Second Life News 2014-19

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Some big news today… almost… see Group Ban below.

San Diego First Pitch T-Rex
San Diego First Pitch T-Rex

Servers

There were no rollouts to the main or RC channels this week. But, a T-Rex was pitching baseball in San Diego.

Chat Fix

However, the backend servers for chat got an update. These are the updates Simon Linden has been working on and that several of us have been testing in ADITI over the past few weeks.

People are probably not going to notice much difference. Any difference will be subtle. But, the code adds more analytics to the chat system. The new information should give the Lindens a better idea of what can be fixed to improve performance. 

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AvaStar 1.1-Alpha Released

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An Alpha version of AvaStar is out. The usual software release order is; Proof of Concept, Alpha, Beta, RC, Final. As an RC version had been released (reference), I took the following Test Versions to be RC releases too. But, apparently not. Bad assumption on my part. Whatever we call this release, it is the next step in the progression.

This Alpha release has all the TEST version changes up to Test Version 1076. The official release name is now:  avastar-1-1-alpha_Blender_2-70.

I am running Blender 2.70a. So, I can’t tell if this version works with previous Blender versions. What I do know is that newer video tutorials will most likely be showing the Blender 2.70+ user interface. So, it is probably a good idea to update your Blender to the latest version: Blender 2.70a.

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Second Life Viewer Updates 3.7.7

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As soon as I post about a viewer, things change. The main release viewer upgraded from 3.7.6 to 3.7.7-289461. The release notes for this version are here: SL Viewer 3.7.7. The is the Interesting Project Viewer updates. I goofed and clicked the wrong link going to the release notes earlier. I’m trying to do too many things at the same time.

This version includes the changes for faster scene rendering. The changes, to a large extent, are about how the viewer handles cache and the order in which things are rendered. For caching, the first time to arrive in a region, everything in the region is sent to the viewer and the viewer caches it. This means fewer server requests for stuff.

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Second Life Bits 2014-19

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Servers

There are no roll outs this week.

Viewers

The main viewer remains: 3.7.6-289164

RC Viewers

No changes since the last report.

Bit of News

Jo Yardely posts about Ebbe’s saying new avatars are coming. Originally he said they would arrive in March. It looks like they will get released this month now. So, we will have more ‘Library Starter Avatars.’ This will make it easier for new users to not look so noobie.

That of course assumes they don’t walk around nude flashing everyone. (face palm)

[youtube BNsrK6P9QvI] 

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AvaStar Update 2014-19

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There have been the typical flow of update RC’s coming out for AvaStar. This morning we are up to version avastar-1-1-1071_blender-2-65.

Starting with version 1062 we can use older AvaStar models in these versions. I haven’t tested or seen an explanation of what this means, exactly. But, I think it means we can open older files and work on models without having to re-parent to the newer AvaStar rig. I’ll have to try that.

Some bugs and error notices have been fixed too.

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Second Life Normal Maps & UV

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There is an interesting discussion in the SL Forum about a problem some people have had making Normal Maps for Second Life™. Jake Koronikov opened the thread. Jake had a problem with the normal maps creating a visible seam in the model.

FlickrNormal
Normal Maps from Flickr Search

For instance, the seam between the front and back sides of the avatar leg. Of you were making a manikin and using a normal map on it that seem would become visible as a step on the surface rather than the smooth surface it is supposed to be.  You can see his images of the problem in the thread: Tangent spaced Normal Map seam visible in UV border area. (2017 – The images are gone.)

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