Blender addons: Recommendations to make SL creation easier?

[Tenly]

Due to the fact Id been frustrated with Blender I had posted asking for advice on other software that I was testing out on a trial basis.

One very wise person recommended Blender Sensei to me. And already Im finding that Blender may very well be the best, instead of the worst, place for me to start learning what I want.

With that in mind, and realizing there may be other helpful tools out there I thought I would ask for any recommends for addons which have made creating content for SL easier.

I am aware of avastar, though Im not certain how that would make things easier. Probably because Im still learning to use blender.

My goal is to learn to create shoes, then move on to other items of rigged clothing. And if they ever get the finger bones worked out I might take a shot at hand animations...though I believe that is a long way off. If ever.

While I have no desire to create mesh bodies, I am in need of a tut to create a mesh foot. Im googling that, but as always any helpful suggestions are appreciated. Please do not refer me to slink. Id love to work with their foot instead of having to make my own, but it appears you have to be able to make your own before you can use theirs. I get that its a matter of trust.

Im not bashing slink for their policy. I mention it only because Ive had several people tell me to skip trying to make my own feet and take that short cut. But its not an option.

I admire Slink, Matraiya and many MANY other designers and creators in SL.  I doubt my talents will ever rival anyone elses. Im just an old chic trying to do more with a beloved hobby.

Id be happy to purchase feet for use but I dont think they or any other foot creator does that.

Anyway...all recommends, tips and helpful comments appreciated. 

[Nalates Urriah]

I am going to suggest you look at these Slink tutorials. Whether you decide to build your own foot or work with an existing foot, these will give the basic steps you are going to be dealing with.

Most designers are now working with a standard size foot. So, a shoe that fits a Slink foot will likely fit most other mesh feet. A worst case would only require some minor adjustments to fit a different brand of foot.

Shoes are NOT typically FITTED MESH. They are mostly just rigged mesh. As there are no toe bones to rig to and there are no shape sliders that affect collision bones in the foot any differently than they do classic bones, it doesn't make much difference whether you go rigged or fitted.

http://slinkstyle.com/category/tutorials-by-siddean/

I'm in the process of writting a new version of my 2012 setup information. http://blog.nalates.net/2012/05/20/second-life-mesh-clothes-blender-2-6-setup-2012-tutorial/

It covers most of the basics and points to tutorials.

Machinimatrix has numberious tutorials. Look for Gaia Clary on youtube to find all the free tutorials.

As to making things easier... making clothes for use in SL is not that complicated or difficult. The challenge is all the gotchas. There is just a lot to know. AvaStar can reduce that learning curve as it simplifies various multi-step Blender processes into single clicks.

[Tenly]

Thank you Natales!

[Coby Foden]

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Nalates Urriah wrote:

 

As there are no toe bones to rig to ...

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It's true that there are no individual bones for each toe, but there actually is one toe bone on each foot.

 

• mToeRight

• mToeLeft

Thus the five toes in each foot can be rigged on those toe bones allowing animation of all five toes in unison.