[sldev] iphone 3D client possible?

[Lawson English]

SignpostMarv Martin wrote:
>
> Lawson English wrote:
>> Maybe the old iPhone couldn't do it, but the new one?  I'm pretty 
>> sure some reasonably robust subset of the current SL 3D graphcis will 
>> run at acceptable framerates.
>
> Is having the exact same experience necessary at "acceptable" 
> framerates even necessary ?
>
> Why not go a different route with an iPhone client, and just have a 
> cut-down IM client that has a 3D background ?
>
> Taking a cue from SLeek's interface, only give iPhone users the option 
> to "move avatar to landing point" "touch objects with touch_events or 
> left-click configs" and "sit on object with sit target or left-click 
> config for sitting".
>
> At least initially, trying to do *everything* you do in SL on a 
> desktop/laptop computer on a portable device would just seem 
> rather..... stupid ?
> While it's conceivable you could build something via an iPhone 
> (multi-touch rescale & rotate anyone ? ), I'd imagine that 
> content-creators are likely to prefer desktop/laptop computing 
> environments, and that portable devices such as the iPhone would be 
> best suited to the content-consumer crowd.
>
> Since the frame rate on the iPhone may be low till the view can be 
> optimised, rather than try to mirror the experience on a portable 
> device, why not just give the option to (focus on object/avatar) with 
> basic pan/rotate/zoom controls ? Exploring an environment in the 
> traditional way (e.g. walking/flying around) may be too cumbersome to 
> do on a portable device (either due to confined interface space or 
> low-framerates), so why not have portable device viewers focus on how 
> people explore when under heavy lag- move the camera, not the avatar ?
>

Its a thought, and I don't know how the iPhone 2 will perform, but 
looking at the console games demos, I wouldn't be surprised if a 
properly designed SL client couldn't be usable even in 3D. Certainly, 
the [eventual] Python test harness library  could be adapted for use on 
the iPhone and give  Sleek-like capabilities. Would need to be rewritten 
in ObjC of course.

Lawson