[Opensim-dev] Thoughts on Scripting

[Stefan Andersson]

Again, stuff like Tribal Net shows other ways to think of what we're doing than just "a client connecting to a grid" - if you download the Tribal Net client, it's also a region server - that can be started in sandbox or grid mode - which means that you have a fast-track to setting up a local and temporary region to do dev work in, that you then can export and take somewhere else.
 
We have done stuff similar to the Tribal One client, but running a local sandbox internally, which in essence means it becomes a content creation tool (where you have the 3d pane to modify content, and the app panes to do scene-wide modifications)
 
It is our strategy to wrap more and more of the opensim region functionality into the gui of Tribal Net, as well as add stuff that isn't there today - stuff that only makes sense if you're sitting on the same machine that the region is running on.
That's not to say it should in any way be thought of as anything that is 'what opensim should be', far from it; but they are examples of a second layer of ways to use OpenSim.
Still just trying to think outside the box,Stefan AnderssonTribal Media AB Join the 3d web revolution : http://tribalnet.se/



Date: Sun, 7 Sep 2008 10:16:21 -0700From: mike at maimedleech.comTo: opensim-dev at lists.berlios.deSubject: Re: [Opensim-dev] Thoughts on Scripting

Dahlia,
 
Content creation work flows are certainly quite ad hoc. This is true in general, as well as for SL.
 
But, is it possible that some of the tools will become platforms in their own right? To see what I mean, look at how SketchUp and 3Dwarehouse.com are evolving and how they are being hooked up with Google Earth or could be hooked up to Lively. Also, look at a tool like Truespace. If you can get past it's 90 degree learning curve, you'll see that there is already a virtual experience creation platform, with a complete API and javascript support, hiding in there.
 
I think one of the things that set SL apart was the appeal of in world content creation. Yes, doing something that meets all the needs of the advanced designer is out of scope. But what about something to attract the SketchUp crowd? Is that worth pursuing?
 
  == Mike ==
On Sun, Sep 7, 2008 at 9:36 AM, Dahlia Trimble <dahliatrimble at gmail.com> wrote:


On Sun, Sep 7, 2008 at 7:52 AM, Mike Deem <mike at maimedleech.com> wrote:....... 

 ........




 
I also like to think about the "content creator" role and how it differs from the "developer" role. The "content creator" uses powerful in-world building tools to create stuff. The "developer" would extend the tools available to "content creator" by adding external modules to the region.

Many (if not most) SL content creators, including myself, rely upon outside tools to accomplish their work. Photoshop or another image editor are very common as SL provides no in-world editing tools. There are specialized applications for creating clothing for SL avatars, and some content, such as sculpties and animations, are created exclusively outside SL, Many scripts serve as only an interface between the  SL world and the outside computers running code which could be far more complex than the simple scripting model could otherwise support. I think what is being proposed here may already exist and was probably considered by the Linden developers, but the implementation was quite crude and restrictive.

One advantage to having in-world tools available is it encourages everyone to try to create content and this has helped lead to wider acceptance and popularity of SL.

That said, I'd love to see more examples of using Opensim's APIs as a more advanced way of developing special applications :D_______________________________________________Opensim-dev mailing listOpensim-dev at lists.berlios.dehttps://lists.berlios.de/mailman/listinfo/opensim-dev
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