[BUG-228779] Grass and Fur - "Shells and Fins" support

[sl-service-account]

How would you like the feature to work?

This is one of my bigger suggestions I appreciate it might be too big a job but I thought I'd put it forward anyway.

"Shells and Fins" is a common method of displaying 'fuzzy' things such as grass and fur. For an idea of how the effect can look: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pskGb-IP1qE

We would have a few new 'per-face' primitive parameters like the ones shown in the video that would allow us to make fuzzy surfaces.

Viewers could then choose to implement shells and fins and make it a graphics option that people can opt in and out of like in other games.

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

'Fuzzy' objects in SL such as teddy bears etc have been popular for some time.

Creators currently work around the lack of Shells and Fins support in SL by using multiple layers of mesh to recreate the effect of Shells and Fins. This is quite computationally heavy and limits the effect to small objects. It also means that users on slower hardware cannot 'turn off' the effect as it is a part of the mesh itself instead of a shader.

I think that introducing Shells and Fins would make fuzzy objects in SecondLife just that little bit cooler. It would mean that we could make realistic grass too which could help SecondLife feel more modern, whilst at the same time reducing the number of 'onion' meshes on the grid that contribute towards lag.

Original Jira Fields

| Field | Value | | ------------- | ------------- | | Issue | BUG-228779 | | Summary | Grass and Fur - "Shells and Fins" support | | Type | New Feature Request | | Priority | Unset | | Status | Accepted | | Resolution | Accepted | | Reporter | Extrude Ragu (extrude.ragu) | | Created at | 2020-05-19T04:52:00Z | | Updated at | 2020-05-20T18:07:55Z | ``` { 'Build Id': 'unset', 'Business Unit': ['Platform'], 'Date of First Response': '2020-05-20T13:07:55.656-0500', 'How would you like the feature to work?': 'This is one of my bigger suggestions I appreciate it might be too big a job but I thought I\'d put it forward anyway.\r\n\r\n"Shells and Fins" is a common method of displaying \'fuzzy\' things such as grass and fur. For an idea of how the effect can look: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pskGb-IP1qE\r\n\r\nWe would have a few new \'per-face\' primitive parameters like the ones shown in the video that would allow us to make fuzzy surfaces.\r\n\r\nViewers could then choose to implement shells and fins and make it a graphics option that people can opt in and out of like in other games.', 'Original Reporter': 'Extrude Ragu (extrude.ragu)', 'ReOpened Count': 0.0, 'Severity': 'Unset', 'Target Viewer Version': 'viewer-development', 'Why is this feature important to you? How would it benefit the community?': "'Fuzzy' objects in SL such as teddy bears etc have been popular for some time. \r\n\r\nCreators currently work around the lack of Shells and Fins support in SL by using multiple layers of mesh to recreate the effect of Shells and Fins. This is quite computationally heavy and limits the effect to small objects. It also means that users on slower hardware cannot 'turn off' the effect as it is a part of the mesh itself instead of a shader.\r\n\r\nI think that introducing Shells and Fins would make fuzzy objects in SecondLife just that little bit cooler. It would mean that we could make realistic grass too which could help SecondLife feel more modern, whilst at the same time reducing the number of 'onion' meshes on the grid that contribute towards lag.", } ```

[sl-service-account]

Vir Linden commented at 2020-05-20T18:07:56Z

Pulling this in for possible future consideration.