New World Notes

Why Apple Owns the AR Industry Even Without Announcing AR Glasses (Comment of the Week)

"Joey1058" has an excellent rant responding to my speculation on just when (probably not any time soon) Apple will announce the launch of its much-awaited augmented reality glasses. To which he replies:  

HMDs do exist in the wild. A company called Vuzix has been tackling hardware issues for decades. Their flagship product is called the Vuzix Blade. [Pictured here] In my humble opinion, their glasses are every bit as good as Magic Leap, Hololens, or the current darling that is sparkling everyone's eyes, Nreal. The hardware isn't an issue. My issue is Apple.

For some ungodly reason, the industry has taken a "wait-and-see" approach in development that centers around Apple. We all know that Apple has been working on developing AR for some number of years. At first, buying up companies and patents. Then releasing ARKit. And now the buzz is all about its U1 chip and Ultra Wideband tech. But somehow, they've been dragging their butts in releasing an HMD. So in the meantime, smaller companies are developing on what already exists.

That's not to ignore the big tech company other than Google (LOL Glass) which jumped into AR early:

How Much of Second Life's Economy Is an Oligopoly?

"It's interesting to see you use the term 'oligopoly'," writes "Bart", responding to last week's post debating how far (if at all) Second Life has fallen away from its original "Your World, Your Imagination" vision. "People have been saying this for years in SL and it's nice to hear you coming around to understanding its hindrance to diversity and uniqueness."

For the record, I referred to "the oligopoly of mesh avatar makers", as it's fair to assert that that particular market is dominated by a handful of brands. But that's just one of Second Life's largest industries (so to speak), and I don't know if others are also under oligopolic control. Bart, however, believes that's the case:

Top 7 Posts Last Week: AR for Apple, VR Programming for Rec Room, Optimization for Second Life, Badonkadonk for Sansar

• Nylon Pinkney Is Online: The Sexy Second Life Of Frankenstein's Secret Lab
• SL Tutorial: Penny Patton's Quick Tips For Optimizing Second Life Builds To Have High Frame Rate AND Still Look Great
• Rec Room Has An In-World, Spatial, Embodied, Full VR Programming Language Called Circuits
• Apple Apparently Testing AR Glasses, But Don't Expect Them Anytime Soon
• Syrmor, VRChat's Beloved Embedded Reporter, Interviewed On HBO's Vice
• Sansar's Stick Thin Default Avatar Provokes User To Immediately Create Kardashian-Esque "Badonkadonk" Prosthetics
• Here's What An Optimized Second Life Scene Looks Like, Even On An Old PC

Nylon Pinkney Is Online: The Sexy Second Life of Frankenstein's Secret Lab

What Great Second Life Artists on Flickr Should Cajsa Consider Choosing?

I love Cajsa's thrice-weekly column devoted to great Second Life-based artists on Flickr and hope you do too. It's amazing to see how massive and deep that community has become, and Cajsa tells me she'll accidentally discover new (to her) artists on a fairly regular basis.

Speaking of which, are there any she hasn't covered, but should? (Here's her complete collection thus far.) Please post their Flick account links in Comments and yes, that can include your own, too. 

Pictured above, some of my personal recent favorites (from left to right):

Join New World Notes' Discord! (Or Let Me Know If You Can't)

Click here to join with an invite link that's supposed to be permanent and for everyone. Several readers have reported being kicked out of our Discord -- which is either a service bug, or due to an old invite code with the wrong settings. If you do experience that problem, please let me know in Comments, so I can try and locate the bad link.

Speaking of Discord, there's an outstanding mesh complexity question from "Ianua" in the sl-news-and-coolness channel that needs some expert attention:

SL Tutorial: Penny Patton's Quick Tips for Optimizing Second Life Builds to Have High Frame Rate AND Still Look Great

Ever since I posted about "Nar Shaddaa", this beautiful Star Wars-inspired bar created by Penny Patton, two questions from readers kept coming up:

• Does this scene really have such a great frame as claimed -- even for older computers?
• How can I optimize my own SL scenes as well as Penny Patton?

Answer to the first question: Yes, if you follow the usage guidelines. But don't take my word for it, check out this in-person tour by Amanda Magick, using an old Mac.

For the second question, here's Penny Patton with some starting tips:

"Unfortunately," she begins, "there's no simple way to break it down. Linden Lab makes it extremely difficult to build optimized environments. There's no real tools for it. You just need to know what to look for and what to avoid."

Here's how:

Rec Room Has an In-World, Spatial, Embodied, Full VR Programming Language Called Circuits

"If you care about VR and visual programming," tweets artist Evelyn Eastmond, "did you know that Rec Room (of all things!?) has this totally wacky in-game, spatial, embodied, dataflow programming language?"

An in-world, spatial, embodied, dataflow programming language has been a kind of Holy Grail in the world of VR for decades, so I'm grateful she's pointing out Rec Room's version of that, as rudimentary as it may be. Documentation available here:

Circuits are editable networks of Chips, Circuit Boards, Gizmos, other gadgets, and dynamic props that can be used in Custom Rooms to execute more or less complex programs. These programs can control animated and interactive elements of a room, for example, animated or interactive spot lights, sound effects, holotar projections, or complete games.

Behold a demo video by Ms. Eastmond below:

Cajsa’s Flickr Pick: Mind Carlberg Creates Fantastic Photos & Comics in SL

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

Mind Carlberg’s photostream is not for pixel prudes. It is possible he is simply allergic to clothing, but that does not keep him from presenting fantastic photos with a subversive wit that delights me. This photo is, of course, perfectly G-rated even though any honest assessment of human sexuality would acknowledge that the bits and bobs that shock are nothing without our minds, not to mention the senses of smell, taste, touch, hearing, and sight. Our faces and our brains, that’s where sex begins. 

I love this photo because of the beautiful contrasts of dark and light. It would be a stunning photo of any face, but this face! I love this face! The unapologetic nose, the ears that take no prisoners, and the rough-hewn angularity challenge the Ken-doll blandness of the ordinary avatar. Bravo!

Apple Apparently Testing AR Glasses, But Don't Expect Them Anytime Soon

Despite some insider rumors that Apple would announce its highly anticipated augmented reality glasses this week, nothing is so far forthcoming. Yesterday,  however, a developer more or less confirmed that those AR glasses do indeed exist, and that they're being tested -- because there's mention of a device that can be "worn" in the notes of its next operating system:

It comes to us in the form of this screenshot from iOS developer and reliable leak-finder Steve Troughton-Smith...

The screenshot pretty much says it all: Apple is testing an internal device known as “Garta,” and if you want to test your stereo AR apps with that device, you’ll want to set them to “worn” mode so that it can apply different “distortions” than if the app is being “held” instead.

Which implies that Garta is a stereoscopic AR headset — because that’s the kind of device you would wear, and which would adjust the way an augmented reality app would look to match lenses in front of your eyes. (AR and VR headsets typically adjust their computer graphics “projections” to properly stretch across your field of view while using as little processing power as possible.)

Click to embiggenate Troughton-Smith's screengrab of the OS notes. I'm far from an Apple Kremlinologist, but barring a miracle (more on that later) I wouldn't expect any mass market AR glasses announcement from Apple in the near future -- certainly not next year. A few reasons why:

Cajsa's Flickr Pick: Kat.E's Second Life Images Look Beautifully Real Life-Like

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

Kat.E’s “Listen” is extraordinary. It is such a lifelike photo with that water texture. The sea and sky horizon is subtle and the pier functions as its own horizon–and is appropriately placed according to the rule of thirds. There is a bit of whimsy in the bollards on the pier, it’s not often you see statuary put to this use.

Syrmor, VRChat's Beloved Embedded Reporter, Interviewed on HBO's Vice

It's a long time coming but it's very well-deserved: Vice on HBO just featured Syrmor, VRChat's best embedded virtual reporter. (Ignore the title dubbing him the "Dr. Phil of VR", which is notably dumb; maybe the caption writer hasn't seen any interviews by Errol Morris, which Syrmor is way more like.) If I'm not mistaken, this is the first time a major media outlet has profiled a celebrity whose fame is based on what they created within this generation's iteration of VR.

The segment itself gives us a good glimpse of Syrmor's real life in Toronto, and also, his evolution from capturing the most trollish part or VRChat to doing the in-depth, poignant interviews that made him beloved. As he told me last February:

Sansar's Stick Thin Default Avatar Provokes User to Immediately Create Kardashian-esque "Badonkadonk" Prosthetics

Before and after, via Ryan Schultz

Quick update to last week's post about Sansar's new, rail thin default avatar. Very soon after its launch, enterprising Sansar creator DaisyWinthorpe created and started selling, well, body prosthetics to give that avatar decidedly Kardashian-esque curves. Now witness the firepower of her armed and fully operational Super Badonkadonk 3000. (Animated demo viewable here.)

As Jeff Goldblum might say, badonkadonk will find a way. Or if you prefer, as Sansar blogger Ryan Schultz reports, these are market forces at work:

Cajsa's SL Flickr Pick: The Supersaturated Color Shots of Ayako Silverfall

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

I love Ayako Silverfall’s use of color, particularly in “A Warrior of Love”, a vibrant exploration of the complementary red and green colors, opposites on the color wheel. I love the background, the diagonals coming together behind her avatar, the gradients of bold, supersaturated color. The repetition of green and red throughout is magnificent. 

Linden Lab & Its Users Have Strayed Far From "Your World, Your Imagination" (Comment of the Week)

Passionate reader conversation in this post about the drastic changes to Sansar's default avatar -- which to John C, removes some fundamental creativity options for most people who might use Sansar:

The Avatar is all the average person has to express themselves in a virtual world. Like in reality, how you appear to others matters, if it is the way in which you express yourself.

When I meet another Avatar I see two things, either an Avatar that creates beyond the "look" and those who create with their look. There are of course those who do both, but they are rare. So the creator of a virtual world must give the “people”, as defined by the average user, the chance to be something very special in this world. This is all they have, and virtual worlds are supposed to be about, another life, something “more” than what they have in the real world.  

 Clara Seller expands on that point:

JohnC is talking to the heart of what is failing both Sansar and SL. The importance of an avatar can't be stressed enough. Linden Lab has strayed so far from their foundation of "Your World, Your Imagination" that they don't know who they are anymore. Unfortunately, I think they've also taken a good portion of their remaining customers with them.

But Clara says the blame isn't solely with the company:

Here's What an Optimized Second Life Scene Looks Like, Even on An Old PC

Remember that Star Wars-inspired roleplay area I mentioned last week, the one by Second Life graphics optimization expert Penny Patton? NiranV visited the place over the weekend and took these raw screencaptures with his Black Dragon viewer running on his old PC, and goddamn they look great. (Click to emiggenate.)

"THIS is exactly what i'm talking about," Niran enthused in Comments. (Because Niran is also a passionate critic of bad optimization plaguing SL.) "I went there to see it myself and I was getting 40 FPS minimum everywhere I went, [with] deferred, shadows, screen space ambient occlusion, volumetric lighting, screen space reflections, everything on and with an almost 9 year old AMD FX. That is pretty respectable. The place also looks very nice and even with quite a bunch of animesh around, I've never seen my framerate hitch at all."

To translate that into English, he turned up all the graphics setting and effects to maximum and it still looked and performed great. Another pic and more comments after the break:

Top 6 Posts from Last Week: Optimizing User-Created Virtual Worlds, Decentraland Goes Corporate, the Only Bakes-on-Make Tutorial You'll Need

• Visit A Place In Second Life That Looks Great & Has Little Lag, Even On An Old Computer -- If You Follow Some Important Steps First
• Five Easy Steps For Dealing With Baked On Mesh: Nylon Pinkney's SL Tutorial
• Decentraland Founder On Moving Open Standards-Billed Virtual World To Unity 3D
• Ryan Schultz: New Sansar Default Avatar More Barbie-Like, Less VR Friendly
• Watch: Building AAA-Quality Experiences In Dreams, With A "Thermometer" To Encourage Optimization
• How To Make Second Life Look Like This -- Even On A 10 Year Old Computer

Visit a Place in Second Life That Looks Great & Has Little Lag, Even On An Old Computer -- If You Follow Some Important Steps First

Last Tuesday we talked about how Second Life, when properly optimized, can look and perform as well as a AAA game, even on older computers. This weekend, you can log in and experience this first-hand, in a small place called Nar Shaddaa - Red Light District.

It was created by Penny Patton, the graphics expert and SL's most passionate optimization advocate,

"The theme is a Star Wars planet of the same name," she explains. "Kind of a Star Wars version of Las Vegas meets Amsterdam. Part of a network of Star Wars RP sims in SL."

Penny just visited it with her near-10 year old desktop computer to take these pics, and as she designed it to be, performance was still excellent: "I was getting a solid 35-45 frames per second. When people talk about FPS in SL they tend to ignore things like stuttering, where SL freezes up for a second or two as you turn the camera. I got none of that even on my aging desktop."

Before visiting, however, you'll need to tweak some settings to get the full effect:

Watch: How to Use Sinespace's Snapshot Tool -- Then Create & Sell New Snapshot Filters

In this latest masterclass tutorial for Sinespace (a proud media partner to this blog!), co-founder and lead developer Adam Frisby shows you the basics of the virtual world's snapshot tool, which comes with options to add new poses, frames, camera angles and filters. A longtime virtual world developer and user (he's known as Adam Zaius in Second Life, Adam and the team designed the snapshot app to have a functionality that other worlds don't have. "It's inheriting a lot of ideas from mobile apps; Instagram and such," as he puts it to me. "The idea being it's quick and simple to dress up a photo nicely."

For creators, there's also an option to go deeper and completely customize those features for fun and profit:  

Five Easy Steps for Dealing With Baked on Mesh: Nylon Pinkney's SL Tutorial

Decentraland Founder on Moving Open Standards-Billed Virtual World to Unity 3D

Decentraland, the virtual world which raised USD $25 million in Ethereum sales of virtual land to fund its development and is showing some promising closed beta growth. was originally billed as aiming to run completely on open standards technology and protocols. Over the Summer, however, the startup quietly moved to Unity 3D, the world's largest 3D development platform which is decidedly closed and proprietary. Which to me seems like a major change in development philosophy.

 

Decentraland founder Ari Meilich argues otherwise:

 

"More important than the underlying stack is what it enables," as he puts it to me. "The open source JS engines we previously tried were not performant enough, so having a web-based client was at risk. The web is crucial for Decentraland because it overrides any platform limitations, like those you encounter in the app stores against crypto.

 

"So by adopting Unity (which allowed for a great performance boost by compiling to WASM we are able to give users a web-based client, with the web being the last bastion of freedom on the Internet."

 

It's an irony of the times: The best way to get on the most open Internet platform is through a closed platform.

 

Ari tells me this doesn't move Decentraland away from the open standards as a principle:

Ryan Schultz: New Sansar Default Avatar More Barbie-Like, Less VR Friendly

Left, right: Sansar default avatar 1.0, Sansar default avatar 2.0 photos by Ryan Schultz

In case you missed it, Linden Lab updated its default avatar recently, and the change was so drastic, Canadian virtual world blogger Ryan Schultz just went into a very non-Canadian rant:

What the hell was wrong with the much more realistic proportions of the default female Avatar 1.0? Why did Linden Lab fuck this up so badly?? What were they thinking?!?? Let’s do a direct comparison, wearing the same outfit, between Avatar 1.0 and Avatar 2.0. [See above] Avatar 2.0: Way too tall, hips too narrow, too thin, hands too small, looks like a Barbie doll.

If you can’t see that there is something seriously wrong with the default female Avatar 2.0 just by comparing them side by side, then I give up. There were clearly drastic design decisions made that were NOT communicated by Linden Lab effectively to the users. This is NOT what we asked for. This is NOT what we wanted.

The Barbie archetype switch is surprising to me, but perhaps most surprising is this: If Ryan is right, where Linden Lab once promoted Sansar as a VR-facing product, this avatar doesn't play well with VR at all:

Cajsa's SL Flickr Pick: Laina's Lively and Sexy Mix of Virtual World Pop Art

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

Laina’s “Vee-See-Are” is such a witty photo. She uses the reel hub as eyes and then makes a clever play on words in the title. It tickles my funny bone and drew me to check out her stream. I am glad I did, encountering a mix of selfies, nudes, and fun pop art photos.

Watch: Building AAA-Quality Experiences in Dreams, With a "Thermometer" to Encourage Optimization

Since writing about Dreams, the upcoming sandbox platform game for PS4, this scene by freelance artist Martin Nebelong is among the most amazing early access content I've seen so far. Also notable: he built all this with PlayStation Move motion montrollers. (Watch him building in the video below.)

"Another example of how spoiled we are as artists today, with such great tools available to us," he just enthused on Twitter. "Making art in VR, making art on a console and being able to tell stories in new ways!"

Most of this scene is made by him, but, he tells me, he can also draw from the user community to incorporate other assets:

Cajsa's Flickr Pick: Ellapinellapin Gloriously Photographs Second Life Through the Black Dragon Viewer

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

This photo is not edited or processed outside of Second Life. This is essentially a WYSIWYG photo taken by ellapinellapin with the Black Dragon viewer, the one many SL photographers swear by (though since I have a Mac, I have never used it). But forget the viewer, it’s the photographer’s eye that matters and Ellapinellapin has a great eye. This beautiful photo focuses our attention on the beautiful geometry of the Ferris wheel.