[sldev] Google Summer of Code 2008 update

[Matthew Underwood]

On Wed, May 7, 2008 at 10:53 PM, Lawson English <lenglish5 at cox.net> wrote:
> Mike Monkowski wrote:
>
> > Callum Lerwick wrote:
> >
> > > Ever seen the surface editors in something like Lightwave or Maya? Guess
> > > what SL is missing... :) Not to mention they support shader plugins. I
> > > still think the future lies in supporting user-supplied GLSL shaders...
> > >
> > > (This is the cue for the sldev peanut gallery to shout me down and
> > > explain how I'm an idiot for even suggesting such a thing.)
> > >
> >
> > I don't understand why you would expect to be shouted down.  I don't
> remember anyone objecting to plugins before.  I don't know if there's been
> any discussion about shader plugins specifically, but shaders are just code.
> You have access to all of the GLSL code for the viewer.  The only argument
> you might get is that you say "the future" and I would suggest it should be
> "the present."  Why wait?
> >
> >
>
>  The problem with any plugin architrecture for the SL viewer is that it
> requires a great deal of "buy-in" from Linden Lab to make it work. And my
> own view, speaking as a documentor of SL prototocols, is that plugins won't
> make much sense until the protocols are well-documented, and the transition
> to a new viewer structure (which will hopefully happen as the protocols
> change radically over the next 2 years) is far enough along for people to
> see what makes sense as far as plugin APIs go.
>
>  As we create new viewer test harnesses to test login, inventory, gorup IM,
> etc., it would make sense to create test modules for new graphics as well.
> The modular-viewer VAG proposal is still sitting there if anyone wants to
> forgo jumping on the libsl/openviewer/realXtend bandwagon and design the
> modular/pluggable viewer of the future....
>
>  http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Multi-Process_Client_VAG_--_draft
>
>
>
>
>  Lawson

What I really want (as an LSL scripter) is to have the ability to make
localized HUDs (like Vendetta Online and WoW, which use LUA) as it
doesn't really make sense to do all of the processing on the server
(as it is incredibly slow to update, particularly during teleports and
general asset loading on the client).  The downside would be allowing
people/customers to have the source or bytecode on their machine,
which could be problematic if people don't want their UI and/or
communications protocols exposed.   The transferring the data between
the two entities would be problematic, but something like an IM or
XML-RPC communications channel wouldn't be too bad.