Maya Sculpts - Bitmap error.

[MakotoKuun]

So, im new to this of uploading models to second life, i followed all the possible steps i could find online to fix my problem but no luck.

NOTE: This model was started as a cube.

One thing i did realize, is that the only way for htis not to happend (or for it to almost not happen) is if i make aa sphere 20x20 (and god that's tedious to work with for a beginner.)

Model in maya: http://i.imgur.com/SiBue.png

Model in SL: http://i.imgur.com/KT8T0.png

Bitmap (SL): http://i.imgur.com/Xl5vt.png

 

 

 

 

 

[Chosen Few]

From your picture of the sculpt map, it's obvious that your model is not actually a sculpty.  The UV layout appears to be that Maya's default polygonal cube.  That's just not how sculpties work.

Upload it as a mesh model instead, and it'll work fine as is.  If you  really, really, really want it to be a sculpty, you're going to have to start all over again, and make it with sculpty-compatible geometry and mapping.  You can find instructions to get you started creating a sculpty-compatible cuboid in the third post of this thread: http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Building-and-Texturing-Forum/Maya-2011-and-sculptmap-exporter-script/m-p/724409#M116  (or in any of the other gazillion threads where I posted it, back when sculpties were more relevant than they are now.)  There's also a video, in post 6, of that same thread. (Read the instructions before you watch the video, since the video is not narrated.)

There's no way to make a sculpty from a default polygonal cube.  Sculpties use singularly planar topology.  Cubic topology won't do.  

Making sculpties is analogous to origami.  You take a simple two-dimensional rectangle, and you fold it, twist it, bend it, or otherwise deform it in 3D space, to look like a more complicated shape.  But at the end of the day, it's still just a rectangle in 2D, one contiguous surface.

For this reason (and others), the Maya sculpty exporter was designed to work with NURBS source models.  It doesn't respond very well to poly models, even ones that do happen to have the right topology.  If you enjoy jumping through hoops with one hand tied behind your back, there are some tricks you can employ to get the exporter's surface sampler to treat your polygonal models a bit more respectfully, but it's very tedious and time consuming to set that up, and you still have to use sculpty-compatible topology, no matter what.  Generally speaking, it's not worth the effort.

Understand, sculpties were introduced as a stopgap measure, a kluge, to push SL to make shapes more complex than just simple primitives, within the boundaries of its existing limitations at the time, before proper mesh support could be implemented.  Now that SL DOES have support for arbitrary meshes, there's almost zero reason to continue using sculpties at all. 

Sculpties are extremely odd.  They're overly complicated, under-powered, and often hugely resource intensive for what you get from them. Only once in a blue moon will a sculpty will do the job more efficiently than an arbitrary mesh.

I'd recommend you just forget all about sculpties, since you're just starting out now.  It's much better not to let the oddball quirks and extreme restrictions inherent to sculpties unfairly color your thinking about what modeling for SL really means.  Plain old ordinary mesh modeling is the way to go.  It's easier, faster, more powerful, and just all around better.

If you're using Maya 2011 or older, export your model to COLLADA format, and you'll be able to upload it directly to SL.  If you're using Maya 2012 or newer, export to FBX first, and then use the stand alone FBX converter (free download from Autodesk) to convert to COLLADA.

 

Oh, and do take the time to give your model a proper UV map.  That default cube UV map is dreadfully inefficient.   Approximately half the canvas is unused, wasted space.  With that UV layout your model is carrying double the texture weight that it otherwise could.  In SL, that translates to twice the lag, which obviously is not cool.

As a 3D modeler, the sculptural shaping of the model is only half your job.  The other half is UV mapping.  Both halves are equally important.

[MakotoKuun]

Chosen i have to say, ive browsed around the forums and ive seen your responses and i really love how much time u take to help others.

i think im going to follow your advice and stick to meshing, but there are some things i dont understand, for example after im done modelling the whole thing together, is there any kind of tutorial you know about for texturing the model? And if im going to upload it as a mesh, can i model the whole thing with polygons?

The exporting, you really lost me on that one, could you explain me some more about how to export the scene so it can be uploaded as a mesh into SL? (Im using Maya 2012)

Thank you very much c:

[Chosen Few]

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MakotoKuun wrote:

Chosen i have to say, ive browsed around the forums and ive seen your responses and i really love how much time u take to help others.

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Thanks.  I just hate to see people struggle.  Somehow, years back, I got somewhat addicted to answering questions, and I've been doing it ever since.

 

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MakotoKuun wrote:

i think im going to follow your advice and stick to meshing,

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Good.  Just be aware, in case you didn't already know, you'll need to do a few things before LL will allow you to upload mesh models.  You need to have payment info on file (even if you're not actually paying anything), and you need to complete a quick IP rights quiz.  The payment info is so they can verify your identity, in case of IP issues.  The quiz is so they can be reasonably certain you have common sense enough not to get into IP trouble in the first place.

Really, they should have been doing this all along, for all content creators.  It happens they only thought of it pretty recently, when they implemented mesh support.

 

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MakotoKuun wrote:

after im done modelling the whole thing together, is there any kind of tutorial you know about for texturing the model?

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There are millions (literally, millions).  Google "texturing tutorial", and you'll get over 2 million results.  Texturing is a huge subject.  You're not going to learn it all in one tutorial. 

There are any number of books you can buy, classes you can take, videos you can watch, etc., all over the web, at every college in the civilized world, and in every bookstore.  There's also lots and lots of good information right in your Maya help file.

A good beginner book is "3D Game Textures" by Luke Ahern.  It's mostly geared toward Photoshop, but the principles it covers are universal.

 

In addition to just creating the imagery of the textures themselves, you also need to learn how to UV map your models, so the texturing fits onto the model the way you want it to.  Maya has an excellent built-in tool set for this, and there are also great plugins you can buy, for even greater functionality.  I love Unwrella, for example.

I'd suggest you read through the "Mapping UV's" section of your Maya User Guide, in the help file, if you haven't already.  There are also countless tutorials, books, videos, etc., on the subject,

 

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MakotoKuun wrote:

And if im going to upload it as a mesh, can i model the whole thing with polygons?

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Yes, "mesh" is synonymous with "polygonal".  A mesh model is a polygonal model, by definition.

 

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MakotoKuun wrote:

The exporting, you really lost me on that one, could you explain me some more about how to export the scene so it can be uploaded as a mesh into SL? (Im using Maya 2012)

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SL uses the COLLADA format for model import.  COLLADA is an "in between format", similar to Autodesk's FBX, designed for the express purpose of transferring 3D models (and other scene components) between programs, and across platforms.  It's widely used in the game industry.  The file extension is .dae.

Maya comes with the ability to export to COLLADA format, via the stock DAE_FBX plugin.  There's an annoyance on the SL side of things, though.  SL's implementation of COLLADA is based on an older version of the format than the one Maya 2012 puts out.  So, models exported directly to .dae files from Maya 2012 won't work for SL.  The work-around is to export to .fbx format instead, and then use Autodesk's FBX Converter program to convert the file to the older COLLADA format that SL likes.

The procedure, simply put, is this:

1. In Maya, open up your plugin manager, and make sure your DAE_FBX plugin is loaded.  The plugin's proper name on the list is "fbxmaya".

2.  Create your model(s).

3.   Select everything you want to export.

4.  Click File -> Export Selection.  In the export dialog. select FBX as the file format, give the file a name, choose a destination, and hit OK.

5.  In the FBX Converter program, select the FBX file, and convert it to COLLADA format.

6.  In SL, click File -> Upload -> Model, and upload the COLLADA file.

The uploader dialog can be a little confusing at first, but you'll get used to it pretty quickly.  There's plenty of information on the wiki, and if you get stuck, you can always ask for help here.

You'll notice there are slots for four levels of detail (LOD's) for your model.  The LOD system allows for models to appear in high detail when viewd from up close, and lower detail when viewed from further away.  Sculpties and prims do the same thing, but users cannot control how those work.  With mesh, we're allowed total control over it, which is great.

You can create the four levels yourself, in Maya, or you can let SL auto-generate any or all of the lower three.  It's almost always best to create them all yourself.  The system can only do "dumb reductions", just mathematical subtraction of vertices.  It has no way of knowing what actually looks good or bad.  As a human artist, YOU should do the reductions, so you can ensure each level looks the way you want it to.

Be aggressive with the removal of details, especially for the lower two levels.  The camera has to be pretty far away before those levels kick in.  There's no need for much detail at all when the model is tiny on the screen.  The less detail you include, the less lag you'll cause, and the lower the land impact for your models.  (Land impact is the model's prim count.  Even though the mesh model is not actually made of prims, it still uses resources the same way prims do.)

You can also create a physics mesh in Maya, or let SL auto-generate one.  The physics mesh will determine how avatars and objects collide with the model.  Again, it's almost always best to do it yourself.  And again, you should make it as simple as possible.

 

This is all pretty basic stuff, for anyone familiar with modeling assets for games and virtual worlds.  It may be a lot to take in, if you're brand new to it, though.  Just take it one step at a time, and you'll be fine.  Don't expect overnight success.  It's going to be a process.  Have fun with it.

[MakotoKuun]

Well im sorry for being such a newb but id like to ask for your all mighty knowledge one more time:

 

-"Good.  Just be aware, in case you didn't already know, you'll need to do a few things before LL will allow you to upload mesh models.  You need to have payment info on file (even if you're not actually paying anything), and you need to complete a quick IP rights quiz.  The payment info is so they can verify your identity, in case of IP issues.  The quiz is so they can be reasonably certain you have common sense enough not to get into IP trouble in the first place"-

About having payment info on file , i have an activated paypal account linked to my second lif, does that work? and the IP test thingy how does that work, and what is it about?

-"3.   Select everything you want to export."-

So in the scene, it doesnt have to be all merged together for it to upload okay? as in say i make a bow with a bunch of stuff on it do i have to merge vortics somehow so it uploads all in one  prim? or can it just be different things and extract them all together? And if i make a hoodie and the details are separated without being merged will it affect the model when its imported and wore?

About the textures, i have been wondering, can you upload the mesh textured or you have to uplod the texture later inside SL?

About the weight system, lol wut? i've read about it but never understood a thing about it.

[Chosen Few]

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MakotoKuun wrote:

About having payment info on file , i have an activated paypal account linked to my second lif, does that work?

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I assume it would, but it's possible you might need an actual credit card on file.  Rules may vary, depending on what country you're in.  I'd just go ahead and try it.  If it doesn't work, then you know you need to do something different.

 

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MakotoKuun wrote:

and the IP test thingy how does that work, and what is it about?

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You can get to it through your account page.  The direct link is https://secondlife.com/my/account/mesh.php

It's also linked right on the very first page of the mesh wiki, as well as right at the beginning of the Knowledge Base page on how to upload mesh models.

To answer your specific questions as worded:

• How it works, it's pretty self explanatory.  Go through it, answer the questions, and you're done.  It takes about 5-10 minutes. 
• It's about is IP rights.

 

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MakotoKuun wrote:

So in the scene, it doesnt have to be all merged together for it to upload okay?

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You can put multiple models into the same COLLADA file, and they'll remain separate, if that's what you want.  They'll rez in-world as a linkset. 

Depending on the specifics of your project, it's often better not to do it that way, but if you want to, you certainly can.

 

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MakotoKuun wrote:

as in say i make a bow with a bunch of stuff on it do i have to merge vortics somehow so it uploads all in one  prim?

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I'd suggest you eliminate the word "prim" from your thinking, on this.  You're not dealing with just primitives anymore.  The rest of the world of 3D modeling is now open to you.  You'll be uploading full blown models now, not just the 'lego blocks' you're used to from SL's in-world building system.

In any case, if you want to merge the various components together into one model, you can.  Or if you want them to stay separate, you can do that, too.  It's up to you.

 

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MakotoKuun wrote:

or can it just be different things and extract them all together?

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I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "extract" in this context, but I'm guessig you probably have your answer, from what I just said above.  If not, please explain what you mean.

 

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MakotoKuun wrote:

And if i make a hoodie and the details are separated without being merged will it affect the model when its imported and wore?

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As long as all the parts have the correct rig data associated with them, you can wear them all, and they'll all behave as expected.  Items that are not rigged will behave just like prim attachments do, completely rigid, no skeletal deformations.

 

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MakotoKuun wrote:

About the textures, i have been wondering, can you upload the mesh textured or you have to uplod the texture later inside SL?

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Technically, yes, you can upload a fully textured mesh, and it will have the textures on it when it appears in-world.  There are some caveats, though:

• The textures must be image files.  Procedural textures you've created inside Maya won't be reproducible in SL.  So, if you're using procedurals, you must bake them out to image files first, and then re-apply those image files as textures in Maya, before you export to COLLADA.  It's often simpler just to upload the texture(s) manually, and apply them in-world yourself.
• Since you're using Maya 2012, it gets a little more complicated.  As I mentioned earlier, SL doesn't like the newer version of COLLADA that Maya 2012 writes to, so you have to go to FBX first, and then convert to COLLADA afterward.  Users have reported that the texture associations get lost in the process.  My guess is it's a simple matter of setting things properly, but as I'm still using Maya 2009, I can't test that.
• SL allows for up to eight textures (materials) per single model.  If for some reason you need more than that, you'll need to break your model into pieces.

 

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MakotoKuun wrote:

About the weight system, lol wut? i've read about it but never understood a thing about it.

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Weightng is the heart of all deforomer-based animation, including skeletal animation for characters.  The  mathematical associations between bones (as well as other kinds of deformers) and the vertices of the model are called "weight" values.   It works like gravity.  If a section of a model is heavily weighted to a particular bone, that bone will have a lot of influence on that section, and will pull the vertices around with it as it moves.  If another section is only very lightly weighted to a bone, then that section's vertices will only move a little bit, as the bone moves.

To put it another way, think about how your actual body works in RL.  If you bend your knee, your entire lower leg moves.  The lower leg is 100% weighted to the knee joint.  But that's not all that happens.  Part of your thigh also moves a little bit.  As the knee bends, the thigh stretches and deforms a little bit.  The thigh is partially weighted to the knee joint.  Make sense?

Maya has many tools for designating weight values.  The most common workhorse among these is the Paint Weights Tool, which allows you to visually paint the values for each bone onto the model's surface.  It uses familiar alpha mapping logic: white is 100%, black is zero, and all shades of gray fall in between.

 

We're starting to get beyond the scope of this forum.  The kinds of questions you're asking aren't specific to SL, but are elementary 3D modeling and rigging 101 subjects.  If you're unfamiliar with the basic universal concepts, I'd strongly recommend you put the SL stuff on hold for the next couple of weeks or so, and use that time to learn these fundamentals, using just Maya.  SL only adds another layer of complication to the whole thing.  Best not to confuse things.  As I so often find myself saying on this forum, don't put the cart before the horse.

That's not to say you should be afraid to ask any question at all.  By all means, ask away, whenever you need some guidance.  Just be aware that it's not quite feasible to teach a full course on modeling, or texturing, or rigging, via a forum.