Blender

Blender Easy Retopology?

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For some of the stuff I make, I need to do a lower poly final version for use in Second Life.  Rico Cilliers has a demo of doing retopology on YouTube. See Manual Retopology in Blender- Tips and Tricks.

I saw several tricks that are new to me.

For Second Life, I do a high poly first design. Not as dense as his dragon head. But, I don’t do a load of sculpting. But, for my starting work, I am concentrating on appearance and fit. Then I do a retopo for my SL high poly where I concentrate on reducing poly count. I use this for the first two and sometimes three SL LoD models. Then do another retopo for the 3rd or 4th SL LoD model. So, these tricks will be way handy for me.

The last time I published anything on Blender Retopo was 2012-13.

I think being able to do a good retopo is key to making great looking low ACI clothing.

AvaStar Videos 2017 w19

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We are still on version avastar-2RC7_blender-2-77.

There is a new video out (5/8) showing how to handle Bind Poses wjen working with the Classic avatar and Fitted Mesh clothes.

There is a slightly older video showing how to use the new Bento capable AvaStar to create Tinys and Giants.

Blender 2.8 Peek

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The release of the next version of Blender is getting close. The video below is a look at one of the new features, being able to work in the render-viewport. Nice. I’m not sure it is useful yet…

You can get nightly builds of 2.78d (in beta) and 2.8 here: Blender Builder.

AvaStar-Blender: Switching from IK to FK and Back

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Medhue streamed a tutorial this weekend. He was showing how to switch between IK and FK animating. In September 2014 I was facing that problem and posted a tutorial titled: Blender-AvaStar Animation IK/FK Tip because I couldn’t find any tutorials saying how to change between the two animating styles.

I think the video is a way better tutorial on switching between the two styles than my old ‘text’ tutorial.

 

Second Life Animation: Priorities

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Medhue Simoni is doing a live stream YouTube presentation on Second Life™ subjects. You can catch his previous live streams, now videos, on his YouTube channel.

For now he plans to start a stream between 8 and 9 AM SLT. I caught this one live. YouTube provides a live chat channel to go with the stream.

I think Medhue is winging it through the presentations, extemporaneous. There are sufficient and-huh’s, a bit of ramble, and several false starts. But, the information is good. Scripting the presentation, working from an outline, and quick rehearsals all before the live presentation can greatly improve it. But, it is more work.

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Second Life Animation: BVH vs ANIM

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There are two formats of animation file used in Second Life™. Which one to use? Medhue gives us his take on the two formats.

Basically, ANIM avoids the SL Import Program’s gotchas.

Medhue talks about animation priorities, for the overall animation and/or for each individual bone.

Bone translation has additional options in ANIM. If you aren’t familiar with the idea of bone translation, think bone placement.