What's the coolest Vivaty feature you can think of?

That's cool. Can't wait!

While I definitely want to have my own av again - I want to build scenes!!! I am already very familiar with Flux Studio so can't wait to get started.

I'm totally with the Lady Donza on this one. Let me make my own scene please! :) I've been working with Flux Studio 2.0 for years and before that with Vizx3d. It's a great program, and I want to do some great things with it. Unfortunately I'm Canadian, so I can't enter your contest. So please let me start customizing my vivaty spaces, so that I can start experimenting with possibilities in Vivaty.

-Whystler

Whyst!!!! Long time no see!!! So great to see you here! There is a contest going on right now to build scenes and objects - you definitely want to enter.
Love, Donza

Good to see you too Donza :) I can't enter the contest as a Canadian. Too bad!

I didn't realize that! I guess I missed the fine print LOL

Well then I guess opening the contest to everyone everywhere should be at the top of our Wish List!

How about it Heidi?

hi donza and whyst,
the legal hurdles to get a contest registered in every country is really expensive (and nearly impossible)... but we do want content from people in non-US countries! Please know that the contest is not the only way to send us content. and if you send us content and it's great, we'll feature it! We will also try to find a (a hem) way to get you a reward if you make the best stuff in the contest period. :) so please don't let this stop you from creating something. more than anything, we are getting people to send great input on the platform when they start futzing around with vivaty studio. so once your dissertation settles down, let us know. tony parisi or keith victor, 2 of our co-founders, should get back to you soon on your other threads.

thanks!
Heidi

Giving use any of the open ended features promised of the little spoken of 'Flux Worlds' beta that literally disappeared. Open ended, open source X3D standard technology for hosting virtual worlds, i.e.- what we've all been waiting for for years. Never further spoken of,... turned into a closed-ended, closed source 'Facebook' App?!?

'Flux Worlds' - Good name,. good idea,.. from a company I speak highly of, "Media Machines" and a developer I hold nothing but the highest respect for.

"Vivaty"- Took me multiple misspelling in order just to remember the name.
(In the end I just went to mediamachines.com(easy to remember) and used the link)

Did it just not work out?

Bigger than expected?

Will Vivaty ever reach for those same ideals?

Is this just a smaller start, a test in scalability?(Much like Google's 'Lively'.)

Those are the features desired,... the ghost features of the product that never made it past 'Press release',... "Flux Worlds"

When will we see a viable competitor to 'Second Life' if 'Flux Worlds' threw in the towel in the name of 'Social Networking' applications?

I guess the real questions are thus,
Will I the user ever be able to host my own server?
Will a non-social version of the Vivaty app ever arise?
Am I wrong in comparing "Vivaty" to "Flux Worlds" in the first place?

Paying $1000.00 for a Second Life server is a viable option if you have more dollars than sense. But what about the rest of us, those of us with the skills and the drive to develop new incredible and useful world but with a thorough distaste for the idea of paying for virtual 'real estate'? And with the added benefit of using REAL modeling tools and not the phantom versions SL provides us?

In other words SL still takes the cake,.. and after 4+ years of using that poorly designed piece of garbage the team had high hopes that "Media Machines" would blow them out of the water with the promise of open-ended X3D worlds.

I know that that is likely still the dream, I can keep on hoping anyway.

Either some suit with no knowledge of anything but 'Sales and Marketing' convinced you that Social Networking was 'the' viable angle or "Flux Worlds" simply presented to many technological challenges at this given stage in the its evolution to be able to make good on the claims of its original press release,...

the last word we the community ever got.

Sincerely,
The GhettoVR collective

PS-My apologies for the sharp tone. Given the recent addition of 'Vivaty' and 'Lively' to the realms of multi-user virtual worlds being a complete disappointment and the lose of the prized ideal that was "Flux Worlds" we cannot help but feel disheartened.

Sorry,...

I overreacted,...

Its just a real kick in the pants is all,..

Much Love for what your trying to do and I'm still voting for you.

'Lucid' of GhettoVR

GhettoVR,

Wow! You go way back with us! We hope this is the first, not the last, “word that the community ever got.”

You’re right, this is just the first step- to get input, to scale up, to think about how we should do this the right way. We didn’t think it was realistic to just open a platform overnight- otherwise we’d be doing it “blind” without input from people like you. So we started small with Vivaty Create- our first phase, where you can submit content via vivatycreate@vivaty.com and enter a contest. Right now we’re taking scenes and objects- but we hope (soon) to open up more automated means for previewing and launching content straight from the source.

In terms of your question, “Will the user ever get to be the host?” – YES, we hope so as much as you do. We’re trying to build this into a viable experience for the mass market first (on facebook and AIM first, but then on every URL soon). Once it’s open to all consumers, we figured that the experts who have been making 3D stuff for almost a decade... would want to get more involved. Definitely fill out our survey at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm... or send more thoughts to us at developers@vivaty.com!

Thanks!
Tony
Developer.vivaty.com

Hey Tony
Thanks so much for the insight into the future. I would certainly prefer to host my own sites and still have the Facebook, AIM connectivity. You are always at the front of new good things on the web and I love being part of the process!

:~D

Hey Donza,

Thanks for the kind words. And the feedback. Follow-up question: when you say that you want to "host your own sites" does that mean you want the 3D content to sit on a server of yours, or that you want your end users to go to your own home page? Even though they are subtly different it's an important technical distinction for us to understand

Yours virtually
+

Hi Tony,
Since you asked ... :)

I'd much prefer to continue the way that Atmo and Blaxxun worked and that means having my own content on my own web host and being able to add content or edit whenever I want. But I still want to have the same integration into your portals (Facebook, AIM, etc) and connectivity to your chat server as Vivaty has now. Basically it would look the same to the user it's just that I'd be hosting and maintaining it myself.

I do recognize that much autonomy might not be in line with what you have envisioned for Vivaty's future but "if I don't ask I don't get." And I do agree with GhettoVR in that Vivaty was such a huge departure from what we were all working on and expecting that it's taken a bit to get used to the idea. I think a lot of us who have been working with you for the past few years are still a bit confused about the sudden shift - I know I am.

Given my "druthers" I'd much prefer to continue making my worlds and connecting them to someone else's server but maybe those days are gone and having embedded "scenes" is how 3D will be seen in the future. If Adobe had stuck it out longer it could have done what you have done - instead they embedded in PDF's for god's sake - how incredibly stupid was that?? Certainly your pairing with Facebook and AIM is just plain brilliant. Bottom line is that all of us here want 3D to become known and used and I'm willing to go along with whatever it takes to achieve that goal.

But it would sure be nice to know what you guys are dreaming about - this little tidbit you gave us only makes us hungrier for the news. And the more we know of your dream the more we can help that dream come true.

In any case thanks so much for all your work and the opportunity to be a part of it,

:~D

Donza,

We are definitely moving in the direction of you being able to add content or edit whenever you want. Or as you call it, "making my worlds and connecting them to someone else's server." As Heidi has explained, we just don't have all the bits and pieces in place to do that yet. But that is the idea.

Regarding Vivaty being a "departure" I don't see it that way. Yes, the business strategy has changed-- we are not a tools provider in the way that the old Media Machines was-- but the end goal is the same: to make the Web an immersive place.

Thanks for your patience with us as we stumble through this. We will do our best to turn around improvements to Vivaty Create while balancing all the other things we are doing here like generally improving the user experience, supporting platforms like Firefox, integrating with social networks and more.

Cheers
+

Thanks for the insight - looking forward to seeing Vivaty bring 3D to mainstream!!

:)