Developer tools join Player at 0.95

Publisher

• The often asked for, long promised FTP support! We now have the ability to create groups that are backed by your own FTP storage (Amazon S3 support is still available) and the Publisher will allow you to publish directly there. Contact us if you'd like to setup a group using your own FTP account.
• Support for uploading replacement assets much quicker via the Browse button in the asset tab
• Advanced tab to hand-edit the metaforik xml
• Support for Background element

Creator

• Copy and paste (select an element or series of elements in the scene, hold Ctrl and drag out new copies)
• Improved loading speed when loading multiple of the same item (still some substantial perf improvements on the way here)
• Fixed undo functionality to support undo/redo when adding or removing elements
• Shifted camera UI helper model to better convey the position of the actual camera view. The end of the lens is now the point where the view is displayed from
• Added UI support for creating non-texture based backgrounds
• Fixed spotlight bugs
• Fixed change camera type at design-time bugs
• Lots of misc. bug fixes

Player 0.95 Online

What's new in framework 0.95

• Major memory usage improvements
• Support for multiple video streams
• Continuum Technology Preview
• Server-side scripting
• Better proxy support (includes content acquisition from behind proxy servers)
• Support for multiple asset types including support for version changes based on VastPark platform architecture changes
• MetaWSS renamed to Metaforik to better brand the thinking behind it
• Some minor updates to the IMML specification
• Extensible document provider model to allow custom rendering of specific file formats and the associated URI's

• Support for the *.continuum file format
• Support for loading the *.widget file format
• UI overhaul, supports recording to Continuum and playback of Continuum data

1st Release: The Player goes online

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Let’s get Metaforik

Metaphors (conceptual "Items") are at the core of our platform agnostic content syndication specification.

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VastPark OpenSim Integration

Recently we began writing a plugin for OpenSim to handle the VastPark networking protocol along with some assistance from Adam Frisby.

Where we stand at the moment is an initial implementation that allows an IMML document to be hosted by OpenSim, requested and retrieved by the any of the VastPark client applications (ie: Imp/Creator). From here it should be relatively simple to incorporate the networking stack to allow for live data connections and the management of IMML state changes.

Stay tuned for more news on VastPark/OpenSim integration!

CVSDude chosen to host open source code

After poking and prodding a number of source code hosting services, tossing and turning between SVN, GIT and Bazaar, we’ve finally found one that meets our needs in CVSDude, using SVN as the version control system.

Once the repository has been shifted over and some house-keeping done to make sure all is well, we’ll make further announcements and setup a page dedicated to getting, building and working with the source.

For further information on VastPark’s open sourcing, visit this page: http://www.vastpark.com/open_source

VastPark’s first Masterclass

VastPark’s first Masterclass is being held over two sessions on January 22nd 2009

To see the times of the sessions, as well as details of how to join in please visit either of the ‘VastPark’s first Masterclass’ posts on our Events blog and the Events & Announcements thread in the forum. The audio will be conducted via Skype. When you join the public chat you will be contacted by VastPark.Events and then added to the audio. We ask that you keep your microphone muted and conduct any chat in world during the Masterclass. 

Open-source = Peace of mind

The big announcement we made in September is that our Server and our new player (Available in the Downloads under its codename Imp) will be open source.

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Hooray for 2009

As the 2009 working year begins for me on Monday, I’ve been reflecting on our development aims in the first 3 months of 2009.

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What being an official VastPark Developer gets you?

In our first newsletter to our developers we sent out yesterday we said what being an official VastPark Developer gets you. Well we felt we hadn't expressed things very clearly so this post attempts to be clearer.

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Developer documentation

We are now opening up our introduction to developing on the VastPark platform. It is targeted at experienced developers wishing to get a quick start on using and developing on the VastPark platform. The documents contain information on the nuts and bolts of VastPark including MetaWSS, IMML, scripting and plug-ins. Feedback appreciated!

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Developer Program expansion

VastPark welcomes five new develpment companies into its Developer Program.

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VastPark apps crashing on startup?

We’ve been seeing a few crashlogs recently that seem to imply that either the VastPark installer has neglected to update your system to the correct version of .Net Framework (3.5 SP1 for Browser, Creator and Publisher) or that the install hasn’t quite gone as successfully as it could have.

If you find you’re seeing the friendly VastPark error box on startup of the apps mentioned above, give the following a go:

• If you recall seeing the .Net Framework install and update and haven’t restarted your computer, give it a restart. It’s possible some parts of the framework were in use during installation so a restart may help
• Didn’t see the .Net Framework box appear, or suspicious it didn’t do what it was supposed to do? Try a manual install.

If you’ve been a victim of the startup app crash, please let us know if any of the above fix the issue. If you recall what happened during installation that would be helpful also

Changing the VastPark cache settings

Wishing you could control the cache settings for your VastPark applications? Never fear, there’s a way to do it.

Items are currently set to expire in 5hrs. To change this, go to Windows Start > Run

and type in %localappdata%\VastPark\Browser\config\

Hit enter, then edit settings.xml in notepad.

Change:

<ItemCacheExpiry>FiveHours</ItemCacheExpiry>

To:

<ItemCacheExpiry>Never</ItemCacheExpiry>

...to make it never expire. Perfect if you want to demonstrate things offline.

Or:

<ItemCacheExpiry>Always</ItemCacheExpiry>

...to make it always expire (useful if you want to ensure you get the latest content).

Hope that helps a few of you.

VastPark P2P Closed Beta

After a number of internal tests working closely with the guys from NICTA we’re now ready to begin accepting registrations for the closed beta of the VastPark P2P networking code.

We plan to run a number of multi-user tests over the next few months, so be quick to register and get in on the action!


Visit the P2P Closed Beta registration page here.