Austin Tate's Blog

Visit the “Hippiestock” Festival in Second Life in January 2024… a lovely watercolour style region themed like the famous Woodstock Festival from 1969. The watercolour trees and leaves are a nice touch. All very trippy. Built by CK, the area will support a number of events, exhibitions and storytelling.

There are a number of Supercar themed stories by Andrew Clements under the “A Gerry Anderson A21 News Story” banner. See https://www.gerryanderson.com/tag/supercar/.

Having bought the Scalextric Legends – Jim Clark Triple Set, I could not resist getting the detailed 1960s style Batmobile model too. The Batmobile was created by George Barris (see this blog post) and based on the 1955 Lincoln Futura concept car.

https://uk.scalextric.com/products/batmobile-1966-tv-series-c4175

Batman originates all the way back to 1939 where he was first introduced in Detective Comics. Since then he has grown to become one of the most famous, if not the most famous, superheroes of all time. Batman made it from the comic book pages onto the TV screen in the 1960s when the Batman TV series first aired starring Adam West as Batman/Bruce Wayne.

Both Batman and his companion Robin were two crime fighters there to defend Gotham City, their mode of transport was the Batmobile. This detailed Scalextric slot car of the 1960s Batmobile captures the shape of this iconic car and includes a Batman figure in the driver’s seat.

Having seen some of Jim Clark’s Formula 1 and Rally cars in the flesh a few times and remembering that I used Jim Clark’s F1 race car as my slot racing car in competitions and in the Scalextric club I used to run at my secondary school, back in the 1960s… I could not resist getting the Scalextric Legends Jim Clark Triple Set when it came out in November 2023.

https://uk.scalextric.com/products/legend-jim-clark-triple-pack-c4395a

Born in 1936 in fife, Scotland, Jim Clark is today remembered as being one of, if not the, greatest natural talents to ever sit behind the wheel of a Formula One car. Born into a farming family Jimmy began his racing career in local road rally events before graduating to circuit racing in a borrowed DKW. By 1958 he has gained the attention of the local Border Reivers team and was racing a Jaguar D-Type across national events. Winning 18 of the races he entered.

In 1958 he raced a Lotus Elite at Brands Hatch, finishing second to Colin Chapman, boss of Lotus, and launching his career with the famous Norfolk brand. By 1960 he was racing for Lotus in Formula One, making his debut at the Dutch GP and winning his first Grand Prix at the 1962 Belgian race at the daunting Spa Francochamps. His first World Championship came in 1963 and was followed by another in 1965, both for Lotus.

His exploits however were not just confined to F1, he won the Indy 500, raced at LeMans and at the wheel of the fantastic Lotus Cortina he won numerous touring car races and a British Saloon Car Championship. Regarded by many to be the most naturally talented driver to ever grace Formula One Jimmy was tragically killed during a Formula 2 race in Germany in 1968. Today he is remembered as a true great of the sport, a natural talent like no other, and a man incomparable on the track.

For more information on Jim Clark or for information on the Jim Clark Museum in Duns, Scotland please visit www.jimclarktrust.com

This blog post lists some resources used to view and validate glTF/GLB 3D files.

Khronos Group glTF Test Viewer

https://github.khronos.org/glTF-Sample-Viewer-Release/ [GitHub Source Code]

As a test, a Blender model of Supercar (see this blog post) was exported to glTF (.glb or .gltf) and tested in the Khronos glTF Test Viewer, which is intended to act as a benchmark for such models.

Khronos Group glTF Validator

Live drag-n-drop tool: https://github.khronos.org/glTF-Validator [GitHub Source Code]

ModelViewer.dev glTF/GLB Viewer with Khronos glTF Validator Built In

Live Drag and Drop Viewer: https://modelviewer.dev/editor [GitHub Source Code]

Again, as a test, a Blender model of Supercar (see this blog post) was exported to glTF (.glb or .gltf) and tested in the ModelViewer Tool, which can also export the model in a form which can be viewed via a web browser. Click here for the 3D view of Supercar.

Hiberworld (https://hiberworld.com) is a virtual world in which users can link Ready Player Me (https://readyplayer.me) avatars and create experiences.

Hiberworld can share equipment and clothing items across multiple virtual worlds through the Ready Player me platform.

Pick up a sledge and take to the Sled Run on Winter Wonderland in Second Life (2023)…
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Winter%20Wonderland%203/163/71/92

The OpenSimulator Community Conference (OSCC) is one of the longest running virtual conference series, having started in 2013 and run annually since. This is OSCC’s 11th year and the event celebrates 16 years of OpenSimulator as the first commit was January 31, 2007. The OpenSimulator community and Avacon Inc. come together to run the event on the OpenSimulator Community Conference (OpenSimCC) grid – http://cc.opensimulator.org:8005 [LoginURI: http://cc.opensimulator.org:8002]

The main keynote presentations area uses the adjacent corners of 4 sims to provide capacity for up to around 400 attendees.

There are many other regions for avatars, shopping, exhibition booths for presenters, OpenSim community hub, music and dance venues, etc.

Links to my blog posts on earlier OpenSimulator Community Conferences.. https://blog.inf.ed.ac.uk/atate/?s=oscc

Sponsors and Crowdfunders

Day One

Day Two

Ada Radius, Ai Austin and Serie Sumei participated in a panel on the “Max” open source mesh avatar which can be morphed into female and male variants – “Maxine” and “Maxwell”. For more details see https://blog.inf.ed.ac.uk/atate/max-history/.

Annually Second Life hosts “Winter Wonderland” regions with ice skating, sledding, snow scenes and fireworks. This year the environment was built with Physically-Based Rendering “Materials” (PBR) to mark the release of PBR glTF compatible viewers for Second Life (and OpenSim).

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Winter%20Wonderland%204/184/77/46

Cuga Rajal provides the Supercar vehicle Scripting System for Second Life and OpenSimulator. Current version: Supercar Plus 2.0.4, July 24, 2023.

• GitGHub Source: https://github.com/cuga-rajal/supercar_plus
• Availability in OpenSim: hop://cc.opensimulator.org:8002/OSCC Expo Zone 3/111/52/26

Supercar Plus is a free LSL land vehicle (car) script compatible with Opensim and Second Life. It supports a wide range of creative options for various car features and the runtime is low-impact on the server. By using a Notecard for settings, vehicles can be updated easily, this also helps manage a large car collection. The full project is available at https://github.com/cuga-rajal/supercar_plus.

Many popular features are supported, such as driver’s animation, passenger seats, multiple gears/speeds with reverse, rotating wheels, headlights, horns, engine sounds, tank tread motions, and much more. A variety of add-on scripts are included with instructions.

Palia (https://palia.com) is a World of Warcraft style questing game. This blog post provides some resources to help in initial game play.

Palia Avatars

Avatars can be tailored at start up and after a delay (a week?) some outfit items can be altered.

Palia Quests

Palia sets tasks and provides NPC to interact with to obtain information, tasks and access to tools. Resources can be chopped or mined to allow items to be crafted. A home location can be set up with crafted items at the start of game play.

Palia Friends and Communities

You can link up with friends and create communities within Palia. A referral link is provided to all users so that hey can invite friends to join.

A Few Controls and Keyboard and Commands

O = Social, P = Skills, M = Map, R = Tools.
Use the mouse scroll wheel to switch between multiple different inventory bars.

Palia Map and Almanac

Fine getting started instructions in the Palia Almanac (PDF Document).

Aurelia’s region in Second Life is a wonderful atmospheric build by JuicyBomb (Gorgeous Aurelia in Second Life, @gogolita on Twitter/X). Build by Sparkely Sugar she tells me. http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Aurelias/128/128/28

She added a PBR reflection probe on her skating rink to show the effects of PBR/glTF materials which are now enabled in Second Life.

360° Snapshot – Click to view Image on Flickr

Flyte Ice Skating Lake Updated for 2023 by Jenna Dirval and her Team
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/FlyGearZ/7/215/26

As in 2022, Flyte on the FlyGearZ region has a wonderful skating lake set in a moody landscape of snow and ice under a sky with aurora and rainbows. The lake edge has lapping water, ice slabs and boulders. Choose relaxed or trick skating for singles or couples and enjoy the scenery.

For other Winter Sports and Ice Skating experiences in Second Life see
https://blog.inf.ed.ac.uk/atate/second-life-ice-skating-2022/

Supercar 3D model in Second Life at Norse Auk… using the Linden Lab 7.0.1 Physically Based Rendering (PBR) Viewer.
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Norse%20Auk/196/148/20

The original Supercar model was created in Cinema 4D by Mick Imrie with support from Austin Tate back in 1998 (see https://www.aiai.ed.ac.uk/~bat/GA/supercar-3d.html) and subsequently converted to a number of other modelling tools by people in the Gerry Anderson Model Makers Alliance (GAMMA). Via conversions its been used in a range of ways including flight simulators, space simulators, games, virtual worlds, VR experiences, etc.

Over the last couple of years Mick Imrie has also been developing a new model with help from Austin Tate and Shane Pickering. It includes simplified geometry suitable for making various levels of detail and for having variants suited to different platforms like flight simulators and game engines as well as high fidelity mesh models for rendering. See https://blog.inf.ed.ac.uk/atate/2021/02/23/mick-imrie-supercar-take-2/

1998 Model Updated with Lessons Learned

Using some of the lessons learned while studying for the 2021-onwards update by Mick Imrie, Austin Tate has taken the original 19998 model, converted it for Blender and incorporated changes that are compatible with the original shape. It is still a model with high complexity and the basic shape is unaltered from the 1998 model. Bit it fixes a number of issues with flipped normals, the fuselage and dashboard top piping is altered to a light brass colour, etc.

Supercar in Unity

Via FBX (.fbx) export from Blender, the Supercar model can be taken into Unity using the Standard Rendering Profile (SDP) or the High Definition Rendering Profile (HDRP).

Khronos glTF Test Viewer

As a test the Blender model was exported to glTF(.glb or .gltf) and tested in the Khronos glTF Test Viewer, which is intended to act as a benchmark for such models.

https://github.khronos.org/glTF-Sample-Viewer-Release/ [GitHub Code]

This blog post lists of a number of tips I have found useful to act as a reminder when using Blender. The tips are tested in Blender 3.6.4 or later.

View and Flip Normals

Show face orientation – in Object Mode use the down arrow (V) on the Overlays icon near the top left and tick “face Orientation”. Blue faces point towards you, red faces point away from you.

Select a mesh in Object Mode then in Edit Mode ensure that “Face” selection is selected (versus vertex and edge) and then select the faces to be flipped and use Mesh > Normals > Flip.

Fill Holes in Mesh

Mesh clean up – Select mesh in Object Mode then in Edit Mode use Mesh > Cleanup > Fill Holes
Or mesh holes can be patched in various other ways, e.g. see…

Change an Object’s Material

In the Outliner (usually on the upper right) select the object and the details of it appear in the Inspector below. Open the materials tab (beach ball icon) and it will show any material attached. You can remove (“-“) the current material and add (“+”) another. Use the drop down (“V” on the material selector to choose from one of the existing materials.

Adding, Duplicating, Renaming and Parenting Objects

When a new object is added it usually is placed in its own “Collection”. You can move it to within a current Collection by selecting it and using the “M” key and the choosing the collection to move it to.

You can rename an object in Object Mode by selecting it and using Edit > Rename Active Item.

An object can be duplicated within Object Mode by selecting it and using Object > Duplicate Objects.

Exporting via FBX to Unity

Select the objects to be exported and use File > Export > FBX. Tick “Selected Objects” only and you can also untick “Bake Animations” for static objects.

Import to Unity suggestions: create a new Assets folder to contain the items. Upload all the textures into a sub-directory “Textures”. Drop into the folder the FBX file. This should associate the textures where they are used in the model’s materials automatically. Click the model to open it in inspector. In the Materials Tab select Location > “Use External Materials (Legacy)” and Search > “Local Materials Folder” and click Apply. That will create a Materials folder locally which will allow the materials to be edited or adjusted.

If you have previously customised the materials you can keep the previous copy. If you exit Unity you can replace the newly cerate d Materials folder with the previous one and restart. The the previously customised materials will be used. If pink materials show up, some were not properly linked. You can just drop others into the pink objects.

The 81st World Science Fiction Convention opened in Chengdu, China on 19-Oct-2023.

Homepage: https://en.chengduworldcon.com/
Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/chengduworldcon
Opening Event: Blog Post – 19-Oct-2023
WorldCon Booklet: 65MB PDF

Chasing Dreams for the Future – Promotional Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SD-Xaq-hyHM

Glasgow 2024 – A Worldcon For Our Futures

The 82nd World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon)
The Scottish Events Campus (SEC), Glasgow, Scotland
August 8-12, 2024

Homepage: https://glasgow2024.org/
Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/Glasgowin2024

Improved water visuals are available in Unity via new capabilities in the HDRP render pipeline under Unity 2022.2 and Unity 2023.1. There is a package of several sample scenes available that can be included in a project as a basis for customisation, and also a complete “WaterScenes” Unity project with Island, River and Pool scenes

WaterScenes – The Island

This scene use an infinite water surface to simulate the ocean. In addition, this scene uses water deformers and foam generators to improve the visual around the shoreline. There are also examples of how to use custom render textures to generate water deformers.

In play mode a 3rd Person controller is used to visit the island. Keybord controls:

W/Z or up arrow: forward
S or down arrow: backward
A/Q or left arrow: left
D or right arrow: right
Space: jump
A game pad can be used too.

WaterScenes – The River

This scene use instanced quads for the water surface in addition to a current map to simulate the flow. In play mode there are 2 fix cameras. TAB key is used to switch between them.

WaterScenes – The Pool

This scene demonstrate the pool parameters and how to use custom render textures for water deformers. In play mode a 3rd Person controller is used.

Documentation: https://docs.unity3d.com/Packages/com.unity.render-pipelines.high-definition@16.0/manual/WaterSystem.html

Quick Start: https://docs.unity3d.com/Packages/com.unity.render-pipelines.high-definition@16.0/manual/WaterSystem-use.html

Blog Post: https://blog.unity.com/engine-platform/new-hdrp-water-system-in-2022-lts-and-2023-1

WaterScenes: test package with Island, River and Pool scenes – https://github.com/Unity-Technologies/WaterScenes

High Definition Render Pipeline Package – Samples – Water Samples

The package contains a number of sample scenarios to act as the basis for your own projects… Glacier, Island, Pool and Waterline ( with the camera set at water level as the waves lap up and down). The Glacier sample is the most complex and needs a number of Project Settings to be enables. A helpful guide appears on the editor screen to point you at the settings required to be enabled,

Supercar Imported in Unity WaterScenes

My Supercar model in FBX form along with a Textures folder was imported to the Unity project Assets. The model asset “Materials” tab was amended to to extract the textures from the FMX model to ensure the model materials could be edited. Most needed adjustment or to enable transparency (cockpit glass, etc).

See https://blog.inf.ed.ac.uk/atate/max-history/

Preparation for Panel Session at OpenSimulalator Community Conference 2023: Max – New Free Mesh bodies for OpenSim Avatar – History of the project, current Ruth2 and Roth2 avatars, testing models, managing artists and the community social media channels.

Further resources for the Max, Maxine and Maxwell mesh avatars are available at https://blog.inf.ed.ac.uk/atate/2023/09/13/max-new-open-source-mesh-avatar/

Timeline

• 2017 – Shin Ingen creates original Ruth 2.0 and Roth 2.0 avatar meshes in ZBrush. https://github.com/ingen-lab/Ruth
• 2019 – Fred Beckhusen creates GitHub RuthAndRoth organization to improve open source community management of the project with Ada Radius, Ai Austin and Serie Sumei as administrators. https://github.com/RuthAndRoth
• 2019 – Ruth 2.0 RC#2, Ruth 2.0 RC#3 and Roth 2.0 RC#1 resources archived as branches in https://github.com/RuthAndRoth/Ruth
• 2019 – Ruth2 v4 and Roth2 v2 released by GitHub RuthAndRoth organization into OpenSim and Second Life. https://github.com/RuthAndRoth/Ruth2 and https://github.com/RuthAndRoth/Roth2
• 2022 – Ada Radius, Kayaker Magic and Tom Ernst explore details of viewer data for avatars as basis for Max. https://github.com/New-Media-Arts-New-Viewer-Avatar
• 2023 – Max, Maxine and Maxwell project underway. https://github.com/RuthAndRoth/Max

RuthAndRoth GitHub Organization

In 2019 Fred Beckhusen created the GitHub RuthAndRoth “organization” as a shared community umbrella to improve open source community management of the project. Ada Radius, Ai Austin and Serie Sumei continue to act administrators.

Github Organization: https://github.com/RuthandRoth

There are several code and resource repositories available:

• Ruth – the original Ruth 2.0 RC#2 and RC#3 and Roth 2.0 RC#1 resources with Git archival branches for the releases.
• Ruth2 – female mesh avatar – Ruth2 v4.
• Roth2 – male mesh avatar – Roth2 v2.
• Extras – attachments and resources of interest for open source avatars.
• Skins – open source skins.
• Reference – archive of Second Life and OpenSimulator avatar-related reference files.
• Max – repository for the new Max, Maxine and Maxwell avatars.

A simple management approach to code and resource contributions and preparation of releases is taken at present. There is a “Contrib/<name&gt> which any creator may establish and into which they can commit their own contributions. Hence they can make them available to the community for testing and feedback.

Repository issues can be raised for discussion and a repository “Wiki” allows for useful documentation. Social media channels, in particular via Discord, are available to discuss developments, testing, etc.

Ruth2 v4 and Roth2 v2

The current versions of the RuthAndRoth avatars are Ruth2 v4 and Roth2 v2. The previous versions were called Ruth 2.0 RC#1, RC#2 and RC#3 and Roth2 RC#1 vu are now referred to as Ruth2 v1, v2 and v3 and Roth2 v1.

Due to changes in Blender and add-ins for handling Bento rigged mesh avatars (Avastar and Bento Buddy) the original Ruth2 v4 and Roth2 v2 dev kits are no longer functional, though the original Collada DAE exports remain valid in both Second Life and OpenSim. Clothing options, particularly for the male Roth2 v2 are very limited.

Facilities on the OpenSim OSGrid RuthAndRoth Region

An OpenSim community region on OSGrid called “RuthAndRoth” is available to allow any user on any grid that implements the “Hypergrid” protocol to get in-world prepared resources and boxed releases. There is a Second Life marketplace also called “RuthAndRoth” for boxed release items. An avatar “RuthAndRoth Resident” exists in both OpenSim (on OSGrid) and Second Life to “own” the canonical version of each released item.

The OpenSim OSGrid RuthAndRoth region has shelving which contains the release boxes as well as clothing and other useful items. A platform includes teleport boards to other compatible clothing providers.

Also on the OSGrid RuthAndRoth region is a platform equipped with extensive testing facilities for animations and mesh quality checks via dance poses and a wide variety of pose stands.

Resources and Social Media

Note not all of the resources below by any means will contain Max, Maxine or Maxwell relevant content at this early stage, but the links are here for possible future use.

• GitHub:
  • Github Organization: https://github.com/RuthandRoth
  • Github Repository: https://github.com/RuthandRoth/Max
• Social Forums and Discussion:
  • Discord Discussion Forum: RuthAndRoth [See channel #max] [Invite]
  • MeWe Community Page: https://mewe.com/group/5bbe0189a5f4e57c73569fb9
• Second Life:
  • Second Life Group: “RuthAndRoth” (free to join) – Group name place holder.
  • Second Life Group: “Ruth and Roth Community” (free to join) – Most active and recommended for use.
  • Second Life Marketplace Store: RuthAndRoth (ensure “Adult” content is allowed)
• OpenSim:
  • OSGrid Inworld Location: hop://hg.osgrid.org:80/RuthAndRoth/134/124/26
  • OpenSimulator Community Conference (OSCC) Grid Location: hop://cc.opensimulator.org:8002/OSCC%20Shopping%20Zone/256/242/86
  • OSGrid OpenSim Group: “RuthAndRoth” (free to join)
  • OpenSim Kitely Market: RuthAndRoth Store (products not currently listed)

Previous Core Contributions to Ruth2 and Roth2 Avatars

• Original Ruth 2.0 RC#1, RC#2 and RC#3 and Roth 2.0 RC#1 meshes modelled in Zbrush by Shin Ingen with rigging and vertex weight maps by Ada Radius.
• GitHub Repository management and testing by Fred Beckhusen, Outworldz LLC (Ferd Frederix), Ai Austin and Serie Sumei.
• Revised mesh, rigging and vertex weight maps by Ada Radius.
• Improvements to feet meshes by Sundance Haiku and Curious Creator.
• Fingernails and toenails by Sundance Haiku.
• UV map is CC-BY Linden Lab.
• HUD mesh, textures and scripts by Serie Sumei using modifications to original scripts by Shin Ingen and nail enhancements by Sundance Haiku.

Previous Contributors to Ruth2 v4 and Roth2 v2 Development (18)

Ada Radius
Ai Austin
Chimera Firecaster
Duck Girl
Elenia Boucher
Fred Beckhusen
Fritigern Gothly
Joe Builder
Kayaker Magic
Lelani Carver
Leona Morro
Linden Lab
Mike Dickson
Noxluna Nightfire
Sean Heavy
Serie Sumei
Shin Ingen
Sundance Haiku

Contributors to Max (8)

Ada Radius
Ai Austin
Curious Creator
Kayaker Magic
Linden Lab
Serie Sumei
Sundance Haiku
Tom Ernst (aka Owl Eyes)

Max, Maxine and Maxwell

The new underlying avatar created directly in Blender by Ada Radius is called “Max” which can be morphed into female and male variants called “Maxine” and “Maxwell”. The avatar armature is refined via research on the character folder in Second Life/OpenSim viewers https://github.com/New-Media-Arts-New-Viewer-Avatar.