New World Notes

Can a Multiple Texture Upload Feature Improve Second Life Performance?

Here's a new feature request on the Second Life JIRA worth following, submitted by Firestorm developer Beq Janus, who explains her reasoning for it in a New World Notes comment:

As was raised in the past in this blog, one of the problems we face in Second Life is inefficient content design, and a move that encourages the creation of high resolution (1024) textures as part of a default workflow is going to lead to a worsening of this situation. To this end I have proposed an amendment to the viewer (and server) that would allow for the simplified creation of multiple resolutions in a single transaction. Ultimately I would like to see this generate a range of resolutions from a single (high resolution) source image, for a single upload fee. I think the feature has value without the single fee change, but the take up would be far lower. The hope is that with such a feature, artists and creators can work with high-resolution images and the viewer will produce multiple resolution uploads allowing the creators to test the appearance and make better decisions about when a 1024x1024 image is really needed.

The UI mock-up pictured here is part of Beq's proposal in the JIRA, a way to subtly encourage mesh creators to avoid uploading unnecessarily resource-heavy, poorly optimized textures which are now choking SL performance:

Want to See How Resource Heavy SL Mesh Bodies Really Are? Use Black Dragon's Advanced Complexity Tool

Above -- human avatar with Maitreya body, polycount total circled

My report earlier this month that some of the top-selling mesh bodies in Second Life -- such as Maitreya, Belleza and SLINK -- are extremely resource heavy, and degrading SL performance for everyone around them, has caused a lot of conversation. Many readers claim the polycounts being reported can't possibly be that much. So here's an easy way to check for yourself:

Download the acclaimed, graphics-optimized Black Dragon SL viewer, then select Dragon > My Useful Features > Performance Tools > Advanced Complexity Window. As you can see above, the Maitreya body here uses well over 100,000 polygons.

How much is that? By contrast, a character in Red Dead Redemption 2, the latest AAA hit, has polycounts estimated in the 40,000-60,000 polygon range. (Here's a handy site showing character polycounts for other top AAA games with high-end graphics.) 

You want to see something insane? Here's a Belleza body with over 500,000 polygons:

Well-Optimized Alternatives to Resource-Heavy Mesh Bodies for SL

Last week's post on the leading mesh bodies for Second Life causing major performance issues has provoked a pretty heated conversation in comments, with some blaming users (get a better computer!), others blaming Linden Lab (if high poly mesh is a problem, the Lindens shouldn't have allowed it!), to blaming big brands like Maitreya, Belleza and SLINK* (they have a monopoly on the market!),. Others helpfully pointed out some mesh body alternatives that are much better optimized than the market leaders. For instance, writes Fred Beckhusen:

We now have the free Bento Ruth [pictured above] and Roth avatars. They have far fewer polys, and are very good looking, with body, nail and skin HUDSs. Both are free and Open Source with extremely permissive AGPL licensing. Avatars use only two levels of details. For Ruth, these are:
Level of Detail Settings (LOD)
High - Triangles: 11444 Vertices: 8442
Medium - Triangles: 5563 Vertices: 4960

For more details, see this Github page.

SL Marketpage listings here.

Reader Sarali has a whole hosts of suggestions:

What to Expect from a Well-Made Mesh Body for SL: Learn from Furries!

Yesterday's post about mesh bodies causing major performance problems in Second Life has unsurprisingly provoked a pretty heated debate in the comments. One question that frequently comes up in this conservation is, "How are average SL consumers supposed to tell a mesh body is well-made?"

One possible answer: Learn from the furries of Second Life. Graphics expert NiranV, who pointed out how resource heavy the top human mesh bodies of Second Life are, has a post on his own blog looking at a humanoid snake avatar that's extremely detailed, somewhat NSFW in that adorably bizarre way only furries can capture, and incredibly well-optimized:

Its full triangle count is mere 27676 triangles. Next-gen games use 20.000 - 40.000 average, this avatar is on the bottom line of the next gen default which speaks for its well thought out mesh and quality as well as its small performance impact compared to other avatars. As comparison, the Maitreya body without hands, feet and head has 125,000 triangles. Belleza has even more.  

"I don't understand why so many furry content creators had this figured out immediately when meshes came around," Niran tells me. "[F]urry avatars turned into much more optimized avatars while humans turned from simple avatars into super massive clusterfucks of polygons." One reason:

Mesh Generator: Advantages & Caveats for the SL Prim-to-Mesh Converter

Good conversation on the pros and cons of The Mesh Generator from Naonao Watanabe, the tool for converting prim-based builds into mesh in Second Life, from two longtime builders. First some advantages (and tips) from Han Held:

I've been using the Mesh Generator tool for roughly three or four years now. It's been a huge lifesaver for me, and there have been a number of times when I've managed to get significant LI savings by using it... Even though I am playing with Blender and related tools (like Avastar) the scales haven't quite fallen from my eyes yet. Mesh is still a confusing jumble for me.

One thing I'm doing with generated meshes which seems to help some is to import them into Blender and then clean them up there. Using the "mesh" > "clean up" submenu in Edit Mode and then hitting the object with "degenerate dissolve" and "decimate geometry" and re-exporting it.

I only usually end up doing that for OpenSim, which has become more finicky about meshes since the release of 0.9. But occasionally when the LI is through the roof in SL that procedure has helped to bring it down to earth.

That said, there are still a number of times (like 1/4th of the time) where I find out that the LI of the Mesh Generator-created mesh object isn't that much less than just simply prims ...in that case, I just stick to prims.

Some caveats from Chic Aeon, referring to the tutorial video featured in the original NWN post:

High Fidelity Adds New Mesh Compression System to Speed Load Times -- Should Second Life Adopt It Too?

Interesting new update to High Fidelity for speeding up mesh load times:

As part of this [new] release, each High Fidelity server now provides two forms of compression, an open source solution for converting and compressing asset textures to the KTX format, and an implementation of Google’s open source Draco format for mesh compression.

To see what that means in real (virtual) terms, watch the impressive video demo above. Read more about it here.

Of course an obvious question many NWN readers are asking is, "Can Second Life get this too?" I asked Philip Rosedale just that:

SL Mesh Avatar Brands Maitreya & CATWA Dominate, Survey Suggests

Really interesting survey results from the Mesh Body Addicts blog, which as the name suggests, is for fans of mesh-based avatars in Second Life. Asked to name their favorite brands, 1800 respondents (80% female) replied -- a huge sample. Overwhelmingly, two brands dominate:  Maitreya for mesh bodies, Catwa for mesh heads. And I do mean dominate:

What female mesh bodies are most popular?

• Maitreya Lara (68%)
• Belleza Freya (8%)
• Slink Hourglass (8%)
• eBody (7%)
• Slink Physique & Belleza Isis (tied) (4%)

What female mesh heads are most popular?

• Catwa (bento) (45%)
• Lelutka (bento) (16%)
• Catwa (non-bento) (16%)

Read all the results here. Based on survey results, we're talking about a near oligopoly on what's probably Second Life's most popular and lucrative virtual goods market outside of real estate. (Not necessarily a bad thing.) Notably, the only sub-category where no one brand dominates is male mesh avatars, but that could be because the market leaders aren't competing for that market.

SL Tutorial: Painting Textures on Mesh Avatar Bodies

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Says Beev Fallen:

no-mod items do not stop the thief. no-mod items stop creative process.

now let me show you how you can enhance a mesh body with few easy-to-paint textures. the body is by Orange Nova Avatars, it's totally mod and i totally love it.

Another tutorial from Mr. Fallen here, and a strange lovely pic here.

Mesh in Second Life Hasn't Hurt SL's Creative Community - But Creative Elitism Has (Comment of the Day)

SL mesh and animation creator Kate Alderman (who makes cool animations like the one pictured here) makes some interesting points on the ongoing debate, has mesh detracted from Second Life as a creative platform? No, she argues, because creativity takes many forms - not just the prim-based building that Second Life was first famous for:

I think this represents a very narrow view of creation and creativity. Does one really have to rez a native prim to be creative? Torture the thing, texture the thing, link the thing, to be creative?

No.

There are hundreds, nay thousands, of very creative groups in SL. Roleplay and community building are creative in and of themselves. It takes vision and drive to bring people together to work toward a common goal, or even in a common theme.

Decorating, landscaping, terraforming: designing a comfortable vista, or space in which to relax - or get manic - is creation.

"Artiste" types may prefer to think of these things as design, and not art in its truest form, and they are entitled to their opinions. But I see it as art. I can make kick-ass textures, which some folks view as art (I don't, it's more of a science, just like building with native prims in-world). Design, art, whatever, is creative.

There are dozens if not hundreds or thousands of writers and poets who get together in SL and share ideas and use SL as part of their creative process. There's so much inspiration. There are amazing and thought-provoking builds, of course. And those appeal to folks who consider themselves Literary. However, great story-telling requires great characterization, and there are a lot of characters in SL. But better still, there is a lot of dialogue in voice, where a writer can learn how people from other regions and countries speak, and text, where it is often easier to learn how others think. And of course, a lot of the writers groups in SL engage regularly in round-robin story telling. They could do that anywhere, but the ones I know choose SL because they feel more of a connection.

Speaking of which, she points out that most (or at least many) SL creators tend to be solitary people, and on a related point, argues that creative elitism is hurting Second Life community growth as a whole:

Second Life Fashion Bloggers Are Scrambling to Show off LeLutka's Upcoming Release (and I Can See Why)

Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style

Over the past few days Second Life fashion bloggers have been scrambling to show off the new line of mesh heads that LeLutka will be releasing on April first. Aria, Ever and Leda (as the three available faces are called) have a high fashion look with fairly compressed features and expressions ranging from soft to stern. Apparently these mesh heads are all designed to work only in tandem with mesh bodies, which means that for a lot of us they'll be off the table for now. For others they're all the more appealing, seeming to guarantee an even more seamlessly augmented avatar.

So far no blogger has captured the expressions and elegance of each of these upcoming faces quite as well as Nana Minuet, who put together a post highlighting the upcoming release yesterday. Her shot of Aria, shown above, is easily my favorite of the lot. It's so bright and clean that you could almost expect to find it in a magazine with a perfume sample or some ad copy streaming down the side, rambling about jojoba or CC creams. And that's not a slight against her work. Her pics are vivid and polished, and easily picked out from a crowd.

You can visit Nana's blog to check out the rest in the set, though she doesn't have much to say about any of the heads in question. For that Strawberry Singh's blog post about Aria, Ever and Leda should be your next stop. As for reviews, well, so far most of the bloggers are sticking to the technical details. Expect stronger opinions to emerge after release.