Thanks to Hamlet at New World Notes for the mention! Be sure to take the DLSS 5 Survey and share what you think.
DLSS 5 is so much fun to experiment with, but it’s not magic. It’s not going to suddenly make your avatar look drastically different, and it’s definitely not like AI editing that can sometimes turn a cartoon avatar into a realistic human. My Second Life avatar still looks completely recognizable. The textures may look a little better, details may stand out more, and there’s additional shading around the face, hair, clothing, and environment that gives everything a little more depth. Sometimes the difference isn’t even that dramatic, but there’s just enough added dimension that I really like the overall look.
Of course, there are going to be critics and purists, especially people who are against anything involving AI, but I don’t understand the need to loudly discourage other residents from experimenting with it. Whatever happened to Your World, Your Imagination? In real life, people put filters over their photos every day using phone apps, Photoshop, and a million other things. Second Life photography has always involved experimenting with lighting, advanced Third Party viewers, graphics settings, post-processing, etc. DLSS 5 is just another thing to play with.
I’ve posted thousands of raw Second Life photos across my social media over the years, so I don’t think using DLSS 5 suddenly means someone lacks photography skills. Sometimes I want a raw SL photo, sometimes I want to edit, and sometimes I want to press F6 and see what DLSS 5 does. If you want to try it, try it! You might love it, you might hate it, or you might decide the difference isn’t worth the trouble.
As I sit there pressing F6 to turn DLSS 5 on and off, though, I can’t help thinking that I’m getting a tiny glimpse into what Second Life might eventually look like. I can imagine creators continuing to push textures and materials in this direction, especially with hair and face skins, where more detailed shading can add so much depth. Maybe someday we won’t need an experimental filter to get this look at all.
Read my tutorial: How to Install DLSS 5 in Second Life
What I’m Wearing:
Truth Collective – Origami
Alaskametro – Botanica Lingerie Pink
Tres Blah – Chloe Bustier (Ivory)
I know next to nothing about DLSS5, but I have heard that it is resource-heavy and will lag computers that aren’t so fast to begin with. Any thoughts on this or an experience you’ve had using it? Thanks for this post.
Hi Brooke! I have a very decent computer, but not the latest graphics card. I’ve noticed that while running DLSS 5, sudden crashing can occur after a while. For my purposes, which is mostly standing around taking photos of my avatar, it works perfectly fine. I haven’t tried leaving it on all the time while actually playing SL because I do think performance would suffer.
It also starts to give me a headache after a while, but I don’t think that’s actually DLSS 5 itself. It’s ReShade, which is what I’m using to run it. When ReShade is enabled, it seems to process the SL interface along with the 3D scene, so my UI text doesn’t look as smooth anymore. It gets a little jagged or overly sharp and is harder on my eyes after staring at it for too long. Once I turn ReShade off, the text goes back to normal.
Hi sweet lady!!
I so love all the information and fun things you tell us about to enhance my sl experience!
This DLSS-5 series you gave us is fascinating and I am loving it. It can be intimidating to maneuver photography and creating alone. Without your amazing blog I would be lost..and probably give up. I so look forward to every post!!
Stay blessed!! 🙏🏻💕