Kitely Introduces PBR Material Support and Enhanced Texture Sizes – Hypergrid Business

Exciting news from Kitely this week as they’ve now rolled out support for physically based rendering (PBR) materials in their virtual worlds and on the Kitely Market. Along with this, they’ve amped things up by allowing texture sizes to reach up to 2,048 by 2,048 pixels.

With PBR materials, you’re looking at a much more vivid and lifelike experience. This technology mimics how light plays on various surfaces like mud or metal, creating depths and reflections that make virtual environments pop with realism.

For those who want to dive into this new feature, you’ll need to have Firestorm version 7.1.11 or later on hand. It’s worth noting that Kitely is among the early adopters in the grid scene for this kind of tech. They’ve creatively ported these features from the not-yet-released OpenSim 0.9.3 into their current system based on OpenSim 0.9.2.2.

Oren Hurvitz, who is the co-founder and VP of R&D at Kitely, commented on the development. He explained that while PBR hasn’t hit all OpenSim grids just yet, Kitely took the initiative by integrating parts of the upcoming OpenSim 0.9.3 into its platform, thus staying ahead in delivering these advancements even before the official release.

Changes have also touched the Kitely Market. They’ve spruced up the “Textures” category, now rebranded as “Textures and Materials.” Sellers are encouraged to flag any PBR usage in product details since not all grids support this yet—having a backup regular texture ensures your product looks its best everywhere.

Ilan Tochner, Kitely’s CEO, shared with Hypergrid Business that the Kitely Market thrives as the go-to marketplace across the hypergrid, making it crucial to stay on the cutting edge by supporting the most advanced graphics options from OpenSim 0.9.3.

Adding to the update, Kitely introduces support for reflection probes through LSL scripting. This means you can now use the new PRIM_REFLECTION_PROBE parameters with your GetPrimParams and SetPrimParams functions for a more lifelike virtual ambiance.

Now, there’s something to be aware of concerning PBR materials in terrain textures—they aren’t without their quirks. Kitely encountered several hiccups during testing, notably with world maps, which only depict the basic color texture, ignoring other attributes like normal maps or roughness.

For creators, an organizational perk comes in the form of a new “Materials” folder, added to user inventories for managing PBR materials efficiently. If you’re intrigued by the idea of crafting PBR materials yourself, Second Life’s guide could be a handy resource.

And a shout-out to Hypergrid Business editor Maria Korolov, who’s a science fiction novelist by night and a tech journalist by day. She’s delved into topics like AI and cybersecurity and manages to squeeze in time for her speculative fiction pursuits with her popular novellas. Feel free to reach out to her or follow her adventures online!

Overall, it’s an exhilarating time for Kitely users and creators, with these updates set to enrich virtual experiences significantly.