PBR Officially Launched For Linden Viewers

 

 Last month, Linden Lab stated that it's PBR Materials update (Physical Based Rendering) would soon be coming to the Grid. Last week on the official blog, it stated the update had arrived, and was available through the latest version of the official Linden Viewer, which was released the same day.

Today is the official release of the literal new shiny in Second Life, PBR Materials! With our weekly grid update, all of Second Life will now be capable of using PBR Materials in the Second Life viewer.

The goals behind the PBR Materials project are increased visual realism, keeping with industry standards, and bringing GLTF content into Second Life with expected results. One method of enhancing realism is to create scenes with real reflections which mimic how our eyes have learned to identify that a surface is metal, plastic, or some other material. Whether you create objects in Second Life or simply enjoy seeing and wearing them, PBR Materials will provide a big step up in the appearance of the Second Life world.

There were more details in the blog entry for those interested in building things with PBR, such as material features and future features. The Lab would also say "we’re going to reduce the download cost of objects by 15%, across the board, without any additional charges, which will create more available Land Impact for everyone." 

It should be noted that the update only applies to the minority of residents who use the official viewer. For those who use Firestorm and other third-party viewers, they will have to wait until the viewer updates to include PBR. 

Source: Linden Blog

Bixyl Shuftan