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

Eye On The Blog: PBR Materials

 

In the Tools and Technology blog last week, Kyle Linden posted that PBR Materials will be coming to the Second Life Grid.

PBR stands for Physically Based Rendering. PBR is a richer way of specifying the surface of an object that better simulates how objects appear in real life. PBR allows for realistic lighting for metals, plastics, leather, fabric, and more, including realistic reflections and bounce lighting.  The Second Life Viewer will now be able to display these more realistic-appearing objects in world, as well as allow creators to include this more advanced information in the object texturing.

The goal of this particular update is more realism in items, among the additional qualities being able to have reflective surfaces, such as a mirror. The time period the materials will be rolled out onto the Grid is described as several weeks. It should be noted there is a risk to items in which PBR is used as they might break in sims where it is unsupported "Until PBR server support is released across the entire Second Life grid." For now, PBR can only be applied using the latest Linden Viewer, and not Firestorm and other viewers.

More information can be read on the Tools and Technology blog (here).

Bixyl Shuftan

Announcement: This Saturday at The Science Circle - "Recent Developments in Materials Science"

 

"Recent Developments in Materials Science"

Saturday October 31 

10 AM to 11:30 AM

Join Matt Burr and Mike Shaw for a discussion about materials. What new materials such as graphene and nanotubes hold promises for new technologies? What are the prospects for advanced batteries? What can we look forward to with breakthroughs and novel materials?    

Guests: Dr. Michael J. Shaw, Dr. Kurt Winkelmann

For more information, Click Here. 

 http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Science%20Circle/67/129/32