Fitted Mesh Update

It seems the FBX file provided in the wiki does not load into Blender. It is something to do with the Blender FBX importer.

Avastar has a new test version out that has the new avatar collision bones. It is version: avastar-1-1-905_blender-2-64.zip. If you have purchased Avastar, you can download and install the test version using your download URL. AFAIK, there is no raw file up yet. Gaia found a problem and corrected it. But, the fix is not official yet. There is a JIRA bug report: FITMESH-2.

If you don’t have Avastar, you may be able to use the FBX converter provided by AutoDesk to convert to a format that works. I haven’t completed testing alternate paths yet.

At Oz Linden’s Open Source Meeting he said Redpoly is working on creating a Collada file (.DAE)

Mesh Deformer Changes

Today we got a Second Life™ blog post about the fate of the Mesh Deformer. See: Making Mesh Garments Fit Better. So, what is going on? Well, quoting Linden Lab:

Today, we are launching an experimental Project Fitted Mesh Viewer with additional collision bones needed to support dynamically fitted mesh garments on all of the avatars. When these changes have been finalized, they will enable garment designers to use the superior capabilities of mesh content creation tools to make garments that adapt to a wide range of Second Life avatars.

The point of this change is that this Fitted Mesh viewer and new new Fitted Mesh clothing will allow better fitting mesh clothes for a WIDE RANGE of SL avatars is a big deal. One of the frequent objections to the mesh deformer was that it had problems working with a ‘wide range’ of avatar shapes. Large and tiny avatars didn’t work so well with the Deformer. So, this is a big feature plus… provided it works well.  Continue reading

Second Life Mesh Deformer Update 2013-37

There really is no news on the Mesh Deformer. There is some discussion about it on Plurk. I was amazed at the amount of misinformation in the Plurk thread. I probably shouldn’t have been. The Internet provides a means for people to vent their emotions without any requirement for intelligent thought or reason. In the field of Internet communications libel is considered a high form of journalism and seldom incurs any consequence and leads to irresponsible behaviors.

Runatai Linden Mesh Avatar - Way Cute

Runatai Linden Mesh Avatar – Way Cute

Karl Stiefvater (Qarl Fizz) is reported as commenting to Oz that two years is too long and the Lab should get their s##t together. It took a minute or two to find the original comment quoted in Plurk. It seems Karl was trying to start some movement at the Lab by trolling the JIRA report STORM-1716, the Mesh Deformer feature request.  Continue reading

Another Voice on Liquid Mesh

Second Life Liquid Mesh

Second Life Liquid Mesh

Gaia Clary, author of the Avastar Blender add-on, has posted an article on Second Life™ Liquid Mesh. See: Liquid Mesh. Gaia commented on Strawberry Singh’s blog at the end of the article: Hucci Akita Boots & Questions regarding “Liquid Mesh”

Gaia provides the same take on Liquid Mesh that I do. Gaia is, however, more strongly saying creative types should be avoiding the use of the technique in products.

Gaia has a stronger belief than I do that collision bones won’t go away. I suspect there will always be some part of the avatar that is used for detecting/calculating collisions. There is no doubt collisions will always be need to be detected. That is part of how virtual work.

Neither of us has any idea how likely a change to collision detection is if the avatar changes. Nor can we anticipate what changes to Second Life performance might be an incentive to change the detection system.  Continue reading

Second Life Liquid Mesh Continued…

Strawberry Singh published an article asking questions about Liquid Mesh. Several people are answering and some are asking more questions. See: Hucci Akita Boots & Questions regarding “Liquid Mesh”. In many cases the questions come from ambiguous terms used in the discussion.

Strawberry made a video to demonstrate what she was seeing and asking about.

[youtube -q9_ZciPBlw]

The boots are gorgeous.

They are ‘Liquid Mesh.’ The precise technical language is to say the boots are rigged to the collision bones. For most SL users that is meaningless jargon.  Continue reading

Bits and Pieces 2013-34

Reflecting back I find this year to be a year when I know more about what the Lindens are doing and have in the pipeline than at any time previously. Yet, we still know almost nothing about what the Lindens plan to put in the pipeline next. That is typical in the free world’s competitive business market place. But, it is certainly annoying.

Really nice lighting and decor. Designed Chaos

Really nice lighting and decor. Designed Chaos

Many of the things the Lindens are doing now are large projects. When Rod started with Linden Lab the plan was to start fixing and changing problems to make SL more enjoyable and useable. First the easily fixed things were fixed. In these years managed by Rod large projects are more the order of daily business. Bake fail was a problem long before Rod arrived. In 2011 the Lab started working to figure out the causes and now in August 2013 a change to reduce bake fail has just rolled out.  Continue reading

More on Second Life Mesh

Loki Eliot has a post up about his experience with mesh: Materials Post Mortem. It is a good article. You can visit the region named  Escapades to see what things Loki has built.

...up stairs... at Loki Eliot Store

…up stairs… at Loki Eliot Store

Loki is pointing out some of the problems when trying to build for ALM-Enabled people and ALM-Disabled people. (ALM = Advanced Lighting Model) I think it becomes clear builders are having to decide if they will build for ALM-D or ALM-E. Building for both degrades both. Continue reading