realXtend Boosts OpenSim

From MASSIVELY: "Our Open Source Second Life just got a whole lot more complicated, thanks to realXtend. It's too early to call them our heroes, but it probably won't be long. If you're wondering just what on earth I'm talking about, check out their demo video, which shows off version 0.1. While this is obviously just the beginning, they already have mesh avatars, mesh objects, and html on a prim! With the next update on February 29th, they'll be adding avatar attachments, avatar appearance storage, and single sign-on to multiple worlds, among other things. Change is coming. Are you ready?" This may replace Second Life as the future 3D internet standard. Follow the link to the demo video www.massively.com/2008/02/17/cinemassively-realxtend-demo-video/

"Of course, until we actually get a lot of people around using OpenSim, we won't know how well it really scales, and whether it can really match the performance of Second Life servers. And, until Linden Lab open sources its own server code, we won't really know if OpenSim is a dead end. But the addition of realXtend is an indication of what the Lab has to open source sooner rather than later: open source development models encourage fast turnaround of new features, "experimental" forks which can feed back into the main trunk, and much more besides." www.the-metaverse.com/2008/02/realxtend-gets.html

What's so Cool About This Partnership? (to Geeks that is)... www.daikonforge.com/webtab/2008/02/17/realxtend-joins-opensim/

For the little time I’ve had to learn about this (even more info on the OpenSimulator blog), here are just a few of the things mentioned that get me stoked:

1. OGRE rendering support - Anyone in the graphics and games industry has heard of OGRE. It’s one of the oldest and most capable open source rendering engines available, and is absolutely packed with features and optimizations that blow Second Life’s rendering pipeline completely out of the water.

2. Real 3D mesh support - Yes, that’s right, this project uses actual 3d meshes instead of just geometric solid primitives! According to Adam Frisby of the OpenSimulator project: "Meshes behave just like another prim type - you can drag, scale, and rotate meshes around using the same method that you use on primitives and object groups. You can link meshes with other primitives, save them to inventory and use them in pretty much the same way you use primitives."

3. Unlimited Attachments - ’nuff said.

4. Ability to script avatar skeletons - Apparently inverse kinematics is on the feature list, but in addition to that developers will have the ability to script fine-grained control of the skeleton’s bones. While it may not allow for everything that Endorphin would, it would seem to me that this could provide a great deal more spontaneity and interactivity between avatars than Second Life ever could. Note, this is not just .bvh animations uploaded like Second Life, we’re talking scripted access to the skeleton!