Second Life: State of Video

With the release of the VLC viewer (4.1.1.320331) we will see the video market in Second Life start changing. It as of today, it hasn’t changed much. As it has in most of the rest of the RL world. So, with 4.1.1 we will have a better experience with YouTube and other services.

VLC Viewer and Streaming Media - TV's

VLC Viewer and Streaming Media – TV’s

NOTE: On starting the 4.1.1 viewer I started crashing. I changed regions and all seemed OK. Before I logged off I got a notice that a newer version was available: 4.1.2.320461. I’ve installed it and it seems to be OK.  Continue reading

Flash & Second Life @ v4.0

The UKanDo viewer version 4.0 has released. When going to download it I noticed their note that Flash won’t work with this viewer, unless you take some special steps. This is because v4.0 viewers have changed from older web tech, Webkit, to the newer Chromium Embedded Framework.

 This is a lovely angle too - The Rocks Falling Down The Mountain

Visit Winter Wonderland in Second Life

There is a lot of stuff on the grid that uses flash. So, if you need to display Flash in the viewer go to this Linden article: How to use Adobe Flash in Second Life Viewer 4.0 and later. Continue reading

Tutorial: Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF)

Now that we have a Second Life™ viewer with CEF, what can we do with it? For now I am not sure what limitations we will have from the viewer. But, we can look at CEF and see what is possible in general. Here I’ll try to give you the basic information about CEF and links to some tutorials.

Aspen Fell

Aspen Fell

CEF is an open source project built on the  Google Chromium project, which is another open source project to build a better web browser (Chromium) and the project is the parent of the Google Chrome browser. If you research these projects you will see a number of other projects tied together with these. Continue reading

Second Life Webkit Being Replaced By CEF – Update

Expect a Project Viewer version with Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF) this year and maybe this month, probably in October. Webkit is being replaced with Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF). This is a major change in viewer technology for Second Life™. It will catch the viewer up with the new tech being used in phones and across the web.

329 Feel freedom, what can be best?

329 Feel freedom, what can be best?

CEF is sort of the engine that makes video and animation possible in the web browsers. It used to be that Adobe’s Flash was the only way to add reliable video and animation to a web page. But, Adobe didn’t respond to Steve Job’s requests to support the iPhone, this was pre-iPhone release days. So, Apple moved ahead without Adobe. Now CEF type tech is replacing Flash in an HTML5 world.  Continue reading

Second Life CEF Update Week 35

We don’t hear much about this Second Life™  change. But, Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF) is coming and will affect our use of Second Life in many ways.

TV

TV

The viewer currently uses Webkit, an old unsupported tech, to display a number of viewer panels (like Search). It is also the tech used in Media On A Prim (MOAP). It is a part of SL Televisions.  Continue reading

Second Life: Chrome Embedded Framework Update

Linden Lab is apparently making lots of headway on putting CEF support in the Second Life™ Viewer. They will have a project viewer out ‘real soon’. The Lab will need someone in the Linux community to step up and move that new code into the Linux viewer. If not, the Linden Linux viewer will go way out of date.

Chrome Girl

Chrome Girl by Stuart Williams, on Flickr

I think this will be an awesome change in the viewer. WebKit is used now and it is a bit of an orphan.

This will allow developers to use more HTML5 to develop panels in the viewer. It will also affect many parts of the viewer. There are also possibilities for what can be done server side. Continue reading

Second Life MOAP Tutorial

Update 2015/10: Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF) is replacing Webkit, the engine MOAP uses. Media should now be HTML5 compatible. Avoid Flash & QuickTime. Click the CEF Tag below this article for more information.

I’m just learning, so this is not the most complete tutorial on Media On A Prim (MOAP). This is what I have learned in my first few steps. Hopefully it will save you a few gotcha’s. Also, this is not a newbie’s tutorial. I’m assuming you know basic building. But, even if you are new, you should be able to stumble through this tutorial without much trouble. Continue reading