Jupiter Rowland @JupiterRowland

Germany (Real Reality™), Dorenas World (virtual reality), OSgrid (secondary virtual reality) Offline

Far-travelled on the Hypergrid and convinced of Roth2 v2.


I've finally managed to add some contributions to this year's Cornflakes Week.

I've retextured Clutterfly cuddle lunge chairs, beach towels and bean bag chairs with a Cornflakes theme, all of them with SFposer, of course.

You can pick them up from my shelves in the DropBox.
https://opensimworld.com/hop/91293
Secondary pick-up location: Kaufrausch Mega-Store, Santiago.
https://opensimworld.com/hop/78061

And here's to hoping that the textures won't go blank again anytime soon...
Good news: I've been told that my boxes with Clutterfly SFposer conversions at DropBox couldn't be copied.

I've fixed them; you should be able to copy them now. Buying the contents has always been possible.

Find them here: https://opensimworld.com/hop/91293
Bad news (good news for all you Linda Kellie haters): Zadaroo seems to be offline.

Good news (bad news for all you Linda Kellie haters), in case you haven't heard it yet: The Zadaroo content has been uploaded to the Internet Archive late last year.

Find it this way: https://archive.org/search?query=zadaroo

Also, I've just heard the recommendation to take local copies.

Aurora Starchild: Would you mind telling a bit more about Zadaroo to us newbiews? Thanks! 3 months ago
OSgrid has announced a scheduled downtime from Wednesday, January 10th, to Saturday, January 13th.

https://www.osgrid.online/disruptions-downtime/downtime/

Given OSgrid's track record, I could impossibly not meme it.

Jamie Wright: This is the perfect meme for this:) 3 months ago
I've released 14 new boxes with Clutterfly furniture, upgraded to SFposer. One of them is the super-rare Christmas Firepit Set, even the original version of which has become largely unavailable.

Get all 19 boxes in the DropBox in OSgrid or at the Kaufrausch Mega-Store in Santiago in Dorenas World!

https://opensimworld.com/hop/91293
https://opensimworld.com/hop/78061

RemmyRavenhurst: Wow nice work! cant wait to try them 5 months ago

Using a new meme instead of a stale old one for a change.

📝 How to configure landing points on your sims

An explanation for the landing point controls and how to make landing points act the way you want them to

Looking for the items from the Clutterfly Christmas firepit set
Does anyone have all the loose items from the Christmas firepit set from Clutterfly?

I'm not looking for the sales box. The sales box as available on all instances of Clutterfly itself is broken. It only contains one tree stump.

So now I'm particularly looking for these items:
Christmas stump with blanket #1
Christmas stump with blanket #12
Christmas Cuddle/Sex Log with blanket #1
Christmas Cuddle/Sex Log with blanket #2

The Tree Stump and the Fire Pit are the same in all firepit sets, so I don't need them.

CyberGlo CyberStar: i have it 7 months ago
The Metaverse in the Threadiverse
I've already mentioned that OpenSim has entered the Fediverse several months ago, and that there are even two dedicated Mastodon instances for OpenSim users. One is opensimulator.social (https://opensimulator.social/), run by Buzzy Cnayl of VivoSim (formerly Quintonia, see news below). The other one is opensimsocial.com (https://opensimsocial.com/explore), run by Lone Wolf.

But the Fediverse has more to offer than "Twitter clones" like Mastodon. With Reddit messing up big time currently, the time has come for the "Reddit clones" Lemmy and /kbin to grow.

And just a few days ago, Hyacinth Jean has started a Lemmy community (= subreddit) for OpenSim: https://sh.itjust.works/c/opensim/

If you already have an account somewhere in the Fediverse, e.g. on Mastodon, you can use it to join Lemmy communities. If not, or if you find that too inconvenient, feel free to join Lemmy instead.

Harper Held: Nice idea but the link didn't work when I tried it :p (no flies on Hyacinth -she's a busy woman!) 9 months ago

It has happened. I've memed myself.

Ongoing five-hour St. Patrick's Day party at Gulliver's (https://opensimworld.com/hop/78060).

Good thing SFposer didn't let me do everything I wanted to do with the Clutterfly bathtubs. But I've still got piles of sit animations to put into leather sofas...

Looks like it'll be even harder this year to justify having a legal mesh body.


SheaButter: Athena is far from drowning. 1 years ago
AviTron still rule-compliant?
For those who don't know: AviTron has essentially closed off its Hypergrid access. See here: https://avitron.net/avitron-hg-access

Technically speaking, the grid is still Hypergrid-enabled, but it only allows selected grids to connect. These grids, in turn, must not have Hypergrid access otherwise.

This means that none of us can access sims on AviTron unless they have an avatar on AviTron.

Now, one could argue that "AviTron is still Hypergrid-enabled" and therefore doesn't break OSW rules. If the rules are taken literally.

But from a practical point of view, AviTron no longer belongs here. Sacrarium had even easier Hypergrid access when it was banned. And since grids normally go all-or-nothing when it comes to Hypergrid access, I suspect that closed grids such as the TAG Grid don't activate Hypergrid access just to connect only to AviTron, not to mention that such grids aren't allowed here either.

Many don't know yet that AviTron has basically cut off Hypergrid access, also because many AviTron sims are still listed on OSW. They try to visit these sims, can't get in and blame it on the sim owners.

I'd say it's time to do something about this.

OpenSimWorld: No, they are not. Do they have regions here? thanks 1 years ago
No love for SFposer? There's more than AVsitter and PMAC, you know...
How come I barely ever see furniture, especially OpenSim-made furniture, with SFposer? It's always either PMAC or, if people don't even know PMAC or dislike its shortcomings, AVsitter.

Maybe it's because nobody knows that SFposer even exists. But it does: (https://opensimworld.com/library?view=44). A starter pack with a copy of the manual can be found on Satyr's sim OpenSimWorld (https://opensimworld.com/hop/74730).

For those who don't know it, and I guess it's most of you: SFposer is an animation controller. Much like AVsitter which can be found in just about all furniture copybotted from SL, probably also because it uses AVsitter in SL already which you can simply replace after the scripts got lost in transition. Very similar to PMAC which is often used in furniture made in and for OpenSim. And somewhat like poseball-based MLP which was state-of-the-art about a decade ago.

In other words, it makes those blue menus that pop up when you sit down on a chair or a bed, and that let you choose your sitting animation. This is what an animation controller does. This is what AVsitter and PMAC do. And this is what SFposer does.

Like PMAC which was created by the same person as the Clubmaster dance ball and those line dance floors, SFposer was made in OpenSim and for OpenSim. Its creator and maintainer is Satyr Aeon, the same person who runs OpenSimWorld and who also gave us the Satyr Farm and SFsail. And it's open-source, but that's what PMAC, AVsitter and MLP are, too.

Now, what's so great about SFposer? In which way shall it be better than PMAC and omnipresent AVsitter?

In general, SFposer combines all advantages of PMAC with almost all advantages of AVsitter. And it adds being the least resource-heavy animation controller on top. SFposer furniture only needs one single script, no matter what. And this one script safely shuts down after use.

If you compare it with PMAC, it's extremely similar. In fact, SFposer is backwards-compatible with PMAC. You can easily convert PMAC furniture to SFposer without even touching the config, just by replacing a few bits and pieces.

Its major advantage over PMAC is that everyone can adjust their position. This has always been AVsitter's killer feature over PMAC. With PMAC, only the owner can adjust positions and even this only by editing the piece of furniture and moving the position markers around. With SFposer, everyone can does that. SFposer is the ultimate animation controller for romantic and especially sex furniture.

Also, while PMAC is already easy on resources, SFposer is even easier. As I've already mentioned, SFposer only uses one script, and this script can do everything. PMAC's main script doesn't offer much beyond basic functionality. Extra functions require plug-ins, i.e. more scripts. SFposer doesn't need plugins.

This advantage is even bigger over AVsitter which is still widely considered the be-all, end-all, ultimate animation controller. AVsitter always needs two scripts per avatar. For absolute bare-bone functionality. A park bench for two needs four scripts at the very least. Any extra feature is an extra script. You want to make an orgy bed for four avatars with some extra bells and whistles? That's a dozen scripts at least. SFposer can do the same with one single script. The same and more.

This also means that SFposer can do stuff out-of-the-box for which AVsitter add-ons are very hard to find, if there are any in the first place. For example, NPCs. Or rezzing props on the furniture. Or rezzing props on avatars, e.g. in their hands. SFposer can put a mug in your hand if you're sitting on a café chair. All with that one script. Okay, the mug itself needs an internal script, but that isn't any different from PMAC.

Besides, SFposer makes it fairly easy for creators to adjust initial avatar positions when making furniture or scripting unscripted furniture. Just like PMAC, you can put it into edit mode, and then you get position marker prims which you can push around. No manually entering coordinates into notecards or something. Speaking of which: If you copy the SFposer settings from another similar but differently-sized piece of furniture, you don't have to re-adjust everything. You can instead enter a general offset for all animation positions. This also makes slapping an invisible prim onto furniture just for animations unnecessary.

AVsitter has only got one major advantage over both SFposer and PMAC: Since it comes from Second Life (don't worry, it's still legal), it's written in LSL, and it works on sims where pretty much all OSSL has been disabled by the sim or grid owner. Exceptions apply whenever an AVsitter-scripted piece of furniture can do something that doesn't exist in Second Life: Since Second Life doesn't have NPCs, you can't control them with LSL; it takes OSSL to control them. Thus, the rare NPC plug-in for AVsitter is written in OSSL.

Some minor advantages include a camera control plug-in and being able to specify different default starter animations for male and female avatars. Mimics control isn't AVsitter-exclusive; it's built into SFposer, too.

Those long-time OpenSim users amongst you who are several years behind in OpenSim technology may still see MLP as state-of-the-art because it was just that in their days. But PMAC already rendered MLP obsolete, and PMAC came before AVsitter.

So here are the advantages over MLP:

You don't have to click the furniture first before using it, nor do you have to wait for SFposer to initialise itself first. You can sit down right on the furniture instead of having to wait for poseballs to rez. There are no poseballs. Again, you can adjust your position even if you aren't the owner of the furniture. You can have NPCs. And it only takes one lightweight script to do what often requires over a dozen CPU-hogging scripts in MLP. MLP is easily the most resource-heavy animation controller out there; SFposer is the most lightweight one.

Fortunately, you can convert furniture from MLP to SFposer. You can also convert it from PMAC or AVsitter to SFposer.

PMAC to SFposer is easy: You throw out all scripts, you drop three items from the SFposer starter pack in, you reset the script, and you're done. Even tinkering with the config is optional. If you have plug-ins, convert their configs with this: https://opensimworld.com/tools/pmac

MLP and AVsitter to SFposer requires a bit more of an effort because you need new notecards. The notecard converter for MLP is here: https://opensimworld.com/tools/mlp2pmac The one for AVsitter's AVpos is here: https://opensimworld.com/tools/avpos2pmac
Suggestion: Ban more kinds of restricted sims
As we all should know, OSW doesn't allow entries of sims that are closed to the Hypergrid.

IMHO, this should be expanded to sims which are technically connected to the Hypergrid, but only accessible to members of the grid they're on, thereby excluding Hypergrid visitors. For the effect is the same: Nobody from outside the grid gets in.

I'd also include sims which are technically accessible to Hypergrid visitors, but only open for members of a certain closed circle. Nothing wrong with sims only accepting members of a group, but I'd draw a line where even asking the sim owner won't get you an invitation to the group because that group is only for close friends of the sim owner.

OpenSimWorld: Actually we've explicitly allowed to have regions closed to group members. There are legitimate reasons for that, such as e.g. roleplaying sims. It is up to the owners of course to provide a good exp... 1 years ago

Or so it seems...

Suggestion: Three categories of avatars on sims
I have a suggestion for OpenSimWorld which will also involve the beacon, namely to sort avatars on sims into three categories.


One, staff and residents. These are the avatars that represent the sim owners, residents on homesteads and everyone else who lives and/or works on a sim. Their UUIDs have to be listed on a notecard. The UUID of the owner of the beacon should automatically count as staff.

Staff and residents should count as activity so that you know that someone is on the sim, but not influence the popularity.


Two, bots and decorational avatars. These are the avatars that are mere decoration and that serve similar purposes as NPCs, but that aren't NPCs for whichever reasons. Their UUIDs have to be listed on a separate notecard.

Bots and decorational avatars should be treated the same as NPCs. They should neither count as activity nor influence the popularity. (Downside, admittedly: They could be used as flies on the wall to monitor sims.)


Three, visitors. These are the avatars that aren't on any notecard.

Only they will influence the popularity.


This will require new beacons. But this could be done in such a way that OSW will treat all avatars detected by old beacons like staff and residents. Activity will be shown, but it won't have any impact on your sim's popularity unless you replace your beacon. You want your popularity ranked, then get a new beacon. You can't be bothered to replace your beacon, then say buh-bye to your popularity.

The sim entries on OSW would require another change: The avatars graph would have to be split into two colours, one for staff and residents, one for visitors. This would show if staff is present (not whether it's AFK, though) if a sim isn't a homestead, and it'd also show whether staff and residents are correctly listed as such.

In order to enforce the correct use of the new beacon, each sim that's caught not listing staff, residents or bots as such will have its visitor count set to Inaccurate until it has proven to have fixed the issue.

TrisTH: That requires a change in the viewer, right? Or at least in Jopensim in user management 1 years ago
The Metaverse in the Fediverse
Anyone on Mastodon already? Or elsewhere in the Fediverse? I know some of you are, I've already got almost two dozen contacts from OpenSim. Mal Burns is already there, the maker of Inworld Review, as are Austin Tate a.k.a. Ai Austin, the maintainer of Ruth2 and Roth2 with a separate account for his avatar, and vrsimility who rebuilds Liverpool's Old Dock in OpenSim (in case you've seen it at OSCC21), just to name a few.

If you consider the switch from the Birdsite to the Fediverse, or if you generally want to dive into free and decentral social networking, I've got good news for you:

There is now a Mastodon instance for OpenSim users: https://opensim.world/

In spite of its name, I don't think it's that affiliated with OSW, maybe not yet. It comes from Quintonia, you know, who brought you the Satyr Farm enhancements.

So this may be a better place for you to go than the big and overloaded instances if you're an OpenSim user.

Anyway, whether you're already there or interested in joining, see you soon!

Buzzy Cnayl: Hello there and thanks for the post :-) I have to confess I was initially going to use opensim.social as the 'social' but then I found that the .world was on a special offer and at the time it didn'... 1 years ago
Tuvalu will re-emerge in the Metaverse...
https://mashable.com/article/tuvalu-metaverse-country-clim...

Anyone else thinking this could be a use case for OpenSim? A Tuvalu Grid?

Tuvalu is 9 islands with 10 square kilometres altogether. In raw land mass, that'd be 10 4x4 varsims which is almost laughable. Even if you remap this to Tuvalu's actual topography, that'd be not only still considerably smaller than Wolf Territories, but mostly sailable water.

In fact, this begs for SFsail. Also, lots of tropical beaches = potential surf spots. Nothing that hasn't been done before.

Not to mention that OpenSim has vastly better graphics than everything else that labels itself "metaverse" nowadays.

I guess most other in-world assets such as buildings would be scratch-made, although creators like Bibiana Bombinante could provide some decoration.

HanHeld: Sounds like a good idea, basically a "Blake Sea" kind of concept. 1 years ago

Spooky and stylish greetings from the party at Hallo-Wien! (https://opensimworld.com/hop/85211)

Crazy day today. Two full fashion shows in five hours.

Greetings from Juno, she has been one of the models at the first fashion show at Artdestiny. Her first time as a model, and that was in front of more than 40 spectators. Six times out on the catwalk, four scheduled, another two spontaneously taken over from a model who had fallen ill as she told me.
How, when and where to mention your real-life gender
So now we've recently had quite some drama about a crossplayer. Someone who uses at least one avatar whose gender isn't his own.

Being tricked into virtual sex and then ghosted if you were hoping for something permanent is one thing. The sudden discovery of avatars who are NOT the virtual representations of real-life people but completely unrelated to their users is another thing.

The biggest issue seems to be avatars with genders different from their users'. Or rather, people not knowing that this smouldering hot lady is a GIRL (Guy In Real Life). From this, demands arose that all cross-playing avatars shall inform people that they're cross-playing avatars. Some may even demand a total ban on cross-playing.

On the other hand, there are users whose avatars aren't them, and who want to keep their real lives as secret as possible. They also don't want to know anything about the users behind other avatars, especially not without asking first. OpenSim is a role-play to them, and real life breaks immersion.

Now, the question is: What'd be the best practice then?

Keeping it secret may end up in awkward situations with avatars that are virtual representations of their real-life users instead of fictional role-play characters. Blurting it out without being asked (female avatar arriving at a party: "Hi, I'm a cishet guy in real life!") leaves a lot of people with TMI (Too Much Information).

But there actually is a standard place for real-life information. And your real-life gender is exactly that, real-life information. That place is in your avatar profile.

No, not the "2nd life" page, the first page you see when you open your profile or someone else's. That page is exclusively for in-world information about your avatar.

The place for real-life information about you is on the "1st life" page. That and only that is also where a real-life photograph of you should go if you absolutely have to have one in our avatar profile. And that's the right place to tell people about your real-life gender.

A big advantage of this is that people who check your profile because they're interested in your avatar but not in your real life won't have real-life information about you slapped into their faces. The "1st life" page is not the first thing you see when looking at someone's profile.

Granted, this practice isn't perfect. There are people who find it inconvenient to have to navigate through a profile, and who demand all information they want to know be served to them on a silver platter, i.e. on the very first profile page. Others don't want to read profiles at all (or anything, in fact), they want male crossplayers with female avatars to tell them right away that they're guys in real life without themselves asking for it. The real-life information they want to know would be readily available to them, they just can't be bothered to look it up.

But I guess there are also people who don't want to see any real-life information in avatar profiles, who don't even want to accidentally stumble upon it by clicking on the wrong tab, because they don't want to know anything about the real-life people behind avatars, at least not more than necessary.

Stil, going this "official" way should be good enough for most people.

Nico Kailani: The people who need to real profiles, don't. 2 years ago
Immersive playing vs "it's just pixels"
There are two general ways of acting in virtual worlds like Second Life or those running on OpenSim. One is the "it's just pixels" way of seeing OpenSim as a chat platform, barely caring for the virtual world around them and putting convenience above everything else.

The other one is immersive playing. It means seeing these virtual worlds as such, as wide-open role-playing sandboxes, and their avatars as characters in these worlds, and putting realism and immersion above everything else. It is not, however, as extreme as hard roleplay that involves character sheets with character stats (strength, stamina, dexterity etc.) on them, going on pre-scripted quests or throwing dice much like in Dungeons & Dragons.

I'd like to explain these two concepts here.


"It's just pixels":

Your avatar is nothing but a profile picture that more or less represents your real-life self in a 3-D chat app. Same goes for all other avatars: You assume they only represent their real-life users.

Your avatar never interacts with other avatars. It's always you interacting with the real-life people behind other avatars. Always.

Never act in-character because your avatar isn't a character. It's just a profile picture that represents real-life you. So there is no in-character or out-of-character.

Put real-life info about yourself on the "2nd life" page of your profile. Don't use a picture of your avatar as your profile pic because your avatar IS your profile pic. Disregard the "1st life" page, it's useless, and navigating to it is more inconvenient than simply throwing everything on the "2nd life" page.

Keep your viewer always set to midday. You couldn't see anything otherwise. (Side-effect: You'll never notice that you've got lots of glow-in-the-dark things on your own sims that shouldn't glow in the dark like plants or entire buildings. You'll never see your own sims in the dark.)

Wear the brightest facelight you can find because the sun throws ugly shadows on your face when it's constantly standing vertically above your head. Or switch your body and all your clothes and attachments to full-bright.

Never walk. Never use vehicles either, they're too slow. Prefer teleports directly to your destination because that's maximum convenience. If you can't teleport, but you can fly, then fly. Fuck realism. Or land on a sim, keep standing at the landing point (even if you're standing on someone's head with someone else on yours) and cam around. Hate teleporters that only work by walking into them with a passion. Demand all teleporters be clickable.

If you go to a party, prefer teleporting or being teleported next to the dance floor and automatically oriented so that you face the dance floor. Or right onto the dance floor.

Leave parties by teleporting away or logging out while still dancing. It's the most convenient way because it requires the fewest mouse-clicks and the fewest steps to take.

Take landmarks of sims either right where the action is or, if there's no action, right at the landing-point.

The only in-world objects that matter are sales boxes/vendors, whatever you can copy that's interesting for you, scripted dance floors, dance pads, dance machines, teleporters and maybe sex furniture. Disregard everything else.

Beaches are only there for beach parties, as a justification to be naked or for public sex. Own beachwear only to flaunt your body while staying within the G-rating.

Wear what you always wear, regardless of where you go. If your avatar is male, wear a black leather jacket, long jeans and black leather shoes (or even black biker leather from neck to toe) on a tropical beach. If your avatar is female, wear a thin, sleeveless micro-minidress, ultra-high-heeled platform sandals and no hosiery whatsoever on snow-covered Christmas-themed sims. Pixels never get hot or cold. And it's your right to look as badass or sexy as you want wherever and whenever you want. If someone kicks you out of a formal event with a mandatory dress code for breaking the latter or even bans you for doing that repeatedly, rate the sim where it happened zero stars on OSW and insult the sim owner.

Finally, insult immersive players for being idiots who do dumb and weird shit and try to explain to them how to use OpenSim the "correct" way.


Immersive playing:

Your avatar is a character in a virtual world, one that interacts with that virtual world. Other avatars are characters, too.

Your avatar interacts with other avatars like video game characters would interact with other video game characters, or like role-play characters would interact with other role-play characters.

Always act in-character because your avatar is one, even if it represents you. If you have to act out-of-character, put it in ((double brackets)). Bonus points for making your differently-named alts characters of their own with no connection to your real self whatsoever and their own fictional background. More bonus points for even giving your main avatar some in-world lore, thereby confusing the "just pixels" faction that takes it for your own real-life background.

Use the "2nd life" page of your profile only for in-world/in-character info. If you absolutely have to give real-life info away, use the "1st life" page for that.

Keep your viewer on "shared environment" unless you need different lighting for photography or for immersive purposes. Or even build your own more realistic EEP day cycles. It's just a pity that only you can see them.

Don't wear facelights or bodylights. Are there facelights or bodylights in real life? No. See?

Walk or use moving/steerable vehicles whenever possible. Only teleport as a last result, and even then, try not to be seen. Hate buildings that substitute stairs with teleport pads (maybe unless the teleporters are disguised as a lift). Don't fly unless absolutely necessary due to how badly the sim is designed where you are (e.g. no other way to get out of the water). Don't cam. You can't teleport or fly or cam in real life either, right?

If you go to a party, prefer teleporting or being teleported to somewhere that can't be seen from the party venue and then walking to the party. Ignore any and all teleport offers because they'll land you right in the middle of the crowd which is exactly what you try to avoid.

Leave parties by walking outside to where nobody can see you teleport away. If you have to teleport, that is. If you don't, then walk or use a vehicle. If you can't go outside because the venue doesn't have doors, try hiding somewhere.

Take landmarks of sims in places where you'd realistically arrive, e.g. harbour quays, marina piers, bus stops, railway stations, airports or the like. Go back to there to teleport back out. If nothing like that is available, take it where it's unlikely that you're being seen teleporting in.

Everything in-world matters, everything in-world can be interesting. Complain about furniture that looks like you could sit on it, but that you can't sit on. Play with your surroundings. For example, if you come by a supermarket, pretend you've yet to get some groceries.

When you're on a beach, take a sunbath. Or go swimming. If you can't go swimming because the beach isn't designed for that, the beach sucks; find a better one.

Dress appropriately for the location and the occasion. Wear summer clothes in summer. Wear beachwear on beaches (or nothing at all on nudist beaches that ban clothes). Pack yourself up well in winter. (Yes, even female avatars can do that. Yes, that'll take some searching around and/or asking others. If it's possible and has been done with a Ruth2 v4, why should it be impossible for Athenas?) Wear something in-between in spring or autumn. Generally, wear something comfy in your spare time instead of always dressing up like you're on your way to a club party. Wear a tuxedo or a gown to formal events; take that opportunity to dress up to the nines. Wear sturdy shoes when wandering.

Finally, complain about the "just pixels" side for breaking any resemblance to immersion all the time.


It's fair to mention, though, that there aren't only these two extremes, and you can always be somewhere in-between.

PSA: It's exactly half a year until next Cornflakes Week!

Just saying so you can't blame me for not telling you in time.


Dabici132: LOL 2 years ago

Another one from Virunga:

Zulu tour bus, straight from the Asylum. And yet, Makena preferred to walk.

Just took a bus from one of the airports and drove it to the main village where there are two bus stops waiting for a bus.

No animals were harmed in this endeavour. I guess.

Farewell Metropolis Metaversum!

About ten hours ago, Metro went down for good. Farewell to my first "home" even though I never had land there.


Han_Held: R.I.P. https://giphy.com/gifs/vh1-martha-snoop-xT0xeI9jzMVCqAAX4Y 2 years ago
Represent OpenSim in the Metaverse Standards Forum?
This may just be my opinion, but I believe that OpenSim should be represented in the Metaverse Standards Forum (https://metaverse-standards.org/) in some way.

If you're wondering what the MSF is: They try to develop and design from scratch what we've already had for 15 years as OpenSim and for 14 years as the Hypergrid.

For one, I guess nobody there even knows that OpenSim exists, not as a platform, not as several thousand virtual worlds. Even Intel may have forgotten their early engagement in OpenSim.

Besides, they could learn from OpenSim what they're bound to learn from the mistakes they'll make. And they could see what OpenSim has done right that they should do, too.

It's just a pity, I guess, that there's nobody who's able and willing to represent the OpenSim ecosystem as a whole.

(By the way, Linden Lab isn't a member either.)
Shoulder-view camera angles: Looking at the world like your avatar does
We're all used to OpenSim's standard rear camera angle. A camera that floats more than three and a half metres above the ground. But seriously, this camera angle has got a whole lot of issues.

Sure, it can be practical when building. But first of all, it requires buildings which are even more ridiculously out-of-scale than the avatars created by fresh Second Life converts. Otherwise, the camera would constantly bump into the ceiling or even clip through it.

Besides, it suggests that this is your eye level. You don't see the world from your avatar's point of view. 3.60m (12') doors with handles on actual eye level or even higher don't seem strange to you at all, nor do living-rooms with ceiling heights akin to cathedrals or chin-high handrails.

Last but not least, high-hovering cameras are so 2000s. Nowadays, "shoulder cams" at the same height as the character's eyes are all the rage in video games. And you can have them in OpenSim as well.

Here are two settings I've found to work well.

"Standard" shoulder view, right of centre:

Camera Offset:
X -0.700
Y -0.400
Z -0.300

Focus Offset:
X 1.000
Y -0.400
Z 0.700

Scale:
1.000

Alternative shoulder view, left of centre:

Camera Offset:
X -0.700
Y 0.400
Z -0.300

Focus Offset:
X 1.000
Y 0.400
Z 0.700

Scale:
1.000

Han_Held: Good stuff! I always liked Penny Patton's settings, personally. You can see them here: http://pennycow.blogspot.com/2016/11/the-improved-sl-camera-revisited.html though I use her old numbers, which yo... 2 years ago
DON'T PANIC

...if you know where your towel is.

Happy Towel Day from the Rowlands to all the hoopy froods in the Metaverse!

Happy International Synthesizer Day (or what's left of it)!