MUVE Viewer - Singularity
Who it is developed by?
Singularity is a third party viewer that can be used to access Second life and OpenSim services. Singularity is a new branch of an older TPV called Ascent that was originally developed by the Balseraph Software Group. Ascent announced its discontinuation of the project some time in 2011 when Liden labs decided to "no longer support" 1x viewers.
Later, the lead developer Siana Gearz picked up the original source code of Ascent and decided to revamp it under the name Singularity, staying true to what made Ascent so great and keep its 1x roots.
What functionality it provides?
Singularity boasts its appearance of the old 1x interfaces and menus. This will be a welcome and familiar change for older users and a generally more intuitive and user friendly experience for new users aswell.
While sharing the same looks as 1x viewers, it manages to stay relevant and up to date by adding features and extra functionality to stay compatible with Second Life and OpenSim.
Its open-source and community made. Like many TPVs this helps the whole TPV community stay alive as anyone with the know how can help develop their own TPV, or help develop the original TPV in a team. An approach like this works great for projects that are always evolving, as reporting bugs and adding features isn't dictated by any sole person.
It runs really smooth. After using other viewers and the official Second Life Viewer it is extremely noticeable how well Singularity runs compared to other viewers.
How easy is it to use?
Singularity has all of the basic functionality you've come to expect from your standard TPV. Everything's laid out in a way thats pleases the eye, from settings to essential features like chat and inventory.
Its non-intrusive interactions with menus and well thought out design help you easily find what you need with alot less clicks, confusion and clutter.
One of the first things I do when trying out a new viewer is mess with its preferences. I always fine tune all the settings to my liking and I was surprised to see everything that was expected and more. Sure I wasn't able to lock my character to using the WASD keys to move around, but thats because it was automatic when you are not typing and thats a nice little feature that goes along way.
Easily accessible common settings ready to go at the click of a button
In general singularity really stands out due to user friendly-ness and smooth navigation.
How it compares to others?
Singularity is able to stand out in the crowded ocean of TPV's because of its great performance and well thought out features and layout. It includes everything you'd expect from modern viewers that is wrapped in a package that stays true to its 1x origins.
Its customization is not quite up their with the likes of Firestorm but its was never a problem to find settings or customize to much about its already perfect UI.
Even with all of its main menus open it still manages to stay organized and easy to navigate. Another little feature I really like was that inactive menus are transparent and active menus become opaque, this helps distinguish which menu is currently active to make sure you don't get lost.
Out of all of the viewers I've tried singularity by far runs the best, it looks and feels smooth to navigate sims unlike other viewers which sometimes chug or run at noticeably lower frame rates.
Even without its less limited customization options its still able to hold its own by knowing what the user wants to do and making it accessible and easy to for them to do it.
What your impressions of it are?
I went in not expecting much, but singularity blew me away with its intuitive layout and well thought out design. It knows what a user wants to do and helps them do it in a way that is fast and efficient. I was never frustrated or lost while using singularity which is a good sign that the developers know what they are doing.
Lets just say I'm tempted to make this my new go to viewer