New Mesher would like to know how to make an alpha and texture applier for her mesh

[InsaneXade]

Hello, I made a mesh body and tried to figure out how to make an applier so that I can apply alpha maps and the like to it but I either wind up buying the wrong product or am am simply not knowlegable in SL to know what to buy. Can anyone tell me what to look for or point me in the right direction? A lot of people told me that they like my meswh body and would be interested in buying it but until I learn how to create texture and alpha appliers I cannot get anywhere with it. Being able to add shapes to it would also be nice but Id be happy with the texture/alpha.

[ChinRey]

The basics? A mesh body isn't really that different from any other mesh object - or prim object for that matter - in SL. Each clothes layer is a separate face and can be retextured and/or made full transparent separately. The skin layer is split into several faces so different parts of it can be hidden (that is made 100% transparent) separately.

The applier is just a fairly standard texture changer script really, any half decent scripter can make one of those for you once you have the mesh divided into the faces you need.

A few general tips about mesh bodies:

• Be very, very careful how and where you spend your tris. Mesh bodies are extremely laggy and it doesn't take more than a few of them at the same place to turn the scenario into a hellish mess of half rendered and dismembered bodyparts. You need to make the mesh a simple as possible while still maintaining the resolution you need and also - just as important - keep the LOD high enough. (I often wonder if  people who go to crowded places wearing a ton of alphas and high poly meshes realize how they actually look to everybody else - and if they care).
• The clothes layer are textured faces right on top of each other. Make sure there's enough room between them the textures won't interfere but not so much there are visible gaps.
• Try to make your UV maps - and your appliers - as compatible with existing ones as possible. A few months from now there'll be dozens of mesh bodies on the market and there's no way skin and clothes makers will be willing to create custom textures for each and every one of them.

[InsaneXade]

The applier is just a fairly standard texture changer script really, any half decent scripter can make one of those for you once you have the mesh divided into the faces you need.

 

I need to find a half way decent scripter, instead of one that constantly refers me to a page that I cannot understand, nor will he take the time to "sit" me down to explain how do deciper it. I seem to havdd a slight scripting block but if I could find a good one to set me up with an easy to use texture changer script without charging an arm and a lg that would be ideal.

 

• Be very, very careful how and where you spend your tris. Mesh bodies are extremely laggy and it doesn't take more than a few of them at the same place to turn the scenario into a hellish mess of half rendered and dismembered bodyparts. You need to make the mesh a simple as possible while still maintaining the resolution you need and also - just as important - keep the LOD high enough. (I often wonder if  people who go to crowded places wearing a ton of alphas and high poly meshes realize how they actually look to everybody else - and if they care).

 

 

My body is quite light on the tris, having only enough to animate and detail well, example, the hands, feet, joints, face and breasts are the densest part of the model while the legs and arms themselves have enough detail to shape well and that's it

 

• The clothes layer are textured faces right on top of each other. Make sure there's enough room between them the textures won't interfere but not so much there are visible gaps. 

Clothes layer? you mean the mesh clothing, right? Yes, I do know that you got to have the clothing close but not too close and far enough away that there is no gaps. I am an experenced 3d modeler I played with 3d as a hobby for quite a while

 

• Try to make your UV maps - and your appliers - as compatible with existing ones as possible. A few months from now there'll be dozens of mesh bodies on the market and there's no way skin and clothes makers will be willing to create custom textures for each and every one of them.

Lucklily a friend saw that I needed to redo my UVs to match SL standard so I quickly altered my custom UV maps to match. My model can wear any second life avatar texture well. All I need to do is learn how to make a custom applier and add a nice hud for the user.

 

When I listed myself as a new mesher, I was meaning new to SL mesher. I should also note that the body is a fit mesh and will fit realisitcally over the secondlife body, and react to sliders, alowing the user to still keep their custom body shape. Currently I have a cheap full perm texture that does not do my avatar justice that I bought.

Major Questions

1. Can anyone help me make an applier, or teach me how to make an applier?
2. How do I name the faces?
3. Are the faces just the names of the texture slots or UV maps in Blender?
4. Currentlly I have the body set up in linksets, example, the head, (not used) body and legs are all linked together. However I studied the slink avatar demo and noticed they do not have it in a linkset. I tried to add the faces as texture slots and UV maps ut that doesnt seem to work. What am I missing here?

 

 

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[Drongle McMahon]

How do I name the faces?

Are the faces just the names of the texture slots or UV maps in Blender?

Currentlly I have the body set up in linksets, example, the head, (not used) body and legs are all linked together. However I studied the slink avatar demo and noticed they do not have it in a linkset. I tried to add the faces as texture slots and UV maps it that doesn't seem to work. What am I missing here?

Some possibly pertinent facts:

Each object in Blender becomes one mesh prim in SL. If the uploaded model has multiple objects, they will be uploaded to a linkset (or a coalesced object if they exceed the linking rules).

Each Blender object can have up to 8 materials assigned to its faces. The collection of mesh faces assigned to each material becomes a "face" in SL. The naming of the materials is ignored, but their order determines which corresponds to which face number in LSL scripts.

Although an object can have multiple UV maps in Blender, and in Collada, the SLuploader will only use one. Therefore you have to ensure that the right UV map is exported (most simply be having only one).  This means that the UV mapping for all materials must be included in the same UV map. It does NOT mean they have to be non-overlapping, as the parts used for each material will be used in isolation for the texture applied to the corresponding face in SL. Making the UV mapping of the materials non-overlapping wastes UV space and limits obtainable texture resolution needlessly.

 

[InsaneXade]

Each object in Blender becomes one mesh prim in SL. If the uploaded model has multiple objects, they will be uploaded to a linkset (or a coalesced object if they exceed the linking rules).

I did notice that. happening

Each Blender object can have up to 8 materials assigned to its faces. The collection of mesh faces assigned to each material becomes a "face" in SL. The naming of the materials is ignored, but their order determines which corresponds to which face number in LSL scripts.

Ok, this is where I often found trouble with while uploading my mesh avatar, and indeed my mesh clothing. This is why I went with the objects/linkset option but that did not work out well, since it left visible creases.

Although an object can have multiple UV maps in Blender, and in Collada, the SLuploader will only use one. Therefore you have to ensure that the right UV map is exported (most simply be having only one).  This means that the UV mapping for all materials must be included in the same UV map. It does NOT mean they have to be non-overlapping, as the parts used for each material will be used in isolation for the texture applied to the corresponding face in SL. Making the UV mapping of the materials non-overlapping wastes UV space and limits obtainable texture resolution needlessly.

Let me get this straight. Only one UV map is used, and the UVs can and should be overlapping, which can be done by selecting the polygons and unwrapping them as if they are separate objects for maximum UV effency . The SL faces are the texture maps, who's names are discarded in favor of face 1, face 2, ect. Up to 8 of such faces are supported. So I could have the head, body, legs, plus 5 more faces. Now, how do I find the  face number?

Also, how would I go about combining my UVs in Blender? When I join meshes the 3 UV maps are also combined, as separate UV maps on the same object. I worked extra hard to get the the UV maps  sl compatible and do not wish to loose all that hard work

 

[Drongle McMahon]

Let me get this straight. Only one UV map is used,...

Yes. I think it's the one that comes last in the collada file, but I haven't tested that rigorously. There is a Blender export option "Only Active UV layer", which is checked by default for SL option. I guess you should be able to use that instead of removing the extra maps, but I only ever have one, and so I never tested that.

...and the UVs can and should be overlapping, which can be done by selecting the polygons and unwrapping them as if they are separate objects for maximum UV effency... 

Yes. (apologies to those for whom the following is already known)

People often get confused here because of imprecise understanding of what the UV map is. As far as SL is concerned, it is just the set of numbers (u and v) that associate each vertex of each triangle with a point in texture (uv) space. Each geometric vertex can, of course, be used in multiple triangles and may or may not be associated with the same point in texture space for each use. The numbers are used to control the stretching of the applied texture over the mesh surface. The map can be represented as an image, as a convenience for editing, but it is not actually an image.

In Blender it is sometimes useful to use different UV maps for applying stock textures and for baking out a composited result. In that case, it is the map used for the baking that has to be exported and uploaded, assuming that the baked textures will be applied in SL. UV maps are added, named and selected to be active in the UV Maps section of the Mesh properties (triangle with vertices icon) in the Properties panel. They can then be selected at various other places to control when which one gets used.

When you join objects (2.69 onward), the UV maps get combined by name. Presently there is no function to combine UV maps with different names (it has been requested). So you need to make sure that the map you propose to export/upload has the same name in all the objects before you join them! If any of the joined objects has no UV map with one of the names in the other(s), in the map for that name in the joined object all it's vertices will be coalesed at 0,0. This is discussed in some detail in this thread and the links therein.

The SL faces are the texture maps,

No. Each SL face is all the Blender faces assigned to the same material. These are not necessarily different textures or different UV maps. In fact, when you upload, they must all be in the same UV map. Unless you are using UV island stacking techniques to save texture sizes, then selecting each material on its own should show you a UV map with no overlapping UV islands in the UV editor, preferably using as much of the space as possible. It you select more than one material, then their maps will generally be overlapping because they are each using as much of the space as possible. There is no interference as they are used for different textures opn different faces. If you select the whole mesh, then all of the materials' maps should appear on top of each other, as they should all be in the same, active, UV map that you are going to export.

who's names are discarded in favor of face 1, face 2, ect. Up to 8 of such faces are supported.

More or less. In SL the faces don't have names. So they just have numbers for use in scripting.

So I could have the head, body, legs, plus 5 more faces. Now, how do I find the  face number?

I think they are in the order the materials appear in the material list in Blender, but I am not sure of that. Someone else can confirm or refute. Also that the numbering starts at 0. So they are 0...7.

Also, how would I go about combining my UVs in Blender? When I join meshes the 3 UV maps are also combined, as separate UV maps on the same object. I worked extra hard to get the the UV maps  sl compatible and do not wish to loose all that hard work

See above. Before you join them, you need to rename the UV maps you want exported from each of the objects so they all have the same name. Then they will be combined when you join the objects. So far there is no way to combine them once you have done the join and they have different names. If you have already joined them, then you probably need to separate them again (Mesh->Vertices->Separate->By Selection) and do the appropriate renaming. Combining UVs has been suggested as a feature, but would currently be complicated by the collapsed UV maps that are made for each joined object that didn't have a map with a name present in one of the others.

 

[InsaneXade]

After a lot of trial and error involving a salad, fork, dressing and chex mix, I finally figured out how to combine the UV maps into one without losing irreplaceable data. Export as obj and import it back. All maps are combined but the groups are completely washed out. Fortunately I make multiple backups and have a version with just my weights to transfer to other versions. Now I have a complete object with all UV maps overlapping the way Sl likes it. Now that's over and done with, I need to get down to the down and dirty on how to make an applier for my mesh body so that it can wear other clothing besides my own. I also plan on having a fit mesh version. Is there a problem with fitmesh?Personally I love fitmesh but I showed off my beta testing body to a friend and she sent back a rather disturbing image. Is there a workaround with the polys going crazy or is it just something I have to put up with?

[Drongle McMahon]

Congratulations on passing the first barrier. I'm afraid I don't make attached meshes of any kind. So at this point, I have to abandon you to the mercy of others who know about all that stuff. Good luck.