Would it be possible to create a "PBR Translator"?
Eren Padar
No matter how much LL and the FS team fixes viewers and makes PBR available to more people, there will still be many who simply can't use PBR. Their current option is to use the older Firestorm release, which the FS team has promised to retain online indefinitely. But in such case PBR items (becoming increasingly common) appear solid white. That is not a desired experience.
I am wondering if it would be possible for LL to create a "PBR Translator" for systems that cannot handle PBR / Advanced Lighting. Such a Translator would convert PBR textures to a suitable Blinn-Phong approximation, so that PBR items don't appear solid white.
Such a translator would make the system more usable for a lot of people, and perhaps less laggy and crash-prone than the current system.
I learned a long time ago that when it comes to computer software, practically nothing is impossible. It all depends on how dedicated someone is to achieving that goal. One would think for the sake of Second Life overall and the users who have been using it for years (as well as new ones who may be trying SL for the first time)... that a PBR to Legacy graphics translator would be a sensible addition.
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Dictatorshop Resident
100% agree. I am avoiding PBR due to this and the fact that all of my furniture offer a LOT of textures and to double all that work is simply NOT cost effective and never will be in my case.
I also am in a position where I have a lot of existing product lines in my furniture and I will not be going back and redoing them, and if I do new pieces in PBR they won't match, but all that is a rant for another thread.
Due to that everything being white, I won't be doing PBR except on mirrors, where I have also dropped a no PBR in the box as a bonus for those who need it.
It seriously IRKS me that LL did not think that through and just put all the work on us. No thank you!
Moz McGinnis
Agree
spirit Wingtips
Eren i see what you mean and its a novel idea but in a translator there first must be something to translate! Many creators are going the PBR ONLY route, some have PBR and offer non pbr versions i do think if something is not done Second Life and the creators whk have businessss here runs the risk of chasing off long time residents who simply dont haVe the financial means to upgrade their computers something akin to when mesh was introduced amd many long time nonmesh creators stopped creating or left SL. second life iz trying to attract new users please dont s shooot yourself in the foot by not doing something to keep existing ones
Eren Padar
spirit Wingtips This is exactly why a "PBR translator" is so important; if someone's system can't handle PBR or they simply don't want to mess with it, or if they're a creator and they don't want to build double-textures systems for every. single. thing. they. make... something that turns the PBR texture to BP texture would be a fantastic mediator. We'd also need an option to "Use BP textures only".
At large events I am finding more and more items that say "PBR only" and you are right; if anything that is going to drive people away from SL. I'm already sick of it... and my system handles PBR fine. What I dislike is the additional confusion it's causing on an already straight-up learning curve system.
Dana Enyo
I think its the creator's responsibility to always have a BP texture underlying the PBR. 100% PBR compatability may never happen (many people couldn't use Advanced Lighting Model either), and things we make should look good to everyone.
Eren Padar
Dana Enyo As a merchant myself, I can attest as to the difficulty of placing dual textures on a creation. Some merchants are doing so... but that greatly extends the creation work and time in developing products. I tend to think the ones using both texture systems already had a BP texture version, and are now simply adding a PBR version to the box.
Thus the request for LL to create an internal PBR to BP translator, and for people to be able to tell their viewers to "Use BP textures only" to trigger that feature. Surely it is conceptually possible for the system to examine the PBR texture and auto-convert it to an acceptable BP version.
Advanced lighting should never have been FORCED on the community. Second LIfe worked 21 years without such a predictably-problematic change. Philip Linden himself admits they rushed PBR to market when they should not have. Maybe it's time they re-think their marketing strategy and take a more customer-centric course.
Dana Enyo
Eren Padar I know it's a pain in the butt to do both textures; I'm doing it anyway, on every new garment I make. I put both the BP-only and PBR/BP versions in the box, because sometimes the environment makes the BP look better.
I'm nowhere near techie enough to know if that kind of translator is possible (or if it would actually put more strain on the PC than just showing the PBR). But (as shows up in another current Feedback thread), LL could certainly do a lot more at EDUCATING Residents about what PBR is and how to make the most of it.
Eren Padar
Dana Enyo Kudos for including both types of texture. That's extra work and shows you care about your customers.
Dana Enyo
Eren Padar Thank you! I really do. :-)