Mesh Objects

[Valerie Volare]

(SL Viewer)

What is the proper computer setting to see mesh objects from a distance?

[Alwin Alcott]

it's no computer setting, but a preference setting in the viewer

bring the LOD to the level you want to use

( it also depends on how the creator made the object)

[Rolig Loon]

The "proper" setting depends entirely on how the mesh item was constructed.  Some items are designed for indoor use, so you shouldn't expect to be able to see them properly from a distance.  Also, some creators are more careful/thoughtful than others.  If you need to adjust the LOD slider in Preferences >>> Graphics to see mesh objects properly, that's either because the objects were not designed to be seen from a distance or were poorly made or because you have a seriously substandard graphics card.  You should not need to increase the LOD slider much at all.  If you do, you can expect lower performance.

[Nalates Urriah]

Depends on what you mean by computer setting. Assuming you are using Windows, the display settings should match the screens ability. Google for the 'how to' for best Windows graphics settings. The viewer will use whatever settings you set in Windows. For NVIDIA see: http://blog.nalates.net/2016/06/05/nvidia-settings-2016/ But, these are not setting for 'mesh', they are for everything.

A number of 'viewer' things affect how your viewer will render things, including mesh. The Linden made viewer is set to provide a balance of performance and image quality. They adjust those settings for your viewer based on your graphics card. So, you start with the best general settings. Othere viewers use slightly different settings and there is a lot of debate as to whether that is good or bad and what is the best setting for a number of things.

The most controversal setting that is likely the heart of you concern is the debug setting RenderVolumeLODFactor. You can change the setting using the viewers inner settings. The default value is 1.25. I think it is wise to leave it at the default. Changing it requires and understanding of Level of Detail (LoD) and its impact on performance as it affects your viewer and the servers thus everyone in SL.

For photos and machinima it is often necessary to change the value. Many designers that lack an understanding of LoD tell their customers to turn RenderVolumeLODFactor up to the max (4). It means the designer can get by with less work. It tells me they are lazy or ignorant. The result is increased lag for everyone but stuff looks good. The best setting is what works for what you are doing. For everyday use keep RenderVolumeLODFactor at the default. If you tweak it, 1.25 to 2.0.

The other factor that affects you and the servers is Draw Distance in Preferences->Graphics. Most things beyond your draw distance will not render. The reason for the setting is to reduce the amount of data that has to download and number of things your viewer has to render, thus improving performance of the viewer and servers.

The default distance depends on your video card. For shopping it is often best to use 64m regardless of what your video card is capable of.

The viewers have the ability store multiple sets of graphics settings as presets. So, I have one for shopping, one for events, one for exploring, one for photos... SWitch as needed.

I set the Draw Distance based on what I am doing, generally 128m. Moving the distance out beyond that radically starts to increase the viewer and server data load. At 256m standing in the middle of a region you are 128m from 8 adjoining regions and pulling data from those in your field of viewer, in front of you. Spin 360 degrees and your viewer goes nuts drawing stuff from all 9 regions.

Top of the line machines come to their knees when people push the distance out to 512m. A 360 degree turn can cause the viewer to request data from 25 regions.

The Firestorm viewer has a feature that turns the Draw Distance down to 20m on teleport. You arrive and the viewer requests ONLY stuff in a 20m radius. Then every couple of seconds it increases the draw distance until it reaches your setting. The idea is to render only the things closest to you first.

The SL viewer by the Lab is designed to 'try' to render those things nearby and in front of you first. It does pretty well.

With both there are external factors that affect what gets rendered when and how long it takes. The Lab uses CDN to make things download faster. But, if you hit a CDN with a cold cache, it can take longer. Network connections may lag, the servers may lag - region or asset...

That is the general nature of SL and the things most likely to affect how your viewer is rendering mesh. There is no single setting that is best for rendering mesh.