Firestorm Viewer 4.4.0 (33720) Released Review

by

I got a couple of things wrong in the previous article. The idea it was only for the SL grid was not right. This release has a version for the OpenSim grids. You can see the highlights of that release on the announcement page: Firestorm Major Upgrade.

Another point on the announcement page is information about the effort that has been put into providing an upgrade path for Phoenix users.

[youtube sM3-yQVDEw]

This video runs a little less than 8 minutes.

The video warns that you will have a slow start because they have flushed all the caches.

Read more

Singularity 1.8.0 w/SSA Released

by

One of the viewers growing in popularity is the Singularity Viewer. As Phoenix nears the absolute end of its useful life a number of its users are switching to Singularity. Often those with older computers prefer to go with Singularity for faster frame rates. Plus it has the look and feel of the SL Viewer 1.23, the V1 user interface.

Build 4114 is the version with SSA, Server Side Appearance, the avatar baking change planned to fix bake fail. All versions before this one will soon stop working, well stop rendering avatars. They will appear gray. So, this is going to be a required upgrade for all Singularity users. That’s required in the sense of, if you want to see avatar clothes then you have to upgrade. If you don’t care about that, never mind. 

Read more

Firestorm 4.4.0 On the Way

by

Update: The viewer has been released as 4.4.0 (33720) today about 3 PM SLT or PDT. Download: Firestorm Major Update.

I’ve been hearing rumors that a new release of the Firestorm Viewer is imminent. Some expected it Sunday. Some are saying today. We will have to wait and see when it releases. I expect it soon, like today. But, that could be wishful thinking on several people’s part.

But, we do not have to wait to see what is in this release. As part of a release the development team builds release notes. The team tries to do things professionally and have everything ready for users, including the viewer’s release notes. It usually is not too hard to find those once one knows a release is imminent.

Read more

Second Life News 2013-17

by

This Monday morning Second Life Grid Status is reporting a number of regions are being restarted. They say the restarts will take longer than usual. There is no reason given as to why.

LEAP Motion

Google is getting on board LEAP Motion. See: You’ve Got The Whole World In Your Hands As Leap Motion Gains Google Earth Support.

LEAP Motion has great possibilities for Second Life. Combine it with the new Oculus Rift and it could be an amazing interface. People might be able to learn manipulating 3D space in a way more natural to humans. 

Read more

Exodus Viewer Team Change

by

We haven’t seen anything on the Exodus Viewer blog since last August 2012. There have been some releases sense then. But, no news proper. Today, Sunday, I see there is a new post up.

It seems Clix Diesel and Ayamo that has lead the team for two years are turning over development of the Exodus Viewer to Katharine Berry. They say she will be lead developer and ‘owner’ of the viewer.

In software development ‘owner’ can mean something different that ‘owner’ of a car or house does. So, be careful what you read into that.

Clix and Ayamo site a lack of time to develop the viewer as the reason for their leaving the project.

See: Katharine Takes the Lead!

What does this mean for the Exodus Viewer? I have no idea.

SL BUG-204

by

BUG-204 – Detaching animated object stops sit animation and throws the avi into the air.

Example of Problem from SL JIRA
Example of Problem from SL JIRA

Description – Using the same scripts I have used in many other dining sets over almost 5 years, now when I detach a glass or fork containing an eating animation, the sit animation not only stops, but the avi suddenly pops up above the chair, in a seated position.

According to Monty Linden (reference) this and related bugs are being worked on.

Quote: There is work underway on animations and avatars so if anything anomalous is happening; it’s in your best interest to report a bug via Jira.  Gather up as much supporting information as you can and follow the outline here: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Bug_Tracker

So, if you are seeing problems and have more information, file a JIRA report.