Blender Best Practices (Part 2)

[Ashasekayi Ra]

Following Daniel's example, I think it would be nice to bring the Blender best practices thread over to the new forum.

 

Archived Original Thread: http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Mesh/Mesh-Best-Practices-Blender/m-p/183065#M322

[Romaq Rosher]

Thank you for the link! It would be helpful if someone could 'munch' the details of the archived thread to come up with a single new post that could be pinned at the top. I'll try to read through the archive, but I have the following questions on my mind:

1. I recall something to the effect that we need to use a *specific* version of Blender, because something in the current version (2.56?) does not handle 'something' properly, so an older version (2.49?) must be used instead. It seems a good start to 'best practices' is using the 'correct' version. I'd also like to know what 'broke', and if this is something to be 'fixed' in a new release. I'm using lots of quotes here, because I'm fuzzy on the details, and I'll have to revisit that message archive to sort out what I'm attempting to recall.
2. Is there a website for sharing files pertaining to Second Life and Blender, or good 'tutorial' places that are specific to Second Life mesh? Would such a place have good 'Creative Commons'  files so those who are willing to share can do so for the benefit of us who wish to learn?
3. Is there a web page that has the definitive info on SL bones and rigging? Particularly info on resized (offset?) bones and 'non-human' rigging and animation?
4. Someone brought Big Buck Bunny into SL. Would someone be willing to create a post on how to duplicate this? It should be 'legally' acceptable for anyone to do so given the Creative Commons and open nature of the Big Buck Bunny project sponsered by Blender. In fact, a tutorial on 'how I did it' on recreating Big Buck as an avatar within SL would be the whole point of the BBB project and Blender.

Anyway, that's a start on thing I'll try to dig up on the archives as I have time, and of course I would be happy for someone to beat me to it.

[Ashasekayi Ra]

1. At the moment, you can use either the current version (Blender 2.49) or the beta version (Blender 2.5x) to bring in static mesh. However, the collada export in the Blender beta version isn't working with SL's mesh uploader when it comes to rigged mesh. So, you'd need to export any rigged mesh from 2.49. However, there is a 2.49/2.5x workaround for people who would like to do all their building in Blender 2.5x and just export from 2.49.

Link (Message 6 by Luc Starsider has the solution): http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Mesh/Blender-2-5-exporting/m-p/413765/highlight/true#M1708

 

2. No, not yet. But, there are some basic tutorials specific to Blender and SL at Machinimatrix.

Link: http://blog.machinimatrix.org/3d-creation/blender-meshes-trail/meshes-overview/

 

3. Specific detail? No. Refer to the link in number 2. And, I haven't seen any tutorials on joint positions yet. Hopefully, if one exists, someone will post a link. I'm hoping to make a tutorial on a Blender pipeline for rigged clothing in a couple of weeks though.

 

4. And yes, that would be cool.

[Romaq Rosher]

Thank you! That's where I was confused about which version I should deal with. I think for the moment I'll UNinstall the Beta I have and install the older version. I'm going to have to practice with sculpties first so I can do 'something', then move foward from there on real mesh creations. Baby steps, but it sure helps when I understand what and why of Blender versions.

Cheers!

[Ashasekayi Ra]

Welcome  

If you like, I can drop you a notecard of some great Blender/mesh tutorials I've come across recently. Just let me know.

[Indigo Mertel]

 

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Romaq Rosher wrote:

1. Is there a website for sharing files pertaining to Second Life and Blender, or good 'tutorial' places that are specific to Second Life mesh? Would such a place have good 'Creative Commons'  files so those who are willing to share can do so for the benefit of us who wish to learn?

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Romaq,

MetaLibrary is a blog dedicated to provide information of interest to SL users, with reference to tutorials, tips and tricks and resources available on the web. The blog has a growing number of references to Blender tutorials as well. Though most of the tutorials are not dedicated to the creation of SL content, they are all picked with an eye for SL users. Check it out:

http://metalibrary.posterous.com

[Romaq Rosher]

Thank you for the reference! Yeah, it would be good to have references to that website and other helpful current info pinned. At the moment, it appears I'm going to have to do a backup/ bare-metal reinstall of Winblows in order to get a few things working properly. I'd run Linux, but that would destroy the games I enjoy playing in addition to Second Life. Maintaining Linux distros is also a major pain as well.

After the reinstall, looks like I'll be installing the 32 bit versions of Blender, Gimp, Python and other software. How DARE I attempt to run my 64 bit machine and 64 bit OS with 64 bit applications!

Neither here nor there, I'm happy to have references posted here where it's easy to get to.

[Ashasekayi Ra]

Which version of Windows are you using? I run the 64 bit versions of both Blender 2.49 and 2.5x on 64-bit Windows 7. As a side note, I always use the zip installers.

[Romaq Rosher]

I'm using Windows 7 x64, but I would like to use Primstar, which appears to be 32-bit python compiled. I would also like to edit terrain in SL using GIMP... again, 32-bit python compiled, and various other plug-ins tend to be 32-bit.

It would be a delight to have applications move to the 64-bit realm and we can just drop the 32-bit vs. 64-bit issue, but that day is not today.

[Ashasekayi Ra]

Well, you can have alternate installs of Blender on the system if you like, using the zip installs/bundled python, without a problem.