Clothes Skins Etc

Second Life Mesh Clothes Blender 2.6 Setup 2012 Tutorial

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Update: 1/2014 – See: Fitted Mesh Base Avatar Files for an update on available files for use in clothes making.

Update: 11/2013 – Fitted Mesh, previously the Alternate method or Liquid Mesh,  is now the approved method for making mesh clothes that conform to the avatar’s shape. See: .

UPDATE: 6-25-2012 – Things may drastically change. See: Alternative to the Deformer. 4/2013 – Several designers are using  the alternative methods now. Linden Lab is recommending avoiding use of those non-supported features. The Lab may make changes that break the feature some day.

UPDATE: Rewritten 5/24/2012 for the Bone Weights problem.

Maya users see: Rigging Mesh in Maya

11/27/2012 Avastar Users: Check out AVASTAR: Using Freeze Mesh for Edits and Seams.

My previous article on setting up Blender for making mesh clothes (Second Life Mesh Clothing Tutorial) was written in September 2011, eight months ago. I’ve updated it several times, but it is still out of date and awkward in some places. Blender is now at 2.63+ and has BMesh. Photoshop is up to CS6. The Mesh Deformer is close to being completed. We have a self correcting Bone Weight Copy add-on and more. So, lots of stuff has changed as of May 20, 2012. So, it’s time for a new version of the tutorial.

#1 The Default Avatar Shapes (Kinda funny)

A few days after I wrote this tutorial I found a problem with the file. The Paint and Weight Paint Brushes were messed up. How we create the files has to change. So, I’ve rewritten this tutorial again. This is the revised version. It replaces the previous one.

In this tutorial I’ll assume you are new to making mesh clothes. I’ll also assume you have some knowledge of Blender and Photoshop. I’ll be using only Blender 2.63a in this tutorial. I will also omit the import to Second Life as this Tutorial is already over 9,000 words. Plus, there are lots of tutorials on the Second Life mesh import.

Index

  • Page 1 – Blender Install, Base Mesh Selection
  • Page 2 – Details on Files and Base Avatar Meshes Available
  • Page 3 – Deconfuser, File to Use, Actual Mesh Differences, Easy File Fix
  • Page 4 –  Not So Easy Fix for Learning, Exporting Shapes from SL, What’s Needed
  • Page 5 – Getting Started, Customize Blender, GPU Kick-in, Load Mesh – Import OBJ, Setup Layers
  • Page 6 – Join Parts or Not, Remove Doubles, Parenting, Check Parenting, Start Weighting – Vertex Weight Painting
  • Page 7 – Weight Painting, Checking Weight Painting, Checking Weighting Source, Bone Weight Copying
  • Page 8 – Checking the Weighting, Exporting Collada for Second Life

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#SL Avatar Changes ‘in progress’

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If you are working with mesh you probably understand some of the problems the Second Life® avatar has. If you make clothes for Second Life Avatars you are also likely aware of the short comings of the Second Life Avatar. For all the time Second Life has existed users have wanted better avatars. When SL Avatar 2.0 is released that will change… we’ll want better avatars. Oh,  wait! That’s not a change.

Another gotcha at the max breast size setting

We always want something better and as technology improves we get it. It takes better computers to run SL than it did when SL was created. In 9 years (going by SL birthdays) technology performance has doubled about 6 times, or 2^6th = 64 times… don’t see it in your frame rates? Neither do I.

For some time when I see a Linden asked about when we might see an Avatar 2.0, I hear them give evasive answers. Not maliciously, they either don’t know or are NDA’d. The best non-committal answer we get is that it is not a near term project. I think the Lindens would love to give us a new avatar. The problem is the literal RL millions of dollars of content such a change would break.

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#SL Blender Clothes Retopology

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In my reading I came across an excellent video on how to simplify models. Masami Kuramoto posted the information in the SL Forum. Video Tutorial on Retopology in Blender. 14 minutes of excellent information.

[youtube icqPZnD_3lA]

If you are making Second Life clothes, you need to see this tutorial.

The first tip ralusek provides stumped me. He is not using a key/click display and he went fast enough I missed it even after rewinding three times. I couldn’t get it to work. It is just too handy not to figure out.

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#SL Outfits

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I’m taking another look at the viewer’s My Outfits panel in this article. People have used it enough to have formed opinions. Also, some may have figured out efficient ways to use Outfits. But, I have yet to find anyone that is really happy with Outfits as they exist. I also expect to see Outfits change at some future date. The question is can we influence the change?

#SL Outfits - Good, Bad, or Ugly?

I have ambiguous feelings about the ‘My Outfits’ panel or more technically correct the Appearance Panel. Since I am usually in the My Outfits tab I tend to think of and call it the Outfits Panel.

I like it and have issues with it. When it first arrived there were so many other new ways to do things in Viewer 2 I put off dealing with it. When I did start looking at it, it was so awkward to use I put it off some more. Now a discussion at SLUniverse got me thinking about it again. (Reference) The result follows.

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J’s Flip-Flap Bare Feet

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I seldom write about fashion… I suppose flip flops can be fashionable. But, I really like these bare feet and flip-flaps. The creator is not a native English speaker so I don’t know if the flaps part is intentional. I’ll guess it is.

J's Flip-Flap and Bare Feet

I’ve been writing this blog for a couple of years and I don’t even have a fashion category. I suppose that is sad for someone that looks at several fashion blogs during any week. Daily Look SL is a favorite of mine. I had to take it out of my reader. I was going broke buying stuff I liked.

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#SL Bare Feet

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SL Mesh Feet
Mesh Feet w/Deformer On

I was asked to help a person get some bare feet working with their Xcite Feet. The person was about 6 months old. First we had to get past lots of confusion. She had ideas about what Xcite was going to do and what bare feet are. The problems I ran into trying to get things sorted out show several reasons people probably give up on Second Life. Whatever that case is, I learned a lot about bare feet, which is what this article is about.

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Folders For My Outfits

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Today talking in the Singularity Group the subject of My Outfits in Appearance came up. As any well dressed avatar knows the My Outfits is a big step forward. It allows mixing and matching outfits using No-Copy items. This is great and my reason for using My Outfits in Appearance.

The problem we quickly run into is we cannot organize My Outfits. Well… we can and we can’t. I’ll explain.

We can look into the My Outfits folder two different ways. If you open your inventory and open My Outfits, you can create folders and organize things. So in My Inventory/My Outfits I have a subfolder named Asian, giving me: My Inventory/My Outfits/Asian.

I have my cheongsams other Asian style dresses in that folder, easy organization. I can even drag the folders out of My Outfits and put them in say, My Inventory/Clothes/Dresses. All seems to work well.

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#SL’s New Attachment Points

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Additional attachment points are always handy. We are apparently getting two more.

Neck

Those of us working with rigged mesh to make avatar bodies and clothes can see the neck bone in the skeleton. Even before a large number of people started looking at the skeleton and asking why can’t we attach things there, people were asking for a neck attachment point.

New Neck Attachment Point

If you are wondering how people knew about it… animators knew about it because the ‘neck bone’  can be controlled in an animation.

Now the neck attachment point is in testing in the Development Viewer. See  JIRA STORM-1672. Previously labeled VWR-26120. If you like the idea, vote for it by clicking WATCH.

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