The Technology Behind the Second Life Platform

The Second Life Grid is powered by proprietary new technologies, creating a robust and endlessly modifiable platform for entertainment, business, communication and creativity.

The Platform

Convenient thin client
One slim download (31MB Windows, 65MB Mac, 48MB Linux) delivers persistent, desktop access to Second Life — there’s no CD to buy, no gigabyte-sized app to download. Everything resides on the Second Life server grid, so all you need on your computer is a small, easily updateable viewer. Plus, you can access the Second Life world from anywhere — just download and install the viewer.

Real-time 3-D streaming world
All content — objects, textures, audio, video and motion is streamed to you in realtime at DSL/cable modem (or higher) bandwidths. Streaming positional voice creates a rich audio landscape that conveys distance and direction.

Intelligent compression
An advanced compression system intelligently sends you thousands of objects per second. Objects that are large, in front of other things, or in motion appear first, and smaller details and textures fill in while you’re not looking. A large number of textures, at high resolution, can be streamed to you with progressive wavelet compression.

Expandable landscape, persistent environment
The Second Life world exists on a scalable server grid running Linux and can grow in any direction, just by adding off-the-shelf Linux boxes. The grid supports tens of thousands of simultaneous Second Life residents who can go anywhere in Second Life’s expansive, persistent landscape - no “shards” or duplicate servers. Build something and it stays. And Second Life keeps evolving, even when you’re gone — while you’re sleeping, your neighbor can build a new house, or a castle.

Cross-platform portability
Second Life uses industry-standard cross-platform technologies, including: OpenGL, UDP networking, Linux servers and Ogg-Vorbis compression for audio

APIs
Linden Lab is developing a variety of application program interfaces, including network protocols, REST documentation, web capabilities and the like, that will allow interested developers to communicate data seamlessly with the Second Life software infrastructure.

Open source viewer
Linden Lab released the code of its viewer application to the open source software development community. Developers can now access the source code to the Second Life client in order to make modifications, enhancements and to add new features. The move marks Linden Lab’s continued commitment to building the Second Life Grid as an open, extensible platform for development, rather than a closed proprietary system.

The World

Micropayment system
Making purchases is as easy as left-clicking. Residents pay one another for products, services and entertainment using the in-world currency. Linden Dollars (L$) in the buyer’s account are automatically transferred to the seller’s account, and the seller can then convert L$ to US$ at a currency exchange such as LindeX.

Communication: Voice and text
Multiple communication channels – voice, chat, instant message and group notices — merge in the Second Life viewer, which also supports international languages, including Asian character sets and European keyboards. And, residents can now talk to one another. Second Life voice uses 3-D “proximity-based” spatial awareness, taking distance and direction into account, for a more realistic in-world voice experience. When speaking, gestures can animate avatars as their voices become louder.

Collaboration
Residents build in-world in real-time with other residents and meet co-workers to collaborate on projects. Move a wall, and everyone sees it at the same time. Form a group and build a sports arena, a housing development or an entire city

Physics
Second Life uses a rigid body physics simulation. All objects in the world can be collideable, dynamic and moving. Make a table, and you can stand on it. Make a ball dynamic, and it’ll roll down hill.

Dynamic skies
Second Life has a day/night cycle, clouds and wind. Second Life’s WindLight technology uses patent-pending algorithms that imitate the ways in which light is affected by real-world atmospheric factors like dust and moisture, enabling the nuances of sunlight, clouds, water and weather to be accurately simulated in realtime. secondlife.com

The Tools

Avatar customization
Create your look from scratch with high-resolution character meshes. Using over 150 unique sliders, change everything from your foot size to your eye color to the cut of your shirt. Upload textures for clothing or wild tattoos. Make and wear your own accessories — hats, wings, shoes, even a parrot on your shoulder. The possibilities are endless.

Easy, in-world building tools
Create anything you can imagine with powerful, highly flexible building tools, using geometric primitives and a simple, intuitive interface. Build right in Second Life — no separate tools to learn or applications to load. Building is easy to learn, yet robust enough to let you flex your creative muscles.

Streaming media
DJs, musicians and spoken word acts can put on live or prerecorded performances in-world using streaming media technology. Filmmakers can screen videos before a live audience or set up on-demand viewings for individual visitors. Enabling streaming media is as simple as copying and pasting a media server URL into a Second Life control panel.

Import images and audio
Upload a real-world digital snapshot and display it in your Second Life house. Or, if you’re skilled in graphics or audio programs, add your personal touch to Second Life — create and upload your own textures and sounds.

Built-in scripting language
A simple yet powerful scripting language, LSL, lets you add behaviors and special effects to your objects. It’s easy for non-programmers to pick up. You can quickly modify object properties, edit existing scripts or attach scripts to your objects. Or, make your own scripts - lock your house with a private password, make a music box, or invent a pet that follows you around.

Link to the Web
Link to websites in-world and integrate your Web and virtual presence. Residents can click on an object and be taken to the URL of your choice.

Taken together, the Grid, the World and the Tools make up the unparalleled online experience of Second Life that is transforming educational, entrepreneurial and social communication by removing traditional geographic, linguistic, socioeconomic, and physical barriers.

Resources

For further information about the technology of Second Life, contact Lewis PR at secondlife(at)LewisPR.com