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Mesh Level of detail tips and tricks- need some help


Giselle Novo
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If you are letting the mesh uploader determine what the levels of LOD will look like, it may overdoing it for your model.  As a first experiment, try uploading your mesh and setting the second level of LOD equal to the first level.  That will increase your L.I., but it will result in losing fewer tris, so small details won't vanish quite as soon.  Ideally, though, you should create and upload your own LOD models so that you can control how much detail you will be seeing.  I assume that you are doing your test uploading on the Aditi grid, rather than spending real L$ on the main grid, BTW.

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I have to second and even emphasize Rolig's advice here. If you want to make efficient mesh, you have to make each and every model you need manually. Knowing how the mesh model system works and exactly which details to include and exclude in each and every one of the five models, is by far the most important skill for an SL mesh maker.

How to do that? Unfortunately there don't seem to be any organized classes or tutorials about it and it's a bit too much to go into detail here.

But a good start is to simply consider what the different models are for. Good rule of thumb:

  • The high resolution model is for you, the maker
  • The mid resolution model is for your friends, visitors and customers
  • The low resolution model is for people passing by
  • The lowest resolution model is for the scenery
  • And of course, the physics model is the one you sometimes crash into and/or walk on top of.

There's a lot more to it than that of course - I could write a book about SL mesh optimisation. (Actually maybe somebody should write a book about it...) But I think the first step is simply to get some idea of what those models actually are meant for and start thinking about what kind of details they actually need.

(Edits: just fixed some of the most embarrasing typos)

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Well I am not in agreement with ChinRey's ideas about what the levels are for but ....

TEST which you seem to be doing and that is a very good thing.

 

Here is my input:

The very best mesh from a technical point of view often has custom LOD levels.

VERY SIMPLE things will not need them.

Be sure and check what the mesh will look like with your viewer LOD set to 2 (the Firestorm viewer's default - 75% of the viewing public or so) and if you are very conservative at 1.25 which is the Linden viewer default.

I CAN but seldom do make custom LODs. I try to make things as efficient as possible for the highest setting and even using the uploader most of my builds come in very low with small things as 1 li. Also take a look at your general topography, it might be too dense for SL in general. You will get a general idea fairly quickly about what the item "should" weigh.

Note that the thumbnails the uploader gives you before uploading have little to do with viewing once inworld so you of course need to test and of course the beta grid is the best place to do that.

There is also a VERY GOOD tutorial on making custom LODs -- Look up "The Kettle Project" by Gaia Clary. It is aimed at sculpt makers moving to mesh but the last one has some very good info on the LOD settings.

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Chic Aeon wrote:

Well I am not in agreement with ChinRey's ideas about what the levels are for but ....

Aww, I said the list was just a start and a rule of thumb. Obviously things are a bit more complicated than that. :matte-motes-wink:


Chic Aeon wrote:

TEST which you seem to be doing and that is a very good thing.

You can also do the math. Drongle McMahon posted the formula for calculating switch points in this thread:

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Mesh/LOD-vs-Draw-Distance/td-p/2302121

I have the formula typed into a ready-made spreadsheet so every time I make a mesh, I just enter the dimensions and get the switch points right away.


Chic Aeon wrote:

Be sure and check what the mesh will look like with your viewer LOD set to 2 (the Firestorm viewer's default - 75% of the viewing public or so) and if you are very conservative at 1.25 which is the Linden viewer default.

That's not absoltuely correct. Firestorm's default LOD setting at medium quality graphics is 1.5, not 2.

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ChinRey wrote:

Chic Aeon wrote:

Be sure and check what the mesh will look like with your viewer LOD set to 2 (the Firestorm viewer's default - 75% of the viewing public or so) and if you are very conservative at 1.25 which is the Linden viewer default.

That's not absoltuely correct. Firestorm's default LOD setting at medium quality graphics is 1.5, not 2.

When I check the LOD values in various graphics settings in Firestorm 4.6.5.40833 (64bit), I get this:

 

 

Quality and speed LOD
Low 1.5
° 2.0
Mid 2.0
° 2.0
High 2.0
° 2.0
Ultra 3.0
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