
PBR before/after comparison from the official Firestorm blog
The addition of PBR to Second Life greatly enhances the virtual world's graphics. According to our recent survey, however, the plurality of Second Life users are waiting to use physical based rendering when it's added to Firestorm, the highly popular third part SL viewer (or TPV).
One small problem with that, says Firestorm developer Beq, writing in Comments -- PBR and Firestorm aren't yet playing well together:
PBR breaks a number of features our users love, and we need to fix those or find alternatives where necessary. We also need to be sure that it fits our user base, the full breadth of which runs the gamut of hardware, from high-end gaming machines to very low-end bargain laptops. In fact, our lead developer, Ansariel, has spent months trying to pin down a performance issue that many would not have noticed. It affected only the "lower-end" machines, those who, one could argue, could least afford that performance loss.
When LL released their PBR viewer, we were still gathering data points from our testers; the good news is that Ansa has not only identified and fixed the issue, and it can be tested by anyone in our preview group, but it will soon be part of the next Linden Lab Maintenance release, benefitting the wider community. We are not there yet, but we are getting there.
So PBR integration with Firestorm will have to wait awhile before it exists for the vast majority of Second Life users who prefer TPVs. Then again, there's also been problems with PBR in the official SL viewer, which is to be expected. As Beq writes:
Linden Lab released what they themselves have said was not entirely as ready as they'd have liked in an ideal world, but in doing so, they have opened up the space, and raised the profile of the project. It was the right thing to do; they have the product live, and the feedback is coming in where perhaps it had plateaued in the enclosed pre-release audience.
In any case, as I noted last week, it remains mind-boggling that a major graphics improvement to Second Life, a highly profitable virtual world, is effectively waiting on the efforts of Firestorm, which is serviced by a voluntary development team.
Beq writes that the Firestorm is quite cognizant of that paradox -- and that it still falls to Linden Lab to address these underlying issues:
Firestorm Update: Linden Lab Still Tuning PBR Lighting Issues Upstream
Got another quick update from Firestorm project leader Beq, on reports that the Alpha version of the viewer integrating PBR is displaying objects too brightly. Beq says the problem is being addressed by the Lindens:
"Visuals are still being tuned upstream (Linden Lab); ultimately, the Lab is going to drive that agenda because it would make no sense at all for one viewer to render a scene differently; the poor creators would have kittens." (I.E., panic.)
"The current release notes have a standing 'Known issue' that states something along the lines of 'Yes it's too blue, we're working on it'. Any difference between Linden Lab and Firestorm, in terms of lighting, when examined side by side, same settings on the same hardware should vanish once the upstream changes stabilize and flow down to us."
I.E., PBR will run well in Firestorm once the Lindens nail down that known issue.
Speaking of which, longtime SLer Estelle Pienaar comments that the addition of PBR may create a divide with established Second Life users who can afford to upgrade/buy new devices, and those who cannot:
Continue reading "Firestorm Update: Linden Lab Still Tuning PBR Lighting Issues Upstream" »
Posted on Monday, January 15, 2024 at 01:14 PM in Comment of the Week, SL viewer news | Permalink | Comments (0)
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