Deformer Feedback
STORM-1716 in the JIRA is where Qarl has asked that feedback be provided. The JIRA is not the place for discussion.
Linden Realm Tools
Everyone is interested in the tools used in Linden Realms (LR). It looks as if we will get some of those tools. There is going to be some added safe guards on the tools. Several of these tools would make for a griefer’s dream.
More and more it is looking like people will have to register in some way to use the tools. But, exactly what that process is going to be is undecided.
The process of figuring out how to control use of the tools is underway. Since the Lab has not decided how that will work there is little information coming out of the Lab.
Charlar Linden said:
So, we’re scoping out the prototype work that was done for LR. Auto-attachment is on that list. It’s very cool, and when I get to the point of determining if we’re going to work on it, I’ll be soliciting feedback from Y’all.
Mesh Stats
Charlar gave us some new stats on mesh adoption.
As of 1/9 22% of regions in the SL grid have at least one mesh object rezzed.
AS of 1/9 60% of all user sessions are with a mesh enabled viewer. Along with this, 66±% of the unique logins are with a mesh capable viewer.
The release of mesh support in the Phoenix Viewer made a big bump in the numbers.
Market place sales of mesh are increasing.
Non-Avatar Rigging
Skeletons or armatures for objects other than avatars is something many creators want. The question is asked from time to time about whether SL will get non-av rigging. Charlar says something like that is in the future. Charlar says it is in the backlog. It is a large project and that makes it a low priority.
Z-Offset
To see what this problem is watch the tutorial at Machinimatrix.org: Tiny Avatar.
There are some questions that come up as one wears more than one rigged mesh. If a mesh is designed with an offset and another with a different offset, which one wins?
Prep Linden – In general: The joint positions and z offset are stored in the mesh format – which is stored server side and applied upon attachment of the object.
As best I can tell Prep explained handling the Z-offsets as Gaia shows in the Tiny Avatar. But, I have no clue how the different offsets are handled.
Blender & Collada
I wrote about this problem in Blender Dropping Collada?
The question was whether Linden Lab would chime in and possibly offer some support. Charlar says the Lab may contact Blender to let them know of the Lab’s interest. And he is talking with Gaia to get more information. Whether that will help or whether the Lab will do any more is unknown.
What is going to happen with Blender-Collada is unknown. The Avastar project that Domino and Gaia are promoting is in part funding Collada work by Domino. So, if one wants to support this effort look to supporting Domino and Gaia. Another crowd funded project may be needed.
Domino has already been working on the Collada bugs.
Mesh Roads
A question was asked about the use of mesh roads to improve physics response. So, would a mesh road or mesh vehicle ‘wheels’ (contact points) be better than prims? Charlar and the Linden team were stumped. They don’t know. They are forwarding the question to Falcon Linden.
The idea is that since mesh objects can be much less complex than prims they should provide better physics processing. The idea being there would be fewer surfaces the physics engine would have to check for collisions.
Mesh Upload Problem
At one point in time there was a problem about the physics layer of a model having to have the same number of materials as the high level LoD layer. That was fixed but the problem seems to have come back. That’s why regression testing is done.
Bones Needed for Rigged Mesh
When one is making a skirt, it should not be necessary to include the avatar-skeleton’s arm bones. But that seems to be what is required. Ashasekayi Ra says all 21 bones must be included or a rigged mesh will not upload. Gaia lists the issues with rigged mesh: #SL Rigged Mesh Problems.
The details of what is supposed to be included can be found in the SL Wiki article Exporting a mesh from 3ds Max.
Summary
The Mesh Deformer is in the testing. The Project Viewer for it is out. It is early alpha according to Oz. You are warned not to design clothes based on how this viewer works.
Download from: Snowstorm Dev Test STORM-1716. –WARNING– This is a Project TEST viewer. This viewer is not yet even an alpha version. It certainly is not meant for daily use. While it may be possible to use it for a daily viewer, it probably will not be possible. These viewers tend to have bugs. Having said that, it seemed to work just find for me.