[Opensim-users] [Opensim-dev] OSCC21 Audience Feature Suggestions

Sat Feb 12 02:25:18 UTC 2022

That's quite a list and it's good to see them al in one place. I noticed
several of them could be implemented (nearly?) entirely viewer side;
perhaps some users aren't aware of this. I haven't been associated with
OpenSimulator development for several years now but I did take notice of
the #1 item, PBR. When I first implemented support for materials in
OpenSimulator, they consisted mostly of normal and specular maps and
related settings. I tried to add support in such a way that it would
support additional material texture types and settings without requiring
additional development on the server, mainly in anticipation of a
viewer-side PBR implementation. For this to work it would have required
that the viewer-side implementation followed the same conventions that
normal and specular maps used, which may be inadequate for PBR. There's
also the possibility that the server-side materials code has since morphed
into being more specifically for existing materials only. I haven't looked
into the code since I left the project so I don't know if this is the case.
Regardless, the lion's share of support for PBR would fall on the viewer
since it's basically a rendering feature and all the server has to do is
store and deliver more textures and settings.

Regarding item #5, importing Blender scenes: I believe this exists to some
extent already via the Blender Collada export module. It will format a
multiple object Blender scene into a single .dae file and when imported via
the viewer, will rez into multiple in-world objects. There's also an
"export for OpenSim" (or some such) option in the export module, but I
don't remember exactly what it does. I have used this in the past to bring
complex scenes into a region and I hope it still works. Unfortunately it
only exists one-way and AFAIK there's no (convenient) way to bring content
back into Blender from a region, though I think some viewers may have some
features that can at least do part of this.

I'm happy to see the project is still going despite some of these lingering
issues.
-D

On Fri, Feb 11, 2022 at 3:23 PM Frans <mrfrans at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi, I'm Frans Charming inWorld, and helped organize OSCC21.
> During OSCC21 I asked the audience what features they would like to see in
> OpenSimulator.
>
> We were doing our post mortem for the conference today, and thought it
> might be useful to share their responses with the community.
> Keep in mind these were informally asked from the audience which could be
> either viewer or server features.
> Maybe they are of some use.
>
> *What Feature would you like to see in OpenSimulator*
>
>    1. PBR Textures are only partially supported. It would be nice to see
>    more of a full implementation to help bring the virtual world up to the
>    standards of the gaming industry that people see when they play games.
>    2. It would be great if Open Simulator could import other formats like
>    FBX and/or glTF with mesh, textures, and animations able to be uploaded.
>    That would make content a lot easier to bring in than the archaic BVH
> and
>    DAE formats. Most modern virtual worlds work with these formats and some
>    even have ability to pull from places like 3dwarehouse and import
> avatars
>    from readyplayer.me.
>    3. The OpenSimulator-Wiki needs a massive update. Most pages are either
>    confusing, outdated or incomplete. E.g. the page 'Upgrading': It says
> "We
>    don't recommend that you simply copy over your existing config files".
> Some
>    lines below it says "Copy... The opensim.ini file". And it says "SEE
>    Discussion at Talk:Upgrading". When you take a look at this, it says
> "last
>    modified on 24 July 2009". And why are instructions at all in a
> discussion
>    page? The Wiki software itself is outdated, it is from 2013. The privacy
>    policy page is empty. It requires also RL name and address of at least
> one
>    person who is responsible for the website and its content. Without that
> it
>    is neither legal nor trustworthy. The same applies to the Mantis. Ever
>    tried to delete your account or the contact an admin via email? Not
>    working. Do you think, anyone will ever take OpenSimulator seriously?
>    4. On perfoming a HG teleport it should be possible to access the
>    welcome page of the target grid.
>    5. One button publishing of Blender scenes to opensim. There was once a
>    project to allow people to build a scene in Blender and publish it to
>    opensim / realextend. There are now many many more Blender users and
> there
>    is now a huge interest in the metaverse. This is an opensource project.
> It
>    could be resurrected and bring a LOT of Blender builders into opensim.
>    Here's the code: https://github.com/b2rex/b2rex. Here's a youtube
>    description: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8biEltPsWT8
>    6. A massively improved system avatar, which makes mesh avatars obsolete
>    😛 (at least partially). Those system avatars are easier to customize,
> so
>    new/older/handicapped users have it easier.
>    7. Copy Complete Prim and Mirror Complete prim buttons or options for
>    symmetrical builds
>    8. Having the system trees and plants (those in Build window) updated to
>    properly made mesh objects, but also in the ways they automatically
> snap to
>    ground level. And when it is grass, it still has to be placed as mats
>    keeping the terrain topology. So we have a bunch of standard plants in
> our
>    libraries. At least you should publish information on how we can change
> the
>    library content by ourself.
>    9. Chat decoupled from core
>    10. Secure HG protocol decoupled from core
>    11. Code modernization/modularization
>    12. Community support
>    13. Interoperability with other platforms
>    14. TTS and STT
>    15. Instead of new features I would like to see getting the many bugs
>    fixed and the installation simplified, because so many people just want
> a
>    local grid for content creation or tinkering. if we could make it easier
>    for them, they would also become members of the HG community one by one.
>    16. The platform is an amazing and suitable tool for learning and social
>    networking by design. The viewer is extremely powerful and has very
>    advanced features, and as such, can generally be considered rather
> insanely
>    difficult to get into for a new user. Viewer devs and grid runners could
>    form teams, or otherwise work together, to ensure new users have acces
> to
>    that information globally, from the beginning. Things like object
> creatino,
>    inventory usage and avatar customization should be more accessible to
> all
>    users.
>    17. easy access viewerr for new users
>    18. New renderer that can support VR - and then a Steam VR, Quest 2 or
>    VRML client.
>    19. A kind of .htaccess, so I can route teleport attempts to deleted or
>    renamed regions to another region. It should in addition send a message
> to
>    the avatar, and tell him to create a new landmark.
>    20. A way for scripters to know under what opensim environment /
>    scripting engine the region is running under . THere is a OSL function
> to
>    have that reported but its rights of use is too restrictive . It should
> be
>    allowed to know that information from any scripts since X and Y engines
> are
>    not fully compatible .
>    21. Programmable TEXT-TO-SPEECH in the Viewer with associated VISEMES
>    for AV mouth , face and eyebrows.........
>    22. meta
>    23. Since most grids are just small standalone ones with hypergrid
>    enabled, there is no need for huge MySQL databases. Running, setting up
> and
>    maintaining a MySQL instance is far over the top for such tiny grids.
>    SQLight is sufficient. The only problem which remains, is that the asset
>    database blows up quickly, because content deleted from all regions and
>    inventories remains forever in the database. If you are into content
>    creation and upload mesh and textures very often, the database blows up
> to
>    several GB, where maybe less than one is required. Therefor a kind of
>    garbage collector would be fine. (one can export and reimport regions
> and
>    profiles into empty databases, but that breaks up too much and is too
>    complex for most grid owners). So I want to see - a garbage collector
> for
>    the asset database - SQLight support for groups
>    24. Support for Shared Environments that Firestorm has build in.
>
> --
> Jeroen Frans
>
> "The best way to predict the future is to invent it." Alan Kay
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