Credits & Acknowledgements

We want to express our sincere gratitude and acknowledge the individuals and projects that have made Aperture Viewer possible. This project is built upon the foundation of open-source software and the dedicated efforts of many within the virtual world community.

Firestorm Viewer Project

Aperture Viewer is proudly built upon the Firestorm Viewer, a comprehensive and incredibly stable third-party viewer for Second Life and OpenSim. We owe a tremendous debt to the Firestorm Viewer Project and its dedicated team of developers, contributors, and community members.

We gratefully acknowledge the Firestorm Viewer Project and its contributors for their immense and ongoing work. Firestorm is a testament to the power of open-source collaboration, providing a feature-rich and reliable virtual world experience for millions of users.

Key Contributions of the Firestorm Viewer Project:

• Open Source Codebase: Firestorm's commitment to open source and releasing their viewer code under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) has been essential. This act of open sharing made it possible for Aperture Viewer, and many other projects, to build upon their work and create new and specialized viewers for the Second Life and OpenSim communities.
• Robust and Stable Foundation: Firestorm provides a remarkably robust and stable codebase. Aperture Viewer directly benefits from Firestorm's years of development, bug fixing, feature enhancements, and rigorous testing. This solid foundation is critical to the functionality and reliability of Aperture Viewer.
• Extensive Feature Set: Firestorm is renowned for its vast array of features catering to a wide range of Second Life and OpenSim activities. Aperture Viewer inherits this rich feature set, providing users with a comprehensive virtual world client right from the start.
• Community and Support Ecosystem: The Firestorm project has fostered a vibrant and supportive community. While Aperture Viewer is a separate project, we benefit indirectly from the knowledge, discussions, and community resources developed around Firestorm.

License: The Firestorm Viewer project distributes its code under the GNU Lesser General Public License, version 2.1 (LGPL). Aperture Viewer, being derived from Firestorm, also adheres to the terms of this license. We are committed to respecting the LGPL and the open-source principles championed by Firestorm.

Thank you, Firestorm Team! Your dedication to open source and the Second Life community is deeply appreciated.

Phototools Development - A Community Effort

Aperture Viewer is deeply rooted in the Phototools feature set, recognizing its profound impact on virtual photography and machinima within Second Life. We acknowledge that the developer current main developer of Aperture Viewer, William Weaver (paperwork.resident) is also the original creator of Phototools.

The decade-long history and success of Phototools is a testament to the collaborative spirit of the Second Life community. While initiated and primarily developed by a single individual, Phototools would not have reached its current level of sophistication and widespread adoption without the invaluable help and support of many developers and community members over the years.

Special thanks are due to the following individuals for their significant contributions to Phototools development and support:

• Ansariel Hiller
• Beq Janus
• Whirly Fizzle
• zi-ree

Your technical expertise, feedback, and dedication have been instrumental in shaping Phototools into the powerful and versatile tool it is today. Thank you for your invaluable contributions!

Translation Team - Making Phototools Accessible Globally

We extend our sincere appreciation to the dedicated Translation Team who have worked incredibly hard to provide translations for Phototools in a variety of languages.

Your tireless efforts in translating the viewer interface and documentation are crucial for making phototools accessible to a global audience. By providing localized versions of the viewer, you break down language barriers and enable users from diverse backgrounds to experience Aperture Viewer in their preferred language.

Thank you to all the members of the Translation Team! Your commitment to inclusivity and global accessibility is deeply valued.

Future Contributors - We Welcome Your Help!

Aperture Viewer is a community project, and we enthusiastically welcome contributions from anyone who wants to help make it even better!

While the core development is currently being initiated by a small team, we recognize that the best open-source projects thrive on collaboration and diverse perspectives. As Aperture Viewer grows, we look forward to welcoming contributions from other developers, artists, testers, document writers, and community members.

We encourage you to get involved! If you are interested in contributing to Aperture Viewer in any way, please consider:

• Reporting Bugs and Suggesting Features: Help us identify areas for improvement by submitting detailed bug reports and thoughtful feature requests via GitHub Issues.
• Contributing Code (Pull Requests): If you are a developer and have skills in C++ or viewer development, we welcome code contributions that align with the project's focus on photography and videomaking. Please see the Contributing page for guidelines.
• Improving Documentation (Wiki Edits or Suggestions): Help us make the Aperture Viewer Wiki even more helpful and user-friendly by suggesting improvements or contributing directly. Please see the Documentation Contribution page for guidelines.
• Testing Alpha Releases and Providing Feedback: Download and use alpha releases of Aperture Viewer and share your experiences, feedback, and bug reports. User testing is invaluable in the development process.

We believe that collaborative contributions from a passionate community will be key to the future success of Aperture Viewer. We look forward to working with you!

Open Source Libraries and Dependencies

• Numerous Open Source Libraries: Aperture Viewer, like Firestorm, relies on a wide range of excellent open-source libraries for various functionalities, including (but not limited to) networking, graphics rendering, user interface elements, and more. A full list of these libraries and their licenses can be found in the Firestorm Viewer source code and related documentation. We thank the developers and maintainers of all these libraries for their valuable contributions to the open-source ecosystem.

We are committed to giving proper credit and adhering to the licenses of all open-source software and libraries that contribute to Aperture Viewer.