Second Life

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Blender 2.5 Exporting Height Maps Tutorial – Part 2

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The previous part of this tutorial is OpenSim Terrain Tutorial via Blender – Part 1. The previous part is about getting terrain from Second Life and OpenSim into Blender. This part is about exporting  the terrain from Blender 2.59 as a height map image.

Height Maps via Blender Nodes

Terrain

By the time you start this tutorial you should have a completed terrain or at least have a test terrain to try.

Also, you should have a backup of your region. Loading the tutorial can mess up your region. So, a backup is a good idea. In OpenSim I make OAR file backups. (save oar [filename.oar] – save to OpenSim’s working folder. You can specify a path.)

Now is a good time to back up your Blender file too. It is a great idea to work in a copy of the file.

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OpenSim Terrain Tutorial via Blender – Part 1

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Updates: Includes minor updates for use with Blender 2.63.

Blender 2.5 has a new import feature that can be used for making terrain in Blender. Most terrain tutorials are about getting terrain into Blender and little if anything about getting it out. Those that are about exporting terrain are mostly for Blender 2.49. There are enough changes between 2.49 and 2.59 that it is hard to figure how to accomplish 2.49 tasks in 2.59. This article is about importing terrain to Blender and exporting for use in Second Life and OpenSim. Part 1 is about getting terrain into Blender and Part 2 about getting terrain out.

Terrain Imported from OpenSim

I’ll be working with Blender 2.59 and OpenSim 0.7.2 Dev. The height maps can be used in either SL or OpenSim.

Terrain Vertices Count

First I need to know what I’ll need to export for use in OpenSim. Plus I have a terrain in OpenSim (OSGrid) which I’ve worked on for some time that I want to get into Blender and start from there. So, I need to import and export terrain to and from Blender.

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#SL Server Update News Week 40

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The main channel got the Le Tigre code Tuesday. The Critical Operating System (COS) updates are being made to the main grid. It is not possible to know which regions are running on COS updates. The COS is an upgrade to Linux. So, it is matched to the hardware not a region. As regions restart they may move to different hardware.  More about that further along.

Server Beta User Group

llCastRay

This new function was enabled in Le Tigre last week. The code has been rolled to the main channel this week. I am assuming it is now enabled across the main grid.

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Cyanist to Fix Second Life Clothes

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This is just an interesting bit of trivia for my Myst friends. The trivia is the headline and is repeated in the last line of this post. The rest in between is making it make sense for Myst-Uru fans. Many in the Myst-Uru fan realm are not 3D modelers and they are not part of the SL community. So, many of what those of us in Second Life consider basic information needs to be explained.

Relto in Myst-Uru World: Uru Live

To set the stage, Myst fans need to know what’s up in English not SL jargon. Second Life (SL), is a virtual world in which about 660 Uru fans have joined the in-world group D’ni Refugees (SLURL). I’ve long pushed it as a place to start learning 3D modeling. I think a large portion of those fans in SL have learned some aspect of 3D modeling. Whatever the case, modeling in SL has been done with primitive shapes (usually called prims). The primitive shapes are changed by parametric deformations. There’s a geeky term, I’ll explain it.

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#SL Mesh Update Week 40

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Because of the large interest in JIRA SH-2374 (Rigged Mesh Deformer) I expected an interesting meeting and it was. We did learn that the Lindens are still working on how to handle the problem. The relegation to ‘Someday/Maybe’ status still upsets some. The lack of explanation upsets even more people. But, at last we got some explanation.

Mesh Meeting 10/3/2011

Charlar Linden said he would be adding more notes to the JIRA item. On the 4th Charlar added this comment to the JIRA.

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SL Adult Content News

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I may come across negative in this coverage as I’m frustrated with the ACUG (Adult Content User Group) meetings. I’ve had my tail chewed for wasting people’s time in meetings (RL) I lead and allowing the meeting to wonder.  So, I find the ACUG frustrating. But, we did get some news.

Proposal

This was the meeting at which we where to hear who’s Gateway Proposal was accepted. One was accepted. We have a winner. But, it cannot be announced until Viale Linden has had time to work out things and get possible preparation work done. So… we wait another week.

Image by: dospaz of Flickr

We are told the gateway will be larger than just the Zindra region.

Viale is saying this will then become a community project and the Lindens will not lead it. Right.

Also, he said about the Gateway Proposal winner, ” They are pros at welcoming residents to the adult community and SL in general.” I find that rather scary considering SL’s record of poor player retention.

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