The Materials System Project is steadily progressing. We do not have an ETA, yet. We do have a bit of a place marker in that we are told projects are moving in the order of; Chat HUD User Interface, Server Side Appearance, and then Materials. So, we know it will arrive soon, but is still a ways off. If we want Materials to work the way we want, we need to be able to provide feedback during the coming Beta Phase of the development process.
[youtube W07H7xeUnGE]
To be able to give feedback we need to understand how to make and use of Normal and Specular Maps (or textures – interchangeable words in this case). So now is probably a good time to start learning the basics to allow us to participate in the beta testing without looking too ignorant.
This is a 15 minute video on Dynamic Topology. It shows the difference in how we work with and without it. [youtube HKuOIfNKz8g] This tool can be used for adding AND REMOVING polygons. This tutorial also shows using the Symmetry tool that is part of dynamic topology. Once you see the tool in action, you’ll … Read more
Some of the avatar files have a male shape included. Others appear to NOT have the separate male shape. You can also import a male shape to Blender by exporting one from SL. See Second Life Mesh Clothes Blender 2.6 Setup 2012 Tutorial for information on how to export from Second Life® and details on which shapes are what.
Revealing the Male Shape
This tutorial is about working with Blender 2.63a shape keys to get the male shape. It will also give you some idea of how the Alternate or Redpoly Deformer can work.
If you make petites or giants, getting a copy of the male model that is well weighted is important. If you have tried exporting the male model as a mesh for use in SL, you likely ran into problems. This tutorial will help with exporting the male model.
The direction I’m going with tutorial is toward making clothes and weight painting. But, this tutorial will provide information for those building both objects and clothes. I am limiting this tutorial to just the modeling and the tools we need for making the model and the lower poly models we need for Second Life.
#1 – Modeling in Second Life
This is not your standard tutorial. There are loads of modeling tutorials. Making avatar clothes is a special type of 3D modeling. There are a number of tricks to be learned, especially for making Second Life® clothes. I’m going to focus on the things I had a hard time figuring out how to do.
I’ll lay this tutorial out with indexing so you can quickly find the various tricks. I need that because I tend forget a step here and there and need to look it up.
Index
Page 1 – First Decision – Which shape to use. Page 1 – Deformer – What it does. Page 2 – Modeling – Start the modeling tools. Page 2 – C-Select – A better select tool. Page 2 – Redoing Topology Trick – Snap with a good video. Page 2 – Snap – Details on using snap. Page 3 – Scaling – How to use Alt-S scaling. Page 3 – Shrinkwrap – How to use shrinkwrap. Page 4 – Triangles vs Ngons – Getting into Ngons and Bsurface. Page 4 – Bsurface – How to use Bsurface. Page 4 – Grease Pencil – Needed for Bsurface. Page 5 – Reducing Poly Count – Needed for LoD’s. Page 5 – Dissolve – Tools for reducing poly count. Page 5 – Using Images – How to use pictures and images to guide your modeling. Page 5 – How to Model – Some of the Second Life requirements. Page 6 – How to Model – The outline. Page 6 – Summary
I hate slow paced, rambling video tutorials. I’ve found some that are pretty good. I’ll include those where appropriate. After them I’ll add explanations. Sometimes they leave out the most basic but necessary steps. Even after a couple years of using Blender I’m going: how did they do that?
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: Fitted Mesh.
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.
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.
Gaia Clary has 3 new tutorials out from a new series of mesh tutorials for Second Life® users new to mesh. This tutorial series starts with the basics of mesh and defines what vertices, edges, faces, polygons, and quads are. I think it is a great series for anyone considering building with mesh and unfamiliar with 3D modeling.
New Machinimatrix Tutorials
There are 10 videos on the new Mesh Path page at Machinimatrix.org. All but the 3 Coffee Cup tutorials I have seen before. Some use Blender 2.49 and other various versions up to Blender 2.62. The new Coffee Cup series uses 2.62.
It may be subtle but, the Coffee Cup tutorials are about 3D modeling concepts more than they are about using Blender. Additionally, the overall focus is about modeling for Second Life. The other 7 video tutorials take one farther into modeling for Second Life.
