OpenSim : HyperGrid : The OSPBA now Supports Both Physics Engines : ubODE and Bullet

By Avatar JayR Cela

    I don't even know how this happened, however both ubODE and Bullet are up and working. Try it out for yourself at.

thekaz.ddns.net:8002:ChibaSea1

JayR Cela :_)

The OpenSim PowerBoat Association Has Been a Blast getting people interested again

By Avatar JayR Cela

    There are a number of people out there talking again about vehicle physics,

JayR Cela

The OpenSim Power Boat Association : Things Learned

Hello again anyone reading this.

     The OSPBA has got a bit of attention lately, and it has been a great experience for myself and a few other people, quite a few things about the Physics Engines currently being used ( Bullet and ubODE )have been brought out and into the open.

    For one thing I think we have all learned that there is a good bit of broken Mesh content out there, not that this is all bad, let's face it the Havok Physics Engine pretty much rules the Video Game Industry. Bullet and ubODE are relatively new and have been making progress as expected.

    I doubt if we can go back in time and fix all of the current broken content, that however does not mean it is impossible to move forward and fix the flaws.

JayR Cela :_)

OpenSim HyperGrid : Have you tried the new Linux version of the Alchemy Viewer ?

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JayR Cela

     This is a really nice OpenSim viewer, it is very easy to use and is not bogged down with a bunch of unnecessary features that the average user might find to be confusing. From what I have heard the code base is based upon a combination of FireStorm and Singularity, so in my opinion that is really good news, both FS and Sing are excellent, and so is this viewer. There is however 1 major Flaw you can not set the DrawDistance beyond 512 meters. Face Palm here on this one / Haa.haaa an oversight I am sure.

     I am not a Windows user so I have no idea if this flaw is inherent to all 3 versions, Mac, PC, Linux

      I have tried to find a Debug Setting to fix this problem, so far I have not been able to find anything. If someone out there has some insight or a fix, please let the community know, this is a really Kool OpenSim Viewer.

JayR Cela :_)

OpenSim Hypergrid : Plenty of Opinions Out There, ubODE or Bullet

By Avatar JayR Cela

    I welcome any criticism that comes my way that has to due with the current ubODE and Bullet Physics Engine debate.

    You can say what ya want about me, but at least I have managed to get the Topic back out into the open and being discussed again.

JayR Cela :_)

OpenSim HyperGrid : My Mistake

By Avatar JayR Cela

     Hmmm... I made a mistake the ODE Physics engine does have an official Web Site.

https://plus.google.com/collection/EHp-PE

     Let's compare it to this web site.

http://bulletphysics.org/wordpress/

JayR Cela

OpenSim HyperGrid: ubODE a Phenomenal Accompleshment

By Avatar JayR Cela

     I have been taking some flack for my support of the Bullet Physics engine recently, so let me set things straight.

      I want something that WORKS

      PLAIN AND SIMPLE !!!

      Do ya get it ?
   

      I do not want something that breaks a ton of current OpenSim content running around loose and confusing people. I make my apologies to uBIT, ubODE is phenomenal. I think that the OpenSim community owes you so much very due respect for tackling this issue.

JayR Cela :_)

OpenSim HyperGrid : Bullet Physics or ubODE ?

By Avatar JayR Cela

     Look I am getting pissed off at the backlash from several of my recent post's. I am merely stating the fact's as I know them, ubODE is a fantastic physics engine, and rates right up there with the commercial Havok engine. Bullet physics however is a real thing, they have a vast community of developers behind the project,  including NASA.

    As far as I am concerned something that renders tons of current mesh content in OpenSim unusable is a no go there situation.

JayR Cela.

OpenSim HyperGrid : Bullet Physics is Alive and Well

By Avatar JayR Cela

    The Big debate(s) right now in OpenSim are Permissions suddenly changing from Full Permissions to No Permissions, and the ubODE physics engine. We should all start to breathe easy soon as the OpenSim 0.9.0 code is very close to being released in a Stable state, and it will contain both Bullet Physics as the default, with ubODE as an option.

    I will say this much as far as Physics engines go, Bullet at least has a dedicated Web Site, ubODE does not.

http://bulletphysics.org/wordpress/

    It is worth taking a look at.

JayR Cela :_)

OpenSim Hypergrid : So You Want Blender with All the Bells and Whistles ?

By Avatar JayR Cela

    Make no mistake about it Blender frustrates the Hell out of Me, and I have no time or interest in learning it's convoluted User Interface or arcane commands. However i have learned that the Stock Version is severely crippled, by way of lack of a number of plug-ins. So what are you going to do?

    Simple solution to the problem if you are a Debian / Ubuntu / Mint Linux user, you just add the appropriate PPA.

     OK before anyone jumps all over me saying I should be using ARCH, or Fedora or what ever, I make no apologies, I cut my Linux teeth on Debian / Ubuntu and to a lesser degree Mint. That is what I am familiar with and I see no reason to change. I am not a regular Blender user, I personally find it to be very confusing. However once you master it I have seen some spectacular results, and you will require a number of plug-ins in order to achieve your end desired output.

    There is a fantastic PPA available currently being run by Thomas Schiex that has every thing built in with a fresh installation of Blender

 https://launchpad.net/~thomas-schiex/+archive/ubuntu/blender

JayR Cela :_)


    

OpenSim HyperGrid : The Alchemy Viewer 5.x now has a Linux Client

By Avatar JayR Cela

     I have been waiting for this a long time, the Alchemy Viewer has recently released their Linux version of the 5.x series.

    This is a Kick Ass Viewer, I will admit to the fact I am not happy with the choice of using the CHUI Chat Interface, but other than that it is an excellent alternative choice.

JayR Cela :_)

The OpenSim Power Boat Association is Still Alive and Kicking

By Avatar JayR Cela

    Hi there everyone that happens to be following this endeavor. The OSPBA is still alive, with  several behind the scene long time OS developers willing to chip into the cause.

    The sad reality is that we all have Real Lives to deal with, and that's just reality, plain and simple.

    Kazuko Yoshida of TheKaz Grid has generously donated 4 standard 256x256 sims to the project, unfortunately we were presented with several setbacks during the month of July.

#1 a server failure, that issue has been solved.
#2 we tried the ubODE Physics Engine, witch rendered quite a bit of imported Free-Bee content to be PHANTOM Prims. This is a common problem due to the fact that a lot of people that upload Mesh content into OpenSim are unable to understand the incomprehensible instructions located within the OpenSim Doc's, thereby inadvertently uploading their MESH Content as Visual as opposed to the Collision physics model. It is a very common mistake, and if you have ever tried to read the instructions on the OpenSim site, it is easy to see why. They seriously need a rewrite.

    Sounds confusing, doesn't it ? Yes it is confusing, and it should not be that way. ubODE looks as if it will be the future Physics Engine for OpenSim. Unfortunately ubODE render's a TON of current Mesh content unusable. that is unless you idea of a good time is running around and placing Invisi-Prims all over your Grid. And believe me that is not going to change. The advantages of ubODE are really something else, I have seen them in action on The OpenSim Life grid run by Bill Blight, and the results are spectacular to say the least. But that is because he knows what he is doing and does not need to read instructions.

     So where does that leave us with all this broken Mesh content that works perfectly well with the Bullet Physics Engine, and suddenly turns to Phantom when we implement ubODE ?

    Currently you are screwed, I ran around all over our Grid setting up invisi-prims in order to place a BAND-AID on the problem, until we finally decided to revert to the Bullet Physics Engine.

     Haaa-haaa, then I spent a great deal of time finding and removing all of them once we decided to revert the Grid back to Bullet Physics. And to Top that off if you do not import your ubODE content exactly as it should be, you end up with double triangulation, thereby adding extra stress on the server. It is a complete mess.

    However there is a project currently underway to rewrite the underlying Bullet Physics Engine.

Stay Tuned. This is not over yet.

JayR Cela :_)