Second Life and Virtual Worlds
On Plurk Indigo Mertel posted that Blender has a bug fix release out. Ashasekayi Ra, on Plurk points out that Blender 2.64’s Collada export works with Cloud Party (CP) allowing weight painting data to transfer into CP.
Get your update here: Blender 2.64a download.
A new version of Blender is out. Yay! Get your Blender 2.64 download here. I strongly recommend using the archive install. This review is a quick first look. I’ll write more once I’m using it, if something is too fun not to share.
I recommend using the Archive install. I wrote about how to do that type of install and the reasons for it in: Blender 2.57b Released. It can make your life with Blender much easier. I know running SETUP seems easier. But, there are so many gotchas with the Window’s install it turns out to be much easier to install the Archive.
Some of the avatar files have a male shape included. Others appear to NOT have the separate male shape. You can also import a male shape to Blender by exporting one from SL. See Second Life Mesh Clothes Blender 2.6 Setup 2012 Tutorial for information on how to export from Second Life® and details on which shapes are what.
This tutorial is about working with Blender 2.63a shape keys to get the male shape. It will also give you some idea of how the Alternate or Redpoly Deformer can work.
If you make petites or giants, getting a copy of the male model that is well weighted is important. If you have tried exporting the male model as a mesh for use in SL, you likely ran into problems. This tutorial will help with exporting the male model.
Gaia Clary has been and is working with the Blender Development team. In Blender 2.64, the likely next release, we will see a revised Collada Export. Gaia is looking for people to help test the revisions while the code is in beta.
Using Archive installs will allow you to have multiple independent installs of Blender. See Blender Archive Install for more information on doing a Blender Archive Install.
You will find the various beta versions of Blender on a site named GraphicAll.org. Look for a release build designated r47979 or newer.
Gaia posted the information in the SL Forum in: Blender Collada news. If you want to provide feedback or ask questions this thread would be a good place. If you find a bug, report it in the Blender.org patch tracker.
Gaia posted a longer and more informative post on Mahinimatrix.org. It gives some of the background on Blender Collada and plans for the future.
In April I posted an article on retopologizing (like that is a word – redoing the topology of) mesh objects in Blender. See: #SL Blender Clothes Retopology. In Blender 2.62 I kept having problems getting the method to work. I think it was more me than Blender that was the problem. Whatever… today a decided to figure it out.
I plan to do more tutorials. One of the things I want to do is work with weight painting to see if I can make skirts that work better than what we have. The current mesh mini-skirts show it all when one sits down. I don’t think it has to be that way. Now I need a well made skirt to work with. So, I’m studying 3D modeling. One of the things modelers deal with is redoing the topology of high polygon into low polygon models. Using the tools built into blender can make changing the topology much easier.
Blender has a new version out. This is a significant release. It will change how we work. For Second Life® users it is an important release. It is going to change how people build clothes and rigged mesh for Second Life, at least the possibility of change is there. How quickly people will learn to use the features is an unknown.
Two weeks ago 2.63 was released and 2.63a has just popped up.
Blender CG Cookie says this, “This is the long-awaited modeling system overhaul that has been in development for many years. Bmesh brings a much less destructive, streamlined modeling workflow that will let you model faster than ever before in Blender.”