SL and mesh's unpredictability?

[gustav2005]

Quite often, I face to these problems. Uploading mesh problems. 
OK, nothing is so serious (I guess. It's quite annoying though), I've just been wondering if these happen to the other creators, too....

[LI calculation problem]
I tried to upload a mesh object. Yesterday, it became 1LI. Using the same LoD settings, today, with the same object, it never goes down to 1LI and stays 2.6 LI. Even using the same LoD settings and everything, LI calculation changes all the time. It's like the wind velocity. Does this happen to everyone?

[DAE file problem]
I spent hours and hours to make an object. Yesterday, I successfully uploaded it without any troubles. Today, all of sudden, SL refuses the file saying it can't find out the file or something. Just the same file, nothing has been changed. I check the file with some mesh builders (Blender and another one) and the file seems fine. 
Does this happen to everyone, too?

Well, for me, facing to those problems,  I've been trying to think SL is like "weather". When it's fine, it's fine. When it rains, it rains. All you need to do is just wait till it'll become another sunny day. Sometimes, I even wait some weeks till I get the same LI with one same object. It's like, "Only the Supreme Being knows.....".

Does this happen to everyone? Are there any ways to solve those problems? Simply do I just have to wait patiently till the SL weather changes looking up the sky and praying?

[markkemp]

Happens to all creators all the time, not just mesh creators.

Sometimes there's a server problem or something just doesn't work for some reason. Often it's a problem with your own viewer and you have to reinstall it.

I regard it just as part of the challenges of working in this environment. :matte-motes-stress:

[Chic Aeon]

Were you using the BETA GRID yesterday?  If you already had the mesh object inworld on the main grid I can't see why you would pay to upload the exact same file again - .  If so, the Aditi and Agni grids do not always match and that could be your problem with filesize. Also be sure and check your physics and size as well as LODs and make sure you haven't made changes there. Sometimes changing the physics will give you an error message on upload when another physics choice (or your own physics model) will do just fine.

 

I always write down the upload choices on the beta grid and then IMMEDIATELY -- or as close to it as I can get -- upload on the main grid. If you use the Linden viewer it will save your settings from one grid to another (sometimes good, sometimes not).  I used to have your issues all the time when I was learning. Now it is a VERY RARE occurrence which leads me to believe as some old timers told me a couple of years ago that it was "indeed me" LOL.

So it is likely it will get better. Just find a method that works for you and go from there.

 

[Jake Koronikov]

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gustav2005 wrote:

....Simply do I just have to wait patiently till the SL weather changes looking up the sky and praying?

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Oh yes, my fellow designer. Sometimes I very quietly sneak to my laptop in the middle of the nite or early morning. The Supreme Beings are asleep those times. And wow, the rain suddenly stops for some time ;D Tho, sometimes I get a punishment for that sneaking. Double amount of ulpload problems next week

 

 

 

[Medhue Simoni]

Don't get me wrong here, there are tons of issues everywhere, including the mesh uploader. That said, I don't have that many issues uploading meshes. I pretty much get exactly what I exported. Sure, if you are crazy about LI, or doing things that have to be 1 LI, and you are using mostly upload settings, then you aren't going to have much consistency. Other than that, like I said, I don't have many issues that were not the direct result of something wrong with the file. More than half of the meshes that I upload are either Avatars or clothing. So, technically, I should have more issues. The whole process is complex to begin with tho, and there are many areas to get wrong or for something to go wrong.

Word to the wise, if you want consistency, then remove as many of the variables as possible. Meaning, always use your own physic shape, or make your own LODs, or make sure the size of the mesh is right and all modifiers are applied. If you have changed the mesh considerability, save the mesh as an OBJ files and reimport it into your software, to get rid of any weirdness in it's history or from modifiers, and you have a nice clean model. Sometimes, by saving it as an OBJ and reimporting the mesh into your 3D software, it becomes obvious what the problem was, and is more easily fixable. Just some thoughts.

[arton Rotaru]

I don't have that many issues either. Like Medhue said, the auto generated LODs are different everytime, even with the same numbers set. I always make my own LoDs anyway. Can go lower in triangle count, and keeping the shapes even better, than the auto generator can do.

Even if you have your own LoDs, there are a couple of factors, which make quite a difference in LI. I often hear it's the same mesh. However, like Chic said, why uploading an exact same mesh another time, when nothing has changed? Most often people DO change somehting, be it making some edges hard, adding more materials, splitting UVs, or what ever. All of these do change the vertex count, which will change the LI then.

Even changing the orientation of the mesh can effect the LI. Which I consider as a bug in the uploader, though.

[IvanBenjammin]

No, my LI calculations are pretty consistent, but I make my own LOD meshes. Physics weight used to vary a little, but I've now learnt the trick to sort that (upload from file, don't press 'analyze'). Make sure your object scale is consistent, as the size of an object's bounding box has a big effect on LI.

[gustav2005]

Thank you very much for your reply, everyone. 

It's quite interesting to find out that everyone is making various effort to keep the consistency. I'm so glad to know that I'm not the only one (hahaha, to be honest, I thought SL is so mean only to me!). 
The reason why I need to upload the same object several time is, well, sometimes I just want to change its UV mappings finding out the other better solution or such. Of course, I use Beta grid and keep the memo of the LoD settings, too . 
Since I'm not a Prim millionaire, I've been keeping the most of my creation as 1LI (or less than 1LI) objects. It's almost like a challenge to me; how far I can go keeping things within 1LI. For me, it's like, "1.5 LI? 2LI!? I'm not that rich!" LOL. During this summer, I had an object that could be 0.5LI based on the usual standard but LI never went down below 1.26LI (I tried all of the tricks I know). I waited the entire 3 weeks or 4 weeks till I finally get it 0.5LI (YES!). Well, in this situation, the unpredictability is quite an issue. The current problem is, a kind of hilarious. Any files I created "today" can't be uploaded. All the files created till "yesterday" can be uploaded without any troubles. The same file, but re-saved as a different file (to figure out what is causing the trouble, I did this). Only the difference is "date". I just wanted to say, "Come on!" LOL.

Well, again, thank you very much everyone for the replies. I'm so glad to know that I'm not the only one and, I guess, I can take it easier from now on.

[Kwakkelde Kwak]

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gustav2005 wrote:

The reason why I need to upload the same object several time is, well, sometimes I just want to change its UV mappings finding out the other better solution or such.

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Well there you go....

So you aren't uploading the same file then. Like any xyz vertex, a uv(w) vertex will take memory (filesize/LI). So you want to use as little duplicates as possible, that way you normally have the extra benefit of less wasted texture space/memory too.

[arton Rotaru]

Just to make that clear. The mesh uploaders LOD generation tool is nondeterministic. That's by design. If you provide just a high LOD model, you provide inconsistent data. Hence, the output will be inconsistent as well. Expected behavior.
Provide consistent input, and you get predictable output.

About your date issue. Make sure you have no special characters, or signs like # in your file path, file names. It's most likely not the date which made it fail. Also make sure your meshes have no spaces in their names inside the modeling program.

Don't get me wrong, but 99,9 % of the failures are user errors, or incompabillities with third party software exporters.
If you follow just a few rules, the SL mesh upload works pretty well, and predictable. actually.

 

 

[gustav2005]

Thank you very much for your reply, Kwakkelde and Arton.
Yes, I guess, the uploader might be reasonably reliable but SL server is causing the trouble.

Regarding the object name, I really appreciate the info. 
This might be bit related to that issue, that "today" and "yesterday" file problem. I changed all fo the object names in "today's" files from "book01" or "test02" or something something (BTW I didn't put any spaces in the object name) to "obj01". Then the problem solved. So strange, but surely the object name was causing the trouble. I guess this was a problem caused by third party object builder outside of SL. 

Another problem I'm facing to in Beta grid now is that I uploaded a same object couple of times in different sizes to check its LoDs. Then I tried to upload another object. Then, all of sudden, the uploader refused everything kept on saying, "Multiple errors while validating assets. Upload_invalidasset". It is refusing all the files after this.  I can't upload any files anymore. Well, it was another, "Come on!", moment. I know I sound very silly and stupid, but this happens from time to time and it is quite annoying although I'm trying to enjoy it.