tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12865166964155536042024-02-08T06:21:23.845+02:00Extending realityThe inside story of the development of the realXtend virtual reality platform.Antti Ilomäkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10578209440406500350noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1286516696415553604.post-20874635358142256252010-11-25T10:06:00.002+02:002010-11-25T10:09:50.462+02:00Name the File ExtensionThe Days of Tundra are drawing closer and we're facing some interesting decisions. One of them is the file extension for Tundra scenes, now that sharing full scenes (and parts of them) is so simple. Toni Alatalo wrote the text below on the realXtend mailing list and if you have opinions, please contribute. Anyway, here's Toni:<br /><br />I think we are really close to being able to release a kind of preview demo of Tundra, i.e. Naali with the server module & executable. One key is that Jukka wrote a nice doc about how to use the document/scene/application files and explanation of what they are, and I changed the public doxygen to use the version from Tundra branch so the page is up at <a href="http://www.realxtend.org/doxygen/tundradocumentfiles.html" target="_blank">http://www.realxtend.org/<wbr>doxygen/tundradocumentfiles.<wbr>html</a> . I think we basically just need to write a little more usage docs to at least point to where the example scenes are and make an installer.<br /><br />As you can read in the doc, the local server works nicely as a preview / editor thing -- it is not only for people who want to host servers, but also for e.g. modellers, texture artists and scripters to easily see how their things look and work in ReX. The server executable is a normal Naali app, shows the scene using Ogre etc (but you can optionally run it without gfx for server usage). A bit like the local scene preview in Naali now, but much nicer and faster 'cause you don't need a server connection anywhere -- just run Naali standalone to view local files. By clicking a file in your file manager so it starts Naali showing that scene. Besides these own document files in the internal format, you can of course also import dotscene files as well, and there's support for not only Ogre meshes but Collada too etc.<br /><br />There is one non-technical issue remaining, and I feel a bit stupid to bring it up 'cause is kind of nitpicking, but it is something we should get right the first time so is worth some consideration now. It is the file name extensions that I was asking about in sprint planning as well. We talked about with Antti yesterday but didn't conclude and he suggested posting here to get ideas & feedback, so here we go. Because the issue is non-technical and I'd like to hear user opinions, decided on last minute to post this to users list instead of the -dev list.<br /><br />Currently, like that doc says, we use 'txml' and 'tbin' for so-called Tundra files. Previously they were just .xml and .bin but the guys added the t* to make them unique for registering to operating system so that opening them directly to the right application works. There is a couple of problems with these names:<br /><br />1. That entity-component serialization system is not really Tundra specific, is not in the server module and not tied to any protocol. It is implemented in Naali core and was originally and will used with Taiga (to store Naali EC data on opensim, started in last March or so). I've been testing the idea of calling the format the 'realxtend format' instead, and it seems to make sense. Matti K. at least agreed in the meeting. The counterlogic here goes that Tundra is the name for the design, the legacy-free usage of pure EC data for making everything without things hardcoded in e.g. LLUDP / SL assumptions. And that Tundra is a strong nice sounding name! With this logic if there are some day other implementations that support the Tundra way, they also implement the Tundra protocol and the support for Tundra files etc. .. e.g. a modtundra to opensim? This might be confusing though 'cause otherwise Tundra is the name for the server module implementation in Naali. One funny point with the current 'txml' and 'tbin' names is that 'cause Taiga also start withs T, we could say they are both Tundra and Taiga files :)<br /><br />2. Erno argued that there are also many other XML (and of course binary) files used with Tundra (i.e. Naali), and I think that's a good point. For example the module loading configuration files are xml, in modules/core/*.xml -- those could be called 'tundra xml files' as well. It would be good to say what is in the file in the name, and in one way it is the scene. Jukka's doc also says "a scene file". So Erno was thinking .rts for RealXtend Tundra Scene could be it, which is logical enough but I don't think that sounds too great :o (even though one idea with the generic EC model is to allow making Real-Time Strategy games :)<br /><br />I was now thinking of these extensions again, but now with better logic:<br /><br />.rex - RealXtend Entity XML (earlier just thought it's RealExtendXml :p)<br />.rxb - .rex binary (rxb just sounds like 'rex in a tight binary form', doesn't it?-)<br /><br />The files are exactly the entities, the whole idea of the formats is to store the entities, either a full scene or just some selected entities. There is nothing else in the files, not for example assets like Collada .dae files can have (dae is 'digital assets exchange'), nor some generic Tundra config stuff .. only the entity-components with their attribute values.<br /><br />Opinions? Please anyone tell yours, this is for end users, you don't need to be a dev to be a stakeholder .. these are the files you are gonna be using to do work with your stuff!<br /><br />For folks familiar with OpenSim files, .txml/.rex files are like the files that save-xml2 writes -- have the full scene, with asset references, without assets themselves. To make a bundle with assets like OARs are, you can simply make a zip with e.g. a folder with the assets. I guess we must come up with a name for these zips later too, like OAR is (they are tar gzips). If OpenSim gets the generic EC stuff to core some day, then OAR and tzip/rexzip files may become the same.Antti Ilomäkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10578209440406500350noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1286516696415553604.post-75153002327960103972010-11-18T19:57:00.000+02:002010-11-18T19:58:34.120+02:00The Tundra ProjectWhen the realXtend project started in the fall of 2007, two different technologies were chosen as the starting point for development; the OpenSimulator server (based on reverse-engineered Second Life servers) and the open source Second Life viewer. The platforms were chosen as the best available candidates considering the rapid prototyping necessitated by the project’s six-month schedule. Even in hindsight the choices were good, despite the negative issues encountered further along the development. <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The prototype produced during the first stage of the project proved successful technology wise and it gained a fair amount of positive publicity. The licensing and technology of the Second Life viewer had been somewhat problematic from the start and the situation was getting worse with increasingly ambitious technological goals for the project. It was also obvious that the licensing (GPL, or rather the interpretation of GPL in the open source virtual worlds community) would make it very difficult to form a strong community of developers around the project.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Early 2009 saw the emergence of the Naali project. Naali (Finnish for arctic fox) is an entirely new viewer built from scratch (of course utilizing existing suitably licensed material where possible) with the intention of eventually replacing the Second Life –derivative first generation realXtend viewer. During 2010 this goal was achieved, currently Naali has almost all relevant functionality of the earlier viewer and surpasses it in a number of critical categories.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">To make server development easier, the realXtend server side enhancements were modified into a module called “ModreX” and a suitable module interface was created to OpenSim. The ModreX module provided more flexibility on the server side and the OpenSim project itself made progress towards its goal of being a flexible platform for virtual worlds hosting. Even so, it still remains a relatively heavy service in terms of hardware resources, requiring several ports open in firewalls, database installations etc. Despite an increased level of flexibility, adding support for the core Naali features (namely the entity-component based content authoring) still wasn’t simple by any means.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: bold;">The Tundra Server</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The development of the Naali viewer progressed at a good pace and in the summer of 2010 initial research indicated that it would be fairly straightforward to add a server module to the viewer. The Naali server module was named “Tundra” and the development work was started in early autumn of 2010. With this approach it was possible to create a perfect counterpart for Naali, since much of the Naali code would be used as is. Also much of the programming work done in the future would be usable on both the viewer and the server side. The approach is quite common in for example many contemporary games and offers some intriguing advantages.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">One of the immediate benefits is the “single user mode” or the ability to view content directly with the Naali viewer, without a connection to a server. At the same time it becomes possible to share content as well, which in practice means the availability of “ad hoc servers”, much like in games that allow users to host multiplayer events. In comparison, OpenSim (or Taiga) is ideologically more like a massively multiplayer online game that runs on a persistent dedicated server. The former can be made lighter and simpler to deploy, which makes it suitable for a number of applications. A notable difference is the new protocol implemented in Tundra; after researching several possibilities the developers decided that the fastest way to move forwards with the project was to use a BSD-licensed protocol known as “Kristalli”. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Naturally it is also much simpler to experiment with new features when the codebase is shared by both the server and the viewer and the current developers are of course already familiar with the Naali code. The API is also shared by the server and the viewer, making it possible to utilize the same Javascript or Python code in both. All of these features are intended to make creation and deployment of diverse applications simpler and more cost-effective.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The Second Life architecture and thus to an extent OpenSim, have a fairly specific scene model based on separate primitive objects, avatars, terrain etc. realXtend has a flexible entity-component based architecture, whose purest implementation exists in the Naali / Tundra combination, which is directed more towards being a generic 3D application platform instead of a specific kind of a virtual world. For creating large multiuser virtual environments OpenSim offers many advantages, like for example safe sandboxed LSL scripting for user-to-user content. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Interoperability between different worlds is an important question. The obvious first step is the ability to create content in ways that make it possible to utilize it in different environments. Tundra supports a number of different 3D model formats, making it backwards compatible with Taiga (OGRE meshes), Tundra also has support for the Immersive Education Initiative’s chosen open library format (Collada). The next step for interoperability is a universal authentication / identity. Tundra is designed so that adding different authentication schemes (including none or just a simple ad hoc password authentication) should be simple. The most difficult challenge is functional interoperability, currently there is no simple answer. Tundra has support for popular Javascript and Python scripting engines, but true interoperability in scripting will require a lot of work and co-operation from all virtual worlds providers.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Perhaps most important of all, Tundra is a demonstrator for the new Naali-style architecture and content creation features. Building the features on top of OpenSim based Taiga would have been more work, but not impossible and as Tundra matures, it will act as a reference implementation anyone interested in its content creation abilities can learn from. <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" >It’s also important to note that despite all the differences, Tundra and Taiga still have similarities and many of the features are already supported on both platforms. Thus adding full support for the new features and full compatibility for both platforms is well within the realm of possibility, OpenSim internals permitting.</span></p>Antti Ilomäkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10578209440406500350noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1286516696415553604.post-39589692751194991522010-11-15T12:54:00.002+02:002010-11-15T12:56:17.006+02:00Blender, Python & realXtendPyppet has published a blogpost on his realXtend and Blender related work <a href="http://pyppet.blogspot.com/2010/11/blender-python-operator-api.html">here</a>. A pretty interesting read for the more technically oriented readers.Antti Ilomäkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10578209440406500350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1286516696415553604.post-30014145990331195922010-09-06T17:50:00.009+03:002010-09-06T19:02:48.259+03:00Building with NaaliI have been working on build mode for Naali for some time now. We have had build functionality for a long time with the 'Object Edit' UI. At some point it became a bit too crowded and other tools like component editor started popping out. We tought that we need some central place where you have your build tools. Anyways it's nice to have your normal UI on where you communicate with others and interact with the world, and another where you build your world with nice tools. I decided to make a new scene so I could have all the screen space for myself. When you enter build mode all your normal Naali UI will hide and the build tools come out.<div><br /></div><div>I think the build mode has now ported most features from python Object Edit tool and it combines your inventory and other build tools into one work space. There are still bugs but you can already do some interesting things with it. We are trying to move to using entity components to add features into world objects. I've made a video that shows you some components as light and web content on a object and also other stuff like how to use URLs from web or from your webdav inventory as your 3D models, textures and sounds.</div><div><br /></div><div>Here is the youtube link, I recommend wathing it in HD and full screen so you can actually see what I'm doing with the UI. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifJtJreQIZg">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifJtJreQIZg</a></div><div><br /></div><div>When my mouse is out I'm copying URLs from my text editor. Most urls are from my public dropbox, that I found to be a very interesting build tool where you keep your assets. When you update your mesh there, everyone will get the latest (if they clear their Naali asset cache first for that mesh, we are looking into how to automaticly do this via timestamp or something similar). You can too build with my meshes/textures as they are public with dropbox:</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'courier new';"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Sphere: </span></b></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'courier new';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3589544/building/meshes/geosphere4500.mesh http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3589544/building/textures/MRAMOR6X6.jpg </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'courier new';"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Penguin: </span></b></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'courier new';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3589544/building/meshes/penguin.mesh http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3589544/building/textures/penguin.jpg</span></span></div><div><br /></div><div>The things you see in the video will be available in the Naali 0.3.1 release that we are going to make next week. Please let me know what you think and what central things you might be missing.</div><div><br /></div><div>P.S. Seems like youtube didn't like my music choices and has desided to block the video for Germany. Here is the direct link to download the video for our German fans and others too:</div><div>http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3589544/building/realXtend-Naali_world-building.x264.avi</div><div><br /></div><div>Best Regards,</div><div>Jonne Nauha</div><div>realXtend developer</div>Jonne Nauhahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03914808901787863855noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1286516696415553604.post-30483776670240749062010-09-02T15:26:00.004+03:002010-09-02T15:43:31.994+03:003D in the 3D InternetIf you're browsing the 3D Internet in 3D, is it a 6D or a 9D experience? What about if you're browsing the 3D Internet in 3D in a CAVE where you're surrounded from at least 3 directions with walls full of graphics, 9D or 27D?<br /><br />Ok, back to business. Philosophy is best left to philosophers, I was just momentarily carried away when I saw the latest Naali development version running with anaglyphic stereoscopic rendering. If you have red/green glasses, you can check out the result from the attached screenshots.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYsJHKg-yU8XKQOWdg9gZVkq8nZERRktgLIE1TO_Ebbc3fwCzoPkS_jHSiZ58lRYt8dRs1SfruLJwA_ggM1S8nw7TH65ggIGbdVJN-3-bPXpqkv-T8carMjeGVTpse0GaoWVkM346IJfg/s1600/stereo2.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 250px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYsJHKg-yU8XKQOWdg9gZVkq8nZERRktgLIE1TO_Ebbc3fwCzoPkS_jHSiZ58lRYt8dRs1SfruLJwA_ggM1S8nw7TH65ggIGbdVJN-3-bPXpqkv-T8carMjeGVTpse0GaoWVkM346IJfg/s400/stereo2.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5512294016741190850" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKBJ31MPJU3v1ku1QvtBj52GdN7B6u9ap8I6WcASzp_x7SlLW3JJKA8zQg67OCBPUb8pqkazaR4OVhEuKBOMS3ZGNoZ6aUQEQ-efFDSGwCe-T5UhPTcFbyYbKISSTLQm7MTeuIDUzHmLQ/s1600/stereo1.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 250px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKBJ31MPJU3v1ku1QvtBj52GdN7B6u9ap8I6WcASzp_x7SlLW3JJKA8zQg67OCBPUb8pqkazaR4OVhEuKBOMS3ZGNoZ6aUQEQ-efFDSGwCe-T5UhPTcFbyYbKISSTLQm7MTeuIDUzHmLQ/s400/stereo1.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5512293835852908162" border="0" /></a><br />On another note we've also been working on CAVE rendering. Tests with two screens have been pretty promising, now we're waiting for an adapter to be shipped from Germany so that we can test with three.<br /><br />From the previous posts you've already seen how Naali can be run on a mobile device and I have to admit that it has been fascinating to see the development in the other end of the computer power spectrum as well. Now it's possible to pick up Naali and go if you have a high-end mobile phone and if you get your hands on a CAVE system (they're not very easy to come by), you will have a very powerful immersive experience.<br /><br />The 3D rendering option will be released in the next binary (0.3.1) at the end of this month, the code is of course already available.Antti Ilomäkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10578209440406500350noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1286516696415553604.post-54999988568922672972010-08-26T19:21:00.003+03:002010-08-26T20:12:48.082+03:00Nokia & Intel establish first joint research lab in OuluAs many of you probably know, most of realXtend development has been done in three companies based in Oulu, Finland. LudoCraft and Evocativi (then ADMINO technologies) have been involved since the beginning in 2007, Playsign joined the project officially in 2009.<br /><br />We were all happy to hear the news and honored about the opportunity to present realXtend at the event when Nokia and Intel decided to found the joint research lab at the Center for Internet Excellence. Many of the realXtend developers have graduated from or are still studying at the University of Oulu where the CIE resides, which naturally leads to us having good contacts there. Not to mention a degree of pride for having two industry giants choose Oulu as a location for the joint research center.<br /><br />Here's a couple of links to more information:<br /><a href="http://www.cie.fi/whats-up/intel-and-nokia-establish-first-joint-research-laboratory-at-university-of-oulu.html">Official CIE website</a><br /><a href="http://conversations.nokia.com/2010/08/24/intel-and-nokia-virtually-engaged/">Nokia blog</a><br /><a href="http://blogs.intel.com/research/2010/08/today_intel_along_with_nokia.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Researchintel+%28Research%40Intel%29">Intel blog</a><br /><a href="http://maxping.org/covers/intel-and-nokia-joint-innovation-center-starts-3d-internet-research-in-oulu,-finland.aspx">Maxping articles by a former realXtend program manager Jani Pirkola</a>Antti Ilomäkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10578209440406500350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1286516696415553604.post-5438403187852901442010-05-13T13:25:00.006+03:002010-05-25T17:06:50.871+03:00Naali 3d canvases & mediaurl handlingThis text was originally sent to the realxtend-dev mailing list.<br /><br />Thanks to Jonne's efforts recently, showing qt widgets as textures in the 3d scene in Naali is back working again. And the old textureprop/genericmessage mediaurl handling that I wrote using it in December is now enabled in develop and uses that new implementation for display.<br /><br />I had a little fun with a custom use of this yesterday -- this video shows a html+js animated webpage as the texture of avatar's shirt: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ikh9ZrJ_aaQ" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr>v=Ikh9ZrJ_aaQ</a> . The webpage used there is <a href="http://bubblemark.com/dhtml.htm" target="_blank">http://bubblemark.com/dhtml.<wbr>htm</a> which is good for fps testing, has an fps meter for the own drawing. In my setup had refreshrate 20fps for the 3d view, and naali on linux kept running >50fps, while the qwebview was running bubblemark with defaults at 40-50fps (external window). All looked and felt smooth, and was fun to resize the 2d view to scale the bubbles up in the texture :)<br /><br />The EC_3DCanvas is basically identical to the EC_UICanvas implementations that was in the old qtmodule last year, but instead of the uicanvases we had then for both 2d & 3d display, this takes the qwidget directly as a param. But input, which worked fully with the old system back in October or so, is not yet implemented at all. Dealing with the focus etc. is the tricky part that Jukka has been investigating.<br /><br />The actual mediaurl handling nor the 3dcanvas itself don't yet have any UI for opening the same widget for 2d display, where input works. My test uses little custom code that put to command.py. I leave it there, so in the upcoming 0.2.2 release if someone wants to play similarily can go to this line in pymodules/usr/command.py: if 0: #webview as 3dcanvas . Change 0 to 1, and press alt-. inworld to see it. You can change the urlstring in the code snippet there, and modify the submesh/material indexes too (default is [0], so assigns to the first mat index of the user's avatar). This test code is local only, not synched in any way, so only you see it. The 2d view of the widget this code opens is an external window.<br /><br />A use case for mediaurls is where the webview is showing something like etherpad or google docs, which updates live in the inworld view, but which can also be opened for editing. We plan to use this in an inworld rex testing workshop with the French Ener team next week. The workaround with current code is to put a server side script to the same object that is having the mediaurl to send a LoadURL command when the object is clicked. That will give two separate webviews, where scrolling the 2d one doesn't affect how the 3d one is scrolled or anything. Just now realized that that is the desired behaviour probably anyway, so your inworld view keeps showing the same that the others are seeing too. But still some UI for opening any 3dcanvas for 2d view is probably good, in client side without needing custom server side logic .. with a<br />mouseclick or something.<br /><br />How to scale, offset etc. arbitrarily sized web pages by default etc. is AFAIK a bit of an open question still. Do defaults work ok or should that be configurable? I haven't looked yet how the new shared media thing in slviewer works.<br /><br />Besides the old rex mediaurl genericmessage handling, I also started writing now a EC_WebView as a test, using the new Attribute system in Naali which gives automatic net sync of component data. This would be much simpler and robust than the texture mediaurl handling, and also allow adding new features easily .. like synching the scroll offset when<br />desired or something.<br /><br />~Toni<br /><br />P.S. oh and the use case for showing something animated in the avatar's shirt is another request from Francois -- have videoconferencing work so that participants video shows in the av t-shirt, while the av face etc. remains for av animations etc. I had thought of having avatars with box heads where the video shows where the face is, but agreed that his idea is better :) .. should be easy now with the comms module video call videos, 'cause they are already shown using a qwidget. And Francois was thinking it could be also just showing a webcam image of the avatar's user, doesn't necessarily have to be naali which sends the video. And of course doesn't have to be the full shirt texture, I guess putting a video/webview plane as an attachment to the chest can work simply and well?<br /><br />P.S.2 about video in these webviews: qwebview doesn't support flash out of the box, so youtube etc. doesn't work now. That's why I used the bubblemark html+js thing for fps testing. Hopefully qwebviews get html5 video tag support soon (and youtube etc add support for something else<br />than h264 so that open source software can show the videos?). Using a qvideowidget should work, but I don't know what formats+codecs are supported there - Matti K. etc. I guess know based on the video calls work.Antti Ilomäkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10578209440406500350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1286516696415553604.post-91864814044484977412010-04-21T19:44:00.010+03:002010-04-21T21:05:30.226+03:00Naali on the Nokia N900If your not a big reader skip to the bottom and at least check out the video!<div><br /></div><div>...</div><div><br /></div><div>I bought a Nokia N900 phone recently. It's a great device and has a lot of potential with the linux based Maemo5 OS and the processing power. First I made some simple small application in Qt to test how it's done and learned a lot. The thing was that these application didn't do or show anything that could be useful for anyone.<div><br /></div><div>Hmm... why not build Naali for that thing? Is it too heavy to run, what about the 3D rendering? What about building Ogre and all the other dependencies? Only way to find out is to give it a try. I had a 4 day easter holiday (extended weekend) coming up so I started the home project then. I made slow but steady progress during these days. Building ARM versions of Ogre and all the deps were the biggest challenge for sure.</div><div><br /></div><div>Naali itself didn't need that much work, just disabling some modules and I got myself the first build. As an end result I had Naali that started from the terminal and opened a QMainWindow that had ogre rendering to it. The UI was not showing, the window was just black. Oh... I also had one pissed girlfriend for not spending the holiday with her. She watched/listened me swear and curse on the computer for days, thanks Susanna for putting up with me ;)</div><div><br /></div><div>On the next workday I showed this "thing" to my co-workers. Didn't get that good of a welcome as... well it didn't do anyting. So next few days I worked on actually showing something and doing a login. I made a simple timer into rexlogic to blast a hardcoded login away when Naali was done loading. And what do you know, it went in and showed me a bringht yellow Audi world. As I later discovered it was the EnvironmentModule doing this, it also crashed the viewer every time terrain was fully loaded. So I disabled the module, after that everything started to load and most importantly look good with the GLES rendering. Of course the sky was black and terrain had no texture due to disabling the module, but our target world is indoors so that didn't matter at the moment.</div><div><br /></div><div>Next I showed this thing at work and then I got some peoples interest peaking. Then it became my job to make this thing "working" and in demo shape in 1-2 weeks. I took the challenge, did my best and here is the result. </div><div><br /></div><div>The video demos everything I've managed to do so far specifically for the Maemo platform. This includes removing the normal Naali UI and remaking a simple UI for the interactions that we were interested in, without obstructing the world view too much. Some small adjustments in the window creation. I also tweaked the input system to work with a touch screen and made some special camera controls. Probably I missed something, small changes were required here and there.</div><div><br /></div><div> </div><div>Check out the video at</div><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IP7zty5Kg7g">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IP7zty5Kg7g</a> </div><div><br /></div><div>Best Regards,</div><div>Jonne Nauha</div><div>realXtend developer</div></div>Jonne Nauhahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03914808901787863855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1286516696415553604.post-88269600880802125882010-02-19T15:36:00.004+02:002010-02-22T17:28:49.627+02:00Using Facebook chat with Naali<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioi3Z6sqiZn0ECCpu-lgWimlGhSojnb_G8jpvtKUuQ9k7sYsOrRnJBxHcaaRl1CGX9mWYfzaUHQ3PZjjPM-3GPwvdva5nT_9eQM3mroYbuTY_LVfd9YT9N13bzeuaClJpc35dBBNSMcg/s1600-h/fb_blog_2.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 164px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioi3Z6sqiZn0ECCpu-lgWimlGhSojnb_G8jpvtKUuQ9k7sYsOrRnJBxHcaaRl1CGX9mWYfzaUHQ3PZjjPM-3GPwvdva5nT_9eQM3mroYbuTY_LVfd9YT9N13bzeuaClJpc35dBBNSMcg/s320/fb_blog_2.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439948667040698994" border="0" /></a><br />Since Facebook <a href="http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=297991732130">opened its chat to Jabber/XMPP clients</a>, it has been available to be used with Naali. Now you already can have your Facebook friends list in Naali and chat with people with it. Voice chat, however, doesn't work, because the Facebook chat doesn't support it. You can view your jabber id and server settings from the <a href="http://www.facebook.com/sitetour/chat.php">Facebook guide</a>.Mikko Pahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01236829279966842192noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1286516696415553604.post-79605929582128530752010-02-11T14:21:00.010+02:002010-02-12T12:41:56.492+02:00New UI in development<div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3589544/ether_blog_big.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 210px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc29YCiUZKG0SalsHldfPTsFd3TeenpZNivDB3XXHSBoezjS4Xr34CsiROc1LIHBZKWGX9iFYfyzO-qILuap8-CINFt3XNUjS02OsBG7tof4h3thBD65P8SIhK8nfy-GSpq2gMt3OCN4A/s400/ether_blog_small.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5437280352796371122" border="0" /></a></div> <div>The new Naali platform is still some way behind the original realXtend viewer when it comes to feature completeness. It seems that our original predictions were correct, however, and the new technology enables us to create new features and fix issues at a high rate. One of the aspects we will be looking into a lot more in the near future is the user interface.<br /><br />Until now UI design has been driven by the need to have some kind of a way to access the functionalities mostly for testing purposes. After the release of the 0.1 version (Don't forget to pick yours <a href="http://code.google.com/p/realxtend-naali/downloads/list">here</a>) we will be concentrating a bit more on the UI side. Here's a brief explanation on the new approach by Jonne Nauha (typos are all mine):<b><br /><br />Ether concept</b> </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>We have had some actual UI design meetings now and decided on some high level consepts. One of them is "ether space" versus "inworld space". Th e aim is to have "ether" as the view where you land in when you launch Naali. It will be the place to make logins, create new avatars, create new worlds and possibly access tools/settings for the viewer. We would like to get rid of the "write your information to these text fields" approach. Of course this is somewhat necessary when creating avatars /worlds, but in basic use the workflow should be "I'll pick this avatar, I'll pick this world, ok lets go" -type of thing.</div> <div><br /></div><div>We tried to think of a simple and at the same time nice looking and inviting thing, so we started prototyping a "flip book" type of thing that resembles iTunes cover flow, but for virtual worlds. Me and Mikko Alaluusua have worked on this for a few days now and have got something together already. We did this out of Naali codebase with QtCreator and used pure Qt, namely the Qt animation framework is used heavily. The cards get loaded into a scene that is shown in a full screen graphics view, so it will be easy to port into Naali.<br /></div> <div><br />The fps in my capture software was too low to show the animations fluently and somehow it altered the colors too, but you should be able to get the idea. The navigation is WASD or arrow keys, and we'll add mouse selection functionality to the "cards" too. The background image and other graphics are only for prototyping, not what will eventually be included in Naali. For now the avatars have the basic image of the naali (arctic fox) and worlds all share the globe image. The idea with the images is that your avatar's screenshot will be inserted there and it is updated when you change your appearance or logout (not really decided yet) and for the world images a screenshot is taken from the position you last left the world in question.</div> <div><br /><br /><object width="480" height="295"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/LbKb-jSk3zY&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/LbKb-jSk3zY&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="295"></embed></object><br /><br /></div><div><b>Inworld widget interaction</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>The inworld widgets will probably stay with the slim frame or maybe some styling will be done there with proper graphics. The main thing inworld would be to get rid of the age old toolbar at the top of the screen. We are now close to 10 widgets and they will only increase in numbers when we go forward. We were thinking of giving each corner inworld a certain type like widgets on the top left, notifications / status things on the top right, messaging on the lower left etc. Of course the positions or the final look are not firmly decided yet. But at least I would like to remake the "widget toolbar" into something icon based and add some snappy animations like some kind of a layered menu that has sub groups for widgets like interacting, world building etc.</div> <div><br /></div><div>Also some kind of workspaces would be nice to make. So you could make different UI views and swap between them fast to get to your tools. A little bit like operating systems have multiple desktop views that have their own set of applications and you can move apps between them.</div> <div><br /></div><div><b>UI for interacting with objects and people</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>We also need something similar to pie menu we all know and love/hate :) There hasn't been any decisions about this yet, but some kind of a hovering "info card" for things you want to interact is the goal. This infocard could follow the avatar / object that you have interest in or it could be pinned to a position. The idea for these cards would be that there would be a viewport (camera) to the item, for example the avatars face that you clicked or movable view of a object you are interacting with. Also this card would have quick selections for sending messages to a user etc. This will also be the most challenging thing if we do it purely on Qt that needs an ogre viewport rendered to it. Right now all info that is showed of people is a static 2D overlay that has the avatars name. And if this is the best we can do with ogre then we probably go with Qt on these infocards.</div> <div><br /></div><div><b>Schedule </b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>The aim is to get most of this done by the march release. It may be that "ether space" will have 70% of the defined features, inworld "info cards" 50% etc. as its hard to know what obstacles there will be ahead. Especially when our Ogre+Qt is a special thing without paint events that there always can be something unsuspected outcomes of this, good example is that we had fully working video calls in Naali IM before we moved them inside the scene and now gstreamer doesent render the video to the window handle.</div>Antti Ilomäkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10578209440406500350noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1286516696415553604.post-70713236880421594282010-01-18T20:08:00.018+02:002010-01-19T14:44:47.743+02:00Naali 0.1(first public rc) released!This is it. There are still a number of bugs to fix (some of the code heroes sitting right next to me are currently hard at work fixing and tweaking) and an incredible number of new features to do, but as the version number 0.1 suggests more than a final product this really is a glimpse of things to come. Nevertheless and although I might be considered partial, I still think it's already quite interesting and suggest you try it out for yourselves. Let's take a quick look.<br /><span style="display: block;" id="formatbar_Buttons"><span class=" on" style="display: block;" id="formatbar_Add_Image" title="Lisää kuva" onmouseover="ButtonHoverOn(this);" onmouseout="ButtonHoverOff(this);" onmouseup="addImage();" onmousedown="CheckFormatting(event);;ButtonMouseDown(this);"><img src="http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif" alt="Lisää kuva" class="gl_photo" border="0" /></span></span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYpHCjv8ctJ_aOaOoi2jlnf7snnPY91KaI4R1-7PjRUO8FyLgn9S-gyKI_yF5GEehEqucNDFVfiaugdDXBd5NM0OQh5xRJ-I572jWiHGt81OYQyQsobkHCErGah1LEu_4eluogWcf7F0Y/s1600-h/naali011.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 250px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYpHCjv8ctJ_aOaOoi2jlnf7snnPY91KaI4R1-7PjRUO8FyLgn9S-gyKI_yF5GEehEqucNDFVfiaugdDXBd5NM0OQh5xRJ-I572jWiHGt81OYQyQsobkHCErGah1LEu_4eluogWcf7F0Y/s400/naali011.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5428144091840634706" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-YJ32ktkDUD7tWK9ZzfDSLzUa_svUcHfNkuhaFQ4m5IVmcduzbu9fvlORepSTaP0OA-ObKFvlhdJLHLRNfJ6ShIhyeV5ppLfq9SLdG0YkYj2zswBHhd2uoWZ91uvDnh5AatxJqYufaSY/s1600-h/naali013.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 250px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-YJ32ktkDUD7tWK9ZzfDSLzUa_svUcHfNkuhaFQ4m5IVmcduzbu9fvlORepSTaP0OA-ObKFvlhdJLHLRNfJ6ShIhyeV5ppLfq9SLdG0YkYj2zswBHhd2uoWZ91uvDnh5AatxJqYufaSY/s400/naali013.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5428144214096553634" border="0" /></a><br />Swimming with the fishes is as pretty as ever. There's of course a lot of room for optimization, but the graphical capabilities have traditionally been one of the focus points in our development and that won't change with the new Naali viewer. You can connect to existing realXtend and OpenSim worlds (sorry, walking between regions is still in the works) or host your own with the realXtend server (new version to be released soon).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdgtAD8TcSVGnMYV1Q68ZV0b0ru5xbymwe2WdQZPXzxXCeH57UsAa5yxLGtXpQR1XgQ0sd6eZYo2AglxHzu68bt4bKdL4WqIsep-_gdh5GHCoKUUOGVaxLM5S27LQm0BFethpB98ApbpU/s1600-h/naali016.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 250px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdgtAD8TcSVGnMYV1Q68ZV0b0ru5xbymwe2WdQZPXzxXCeH57UsAa5yxLGtXpQR1XgQ0sd6eZYo2AglxHzu68bt4bKdL4WqIsep-_gdh5GHCoKUUOGVaxLM5S27LQm0BFethpB98ApbpU/s400/naali016.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5428145329232411762" border="0" /></a>Here's a shot of the user interface. We're currently working on enhancements to the visuals and a new layout for the UI, this is an example of some of the functionality. Note that I'm logged in with my Jabber account, which makes it possible for me to communicate with the outside world as well. Currently it's also possible to make video calls (and only video calls, yes, we're working on it) and we have quite a few ideas about future development for the communications module.<br /><br />Ok pay attention, everyone, because now comes the really important part! We started the work on the new viewer and server software because we had a lot of ideas on how to improve realXtend, but the software architecture we had at the time didn't offer the kind of room for expansion we were looking for. Naali does. And not only room for us to work with, but for everyone interested in it as well. realXtend is an open source project where everyone can participate. The code is available under the liberal Apache 2 license, grab yours today right after you test the binary we prepared for you.<br /><br />We would love to have your input on what you think about the new viewer as well as the bug reports that will inevitably be generated now that more and more people start testing the software. From now on we intend to make new binary releases more often, which means you will get to see the new features relatively quickly even if you don't want to build the code yourself. The Naali viewer is designed to be cross-platform and we have run tests on Linux, Mac support is on the way as well. I hope there are some enthusiastic Mac and Linux users who would like to join the community and together make sure Naali works equally well on all the platforms.<br /><br />Get the software here:<br /><a href="http://code.google.com/p/realxtend-naali/">http://code.google.com/p/realxtend-naali/</a><br /><br />Here you can find discussion on realXtend software:<br /><a href="http://groups.google.com/group/realxtend">http://groups.google.com/group/realxtend</a><br /><a href="http://groups.google.com/group/realxtend-dev">http://groups.google.com/group/realxtend-dev</a><br /><br />If you run into bugs, please let us know here (please check for known issues first):<br /><a href="http://code.google.com/p/realxtend-naali/issues/list">http://code.google.com/p/realxtend-naali/issues/list</a><br /><br />We will be explaining the new features in more detail on this blog soon, you might also want to browse the existing documentation here:<br /><a href="http://wiki.realxtend.org/index.php/Main_Page">http://wiki.realxtend.org/index.php/Main_Page</a>Antti Ilomäkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10578209440406500350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1286516696415553604.post-36632805352072589462009-12-15T16:53:00.013+02:002009-12-17T12:30:04.667+02:00Tutorial to import scene from Blender to realXtendRequirements:<br />Blender<br />Ogre mesh exporter plugin (http://www.ogre3d.org/wiki/index.php/Blender_Exporter)<br />Ogre scene exporter plugin (http://www.ogre3d.org/wiki/index.php/Blender_dotScene_Exporter)<br />ModreX trunk or branch 0.1.2-rc<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSuDJam7pV60zI757WGrz5dhGAIEEvnJdevbNFwa9sT0-djzklSvBIQfOJJhdtqS3l6yIcGmBwF_B3Y02-pu8N52PvbnShrHTeyvpyUSnYLtAtX7H-QOd4z6EudlUkm724eNx2gGAGsQ/s1600-h/01_all_selected.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 234px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSuDJam7pV60zI757WGrz5dhGAIEEvnJdevbNFwa9sT0-djzklSvBIQfOJJhdtqS3l6yIcGmBwF_B3Y02-pu8N52PvbnShrHTeyvpyUSnYLtAtX7H-QOd4z6EudlUkm724eNx2gGAGsQ/s320/01_all_selected.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415477596643328930" border="0" /></a><br />First you need to export all meshes from the scene. Select all meshes in scene by pressing 'a'. Then select OGRE mesh export tool from File->Export->OGRE Meshes. Ensure that you have selected all meshes from the "Selected" box. Select your favorite options and ensure that you have selected at least options "Fix Up Axis to Y" and OgreXMLConverter. OgreXMLConverter option may require that you specify the path to your OgreXMLConverter in the properties section.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtGX22e6C2DranCppkND2LqzfEEWuiHhQTR0zku1khyLXm0dmJCHM8LUgut4Y0FePBJ-Gze7XnyYEiQ0YVg-lbeB_Vnw1D0TSbtccs0KWO7_ompYk904HpiOt_pNaXvoTNv6LY6QCX7w/s1600-h/02_mesh_export.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 234px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtGX22e6C2DranCppkND2LqzfEEWuiHhQTR0zku1khyLXm0dmJCHM8LUgut4Y0FePBJ-Gze7XnyYEiQ0YVg-lbeB_Vnw1D0TSbtccs0KWO7_ompYk904HpiOt_pNaXvoTNv6LY6QCX7w/s320/02_mesh_export.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415477783270628818" border="0" /></a><br /><br />In some cases not all textures are copied to the destination directory. To export textures from .blender file select File->External Data->Unpack into files. This will extract all textures from scene to location of your .blender file.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWLsNDFvA0d1cAJY9NXEDPhLJHWjTgKW-MVB9D7RIMSnswtcUb48FVBF1jMh5ave0YidB7ACm-MBStoSpodQWFmYa-d9H4_wkNmVIwDz94EG3ZXXbKfNRKID3udemT7DJM5V3Z5o9S4A/s1600-h/04_extract_textures.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 234px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWLsNDFvA0d1cAJY9NXEDPhLJHWjTgKW-MVB9D7RIMSnswtcUb48FVBF1jMh5ave0YidB7ACm-MBStoSpodQWFmYa-d9H4_wkNmVIwDz94EG3ZXXbKfNRKID3udemT7DJM5V3Z5o9S4A/s320/04_extract_textures.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415478159994193698" border="0" /></a><br /><br />After exporting meshes you need to also export the scene file. This includes information on where the objects are placed in the scene. Select scene export tool from File->Export->OGRE Scene. In this dialog, ensure that all meshes are selected and that "Fix Up Axis to Y" is NOT selected.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcLaBrfVFTBXT-A2a5KZ7p9o5X-Gc6K4_ZnKYW1q3TK2i7q6tjLihKR9TYdWlFkuJ__z433H7YHPGy-gNdSZ46Ru_vl74Ye8ANL0dhhKBuwXSAyRzzFH4ra7jkDhOLFIU5qqBkLETKkA/s1600-h/03_scene_export.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 234px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcLaBrfVFTBXT-A2a5KZ7p9o5X-Gc6K4_ZnKYW1q3TK2i7q6tjLihKR9TYdWlFkuJ__z433H7YHPGy-gNdSZ46Ru_vl74Ye8ANL0dhhKBuwXSAyRzzFH4ra7jkDhOLFIU5qqBkLETKkA/s320/03_scene_export.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415478361026338562" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Now after exporting scene and mesh files, we are ready to import them. Copy scene-, material-, mesh and texture files to OpenSim bin folder. Ensure that the name of the scene and material files are same expect for the file extension of course. Boot up your simulator if it isn't already running. Apply offset if necessary with command "ogrescene offset x,y,z", where x, y and z are the offset values of x, y and z axis. X and Y values of the objects in Scene file need to be between 0-256m and Z needs to be higher than 0. Otherwise the objects won't show up. By applying the offset command you can affect these values. Note that usually waterlevel in OpenSim is at 20 meters. Import scene with command "ogrescene import <scenename>X", where X <scenename>is the name of the scene without the .scene file extension.<br /><br /></scenename></scenename><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibD7UFL-r-PFhII90PB3dwCFKpvqHirLaiopp-TQ93RCB2ag5ZUR-YTACdcp1tj_AT1fQh3gkbLZYez8v99jWJ3VsTm1l88_6kcUGEl7oj7qo6Oxx1aJZUEGSZmW97NUt2N-pRbi6ogg/s1600-h/05_import.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 161px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibD7UFL-r-PFhII90PB3dwCFKpvqHirLaiopp-TQ93RCB2ag5ZUR-YTACdcp1tj_AT1fQh3gkbLZYez8v99jWJ3VsTm1l88_6kcUGEl7oj7qo6Oxx1aJZUEGSZmW97NUt2N-pRbi6ogg/s320/05_import.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415478564541627810" border="0" /></a><br /><scenename><scenename><br />After inputting the import command it may take a while to import all the objects. Sometimes there might be errors when importing the scene or when exporting to OGRE format and objects might not view exactly the same as in Blender.<br /><br /></scenename></scenename><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv02_Uo75QowCvmwPHoUc-Hf59bKlGPzmofYSbYr5B-l7b7_Kj2Dwy-oqjslY59uMeCgHK4O2k7X6n4oVOyVallYp3hhgsuudAjmPeGJAZJ8ve7bx03r9DwBqXLDaUq5paduU_EHCnaA/s1600-h/06_login.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv02_Uo75QowCvmwPHoUc-Hf59bKlGPzmofYSbYr5B-l7b7_Kj2Dwy-oqjslY59uMeCgHK4O2k7X6n4oVOyVallYp3hhgsuudAjmPeGJAZJ8ve7bx03r9DwBqXLDaUq5paduU_EHCnaA/s320/06_login.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415478666330920706" border="0" /></a><br />Notes by Antti: The above example .blend file was retrieved from this site: http://gryllus.net/Blender/StudentGallery.html<br /><br />Also note that the export tools for blender are quite specific about the format of the textures. You need to create UV maps for the textures and have the TexFace selection on in the Blender material menu.<br /><scenename><scenename><br /></scenename></scenename>Mikko Pahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01236829279966842192noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1286516696415553604.post-68140803142150745822009-12-10T10:11:00.002+02:002009-12-10T14:32:03.885+02:00ModreX region in OSGridThis is a feature that many people have asked for: the ability to use grid mode with ModreX. We have now made this simple test server for testing interoperability of ModreX regions in an OpenSim grid.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw5z09bjn-xqnJdgAkP5vUTT0cRQJSn5E9uWS_6G1rVuE4xe8BWVhmoJi1YWeMduttHnGhp1rBevi2flSd8UDk0XWlZqLdoA6sz_X73FAA0GTPpomoNsn_DEYQYiu23tL0TQsnN3XGBw/s1600-h/modrex_in_osgrid.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 234px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw5z09bjn-xqnJdgAkP5vUTT0cRQJSn5E9uWS_6G1rVuE4xe8BWVhmoJi1YWeMduttHnGhp1rBevi2flSd8UDk0XWlZqLdoA6sz_X73FAA0GTPpomoNsn_DEYQYiu23tL0TQsnN3XGBw/s320/modrex_in_osgrid.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5413526801419825474" border="0" /></a><br />Getting the region in ModreX mode is a pretty straightforward procedure. First configure your region according to OSGrid instructions, then modify ModreX configurations. First thing to do is to enable the default Event Queue and disable RexEventQueue. Without this, once entered to ModreX region, one can't teleport or walk out of it. Second thing to set is the client stack plugin. Set clientstack_plugin configuration to "ModularRex.dll" instead of the default LL. This makes UDP listener spawn RexClientViews instead of LLClientViews. This is important when using realXtend features like meshes, particle scripts and so on.<br /><br />Final thing to notice from ModreX options is the ClientView option. By default this option is in mode compatible. The compatible mode is ment for interoperability purposes, it supports both LL and realXtend clients. However there is a drawback, compatible mode doesn't support smaller avatar update messages. This means that clients spend twice as much bytes on avatar update messages in compatible mode than in Naali or 0.4 mode. Both Naali and 0.4 mode do support these smaller avatar update messages, but SL client crashes on these messages, so these modes shouldn't be used in grids where SL clients are also used. Differences with Naali and 0.4 modes aren't that great, but as you can expect 0.4 supports the older realXtend clients and their features and is also compatible with Naali clients. Naali mode contains a bit more experimental packets that aren't handled properly in realXtend 0.4 series clients.<br /><br />Now that the region is configured it can be added to the grid. Although you can see from the picture that the region is working in the grid it is still lacking some features. User needs to press Shift+R (on the 0.42 realXtend viewer) to switch to OGRE rendering and to view the scene properly. Currently grid mode doesn't support realXtend authentication or realXtend avatars. Also at time of the testing there were some problems uploading textures and the physics engine crashed few times. Mediaurls are disabled from the client since it didn't receive rex_mode flag in login response.Mikko Pahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01236829279966842192noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1286516696415553604.post-86692214010587970202009-11-06T18:48:00.016+02:002009-11-06T21:04:26.060+02:000.0.2 preview release of next-generation realXtend softwareSorry for all the blogspamming, I know it's only been a bit over a year since I last wrote to this blog. After becoming the project manager for the realXtend team I didn't have as much time for blogging as I used to, which resulted in the long period of silence. There have been some changes in the organization as well and no more meeting logs to report, because the development teams in different companies are now seeing each other more in the real world. From now on this blog should be getting more lively (not referring to the Google product) and interesting, when our developers start to write about their work and achievements.<br /><br />So what has happened since September 2008? The most important change was the decision to start building a next-generation realXtend platform in early 2009. The world server is still based on OpenSimulator, but now we have the ModreX project, which makes it a lot easier for us to integrate with OpenSim. The authentication and content delivery services are all new and we also have a built-from-scratch viewer known as Naali (Arctic Fox in Finnish). You can find a lot more information about Naali and Taiga (the next-generation realXtend servers) on their respective wiki sites, in this post I will cover some of the highlights of the latest release.<ul><li><a href="http://wiki.realxtend.org/index.php/Getting_Started_with_Naali">Naali Wiki </a></li><li><a href="http://wiki.realxtend.org/index.php/Getting_Started_with_Taiga">Taiga Wiki</a></li></ul>It is important to note that Naali and Taiga are still in very early stages of development as the version number 0.0.2 suggests. The first end-user release of the next-generation platform is scheduled for early 2010. All the code is of course always available through our <a href="http://www.realxtend.org/">website</a>, this release is meant for those of you who don't want to build the code daily, but are interested in our work. START SUBLIMINAL MESSAGE We would also like to give you all a chance to relatively easily see for yourselves what we have done and get interested enough to join the realXtend platform development. END SUBLIMINAL MESSAGE When you notice functionality missing or something lacking in the new release, keep in mind that the shiny new realXtend platform is built to be modifiable and modular so that YOU can participate. A good place to get started is our <a href="http://groups.google.com/group/realxtend">general</a> or the more <a href="http://groups.google.com/group/realxtend-dev">developer-oriented</a> mailing list.<br /><br />So, what can you expect from the 0.0.2 version released today? Let's take a look.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK4FMgJjsqaCL-vJjdyB0jqSqfon_rTK-HXsY5iCEiPf9Uit2yKgUShwuzAD2DlkUGKZv2kmaBBjw_2qBtpYrUI217WkU1oCQF5_x0eUq3F-FpCoEg1RN2kYqDap0JtlmcAivuwT2Yltg/s1600-h/naali_0.0.2_2.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 598px; height: 205px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK4FMgJjsqaCL-vJjdyB0jqSqfon_rTK-HXsY5iCEiPf9Uit2yKgUShwuzAD2DlkUGKZv2kmaBBjw_2qBtpYrUI217WkU1oCQF5_x0eUq3F-FpCoEg1RN2kYqDap0JtlmcAivuwT2Yltg/s400/naali_0.0.2_2.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401046372051130242" border="0" /></a>This rather innocent shot of Mikko showing off with his dual-monitor system becomes frightening when you realize that the round little island looks a lot like my head rising out of the ocean. You can see some of the inventory and editing windows in this screen.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCw6k0Vqtb_cb4_QLGPPtmdpmC5RHXI_oUnQJzy_ca_A2lZe_-p00NDVhXJiK-hAtZXQke2kcqv7uxWK5sKYKNZ5eWRQQ7gdhiERV9452UQ_ZZmeye5wJgjjlVaS6sLFHGIHaidd0hUf0/s1600-h/viewer+2009-11-06+11-54-56-26.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 288px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCw6k0Vqtb_cb4_QLGPPtmdpmC5RHXI_oUnQJzy_ca_A2lZe_-p00NDVhXJiK-hAtZXQke2kcqv7uxWK5sKYKNZ5eWRQQ7gdhiERV9452UQ_ZZmeye5wJgjjlVaS6sLFHGIHaidd0hUf0/s400/viewer+2009-11-06+11-54-56-26.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401051713648421298" border="0" /></a>Here you can see some of the interesting properties of the new technology. A couple of the users are logged in using the traditional realXtend avatar service, others have OpenSimulator authentication and one of them uses the new OpenID-based method. One of the most important features for us is the ability to easily move between worlds without dependencies to central authorities and OpenID seems to fit the bill quite nicely.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKx0SDepFNMXiq6p20d_r6rxw75wefCz7GJi4aU2VfaDUr1pn-5WTuS2ji5zJTjRrn6lzcuSG4WZHbbao57HoN4Pdi_mgJi3Rsm6sr8yw9GjPhEVe5l10ESmqLmxl-elIeTKMt-YHbLR4/s1600-h/viewer+2009-11-06+11-54-50-59.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 288px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKx0SDepFNMXiq6p20d_r6rxw75wefCz7GJi4aU2VfaDUr1pn-5WTuS2ji5zJTjRrn6lzcuSG4WZHbbao57HoN4Pdi_mgJi3Rsm6sr8yw9GjPhEVe5l10ESmqLmxl-elIeTKMt-YHbLR4/s400/viewer+2009-11-06+11-54-50-59.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401053141735703154" border="0" /></a>This picture shows the guys packaging Naali 0.0.2 downloads. We expect to get a lot of traffic, but there should be enough Naalis for everyone.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4E0wIH18Tjhm3moS9wcmfMhyphenhyphenTCqCOaTojZMEud-eGytr6ngezaKrS6YlEvjVQafKzylz65IAqo85E1Yk1iZ4vU8IG5NHNeylZPrwkDMr4JiBCuTcavbcc09ewHhuRAlL0Tn8zy0GP-ls/s1600-h/viewer+2009-11-06+11-54-47-75.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 288px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4E0wIH18Tjhm3moS9wcmfMhyphenhyphenTCqCOaTojZMEud-eGytr6ngezaKrS6YlEvjVQafKzylz65IAqo85E1Yk1iZ4vU8IG5NHNeylZPrwkDMr4JiBCuTcavbcc09ewHhuRAlL0Tn8zy0GP-ls/s400/viewer+2009-11-06+11-54-47-75.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401054953854272690" border="0" /></a>Here's Stompy the Robot, an important part of any packaging / delivery operation found in many post offices worldwide.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZVVuZaQPSGU-8tHri6lIOi8CD34KgFysnIAGSetrq87iCKsXo8Kqx7GCyn9wloW0MZ-2j0B65DjbYR2eHPQa5q8prPFfoZwaMJlSIjWHLRVwyVBxMKOGw8c6Ie7NQXvqm98TZnwUEWTc/s1600-h/Naali-0.0.2-to-Taiga-0.0.2-screenshot2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZVVuZaQPSGU-8tHri6lIOi8CD34KgFysnIAGSetrq87iCKsXo8Kqx7GCyn9wloW0MZ-2j0B65DjbYR2eHPQa5q8prPFfoZwaMJlSIjWHLRVwyVBxMKOGw8c6Ie7NQXvqm98TZnwUEWTc/s400/Naali-0.0.2-to-Taiga-0.0.2-screenshot2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401056059079712050" border="0" /></a>This is Jonne showing off the functionalities of the current user interface. Note the Jabber-based communication window that allows you to send messages to other Jabber users and the world chat functionality in the lower left corner. In the background, Stompy and his friend Crunchy are making sure that your packages arrive safely and usually take less space than when they were sent. Naali uses the <a href="http://www.ogre3d.org/">OGRE</a> rendering engine to deliver the goods.<br /><br /><br />I hope the little teaser got you interested enough to check out our wiki. There's a lot of good information there and when you come up with more questions, you can join us on the mailing lists. START LIE Don't worry, we won't try to get you to contribute to our little project and together make the virtual world a bit better place. END LIE<br /><br />I would like to thank all the developers for the amazing job so far. The goals we had at the beginning of 2009 were pretty ambitious, but you have delivered time after time and I look forward to the final push towards the first end-user release set for beginning of 2010.Antti Ilomäkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10578209440406500350noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1286516696415553604.post-373500127064096742008-09-16T15:48:00.001+03:002008-09-16T15:50:36.826+03:00Once again it's time for the weekly meeting logs. I'm still You and this time we have a guest star from OpenLife Grid.<br /><br /><br />[3:30] You: should I start<br />[3:30] Anna Asplund: please do that<br />[3:30] You: Ok, the official weekly meeting of 160908 is now officially official<br />[3:30] Sakai OpenLife: :)<br />[3:31] You: The situation at Admino is pretty simple right now, the code is frozen solid and we're working on testing etc.<br />[3:31] You: Currently we're busy working on grid mode -related stuff, there's quite a bit of fixing in it<br />[3:32] You: We're also doing some architecture stuff so that we have good tasks for the next sprint<br />[3:32] You: We're also doing some architecture stuff so that we have good tasks for the next sprint<br />[3:32] Tuomo Korva: would be nice to get short tutorials to wiki about ye new features<br />[3:32] Tuomo Korva: or at least descriptions<br />[3:32] Tuomo Korva: or at least descriptions<br />[3:32] Sakai OpenLife: such as...<br />[3:33] You: we'll keep working full speed towards a more functional grid mode at least until tomorrow evening, when we evaluate the situation again<br />[3:33] You: I can provide you with some documentation pretty soon<br />[3:33] You: wiki-stuff will be coming sort of soonish also, perhaps<br />[3:33] Tuomo Korva: see the change log what to document<br />[3:33] Tuomo Korva: see the change log what to document<br />[3:33] Anna Asplund: I would like to know if you are testing some lc features also? we would like some feedback maybe?<br />[3:33] Tuomo Korva: Global inventory for different asset types<br />[3:34] Tuomo Korva: Global instant messaging between sims<br />[3:34] Tuomo Korva: etc...<br />[3:34] Tuomo Korva: etc...<br />[3:34] Sakai OpenLife: global messaging is that building off teravus's XMPP work?<br />[3:34] You: but we haven't really dug into Ludo stuff as of yet<br />[3:34] You: we have our own global IM placeholder right now<br />[3:34] You: we have our own global IM placeholder right now<br />[3:35] Sakai OpenLife: kool<br />[3:35] You: we're looking into building a proper system or hopefully rather picking up one that already exists<br />[3:35] Sakai OpenLife: it would be good to pick up an existing sys<br />[3:35] Tuomo Korva: double messages, bug...<br />[3:36] You: fixing that bug will probably require rewriting a lot of the comms code<br />[3:36] Sakai OpenLife: there's some good examples in OS -> I can grab you an SVN #<br />[3:36] You: did Sakai & co already do something about it?<br />[3:36] Sakai OpenLife: for the commit that fixed double chat<br />[3:36] You: yeah I remember you mentioning it<br />[3:38] Mikko Pallari: If I remember correctly, they added acks to chat msgs<br />[3:38] Sakai OpenLife: yup<br />[3:38] You: anyway, there's not much more to tell about our current situation<br />[3:38] Sakai OpenLife: there's a lot unack'd in ur current code<br />[3:38] You: so Anna, please go ahead and tell us about LudoCraft<br />[3:38] Anna Asplund: We have been testing all new features at LudoCraft, and doing the documentation to wiki<br />[3:39] Anna Asplund: Integrating create avatar account feature to realXtend webpages is still on our task list. However we cannot change the appearance of the form.<br />[3:39] You: anyway, the entire comms stuff is a bit flaky right now and I wouldn't mind a complete rewrite of major portions, it'll just take time<br />[3:40] Anna Asplund: This create avatar account is something that needs work from your side, if possible?! or how do you suggest we should do it?<br />[3:40] You: ok, Rock-Andy said he'll be sending you the code for the interface<br />[3:40] Anna Asplund: That sounds good.<br />[3:41] Tuomo Korva: so we'll do release candidates on monday morning?<br />[3:41] You: erm hopefully perhaps maybe<br />[3:41] Anna Asplund: can you specify?<br />[3:41] Sakai OpenLife chuckles...<br />[3:42] You: we should at least aim for rc phase on Monday morning<br />[3:42] Anna Asplund: Antti, you said you might visit Ludocraft tomorrow?<br />[3:42] Tuomo Korva: bugfixing and testing unti then<br />[3:42] You: sure, I wouldn't mind having a chat with you guys<br />[3:43] You: and tomorrow would probably be the best day to do so<br />[3:43] Tuomo Korva: only sure-fixes and critical-fixes to SVN<br />[3:43] Tuomo Korva: no new features<br />[3:43] Anna Asplund: New features can wait until next sprint<br />[3:44] Tuomo Korva: we're using the r15 for this release, that is certain now<br />[3:44] Sakai OpenLife: If Klee was here it might be worth finding out how much further he has gotten<br />[3:45] Sakai OpenLife: we already have R15.1 stable<br />[3:45] Sakai OpenLife: and now R16 alpha<br />[3:45] Tuomo Korva: i think we'll go with r15 for this release<br />[3:45] Sakai OpenLife: all work after R15.1 ->R16<br />[3:45] Sakai OpenLife: is RealXtend based work<br />[3:45] Tuomo Korva: that's what we have been testing<br />[3:45] You: it would be nice to have Klee and our client coders co-ordinate a bit<br />[3:45] You: but I assume that's already sort of sorted?<br />[3:45] Sakai OpenLife: we're trying ... need to get you guys pushed into TRAC<br />[3:45] Tuomo Korva: which was not that great<br />[3:45] Tuomo Korva: he put some code to svn after the freeze<br />[3:45] You: ok<br />[3:46] Sakai OpenLife: yes<br />[3:46] Sakai OpenLife: based on feedback from the early 20080828 release you guys made it was very unstable<br />[3:46] Sakai OpenLife: 50/50 just to get a startup<br />[3:46] Sakai OpenLife: he's put a lot more work into this issue<br />[3:47] Tuomo Korva: in our tests r15 seems to be very stable<br />[3:47] Tuomo Korva: we haven't had random crashes for a long time<br />[3:47] Sakai OpenLife: the actual viewer running yes stable<br />[3:47] Sakai OpenLife: but with different hardware out there<br />[3:47] Sakai OpenLife: it's been very hit and moss to actually get the client to load<br />[3:48] You: well, in the future we're going to get a pretty broad userbase and thus more configurations etc.<br />[3:49] You: maybe we should come up with some sort of a bug reporting form so that we get consistent data on the users' systems<br />[3:49] Sakai OpenLife: yes there were a lot of issues with Ati users<br />[3:49] Sakai OpenLife: we have in place for the public dev beta testing grid<br />[3:49] Sakai OpenLife: an issue reporting system<br />[3:49] You: sounds nice, I'll have to check it out sometime<br />[3:49] Sakai OpenLife: which we'll then try to marry up with server log / reproduce etc<br />[3:50] Sakai OpenLife: and input into track<br />[3:50] Sakai OpenLife: so that TRAC doesn't become a large collection of untested bugs<br />[3:50] Anna Asplund: That is a good idea to make a simple enough report form or use any available system<br />[3:50] Sakai OpenLife: yes that's pretty much what we've done<br />[3:50] Sakai OpenLife: made a simplified report system with search and view others etc<br />[3:50] Sakai OpenLife: then we'll go through that information<br />[3:50] Anna Asplund: ok<br />[3:51] Sakai OpenLife: and create TRAC tickets<br />[3:51] Anna Asplund: how much data/input you get from users?<br />[3:51] Sakai OpenLife: (prevent a bloated untested collection of tickets)<br />[3:51] Sakai OpenLife: heeeeeeeaps<br />[3:51] Sakai OpenLife: lol<br />[3:51] Anna Asplund: Does it take long to process their reports?<br />[3:51] Sakai OpenLife: there's probably a good 2-3000 users ready to get into the public beta<br />[3:51] Sakai OpenLife: not long<br />[3:51] Sakai OpenLife: we're here full time<br />[3:52] Sakai OpenLife: when we're ready to open we'll keep daily SVN update to the public beta<br />[3:52] Sakai OpenLife: to keep the debug relevant<br />[3:52] Sakai OpenLife: so you could see them within hours of them coming in<br />[3:52] Sakai OpenLife: we'll also do a viewer 'control'<br />[3:52] You: sounds reasonable<br />[3:52] Sakai OpenLife: to the system<br />[3:53] Anna Asplund: hmm, what do you mean viewer control<br />[3:53] Sakai OpenLife: by having a recommened DL for the dev beta environment only<br />[3:53] Sakai OpenLife: bug reports are rather useless if we're not sure of what they're connecting with<br />[3:53] Sakai OpenLife: so we keep all the participants up to date<br />[3:54] Sakai OpenLife: with whatever test viewer of the day<br />[3:54] Anna Asplund: all right, that is true<br />[3:54] Tuomo Korva: we have another meeting starting in 5 mins, i guess we have gone through the important issues<br />[3:54] Anna Asplund: yes, what do you think antti? should we end this meeting<br />[3:55] You: I suppose there's nothing more to report about what LC is doing?<br />[3:55] You: are there any issues anyone would like to raise?<br />[3:55] Sakai OpenLife: well...<br />[3:55] Sakai OpenLife: lol<br />[3:55] Anna Asplund: planning the content of course and planning the features for next sprint<br />[3:55] Anna Asplund: this we could discuss tomorrow, if you visit<br />[3:56] You: ok<br />[3:56] You: hmm next tuesday's the planning date?<br />[3:56] You: aargh I didn't remember<br />[3:56] You: aargh I didn't remember<br />[3:56] You: it's going to be busy for us all<br />[3:56] Anna Asplund: yes, so do we meet then or not<br />[3:57] Anna Asplund: maybe a bit difficult, but doable<br />[3:57] You: but anyway, I believe we can conclude this meeting and continue about that later<br />[3:57] You: I'll be there tomorrow, sure<br />[3:57] Anna Asplund: see you later<br />[3:57] You: ok<br />[3:57] Sakai OpenLife: Cya Anna<br />[3:57] Tuomo Korva: bye<br />[3:57] You: thanks for being here<br />[3:57] Anna Asplund: bye everyone<br />[3:57] You: see you later alligatorsAntti Ilomäkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10578209440406500350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1286516696415553604.post-60359202946049747692008-09-10T02:00:00.001+03:002008-09-10T02:02:35.847+03:00As before, this is the log file from the realXtend weekly meeting held at 9.9.2008. "You" refers to "me", who once again is Antti Ilomäki.<br /><br /><br />[3:03] You: ok so let's begin<br />[3:03] You: first of all, it is apparent that the IM bug is still alive and kicking<br />[3:04] You: I'm pretty satisfied with what we've achieved in this sprint<br />[3:04] You: it is quite likely that we'll have a good set of features ready tonight<br />[3:05] You: we're currently working on VoIP, global teleport requests, U/V flipping for meshes and publish my world -functionality<br />[3:05] You: chances are that all of that stuff will make it to testing tonight<br />[3:06] You: we're going to continue some tasks after the code freeze, since stuff like planning & architecturing or the publish my world web interface don't affect the other code that much<br />[3:07] You: we've even managed to do a LITTLE good for the VoIP<br />[3:07] You: but anyway, that's pretty much it except for the version number<br />[3:08] Anna Asplund: end of discussion<br />[3:08] You: I'd prefer 0.4, but it's all the same to me<br />[3:08] Anna Asplund: 0.31<br />[3:08] Anna Asplund: so version 0.31 was the deal I thought<br />[3:08] You: also note that OpenSim is approaching 0.6 and it might soon be useful to synchronize version numbers<br />[3:09] You: I don't think we have specific criteria for version numbers, but what we have now on the server side is one of the bigger releases we've done so far<br />[3:09] Anna Asplund: All right Antti, but we should have the decision made earlier, in the planning session for the sprint if possible<br />[3:09] You: but anyway, 0.31 is fine by me<br />[3:10] Anna Asplund: Thanks Antti, nice that you agree with us<br />[3:10] You: I don't think any decisions were made, I just kind of assumed we were heading for 0.4<br />[3:10] Jani Pirkola: we can sync the version number when rex modules are done by Adam<br />[3:10] You: anyway, that's it for me<br />[3:10] Anna Asplund: Well, Mikko, Tuomo and Lasse decided yesterday that the version should be 0.31, we can sync later on<br />[3:11] You: btw, do we have a target date for 1.0?<br />[3:13] You: so how's it going at Ludo?<br />[3:13] Anna Asplund: I think we are pretty happy<br />[3:13] You: yay<br />[3:14] Anna Asplund: If the code that is committed today seems stylish, seems good<br />[3:14] Anna Asplund: Tuomo, do you want to comment<br />[3:14] Tuomo Korva: couple of things:<br />[3:15] Tuomo Korva: 1) world.realxtend.org needs to be redirected somewhere<br />[3:15] Tuomo Korva: to the server we have in the us<br />[3:15] Tuomo Korva: ?<br />[3:15] Tuomo Korva: we're just about to set it up<br />[3:15] Tuomo Korva: tested it today, seems to work quite well<br />[3:15] Mikko Pallari is Online<br />[3:16] Tuomo Korva: but we are thinking now what world to put there?<br />[3:16] You: Tommi can probably do that tomorrow<br />[3:16] You: Tommi can probably do that tomorrow<br />[3:16] Mikko Pallari is Online<br />[3:16] You: the fishy worldy stuff?<br />[3:16] You: the fishy worldy stuff?<br />[3:16] Anna Asplund: The thing is that content is not quite there yet<br />[3:16] Tuomo Korva: because the fishworld will be "static", nothing else to do than move around<br />[3:17] Juho Myllylahti is Online<br />[3:17] Tuomo Korva: so is the effect going to be like "looks good"...they move around for a couple of minutes and the leave<br />[3:17] You: everyone knows that this is an internal test server, if we release something official it shouldn't be too sucky<br />[3:17] Tuomo Korva: because there is nothing else to do<br />[3:17] Juho Myllylahti is Online<br />[3:17] Anna Asplund: We would not like to open it to the public before it is more spectacular<br />[3:17] You: I say we don't release official world.realxtend until we have SOMETHING<br />[3:18] Tuomo Korva: one idea is to put the livingroom there<br />[3:18] Tuomo Korva: and so that it can't be edited<br />[3:18] Tuomo Korva: with auto-post-processing effects<br />[3:18] You: Well that's still a bit static and not quite as pretty<br />[3:18] You: but maybe, sure<br />[3:18] You: we need to have some content available<br />[3:18] Tuomo Korva: also we need to test how it workds<br />[3:18] You: it's a bit of a dilemma<br />[3:19] Anna Asplund: I agree with Antti, we should not make the world public if not necessary<br />[3:19] You: Isn't Steve about to sort the content problem for us soon anyway?<br />[3:20] Anna Asplund: How soon is that?<br />[3:20] Jani Pirkola: yeah, but the content may be crappy first<br />[3:20] Tuomo Korva: we have the content in some state, but the functionality is still missing<br />[3:20] You: the official reX content stuff could be spectacular and user created worlds will take care of the mass of stuff to explore until then<br />[3:20] Tuomo Korva: the wov functionality i mean<br />[3:20] You: Didn't he already release the info that OpenLifeGrid is going reX?<br />[3:21] Anna Asplund: What decision can we make about publicity now?<br />[3:21] You: I don't really know how long it would take for him to actually switch to reX and for the users to start creating content<br />[3:21] Anna Asplund: It takes a while, definitely<br />[3:21] Jani Pirkola: Steve said that beta grid will open today, but the actual switch will be in 1 month<br />[3:22] Anna Asplund: So the users are notified now or in a month<br />[3:22] You: how large an entity is the beta grid?<br />[3:22] You: the users have been notified already?<br />[3:22] You: the users have been notified already?<br />[3:22] Jani Pirkola: yes<br />[3:23] Tuomo Korva: btw, we can publish the wiki in this release<br />[3:23] Jani Pirkola: good idea<br />[3:24] Anna Asplund: The wiki is a good solution for documentation<br />[3:24] Jani Pirkola: Thanks for the kiss, Tuomo ;)<br />[3:24] Tuomo Korva: there are some features the admino guys should document there<br />[3:24] You: all of them?<br />[3:24] Tuomo Korva: did mikko get the url to there?<br />[3:25] Tuomo Korva: not all<br />[3:25] You: he did<br />[3:25] You: why not all<br />[3:25] Tuomo Korva: at least the new user rights management thing<br />[3:25] Tuomo Korva: at least the new user rights management thing<br />[3:25] Tuomo Korva: the authenticate command system<br />[3:25] Tuomo Korva: or was it authentication<br />[3:25] You: Hmm I probably have the instructions somewhere<br />[3:26] Tuomo Korva: i can probably put the url here right now, it will be public anways soon?<br />[3:26] Mikko Pallari: btw. what is the new viewport/rtt-camera feature?<br />[3:26] Tuomo Korva: pic in pic<br />[3:27] Tuomo Korva: you can have security cameras<br />[3:27] You: yay security<br />[3:27] You: 1984<br />[3:27] Tuomo Korva: virtual that is<br />[3:28] Tuomo Korva: virtual cameras to other parts of the world, and then have the picture from the virtual camera in some texture on a prim<br />[3:28] You: can I have a security cam on my site so that it records all the griefer activity while I'm gone?<br />[3:28] Tuomo Korva: so the wiki is here: http://www.rexdeveloper.org/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page<br />[3:29] You: well, anyway, are there any specific points for tonight?<br />[3:29] You: Tommi or someone should redirect the world.realxtend some time soon<br />[3:29] Tuomo Korva: keep the code clean :)<br />[3:29] Juho Myllylahti is Offline<br />[3:29] Juho Myllylahti is Offline<br />[3:29] Tuomo Korva: and not many bugs<br />[3:29] Tuomo Korva: testing starts<br />[3:29] Tuomo Korva: and more documentation to wiki, too<br />[3:30] You: our code is always squeaky clean<br />[3:30] Tuomo Korva: ok. if you make some accounts to the wiki I can give you rights to edit it<br />[3:31] You: anyway, can we conclude this meeting?<br />[3:31] Tuomo Korva: wiki is readonly for everyone, you need to be rex-approved to able to edit it<br />[3:31] You: ok<br />[3:31] Anna Asplund: Does Jani have anything to add?<br />[3:32] Tuomo Korva: what was the world.realxtend.org content decision?<br />[3:32] Jani Pirkola: I am in a meeting in RL here so my attention is a bit elsewhere<br />[3:32] Tuomo Korva: livingroom?<br />[3:32] Tuomo Korva: livingroom special edition that is.<br />[3:32] You: for now it can be anything if we're not advertizing it to the great public<br />[3:32] Anna Asplund: Is livinroom ok for everyone. If we don't shout about it to public too much<br />[3:32] You: except of course for the billions who read my blog<br />[3:32] Tuomo Korva: ok<br />[3:32] Tuomo Korva: ok<br />[3:32] Jani Pirkola: ok for me too<br />[3:33] Tuomo Korva: we'll see how many billions come there then :)<br />[3:33] Anna Asplund: Fine.<br />[3:33] Tuomo Korva: oki, tha's all for me<br />[3:33] You: Ok, the meeting is concluded, I'll go do some VoIP testing<br />[3:33] You: Ok, the meeting is concluded, I'll go do some VoIP testing<br />[3:33] Juho Myllylahti is Online<br />[3:33] You: see you later<br />[3:33] Jani Pirkola: cu thanks<br />[3:34] Anna Asplund: see youAntti Ilomäkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10578209440406500350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1286516696415553604.post-70260244610988966422008-08-27T15:51:00.003+03:002008-08-27T15:57:46.038+03:00realXtend weekly meeting logs August 27 2008<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibqoAKGqE7h5B4tERcGPAGO_J3o8xD9f35BrL0vLcxiZO7SQuA8n9DMod5l8q077ea030V0mDEFAnTffWc_S7hbS4IcnrDEJVjPQYOroPpTgd7pRIDpcPCDmB6zU9SWHkBl4FyxXgiRGs/s1600-h/meetingscreenshot.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibqoAKGqE7h5B4tERcGPAGO_J3o8xD9f35BrL0vLcxiZO7SQuA8n9DMod5l8q077ea030V0mDEFAnTffWc_S7hbS4IcnrDEJVjPQYOroPpTgd7pRIDpcPCDmB6zU9SWHkBl4FyxXgiRGs/s400/meetingscreenshot.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5239180772778701394" border="0" /></a><br />Here's the chat log from our latest weekly meeting. Once again, "You" refers to "me", which in this case is Antti Ilomäki.<br /><br /><br /><br />[9:34] Jani Pirkola: Okay, lets start the meeting<br />[9:34] Jani Pirkola: Antti, I hope you could save the log<br />[9:35] Jani Pirkola: And collect possible action points<br />[9:35] Jani Pirkola: Antti, go ahead<br />[9:35] Jani Pirkola: your status report<br />[9:35] You: well, mikko probably knows the latest news, but all in all, things are progressing as usual<br />[9:36] You: working on nhibernate and grid mode<br />[9:36] You: web interface for user management works partially, needs a bit additional design<br />[9:36] You: and some features<br />[9:36] You: mikko, how's the situation with cross-sim IM?<br />[9:36] Mikko Pallari: yeah. matti made some grid fixes, but I think it is not still working properly enough<br />[9:37] You: we'll have to look into the grid mode in more detail, but Matti and maybe Mikko as well should have time left in this sprint to focus on those important features<br />[9:38] Jani Pirkola: great<br />[9:39] Jani Pirkola: so no problems, basically, am I right?<br />[9:39] You: Then the material stuff with Adam is in pretty good shape, he's still missing LudoCraft description, but it shouldn't be a problem<br />[9:39] Jani Pirkola: Is someone taking care of that?<br />[9:39] You: no problems if you don't count the number of bug fixes and feature requests<br />[9:40] You: then again I hope Matti gets the VoIP done quickly, we need to start planning reX Center and content servers etc. before next sprint<br />[9:40] You: Anna is working on it AFAIK<br />[9:40] Jani Pirkola: great<br />[9:41] Jani Pirkola: did you find what is wrong with woip?<br />[9:42] You: Not yet really, but Matti seems to be narrowing it down little by little<br />[9:42] Jani Pirkola: Antti, Anna is asking you to come to skype, could you manage that a the same time<br />[9:42] You: It could have something to do with how the voice libraries are being used or the TCP traffic, Matti is looking into it<br />[9:43] You: probably, this is my actually working computer at home<br />[9:43] Jani Pirkola: sounds good, hopefully at the end at least<br />[9:43] Jani Pirkola: Hi Anna<br />[9:43] Anna Asplund: Hi<br />[9:52] Jani Pirkola: Okay, Anna, could you continue to report Ludocraft status?<br />[9:52] Anna Asplund: Okay<br />[9:53] Anna Asplund: We are doing the fixes after viewer merge<br />[9:53] Anna Asplund: Heikki T is redoing some work on the light maps<br />[9:53] Anna Asplund: and Lasse fixes<br />[9:54] Jani Pirkola: (btw after you are ready with the status, say that out loud so we dont wait you to say something more)<br />[9:54] Anna Asplund: Tuomo does postprocessing effects and random avatar function<br />[9:54] Anna Asplund: Then we have feature that enables avatar change from human to fish<br />[9:55] Anna Asplund: which is used for our new content purposes<br />[9:55] You: how about robot to fish?<br />[9:55] Anna Asplund: That is possible also<br />[9:55] You: maybe robot to submarine<br />[9:55] Anna Asplund: Our content team is doing underwater world<br />[9:56] Anna Asplund: The content is about 10 percent of the concept we have so far<br />[9:56] Anna Asplund: I mean 10 per cent ready ;)<br />[9:56] Matti Kuonanoja is Online<br />[9:56] Anna Asplund: We have one fish that is animated somehow but needs fixing<br />[9:56] Jani Pirkola: do you plan to have it 100% at the time we do the press release?<br />[9:56] Anna Asplund: No way<br />[9:57] Anna Asplund: I mean we have 1 level demo for the press release this september<br />[9:57] Jani Pirkola: Do you plan to have it 100% by the time we have the press event?<br />[9:57] Anna Asplund: What press event, the one in November?<br />[9:57] Jani Pirkola: is the level 1 demo public so people can come in?<br />[9:58] Anna Asplund: I think we will have some percentage between 50-100%<br />[9:58] Jani Pirkola: Yes, we have planned only one press event, around the end of november<br />[9:58] Anna Asplund: Yes, it is public but limited area<br />[9:58] Jani Pirkola: that is fine then<br />[9:58] Matti Kuonanoja is Offline<br />[9:58] Anna Asplund: Good<br />[9:58] Jani Pirkola: When do you estimate we will have 100%?<br />[9:58] Anna Asplund: Hopefully by the end of year<br />[9:59] Anna Asplund: But our content can be used even if the planned concept is not 100%<br />[9:59] Jani Pirkola: Did Tuomo get that server from Tommi? Have you tried to use it?<br />[9:59] You: is it possible to get teaser screenshots from your test environment to the LA expo?<br />[9:59] Anna Asplund: The Vision is always greater than what is realized actually<br />[9:59] Anna Asplund: I can ask Tomi, it is not for sure yet<br />[10:00] Jani Pirkola: Enough of the vision is good enough ;)<br />[10:00] Anna Asplund: Which server do you mean?<br />[10:00] Jani Pirkola: One of our four servers in US<br />[10:00] Jani Pirkola: Where the seaworld will be located<br />[10:00] Anna Asplund: I asked Tuomo earlier, but I will check that again, that is important<br />[10:01] Jani Pirkola: okay, let me know how it goes<br />[10:02] Anna Asplund: Okay, Tuomo has tried it this week, but has not done anything yet<br />[10:02] Jani Pirkola: is it already accessible?<br />[10:02] Anna Asplund: He got in, that's about it<br />[10:02] Jani Pirkola: Would be nice to pop in every once in a while<br />[10:02] Jani Pirkola: okay<br />[10:02] Jani Pirkola: anything else?<br />[10:03] Anna Asplund: We have talked about the targets and measurements<br />[10:03] Jani Pirkola: yes, it is on our agenda<br />[10:03] Jani Pirkola: we can talk about it when we come to that<br />[10:03] Anna Asplund: Yes, I see<br />[10:03] Jani Pirkola: My status report:<br />[10:04] Jani Pirkola: I have developed idea that we give out free servers for individuals and organizations<br />[10:04] Jani Pirkola: That is to promote 3D Internet and realXtend<br />[10:05] Jani Pirkola: I am trying to negotiate with different service providers to find a good and not so expensive model of cooperation<br />[10:05] Jani Pirkola: Then a question to you Antti; could you make the press release for the September and send it to me Anna and Ville<br />[10:06] Jani Pirkola: The one about the funders<br />[10:06] You: probably, I'll need to know what's supposed to be in it, though<br />[10:07] Anna Asplund: Yes, will we also tell all our contributors etc<br />[10:07] Jani Pirkola: Then I want you to think about if we should have a realXtend conference, something like the opensim/realxtend meeting we had at the end of January<br />[10:07] Jani Pirkola: Antti, write what you would like to include in the press release and I will comment it back<br />[10:07] You: hmm<br />[10:07] You: rolling in the snow with people again<br />[10:07] You: sounds fun<br />[10:07] Jani Pirkola: But the main message is just to reveal our funders, contributors<br />[10:08] You: who do we invite<br />[10:08] You: what's the deadline<br />[10:08] Jani Pirkola: For the conference I think we would invite all the active contributors, all realxtend project members and collaboration company personnel, plus OpenSim core<br />[10:09] Anna Asplund: It is quite soon, I think these kind of happenings should be planned carefully to get all the good out of it<br />[10:09] Jani Pirkola: I guess that could make something like 100 people<br />[10:09] Anna Asplund: You mean for November then for sure?<br />[10:09] Jani Pirkola: I was esitmating that it could be somewhere at the end of February next year<br />[10:09] Anna Asplund: Ok, that sounds good<br />[10:09] You: it might be pretty expensive, though<br />[10:09] Jani Pirkola: There could be a smallish registration fee to cover the costs<br />[10:10] Jani Pirkola: I have budgeted some money for it and I expect to get some sponsors as well<br />[10:10] Anna Asplund: Could we organize an event in some big conference instead<br />[10:10] Anna Asplund: Where these people might come anyway<br />[10:10] You: it could be a meeting for OpenSimn developers as well<br />[10:10] Jani Pirkola: I want to see it happen at Oulu, that is an important thing for us and it kind of contnues the heritage<br />[10:11] Jani Pirkola: and we try to keep it as small as possible<br />[10:11] Anna Asplund: 100 people<br />[10:11] Jani Pirkola: but still get all the relevant people in<br />[10:11] Anna Asplund: is a lot<br />[10:11] You: yeah, I could keep it smaller than 100 if I really trief<br />[10:12] Jani Pirkola: We need a separate entity to take care of all the arrangements<br />[10:12] Anna Asplund: Who could that be? Oulu Innovation?<br />[10:12] Jani Pirkola: The last January meeting was an excellent kick-start for us to get to know everyone in the industry<br />[10:12] Jani Pirkola: Oulu Innovation is one possiblity<br />[10:13] Jani Pirkola: I will ask this around there and I hope you could think about it as well<br />[10:13] Jani Pirkola: To continue my status report; I will meet Aaron again tomorrow, I think Antti is joining. Aki and Harri may come too if you can make them accounts, Antti.<br />[10:14] Anna Asplund: Somehow I think inviting people in small groups could be more effective, if we need contacts, but your idea is good, if we watn to create big event<br />[10:14] Jani Pirkola: We will meet Nick, who is heading TWGs at immersive education<br />[10:14] Anna Asplund: What is the main topic of conversation<br />[10:14] You: what time was it tomorrow?<br />[10:14] Jani Pirkola: Anna, I think we need to have separatte tracks like in conferences if we are over 30 people<br />[10:14] You: aki and harri have accounts already<br />[10:14] Jani Pirkola: 9 pm Finnish time<br />[10:15] Jani Pirkola: 3 pm Boston time<br />[10:15] Jani Pirkola: I hope I calculated the time right<br />[10:15] Anna Asplund: I mean for Immersive Education people<br />[10:15] Anna Asplund: There was some talk about 10 pm also<br />[10:16] Jani Pirkola: I agreed about 3 pm Boston time, so that might be 10 pm Finnish time...<br />[10:16] Anna Asplund: Last time we had a meeting it was at 9 pm and in Boston 2 pm? I think<br />[10:16] Jani Pirkola: Okay then I calculated that in a wrong way<br />[10:16] Jani Pirkola: so it is 10pm then<br />[10:16] Anna Asplund: Hopefully, double check that<br />[10:17] Jani Pirkola: I met World45 at Monday, we had a good introductions about who we are and who they are<br />[10:17] Jani Pirkola: We will continue discussions with them<br />[10:17] Jani Pirkola: Then I and Antti, we had a meeting with G2<br />[10:17] Jani Pirkola: They are subcontractors for Microsoft<br />[10:17] Jani Pirkola: And they got a walk-through for realxtend<br />[10:18] Jani Pirkola: G2 will show realXtend for Microsoft later this week<br />[10:18] Jani Pirkola: And I will continue discussions with them<br />[10:18] Jani Pirkola: Okay, thats pretty much all<br />[10:18] Jani Pirkola: from my statys<br />[10:19] Jani Pirkola: Then we can go to measurements<br />[10:19] Jani Pirkola: 1: in the agenda<br />[10:19] Jani Pirkola: Antti, anything you want to say?<br />[10:19] You: related to the measurements, not really at the moment<br />[10:20] Anna Asplund: We have discussed the measurements and have some questions<br />[10:20] Jani Pirkola: Okay, how about you Anna?<br />[10:20] You: We'll make the baseline measurements at the end of this sprint<br />[10:20] Anna Asplund: Look and feel will be measured by making some 5-10 question list<br />[10:20] Jani Pirkola: sounds good<br />[10:20] Anna Asplund: we are working on that with Tony and Tomi<br />[10:21] Anna Asplund: but is it necessary to compare to state of the art game?<br />[10:21] Anna Asplund: virtual worlds should be ok<br />[10:21] You: some of the measurements are a bit tricky<br />[10:21] Anna Asplund: yes they should be defined more precisely<br />[10:22] Jani Pirkola: Antti, feel free to change/modify any of the measurements that are on your teams responsibility. Same goes for you Anna<br />[10:22] Anna Asplund: I think it requires a RL meeting<br />[10:22] You: for example average server uptime is a bit problematic without adequate statistical data<br />[10:22] Anna Asplund: Yes, we had comment on that also<br />[10:22] Jani Pirkola: Antti, you just need to find a measure that makes sense<br />[10:23] Jani Pirkola: If you cant, then just drop it<br />[10:23] You: one or two servers that are also used for testing purposes aren't enough to calculate such averages at meaningful accuracy<br />[10:23] Anna Asplund: And viewer crashes, % rate, with which users, where<br />[10:23] You: that stuff would be really good to know, it's just difficult to do right now<br />[10:24] Jani Pirkola: We will measure what we can, hopefully at the end of this sprint to get a baseline.<br />[10:24] Jani Pirkola: We can add new measurements as they become possible and meaningful<br />[10:24] Anna Asplund: If the future of this project depends on these measurements, we should have goals that are measurable and things that need to be improved should be on task lists<br />[10:25] Jani Pirkola: You can challenge developers as well to think about them because that is a good way to notice if they are doing a good work<br />[10:25] You: I was thinking of getting a student project to program statistics analyzing software for us<br />[10:25] Anna Asplund: But can we meet face to face and discuss this?<br />[10:26] You: our servers record a good deal of information right now, its readability is a bit lacking, however<br />[10:26] Jani Pirkola: I hope you could, maybe with Mikko and Lasse (Antti and Anna). I will be happy with what you find out.<br />[10:26] You: we need some kind of a parser<br />[10:26] Anna Asplund: That is a good idea Antti? What is the student schedule for this kind of stuff, can they produce efficient work<br />[10:26] You: well they're usually not really good, but the software should be relatively simple to do<br />[10:27] Anna Asplund: yep<br />[10:27] Jani Pirkola: When you could have the RL meeting?<br />[10:27] Jani Pirkola: I would say as soon as possible<br />[10:27] Anna Asplund: Next week, maybe Tuesday<br />[10:27] Jani Pirkola: You can schedule that later over the mail.<br />[10:27] You: some of our programmers need to do that course, so having them work on something useful is always a bonus for us<br />[10:28] Anna Asplund: Or if it needs to quicker, then even tomorrow?<br />[10:28] Jani Pirkola: To continue our agenda; I dont want to run over the schedule we have<br />[10:28] You: we'll have to discuss the schedule later<br />[10:28] Anna Asplund: Thanks Jani<br />[10:29] Jani Pirkola: 2: downloads, documentation, wikis and sites<br />[10:29] Jani Pirkola: I am not very happy with the rexdeveloper.org<br />[10:29] Jani Pirkola: not because of our team<br />[10:29] Jani Pirkola: but we need something more like a wiki<br />[10:29] Jani Pirkola: so we have sites.realxtend.org<br />[10:30] Jani Pirkola: There we can create pages like you can see our agenda on<br />[10:30] Anna Asplund: Is that easy to use and accessible?<br />[10:30] Jani Pirkola: Later we can add community members to edit and add content<br />[10:30] Jani Pirkola: Anna, it is really easy to use<br />[10:30] Jani Pirkola: and it works<br />[10:30] Jani Pirkola: I have been testing it<br />[10:31] Jani Pirkola: Unfortunately it supports only max 10MB files, so we cant move all our assets like videos there<br />[10:31] Anna Asplund: Okay, should we start testing it at first and then make a decision?<br />[10:31] Jani Pirkola: yes, take a look at it and tell me how you feel about it<br />[10:32] Anna Asplund: We'll do that<br />[10:32] Jani Pirkola: Okay, do you have Any Other Business we need to talk about?<br />[10:32] You: well, there's the time of the weekly meetings<br />[10:33] Jani Pirkola: Youre right, I suggested that we move the weekly meeting to Tuesday<br />[10:33] Anna Asplund: This Oulu Innovation magazine need cover picture of you Jani<br />[10:33] Anna Asplund: But I will call you later<br />[10:33] Jani Pirkola: Didnt Ville have photos already?<br />[10:33] You: am I on the centerfold?<br />[10:34] Anna Asplund: Yes, that is a good idea Antti<br />[10:34] Anna Asplund: We have photos, but Innovator wants something more<br />[10:34] Jani Pirkola: Antti, I will be on technology magazines, you can take care of playgirl etc... :)<br />[10:35] Jani Pirkola: Okay, you can give my contact details for them, I suppose they have photographers<br />[10:35] You: we could start selling realXtend calendars with different developer for eaxh month<br />[10:35] Anna Asplund: I gave your contacts already<br />[10:35] Jani Pirkola: Okay, I will agree on time with them<br />[10:35] Anna Asplund: great<br />[10:35] Jani Pirkola: thanks Anna for taking care of that<br />[10:36] Jani Pirkola: So is it okay for everyone to move our weekly meetings to Tuesdays<br />[10:36] Anna Asplund: I don't have anything else<br />[10:36] Anna Asplund: Yes that suits me<br />[10:36] You: sure<br />[10:36] Jani Pirkola: antti?<br />[10:37] Jani Pirkola: ok<br />[10:37] Jani Pirkola: I think we are ready<br />[10:37] Jani Pirkola: Thanks everyone<br />[10:37] Anna Asplund: Thanks<br />[10:37] You: ok<br />[10:37] Jani Pirkola: ttyl!Antti Ilomäkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10578209440406500350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1286516696415553604.post-7368290872918408722008-08-22T12:33:00.003+03:002008-08-22T13:11:48.388+03:00A small step for a prim<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIjzY3RJ2kH-L0VF5rMh_EqXk5D24VYSVfWtIG-f9YEhlfgECBauY32wXLmigGJmBdUfKRNvEaTxwxCe-LlFyQbiS_M6rYz8Df17CTEOZBfYXPmcaWpNK4h8bBWrD_QVcOMTOvVc9D3ak/s1600-h/globalinventory.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIjzY3RJ2kH-L0VF5rMh_EqXk5D24VYSVfWtIG-f9YEhlfgECBauY32wXLmigGJmBdUfKRNvEaTxwxCe-LlFyQbiS_M6rYz8Df17CTEOZBfYXPmcaWpNK4h8bBWrD_QVcOMTOvVc9D3ak/s400/globalinventory.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5237280937930090626" border="0" /></a><br />The humble little prim knew this was going to be a special day. It had spent its entire life preparing for this very moment, all two minutes of it. All the pyramid-shaped prims in the world were cheering for it and the entire media of Primlandia was ready to immortalize the name "Pyramiitti" after a successful test. The residents of the brave new virtual world were hungry for heroes in these troubling days and they were about to get one. As Pyramiitti stepped into the global inventory of a quick little robot, silence fell upon the land of prims like a cloud of anticipation and excitement.<br /><br />When light once again fondled the noble shape of the prim Pyramiitti, silence gave way to a thunderous roar of a nation of virtual reality objects going crazy from pure joy. Prims and meshes were hugging each other with tears in their eyes, the entire virtual universe felt a sense of unity never experienced before. The humble little prim had shattered the barriers that had previously prevented prims from following avatars, the pathfinders of the virtual universe. The great joy and priviledge of seamlessly crossing the borders of virtual worlds until now reserved only for avatars, was now available for objects as well.<br /><br />Humble little Pyramiitti the Prim looked at his traveling companion, the prestigious avatar, not really knowing if it was appropriate to take the center stage in this festival of achievement. The avatar nodded and gave way to the little prim; they were no longer a class apart, prims and venerable avatars were now finally united as travelers of the virtual universe. Gathering all the courage a humble little prim could muster, he stepped forth and as he did so, silence once again fell as the spectators of this unforgettable moment prepared for the historical words of the first prim virtunaut.<br /><br />Humble little Pyramiitti cleared his throat and with as much sound as a little prim can generate yelled: "this is REALXTEND"! The echoes of the historical words hadn't faded when the crowd again burst into a deafening roar. Some were crying of joy, some shouted the name of the great adventurer prim, many were just screaming in agony as someone stepped on their toes or other vertexes during the celebrations. The humble little prim was picked up and carried around as the jubilant crowd celebrated throughout the night.<br /><br />The barriers were no more. Where there used to be isolation and despair, there now was only freedom and adventure. A prim had crossed the boundary of virtual worlds. Opportunities were endless and it was easy to see that this was a sign of great things to come. Sure, there was room for improvement in the technology, but it didn't take an optimist to figure out that they would be a walk in the park for those who can travel across the universe. What a great day.Antti Ilomäkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10578209440406500350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1286516696415553604.post-47481263938462290222008-08-15T10:58:00.003+03:002008-08-15T11:24:19.839+03:00Weekly Meeting Log August 13th 2008Summer holidays are over and we're back in action. Last wednesday we held the first official in world meeting on our test site. There were a couple of realXtend developers witnessing the historical event, hopefully we'll have even bigger crowds in the future. If you wish to participate, you'll need the realXtend client (downloads available at http://www.realxtend.org/) and avatar authentication / storage service, which you can setup yourself or just ask us to do one for you (contact info@realxtend.org).<br /><br />The talkers are Jani Pirkola (realXtend program manager) , Anna Asplund (project manager, Ludocraft) and "You", who in this case happens to be "me", or more specifically Antti Ilomäki (project manager, ADMINO technologies).<br /><br />[9:55] Jani Pirkola: okay. Welcome everyone to first realXtend weekly meeting<br />[9:55] Jani Pirkola: This is a public meeting so everyone can join<br />[9:55] Jani Pirkola: if we have something private to chat, we can do that at other meetings<br />[9:55] Jani Pirkola: basically everything which involves money is private<br />[9:55] Jani Pirkola: and everything else is public<br />[9:56] Jani Pirkola: next time, we will have web based agenda<br />[9:56] Jani Pirkola: now it is just a texture on this prim<br />[9:56] Jani Pirkola: which is pretty basic<br />[9:56] Jani Pirkola: we will also try to setup vnc so that we can have live document<br />[9:56] Jani Pirkola: But, to the first subject; Anna could you present Ludocraft team status briefly<br />[9:57] anna a: Well, briefly: we are working on the merge and light<br />[9:57] anna a: maps<br />[9:58] Jani Pirkola: anything else?<br />[9:58] anna a: designing the new world<br />[9:59] anna a: making some models<br />[9:59] anna a: and planning for features needed<br />[9:59] Jani Pirkola: Do you need Admino team to implement some of the features?<br />[9:59] anna a: maybe<br />[9:59] anna a: you will hear from us today<br />[10:00] You: sounds ominous<br />[10:00] anna a: or this week, says our Tuomo<br />[10:00] Jani Pirkola: If that was all from Ludocraft, then you can continue Antti<br />[10:00] anna a: ok<br />[10:01] You: well, we've been working with several tasks, you'll receive a report on work done during July shortly<br />[10:01] anna a: new viewer build is available in the normal place, by the way<br />[10:01] You: We've finished a couple in good time and are working on for example the web interface for user management<br />[10:02] You: we're hoping to start on the VoIP fixes soon and our viewer specialist will get to have a look at the smooth teleport bugs starting monday<br />[10:02] Jani Pirkola: Anna and Antti, I would like you to update the sprint backlogs, you can add completed tasks to the same spreadsheet<br />[10:03] You: we're waiting for the date on the code freeze to calculate exactly which taks are going to be finished in this sprint<br />[10:03] Jani Pirkola: we will make that backlog public as well and link it from rexdeveloper.org or something<br />[10:03] You: the Admino backlog should be pretty much in order<br />[10:03] You: the new features from 3di aren't in it yet, though<br />[10:04] anna a: we suggest tuesday 9th September 23.59 hours<br />[10:04] Jani Pirkola: Antti, there may be some tasks coming from Ludocraft to support new content<br />[10:04] You: I suggest we first post them in the unallocated list and share from there<br />[10:04] Jani Pirkola: What are the new features from 3Di?<br />[10:04] You: one thing is we calculated a notable amount of time for bug fixes and small features, but it seems we're going way past that<br />[10:05] anna a: if something is not ready, then we postpone that to next release<br />[10:05] You: at this rate we may have to leave out some features from the original plans<br />[10:05] You: there were some new features in the mail?<br />[10:05] anna a: was there?<br />[10:05] You: My computer is acting up so I can't open the mail program and check out<br />[10:06] Jani Pirkola: oh yes now I remember 3Di sent us some feedback what features they would like to see<br />[10:06] You: but some time ago we received email with some potential new feature requests<br />[10:06] anna a: yes, i added the features already to unallocated items in backlog<br />[10:06] anna a: those features might need some looking at still<br />[10:06] You: some of them seemd to be on the lists already, though<br />[10:06] Jani Pirkola: So the process goes that we add all the new feature requests to our backlog and then start to work on them if they seem like a good idea compared to everything else we need to do<br />[10:07] anna a: yes, that is good way to proceed<br />[10:07] anna a: we have added some support and documentation tasks in our sprint also<br />[10:08] You: doing important new features is ok and necessary, but they're coming in at a rate higher than we anticipated and I can't promise to include all the features we talked about earlier at this rate<br />[10:08] You: we can reprioritize, but you need to approve it, of course<br />[10:08] anna a: I understand Antti, we have to reprioritize, and then Jani could approve it also<br />[10:08] Jani Pirkola: Sure, we just need to go over the list again and see if there is something that needs to be changed<br />[10:09] Jani Pirkola: This ongoing sprint is a bit too long<br />[10:09] Jani Pirkola: but we will do shorter ones after this<br />[10:09] anna a: That's true, it is a bit long<br />[10:09] You: it's a bit long, sure, but two sprints would've been too short<br />[10:09] Jani Pirkola: I will go over the list tonight and send you feedback about it.<br />[10:10] Jani Pirkola: AP Jani: check product backlog, and make it public, post note to realxtend mailing list<br />[10:10] anna a: thanks for that Jani, it would be great to get feedback<br />[10:10] Jani Pirkola: Antti, collect all the APs from this discussion later and we can follow up on them<br />[10:10] You: ok<br />[10:11] Jani Pirkola: so the code freeze 9th of September 23:59 is suggested by Anna, is it okay for everyone?<br />[10:11] You: fine by me, but when's the release date?<br />[10:11] Jani Pirkola: Anna, you had an idea about that<br />[10:12] anna a: when everything is ready, maybe around 24th<br />[10:12] anna a: or even earlier,<br />[10:12] You: a bit long between freeze and release<br />[10:13] anna a: Because we don't organize an event, but just a press release, we can decide the day later<br />[10:13] Jani Pirkola: Actually we can do binary release of our software earlier and then the press release a bit later when we have seen how it works out<br />[10:13] anna a: viewer release can be 22th September<br />[10:14] Jani Pirkola: Can we start next sprint earlier than that?<br />[10:14] anna a: Yes, we probably can<br />[10:14] Jani Pirkola: First tasks in the next sprint would be something like "release viewer and server"<br />[10:14] You: what kind of a testing period do you have in mind?<br />[10:15] Jani Pirkola: Last time we had a week and it was too tight, we took some risks with that.<br />[10:15] Jani Pirkola: Two weeks seem a bit long, though<br />[10:15] You: Concurrent testing worked pretty well last time with everyone prepared to work full time on bug fixes for a week or so<br />[10:15] You: but long testing periods with lots of people are very costly<br />[10:15] Jani Pirkola: We can do so that now that we have agreed the code freeze, we will fix it as long as it is good enough<br />[10:16] Jani Pirkola: as long as it needs fixing, I mean to say :)<br />[10:16] You: I don't really predict major potential issues besides the smooth teleport<br />[10:16] You: that could be a bit tricky<br />[10:16] You: code-Jani will get to work on that starting monday<br />[10:17] Jani Pirkola: Anna, you said already that the new viewer can be released 22nd. Was that estimate or does that mean that it can not be released earlier for some reason?<br />[10:17] anna a: if code freeze is on tuesday, then everybody tests and fixes at least three days<br />[10:18] You: now it's on wednesday?<br />[10:18] anna a: if everything is well after that new sprint can start on MOnday<br />[10:18] Jani Pirkola: I suggest that we do the code freeze at 9th, and do the sw release at 16th - that would be the target. Then if there is something that prevents releasing, we continue to fix it and set a new release date.<br />[10:18] You: oh thursday, sorry<br />[10:18] Jani Pirkola: Then we do the planning for the next sprint at 17th<br />[10:19] Jani Pirkola: objections?<br />[10:19] anna a: It can be a target, but if bugs found, there might be need for more time<br />[10:19] You: if it's ok by Jani I'm fine with the date<br />[10:19] Jani Pirkola: sure, Anna. that is the point. We dont allocate too long time now because we can postpone the release.<br />[10:19] Jani Pirkola: if needed<br />[10:19] anna a: good<br />[10:20] Jani Pirkola: Decision: code freeze 9th, release 16th, planning 17th, press release; when we are ready with the content<br />[10:21] Jani Pirkola: Anna, do you have estimate when the content for the press release - meaning the seaworld you mentioned - could be ready?<br />[10:21] anna a: It depends on a lot of factors<br />[10:22] anna a: Content will be as ready as needed, we can polish it endlessly<br />[10:22] Jani Pirkola: okay, we can leave estimate for the date of the press release open now. and look at the situation also later<br />[10:24] Jani Pirkola: then about the LA VW Expo<br />[10:24] Jani Pirkola: Tomi Kujanpää is going there<br />[10:24] Jani Pirkola: And I think Antti as well<br />[10:24] You: I suppose we don't have a realXtend booth there<br />[10:24] Jani Pirkola: plus Hannu from Admino<br />[10:24] You: Well, Hannu will decide shortly if we're going<br />[10:24] Jani Pirkola: no we dont - I hope realxtend guys there act as walking booths<br />[10:24] You: There's still slim hope that I won't have to sit in a plane for a couple of days<br />[10:25] anna a: walking booths with their rex-logo t-shirts<br />[10:25] Jani Pirkola: Anna, how does it look like - what materials we are going to get there?<br />[10:25] anna a: We will have business cards for sure<br />[10:26] anna a: and t-shirts<br />[10:26] Jani Pirkola: If t-shirts are not expensive, we could buy those for everyone<br />[10:26] anna a: If they look good!<br />[10:27] Jani Pirkola: if they do not look good, why do we bother to do them :)<br />[10:27] anna a: heh heh<br />[10:28] Jani Pirkola: And, I wanted to order realXtend business cards for me, Anna, Antti, and Tomi. If someone else wants to have them, we can make them as well.<br />[10:28] You: yay<br />[10:28] Jani Pirkola: Okay. Then about the immersive education<br />[10:28] Jani Pirkola: Anna suggested that Antti could join the TWGs<br />[10:28] anna a: Send your details to us, we will make cards for everyone that request those<br />[10:29] Jani Pirkola: how many cards for one person?<br />[10:29] Jani Pirkola: I think there is some standard amount in one package<br />[10:29] anna a: 150 cards?<br />[10:29] Jani Pirkola: sounds about right<br />[10:29] You: in total?<br />[10:29] anna a: per person<br />[10:29] Jani Pirkola: no for one person<br />[10:29] You: wow<br />[10:30] Jani Pirkola: Again; about the immersive education<br />[10:30] You: I've probably never met that many people<br />[10:30] Jani Pirkola: they are working with their proposal for the open file format<br />[10:30] Jani Pirkola: that could carry content from one world to another world<br />[10:30] anna a: yes, we have made an initial estimate of collada support<br />[10:31] Jani Pirkola: do you have that already, how does it look like?<br />[10:31] You: that would be interesting to hear<br />[10:31] anna a: do we need other formats analyzed as well, or should that be ok<br />[10:31] You: depends on the initiative<br />[10:31] Jani Pirkola: Collada was the best guess at the moment. FBX is something Cubicasa was talking about.<br />[10:32] Jani Pirkola: But we can now use Collada as the best guess and base our work estimates on that<br />[10:32] anna a: it's initial, we will discuss it today in more detail, early estimate is about 3 man months<br />[10:32] Jani Pirkola: If there are no objections, I will suggest that Antti joins the TWGs at immersive education. He can get support from his team and everyone at realXtend<br />[10:33] You: what does joining the TWGs mean in practise?<br />[10:33] Jani Pirkola: I will also suggest that Aki from Cubicasa will join the open file format TWG<br />[10:33] Jani Pirkola: Antti, we will find out<br />[10:33] anna a: that sounds good, I will let you know about our estimate for collada support, when it is more detailed<br />[10:34] Jani Pirkola: Anna, just send it to Aaron when you feel it is good enough - if it is draft you can mention that as well<br />[10:34] Jani Pirkola: CC me to that email<br />[10:34] Jani Pirkola: and Antti<br />[10:34] anna a: Yes, thanks, I will do that<br />[10:34] You: 3 person months sounds like a lot of effort<br />[10:34] anna a: Well, this includes support for lights and such also<br />[10:34] Jani Pirkola: Antti, could you mail Aaron and tell that from realXtend you would like to join TWGs and say that Aki could join the OFF TWG<br />[10:35] You: was that Lasse months or mortal people?<br />[10:35] Jani Pirkola: Antti, youre right, Lasse months need to be multiplied by three :)<br />[10:35] anna a: Lasse months could be a little less<br />[10:35] You: Sure, I can mail him, but I think it would be better protocol if you made the suggestion especially since Aaron doesn't know AKI as far as I know<br />[10:36] You: if that matters, of course<br />[10:36] Jani Pirkola: Antti, you can just give Aki's name and email to Aaron, that is okay. Just CC me and Aki to that email.<br />[10:36] Jani Pirkola: and Anna as well<br />[10:36] You: ok<br />[10:36] Jani Pirkola: Anything else?<br />[10:37] anna a: What's that last topic<br />[10:37] Jani Pirkola: btw, next time Adam Johnson will be joining.<br />[10:37] You: which TWGs should I try to get into<br />[10:37] Jani Pirkola: Anna, it is Any Other Business :)<br />[10:37] Jani Pirkola: Antti, to all of them<br />[10:37] anna a: Ok, excuse me<br />[10:37] Jani Pirkola: then when you know more, we can put someone else there but initially it would be you<br />[10:38] Jani Pirkola: Okay, thanks everyone!<br />[10:38] You: you're welcome<br />[10:38] Jani Pirkola: And welcome again next wednesday<br />[10:38] anna a: You can consult everyone on reaXtend team, it's just best to have our representation in TWG's<br />[10:38] anna a: See you<br />[10:38] Jani Pirkola: Talk to you later!Antti Ilomäkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10578209440406500350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1286516696415553604.post-49843468169118294202008-07-08T14:04:00.005+03:002008-08-15T11:34:15.614+03:00And so it beginsThis blog is about the development of future virtual reality software and technology in general, focusing mostly on the realXtend project I'm working on right now. I'll introduce myself later on, but let me first explain a bit about the general<br /><br />Well, actually it all started a little over a year ago. A group of determined people set out to change the (virtual) world with the backing of a benevolent funder. The simple idea was to create an open source virtual reality platform that could be used for different business applications, improving the quality of life for people and save the environment in the process.<br /><br />The idea may have been simple and straightforward, but the implementation has proven to be challenging. In practice, we're talking about what would best be described as the 3D Internet or rather the Apache server for the brave new world. And a couple of other components. Something of a challenge for sure, but we were not alone.<br /><br />At the moment there are tens if not hundreds of millions of people who have already used some kind of a virtual world. Different worlds range from flash-based 2.5D visualizations you can run in a web browser to huge and graphically impressive full-blown 3D environments with complex realtime interactions between thousands of users. Some are open source, most closed. Practically none of them are interoperable. There is no 3D Internet yet.<br /><br />So what does 'interoperability' stand for? The main difference between browsing the virtual reality and world wide web of today is the user interaction and the most important tool of the interaction is the avatar, the user's virtual representative. Right now there are numerous different virtual worlds, most of which use their own proprietary technology for rendering and functionalities. In practice this means that every world is an island and traveling this archipelago doesn't work. It's a bit like BBS systems of the digital stone age, except that in addition to a different login to every site you also need dozens or hundreds of megabytes of software to connect to each world.<br /><br />What this means is that each island needs to be big enough and offer enough value for the user to justify the effort of installing software and creating a new avatar in order to get in. Unfortunately it's quite a bit of effort and you really have to have somethig special on your site for people to bother. The idea of the interoperable 3D Internet is different.<br /><br />In the realXtend philosophy, traveling between sites is exactly as simple as navigating the World Wide Web today. Click a link or type the address of your destination to the address bar and you're good to go. One avatar (or one of many, the choice is yours) will work with every site on the planet. Or in the universe. Suddenly the cost of visiting your site is as low as clicking a button or typing a couple of words and dots. Of course the users will still have to invest effort in installing a virtual worlds browser and creating an avatar, but the cost is shared between all the sites in the entire world. Or the universe.<br /><br />Suddenly, your specialist site for people who like pink unicorns starts getting hits from unicorn lovers visiting your site, because the number of people already using virtual services on some other sites is so high, that there are bound to be unicorn enthusiasts in the mix. And the relatively few people who love them enough to install the browser and create an avatar just to see them will then continue clicking and visiting other peoples' sites. The snowball is rolling and everyone's winning.<br /><br />At first it may seem that the sites that at the moment rely on users paying for the land would suffer, because virtual land would be freely available to anyone. In reality they don't have much reason for concern, though, because people will still want their services just like they pay for web hosting today. And since there are lots of services available - many of which the bigger virtual worlds of today don't want to have on their own site - the number of users will increase dramatically and the value of the most sought-after virtual estates will skyrocket.<br /><br />In reality it's a bit more complex at the moment, because there's lots of legacy stuff out there and users already have their avatars and virtual merchandise in systems that were never designed to be interoperable. We need to find a way to create a bridge between the present day systems and the architecture of the future. Some efforts are already underway and we're hoping to participate. In the meanwhile we'd like to offer you a chance to see what the 3D Internet is all about, just go to http://www.realXtend.org and download the software (version 0.3 at the moment, still very much in development). You need to sign up for an avatar service (consider it somewhat comparable to an email account) if you don't want to host your own. We're offering a public service for a couple of lucky ones, if you're interested just email info@realxtend.org.<br /><br />We're approaching holiday season here in Finland so the development isn't as hectic as usually, but we've got some interesting stuff coming up in the future. Stay tuned.<br /><br /><br />Last, and the least, the question of who I am. My name is Antti ilomäki, I've been in the realXtend program from the very beginning and right now I'm the project manager of one of the production teams, mostly focusing on basic server and business related features. I'm also the guy who most likely reads the emails sent to the realXtend info-email. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact me. In Second Life(tm) I'm known as Hirmuinen Hirvi and you can occasionally meet me at the Arkala Island of Innovation. The realXtend project websites are http://www.realxtend.org and http://community.rexdeveloper.org/ , where you can also find discussion forums and many realXtend users.Antti Ilomäkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10578209440406500350noreply@blogger.com1