Viewers

General Viewer Information

Viewer Update – Quick Graphics

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We have a new release of the Project Viewer version 3.8.4.304916 that came out last Thursday. I saw it update my install when I went into SL this morning. This version apparently has some fixes that improve performance. Or it may just be that debug code has been removed. Whatever, I get way faster frame rates.

A number of bugs with Avatar Complexity have been fixed according to the release notes.

I am finding that most of my Jelly Babies come from high KB values, bytes of attachments. Setting my Complexity to MAX means something else triggers Jelly Baby render. KB triggers the Jelly Baby render just under 10,000KB. The default setting is 10,000,000b in Debug Settings’ RenderAutoMuteByteLimit. But, a 9.8mb avatar went Jelly Baby. Complexity was 98,000± with 29m2. So, I am wondering if there is some computation involved.

I’ve seen some ridiculous avatars in the new visitor hubs: Complexity 184,000, 33m2, and 341,000kb…

This viewer version is a bit more stable. If you have been wanting to try it, go for it now. It still sucks up memory and I clear it when the viewer starts slowing down. It takes longer to fill up memory now. I have used the viewer to visit new user landing areas with lots of people for about an hour and not crashed. I think I only cleared memory twice (using System Explorer – Free program)

Second Life Viewer Update Week 37

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This Friday (9/11) there was a Third Party Developer’s meeting. This is where most of the early news comes from. These days this meeting is pretty much The Source for any word about anything new or in progress.

~Humana~
~Humana~

Viewers

The main viewer is currently (9/12) Release/3.8.3.304115. This release is based on a maintenance package of fixes. Release Notes 

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Avatar Complexity Update Week 37

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Second Life™ is getting a new tool to hopefully induce people to reduce avatar generated lag; the Avatar Complexity Rating. I’ve written about it before and I am trying to play with the Project Quick Graphics Viewer version 3.8.4.304761, which adds avatar complexity settings and notices.

Complexity KB Value
Complexity KB Value

The notice that appears in the upper right of the screen just after login tells you your avatar complexity number. I suggested that it be colored, green good and red bad, just as the Show Avatar Render Complexity Information (ARC) display does.

Instead, they added a link in the notice to this SL Wiki page: Avatar Rendering Complexity.

They note the other factors that can cause avatars to be rendered a Jelly Babies;

  • total attachment surface area
  • total attachment byte size

You can change the values of these settings in Debug Settings. See:

  • RenderAvatarMaxNonImposters – The maximum number of avatars closest to your camera who may be fully rendered. Avatars beyond those will be rendered as ‘imposters’, which means that the rendering will be a little simpler and they will be updated less frequently. Increasing this value can cost you in performance if you’re in a crowd. This does not cause them to render as Jelly Babies.
  • RenderAvatarMaxComplexity – Any avatars over this complexity will be drawn as solid color outlines. Changing this value directly may cause problems; use the slider in the advanced graphics preferences floater.
  • RenderAutoMuteSurfaceAreaLimit –The limit for the total surface area of attachments before switching to solid color rendering. The default (10 million square meters) is intended to protect against deliberate abuse and should rarely be encountered.
  • RenderAutoMuteByteLimit – The limit for the total number of bytes of attachments before switching to solid color rendering. The default (10 million bytes) is intended to protect against deliberate abuse and should rarely be encountered.

As you may have guessed, the last two are mostly to stop some griefing issues. But, those settings can be used to improve viewer performance.

Changing RenderAvatarMaxComplexity in the Debug Settings doesn’t seem to be a problem. Whether I change it in the Preferences panel as the Lindens recommend or in Debug Settings the change is reflected in the other. But, getting to the Preferences setting is much easier. Whether changing the setting there affects other settings not affected by using the Debug Setting, I have no information. It is a possibility, but I have not seen anything that leads me to think that happens. But, this is a Project Viewer and it will change.

Link to more pages below…

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Second Life Quick Graphics Updated

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As of 9/3 we have a new version of Project Quick Graphics Viewer version 3.8.4.304761.

My first experiences using it are not good. Within 5 minutes is was getting 2 or 3 FPS and going Not Responding. Memory use wasn’t all that high, 1.3gb. But, using System Explorer (free program) and clearing memory still helps.

The main viewer, Second Life 3.8.3 (304115), ran much better. So, unless you are wanting to play with the Graphics Settings feature or Complexity Settings, you may want to wait a couple of weeks before you try it.

Second Life Bits Week 36

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Loki Eliot has an article up on why we aren’t hearing much about Experience Tools or seeing much in the way of ‘Experiences’. See: Where are the Seamless Experiences?

SL Streaming

In an earlier post I wrote of YouTube Gaming. Below is a recording of someone using it and streaming motion-capture into Second Life™. Hamlet has a mention of it too: Motion Capture Dancing Streamed Live Into SL! The video is an hour and 42 minutes… I have video starting the stream where you can see the avatar following Jessyka Richard  as she does her thing.

All the details you need to connect up a system and do this are pointed to by Hamlet in another article: How to Connect Kinect Motion Capture to Your SL Avatar. It leads you to: Kinect, Rinions, and Second Life. 

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