Category Archives: Clothes Skins Etc

The State of Avastar & Fitted Mesh

by

5

Numerous people are running into the problem with their mesh clothes creations not working well with the Second Life avatar. Gaia Clary’s latest comment in the SL Forum is here:

‎2014-04-14 06:35 AM – edited ‎2014-04-14 06:36 AM

Maybe I [Gaia] can add 2 remarks here:

  1. You could use the Morph targets to create a dummy character and implement the SL Shape sliders to shape the dummy into the SL shape. Then you can use that dummy as reference for making your mesh garments of course. But note that the morphs themself [sic] take no active role in the fitted mesh deforming.
  2. If you wanted to create something reasonable then you would create some sort of controllers that modify the Collision Volume bones. If properly done, then you could immediately see how your mesh would react in SL with changing slider values.

The main problem is to understand which bones are affected in which way by which slider. Most of this is noted down in the avatar_lad.xml file. And yes, in Avastar we actually have ported the SL Shape slider system into Blender This works as intended for the dummy itself. But for the mesh garments there is still something wrong (so right now we do not have a complete solution )

BTW: Blender allows to export shape keys to Collada, so in theory you could take our workbench blend file, then export the character with shape keys, and then try to upload that to Maya. Maybe that works, maybe not, I have never tried it myself.

(Reference)

At the Content and Mesh Import User Group we got some new information on the problem and what it might take to fix it. Don’t get your hopes up. It looks like we are going to have to learn to work around the problem. But, At least we know what the problem is and can quit wasting time searching through viewer code.  Continue reading →

Second Life and What Fits

by

1

A couple of days ago Jeremy Linden put a new page into the Second Life™ Knowledge Base: Buying clothing that fits your avatar. The same day a post appeared in the Second Life Blog: Help Customers Buy Clothing that Fits their Avatars. Both of these target the confusion surrounding mesh clothes and avatars.

Consider. We started out with what I call system clothes. These are the decals we place on the avatar that look like clothes. This is the shirt or pants we make when use the features in Appearance. We hang prims and sculpties on the avatar to embellish the ‘decal’ clothes. These clothes fit the avatar perfectly. Consider ‘perfectly’ to mean no skin poke through. Continue reading →

Second Life Avatar Shape

by

2

Loki Eliot has an article up titled: Exploring the future of my Avatars Shape.

The article is a good account of the problems and decisions we must handle when making full avatars and clothes. It is worth the time to read.

[youtube 4TP4L1vHfpk]

We have many considerations related to where the Second Life Avatar is going and how we will work with it. The Lindens see things in terms different from those we see. The Lindens are dealing with programming issues and development costs. Since they seldom make clothes and seldom are involved in fashion the priorities are lopsided toward the technical. Lindens may not change appearance/clothes for years.

Of course the majority of SL users have no idea of the technical complications. But, they are into fashion and may change their appearance several times per week, if not per day. So, the majority of users have priorities lopsided toward the aesthetic side. Continue reading →

AvaStar 1.1-1039 Video

by

2

Early in Week 14 Gaia Clairy put a new video on YouTube. This is a bit of a revision to an earlier one and I think a clarification of the note card she sent to group members of Blender Avastar in-world. I reviewed that and published my understanding of her instructions in: AvaStar 1.1-1039 Released. AvaStar 1.1-1039 is still a release candidate and not a final version. The latest test RC is: avastar-1-1-1045 blender-2-65. The 2.65 is misleading, I think 1045 will only install in Blender 2.70 and up.

The point of the video is to show AvaStar users how to convert previous mesh clothes made for the standard sizes into Fitted Mesh. In other words, how to take mBone weighting and move it over to collision bone weighting. Plus what adjustments one needs to make for the new bones so the items work with the shape sliders.

[youtube QPMZrszi5rw]

In a discussion over on SLUniverse I was pointing out the similarities between Liquid and Fitted mesh. There was concern because some people were finding what was supposed to be Fitted Mesh being sold with multiple sizes included. I think Gaia’s video shows that multiple sizes may well be necessary for close fitting clothes. It seems many think Fitted Mesh eliminates the need for multiple sizes. We are learning that it may not.

Just as we have problems with RL clothes and size designations, I suspect we will see the same thing happen with Second Life clothes. It is a matter of time and someone figuring out a sizing scheme that works and is as easily understood as possible.

The video shows how to create basic weights from scratch and move them to the collision bones. There are many possibilities for how to weight a new item using AvaStar. The video show a simple ‘from bones’ example. But, it should suffice for figuring out the basic idea. The challenge is in explaining what all is possible and still keeping it simple.

AvaStar 1.1-1039 Released

by

1

We still do not have a final version release. This is another test version. But, each version gets us closer to a finished AvaStar. Version 1039 fixes a bug found in version 1038.

The Deal

If you have created an account on the Machinimatrix Blog, you now get two benefits:

  • You can register your purchases once and then always download your purchased products (including updates) right from your Machinimatrix account.
  • Purchases made between 29-mar-2014 and 4-apr-2014, also get you the chance to win a 3-month Blender Gooseberry Account*.

or

You can enter your personal Avastar success story as a short note  and get the chance to win a 3-month Blender Gooseberry  Account*.

cheers, Gaia

*A gooseberry account allows you to download 11 blender training videos and all production material of the previous blender foundation short films (Elephants Dream, Big Buck Bunny, Sintel, Tears of Steel) for free plus all production material from the upcoming Gooseberry Project while in progress.

The big deal in this offer the is the Gooseberry Project, With the deal comes an 11-DVD Blender training set. The set if purchased is expensive.  Continue reading →

The Problem: Fitted Mesh an Alpha Tutorial

by

1

I suspect anyone that has worn mesh clothes is very aware of skin-poke-through and ‘holes’ from the Alpha Layers making parts of the avatar invisible. I am particularly annoyed by both. But, is there anything we can do? That is the question asked at Fabulously Free in SL. Here I’ll provide the techy answer and information. I’ll also link to good tutorials.

[youtube 62SI2NCg2gc]

Fab’s three advisors answer the question. Their answers are straight forward and provide the advice most of us know. But, there is a more complete techy answer. First I’ll summarize their answers then get into the tech. Continue reading →

Pages: 1 2

Pondering Skin Fair 2014

by

3

The fair is a big deal. For over a year I have looked for a new skin. I didn’t want to change my look, I just wanted a skin that photographed better. Also, I wanted a skin without makeup. This year it was easier to find skins that have natural, nude, or bare versions of the skin. I think vendors like Slink and others that use appliers creates an environment that encourages the use of skins without makeup.

Evolution of Nalates

Evolution of Nalates

Also, skins now come with some standard appliers, feet, hands, breasts, and now heads. I am also seeing more skins that include freckles.

I think each year skins get better. My Nomine skin was made for Windlight and was designed for the newest rendering features of the time. But, that was also an era of face lights. Times have changed.  Continue reading →

AvaStar 1.1 Video Released

by

2

Gaia Clary has a new video tutorial out. This one uses Blender 2.70, which has been released. Using it and the newest test version of AvaStar Gaia shows us how to initialize weighting for Fitted mesh.

Blender 2.70 Released

Blender 2.70 Released

The work flow for moving existing weighted items to collision weighting is covered in the first part of the video. Mid-way in Gaia covers starting weighting from scratch. The later part of the video is about using the shape sliders to test your weighting. Continue reading →