Clothes Skins Etc

New Second Life Tool for Blender

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Machinimatrix.org is releasing a new tool for use by Second Life™ creators. This one is called Sparkles Tool Box. The promotional video comes as a tutorial for merging UVMaps and shows people how to perform the task manually. Then goes on to show how much time can be saved by using the new tool.

[youtube HBU6f-AIXdI]

If you already have AvaStar, you may not need the new tool, depending on your workflow. I have Blender 2.71 and avastar-1.1-beta-4_blender-2-70 installed. When I copy the AvaStar model’s lower, upper, and head and combine them I get the UVMap result that Sparkles provides as shown in the video.

But, if you are working with anything other than the AvaStar model, Sparkles is going to be a time saver.

Second Life’s Mesh Bodies and Clothes

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When the new mesh avatars for new users were first released (5/15) many were concerned about what would happen when someone using one of those bought ‘system’ (e.g., shirt, pants…) clothes and tried to wear them. As was expected we are starting to hear from people about that problem in the SL Forum.

Second Life 2014
Second Life 2014

If new people find the forum they have a chance. But, the Knowledge Base is out of date (example: Controlling your avatar’s appearance), the SL Wiki is out of date (example:  Appearance), and almost any place you look the information fails to make any mention of the difference between ‘Classic’ avatars and ‘People’ or Vampire avatars. If you don’t know, those are the selections new users are going to see when signing up now.

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Gaia Asking for Help

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Gaia Clary of Machinimatrix.org is making a new video tutorial on weight painting for Second Life™. A new post is up on her blog asking for input. See: Weighting with Blender.

The actual tutorial part being worked on is here: Course: Weight Painting (Blender&Avastar).

AvaStar is not required. Plain Blender (2.70+) can be used for the tutorial.

One handy thing is the free ‘blend’ file with example clothes. There is also a free OBJ file with the same models. The models are licensed via Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 with accommodation for the current Linden Lab TOS. The models are not yet weighted, that is for a class activity.

New Blender 2.71 Weight Painting Video

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Medhue, of Medhue Animations, has a tutorial video up on weight painting for Second Life using Blender 2.71. The information in general works for any modeling system. But, is specifically for Second Life and Blender w/AvaStar users. While the ideas are transferable to any system, the button presses are specific to AvaStar users. He does not get into Fitted mesh, but for a button press or two it is the same.

[youtube h4-h-cVCPP0]

There is a commercial in the middle if you watch on YouTube. Its short but it is a surprising burst of sound.

This tutorial is based on Medhue’s work flow, which is very much like the workflow pattern I use. The basic idea is to make one master weight garment or body and then use that for all future weighting. Medhue shows how to do that.

You can discuss the video with Medhue in the SL Forum here: Tutorial – Rigging & Weighting in Blender  2.71 with Avastar for Second Life. (I modified the title a bit…)

Second Life Bits 2014-23

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Mesh Clothes

It isn’t common to see people making all four LoD (Level of Detail) levels.  But, we can do the polygon reduction thing for making a lower poly model for use with a normal map. The challenge is in making the lower poly models. Now Mixamo has a ‘decimator’ online that we can use. It is free to use until July 12, 2014.

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You’ll find it here: Optimize Your Polycount the Fast and Easy Way. 

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Second Life Avatars & Clothes

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Bits of News

The new ‘fitted mesh’ avatars for new users were initially released as no-mod. It appears that has been corrected and the new mesh bodies are now mod-ok. Linden Lab announced the change: Updated Mesh Starter Avatars Are Now Available.

Update: Dagger Faulkwing finds that ONLY the shape of the avatars is mod-ok. So, these avatars still really suck.

Mesh 'People' Starter Avatars
Mesh ‘People’ Starter Avatars

There were also problems with some avatars’ feet sinking into the ground. They say that is fixed too.

Slink is rumored to be preparing a mesh body for release. A picture of it leaked. I am using the Slink hands and feet now, flat and high. The hands I love. The feet are OK. All the appliers for various things make both way too fun. I love the gloves and nails I can use. 

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