Clothes Skins Etc – Page 9 – Nalates’ Things & Stuff

Second Life: Mesh vs Classic Bodies

2018/02/142017/04/10 by Nalates Urriah

The question keeps coming up in the SL Forum, what is a mesh body and why won’t my clothes show? I am so confused… Yeah, I can see how that would happen. So, I need something I can link them to. This is the ‘something’. I’ve tried to keep it simple for noobs without 3D modeling experience.

Basics

To understand Classic and Mesh avatars one has to understand Second Life™ has a history and understand some of the basics of 3D modeling.

Mesh & Classic Avatar 2017

SL Started in 2003, 2004 depending on what you define as ‘starting’. It started with a basic avatar that evolved over time. That is the Classic avatar. It is still with us.

If you take off everything your avatar is wearing that you can take off, you are looking at the Classic avatar. You can click the top menu Developer (press Ctrl-Alt-Q to reveal the menu item if it isn’t showing)->Avatar->Character Tests->Test Male/Female. This will set your avatar to the very basic (Classic) default-test avatar known as Ruth or Roth.

Photoshop 2017: Bump, Normal, and Depth Maps

2017/04/032017/04/03 by Nalates Urriah

How Bump, Normal, and Depth Maps are created in Photoshop changed in 2017 CC. I hadn’t noticed until I needed to make a normal map. Then I stumbled across this video while checking to see if NVIDIA’s normal map tool would work with the newest 2017 CC. The video uses the 3D mode. When creating … Read more

AvaStar: MakeHuman or Manuel Bastioni?

2017/03/302017/03/29 by Nalates Urriah

I noticed Machinimatrix posting a video on how to integrate Manuel Bastioni with AvaStar. BElow is an image link to the video as it won’t display embedded here. Sheeesh..

So, what is Manuel Bastioni? It is an open source character generator for Blender. Seems it is competition for MakeHuman. The download is here: Manuel Bastioni.

Slink Update

2017/03/15 by Nalates Urriah

In my article AvaStar Tutorial: Adding the Slink Model to AvaStar I provide the steps to get the Slink Mesh Dev Model updated in AvaStar 2RC5. Slink has been handing out a model made with AvaStar 1.1.34. So, there are a lot of AvaStar updates between that and 2RC5. Enough so that 2RC5 can’t update that old a rig.

I contacted both the AvaStar and Slink people in regard to getting the problem resolved. Siddean Munro, the creative behind Slink contacted me to say,

AvaStar Tutorial: Adding the Slink Model to AvaStar

2017/05/302017/03/14 by Nalates Urriah

Update 5/30 – I’ve run into a similar problem updating from 2.0.30 to 2.0.46 (2RC8). ~~Working on that fix now~~.

PS: SeeAvaStar – Add the Slink 2017 Model

Update 3/24 – AvaStar 2 RC 6 fixes part of the problem previously reported. But, it does not yield a working rig. You still need to follow this process to update the rig 1.1.34 version to 2.0.45.

Update: 2017 – As I used the Slink model I had updated, I found some problems. So, after more testing and a back and forth with AvaStar/Machinimatrix, I pulled the original of this article the day after I published it and rewrote it.

Revised

Slink provides a developer’s kit labeled Slink Creators Kit March 2016. It contains all the models needed to make shoes, pants, dresses, and shirts for Slink’s Physique and Hourglass. Both male and female models. There are blend, dea, fbx, and mb files for import to various modeling programs.

The file is an older version made with AvaStar 1.1.34. So, the rig in the blend file provided must be updated. I’ll step you through the process.

The video is handy, but unrelated to the rig update process.

The first step in developing for Slink, or any brand of body, is applying for the developr’s kit. In the case of slink it is the Slink Creators Kit. Apply here. Let them know you want to develop mesh clothes. ~~Only ask for one kit at a time. Otherwise, you won’t know which ONE they will choose to send you.~~ The kit will arrive in-world and the model files by via email.

[su_note note_color=”#976402″]Correction: Slink people ask that you ask for all the kits you want in one request. See: Slink Update[/su_note]

AvaStar Price Changes are Coming

2017/03/11 by Nalates Urriah

The Blender-AvaStar combination is still the least expensive entry point for making clothes, animations, and avatars for Second Life™. Blender is free and awesome, if difficult to learn. AvaStar has sold for US$27 for, I think, a couple of years. So, a price increase is to be expected.

At the end of March 2017, the price of AvaStar will increase from US$27 to $40 for the full version and yearly support from $14 to $20. So, if you have been on the fence about purchasing AvaStar, now would be a good time. I plan to update my support package. See: AvaStar Pricing.