Photoshop 3D: How to make textures for Second Life Avatars – #1

There are a number of good and really bad Photoshop 3D tutorials online. I think Michael Hoffman makes one of the better sets of tutorial videos for those starting out. Clicking his name takes you to his YouTube channel. Here is his BASIC tutorial for getting started with Photoshop 3D (#1 in series) but, it isn’t specifically for Second Life users. So, I’ll add some SL specific help.

More to Know

There are some things left out that I think are important for the basic starting out tutorial. Plus, it doesn’t answer questions about using SL Classic Avatar files. I’ll try to answer those questions and jump you to the things we do in Second Life.  Continue reading

Second Life: Stockings – Classic & Slink

Making stockings for the Classic and Slink legs has some challenges. One is understanding how to get a straight edge at the top of the stocking. I’ll explain some of the oddities between Second Life™, Photoshop, Blender, Classic and Slink.

Classic UV Map: Slink and Classic

The frustrating oddity is dealing with avatar templates. Slink and Classic are not compatible, close but a problem.

In the image, look in the ‘A’ section, there is a copy of one of the Robin Woods templates made for the Classic Avatar. I’ve used Photoshop 3D to paint some lines on it.

If you have drawn a straight line across the 2D template assuming it will appear straight on the avatar, think again. I knew it wouldn’t work as I’ve experimented before. Continue reading

Second Life Bits 2017 w09

Forum

It still isn’t open – 3/3 @ 11 AM SLT/PT.

Update – As many of you have noticed, the Community migration is taking a bit longer than planned. As you might imagine there’s a lot of complexity in the structure; and because we strive to preserve all of the KB, Blogs, Forums, Answers etc as they were, we’re being extra careful in verifying everything is in order. Linden Lab is actively engaged with the new provider to get the new site up and running as soon as possible. We know it’s a frustrating wait, and appreciate your patience during this disruption.
Mar 2, 14:58 PST

Hopefully they didn’t hire the same people that built the Obama-care sites. Since it is behind schedule, I would assume someone will be working on it this weekend. But, I doubt it will be open before Monday… if then.

Everheart 4

Everheart 4

Uber Event

The crowd at Uber (Maps URL) is thinning out. Today at 11:00 AM SLT/PT, there were only 30 people there. So, it is much easier to get in. Continue reading

Second Life Bits 2017 w09

Forum

There is an update on the new forum roll out. See: UPDATE: New Community Platform Timeline.

Seems the data transfer is taking longer than expected. So, the forum remains locked today, no posting. The forum should open 2/28… some time today… well may be…

Countryside Holidays

Countryside Holidays

Mesh Addicts

Mesh Body Addicts has a new Weekly Fitmesh Finds are here! I’m not sure how much their finds affect traffic to the regions listed. My empirical experience is: it may take days for me to get into some of the regions listed. Uber seems unusually busy. Continue reading

AvaStar Goes RC-1

Today I see AvaStar has a release candidate out: AvaStar 2.0-RC1. This version is available to all AvaStar owners that have a current subscription. I’m unsure how that affects AvaStar 1.7 owners without a support subscription.

The Plan is to have AvaStar 2.0 out in March 2017.

Gaia is promoting this release a hot potato with some likely rough spots. It’s hard to know if she is just lowering expectations or if there are known problems. Whatever the case, this is the update you’ll want.

Discussion is active in AvaStar Support – 13:15 SLT.

Second Life Bento 2017 w04

The Bento Project User Group has changed to the Bento Developers User Group. Discussion is about Bento problems being encountered.

Nimoe *Rain of red petals*

Nimoe *Rain of red petals*

I’m still a bit loopy recovering from pneumonia. I messed up the video of this meeting. Oops.

One of the problems is the BVH animation files. The SL viewer-server upload of BVH runs an animation optimization process. Movements smaller than a certain amount are removed. This is creating a problem for those animating the new facial bones. Small movements are needed for subtle facial expressions. The BVH process filters them out. Continue reading