Loki Eliot Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 I am wondering if it is yet possible from posting the question on this forum for ME a MAC user with 5 years experience in building using prims, to IN 1 DAY create a mesh object in SL?The question is, whats the quickest easiest way for a mac user to make a mesh object? this was originally a question and is now my continuing adventures step by step creating Mesh objects for SL... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opensource Obscure Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 This could become a wonderful thread and I wanted to ask the same question. Should we create a different thread for different operating systems? I'm on Linux. I heard that Google Sketchup is easy to learn to use, decently functional, free and allows exporting to a Mesh-friendly format. Also, it should be available for all platforms (I used it on Linux via Wine and should be natively available for Win & Mac). I don't know much more, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zslash Cyberstar Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 sketchup is indeed easy to use but also very limited and not a very good dae exporter. it can create some weird meshes and most of the time they require some more editing in other software programs. trust me you will understand if u tried it enough times ^^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luc Starsider Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 I'm not sure it matters if you are a Mac user or not. The only issue I can think of is that some programs are Win only, but the best known ones seem to be multi platform. As far as I have read Sketchup is one of the easier to get into. It is, as have been said, easy(ish) to use, and lets you export dae files. I'm not sure, but Wings3D might be relatively easy as far as 3D programs go. But I really have no idea if that is correct... I'm on a Mac myself, and use Blender. Not the simplest of programs, but it works well, and if you are willing to put in the time there are no limits to what you can produce with it. - Luc - Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opensource Obscure Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 Zslash Cyberstar wrote: sketchup is indeed easy to use but also very limited and not a very good dae exporter. it can create some weird meshes and most of the time they require some more editing in other software programs. trust me you will understand if u tried it enough times ^^ Wow, thanks. When you're a complete newbie, few things are worst than using a bugged creation tool which outputs bugged stuff, leaving you wondering "what did I do wrong?". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TriloByte Zanzibar Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 Google Sketchup or Blender. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loki Eliot Posted April 1, 2011 Author Share Posted April 1, 2011 I downloaded blender 2.5 and will have a go Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luc Starsider Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 Good Luck! If you need tutorials, visit these two sites. Tutorials on any aspect of blender. http://www.blendercookie.com/ http://www.blenderguru.com/ You can also find a bunch of tutorials on Youtube. And also, join the Blender and Mesh group in world. - Luc - Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanielRavenNest Noe Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 Follow an introductory Blender 2.5 tutorial like this one: http://www.katsbits.com/tutorials/blender/blender-basics-2.5-layout.php Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loki Eliot Posted April 1, 2011 Author Share Posted April 1, 2011 Yeahy so i made a Mesh object. Blender is a bit dumb, i mean i could not figure out how to look around the object i was working cos i don't have a Middle Mouse button. But apart from the 3D program all i needed to do was end up with a .dae file which the Mesh viewer uploaded. In the upload window there was a VAST array of options that made no sense to me what so ever, but ignoring them did not stop my object from uploading WOOT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luc Starsider Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 Congrats on your first mesh! Awsome. Since you don't have a middle mouse button, you can use the alt button, in combination with ctrl and/or shift, and clicking to navigate around the mesh objects on the Mac. Try out different combinations of these buttons with the mouse to see what they do. - Luc - Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashiri Sands Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 I chose to use Wings3d to get started in mesh because I had used it for sculpted prims previously. Version 1.2 has collada import/export support. There doesn't seem to be anyway of creating a riggable mesh so I've restricted myself to veicles and architecture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nalates Urriah Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 If you are just starting with Blender, there is a lot to learn. It will give you the most power in building. To get an idea of what you can do, visit Machinimatrix.org and watch Gaia's video tutorials. Most of the tutorials are for sculpties. Making mesh and sculpties is very similar, with mesh having better control and more possibilities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luc Starsider Posted April 4, 2011 Share Posted April 4, 2011 A little bit of info I forgot. You have to check 'Emulate 3 button mouse' in preferences to be able to use alt, ctrl and shift combined with click for it to work. - Luc - Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loki Eliot Posted April 5, 2011 Author Share Posted April 5, 2011 Thanx everyone for you support and hints. I indeed needed to click emulate 3 button mouse in prefs shame 3Dconnexion 3D mouse is not yet supported in the new 2.5 blender would make things far quicker for me. I have been messing about and built a troll. So many options to consider before and during upload, it's a wonder how you know if its you, the 3D app or Second life that causes issues. I realise now that my attempt at building a troll by making separate objects then merging them probably is classed as being 'inefficient'. In the end the prim cost was the same if i had made it out of sculpties. The problem with building from multiple objects is that a lot of cost probably gets used up by the overlapping geometry of the objects that you dont get to see. Shame there is no magic key in Blender to get rid of hidden Geometry. My next Troll will be far superior! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luc Starsider Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 Wow! That's quite an impressive troll! Really good for being one of the first things you made in Blender. Regarding the SpaceNavigator; Have a look here: 3D Connexion funcitonality back in Blender 2.5 (sort of) for a possible workaround. Don't know if it works on the Mac. Haven't tried it myself. I kind of got used to not having SN support in Blender, so I don't miss it. It's fine to create separate objects and joining them after. The main thing is to keep the polycount down, and to create good LOD meshes. The wiki has a lot of information about this. The address is http://wiki.secondlife.com/. Then search for Mesh. I hear you on the upload dialog. Complicated stuff, and I certainly don't know enough about it to give you any tips. There are lots of people who can, though, so it shouldn't be a problem. - Luc - Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hibit Spad Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 There is no one tool to get rid of hidden geometry, but there are several tools you can use to accomplish that goal. h and alt-h will hide or unhide geometry. the limit selection to visible option (down near the vertice/edge/face select tools) (note this seems to be buggy and not always reliable) using these tools will allow you to hide geometry that is in front of what you want to work on. then you could always delete the previously hidden geometry. Warning: deleting vertices can cause your mesh to take on what is called a non-manifold condition. Some modifiers will not work when this non-manifold condition exists. Beyond that it doesn't seem to be dangerous. after doing this you could always use alt-m to join vertices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loki Eliot Posted April 24, 2011 Author Share Posted April 24, 2011 Thanx everyone for the support. I decided to put the Troll on hold and started a new project, to make a wolf costume inspired by where the wild things are. The goasl of this will include: 1. modeling from scratch the costume 2. creating a UV texture 3. Rigging to an avatar Today i made the costume and uploaded a test. Was quite pleased with it as the cost came to only 2 prims meaning i can probably ad a bit more detail. I noticed there is now an upload wizard which i think is an awesome idea. Next is to texture this model. Hopefully i will figure this out as the Troll seemed impossible to texture. Any good tutorials for getting to grips with UV mapping/texturing would be a great help. I'm used to texturing sculptys in Photoshop extended edition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashasekayi Ra Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 Heres a tutorial on uvmapping in Blender: And, blender cookie has several tutorials on texture painting. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loki Eliot Posted April 25, 2011 Author Share Posted April 25, 2011 Thanx now i have completed Goal two It's all pretty basic and not detailed but im trying to learn the workflow rather than perfect things at the moment. I used the tutorials & to create a UV map to apply a texture to.It was interesting having to consider where to place 'seams' before unwrapping the UVmap. Was like pulling the skin off a rabbit. I exported as a collada file then imported into photoshops 3D editing mode to texture the UV map like i normally would with a sculpty. Then i uploaded the collada file to SL and uploaded the texture separately. Rezzing the 3Dmesh of the costume i then simply dropped the texture on the costume like you would a normal prim object. Again thanks for the tweets and forum replys. Next Goal is to rig the Mesh Costume to my avatar. Any good video tutorials or forum posts recommended for learning how to Rig an object to an avatar? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashasekayi Ra Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 That looks great ^^ Machinimatrix has a basic tutorial on adding the skeleton to the mesh for SL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loki Eliot Posted April 25, 2011 Author Share Posted April 25, 2011 Is it possible to Rig and object in Blender 2.5? if so how? sll tutorials use 2.4x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashasekayi Ra Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 You can't rig an object to be used in SL with 2.5 yet. The collada feature isn't finished. You'll have to use Blender 2.49 to export out the rigged dae. If you want to build in 2.5 and just export with 2.49, try the method described by Luc Starrider in Message 6: http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Mesh/Blender-2-5-exporting/m-p/413765/highlight/true#M1708 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loki Eliot Posted April 26, 2011 Author Share Posted April 26, 2011 Ok you Awesome Mesh Monkees, i started up Blender 2.49 which has the vital 'make real' so that i could rig the mesh i had made in Blender 2.5. I used the Wight paint technique to Rigg it all neatly. Unfortunately something rather odd has happened. When i attached the rigged mesh to my avatar it's inside out! i had no idea where to start in order to solve this problem. Can i fix this by pressing a button in Blender or do i have to start ALL over again? Note: When i rezz the Mesh costume on the ground it appears upside down, does this give a clue to any Mesh Monkees? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luc Starsider Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 A couple of suggestions. Don't know if they will work. In edit mode, select all verts. Press Ctrl+N to recalculate normals. This will perhaps help on the inside-out issue. To get the outfit to rez the right way up, it could be you have to apply rotation. Press N in object mode to check whether there are any rotations that need to be applied. But, as I said, I don't know if this will work... - Luc - 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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