[BUG-5540] Upgrade Sim Terrain Tools

[sl-service-account]

How would you like the feature to work?

I think SL is long overdue for an upgrade to the terrain tools. What we have now is far too low poly and simplistic to create an immersive world. With the implementation of mesh, and now materials, the sim terrain is usually the biggest detractor from a sims beauty. A few things could be done to help. 1) Increase the terrain map size, NOT the sim size. You could double the vertex count of the terrain map with barely any ill effect. This would allow smoother transition between elevations, as well as alow better detailed environments. 2) Allow the direct painting of textures to the sim. Use the existing tools, but modify it to paint textures instead of altering the height map. The texture could be stored on the server, this way it does not violate any TOS from texture creators. 3) Do away with the random texture generation. Having one texture for the sim server to maintain would seriously reduce the amount of work on the server. It would display ONE CONSTANT texture, as opposed to generating new textures each time some one logs in or teleports to that sim. An added bonus would be that people could decorate the sim without the wory that where they placed green grass perfectly on a patch of grass texture, that it wont be an eyesore of green grass on sand or rock. In summary: A constant, dependable environment. 4) Make this optional. If some residents find that they prefer the old system, make it an option in the viewer before log in.

Why is this feature important to you? How would it benefit the community?

Because Second Life is a great place, full of brilliant creators. Our tools have progressively gotten better over the years. Part of SL's beauty is the diversity you see from sim to sim. This will allow people to enjoy a much more rich and immersive environment without lagging the sim with excessive use of sculpts or mesh to produce an environment not possible with the land tools

Original Jira Fields

| Field | Value | | ------------- | ------------- | | Issue | BUG-5540 | | Summary | Upgrade Sim Terrain Tools | | Type | New Feature Request | | Priority | Unset | | Status | Been Triaged | | Resolution | Triaged | | Reporter | Terra Claremont (terra.claremont) | | Created at | 2014-03-27T20:59:12Z | | Updated at | 2014-04-02T18:23:40Z | ``` { 'Business Unit': ['Platform'], 'Date of First Response': '2014-04-02T13:23:35.857-0500', 'How would you like the feature to work?': 'I think SL is long overdue for an upgrade to the terrain tools. What we have now is far too low poly and simplistic to create an immersive world. With the implementation of mesh, and now materials, the sim terrain is usually the biggest detractor from a sims beauty.\r\nA few things could be done to help.\r\n1) Increase the terrain map size, NOT the sim size. You could double the vertex count of the terrain map with barely any ill effect. This would allow smoother transition between elevations, as well as aloow better detailed environments.\r\n2) Allow the direct painting of textures to the sim. Use the existing tools, but modify it to paint textures instead of altering the height map. The texture could be stored on the server, this way it does not violate any TOS from texture creators.\r\n3) Make this optional. If some residents find that they prefer the old system, make it an option in the viewer before log in.', 'Target Viewer Version': 'viewer-development', 'Why is this feature important to you? How would it benefit the community?': "Because Second Life is a great place, full of brilliant creators. Our tools have progressively gotten better over the years. Part of SL's beauty is the diverity you see from sim to sim. This will allow people to enjoy a much more rich and immersive environment without lagging the sim with excessive use of sculpts or mesh to produce an environment not possible with the land tools", } ```

[sl-service-account]

Alexa Linden commented at 2014-04-02T18:23:36Z

Thank you for your suggestion.