Austin Tate's Blog

Vircadia is the continuation of the previous work by High Fidelity (see my previous blog posts). This blog post is to provide resources and access links for Vircadia – https://vircadia.com

• Download: https://vircadia.com/download-vircadia/
• User Dashboard: https://dashboard.vircadia.com/login
• Documents: https://docs.vircadia.com/

Vircadia Interface

Vircadia Server

TBA

Avatar Makers

ReadPlayerMe: https://readyplayer.me
Make Avatar: http://makeavatar.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/

This blog post is to assist new users to get started quickly with the creation of a new “avatar” in Second Life, a virtual world in which an avatar represents the user as they experience locations in 3D. To make the initial avatar creation experience helpful and to install a “virtual world viewer” that will also work with the open source “OpenSimulator” (aka “OpenSim”) platform, it is suggested that the “Firestorm” viewer is used.

0. System Requirements

Second Life can be used on Windows, MacOS and Linux. It needs a desktop or laptop machine and is not (yet) suitable for use on a tablet or mobile phone (though simplified access interfaces do exist for such mobile platforms). A decent graphics card makes the experience and frame rate that can be achieved much better, but even low end graphics cards do work and the system will try to set your graphics levels appropriate to your system (in terms of view distance and graphics quality).

1. Create an Avatar

https://www.firestormviewer.org/join-secondlife/

The Firestorm Viewer Second Life join up link makes for a simpler and easier to understand initial avatar creation process. The Second Life join up process delays initial avatar creation until after first login and may not suit everyone. (see this blog post).

Choose an avatar appearance you are happy with for the first login. Don’t worry too much about your initial appearance, the avatar itself and its clothing can be changed inside Second Life after login.

2. Download and Install the Firestorm Viewer

Download the OpenSim (also supports Second Life) version https://www.firestormviewer.org/os-operating-system/

Firestorm is a properly authorised “third party viewer” and is the most popular viewer used to access Second Life. There are two versions, one that only works for Second Life and another that works for BOTH OpenSim and Second Life. The web site encourages you to use the Second Life only version if you are not accessing OpenSim, but that is only because a commercial physics library (Havok) is included with the Second Life version, and cannot be included in the version that works with the open source OpenSim. This is only relevant if you wish to upload “mesh” content and rigged mesh avatars, in which case the Havok Second Life only version is recommended for Second Life. However, if this arises later for you, the “official” Linden Lab Second Life viewer can also be installed and works fine even installed alongside the Firestorm viewer.

3. Initial Virtual World Login and Avatar Appearance

Now log in to Second Life with your avatar and follow the initial new user start up trail to get used to the controls.

4. Visit a Virtual World Region

When you feel ready you can go to other locations. Look at the map (accessible by one of the viewer buttons, hover over them to get tool tips) and type in a name of a region if you know where you wish to visit from information on the web. Or you can also type the destination region name in the top address bar in the viewer.

SLurls are used to give map locations in a web browser which can be clicked on, or cut and pasted into text chat or the viewer top address bar… e.g. a beach and surfing location via:

https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Treeowatoor/227/59/22

https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Treeowatoor/227/59/22″>

More ideas for an initial sightseeing trip at:
https://blog.inf.ed.ac.uk/atate/2021/09/14/interesting-locations-on-bellisseria/

5. Going Further

There are many facilities in Second Life, but find your feet and make sure you can do basic movement, use the camera separate to movement of the avatar, sit down, text chat to others, add a friend, and try to connect a headset for voice before you go further.

Cross-game Avatar Platform for the Metaverse – https://readyplayer.me/

1. Based on a selfie or start out from scratch.
2. Customize your avatar
3. Export your avatar in .glb- Use your avatar in many supported apps and games.

Resources

Introductory YouTube video by Dinesh Punni, Import to Unity details at 5:30.

Ready Player Me Unity SDK: https://docs.readyplayer.me/integration-guides/unity

Crypto Wallet for NFT Items: Metamask https://metamask.io/

The live feed of NASA TV coverage of parts of the deployment James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) were relayed into OpenSimulator on the OSGrid Space City region at the campfire and media centre zone.

Resources

NASA Spacecraft Status: https://www.jwst.nasa.gov/
Live Feed: https://www.youtube.com/embed/21X5lGlDOfg?autoplay=1

This blog post is to provide resources and access links for activities in China related to Metaverse platforms.

Baidu is developing Xi Rang, an app for virtual meetings that will be in use from early 2022 for its own developer conferences. Images below from Baidu.

See also… “Chinese tech giant Baidu says it could be 6 years before it can fully deliver its metaverse”, CNBC, 23-Dec-2021 blog post by Evelyn Cheng @CHENGEVELYN.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/24/baidu-says-it-could-be-6-years-before-it-can-fully-deliver-its-metaverse.html

I was pointed yet again by a blog post from Inara Pey to the wonderful detailed North Pole region in Second Life. If people use high/ultra graphics settings and the region environmental settings in an up to date browser and a reasonably powerful PC it makes you wonder why people still thing Second Life graphics are poor by modern standards.

Click on images to go to Flickr and see the 360° Panoramas…

The Second Life viewer from version 6.5.1.566335 (15-Dec-221) now includes by default a facility to create 360° Snapshots. I have usually uploaded the resulting 360 panorama (equirectangular) to Flicker where they can be directly viewed and panned round, and just added a link to the Flickr image in my WordPress blog posts. But Inara Pey in one of her helpful blog posts has described how to directly embed 360° Snapshots in WordPress posts…

https://modemworld.me/2021/12/19/embedding-second-life-360-images-directly-into-wordpress/

EMBEDDING A 360º IMAGE UPLOADED TO WORDPRESS VIA THE CLASSIC EDITOR

1. Use the 360º viewer to take your image.
2. Upload the image to your WordPress Media Library.
3. Edit the image via your Media Library, and copy the URL as it is given.
4. Edit the post in which you wish to embed the 360º image and position the cursor when you wish the image to appear.
5. Switch to the Text view (click the tab at the top right of the WordPress text editor), and enter the following shortcode: [vr url=path-to-photo view=360] Where “path-to-photo” is the 360º image URL.
6. Switch back to Visual (click the tab at the top right of the WordPress text editor), the shortcode should appear as you’ve typed it.
7. Once you have created the 360º image shortcode:
   • Use the WordPress Preview option to check the layout of your post / page and that the image is properly displayed.
   • Use the Full Screen toggle option in the bottom right corner of the image to expand it to a full screen view and then click the icon again to return to the post / page view.
   • If you see a message similar to “Enter valid URL” or “failed to load the VR scene”, check to made sure you have added the shortcode and / or image URL correctly.

Here is an example using this method…

More details here: https://wordpress.com/support/embedding-360-photos-and-virtual-reality-vr-content/

Ah.. there seems to be no capability to add a “shortcode” block in our WordPress. To be investigated.

https://wordpress.com/support/wordpress-editor/blocks/shortcode-block/

Hypergrid Safari (HG Safari) is a group formed in 2014 as a successor the original Hypergrid Adventurers Club formed in 2010. members gather at a jump off location on OpenSim grids and visit a couple of grid or sites at each meeting, speaking with the developers or owners of those facilities.

After a gap of a couple of years the HG Safari group will begin their travels again in early 2022 (blog post)… and this time they have a jump off location on OSGrid in the “HG Safari” region…

Join the Discord discussion for the group via https://discord.com/invite/TAVjSZqF.

The HG safari group visited Ai Austin and the Openvue and AiLand grids in 2o14… see this blog post… https://blog.inf.ed.ac.uk/atate/2014/11/26/hypergrid-safari-visit-to-openvue-and-ailand/

This blog post is to provide resources and access links for initiatives related to virtual worlds and metaverse interoperability including avatar appearance and world content.

I have previously blogged about OpenSimulator as an exemplar for some of the capabilities that will be useful for Metaverse platforms and services. This includes some resources, links and information on an experiment in 2008 on interoperability between Second Life and openSim. See this blog post:

Open Metaverse – the OpenSimulator Contribution, Blog Post August 14, 2015by Austin Tate.

Open Metaverse Interoperability Group

https://omigroup.org – Bridging virtual worlds by designing and promoting shared protocols.

This blog post is to provide resources and access links for the UK programme on “Enabling Advanced Autonomy through Human-AI Collaboration”.

https://blogs.ed.ac.uk/advanced-autonomy/

This blog post is to provide resources and access links for Decentraland – https://decentraland.org.

• decentraland.org
• Decentraland Market
• Decentraland FAQ

Temporary (Guest) login is possible without registering, but the avatar appearance, etc is only kept locally in your browser for that mode. Full facilities require that you link a cryptocurrency wallet to the account, though that can have zero funds in it.

The Metamask Wallet is suggested by Decentraland, but you can also log in via e-mail using Fortmatic (validated via a GitHub account) which provides a wallet ID.

• https://docs.decentraland.org/examples/get-a-wallet/
• Move Decentraland MANA between Ethereum and Polygon
• https://metamask.io/
• https://fortmatic.com/ (sign up with Github)

A Second Life build by Hera (zee9) entitled “Gotham” as it might appear in the early Batman days in the 1940s or 1950s. Visit via the arrival portal on the Cloud Lake region via https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Cloud%20Lake/98/100/395 and then click on the board to Gotham… http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Cloud%20Lake/129/124/2213

Hera also created wonderful atmospheric Second Life builds of Whitby (see this blog post – 17-Oct-2021) and Whitechapel (see this blog post – 17-Nov-2021)

A Second Life build in November 2021 by Hera (zee9) entitled “Whitechapel” as it appears in Victoria era (late 1980s) around the time of the Jack the Ripper murders. Visit via the arrival portal on the Cloud Lake region via https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Cloud%20Lake/98/100/395 and then click on the board to Whitechapel… http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Cloud%20Lake/136/108/35

Hera also created a wonderful atmospheric Second Life build of Whitby – see this blog post (17-Oct-2021).

See also Inara Pey’s Blog Post on Hera’s Whitechapel in Second Life (14-Nov-2021).

The Network on Air free streaming evening on 25th Noveber 2021 of Gerry Anderson’s “You’ve Never Seen These”… https://watch.networkonair.com/you-ve-never-seen-these.html (see also gerryanderson.com) included colourised episodes of Supercar (Pirate Plunder) and Fireball XL5 (The Granatoid Tanks).

Colour Clip for Episode Pirate Plunder

Supercar and Fireball XL5 in Colour! | You’ve Never Seen These | Supercolourisation

The Royal Society of New South Wales and the Learned Academies Forum in Australia ran a forum entitled “Power & Peril in the Digital Age” on 4th and 5th November 2021.

A child is born 04.11.21… That child enters a complex digital world that brings both power and peril. Join us as we explore how technology, health, security and industry in a digital age will impact our child’s journey as he/she approaches 2030, 2040, 2050 and beyond.

Cathy Foley, Australia’s Chief Scientist, used the fictional timeline of the 1960s “Jetsons” future family animated series to bring to life the timeline as the Jetsons was based in 2062 and as George Jetson, the father in the family would be born about now!

This blog post is to provide resources and access links for Alethea.ai.

White paper – https://alethea.gitbook.io/alethea-ai-whitepaper/

This blog post is to provide resources and access links for Microsoft Mesh (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/mesh).

Mesh for Microsoft Teams – Microsoft News – 2-Nov-2021.

Microsoft bought AltspaceVR as part of this development. See my earlier blog post on AltspaceVR in 2015.

The iconic campaigning Greenpeace Rainbow Warrior ship sailed into the River Clyde in Scotland on 1st November to join other climate crisis activists encouraging world leaders at the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) to commit to changes necessary to protect the climate of Planet Earth.

Dolphins swim alongside Rainbow Warrior as it approaches Glasgow to send an inter-species message to COP26… [image from onboard Rainbow Warrior]

Current Location of Rainbow Warrior can be tracked on MarineTraffic.com…
https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/shipid:225703/

Channel 4 News (TV UK) report from onboard Rainbow Warrior on 1st November 2021…
https://www.channel4.com/news/cop26-onboard-greenpeace-ship-rainbow-warrior-as-it-sails-to-glasgow

https://conference.opensimulator.org/

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

This blog post is to provide resources and access links for Meta (meta.com – previously Facebook) and its Metaverse developments.

Announcement at Facebook Connect 2021 on 28th October 2021: Mark Zuckerberg Talk (YouTube):

Keynote by John Carmack at Facebook Connect 2021:

• Meta – YouTube Channel, Twitter
• Facebook Reality Labs Videos
• Other video presentations at Connect 2021.
• Ars Technica Commentary on John Carmack Keynote on 29th October 2021.
• Raph Koster musings on the Oculus sale to Facebook in 2014 and Metaverse futures… still applies in 2021.
• Blog Post on Meta by David Burden (Daden) on 29th October 2021.
• >a href=””>Blog Post on “Meta Isn’t New. The Future Started in 2003” (with Second Life) by Phaylen Fairchild on 30th October 2021.

Metaverse – Resources

• Wikipedia – Metaverse (and timeline of Virtual Worlds)
• Teleporting between Second Life and OpenSimulator – Experiments – 2008 – Open Grid Protocol (Linden Lab Wiki Page)
• Second Life, OpenSimulator, Firestorm Viewer, Firestorm VR Mod
• Wishlist for Next Gen Virtual World – Blog Post by Austin Tate, 4th April 2015.
• Open Metaverse – the OpenSimulator Contribution – Blog Post by Austin Tate, 14th September 2015.

Social Web + Virtual World + Content + People

Austin Tate Briefing on I-Room and its Applications to Operations Centres and Simulated Training, 29-Aug-2015 [PDF of Presentation]

Presence

A sense of presence across platforms and experiences is identified as an important aspect of the metaverse/virtual worlds. We have done work on Virtual Distributed Collaboration across platforms and reported on some experience of experiments in this area in the following paper:

Tate, A., Hansberger, J.T., Potter, S. and Wickler, G. (2014) Virtual Collaboration Spaces: Bringing Presence to Distributed Collaboration, Journal of Virtual Worlds Research, Assembled Issue 2014, Volume 7, Number 2, May 2014 [PDF Format].