User:Torley Linden/Project updates

Updates

[2008-02-06] [MISC]

I won't be updating this for awhile because there's got to be a better way to do it.

If any projects come along that I work on which have a gravity demanding these types of updates, sure, I'm up for them — but on the horizon, looks like you'll be able to gauge a goodly amount of what I do through video tutorials.

Keep watching, and thank you. :)

[2007-01-18] [VIDTUTS]

Gosh, these video tutorials just keep taking more and more of my time! All with good reason, however: Resis and Lindens alike love 'em, they save time for everyone who's been able to benefit from fun, practical info. Put in a little, get out a lot.

If you have ideas, please let me know!

[2008-01-14] [VIDTUTS] More polish

I spent a big chunk of the weekend looking at different ways to encode my video tutorials, and future videos I might want to make. After wrasslin' with it strenuously, I finally came up with this and uploaded the new ones.

Yes, for simplicity's sake, there's no more "LOFI" or "HIFI" here. I've replaced them with "DOWNLOAD" links which have nice visual quality, but are also suited for inworld streaming with relatively slow broadband connections (if your downstream's at least 768 kbps, you should be able to play these).

I reckon I'll include news of this in my next blog post.

Gotta update User:Torley_Linden/Vidtut_process too.

[2008-01-02] [MISC] Hello 2008

Y'know, I'm just going to start a new page for video tutorial ideas. Feel free to add your own! (They are, after all, community-power-driven.) It shall henceforth be called "Vidtut ideas".

Someday, I might like to have a blog to supercede these project updates.

[2007-12-31] [VIDTUTS] Show how to use streaming media

Sofia Westwick and others insightfully opined,

I don't know if you have done this as a top of the week yet. Its something very simple yet so many people seem clueless on how to do it.

my suggestion if you haven't done this yet is make a tip of the week showing how people can use the media options on land they own

I really like it and want to do this now that I've encoded and uploaded all the Tip of the Weeks to our Video Tutorials page. (Blog post on that forthcoming, stay tuned.)

[2007-12-31] [MISC] Back to work

Catching up on things. This "Project updates" page is gradually transforming into a handy place where I'll note loose threads and other things to followup on. It's one way of seeing what goes on in my mind regularly, and perhaps it'll give insights into Linden Lab processes — especially if you're thinking of working here too. I hope so!

[2007-12-20] [WINDLIGHT] The speed of happiness

Things have been going so quickly lately I haven't had more of a chance to update this. But that's no excuse, eh?

I just posted the most recent WindLight Office Hours transcripts. You should see 'em if you missed out! The WindLight info-page has over 50,000+ views, and the combined chat logs have over 2,500+. Thanx to everyone who came here to get their... info!

Team's been busy getting things in shape for WindLight exiting First Look and entering Release Candidate, a sign it's more stable and seriously being considered to be part of the main viewer. We did an internal triage reprioritizing issues — a lot of the ones I see on the Issue Tracker are aesthetic ones I hope we'll address with strokes both broad and fine. Pastrami cooked up a new day cycle set which is less washed out and I'm using it now.

Holidays are on the horizon...

[2007-12-13] [WINDLIGHT] Alpha textures becoming opaque at a distance

Yes, it's intentional that alpha (32-bit, see-through) textures become opaque (solid) at a distance — this was done as a speed booster, since layered alpha textures decrease performance.

At the same time, I know how ugly it looks in some situations, and how it impairs other things — for example, if want to take a picture of an apartment building and the contents of its floors, but when I zoom out, the glass windows (alpha textures) go opaque, blocking my view.

I wonder if it'd be a good idea to map this to Objects Mesh Detail... or provide an option in Debug Settings.

Next steps: collate Issue Tracker stuff related to this like VWR-3101, forward to our Developers on Team WindLight for a better solution...

[2007-12-11] [MISC] Keep on going!

Today was a long day with moments of joy interspersed amidst the awkwardness of Second Life undergoing a longer-than-expected service outage. Whenever this happens, you know for sure that our people are working intensely behind-the-scenes. It tends to be valleys of pandemonium alternating with peaks of calm across our internal comm. channels.

Since the inworld experience was splotchy, I worked on giving feedback to an exciting part of our website that's going to be updated. I don't wanna leak/spoil the surprise, so you'll find out soon enuff (I hope).

I also did a lot of here-and-there wiki tweakage, including adding a picture to brighten up the Office Hours page. It's amazing what one well-placed illustration can do. Seraph Linden is very good at putting eye-catching comics (and stuff) on our internal wiki pages, so I thought I'd sort of follow his model.

I wanted to spend more time on the Issue Tracker (AKA PJIRA) today but due to database probs, wasn't able to. I'll run through my triage queue, WindLight and otherwise, thoroughly tomorrow. I promise.

Gotta film a new Tip o' the Week too. What's it gonna be? Prolly texture optimization, I can't go wrong with that popular and need-to-know topic.

More Resis — that means you if you have an interest! — should start their own public wiki pages. I don't think there's enough knowhow yet but some of our Volunteers have, like one of our most frequent editors, SignpostMarv Martin. To start your own, either (1) click your Second Life name at the top of the page (to the left of to "my talk"), or (2) go here and replace the "FIRSTNAME_LASTNAME" in the address with your Second Life name. Like, mine's:

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/User:Torley_Linden

Pretty easy. You'll want to learn how to edit the wiki if you don't yet know how, and you'll learn by doing.

[2007-12-07] [MISC] I'm reorganizing this...

Instead of having a separate header for each project, which is arguably neater, I'm going to try updates under a single "Updates" header for the time being, and instead use the subject line of each update to indicate what it's about — one reason is because so much of my work is interconnected.

I also plan to use this not just to record "Project updates" per se but to take notes that need future fleshing-out and may come in handy. As the GTD and other time & life management practices espouse, you gotta write these things down.