This is a big deal. I’ll get into what it means and what some of the possibilities are.
For years Second Life™ users have been asking for more bones. That would let users make avatars with tails that are easily animated. Or with more than 4 arm-leg appendages. We will be able to have a centaur with 4 legs, two arms, and a tail, something that is way complicated now and pretty lame. Or a spider with 8 legs. Continue reading
I think most Second LifeTM modelers are looking for ways to reduce polygon count and still have good deformation for animations. his tip should help.
There are several programs one can use to make textures for wood floors. Blender has an addon that can be used to accomplish that task.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=38&v=61gNzVKcuLQ
There are some problems with the addon. So, check out Blender Nation for information on those. Look in the comments. Similar information can be found in the YouTube comments.
Blender Tutorials
Many of us in Second Life™ use Blender as our creative tool. Few of us have taken a college course on using Blender, so Blender tutorials are popular. But, it takes a bit of time for the tutorials to catch up with Blender’s latest updates. So, I was happy to come across a rich source of Blender Cycles Materials tutorials. See: Reynante Martinez.
Plus there are a number of handy tips on using Blender. They can make life with Blender nicer.
The main page about Blender Materials is here: Cycles Material Studies. Not all these materials can be used in Second Life. But, it is some pretty impressive materials.
I don’t see many tutorials about rigging mesh for OpenSim. But, Hypergrid Business has a new one. See: Quick mesh rigging how-to. Of course the procedure will work for Second Life too. But, this is for ‘rigged’ mesh only, not fitted mesh.
-. InnocEnce .- by Perhaps Twine, on Flickr
While they use the Machinimatrix base avatar, you do not need AvaStar. However, not having AvaStar means using the parts of the model included for working with fitted mesh is awkward and not at all intuitive.
I haven’t played in OpenSim since OSGrid crashed. So, I am not sure whether or not we can use fitted mesh in OpenSim. So, this tutorial is more than adequate for most of those making clothes in OpenSim.
Lildaria Resident started to do a tutorial on Masking in Second Life™. But, she found a good tutorial already exists. She reprinted that tutorial. See: Tutorial: Understanding Mask Mode.
(Image and user poofed…) Blackspot by dolletjes, on Flickr
In the tutorial it is talking about masking meaning alpha layers, hiding parts of the avatar or things in Second Life. If you aren’t clear on how this invisible, transparent, and translucent thing works, check it out. I think it will help.
If you are trying to understand how to implement ‘masking’… I think this tutorial falls a bit short. But, that may just be me not getting the ‘how to’ part of it.
Blender has had shape keys for some time. They are a common part of most 3D models. But, since we can’t import Blender generated shape key information into Second Life™, the keys have not been much use to us. However, they can be used to make different size dresses, shirts, hands, feet, and whatever along with testing whatever we make.
AvaStar added tools for the use of shape keys to help in making standard sizes of our creations. Now Medhue Simoni has made a video showing what can be done with shape keys and how they work. He doesn’t say much about how we use the keys with things we are making for SL, but he does mention an important point: we will likely be able to use shape keys in the Next Generation Platform, SANSAR.
If you are interested in using shape keys to more quickly make standard size clothing items, refer to the AvaStar tutorials on Machinimatrix.org.
Figuring out how to use the new shape keys isn’t too hard. Gaia Clary has provided free help, which I link to below. Figuring out what you will do with them is another challenge. It looks to me like using shape keys will be most useful to those making clothes for Standard Sizes and custom sizes.
AvaStar Shape Key Tutorials
I don’t see the shape keys being particularly helpful for those making fitted mesh clothes. But, I’m not making clothes right now, so I haven’t worked with the shape keys. Continue reading