This eye-catching, remarkably vivid demo video shows off a Linux SL viewer built by renowned coder Opensource Obscure, using the "render-pipeline" from Linden Lab's code branch. It was so impressive, I got in touch with Obscure, for more details.
How did OO do it? Full geek exegesis after the break:
"You may already know that Linden Lab code development spans across many different public 'code branches', where they develop different features. Shadows and "projected textures" are currently being developed in the 'render-pipeline' branch."
"Everybody can get that code and build a viewer that uses it by following the instructions on the SL official wiki, and that's what I made.
"Then I assigned a 'projected texture' to three prims: a blurred white circle to the two prims that cast yellow and green lights, and an illustration to the rotating prim in the middle of the platform.
"The SL viewer user interface will include some more parameters in order to support and manage this feature - you can see the expanded "Features/Light" panel at 0:52 in this other video.
"Usually in Second Life light-emitting objects don't cast shadows. Shadows are only casted by sun and moon light. As far as I know, 'projected textures' was not present in KirstenLee's viewer, so you could only see shadows using sun/moon lighting. Also the 'http-texture' viewer you can download from the official Wiki (Open Source Portal page) has shadows, but right now it lacks the 'projected textures feature as well. Right now, the 'render-pipeline' code is needed.
"I'm not 100% sure about the name of 'projected texture' feature, but that's what a Linden at his Office Hour meeting told me they're internally calling it. I made almost all my recent YouTube videos using shadows-enabled viewers, so give them a look if you're interested, that won't take much time as they're quite short."
Many of Obscure's videos, by the way, are shot in the famed Wastelands (official site here). "I joined the Wastelands community six months ago," Obscure adds in a final shout-out, "and it's one of the best things happened to me in Second Life!"
Wow this looks incredible - this is the first time I have heard of projected textures.
Posted by: Lainy | Wednesday, April 15, 2009 at 06:48 AM
Good! Now lets get that feature out into the mainstream and begin focusing on implementing all of the other graphical advancements that have already been pioneered in realtime graphics.
Posted by: Echelon | Wednesday, April 15, 2009 at 06:49 AM
Yay! Heading to the Wiki now...
Posted by: Melissa Yeuxdoux | Thursday, April 16, 2009 at 03:52 AM
oooo..... I want one for my Mac.. please, someone...
Posted by: soror nishi | Thursday, April 16, 2009 at 05:22 AM
I would love for this to become an optional viewer I think that it could bring a lot more people. I know that I can't support this. I don't have atmospheric shaders and would love to have them enabled on my computer. If anyone knows how to get them enabled (it is greyed out on the preferences screen) I would love you forever. lol
Posted by: Balthasar Bookmite | Thursday, April 16, 2009 at 12:15 PM