Returning user with a question :)

[Adytheia]

Hi and thank you for taking the time to read this. (Sorry in advance if this is in the wrong category!)

I have been away from SL since 2009. I returned a couple weeks ago and wow...So many changes XD. I used to create items and had a little store. I have noticed that mesh was introduced and just about everything I see is mesh. I like it but I am not very good at creating such items. I am currently in the learning process. So here are my questions:

1. Is there still a market for items made with prims/sculpts?

2. Are you able to mix mesh with sculpts and it still stay low in count?

3. Do people really care that their mesh items, to keep the count low, look like tiny triangles from a distance? (I came across a lot of items that looked like this, it was a bit ugly imo.)

4. Is there a way to convert my prim/sculpt made items into mesh with little Blender knowledge? (Again I searched for days and I still can't seem to find a way to get an item out of SL and into Blender without a market place bought item)

 

I have been reading the forums, searching, and even looking in SL but I haven't really gotten a definitive answer. As I learn about Mesh and how to implement it correctly, I would like to be able to sell/make the old school stuff like I used to. I would feel a bit heart broken though if making it was all for not. 

Thank you for your time! I really appreciate it!

Ady <3

[Klytyna]

1. Possibly, depending on the item

2. It can be done, depending on your definition of 'low'

3 Not all mesh 'looks like triengles from a distance' depends how it's made

4 There is a product made by the same guy that did 'sculpt generator' ( NN ? ) and working on similar principles, instead of using the console to rez special prims with scripts in that you link so clicking the generate button generates a sculpt map on his website, it generates a mesh version of the linked prims, it's not cheap several thousand, and basically you end up with a copy of a prim build in mesh, without most of the advantages of mesh, and none of the advantages of prims, you can try it if you have cash to burn but for static non rigged items, it would be easier to learn to make original models in blender or some other collada dae file export capable 3d app.


 

[Adytheia]

Thank you for your reply! I will just take my time and learn from scratch  I admit I am a bit intimidated because everything looks so awesome!!

[Klytyna]

18 minutes ago, Adytheia said:

Thank you for your reply! I will just take my time and learn from scratch  I admit I am a bit intimidated because everything looks so awesome!!

there are loads of 3d modeling apps around ranging from free or almost free, to pro packages that cost thousands... Blender's not so bad if you are new, its free, and since you dont use 3d software already you are approaching it fresh, just plod through the tutorials.

I... I find blender a pain because it's completely alien compared to my old copy of cinema 4d... So oddly, you should have less trouble with blender than i do.

You didnt say what sort of things you used to make, but when making mesh items (generally not just for 2ndlife) best to stick to what you know, if you've made jewelery make jewelery, modling software works in a similar way to building with prims at the simplest levels, spheres, cubes, tori... etc, its just that you can do so much more to them.

Start small, don't try and make a bento rigged 6 limbed fitmesh cyborg avi as your first project, expecially if all you've made before is earings or tables, or garden fences.
 

[Adytheia]

3 hours ago, Klytyna said:

there are loads of 3d modeling apps around ranging from free or almost free, to pro packages that cost thousands... Blender's not so bad if you are new, its free, and since you dont use 3d software already you are approaching it fresh, just plod through the tutorials.

I... I find blender a pain because it's completely alien compared to my old copy of cinema 4d... So oddly, you should have less trouble with blender than i do.

You didnt say what sort of things you used to make, but when making mesh items (generally not just for 2ndlife) best to stick to what you know, if you've made jewelery make jewelery, modling software works in a similar way to building with prims at the simplest levels, spheres, cubes, tori... etc, its just that you can do so much more to them.

Start small, don't try and make a bento rigged 6 limbed fitmesh cyborg avi as your first project, expecially if all you've made before is earings or tables, or garden fences.
 

I admit I laughed a bit to hard at the end of your comment

I used to make Neko items. Ears, Tails, Furniture, and SOME clothing.

I made a few items in Blender and brought into SL but the lod was horrid or the li was really high. I am trying to figure out what normals are and how to get texturing right... and the AO maps... I am figuring out how to make one after I move it around and still have it fit my item. 

Anyways, Thanks again o/

[Klytyna]

Ah... well...

3d for beginners, you will need... an empty cardboard cereal box, 4 drawing pins and a pair of scissors...

 

Using the scissors, cut out a triangle from the side of the cereal box, push one drawing pin through the cardboard from the grey side to the printed coloured side, in the middle of the triangle, push the other three drawing pins through the cardboard at the corners in the same way.

Vertex/Vertices (verts) - the corners of the triangle

Polygon (poly) - the triangle

Winding Order - the order in which you connect the "verts" to make "polys"

Normal/Surface Normal - the drawing pin in the middle that points directly out of the "Face" and indicates which side of the triangle is the "Face" and which is the "Backface"
Face - The side of the triangle with the textures on

Backface - the untextured and usually invisible side of the triangle

Vertex Normal - the drawing pins through the corners, used in some 3d apps to make bendy polygons.

Diffuse Texture - the pretty pictures and colours on the "Face"

Normal Map - an image used to alter the direction of the "Normal" (central drawing pin) on a pixel by pixel basis, to simulate "not-flat" surfaces that are too small to practically model

Specular Map - An image used to create fake highlights on a "poly" in conjunction with the "Normal Map" to enhance the "not-flat" appearance of the triangles

 

Congratulations you can now speak 3d like a skilled hobbyist, or a less skilled architectual previs artist, or most content makers in SL...

 

[Adytheia]

Lmao you are awesome! Thank you.