Austin Tate's Blog

Sansar is a new virtual world platform allowing for virtual experiences to be visited by multiple users represented as avatars. It has an edit or creator mode to build experiences and upload previously created 3D models in an appropriate format (FBX with specific texture mapping constraints).

• Sansar.com Website
• Sansar YouTube Channel
• Twitter Feed – @SansarOfficial

This blog post gathers together some useful links and resources for using Sansar.

Creating 3D Objects

• Paint 3D – A Windows 10 App which can create 3D models with textures that are UV mapped, suitable for upload to Sansar.
• Five ways to get started with Paint 3D

Sine Space is a virtual world platform using Unity3D as the creator/build environment and allowing (via an add-in Unity package) upload to become a space within the Sine Space multi-user virtual world. Spaces are created in Unity and then uploaded to the “Curator” (http://curator.sine.space) where they can be tested prior to being sent for review to become “live” on the main service. One free space of up to 128MB download size can be create by any user and paid plans allow for more simultaneous spaces and larger builds. This blog post brings together some links and resources used in building Sine Space regions in Unity3D.

Teleports

• Teleport between one space and other using this script in a suitable object – TeleportWorld.
• Teleport between locations within one space using this script in a suitable object and to an arrival object – TeleportLocal.

Vendors

• Clothing can be created and uploaded to the Sine Space Marketplace. E.g. This is a NASA EVA suit available in male and female variants in the Sine Space store. Once “bought (free) it is available in the user inventory and can be equipped onto the avatar and saved as an outfit.
• A vendor for a single item can be added using these instructions from the Sine Space Wiki – InventoryVendor.

Seats

• Create an active seat using these instructions from the Sine Space Wiki – SeatImproved. Video instructions here.

OpenSimulator OAR Converted Content in Unity to Sine Space – Reducing the Number of Textures Used

Adam Frisby, a Sine.Space developer, provided an unsupported C# script utility to seek to remove duplicated textures which make an OARConv import to Unity larger than necessary… due to the fac that texture/material properties of an object or face are encoded into multiple repeated texture file names by OARConv.

A copy of the utility is stored at http://www.aiai.ed.ac.uk/~ai/unity/oarconv/FixTextureDuplicates

These are his notes…

This comes 100% unsupported, but I wrote a tool to clean the materials that the OAR Converter tool produces. It de-duplicates textures, which I’m hearing produces good results on cutting the filesizes of those regions. It just MD5Sums the files, if they match, it merges them.

When you run it (again, 100% unsupported, take backups! although I hear it works) – will remove all the duplicates in your region.

Unity Layers and Culling Mask for Light Sources

When combining several Unity projects into larger builds it is possible that a limit on the number of Unity “layers” that can be used to exclude objects from lighting culling calculations is exceeded (the limit may be 4). If a message saying you are including too many layers appears, check each light source (such as Directional Light, Sun source and items such as fire light and ensure that the Culling Mask is set to “Everything” rather than a set of specific layers. [Advice from Adam Frisby of SineWave]

This page gathers together some resource descriptions and URL pointers for use of the High Fidelity virtual world platform, for both the Interface (viewer/client) and the Sandbox (domain server).

High Fidelity Documentation

Interface – Default Scripts & Useful Additions

The default scripts provided by High Fidelity give the initial UI for the Interface client.

• Edit -> Stop all Scripts
• Edit -> Running Scripts -> Load Defaults (currently loads controllerScripts.js and defaultScripts.js that are part of the Interface distribution)
• Edit -> Running Scripts -> Use list at bottom to search for and load “chat” (system -> chat.js). This provides chat on the local domain (e.g. for nearby avatars). But note this is only useful if other users have the Chat script specifically enabled.

Many other scripts are available via the Edit -> Running Scripts dialogue.

Interface – Market Place UI Extras

• Nametags: Marketplace -> search for Nametags. Click on this to “Get Item” for Nametags.js and run this when asked. This script from ctrlaltdavid in the Scripts & Tools category can be added to provide name tags for avatars in your viewer only. [Link: nametags.js
• Sign Board: Marketplace -> search for sign (“Sign Post Chat V1” is the current item). Click on this to “Get Item” for Nametags.js and run this when asked. This script from Menithal in the Scripts & Tools- category can be added to provide a board your avatar holds that can have messages added. This can assist in initial communications if voice is not working or in use, or if some direct visual means of communication is useful. [Link: sign.js

Interface – Create Mode

The “Create” menu button in the Interface client provides edit mode for the domain you are on. The domain can be set to only allow the owner to change things, to allow anyone to edit, or to restrict editing to certain avatars. This is done in the Domain Server (Sandbox) Settings.

Scene – Useful Assets

• Ocean Skybox – an animated ocean to surround your scene. Marketplace -> Shaders – > Ocean Skybox.

• Chairs with Sitting Scripts (various available, e.g. from Caitlyn).

High Fidelity (http://highfidedity.com) has been developing as a virtual world platform over the last 3 years and I have been experimenting with the platform since May 15th, 2014. It accepts mesh models in FBX format. My blog posts document progress in the testing of various complex mesh uploads. As Sansar (http://sansar.com) is now in open beta but still has some way to go to allow rich mesh and 3D model upload, I thought it would be a good time to try again several of my complex textured 3D mesh models, exported to FBX format in these platforms. Sansar still only will accept “single” objects, not multi-part models and is very particular about the UV mapping method and application of textures. So some testing of the models I use awaits multi-object upload capabilities in Sansar.

Most of these mesh models have been originated in .3ds, .max, .dae and other 3D modeller export formats and converted to FBX. A few arrived as FBX, e.g. from the NASA 3D models web site. Some are OpenSim regions exported as OpenSim Archives (OARs) and converted by the OARConv utility to Collada .dae to import into Unity3D. Many of the models are very complex, some with a quarter of a million triangles. All the meshes work fine in Unity3D and can be exported and used in the Sine Space virtual world too.

Here is a test today in High Fidelity (on our own hosted test domain) using Interface and sandbox server 6946 on Windows 10. Most meshes import fine now with all textures intact and the scale, size correct on first load. A few needed scale adjustments.

On 31st July 2017 Linden Lab’s Sansar virtual world platform was opened to any users in its “open beta” stage. This includes…

… removal of the non-disclosure agreement (NDA) that was in place during preview. That means you’re now welcome (and encouraged!) to share screenshots, videos, links, and info from Sansar as broadly as you like – please help us spread the word!

• Metaverse’s Next Chapter: Sansar Opens to the Public in Creator Beta – Linden Lab Press Release 2017-07-31 00:00:00 UTC

I have been in the test stages since 22nd December 2016, including giving feedback especially on 3D mesh model upload and the social capabilities of the platform.

Sansar Experiences – AiLand

I have created several experiences and made them available via the Sansar “Atlas”. These are very simple test environments using one of the default experience bases – “Highlands”. Over time I have uploaded and tested 3D mesh models, skybox variations, some scripting, avatar sounds, etc.

My main inputs have been the following:

1. The lack of a way to upload complex multi-part multi-texture models. Models have to be uploaded as single objects with specific texturing approaches. Large builds still cannot easily be uploaded in the way that is possible with Unity3D-based platforms. This makes it slow and time consuming to create large Sansar experiences and reuse models already create din 3D packages such as 3D Studio max and in environments like Unity3D.
2. It is still difficult to connect with other users, find users, even when you now their Sansar display name or AvatarID. the social aspects still need significant attention.
3. Avatars are still very limited.

Sansar Experiences as at 31st July 2017

If you have a Unity project in versions up to 5.6.2 and on loading it into Unity 2017.1 or later some of the terrain textures turn reddish…

Take a look for an object in the scene or click on the terrain and select the terrain “Pain Texture” paint brush icon that has the redish colour and select the image… I had one for example in

It showed as a bluish image rather than being a natural terrain colour. Find the problematic image in your project assets. In my case it showed as a bluish “512×512 DXTnm”, whereas the working terrain textures were “256×256 Compressed DXT”.

Search on Google for example to find a replacement for any broken terrain texture. One example location where Unity compatible terrain assets can be found is: http://github.com/leapmotion/unity

I imported the fixed image to the Unity project (actually a JPG version of it to save space) and then replaced the image in the materials that were reddish on mesh objects in the scene. For any terrain area that is reddish, click on the terrain and select the “pain Terrain texture” paint brush icon.. then select the faulty texture and replace its texture image.

Trying the new richer Bento skeleton avatars… which were released as starter avatars by Linden lab on 5th July 2017 (see this announcement).

Thomas with my old Ai Austin skin and shape works great as “Strider”… and I even get a horse to travel over Middle Earth.

For more details and example images see the Blog Post by @InaraPey.

To make use of any of the new avatars, display the Choose an Avatar picker or use the Me/Avatar -> Choose an Avatar menu, scroll to the one you wish to try, and click on it. Your avatar will wear the outfit, which is also transferred to your Clothing system folder under the avatar’s name, one of:

• Anna or Marcus for the angels
• Elleria or Sauin for the demons
• Kara or Feng for the mystic heroes
• Rhiannon or Thomas for the horse riders (horse is optional)

A poster of the work on the RGU Virtual Oil Rig and related educational experiences to enhance learning and training for offshore oil rig workers was presented at the 3rd International Enhancement in Higher Education Conference: Inspiring Excellence – Transforming the Student Experience. This was run on 6th-8th Jun 2017 at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Glasgow, UK under the auspices of the The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, UK. The poster was presented by project leader Jo-Anne Tait, a Senior Lecturer and Head of Teaching and Learning in the School of Engineering at Robert Gordon University (RGU), Aberdeen, UK.

Colin Hetherington in the Oil & Gas Centre at RGU created the 3D models used in the virtual oil rig and simulators and created an OpenSimulator region on which they were housed. An associated “Campus Area” to support training on the virtual oil rig built upon the Open Virtual Collaboration Environment 3D assets created on the OpenVCE programme led by Austin Tate at the University of Edinburgh and that was part of the that was part of the US Army Research Laboratory’s Virtual Collaboration Environment (VCE) programme.

Austin Tate ported the virtual oil rig and related models into other OpenSimulator grids (see this related blog post) and transferred the environment via the OAR Converter to Unity3D and later into online multi-user collaborative environments such as Sine Space.

Citation

Tait, J., Hetherington, C. and Tate, A. (2017) Enhancing Student Employability with Simulation: The Virtual Oil Rig and DART, Poster Presentation, in Proceedings of the 3rd International Enhancement in Higher Education Conference: Inspiring Excellence – Transforming the Student Experience, 6th-8th Jun 2017, Radisson Blu Hotel, Glasgow, UK. The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, UK. [PDF Format]

DART – Dynamic Advanced Response Training

Virtual Tour of the DART simulation suite at RGU

The De Lacy Motor Club (D.L.M.C) in West Yorkshire has been running rallies, car trials and driving tests for over 50 years as noted in my previous blog post. My wife, Margaret and myself joined some other family members and entered again this year…

Entrants List

I was very pleased to be given a Hubsan FPV X4 Quadcopter (Model H107D) as a retirement gift from CISA members and other friends at the School of Informatics. This page is to gather resources to support my piloting of the drone.

Resources

• Hubsan Resource Page
• Crash Pack Spares
• PC Advisor Review (13-Mar-2015)

Back in 2011, Kirstens Viewer for Second Life added an Anaglyph 3D view capability which could be seen with red/cyan 3D glasses. See this blog post.

Kirstens Viewer has now been updated by Kirstenlee Cinquetti to include recent Second Life capabilities such as the enhanced “bento” mesh avatar skeleton and still includes the 3D anaglyph view capability.

• Kirstenlee Cinquetti Blog
• Kirstens Viewer on Sourceforge – Download Links
• New World Notes – Kirsten’s Viewer, Reloaded: Legendary Third Party SL Client With 3D Glasses Feature Gets Bento-Compatible Update – Blog Post 5-May-2017.

Ebbe Altberg (avatar Ebbe Linden), the CEO of Linden Labs, provided a Q&A session at the start of the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education Conference (VWBPE) 2017 run in Second Life.

As a test, using the Firestorm 5.0.1 viewer, and to respond to comments from other participants, I tried the statistics bar to count Frames Per Second (FPS) on my usual Ultra settings with full shadows and I was getting between 60FPS and 100FPS with Ultra graphics, 512m view distance and all shadows on, and that rose to 140FPS with shadows off.

Patagonia is somewhere I have wanted to visit for some time, and specifically to try to reach the base of a mountain in what is now the Los Glaciares National Park in Argentina near what is now El Chaltén (a town established in 1985). I have had an interest in rock climbing and winter mountaineering for some time and was a member of the University of Edinburgh Mountaineering Club in the 1970s, around the time that there was a controversial climb of Cerro Torre, a stunning Patagonian granite tower mountain, using artificial climbing aids. This was widely discussed in mountaineering magazines at the time (e.g., “Cerro Torre – a Mountain Desecrated!” in Mountain 23, Sept 1972)

We finally had the opportunity to travel to Patagonia in February and March 2017.

Our tour arranged, through Swoop Patagonia, took us via Santiago in Chile, through the Los Lagos region and Chiloe island, down to Punta Arenas in the far south of South America, then via coach up to the Chilean side Torres del Paine National Park, over into Argentina to El Calafate and the Los Glacier National Park, with a final bus trip up Ruta 40 to El Chaltén to trek in the foothills of Fitzroy, Poincenot and then to approach Cerro Torre. We returned to the UK from Buenos Aires in Argentina.

The Andes and Volcanoes

As we flew down the line of the Andes from Santiago to Puerto Montt we could see many volcanoes and two active ones… including Villarricia.

Chiloe and its NW Coast

We explored the NW coast of Isla Chiloe by Land Rover doing cliff and beach walks and birdwatching with Britt Lewis of Austral Adventures.

Magellanic and Humboldt Penguins share space and overlap in their ranges on islands just off Puyehue on Isla Chiloe.

Los Lagos Region

On 26th February 2017, there was a “Ring of Fire” annular solar eclipse whose path passed directly over us while we were in the Lagos Llanquihue, Puerto Varas, Osorno Volcano, Los Lagos (Lake District) and Tagua-Tagua lake region… but unfortunately at the full “Ring of Fire” phase the sky was overcast and we only managed to see a partial eclipse through heavy cloud.

We stayed at the Mitico Puerto Lodge on Lagos Tagua-Tagua and did a number of walks in the region…

Punta Arenas and Magellanic Penguins on Isla Magdalena

Torres del Paine National Park, Chile

We trekked with Explora Patagonia in the French Valley and up to the French Glacier, over to Glacier Grey and in the East side of the National Park to see Andean Condor, Guanaco, Rhea and Puma.

Los Glaciares National Park, El Calafate, Argentina

From El Calefate in Argentina, we had a trip up to the Perito Moreno Glacier to view the calving of icebergs into Lagos Argentino from the walkways and boat.

Cerro Torre, Poincenot and Fitzroy, El Chaltén, Argentina

We planned multiple days in each area as the Patagonian weather can be very wet, very windy and cloud levels very low. We planned things with Walk Patagonia to maximise our chances of seeing the peaks and especially Cerro Torre. Local guides indicated we had set ourselves a “High Goal” as Cerro Torre is surrounded by glaciers and situated at the head of a valley behind the Fitzroy/Poincenot towers and tends to hold cloud on its slopes and summit. But with careful monitoring of the detailed weather forecasts on Windguru on our final day in Patagonia, we woke to a rose coloured sunset on the very tops of the granite towers which we could see from our hotel.

We were then fortunate and achieved our aim on a walk up to Lagos Torre and overlooking the Torre Glacier and the Cerro Torre itself…

Birds, Animals, Plants and Rocks

We saw many Austral birds and animals: Andean Condor, Magellanic Woodpecker, Guanaco, Grey Fox, Lesser Rhea, Puma, etc.

More to come on geology, animals and sights.

All images © Copyright 2017 Austin Tate.

Unity Technologies Special Keynote, GDC 2017, San Francisco -- February 28, 2017 -- Today at GDC Unity Technologies announced that Unity 5.6 will release on March 31, 2017, marking the final installment of Unity 5. The company also provided an early look at Unity 2017, the next generation of Unity with version 2017.1 Beta arriving in April.

A “2001: a Space Odyssey” Sine.space scene has been created using the Unity3D VR Experience which uses 2001 movie related 3D models of the freely available 3D Warehouse Sketchup Models of the 2001 Space Station by Filip and the Orion III PanAm Shuttle made by Daniel M.

Maddy (Nibby Riddler) has constructed an artistic build in Second Life that is based on the Singapore gardens by the bay with it’s “Supertrees” and night lighting.

Visit via http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/LEA15/179/122/22

See also Inara Pey’s Blog Post about the location.

Our own visit to the Gardens by the Bay early in 2016 is depicted here…

Third Unity-hosted conference convenes leaders and upstarts from across the industry

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - February 1, 2017 -  Vision VR/AR Summit 2017, the premiere event for augmented and virtual reality hosted by Unity Technologies will be held May 1-2, 2017 at the Loews Hollywood, Los Angeles.  As the third Vision Summit, it will once again bring together creators, artists, programmers and leaders in the VR and AR space for a two-day conference focused on laying the groundwork for and understanding of the future of the industry. 

First ever joint look at mobile, mobile VR and VR markets by SuperData Research and Unity Technologies shows the category equaling that of global box office sales during that time

New York, NY February 1, 2017 – The mobile games market generated $40.6 billion in worldwide revenue in 2016 – a sum equivalent to all global box office sales during the same time period – and grew 18% over the year before. Mobile games now account for half of the entire global digital games market.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - January 26, 2017 - Unity Technologies, the largest platform for creating 2D, 3D, VR, and AR games and digital experiences, today announced its worldwide Unite conference series. Focused on bringing developers and artists the knowledge and networking they require for success, Unity is holding eight Unite conferences globally in 2017.  Creators will be able to attend them in Amsterdam, Austin, Beijing, India, Melbourne, Seoul, Singapore and Tokyo. 

The Sine.space RGU Oil Rig region using Colin Hetherington’s meshes is now accessible on the live server.. with a few enhancements to align the directional light with the water reflection and lens flare effects. See this blog post for details of the preparation of the region… http://blog.inf.ed.ac.uk/atate/2016/11/18/sine-space-rgu-oil-rig-region/ and this blog post for details of the import of the RGU Diver outfit also by Colin… http://blog.inf.ed.ac.uk/atate/2017/01/11/sine-space-creating-avatar-attachments/.

Update 3-Feb-2017: The “Oil Rig” region is now available on the live server via
http://sine.space/locations/oil-rig

Sine.space Blog post about the Oil Rig Region… http://sinewave.space/oilrig