Second Life: What Improved Camera Controls?

The Linens have released Second Life Release 6.4.2.541639 – Camera Presets. See the Release Notes for all the details.

It took me a second to figure out which camera they were talking about. Well, there is only one camera in the viewer. There are a number of ways to look at it. So…

Graphics Settings – these controls in Preferences->Graphics do control the camera. I suspect most of us think of these settings as controlling the render engine, which they do. But the render engine is the camera. So, most of the labels tend toward describing what we are doing with it.

This isn’t what changed.

Snapshot Panel – I tend to think of this as more the camera than Graphics Settings. This, also, is not what changed.

SL Viewer’s Improved Camera Controls

Camera Controls – This is the thing they changed. I almost never use it. I consider it the newbie thing. I use and Alt-LM-click-drag and Ctrl-ALT-LM-click-drag to control my “camera”. My last guess as to what changed was this.

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Second Life News 2018 w05

Servers

The main channel is now running version #18.01.17.511913. The version ran on all three RC channels last week. It is reported in the wiki as having Internal Changes. Mazidox Linden described it at the Server Beta UG as, “This week we promoted a couple of things to RC on Agni including DRTSIM-367 (internal fixes) and a version of the service that handles avatar bakes, built with the new version of our OS.”

Shhhhh

Shhhhh

The bake service is not actually a simulator change. It is a change in a backend service. The server and service have to work together. So, there is probably some simulator change. But, maybe just in which API it uses to bake the avatar.

The Linux Operating System (OS) the Lab uses in its server gets updated every so often. They have been (are?) in the process of another OS update. Continue reading

Second Life: Do you see SL in comfort?

Updated: Nov 8, 2016

Kate Amdahl has posted an article titled: A Better Way to See in Second Life. It is inspired by Penny Patton’s articles on Scale and camera positions: The Improved SL Camera.

Default Camera Position Controls

Default Camera Position Controls

These tips came out in 2011. They inspired me to write my version: Second Life Camera Position Tips. I never run a viewer using the default camera position these days. I change them first thing.  Continue reading

Second Life Camera Position Tips

Some time ago I found a camera control Debug Setting I now change in all my viewers. I’ve mentioned it in several of my viewer reviews. Recently I read an article by Penny Patton and learned some more about changing the camera position and view. That inspired me to take another look at camera settings in the Series 2 viewers. Here is what I’ve learned and what may make your SL experience better.

Shopping with a New Perspective

Above is an image that shows my default view when shopping. You might notice I’m not staring at the floor. I did not have to cam around to get the view. I can press ESC a couple of times and come back to this camera position at any time.

This shopping area is in a region named Diesel and an area named The Island of Milk & Cream. It is an Adult area. Knowing that the idea of Milk & Cream takes on new meaning. The creativity and skill of the builder, Penny Patton, is obvious. So, is the humor. Notice the ad for It Figures, shapes for the top heavy.

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