[sldev] VWR-10311 Enabling lip sync by default

[Mike Monkowski]

Philip Rosedale wrote:
> *  We need a clear and discoverable place in the UI where this feature 
> can be enabled and disabled.  Probably prefs. Can someone take on that 
> design and coding?   Advanced-> isn't the right home for this.  We 
> should do that work properly and well to complete this feature.

At least for the time being, I think it should be left in Advanced. 
Torley's video describing it points to the Advanced menu.  After a 
while, it might make sense to move it, but to change the default 
condition and move the UI control at the same time seems a bit devious.

> * Can someone (Mike?) add a bit more detail on the jira task to 
> defend/review that the CPU impact is strictly capped.  For example, what 
> is the LOD behavior if there are 100 avatars all talking at the same 
> time.  We have LOD tricks for various rendering aspects of the system, 
> do they correctly carry through?  Does the CPU load of the feature vary 
> by GPU?  I think we need this level of documentation.

Lip sync gets intensity indicators from voice chat the same way that the 
green indicators do, so that is zero overhead.  All it does is change 
the morph weights for two localized morphs, very similar to eye blinks. 
  I have used the Fast Timers to try to measure any difference, but see 
none.  I never tried 100 avatars talking at once.  The most I ever heard 
speaking at once is about three.  Yes, the LOD processing stays exactly 
the same.  The two new morphs were derived from existing morphs.

> * As to the question of whether to default it on or off, clearly it is a 
> complex issue.  I'd say lets default it on, and make sure it is easy to 
> find the way to turn it off.  For some use cases it is very cool, 
> lending immersion and cueing as to speaker.  For other cases you will 
> want it off.  We are still at the point where the 'uncanny valley' 
> nature of the feature can make it unnerving, and that problem is 
> unlikely to be easily solved soon in realtime with low CPU load.

Hmmm.  Faces that don't move while talking are unnerving to me, like the 
commercials with the mannequins.  Creepy.

> As a final note, I'd say this is a good example of a tough topic where 
> the right call is unclear and discussion and debate is appropriate.  
> Also a good case of where if need be, I can just make a call and we move 
> on and see what happens.  Given that, why the rudeness I am seeing 
> here?  I don't see a need to be insulting to each other over this 
> topic.  Maybe I've missed some painful history here, but can't see how 
> this is helping us move forward.  I wouldn't work internally on projects 
> at LL with colleagues that were overly rude, I don't see why it should 
> be any different here!

I haven't sensed any rudeness from others, just open discussion.  If I 
have been rude, I apologize.  I did not intend to be.

Mike