Exodus SL Viewer: Appealing Successor to Kirstens' Viewer

Exodus is a relatively new third-party viewer for Second Life, created by a team of gaming-oriented SL developers, and with the unfortunate discontinuation of Kirstens' Viewer, some well-known SL content creators are making an exodus to Exodus. (Sorry.) Here's top SL fashion blogger and photographer Strawberry Singh giving us her dulcet-voice introduction to Exodus:

Get Ms. Singh's full write-up here, and the Exodus viewer site and blog is here. Hopefully the Exodus team is able to keep production running, and doesn't run into real life financial woes that best the Kirstens' Viewer project. Also, I really really hope they make this the viewer's official theme song:

Got opinions of Exodus, or other potential successors to Kirstens' viewer? Please share in Comments!

Comments

[Vanessa]

I don't believe that Exodus was made as a successor to anything - considering it was originally a combat viewer, it certainly did not follow kirstens.
I've been telling anyone who will listen for months now, that Exodus is the best viewer around, by far. The fact that Berry is behind it now can only help persuade the non believers.

I doubt the Exodus team will ever feel the need to adopt the cringe-worthy actions of the kirstens creator. Also, you will find that Exodus actually credits contributions to their viewer by all other devs, unlike kirstens.

[jjccc]

its crap

[4realtho]

Successor? It is essentially LL's viewer with very few extras. Might as well use the official viewer. *scratches head*

[root4life]

idk guy, http://exodusviewer.com/features.html

[Vanessa]

@4realtho - you haven't really used it if you think it has few extras. The graphics are better and you don't get that awful bug when taking high res photos. And it has nifty built in help chat without using the lag deadly chat group system. Numerous other things too. Rezzes mesh very quickly. Rezzes anything very quickly. Does not crash (for me at least). Keep scratching your head. Lol.

[Nalates Urriah]

I looked at the Exodus Viewer. http://blog.nalates.net/?cat=115

AFAIK, the development is somewhat stalled while the developer solves personal hardware problems.

Niran has been modifying Kirstens viewer for some time. Now Niran has released a version 1.00 of Nirans Viewer.

It seems to have way better shadows than any other viewer, a trait of Kirsten development. I would say it is probably going to prove to be more of the successor than Exodus. I've been looking at Nirans Viewer and using for a couple of days: http://blog.nalates.net/?cat=128

The Niran UI is different but well done. There was some UI shock when I started using it. But, it has an Optimization tool for viewer settings. Plus lots of tool tips in the graphics panel. Did I mention it has some awesome shadows?

[Hitomi Tiponi]

As Nalates says Exodus is not a successor to Kirstens at all - NiranV Dean's Nirans Viewer is the best alternative at the moment - http://niranv-sl.blogspot.com/.

[Osprey]

I just noticed youtube's seasonal snow button, which adds something to the video :-D

[Vanessa]

As I said earlier - I don't believe that Exodus has ever wanted to 'succeed' any viewer, so there's no need to be snipey. It was made as a combat viewer originally - does this niran viewer have that history? Of course not. So its silly to compare. Exodus graphics far exceed anything either singu or niran have produced thus far, its as simple as that. No need to turn this article on Exodus into a pissing match with other unknown viewers. Perhaps you should ask Hamlet to write up something on your viewer too? oh, and kirstens didn't 'invent' shadows, just made it slightly easier to navigate. Exodus has much higher quality shadowing and other graphics effects than kirstens had, and more improvements are in the works. It's all on the website.

[Dominique Cormann]

Exodus was meant to replace something, but it wasn't the Kirsten viewer.

Its a combat optimized viewer for the military group ARK.

http://arkcombat.com/

As explained in their own wiki, the viewer was created to replace the previous one they made which was based on emerald and later phoenix.

http://db.arkcombat.com/index.php?title=Genesis

The few extras it has over the V3 viewer its based on are all features really meant for gun combat. Its not meant to be a general purpose viewer.

[Hitomi Tiponi]

I think you are the one turning it into a 'pissing match' Vanessa. All viewers have their positives and negatives - but as Nirans has been derived from Kirstens, it seems more sensible for it to be called it's successor, and that is what was being pointed out. Exodus may even be superior to Nirans in many areas for all I know, but it is an 'alternative' not a 'successor'.

[4realtho]

I have perused the 'features' of exodus. I am not impressed. Those features are essentially useless.

Renders faster? Hmm. The latest LL beta renders far faster than any other viewer I've tried and it renders shadows pretty well also.

Don't tell me what's better. I will decide. Thank you.

[Pussycat Catnap]

What is a combat viewer?

Special features for combat-RPs like the DCS / GM / insert-meter-here sims?

I've got 1 alt set aside who's loaded up on meters and weapons from back when she was used in 'Avatar' themed sims, and I keep meaning to go back and try SL-action-RP. Is there something special in Exodus I should consider vis-a-vis that?

[Adeon Writer]

To me Niran's Viewer is the closest thing to a Kirsten's Viewer successor, although it is not intended to be one either. It shares the similar goals of targeting Machinima makers and bleeding edge feature obsessives. Niran was also active with the Kirsten Viewer community.

Exodus is a combat viewer. I don't believe combat was a focus of Kirsten's.

[foneco zuzu]

http://acrossthegridwithlindal.blogspot.com/

[foneco zuzu]

So any mesh viewer, Any, is in fact killing SL, cause what that post reflects it the pain truth of thousands of users!
So most i know reverted back to old but still reliable behind reason, V1 code viewers.
About Niran's i can say i enjoyed it but with same problems of all mesh viewers.
So i wonder. really, how many, not only form the lab, but that post, really go in world, every single day, and spend there more then a few minutes?

[steve]

Exodus first release was beginning of last month, it is partly a combat viewer, but their recent blog post talks about new graphics features coming too.

[Pussycat Catnap]

"So any mesh viewer, Any, is in fact killing SL, cause what that post reflects it the pain truth of thousands of users!"

And yet thousands of us do just fine with mesh.

That said, have been reading that some anti-aliasing code was changed in the same code-updates as mesh - and is known to cause lag issues on some video cards. Try flipping anti-aliasing off, or if off, on.

[Inara Pey]

Exodus was originally released in September (https://modemworld.wordpress.com/2011/09/30/exodus-viewer-dedicated-combat-viewer-with-mesh/). As others have pointed out, it has nowt to do with succeeding Kirsten's, although it offers some very good graphics features. The Viewer was targetted (no pun intended) at the combat "market" in SL, and included a number of combat-related features.

October 31st marked a further update to Exodus (https://modemworld.wordpress.com/2011/10/31/exodus-updates-and-the-future/), and a further update will hopefully be out in the New Year.

Niran's Viewer offers a very good successor to Kirsten's, again as others have mentioned; I've reviewed both the Beta and the initial release on my blog.

[NiranV Dean]

@Vanessa "So its silly to compare. Exodus graphics far exceed anything either singu or niran have produced thus far, its as simple as that." in your dreams , in your finest dreams xD , my default graphics are already far beyond what you can set in Exodus or any other Viewer *rolls on ground and laughs at you* did you ever follow my blog? no , your comment says all , you´ve never seen it , if you had seen it you wouldnt have said such a shit seriously , and "unknown" is also not true , im find my Viewer everywhere on a lot of sites with reviews/previews , even videos on youtube , threads in forums etc etc

it might sound overdone when i say my Viewer has by far the best graphics from default , but if you dont believe me you can read all the sites , it might not be the fastest viewer anymore but it definetly kicks all viewers to the moon in graphics

[Eve]

Never try Exodus ^^ but i will just to have an idea ... because yes, the best now for me it's Niran's

And the comment above make me very laught lol ...

[flips&fur]

@Niran

Any viewer can do what yours can graphically. You just changed some of the defaults from the debug menu. You have also butchered the UI, and on log in it looks like your avatar is the shiny angel from the planet of OMFG Glow (actual planet btw) with additional glow.

A little naughty to boast about functionality that is already there :)

[Geenz Spad]

@NiranV Dean
Hello NiranV! This is Exodus' resident graphics programmer.
I've seen your viewer, and personally it's my opinion that all it really adds to the table in terms of rendering related features is exposing controls for already tweakable settings. Any developer can add a bunch of XUI widgets to tweak different rendering settings.

Now, I'm not going to say Exodus is by far any better than yours, as that's purely a matter of opinion, but I will say that in terms of rendering features, we do actually take a few extra steps to innovate where others don't. Steps such as adding FXAA back when other viewers simply lacked FXAA. Steps like, color correction that works in both deferred, and basic shaders. And even upcoming steps such as adding proper tone mapping, floating point render buffers, and eventually gamma correct rendering.

Now, I could go on about the significance of such features, but frankly I'd rather hear more about the unique rendering features your viewer brings to the table.

[Valaska]

Exodus is originally, and at heart meant to be a combat viewer. But Machinima, RolePlaying, Photography and such are all being taken in consideration as well. There is a great development team based around graphics improvements, not just by throwing buttons to access what is already there, but in actual performance and functionality.

Where as some viewers work to, uncover, what is already there, Exodus aims to exceed these expectations and revitalize Second Life with new ideals and performance. There's no hostility meant towards other viewers, Exodus is simply developing to try and make a better future for all of SecondLife, combat community or otherwise.

It's here for you all to enjoy alike, there's no ire, no malice and no expectations to drive other viewers into the ground. If you are taking it as such a hostile action, and are worrying about it enough to publicly attack it, then you must be feeling uneasy about your viewers ability to perform when held towards Exodus.

[Vanessa]

@NiranV - you're wrong - I have seen your blog, if that's important to you. Seeing as your creation is a fork of kirstens, with what I understand a very few changes, I doubt I will use it as I didn't like kirstens. But, each to his own, as you know. If that causes you such great mirth you roll around the floor, well good for you.
Seriously though, you need to get Hamlet to write a piece on your viewer, then you won't need to hijack this one.

[NiranV Dean]

none of you has looked right then , its not just debug settings i´ve changed that makes it different its also a lot of shaders and intern renderings that has been changed (NOT BY ME to make that clear)
like.. Tofu´s SSAO and new Shadow rendering...
btw Exodus was THE viewer that inspired me to leave Kirsten completly and start at 3.2.1 again with FUI and FXAA and all that , because FXAA was and still is so extremly fast , it was like a MUST HAVE FXAA moment , from then on i dropped Kirstens completly , i have nothing to do with him anymore , over the time he went from a good guy to an asshole to me even after i´ve done so much for him...Tutorials ...Support... lots of UI changes just to name a few
i also dont want to say that Exodus is not better than my Viewer , that would be a lie , im just saying as of now , my Viewer + the new rendering algorythms like for Shadows and SSAO are capable of doing far more than Exodus is able to do atm , even if you would use the exact same settings (if thats even possible as i have some additional Options in some areas) you wouldnt get the result i do thats what i want to say.
Exodus is way faster than my Viewer probably the fastest i´ve seen so far , but im not focussing on Performance im focussing on Graphical Quality and only on that , if any Viewer manages to archieve better graphics than i do with my Viewer , respect , then i´ve totally failed on my Quest to make people see the world of Second Life with completly different eyes and therefor my Viewer Project has failed

you also have to consider that im not able to code properly , i dont have a team to do so and my C++ knowledge is nearly 0 , so everything is more on a trial & error basis , other Viewers like Exodus and Phoenix/FS have Professional programmers , at last i would call them professional as they know a lot more in C++ than me

also i want to do a note here , every Viewer is special in its on way , its most likely depending on peoples opinion and as of peoples opinion and tests my Viewer has by far the best render quality atm for the cost of FPS , as soon as that changes i will either try to "correct" that or stop it once and for all if its not possible to get any better...

Niran

[NiranV Dean]

well correction... i´ve just taken a look at the Exodus main page ... *shakes head* i horribly failed at my task at delivering the best graphics in SL

[James OReilly]

The Phoenix Hour was broadcasted last on Nov 2, 2011 http://youtu.be/syCSOpguOBE
They address user-side render lag, and point to progress made by combat viewers!

Podcast: How 1.23 based viewers (like Phoenix) negatively impact performance and hurt SL http://metarealitypodcast.com/exploring-exodus

http://youtu.be/eLr4-ZOg57Q
http://youtu.be/MdNhHCMiBFk
http://youtu.be/JuqW7bzFF8s

Exodus uses Deferred Rendering, Gaming Industry example using Quest3D http://youtu.be/VdTmTplXHaQ

Using Exodus V3 Viewer in my Kitely Opensim "Immersive World Newbie Help Desk"
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150590950989201