn’t one. There is no official release of the Kokua viewer. There is however an experimental version you can use… for testing of course.  Today’s current Kokua Viewer download is here. This will change as time passes. The link should remain live over time as it is into a wiki release notes page.

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#SL Advanced Modeling Tips

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3D modeling is sort of a new think in Second Life™. Now that 3DS, Blender, Maya, and SketchUp models can be imported we have a whole new realm of knowledge and learning to deal with. One of the tough areas is finding ways to handle the Level of Detail (LoD) aspects of modeling. LoD has a huge impact on Land Impact (LI) costs. So, we have lots of incentive to understand the concept.

3D Modeling Tips: Level of Detail

I watch for ideas and tutorials that will help me with that challenge. Indigo Mertel Plurked about a modeling expert giving out tips on 3D modeling LoD. So, I’m down with that. Her article and link to the tips is here: Expert games tips: Generate more effective level of detail models.

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Firestorm Viewer 4.2.1 and 4.2.2 Release Review

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Firestorm Release

On August 27 Firestorm 4.2.1 was released followed by an immediate OOPS! There is a problem that Tonya Souther describes as:

 It turned out that 4.2.1 has a bug in it that makes most swinging doors not look like they act correctly (though they actually do). They appear to swing normally, then jump ahead, swinging farther all at once.

I’ve seen something similar in the Linden Development Viewers for some weeks now. So, this is probably not a Firestorm bug but something in the Linden Code.

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PhotoTools for Second Life

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Update Note 2014-04-10: The Photo Tools are not part of the Firestorm Viewer and do not need to be installed.

I saw these tools mentioned on Hamlet’s New World Notes in an article titled: Want to Take Great SL Images? Get Mr. Weaver’s Phototools! These are tools made for the Firestorm Viewer (Firestorm 4.1.1 (28744) Jul  9 2012 21:43:46 (Firestorm-Release)). The tools will only work with the default skins.

Mayfair – Not the default settings

This is an interesting addition to Firestorm. It is a rational and logical arrangement of the controls by William (paperwork) Weaver that affects how the viewer renders with world. If you are a photographer this is going to be a way handy tool. All the settings that affect the render appearance are in a single panel consisting of 6 tabs. Some of the controls open other panels, but basically it is one new panel, but what a handy panel.

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Firestorm Support Island

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Now Open: Second Life’s Firestorm Support Island by Firestorm/Phoenix – Click to visit.

FS Landing
FS Support Island Landing Point

Today is the official opening of the Firestorm Island. See: Firestorm Support Island Opening for more pictures and information. For information from an interview with Jessica Lyon see Inara Pey’s article: Helping the community: the Phoenix Firestorm Support region.

Update: Opening Speech.

Firestorm Support Island Opening

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I received an announcement today that the Firestorm/Phoenix Team has created a support island that will be opening on August 25th. The island is for use of the SL community. The team is encouraging RHN, White Tiger Mentors, Mental Mentors and others to use the island for training and support. I get that other support groups are welcome too.

Update 8/25 – Now Open: Second Life’s Firestorm Support Island by Firestorm/Phoenix

Update 7/2017 – Photobucket has disallowed use of their hosted images on 3rd party sites unless I pay them. Images are here.

Obviously the island is designed to assist new Firestorm users and for the team’s support crew.

FS Landing
FS Support Island Landing Point

The island has a landing point that starts new users on an educational path, a literal path as you can see in the images. It is designed for those using the Firestorm Viewer.  So, people using other viewer may be a bit confused by the images of what to click. But, confusing new users by showing multiple user interfaces might be worse.

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