Help importing from Blender to SL

[Brooke Amorosi]

Okay, I'm going to keep this as short and sweet as possible lol.

A friend of mine needed a project for Blender for class and as a person who has done barely more than download Blender, I saw this as a great opportunity. He doesn't play SL, but I explained to him that I'd want to be able to import them into the program. He sent me the .zip with all the files for the pair of sunglasses he'd made me, but... I supremely over estimated my ability to figure out how to get them into SL.

I like to think I'm pretty computer savvy. Even if I'm not familiar with a program, I can usually figure it out eventually. But this is really complicated. I've been creating content for SL for awhile now, but mesh is new territory.

Would anyone be willing to help me out? Since he doesn't really know SL, I'm hoping someone can even just check out the files and let me know if their properly optimized. I would be able to compensate you for your time / share the .zip file with you .. etc. Let me know! :)

Brooke Amorosi

[Kaluura Boa]

First, I would say that it is unlikely that your model is optimized enough for SL. Basically, models for SL must be optimized like for a game... And it is most probable that your friend made his model to look nice on screen.

Still, you can test the upload process with this model.

Start a recent Blender (for the updated Collada export) and export the default cube as Collada file for later.

Next, load your model and export it as Collada too. (You only need the File menu to do this.)

In SL viewer, upload from the tiny icon in the inventory floater or from the Build menu. Use the cube as physics shape. (See: Physics tab.) Once loaded, click "Analyze" and the uploader will tell you "1 hull, 8 vertices" at the bottom of the tab. (That is all. No need to simplify a cube.)

If no error occured you should then be able to click "Calculate weight & fees"... and scream! (It is very likely that Land Impact is of nuclear type.) :smileywink:

That is really the whole process to upload into SL.

What can be wrong is that the model is a high-poly one, hence the nuclar land impact. For an attachment, it is not necessary to optimize your model down to a Land Impact of 1 but you should not go crazy with vertices and triangles either.

The number of material (texturables faces in SL's linguo) may be over 8.

The model may use huge textures. Anything beyond 1024x1024 is a problem for SL and textures add to the price since you have to upload them too.

The model texturing may use visual tricks that cannot be imported. All we can do in SL is use a texture, add some shiny, set the transparency and eventually colorize. Bump mapping is limited to SL's default bump maps which are... well, limited. (The list of features that cannot go from Blender into SL is very long.)

Any way, if the land impact is not apocalyptic (and beyond), you can always test to import the model on Aditi.

IMHO, it is very likely that your model can be used... as a model to make a new simpler one. :matte-motes-sunglasses-1: