Second Life and Virtual Worlds
In my July 14 article Kirsten Viewer S20 (29) Released I included a video by Marx Catteneo showing the use of Kirsten Dynamic Shadows and a Projector used like a flashlight. I think it is very neat effect.
Of course I wanted to know how it is done. So, how does one make a projector?
Kirsten’s viewer is a rapidly changing and is a bleeding edge viewer. Things that worked well in a previous version may not work in the latest version. Also, the default install process sometimes works well and sometimes it does not work so well. So, knowing the tricks and gotcha’s is essential for those using Kirsten’s Viewer.
Niran put up a post on Kirsten’s forum with a load of tips and tricks. Niran´s Guide for Kirstenviewer
Kirsten released a new viewer version today… well yesterday now that I’ve been playing with it for hours. I’m always eager to see Kirsten and Emerald releases. Mac users can use this release too.
New World Notes has a machinima video up showing a unique use of Kirsten’s shadows, Playing With Kirsten’s Second Life Shadows It is one of the really neat displays of shadow use, shown below. See NWN for details on the machinima.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCGr2X1GFLk]
In response to my last update on the SL 2.1 Viewer Opensource Obscure pointed out another third party viewer (TPV), Icesphere. For a verity of reasons I’m interested in viewers and how they work. Research leaves me wondering whether and where this software is going. Calling it a viewer is a loose use of the label viewer.
The Alphaville Harold has published an op-ed by FoxM Ember. (10y/07m/10) Using the title I copied, The Loss of Civility. The loss of civility and the inability of people to debate controversial issues and move discussions forward to a rational solution rather devolving into profanity, name calling, and locked threads has long been a concern of mine.
I think Fox’s article for the Alphaville Harold is an indication that others have similar concerns and are seeing a similar loss of social abilities. Fox feels the anonymity of the net and virtual worlds adds to the problem. Fox is likely correct on that point. But, other than pointing out the problem nothing is said about how to correct the problem or trend.
On July 7 Linden Lab released another Beta version of their new viewer. (Second Life 2.1.0.206543 Beta Viewer) They say this version is more stable than the current standard 2.0 viewer and they think it is good idea for everyone to update… They could use lots of bug reports, so if you are into helping out… go for it.
This seems to be the only viewer update available this week. Kirsten, Emerald, Imprudence and Hippo don’t appear to have new releases out, this week.