The Archives

• 05.05.09
  Quick Hit: Dynamic Shadows in Second Life Second Life, Visualization in 3D | (3)

  By way of Bettina Tizzy at NPIRL, a video by Lordfly Digeridoo of dynamic shadows in Second Life: Now - I have to say, this stuff is gorgeous. My problem is....and I have no idea why, I can never get shadows to work. Dynamic shadows are built into the Second Life architecture and are hidden away in the viewer code, they're just not active. I had found a compiled version of the client with shadows activated some time ago, installed it....but nothing. And I'm running a high end machine that was built to render. Ah well - if you can get it ...

  Tagged: Bettina Tizzy, Second Life, shadows
  
• 09.09.08
  The Virtual Keeps Getting More Real: Raytracing, Mars and Shiny Things Applications and Tools, Virtual World Platforms, Visualization in 3D | (3)

  I've long been an advocate that what drives a virtual world isn't how real it looks - it's what you can do, who you meet, and how robust the tools are for collaboration and generating content. Real is for games - you know, the code heads who drool over how brilliant the water is, say, but neglect to mention that the game mechanics leave you, well, wanting more. But it's hard to ignore that that the way chips are headed (you've heard of the Singularity, right?) and continual improvements in how stuff is moved around networks mean that virtual worlds are ...

  Tagged: ray-tracing, rendering, shadows, windlight
  
• 08.22.08
  Render Shadows in Second Life: Compiled Viewer Applications and Tools, Second Life | (2)

  Some time ago Torley posted breathlessly about the ability to render shadows in Second Life, which fed a broad discussion about the computing power needed to do this and whether its inclusion in the SL viewer would cut off those whose machines couldn't handle it. Regardless, I could never find a compiled viewer - I found the instructions for how to compile one but that's beyond my pay grade. But I stumbled across a blog with some pretty sharp looking photos showing rendered shadows, and a link to a compiled viewer. Continue Reading...

  Tagged: rendering, Second Life, shadows, viewer
  

recent posts

• Quick Hit: Dynamic Shadows in Second Life
• Setting the Stage: Metanomics and M Linden
• The Future of Education in Virtual Worlds: My Discussions at Orange Island
• Education in Virtual Worlds: Where It’s Headed (Today at Orange Island)
• Where Virtual Worlds are Going: Why is the New What, How is for Tomorrow (Report on 3DTLC)
• Google 3D Take Two: Moving Towards the 3D Browser
• Virtual Cemetaries: “You’ve Been Left Behind”