If you don’t know what parametric deformation is, you’re not alone. However to put it bluntly, it’s a way of making Mesh clothing more viable, the technical details can be found on Jira SH-2734 and I still don’t know what this Shining business is all about, complete with “Here’s Johnny” type icon.
There was a bit of a hoo-ha when Linden Lab downgraded this Jira to someday/maybe. However someday/maybe doesn’t mean what some people think it means, as Charlar explains on that Jira:
“The fact that the backlog is called “someday/maybe” means that it’s something we want to do, but can’t commit to a timeframe yet. ”
We’ll come back to Charlar later, however matters have taken a different turn on this issue, one that involves private funding, an ex Linden and development of the snowstorm viewer, as reported by Prim Perfect.
The avatar formerly known as Qarl Linden, now known as Qarl Fizz has said that he’s prepared to undergo the work to make this happen, indeed he popped into this forum post on the subject to say:
“I’m very interested”
Maxwell Graf has started a fund on IndieGoGo, the full details of the project can be found here. There are some cold harsh financial issues here, USD$5,400 is required to fund this project, that’s to pay for the work and the fees involved for the project and website.
There are issues with projects like this, let’s go back to Charlar for a start, in the Jira thread Charlar said:
“We did some investigation into the problem that Maxwell’s solution attempts to solve. We’re doing some more research and prototyping, trying to find a solution that might be faster/easier to implement. We have Top People on it.
As we said in the Usergroup, we’ll have the results in about two weeks. At that time we’ll update this ticket and also talk about it in the usergroup.
I can’t promise anything – we might come back and say ‘no’, we might say ‘yes, but later’ and we might say ‘here’s what we doing’. We might say something i haven’t thought of yet.”
This means that this project could work fine, be available to TPV’s and then Linden Lab come up with a solution of their own that blows the whole thing out of the water. There again there’s also a chance that Linden Lab won’t do anything, making this project vitally important, in some ways this project may well force Linden Lab’s hand.
The main problems here lie with people running out of patience and communication, the someday/maybe flag is not a good public facing status, Charlar suggests it doesn’t mean what it appears to mean, I’ve long found the Jira labels odd, closing things as needing more information when that’s not the case, for example. However what people really want is better dialgogue, at times that’s not possible and in cases where Linden Lab can’t do something, then these sort of crowdsourcing projects are good.
However even if it is implemented by TPV’s, there’s no guarantee Linden Lab will implement such a solution, which would add further complications to Mesh, we already have the situation where x amount of residents can’t see Mesh, add another discrepancy and it could get messy, but the project is being done for the right reasons, I don’t want to sound like I’m raining on their parade.
Linden Lab should also consider burying the hatchet with Qarl, he wants to do work for Second Life, he’s capable of doing work for Second Life, let him do work for Second Life even if it’s one off projects like this, he has talents that can help Second Life.
Then there’s the issue of Philip Rosedale, who has nothing whatsoever to do with this project, but does have a website in Coffee & Power that has the potential to be useful when it comes to crowdsourcing projects like this.
At the time of writing USD$915.00 of the required USD$5,400 has been raised for the project, which is quite impressive considering it has obnly just got going, I wish all involved well and hope there’s a happy conclusion to this.
Qarl Linden is the person who brought sculpties to Second Life, right?
He was certainly heavily involved but I don’t know if it was all his own work. I know some people don’t think that was the best thing to happen in Second Life.
so … am I missing something here … the customers of LL is collecting funds to get to pay someone to fix something that is Linden Labs resposibility in the first place …erm… wot?
IF that is how this is supposed to be understood …. Im then starting to understand why LL have been able to get away with shitty work for so many years … that is unbelievable
Not quite Lady S, someone has come up with a solution to an issue with Mesh clothing, Linden Lab are looking at it and may have another solution, it’s not so much a fault as it is a feature enhancement.
In fairness to LL – they never specified that mesh would be suitable for *all* markets in SL. Point of fact, many of us were, as far back as May pointing this out given the limitations that were apparent on the Beta grid through testing.
That said, and as I’ve commented elsewhere, the fashion business in SL is huge, and as such, consideration *should* have been given to the requirements of that sector ahead of time, and LL – frankly – should have been more forthcoming as to the capabilities – and limitations – of the mesh implementation. They also should have been more forthcoming on future plans on enhancing shortfalls.
If anything is at fault here, it is (once again) LL’s inability to communicate openly with the user community – as evidenced by the JIRA in question being open for nigh-on three months before anyone from the Lab actually putting a hand in the air and speaking up. Given the amount of publicity this matter in particular has received, it’s hard to accept the Lab were “unaware” of the JIRA – doubly so when Charlar himself has referenced it in the past.
As to the solution Max is seeking – this is potentially a good move, and not unprecedented. The major reason OpenSim has NPC (Non-player Character) capabilitie being developed is because the initial efforts were privately funded to spur things along. I’m not sure this is the way SL wants to go longer-term – but if there are things that can be handled at the Viewer end of the equation, without impacting on the server side or the performance enjoyed by others – then why shouldn’t initiatives like this occur? Everyone stands to benefit at the end of the day.
Qarl has just posted over at Hamlet’s blog that this could be made optional, Damien Fate, who is a bloody good designer, had expressed concerns. Which brings us back to the communication issue.