Comments on: Second Life: What’s Next – Report from SLCC 09

By: Dusan Writer’s Metaverse » Second Life and the Superbowl: Is Linden Lab Ready for Prime Time?

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 02:02:56 +0000

[...] my possibly delusional fantasy of how the Lab thinks about these things, I have this idea, based on what M said at SLCC and during his trip to Paris, the keynote by Tom Hale and his presentation at the [...]

By: Dusan Writer’s Metaverse » Only in Paris: Linden Lab and the Road Ahead

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 00:30:06 +0000

[...] (or Mark Kingdon as he’s know in the atomic world) re-emphasized a few points he brought up at the recent Second Life Community Convention but went further, according to a [...]

By: Giulio Prisco

Giulio Prisco — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 06:25:53 +0000

Like many other new features which were labeled “disruptive” before their introduction, I guess mesh import will not be a big deal. Those who want to use it will use it, and the others will happily do without. Better a beautiful thing made with prims than a ugly thing made with meshes.

By: Whatcha Eaton

Whatcha Eaton — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 22:17:50 +0000

@Kimberly: thank you for explaining that from your point of view. I understand better now.

By: Kimberly Rufer-Bach

Kimberly Rufer-Bach — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 20:12:51 +0000

Dusan, it’s great to learn about that announcement from LL, because I wouldn’t have been able to post a date or much solid info about what considerations are involved. My information about mesh import plans came from Joe Miller, along with other exciting info about upcoming features and plans. (By the end of the meeting with Joe I was literally cheering.) Tom Hale was another great source of info about upcoming LL plans.

I think SL and LL are really at a turning point this year. As I conducted interviews and worked with LL to connect with the right folks to get info and to confirm it for inclusion in the book, I became very aware of changes at the Lab. Some of my overall impressions were that the new folks coming into LL are the type to make sure the trains run on time, even the “newbies” among them are really excited about SL and enjoy being avatars themselves, everyone over there is working their butts off, those who think SL is cool now ain’t seen nothin’ yet, and that SL isn’t “threatened” by opensource grids or other competitors. I also approve of the increased caution about early announcements of things like launch dates and discussion of new features.

Thank you for buying my book, Dusan. I’m glad you like it! I thought a review copy had already been sent to you. Next book I will make certain of it.

Whatcha Eaton, mesh imports will be disruptive for me, at least, for a couple of reasons. One is that, as happened with the advent of sculpties, some existing content in-world will become obsolete. It’s worthwhile, though! As well, I like to build in-world – as an avatar pointing at prims and making things from them, along with the rest of my team, in a virtual workshop that I couldn’t recreate in real life. It’s not the same as sitting alone in my office looking at Maya (or Photoshop or Poser). That said, I don’t think meshes are going to doom regular prims anytime soon. It’s not as if we’re using sculpties for everything now, or as if they’re better than regular prims for everything.

By: Dusan

Dusan — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 18:21:32 +0000

Just to add to the discussion, and I’ll post more shortly, but the Lab today announced plans to launch mesh import in 2010 (footnoted to say, well, things can change) and showed a preview of the application.

By: Whatcha Eaton

Whatcha Eaton — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 16:55:42 +0000

I’m not sure why the introduction of mesh imports would be so very disruptive. Sure, it would change both the look of things in-world and of course the build tools would have to change somewhat just as sculpties have done. However, from the prospective of a casual builder/scripter such as myself, meshes would be just another thing to learn. I ain’t skeered. Bring it on.

By: Giulio Prisco

Giulio Prisco — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:58:30 +0000

I am sure Kurzweil understands the possible negative implications and scenarios of exponential technology growth, but chooses to focus on the bright side instead. With so many politically correct nice and meaningless exhortations to caution that we hear these days, it is refreshing to hear a visionary like Ray.

Does anyone know how to watch Ray’s talk? Is it on Youtube or something?

Philip and Mark can be, of course, both right from two different angles.

By: Dusan

Dusan — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 13:25:13 +0000

Kimberly:

No need for a review copy, I bought the book – and it rocks.

(Trying to get around to reviewing it for the site, time has been a little sparse is all).

Your comment in the book about mesh imports jumped out at me, and I had wanted to confirm where you got that information. I’m wondering however what you think the policy decision process might be at the Lab, and what the timing might be.

We’ll see at this morning’s keynote by T Linden whether he mentions this at all on the road map.

Thanks for your comments – mesh imports into second life are clearly planned, it’s a question of when the plan is implemented.

By: Kimberly Rufer-Bach

Kimberly Rufer-Bach — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 03:26:28 +0000

I should add that, sure, the prospect of mesh imports can be intimidating for those already used to building with prims. However, it will make SL much more attractive and useful to those who are familiar with traditional modeling and will help make SL more mainstream. Not to mention we’ll all benefit from it. Remember how the Grid looked before sculpts? It’s a different world now! I think this should be viewed like sculpted prims, only better. I figure we’ll see a lot of activity similar to the sculpted prim shops where Residents purchase sculpted parts to retexture for builds and resale (hills, shoes, stock shapes, etc.).