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Joshua Nightshade

So finally the realXtend viewer and server has been released. A press release is available here explaining the partnership that realXtend has embarked on with OpenSim and you can download both the software for the viewer and sim here, which will allow you to use full functionality of all the neat and sexy features that the new viewer offers.

This is the shiny that Adam and others were talking about, and it really has little to do with OpenLifeGrid beyond the fact that uses the software that Adam and the others at OpenSim are developing. Despite Sakai's rush to blog about it, the rex viewer is a component of OpenSim and not OLG specific.

At present it's possible to use the rex viewer with normal SL stuff but obviously the new features won't do anything in normal SL. For full functionality you'd need to run the server software on your own computer. Not entirely certain of the procedure just yet but I imagine it's probably not much more involved than what it takes to host your own server using OpenSim code.

Edit to add: Instructions on running the server and viewer on your computer are here:

And now here is the REAL shiny - realXtend joins OpenSim

Cristiano

YAY I AM SO FUCKING EXCITED THAT THIS HAS FINALLY BEEN ANNOUNCED

* passes out *

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Joshua Nightshade

Jellin Pico

I'm sure if I knew what any of this meant I'd be delighted.

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Joshua Nightshade

It means this:


realXtend features

* OGRE rendering
* Particle effects
* 3D objects, lights and shadows
* Responsive avatar controls
* Web pages as textures
* Desktop application sharing (VNC)
* VOIP client and 3D audio rendering
* Scriptable teleports between worlds
* Second life compatibility mode for use in SL and Opensim worlds
* Sprites
* Additive blending mode for objects and sprites
* Improved quicktime video
* Dynamic object grouping for rendering performance
* Address field in client login screen to select world
* MS SQL support for server performance
* VOIP Server
* Python scripting
* Script controllable viewer HUD and UI
* Script handlers for viewer mouse clicks and wheel
* Scriptable events when avatar enters a trigger prim
* Control avatar position and rotation from script
* Sound support (preload and play)
* 3D mesh collisions
* Web services integration to scripts
* Server-wide inventory for world builder teams
* Terrain texturing
* Changeable skybox textures
* UDP throttle start/min/max configuration
* Support multiple media urls per region
* New UI skin for the viewer


Under testing for the next release (29th of February 2008)

* Free-form non-humanoid avatars
* Global avatar mesh, skeleton, textures, attachments and animations
* Single sign-on to multiple worlds for teleporting
* Avatar generator
* Avatar attachment tool to help set 3D meshes to different bones
* Unlimited amount of attachments per bone
* Teleports between realXtend and Secondlife
* Avatar storage to move avatar appearance between realXtend grids/worlds
* Mesh tool to scale and set pivot of 3d models
* Server launcher and configuration application
* Home automation example using X10 technology
* Bot with Python scripting
* Media library for world builders
* Server status window


Roadmapped features

* Direct3D rendering for better performance
* Support for OGG Vorbis
* Support for video (other than quicktime)
* Avatar generator and attachment tool integration to rexViewer
* OGRE materials support
* Procedural textures to reduce network load
* On-the-fly compression for mesh up/downloading to reduce network load
* Client side prediction
* Improvements to in-world building tools
* Avatar off-line mode, with scriptable behaviour
* Texture projectors
* Weather support
* Integration with skype/google spreadsheets/openoffice
* Inverse kinematics
* Avatar face/head animation based on live video camera data
* Lip synch for VOIP
* Cloth physics
* Vehicles support
* Global rights management for objects in distributed architecture (you can set rights for objects as in SL)
* Wallet and transactions

Kristian

No mac or linux?

Lucifer Baphomet

Sweet

Adam Zaius

Not yet, but it should be coming - it just needs a little TLC from a mac/linux developer to compile. There's nothing in theory wrong or windows-specific, it just needs a linux/osx developer to work out how to compile it.

Ingrid

can you build stuff in this new fangled world?

whats the difference between opensim and opengrid?

BEARintheMorning

...wow...

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ruby tuesday

do we just add the -loginuri http://localhost:9000/ shit to the realXtend viewer or what?

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Ben Hoark

*Gasps and falls over.*

Wow. Downloading it as soon as I can. I see there is a server download -- does this mean I can host a world (possibly only a small one!) on my own computer? Assuming I give someone the appropriate IP address, can they connect to me from elsewhere on the net (the site doesn't say much about this)?

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Joshua Nightshade

I just did it myself and got it working. In case anyone's curious here's how:

1. Download both the server and viewer software from the original link above. Extract them both to separate folders, I did rexviewer and rexserver on my desktop.

2. Open the rexserver software and doubleclick OpenSim.exe. If you are in Vista this must be run as administrator first; right click the file and choose "Run As Administrator." A DOS box will pop up and run a fuckton of code. When it's finished you will see in blue text "Startup complete, serving 1 region(s)" and then it will sit still. This process takes roughly a minute depending on your computer.

3. Open rexviewer and make a shortcut to realXtend.exe. Right click on your shortcut, then properties; under the Shortcut tab you want Target to read realxtend.exe -loginuri http://127.0.0.1:9000

3b. Alternatively in the rexviewer folder you can doubleclick the connect_local_server.bat file instead of messing with the shortcut. In that case skip steb 4. As previously in Vista right click and choose "Run As Administrator" to get this to connect correctly.

4. Doubleclick shortcut! You can put in any username and password.

Joshua Nightshade

Yes you can build.

OpenSim is the group reverse engineering the SL viewer and server code and are the team that realXtend developed this viewer/server stuff for. I'm assuming when you say "opengrid" you're referring to what they're making.

OpenLifeGrid on the other hand is an attempt at a commercial grid using the (free) code that OpenSim has released.

Joshua Nightshade

Yes you can host your own server, I'm doing it right now. As to getting others to connect it probably is just a matter of port-forwarding, similarly to when you host a game server on Steam or whatever.

ruby tuesday

Damn, not working.

If I try to connect to deepgrid or osgrid it doesn't work either. booo!

Joshua Nightshade

What part's not working? I can try to help once you change your mood off of horny for Cris.

Edav Nomad

Can you just use it on your own computer without having to use the server software and is anything you do there transferable to SL?

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Wildefire Walcott

Amazing.

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ruby tuesday

I connected to the logingrid.com server

The other ones aren't working for me

"Despite our best efforts something unexpected has gone wrong"

Joshua Nightshade

You have to use the server software to get full functionality of the new things realXtend has added, like shadows and meshes and so on. These things aren't compatible with SL. You can however use the viewer on normal SL but there's not a huge point to that as far as I'm concerned because SL doesn't support the cool stuff.

And since SL doesn't support import/exporting of anything other than textures, animations and audio files any content you create within the rexserver on your personal computer isn't transferable back into SL. However on an interesting note, you CAN in fact create something on your personal rex server running on your own computer and import it into other OpenSim grids, such as the DeepGrid or OpenLifeGrid, etc. Although attachments don't work across any of the platforms still, because this is still very alpha-level functionality.

Joshua Nightshade

You ran the server software first, and then connected to your internal server through the modified shortcut?

BEARintheMorning