Second Life and Virtual Worlds
This is an old subject people keep asking about. Drongle McMahon just answered the question, again. I consider it a rather succinct answer and wanted to add the information to my content on mesh. (Reference) I’ve added to it and changed wording in a place or two, but most of it is Drongle’s words.
Loki Eliot is sharing what he has learned about making mesh clothes for small avatars. He has published: Three years of Loki Mesh clothes – what i’ve learnt.
If you are making clothes for child avatars or petites, this is an article to check out.
When the current avatar was made the Lindens were optimizing for performance. This meant they took some crafty shortcuts to save download and CPU time. One of those crafty design features creates some strange behavior with the Second Life™ avatar’s UVMap and how the viewer handles it.
Gaia Clary of Machinimatrix.org has figured out what is going on and how to compensate for it.
To understand the problem and how to work around it check out the video that Gaia made.
[youtube GRFkK6vcOEs]
The problem is complex. Solving it allows one to make better looking skins and system clothes. Understanding what is happening allows one to make better mesh clothes.
Drop by the SL Forum and thank Gaia for this video and figuring out how the UVMap is being maniplulated. Improve UVs for SL compatible meshes.
Obviously making mesh clothes is complex. As time has passed we have learned how complex it is. That makes for a very steep learning curve. Perhaps while the Lindens are talking about Liquid Mesh they could say a word or two about how to make things easier for new clothes makers.
Gaia Clary, operator of Machinimatrix.org and purveyor of Avastar, has a new video tutorial out showing the changes in Blender 2.68 weight painting. This video is just about the changes, not a basic weighting tutorial. It is however a must see for anyone doing weight painting. 6:29 minutes.
[youtube LMeAnl-wEpo]
The addition of weight tools to the Blender Edit Mode is great. The improved vertex weight editing in the right-hand Properties panel of the 3D window, is a major help in figuring out what’s wrong with a weight painted object that is misbehaving.
You can discuss and ask questions in the SL Forum in: Blender 2.68: Weight Tools Overview. If nothing else stop by and thank Gaia and click the KUDO’s button.
There is a good thread in the SL Forum for those that are interested in making to-scale objects with Blender. See: Getting a good measurement for SL within Blender.
Codewarrior Congrejo makes a suggestion in the thread that I use in my modeling. Put an avatar in the scene. I strongly urge furniture makers to go to the trouble to do that. I literally do not have ANY furniture that fits my avatar. Couches are ridiculous. The distance from the face of the back rest cushion to the front edge of the seat can be a couple of meters. WTH?
There are bits in the forum thread that may surprise even experienced Blender users.
I came across Sidden Munro’s video on her work flow for making the various standard sizes. Her process save slots of work. This is a 9 minute video that will save you huge amounts of time making standard sized clothes.
[youtube Nuubb5C64Ck]
Starting at the 07:00 minute mark she starts showing how to export the different sizes.
She did the 5 sizes in the video in under ten minutes. I expect people can get the process down to 5 minutes or less.