Tag Archives: Oculus

Second Life Bits 2014-36 #2

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CG Awesome

I suspect most people know there is a lot of CG in moves these days. This is an interesting video showing some amazing CG work.

#GamerGate

Have you heard of #GamerGate? I suppose it has been growing for days. The long and drama filled story can be found here: GamerGate: A Closer Look At The Controversy Sweeping Video Games.

#GamerGate is drama just as we see in Second Life™. Only on a larger scale. It is a story complete with sex, vigilantes, hacking, rage quits, and all the rest. Continue reading →

Second Life News 2014-34 #2

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Servers

The main channel did not change this week. We will likely see it get an update next week (35).

RC Servers

The three RC channels did get an update. This is a package that has a crash mode fix in it. Maestro thinks he can discuss this fix AFTER it rolls to the main grid.

Nal2014-34_001

My New Snake – 2014-34

Next week the RC channels, or some of them, will get a new package that has some visible changes.

SVC-2262 – Incorrect height value in postcard which sent from above 256m. A fix is in the coming package. Maestro describes the bug, “The bug was that the postcard-sending script did a modulo 256 on all three region coordinate components to clamp them. But, while that’s fine for X and Y coordinates, you can be >256m elevation :)”  Continue reading →

CtrlAltStudio Releases DK2 Second Life Support

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David Rowe, lead developer for CtrlAltStudio’s Oculus Viewer and Firestorm contributor, has released preliminary support for the Oculus Rift DK2, developer’s kit 2. This is the improved Oculus with better head tracking and higher resolution screen.

Read more here: Preliminary Rift DK2 Support: 1.2.2.41183 Alpha.

In motion tracking the big change in the Oculus which requires changes to programs supporting it, is from adding tracking of head leaning/position. Head rotation is what was previously tracked. To understand the difference think of locking your shoulders against your seat back and moving your head by only flexing your neck. That is head rotation. If you bend at the waist and lean forward, you don’t use many neck muscles but you head moves a lot. It is this latter motion that has been added to the Oculus’ abilities.

Think of leaning out a car window to look at the ground. You will use a combination of head turning and body motion to see around the car door. It is supposed to be this sort of motion the Oculus has gotten better at.

Telling Second Life Viewers how to move the camera to simulate this type of motion is being added.

David does not have all of the new stuff working in the viewer. It is, as he writes, “…very preliminary”. But, it is a start for those with DK2’s.

Second Life News 2014-33 Friday

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Servers

As previously reported the main channel got the maintenance release with a JSON rollback.

Nachwerk July 2014

Nachwerk July 2014

RC Channels

This week the RC Channels are running the same release as the main channel.

Maestro Linden tells us that next week the servers will get fix for a sim crash. After the fix is in place we MAY learn what it was. But, for now they are not saying.

Other Server

Maestro looked into the BUG-6925/BUG-6908 bug of attachments ending up on invalid attachment points after a teleport. The Lindens are having trouble reproducing the problem. Speculation is the low ping rate within the Lab eliminates the problem.

Whirly Fizzle is reporting that the Mystitool HUD sets the bug off as well as another couple of HUD’s.  Continue reading →

Bits and Pieces 2014-31

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Servers

Maestro Linden is on vacation. Caleb Linden is handling the Server Beta meeting and Oz and Simon Linen were there. No new information on what server updates may be in the works. As all regions are running the same server package, the main channel is unlikely to get any updates and there may be no Tuesday restart.

DryLand - 2014 July - BD, Before the Dry

DryLand – 2014 July – BD, Before the Dry

The RC channels may get a restart and new package, but if they do we currently have no idea what that update may be. My guess is there will be no rollout/restart of the RC channels in week 32.  Continue reading →

Oculus Rift DK2

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The DK2 (Developer’s Kit) is shipping and people are making videos of their experience with it. The increased resolution has them excited, as if it were possible to create more excitement than the DK1 did.

[youtube TdkVkKsAqOM]

The motion tracking is impressing. Being able to move forward and backward, leaning rather than moving, is apparently an impressive change adding to the sense of presence. Technolust is a virtual world/game demo that is revealing the color and presence that the OR delivers.

All is not perfect with the DK2. The motion tracking camera has limits and it is reported that when you reach the end of its field of vision the motion tracking stops, which reviewers found disconcerting.

There are still some visual artifacts and motion blurring here and there. But, the DK2 seems to be a big step forward.

Road to VR has numerous links to different ‘un-boxing’ videos and initial tests and reviews.

Second Life Bits 2014-23 #2

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Groups

Ciaran Laval has an article up that covers the history of Second Life™ groups and his suggestion that things change to break a pattern present in SL since it started. See: Second Life Group System Still Needs An Overhaul.

SL users always want more groups. We are limited to 42 now. Originally it was 10, before my time. I started with the 25 limit.

MOLiCHiNO - Fifty Linden Friday

MOLiCHiNO – Fifty Linden Friday

A major part of groups is chat. Adding more groups increases the server load exponentially. Chat lag and not being able to post to a group are common problems we all deal with now as we use groups. I have no idea how many times I have had to send an IM to someone in the group because I could not get a comment into a group chat, connection fail…

Ciaran is suggesting that we shift from the chat we have now to something web based. I suppose something more like IRC, but with more persistence. Continue reading →

Second Life and Hardware for Oculus

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The Road to VR has an article up by Ben Lang: Two Reasons You Will Want to Buy a New Gaming Rig for the Oculus Rift CV1. Oh good, we are going to need new hardware for Oculus… Well, it isn’t all that bad. But, it is interesting the direction the Oculus will probably push hardware design.

Oculus Rift

Oculus Rift

Ben is pointing out that once the Oculus is near release or at release time, hardware makers will be releasing new hardware optimized for the Virtual Reality (VR) experience. Palmer Luck has been quoted as saying Oculus is working with hardware developers ‘…on all kinds of optimizations.’ He would say what those might be.

Ben tells us how Intel is looking at VR/Oculus. Randy Stude, of Intel, said, “The VR world can expect that engagement with Intel, from the top down, will be very deep.” Considering they make the CPU’s and HD graphics chips as well as the data controls chips (North and South bridge chips) their integration and optimization could be extensive. Continue reading →