Blender Install 2022

Years ago (2012) I wrote a tutorial on installing Blender and setting up for making clothes in Second Life ™. It is titled: Second Life Mesh Clothes Blender 2.6 Setup 2012 Tutorial. It has all the gory details a person with OCD would need. A couple of years later I wrote: Fitted Mesh Base Avatar Files, about which mesh models to use for making clothes. The articles have good information but we have learned and advanced since then. So, we can simplify things.

This article will hopefully take some of the pain out of your entry into clothes making for Second Life.

Blender.org Download Page

Blender Install

There are two ways to install Blender™. You can install it as one does any Windows program using the provided install program. This is simple and quick. If you are just curious and in the process of exploring, this is your option.

However, if you are serious and committed to making clothes then there is a better option.

Blender is in what I consider rapid development and updates often. Some of the updates make changes in the core parts of Blender. These changes force third-party add-on makers to update their add-ons. If you are dependent on an add-on you’ll run into times when a Blender update will break your model and/or your add-ons and you are left waiting for a third-party update.

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State of Second Life Clothes Making 2022

The fashion industry in Second Life™ is massive and profitable. Ten years ago, I was writing tutorials for making SL clothes. Since then, I made the stuff I wanted and just coasted along. Then playing with friends inside SL I stopped making mesh anything.

There are a couple of things I now want to make. So, I started updating Blender, renewing, and updating AvaStar™. I find Blender has changed… a bunch, AvaStar has changed… some, I assume MayaStar has too – but I don’t use Maya.

There are also now more tools for making clothing for 3D models. So, I need to get my skills and knowledge updated and may as well add an update to the blog.

Here is what I am finding; (starting with a video)

The Amazing Tools for Blender

Pretty neat stuff. Not all of it is specifically for clothes or Second Life, but some of those tools have possible uses for those of us playing in and modeling for SL.

The Cadillac of clothing design tools is Marvelous Designer (MD). Design is done in MD and then transferred to Blender where the design is tweaked and rigged to the various brands of bodies. For me, the big drawback is the cost of MD. Slink people in Discord talk about some clean-up work needed for things made with MD.

The ubiquitous tool for 3D modeling by Second Life people is Blender (free – donation appreciated – All previous Blender versions are here). To adapt Blender specifically to SL modeling the standard addon is AvaStar. While not required, AvaStar simplifies the process and handles gotchas that are a pain to learn about and remember to deal with. Well worth the money. (See AvaLab.org.)

AvaStar solves the initial problem of where to find the Classic avatar body made by SL. Way back when I went through ‘how to find the SL avatar model’ and which was the best source. It is tedious figuring it out. But, that work has been done and the result is in AvaStar, which includes the SL Classic avatar model. Or you can go through my old posts in the category: Clothes Skins Etc. (234 articles as of 5/2022)

Blender and AvaStar are the basic tools for SL developers, at least for me. My other considerations for this update are;

Marvelous Designer – Individual License: US$39/mo.

Recommended for Blender 3 and up. Slink Dev Kits recommend Blender 2.93. From what I can tell whether you can use various things with the latest Blender or have to use the specified version depends on what you are doing. Meaning the only way to know which version of Blender or addon to use is determined by experiment.

I am passing on this as the only use I have for MD is for making SL clothes. The cost will eat up all my profits as I don’t make or sell that much in SL.

Gumroad’s Garment Tool Addon – Individual License: US$40

Recommended for Blender up to 2.93. Everything is updating so with any luck this one will update soon. Most 2.9x Blender stuff works in the 3.x versions.

Simply Cloth – Individual License: US$33 to $80

There is a free demo and the manual is online. Recommended for Blender 2.93 & 3.1.

Installing the addon in Blender 3.1.2 resulted in a series of errors with the demo. Using 2.93.1 the install was not reporting errors but I couldn’t get it working and the warning ‘written for 3.00’ popped up. So, I downloaded Blender 3.00. But I still got errors when installing. I emailed the author and asked about the demo.

About 36 hours later I got an answer. Basically, use 2.93.0. So, I installed 2.93.0. That was a bit tricky. The portable version does not unzip/install the same as other versions. The unzipped folder is misnamed, IMO. Not a difficult fix but it does not sort into the list of Blender folders the way I expected. With the misnaming, I also ran into problems with AvaStar, which may or may not have been folder name-related. Whatever…

Modeling Cloth – Individual License: FREE – DONATION

Free software. Recommended for Blender 2.80. Last updated September 2019. So I am concerned the developer is not going to provide future updates.

This is named Cloth not Clothes. A video is here.

Simply Micromesh – Individual License: US$27

Recommended for Blender 2.9 to 3.1

This too is for cloth more than for clothes. But it has an interesting use in detailing parts of mesh clothes. A video is here.

Cloth fx – Individual License: US$40

Recommended for Blender 2.79 to 2.93

Again, for cloth and specifically for tearing cloth. A video is here.

Molecular Script – FREE

For Blender 2.93

This is a special simulation tool for animation within Blender. It can be used to make static models of collapsed things for SL. A video.

Cloth Weaver – Individual License: US$39 & $49

Recommended for Blender 2.8 to 2.93

This is a clothes modeling tool. A set of videos is here.

Summary

I’ve got my AvaStar and Blender updates installed. Now I am relearning Blender… stuff is moved around and several things work differently. In general, things are more intuitive. But it is still a challenge to find and figure out how to do things that were muscle memory ingrained. (sigh)

I plan to write more later to get into my experience with Slink’s new Cinnamon & Chai Dev Kit.

Making Slink Sizes

In December Siddean Munro made a video of how to easily make the various Slink sizes.

I think the video shows how easy and quick it is. So, I continue to be baffled at why so many provide only Hourglass sizes of their products. Especially when discussions in the SL Forum show growing support for the Slink Redux bodies.

If you are a Slink Original wearer, Physique or Redux, and your designer isn’t making the sizes you need, send them a link to this article.

Big News for Slink Physique Original Peeps

Have you seen? Erratic, a Maitreya exclusive merchant, is thinking about making clothes for other bodies!

Strawberry Singh has the story in an article titled I’m feeling so Erratic. Plus, she made a video.

In the $L50 Friday event an Erratic L$50 top (Fat Pack) is on sale for multiple body styles including Hourglass and Original. I am interested in Erratic clothes for the Slink bodies. So, I ran down and bought a copy for the Original body.

The sales of this top will be the deciding factor in which bodies Erratic Rain plans to make clothes for in the future. So… if you want more Slink, visit and buy… the free market voting with its dollars… http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/LE%20LOOK/131/139/2001

Does Second Life have Grunge Clothes?

You may know grunge is a THING in computer modeling. It is easy to make perfect stuff that looks totally new. It takes some talent to age it and give it signs of wear and dirt. Those improving their creative skill seem to eventually try adding grunge to whatever they are creating.

A fascinating display of grungy, dirty, rusting things can be found in Second Life’s game The Wastelands. I’ve been exploring and playing in Wastelands, probably SL’s oldest and longest-running game, at least AFAIK. My problem is I feel overdressed. I more commonly dress for shopping, events, and clubs.

Razor Store 2018

There are numerous other role play games in SL set in the post-apocalyptic eras. However, in most SL role play areas of such eras, the women make high-end call-girls look like nuns.

I don’t have the clothes for a Wastelands look… The players I have seen go for a more probably real look. So, with my 55k inventory, I have nothing to wear… so sad… …and I have a bridge for sale in San Francisco. (Contact me in-world.)

It is true I literally have nothing I think works for Wastelands style… well, with my mesh body. I have made a classic body outfit that suffices. But, I hate it. So, I’ve been on a quest to find clothes I think work and that I like. I’m not going to take on the Walking Dead zombie look. Eck! There are plenty of those playing in Wastelands that favor that look, just not me. Continue reading

50% Off Blueberry Stuff

Yay, Blueberry is having a sale starting this April 13th, a Friday the 13th. Which in some cultures is considered an unlucky day. While there is no empirical data to suggest these Fridays are any worse than other Fridays, the superstition lives on.

Happy 6th Birthday Blueberry!

Happy 6th Birthday Blueberry!

So, six years in Second Life™… 13th pretty neat time to have a sale. Happy Birthday Blueberry

Not everything is on sale there are some exceptions. You’ll see them listed in the promo image above.

Blueberry is popular. I love how the clothes fit my Slink body. The clothes look good. So, I expected the region to be full. The main region, Lenox & Blueberry, is limited to 20 basic account avatars plus 5± premium member avatars. The store is designed for as lag-free an experience as is possible given the nature of a store in SL. Adjacent is the region Palua. Its limit is about 30± basic members. Adjacent to Palua is Just Because. It has a limit of 25 or 30. Continue reading

Slink Developer Update is Out – Bento Hands

I like Slink and I’m playing with making clothes for my Slink Body, attached mesh and applier type clothes. So, I’ve been hoping this update would provide a bit better help for the applier clothes. Nope.

Slink Blender File May 2017

This kit is for those making mesh clothes.

I received an email letting me know:  Continue reading

Second Life Bits 2017 w18: Shopping

30 Linden Saturdays

Obviously this is for the shoppers, L$30 Saturdays is a Discount Sales Event. Seraphim puts the event on. The event is a set of merchants that place a product on sale for L$30 every Saturday. Prices are dropped for 24 hours then return to normal. You can visit Seraphim’s web site each week to get a SLURL to the first shop in the day’s participants. Plus, Seraphim has a load of hunts and sales listed.

GTS Weapons

This week the sale starts at GTS Weapons… they are offering 3 melee and 3 ranged weapons you can pick up for free. GTS features bows: cross, compound, and medieval, when you walk in the door.  They offer some spears and swords. As you wonder the store you find most weapons types, chainsaw, lasers, old west guns, present day military, steampunk, black powder, explosive, futuristic, a tank, cannons, poison plants… pretty much everything a combat RP’er could want. Generally, in the L$600+ range. These are mesh objects. The scripts use Raycast tech in appropriate weapons, the newer tech for SL weapons.

The region is GTS Weapons. GTS has other stores there and offers other products from clothes to tools needed to run an RP game.

The L$30 Sale Item is over at WHATZ (Fashion and Props), across from the landing point. There are 4 sale items, one of which I couldn’t resist. A cute camisole but, it fit so poorly I tossed it. 🙁  Continue reading