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How to make a custom sim surround?


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Hello! I'm not sure if this question is stupid or not, but I'm working on a project right now with a group, and I've been thinking about making a custom sim surround for it. The project consist of 7 connected sims, forming a J-like shape. 

My main idea for it would be like the sim surrounding of the now closed sim Goatswood. They were very subtle plains, that looked really well for the sim. I was thinking in plains like that, or something that looked like trees seem from a distance, though I'm not sure if that would be possible.

Anyway, for the plain idea, how would I go about making such a thing on blender?

I made a lame "plan" of the disposition of the 7 sims for a better understanding.



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Just build whatever you like. ;)

You can extend a linkset far outside the sim border as long as the root prim is located inside the sim and the center of each part in the linkset is no more than aproximately 50 m out.


LisaMarie McWinnie wrote:

Anyway, for the plain idea, how would I go about making such a thing on blender?

 

For something like what you describe, you definitely want to use sculpts rather than mesh, partly to save prims but mostly because sculpts can be made much bigger than mesh allowing you to stretch the offsim landscape much further out.

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I have made large mesh off sim surrounds with fairly good success. Since you won't be walking on them you can use the lowest physics possible and if you keep them as simple as possible (no sub surf modifiers etc) and let TEXTURES make up the terrain it works nicely.

 

The prim count will be more than with sculpts but I personally HATE HATE HATE that coming into a sim and being inside a low flat HUGE sphere while the sculpt rezzes. I have a new very fast computer and fast connection so I can only imagine what it is like for folks with less power.

 

If you have seven sims, you can definitely afford some "prims" (again my point of view - I have always hated sculpts).  You will want to make the low hills and link those to a root prim that is placed on the land area. The root prim (can be a cube or an artful rock or pretty much anything) can be turned invisible or sunk in the ground as you like. Rez your hills ON the land, add the root prim of your choice and THEN move things off sim.

 

It will of course look more realistic if you make several versions of the hills (you will need to keep them under the 64 meter size and cluster them) and stagger them around the area.

 

Choices are good :D

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Chic Aeon wrote:

The prim count will be more than with sculpts but I personally HATE HATE HATE that coming into a sim and being inside a low flat HUGE sphere while the sculpt rezzes.

I hate that too, but now I wonder: shouldn't it be possible to define the sculptmap such that all vertices are offset above the origin? so the initial blob would rez-in far below where the detailed sculpt ends up?

(I should have paid more attention to sculpt geometry, back when it was a thing.)

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Chic Aeon wrote:

If you have seven sims, you can definitely afford some "prims"

The main advantage with sculpts isn't the prim count but the size. The absolute maximum distance you can stretch mesh outside the sim is 59 m. With sculpts there is no realistic limit. Same with prims, come to think of it and if you're a good prim twister you can make amazingly detailed contoured ground from just a handful of them.


Chic Aeon wrote:

I have always hated sculpts

Oh no! Here's what you have to do:

Sit down comfortably, close your eyes and say "Sculpt are wonderful" 500 times. Do this once twice a day for a month.

Seriously, we don't really have mesh in SL of course - that is we don't have "full" mesh. We have three different simplified variants of mesh, prims, sculpts and ... let's call it SL mesh. They are all seriously nerfed but in different ways so quite often options missing in one system can be found in another. Only by understanding and mastering all those three basic building materials can you unleash the full potential of building in Second Life.

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ChinRey wrote:We have three different simplified variants of mesh, prims, sculpts and ... let's call it SL mesh.

Maybe more. I think the (classic) avatar mesh is a distinct class of geometry, and the terrain mesh, and Linden plants.

(Hmmm. Maybe even ribbon particles (not sprites), although they're viewer only and now I'm starting to question what "mesh" actually means as we're using it here.)

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Qie Niangao wrote:

Maybe more. I think the (classic) avatar mesh is a distinct class of geometry, and the terrain mesh


Oh yes, and the windlight bubbleeach of us is surrounded by of course. That is mesh too. So at least six kinds of mesh then, each apparently handled by its own code, completely independent of the others.

You can't make a surround landscape from avatars though since they can't be moved offsim.

 


Qie Niangao wrote:

and Linden plants.


As far as I have been able to determine, Linden plants seem to be sprites. So are particles, including ribbon ones and probably avatar impostors too.

 

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ChinRey wrote:

As far as I have been able to determine, Linden plants seem to be sprites. So are particles, including ribbon ones and probably avatar impostors too. 

Hmmm. Possibly I've misunderstood  the definition of "sprite" which I've always taken to mean purely 2D images always parallel to the picture plane. That's how "old school" particles behave and, yeah, avatar imposters. Ribbon particles are different in that you can move the cam around 3D shapes on which their 2D images are mapped, as with Linden plants, so if those are "sprites" then I need to expand my definition of the term.

[ETA: You're right, it's hard to "build" with these things. Although I have actually "built" with ribbon particles, once, when a latter-day land extortionist got particularly unpleasant. I had to encroach all over Linden roadway, but you can't return a particle, nor a sufficiently carved-up child prim particle emitter. :matte-motes-whistle:]

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