Category Archives: Mesh

#SL Mesh Deformer Debate Update

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There was lots of debate on the Mesh Deformer and whether it should have a single default shape as the basis for deformation calculations or whether it should have multiple base shapes. That question is still undecided. Discussion has kinda died down, at least in my circles.

If you are unaware of the sides of the debate, see: The Great #SL Deformer Debate.

Open Source Meeting

Questions

One of the prime questions I asked in the article is how it will be funded. That is not likely to be a problem.

Another problem is what it would cost to add the capability. Emma Gilmour asked Qarl what it would cost, not that much. We are certain we can raise the needed money in a very short time. We have almost half of it covered now.

So, a couple of questions are down and the possibility becomes much more likely.

And the Lab…

The next challenge is where are we with the Lab and Avatar 2.0?

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Blender 2.63 Import Problem

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Drongle McMahon has been posting this information around. Seems there is a problem when importing mesh into Second Life.

In case anyone else gtets into a mess with this …

Th name of an imported mesh in SL is taken from the “name” attribute of the <geometry> tag defining the mesh. Im Blender 2.49b, the exporter took this attribute from the Blender object name. Unfortunately, in Blender 2.63 it is taken instead from the data block. This means that renaming your objects so that they have reasonable names sfter import is no longer effective. Instead you have to rename the data blocks. You can do that in Outline view or in the property editor for object data (the inverted triangle of vertices).

If you use the same datablock for multiple objects, the exporter uses instancing, with the geometry appearing only once in the collada file, referenced in multiple nodes of the scene, each with their own transformations. Unfortunately, the uploader does not use instancing (although it does reads it properly from the collada). Instead, it ulpoads separate meshes. Since only one of these can use the dtablock name, the others appear to be renamed to “Object”.

Gaia Clary points out in a follow up post that the problem is being fixed in Blender 2.64. See her post.

This issue has been “fixed” by adding a new select option.In fact i believe that the SL Importer takes the Object name from the wrong place. It should use the information provided in the visual scene description. But well…

The new option will be available in Blender 2.64.

The Great #SL Deformer Debate

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For the last few days a debate has rolled along between the Sizers and the Deformers. It has carried on in the JIRA. So, it is essentially invisible except to those following it. I’ve been reading the arguments to see what people think and from those that don’t react but actually think: why.

Another gotcha at the max breast size setting

Single Base Deformer Side

Max Graf probably represents the Deformers best and does it rationally. You may remember he was instrumental in creating funding for the Deformer project. His vision for the Deformer was for it to allow designers to make one size of mesh clothes and have that size fit all sizes and shapes of avatar. While he understands there will be stretching, he believes it will be at an acceptable level. The effort to deal with numerous sizes for such a small benefit in texture quality seems disproportionate in Max’s thinking.

Max considers the standard sizing a promotional effort to sell mesh clothes that don’t fit. I suspect most of us know getting mesh clothes that fit right now is a PITA. Max’s belief is standard sizing should go away and the Deformer will make a one size fit all world, which would be ideal. He believes his experience shows the deformer works perfectly using the Default Shape base size.

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Mesh Deformer Update from MetaReality

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Gianna Borgnine’s Metareality Podcast covers information on the Mesh Deformer. Since Karl Stiefvater (RL) or Qarl Fizz (SL) and formerly Qarl Linden is the maker of the Mesh Defomer, this is some of the best information we are going to get. The discussion on the Deformer is the  first thing up.

As always I am paraphrasing my take on what was said. I try to get it right. But, listen if you are into the nuances.  See… er… hear: Alternate Bases.

Metareality Podcasts

01:30 Mesh Deformer Discussion starts.

Basic discussion and thinking in the community is that mesh clothes will have to be built to the Default Avatar. Some people consider that the Ruth/Roth avatar. But, there are a number of shapes that people consider the Ruth/Roth shape. It gets confusing. See Deconfusing to sort it out.

02:48 Karl explains that the best shape is the Default Shape. The default shape is what one gets when they create a new shape in the Appearance Editor. Creating a new shape makes a shape that is the Default Shape. Provided you make no changes to any of the sliders, this is the shape the Deformer bases its calculations on.

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Blender Retopology – Clothing Update

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In April I posted an article on retopologizing (like that is a word – redoing the topology of) mesh objects in Blender. See: #SL Blender Clothes Retopology. In Blender 2.62 I kept having problems getting the method to work. I think it was more me than Blender that was the problem. Whatever… today a decided to figure it out.

#1 Getting Surface Snap to Work - Click to Enlarge

I plan to do more tutorials. One of the things I want to do is work with weight painting to see if I can make skirts that work better than what we have. The current mesh mini-skirts show it all when one sits down. I don’t think it has to be that way. Now I need a well made skirt to work with. So, I’m studying 3D modeling. One of the things modelers deal with is redoing the topology of high polygon into low polygon models. Using the tools built into blender can make changing the topology much easier.

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Second Life’s Bumpy Roads

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Mesh Road Bumps

It has been noticed that there is a problem with using mesh road sections. At each edge of the mesh cars bump.

Drongle McMahon points out that a bug causes the convex hull to be smaller than the bounding box. That leaves a gap when one butts two mesh obects together. See: VWR-28416 – Mesh: Default convex hull is smaller than it should be.

Image by Brron - Flickr

SVC-7883

SVC-7883 – Discrepancy between actual convex hull physics weights and documented calculation. This is about getting the wiki information updated. If you read the wiki, you’ll likely under estimate the physics weight. Nyx Linden expects the wiki will get updated some time after Pathfinding is released, as Pathfinding will being a change in how Land Impact Costs are calculated.

#SL Crusade for Good Looks

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Several things are coming together and I think we are at the beginning of user driven change to Avatar 2.0. I just updated my tutorial for getting started making mesh clothes: Second Life Mesh Clothes Blender 2.6 Setup 2012 Tutorial. So, we need to be considering what it is that makes our avatar look nice, which inspired this article.

Penny Patton's Proportioned Shapes

 

Crusade

Some time ago I saw an article by Penny Patton on adjusting camera position for a better Second Life®. See the SL Forum and her article: A Matter of Perspective. It makes an amazing difference in how one sees Second Life. That inspired my article: Second Life Camera Position Tips.

There are tradeoffs between how one sets the camera for walking and sitting. The Second Life default camera position is a compromise between good settings for walking and sitting. Neither is ideal. It would be great if the camera would just change location when we sit or stand.

All that camera position stuff is nice, but what we have to look at is more of a problem than how we look at it. Penny’s current two articles are about making a better looking Second Life. Check out the article: Beautiful Second Life. This article focuses on what is and what can be. It is an excellent comparison.

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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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