Bright Canopy launches 29th August 2015 at $17 per month

Bright Canopy will be launching on Saturday 29th August 2015 at a single monthly subscription of $17 per month for the first 90 days at least, The beta test and pre release phrases are done. There will be a launch party to celebrate this special milestone soon after the 29th August.

Bright Canopy will be the successor to the SL Go from Onlive and hopefully the service will last for years to come. During the alpha and beta phrase Google Chrome was apparently the preferred browser to access Bright Canopy. The new streaming service will allow users from around the world on low-end computers to access the Second Life platform and OpenSim grids.

If you are interested in Bright Canopy then sign up here today.

Here is the official announcement about the launch of Bright Canopy….

After much work and preparation and tremendous help from the community testing our offering, we are proud to announce the launch of the full Bright Canopy service.

LAUNCH DATE: August 29th

EARLY BIRD PRICE: $17 per month*

BRING A FRIEND: Sign-up a friend and both you, and your friend, earn free time.

EAST COAST CLOUD: We will also be adding a brand-new, US. East Coast cloud, for faster ping times!

We want to focus on service during launch, but we will be having a launch party to celebrate once the dust settles. You can look forward to music fun and special give-aways.

* Our early bird price is going to be an experiment for 90 days. If you’ve been following the blog, you know we’ve seen price fluctuations on the back-end, and we still need to watch actual usage of the service. $17 is a sustainable price if the instance costs return to their typical, historical values. It is not a sustainable price with the current spike in instance price. We may need to get creative with how we split instances, or we may need to raise prices. We intend to remain transparent as always and will keep you posted. Our goal is to continue to maintain a sustainable, affordable service.

Will you be signing up to Bright Canopy and trying it out ? 

Firestorm Viewer 4.7.3.47323 Released

On 18th August 2015 the Firestorm team announced a new version of the Firestorm Viewer 4.7.3.47323. This is a major release including Experience Tools, Project Layer Limits, the return of the Linux 64-bit build, Attachment Fixes, Viewer Managed Marketplace, Bug Fixes and much more.

I would imagine soon Firestorm Viewer versions 4.6.1 and 4.6.5 will be blocked, stay tuned for an announcement in the weeks ahead. It’s worth doing a clean install for this latest Firestorm Viewer release for the best results.

• For a complete list please visit the Firestorm Viewer Release Notes page.
• Download Firestorm Viewer 4.7.3.47323 Here

Here are some snapshots of the new changes in 4.7.3.47323, see below.

Updated Experience floaters – you can check Experiences that have been either allowed, blocked or owned. Also land owners can display info on Experiences running on the region.

Click the << / >> button to switch between the large and small previews when taking a snapshot

 

Click the << / >> button to switch between the large and small previews when taking a snapshot

Marketplace Listings added to the Avatar drop down menu

A new Hover Height option has added to the Quick Preference panel

Text Mode – disables the 3D rendering and allows Firestorm to be used as a text viewer for low-end pcs

Top Bar – now has new options and renames

What do you think of the Firestorm Viewer 4.7.3.47323 release ?

 

 

 

Linden Lab announces Project Sansar closed alpha

On Tuesday 18th August 2015 Linden Lab officially announced a press release saying that a “small number of creators have been exclusively invited to be the first to help test its new platform for virtual experiences”.  It’s good to know that the ball is starting to roll on Project Sansar now and it’s going to be exciting when Project Sansar goes into the Beta/Public phrase.

There is a small group of initial creators helping test Project Sansar that will be creating 3D content using Autodesk’s Maya® software and will then export their creations to the new platform. Project Sansar will support third-party creation tools and building options so that creators can work with their favourite software.

Ebbe Altberg says in the press release that “We want to lower the barrier of entry for VR experience creation” and this sounds like a good start to me. 🙂

“Project Sansar will allow creators at all levels to focus on realizing their creative visions, without having to worry about issues such as hosting and distribution, multi-user access and communication systems, virtual currency and regulatory compliance, and other challenges associated with creating, sharing, and monetizing virtual experiences today.”

In the months ahead Linden Lab will invite more creators and content partners to Project Sansar as the testing continues. Linden Lab will be recruiting engineers to join the team for Project Sansar. Project Sansar will be become more available to the general public in 2016 and that’s going to be most interesting when that happens.

Here is the full press release on Project Sansar closed alpha,,,

SAN FRANCISCO – August 18, 2015 –Linden Lab®, the creators of Second Life®, today announced that a small number of creators have been exclusively invited to be the first to help test its new platform for virtual experiences, codenamed Project Sansar.

Slated for general availability in 2016, Project Sansar will democratize virtual reality as a creative medium. It will empower people to easily create, share, and monetize their own multi-user, interactive virtual experiences, without requiring engineering resources. The platform will enable professional-level quality and performance with exceptional visual fidelity, 3D audio, and physics simulation. Experiences created with Project Sansar will be optimized for VR headsets like the Oculus Rift, but also accessible via PCs and (at consumer launch) mobile devices. Users can explore and socialize within Project Sansar experiences through advanced expressive avatars, using text and voice chat.

Drawing on more than 12 years of unique experience running Second Life, the largest-ever user-created virtual world, Linden Lab will make it fun and easy for Project Sansar users to create social VR experiences, eliminating the complicated challenges that today limit the medium to professional developers with significant resources. Project Sansar will allow creators at all levels to focus on realizing their creative visions, without having to worry about issues such as hosting and distribution, multi-user access and communication systems, virtual currency and regulatory compliance, and other challenges associated with creating, sharing, and monetizing virtual experiences today.

“We want to lower the barrier of entry for VR experience creation,” said Ebbe Altberg, CEO of Linden Lab. “Project Sansar will do for virtual experiences what WordPress has done for the Web: empower a broad range of people to create with professional quality and reach global audiences. By greatly expanding who can create virtual experiences, Project Sansar will also extend the value of VR to a wide variety of use-cases — from gaming and entertainment to education, architecture, art, community-building, business meetings, healthcare, conferences, training, and more.”

The small group of initial creators invited to help test Project Sansar will create 3D content using Autodesk’s Maya® software and will export their creations to the new platform. At consumer launch, Project Sansar will support a variety of third-party creation tools as well as native building options, so that creators can work with their preferred software.

In the coming months, Linden Lab will welcome additional creators and content partners to Project Sansar as new features are added to the platform and testing expands.

Linden Lab is also currently recruiting talented engineers to join the team developing Project Sansar. More information about working for Linden Lab, current positions, and applications can be found at lindenlab.com/careers.

About Linden Lab

Founded in 1999, Linden Lab is best known as the creator of Second Life, the largest-ever 3D virtual world filled entirely by the creations of its users. In 2013, the company expanded its product portfolio with Blocksworld®, a lighthearted build-and-play system on the iPad for kids and grownups alike. The company is currently developing a new platform for virtual experiences, code-namedProject Sansar, which will democratize VR as a creative medium.

For more about Linden Lab, its products, and career opportunities please visit LindenLab.com.