Sansar Release Notes for July 10, 2017

Announcements:

• Scripting: A major update has been pushed on Sansar’s Scripting APIs with the namespace changing from LindenLab to Sansar. As a result of this change, all scripts written prior to this release will no longer run and will need to be updated. Simply change the LindenLab namespace to Sansar and reupload your scripts to make your scripts work.
• System requirements: With the new native Oculus Rift support, Oculus Rift users no longer need SteamVR to use Sansar. Vive users, however, still need SteamVR  in order to use Sansar.
• Control functions: See Sansar controls for more information.
  • New control functions for Vive controllers.
  • Check our controls out to see how you can switch between first and third person POV in Sansar.
  • New controls functions for identifying avatars and desktop teleporting!
• Store image requirements: The minimum image dimensions for new listed items is now 600 pixels (width) x 600 pixels (height). Existing listed items are not required to be updated to reflect this change.
• Terminology change:
  • Persona Name: Now known as Avatar Name
  • Persona Handle: Now known as Avatar ID
  • Note: Terminology may still be used interchangeably in certain interfaces. 

 Features

Client

• Full-body IK - All avatars can now show arm movement using controllers in VR mode! Simply press on F6 on the keyboard to activate arm movement.
• Character Editor improvements - We’ve added new improvements that allows you to further personalize your avatars!
  
  • We’ve added a new selection of avatars on the carousel. Now that the human avatars support arm movement, the “kaiju” avatars have been removed from the carousel.
  • Customize your avatars further with our new character editing options that allow you to pick from a variety of skin tones, hair styles, hair colors, and more clothing options.
  • You can now see preview icons of your saved customized looks.
• Material editor - One of the most requested features is finally available starting today! Using the material editor, you can now assign and configure shaders for the materials on objects. Read here for more information.
• Media surfaces - Stream a YouTube video within your scene! For a step-by-step guide on adding a YouTube video or other CEF-compatible content in your scene, see Media Surfaces.
• Global illumination - You can now add indirect illumination within your scenes, which simulates the way light reflects off objects in a scene. Global illumination (GI) can be set via Scene Settings. Note: activating GI can substantially extend the processing time required to build a scene.
• Desktop teleport - Now you can teleport in desktop mode! You can also designate the direction where your avatar faces upon teleport. See our documentation on controls for information on how to trigger the feature.
• Identify avatars - You can now identify avatars around you in VR! Gaze on a character and hold the grip button to see your fellow avatars’ names. Find out how here!
• Muting avatars -  Now you can selectively mute avatars in either desktop or VR mode. When you mute someone, you will no longer hear their voice during the duration of the session. Read here to learn more.
• Improved publishing - Want to cancel an experience publish midway through the process? Now you have the option to cancel a publish process at anytime!
• Audio Improvements
  
  • Subtle yet fun sound effects added to accompany interface and editing functions. These sounds pave way for an ever greater immersive experience in both desktop and VR mode.
• Script API overhaul
  • As noted above, we’ve done a major Scripting API overhaul and changed the namespace from LindenLab to Sansar. To read our updated documentation, see Scripting API documentation.
  • Grab new versions of our existing example scripts on the knowledge base or within the ScriptAPI folder in the Sansar Client folder.
• Audio Scripts - See AudioComponent, SoundResource, PlayHandle, PlaySettings, ScenePrivate, AgentPrivate.
  
  • Now you can use scripts to start and stop sounds, and synchronize them to other events (such as a clock chiming). Previously, we only had persistent loops, so this opens up a lot of flexibility.
  • By default with scripts playing audio, sounds are synchronized between clients, so everyone hears the same audio at the same time. You can change this in a sound's playback settings.
  • Drag and drop a script to play audio from an object, specific scene coordinates, another avatar, or globally (non-spatialized and non-diegetic, meaning everyone in a scene hears it the same). This means a lot more interactive possibilities.
  • A script can change a sound's loudness and pitch for more variety.
  • You can even randomize sounds (from a preselected list you setup) and add a random delay time between sounds, for unpredictable and lively soundscapes. For example, bird calls that play differently each time.
  • Audio scripts can respond to such events as when an avatar spawns in a scene, text chat, and basic collisions.
  • SoundRandomizer example script: We'll be providing example scripts on the Sansar Store and on the knowledgebase to get started with.
• Voice sync update on avatars
• Avatar Name and Avatar ID naming - Revamped avatar naming page prior to customizing your avatar.

Documentation

New Articles

• 3D model export and setup tips using popular 3D tools
• 3D model import tips
• Adding objects to a scene
• Adding scripts to an object
• All articles under API Documentation
• Example Script: Sound Randomizer
• Game Controller Buttons
• Global Illumination
• Identifying and Interacting with Avatars
• Inventory
• Keyboard shortcuts
• Light types
• Materials Editing
• Media Surfaces
• Muting Avatars
• Sansar Controls
• Scene Settings
• System requirements
• Troubleshooting FBX uploads
• Uploading items in Sansar
• VR Controls

Updated Articles

• Example script: Follow the Path
• Example script: Random Movement
• Example script: Stats Example
• Example script: Teleport Hotkeys
• Example script: Visitor Tracker
• Working with 3D models (previously called Uploading FBX files)
• Working with skyboxes (previously called Uploading a skybox)
• Working with scripts (previously called Uploading and adding scripts)

Bugs resolved from previous releases

• The VR controllers' teleport function can lose input and become inactive if the teleport beams are pointed and released over the left-hand VR menu.
• Clicking on the scale box while manipulating an object may result in odd behaviors such as incremental scaling, a change in positioning, or disappearing from the scene.
• In VR mode, the App Launcher and Atlas may appear lower on the screen.

Known issues for this release

• Avatars may take a quick step if a controller is used to navigate the avatar slowly through the experience.
• Male avatars forward left strafe is not smooth while in first person camera mode. The avatar will appear to wobble left and right as they walk.
• The new Arm IK feature is still being polished. Some bugs may trigger on the Avatar’s arms when it is enabled. For example:
  
  • Avatar's lats bulge oddly when users raise their arms using the controllers.
  • The avatar's arm positioning does not match the user's physical arm position.
  • It's possible to get your avatar's arms to clip into its torso.
  • If users twist the VR controllers around, the avatar's hands and wrists will stretch out of shape.
• The Avatar Name field is incredibly hard to read when the text cursor is not hovering over the field.
• Some dynamic assets do not appear to initialize their physics until they are moved in the experience. This is causing some dynamic objects to appear to float in the air until an avatar bumps into them.
• At times, audio in experiences with Compute Scene Reverb cuts out when in free cam or first person mode.
• If a cannonball is fired and the use quits before the cannonball is destroyed, the cannonball will remain in the experience. Any subsequent user connecting to that experience will see a floating rogue cannonball. If a different user hits the actual server location of the cannonball, this floating rogue cannonball will update its location to match the server.
• Some emissives in Origin Cinema 360 aren't emitting light after Global Illumination upgrade.
• The Chat window in Edit mode is truncated in the default window view.
• The material editor will appear to open then close if an unsupported asset type is set as an .fbx file extension and loaded into the asset converter.
• The first user selected material on an uploaded asset will not visually highlight after the user has selected it.
• Some store assets that rely on the emissive.exr texture to be used as their diffuse color are being tinted by the empty diffuse attribute, making the asset appear dark and dull.
• When an asset with more than 1 UV map is uploaded, only the first UV map will appear textured. All other UV maps will appear black.
• Media Surfaces continue to play for a few seconds after entering Edit Mode.
• If a media surface source is set to a gif image, that image will become squashed into one of the corners of the surface. If tiling is used, the empty space will also tile along with the image.
• Mouse camera trucking does not work if left click happens over an asset.
• Duplicating a group of assets only shows one selection in the Scene Objects panel.
• The sound effect for manipulating the gizmo handles have a noticeable lag. This may make it seem like the gizmo is slow in response to your mouse clicks.
• Non uniform repeating textures do not repeat as expected.
• Reloading a scene after deleting an object will cause the Scene Objects panel to reorder.
• Setting Sky Distance with the slider is difficult for lower values.
• Attempting to open the Atlas after exiting VR mode in Edit Mode can cause Sansar to crash.
• When the More Options (...) menu is displayed, it remains onscreen and active if you don't select any menu item and instead use the scroll bar to move around in the list of experiences.
• Some UI issues appear in the My Projects window.

Known issues from previous releases

• Objects can be scaled beyond their maximum set limits.
• Additional containers (and its components) that have been added to objects do not move with the object while visiting an experience.
• Changes made to a component's properties in an object may transfer to a similar object with a similar component.
• At times, users' online statuses are not reflected properly in the People app.
• Using the randomize button while customizing an avatar may occasionally cause the randomizing message to stay on screen indefinitely.
• Some textures appear posterized after uploading them to Sansar.
• The undo button does not work when adding and removing components in an object.
• Additional containers (and its components) that have been added to objects do not move with the object while visiting an experience.