some important things I think are essential to a next generation viewer I would like to see
- streaming audio (shoutcast or equivalent) - streaming video (quicktime/gstreamer or equivalent) - voice chat (mumble?) - MOAP (media on a prim) the ability to embed websites / youtube etc.. on geometry surface or texture overlay - Lighting and Skies (Windlight Analog or equivalent or better) perhaps ability to change the moon and sun with better textures or even mesh objects. - Animated Water perhaps that can be manipulated by physical objects (bluemars had this) - Viewer based AO (we need to kill scripted AO's for good) - Particle System (Better weather ie: rain,snow with exclusion zones so its not snowing in my living room :) also 3D particle support ie better grass and cool effects. - better avatar skeleton support, quadrupeds+ etc.. - improved bump mapping and specular support, ability to animate materials same as textures can be animated - optional viewer side physics support, better vehicles, joints, axles be nice to have suspension and just better vehicles in general - better joystick, mouse, keyboard, HID support, ability to bind keys like a normal video game would allow. - import / export of content in various formats ie: IARs and XML and various mesh formats not just collada, perhaps KML - improved hypergrid integration HOP:// or equivalent new format - Floaters and Windows not bound by viewer window, can put floaters outside of main window or on second screen (good for machinima) these are just some of the things I would like to so, I am sure I will eventually think of more, some of these are probably more important than others but I think they all are important to take things to the next level so to speak. On Wed, Aug 6, 2014 at 9:38 PM, Butch Arnold <[email protected]> wrote: > Hello All, > > I This is a great discussion and many great opinions. > > I think there will be an endless amount of opinions and desires as OpenSim > can be many different things to many people. > While most users of opensim can write/edit simple scripts, upload > textures, create simple textures, build simple prim based objects - there > are a great many who prefer to simply explore and be entertained by those > who can do these things. > > I myself am more interested in the "Server" side of things - I rarely > venture into OpenSim worlds but to troubleshoot and experiment with new > ideas, etc. > > I think the underlying ability of OpenSim to serve data when requested and > to provide all of the other services it does should be leveraged in a way > that an opensim "Virgin" will find interesting, entertaining, and easy to > use. > > With that said, I think OpenSim would become more popular to the masses if > we had a simple "No Frills" web viewer of sorts. > I know, I know... web viewer.. hack cough, etc.... but really think about > it. > > OpenSim as it is now is a very complicated affair if you are not already > familiar with SL or OpenSim. > The viewer itself is a very daunting piece of software to use if you are a > new user to these types of platforms. > > If we could make a viable web based viewer which is designed to be a > "First time user" viewer I think it would bring many more people into our > platform. > Once they've experienced our worlds by simply exploring, they will then > become interested in further tasks such as building, scripting, etc. > This would then drive them to "Try" a "Full" viewer, or one that is > capable of all that we are now used to. > > This viewer would not need to be as complicated as the viewers we use now > and could be a very good starting point. > Not only would this provide us as a community with a split from SL, but it > would provide a solid foundation on which to expand this simple viewer into > a more robust viewer. > The successful completion of this smaller project would then drive more > users to our worlds and may also bring more interest in the development > side from some who have sat on the fence thus far. > > The truth is, this platform seems to be for those of us who are a bit more > technically inclined - "Grandma Sharon" in Washington State would never > venture into our worlds as she would be terrified of the complexity of any > of our available viewers, but if she could simply click a link and it work > in her web browser she too would find it very entertaining. > She may never build, script, texture, etc... but she would for sure enjoy > some of the events, the socializing and exploring of our worlds. > > I think OpenSim should try to free itself from the bonds of SL for sure, > but we should also try in some way to make our worlds more accessible to > "Virgin" users. > > If you want revolutionary... OpenSim already is a very capable platform, > but one which has been designed around a "Purpose Built" viewer - if we > wanted to start fresh we could make a completely new viewer which uses the > OpenSim platform to store and serve data to a viewer which is nothing like > what we are currently used to - one with say much better graphics. > > If we do any new viewer in a modular way - it should be easy for others to > produce "plugins" or "Modules" to do more interesting tasks. > > Just my thoughts. > > Butch > > > > > > On 8/4/2014 9:08 PM, Mister Blue wrote: > > I've been seriously thinking about creating a new viewer project. But with > Maria's survey[1] and all the different virtual world announcements > happening and the lively OpenSimulator vs Unity discussion on the > opensim-user list, I'd like to open up the discussion to the OpenSimulator > development community[2]. > > LL is making a new world and viewer (closed and proprietary as far as I > know). HighFidelity is making a new world and viewer (open source with > commercial 'grid services'). Unity 5 will have a multi-platform web viewer > and a new multi-user backend (pricing not announced). There are various > wonderful open source virtual world projects (realXtend, Virtual World > Framework, ...) as well as many emerging technologies (xml3d, html5, > asm.js). There are several forks of OpenSimulator (Aurora, ArribaSim, ...) > that have made many enhancements to the base system. Add to that several > successful virtual worlds build on OpenSimulator (inWorldz, Anvination, > Kitely, ...) as well as a few packaged distributions of OpenSimulator > (Diva, ...). Add to that the many SL/OpenSim third party viewers based on > the LL viewer. And that's just in our sphere. There is much more happening > in the gaming and education and training communities. > > So, what could a new viewer add to the mix? Whatever a new view does, it > approaches the question of what OpenSimulator should be three years from > now. > > For me, there are two basic choices[3]: evolutionary change or > revolutionary change. > > Evolutionary change says to build on existing OpenSimulator. Make due > with the existing LLLP (Linden Lab Legacy Protocol) and improve vehicles, > make installation and use easier and add an easier to use and improve > viewer. > > Revolutionary change would be striking off on a new virtual world > architecture. It could have LLLP support but only for downward > compatibility and to keep that community and content. But other questions > arise: How would one build a viewer/virtual world where a HiFi avatar could > stand next to a SL avatar? How could content be delivered to a viewer so it > is displayable but is not in the original, copyable form? How to leverage > the distribution and power of 'the cloud'[4]? How could one make > hypergridable grids across the many virtual worlds? > > What do you think? Evolution or revolution? > > -- mb > > [1] > http://www.hypergridbusiness.com/2014/08/survey-better-vehicles-search-most-wanted-in-opensim/ > [2] I see this expanding to other forums eventually. > [3] With a lot of gray area in between > [4] I'm always amazed by Google Maps -- it displays the map with traffic > overlays and I can zoom in and out with almost immediate response. Why > can't a virtual world viewer do that? > > > _______________________________________________ > Opensim-dev mailing > [email protected]http://opensimulator.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/opensim-dev > > > > _______________________________________________ > Opensim-dev mailing list > [email protected] > http://opensimulator.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/opensim-dev > > -- Michael Emory Cerquoni
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