Make different colored walls in your Linden Home

[Chic Aeon]

3 hours ago, Marianne Little said:

That's so nice, but now I have three rooms and one floor in just one LI. 😉 So I think the walls work well. I am interested in looking at your window frames, so I can learn from how you made them. ❤️

AND you did it YOURSELF and helped OTHERS learn.  Many kudos! 

[Teager]

6 hours ago, Marianne Little said:

All I need now is one kind soul to tell me how to remove most of the triangles in Blender. I know how to import and join the prim build, but I desperately need to optimize it , reduce polygons and simplify

You taught me a thing! I didn't realize that changing textures or transparency on a prim would cause it to export with multiple material faces, and I've already re-exported part of the add-on I'm currently working on using that trick, which makes my life so much easier in cleaning up the mesh. I am therefore absolutely thrilled to be able to teach you a thing too!

If you hit space in blender (with your mouse over the 3d window) and type in "quad", you will see an option to turn tris into quads. This will work best is your sl build is all snapped to straight lines on the grid, not at angles. Then, in edit mode, you can hold alt and right click an edge to select the whole edge loop, then hit x and "edge loops" to remove that whole edge loop. That'll help you get that poly count down

[Marianne Little]

😄

3 hours ago, s2Pandora said:

It was great of Marianne to even show us any way at all. Many people won't show you how to really "maximize"(or do things at all) as it'll potentially cut in to their revenue if they sell these things. Not saying who you're referring to won't, but just moreso saying don't be surprised if they don't.. or anybody doesn't.

That's the biggest issue with SL and why I haven't been even able to find somebody to coach me on Blender; people are afraid of another person cutting in to their area.

I think the walls is good mesh already, they are made of flattened cubes and all not visible planes is transparent and not rendered.

But I am going to work on some other things.

For all you who has read this, thank you I am going to a new version of Blender!

Blender Beta 2.8.

I have seen some tutorials already, and the workspace is so different and intuitive. I have hope that I can make something simple in Blender, without building it in SL first.

Frankly, I was on video tutorial #4 in this series, and I was saying loud: "Come on, show me something new, I know how move, stretch and rotate works, I do it in Second Life every day!"

Yeah. A few hours ago I was whining that no tutorials started on scratch, and now I think it goes too slow.

I am on Chocofur's Blender 2.8 tutorials. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYVR0A4acpNbm91RK_9l-P6dv2jPuUHU7

 

[Raevyn Addams]

21 hours ago, Marianne Little said:

The cheapest prim to mesh converter on the Marketplace was 1999 L, and do the same as I did here. The most expensive one is 5000 L.

Looks like you found an alternative that works for you, and cheaper too. It's all a learning experience and learning from each other helps keep the creativity flowing. Just glad you made enough sense of it all to find it not only useful but to adapt and to help others along the way. Great work!

[Marianne Little]

Crossposting from the other thread, in case someone will see how an accent wall works.

 

 

[Nika Talaj]

/me admits shamefacedly that she has built a couple of houseboat walls that happened to be simple rectangles, and even a curved roof element, out of *gasp* simple prims. 

[LittleMe Jewell]

4 hours ago, Nika Talaj said:

/me admits shamefacedly that she has built a couple of houseboat walls that happened to be simple rectangles, and even a curved roof element, out of *gasp* simple prims. 

 

I created a divider wall in my upstairs Barnacle bedroom, sub-divided to be a closet and bathroom -- totally just prims.  That back wall curves, so it was a royal PITA. 

 

I've considered exporting it out as Marianne shows to turn it to mesh and see how much it reduces the LI.  I might play with that next week when I'm back home on my regular desktop.

Edited July 7, 2019 by LittleMe Jewell

[Skye Donardson]

I don't have a house yet (I'm trying!) so I'm curious. Are the Linden Homes not at all modifiable? So you can't even select the existing face of the walls and change the color or texture?

[Chic Aeon]

12 minutes ago, Skye Donardson said:

I don't have a house yet (I'm trying!) so I'm curious. Are the Linden Homes not at all modifiable? So you can't even select the existing face of the walls and change the color or texture?

They are no mod. They state that in the Covenant. You can change the color of the wall IN TOTAL (so all the interior walls at once) to one of the color choices via the house (or houseboat) hud.  Beyond that you need to make your own walls. 

[Skye Donardson]

OK, great. Thank you! 😊

[Marianne Little]

On 7/5/2019 at 8:51 PM, Teager said:

You taught me a thing! I didn't realize that changing textures or transparency on a prim would cause it to export with multiple material faces, and I've already re-exported part of the add-on I'm currently working on using that trick, which makes my life so much easier in cleaning up the mesh. I am therefore absolutely thrilled to be able to teach you a thing too!

If you hit space in blender (with your mouse over the 3d window) and type in "quad", you will see an option to turn tris into quads. This will work best is your sl build is all snapped to straight lines on the grid, not at angles. Then, in edit mode, you can hold alt and right click an edge to select the whole edge loop, then hit x and "edge loops" to remove that whole edge loop. That'll help you get that poly count down

I am so exited to try this, when I make window trim. I think they will be small parts, and small triangles work bad on upload to SL. I think. The simpler, the better.

I was not feeling well yesterday, so I could not try more in Blender. Sometimes I am forced to bed because of pain, sometimes I am sleepless because laying down is even more painful. But I manage. When I have fun in SL, it acts like a painkiller. ☺️

[Aquila Kytori]

@Marianne Little Something you may be not  aware of, If you are zoomed in close to your prim build linkset when using Save As > Collada it will save with the maximum number of vertices and triangles. If you are zoomed way out when saving then the vertice and triangle count can be alot lower when you open the Collada file in Blender.

I did a test upload to show this:

The first image is of my prim build. On the right the linkset ready for exporting as Collada.

 

Next image, Saved As > Collada when zoomed in close then opened in Blender in Edit mode.

 

Now same linkset but zoomed out around 400 -500 meters when Saved As

 

And finally, using the methods Teager suggested in an earlier post to Optimize the linkset in Blender :

 

Wish you luck with your new adventures in  Blender 2.80.  :)

[Nika Talaj]

45 minutes ago, Aquila Kytori said:

@Marianne Little Something you may be not  aware of, If you are zoomed in close to your prim build linkset when using Save As > Collada it will save with the maximum number of vertices and triangles. If you are zoomed way out when saving then the vertice and triangle count can be alot lower when you open the Collada file in Blender.

Hmm.  I haven't tried meshing this way yet, but I will. 

Thank you for this post, Aquila, so clearly explained & illustrated!  I have a (perhaps stunningly ignorant) question.

I'm curious about the effects of this technique on LOD (though of course that is not so very important for simple walls).  But in general, if one eliminates generally invisible vertices this way, it would seem like rendering the object would end up being easier on the client (require a lower viewer LOD setting).  True?  It also seems like, if one were developing a really detailed piece of jewelry or something, one could lose some (arguably not so very necessary) detail if you zoomed out too far before saving.  True?

/me eyes your mention of 'good luck' with Blender 2.80.  Should beginners start with 2.80, or an earlier version?

[Marianne Little]

Have Idone it right?

The wals I made in this tutorial to the left. The second floor and stairway to the right. Including window trim for all second floor windows and the one in the stairway. I don't think I can take off more.

1 build: 3020 display

2 build: 479 display

This is a good?

 

 

Edited July 7, 2019 by Marianne Little

[Chic Aeon]

6 hours ago, Aquila Kytori said:

@Marianne Little Something you may be not  aware of, If you are zoomed in close to your prim build linkset when using Save As > Collada it will save with the maximum number of vertices and triangles. If you are zoomed way out when saving then the vertice and triangle count can be alot lower when you open the Collada file in Blender.

I did a test upload to show this:

The first image is of my prim build. On the right the linkset ready for exporting as Collada.

 

Next image, Saved As > Collada when zoomed in close then opened in Blender in Edit mode.

 

Now same linkset but zoomed out around 400 -500 meters when Saved As

 

And finally, using the methods Teager suggested in an earlier post to Optimize the linkset in Blender :

 

Wish you luck with your new adventures in  Blender 2.80.  

I am in avoidance mode on 2.8.   But thanks for the great tutorial! 

[kiramanell]

On 7/5/2019 at 4:50 PM, s2Pandora said:

That's the biggest issue with SL and why I haven't been even able to find somebody to coach me on Blender; people are afraid of another person cutting in to their area.

 

That's a mite too cynical for me. Blender is simply hard. Also, we're not talking super-duper secrets here. Marianne's tutorial is more like a "Blender for dummies" starter guide (right at my level, LOL).

And as for not being "able to find somebody to coach me on Blender" in SL, Builders Brewery, I know, gave courses on it (garvie), and the Internet is replete with hundreds of Blender tutorials. But I suppose many ppl, like me, do Blender the wrong way: we Google for this-or-that particular need, and maybe accomplish what we want, but then get too frustrated with it and toss it aside. Whereas it's probably best to start on a whole series of beginner tutorials first, to learn the basics. It's not like Word, or something, where you can immediately start to type.

[s2Pandora]

15 minutes ago, kiramanell said:

 

That's a mite too cynical for me. Blender is simply hard. Also, we're not talking super-duper secrets here. Marianne's tutorial is more like a "Blender for dummies" starter guide (right at my level, LOL).

And as for not being "able to find somebody to coach me on Blender" in SL, Builders Brewery, I know, gave courses on it (garvie), and the Internet is replete with hundreds of Blender tutorials. But I suppose many ppl, like me, do Blender the wrong way: we Google for this-or-that particular need, and maybe accomplish what we want, but then get too frustrated with it and toss it aside. Whereas it's probably best to start on a whole series of beginner tutorials first, to learn the basics. It's not like Word, or something, where you can immediately start to type.

My apologies, I am a bit of a jaded individual and tend to speak my mind(it tends to run away on me faster than I can catch it), but I don't necessarily intend to step on toes.

I know Blender is hard, i've spoken to many, and tried myself, but my stance is coming from also talking to others who have had the same issue when they asked creators.

I had looked in to some previous places I was pointed to but much of it made no sense to me. I am a bit "slow" when it comes to learning some things, and often need interactive explaining for things. I tend to take hours of going over some of the simplest things and sometimes making sense of them in a different way than others(yet somehow I found a man who was willing to marry me, lol). I was pointed in the direction of potential classes by another user in a group I am part of that is also learning, so I will see how that goes over time. My intention to learning is purely for myself, as I often struggle to find things on SL that i'd like to have but simply are not around.

I will always be very grateful to those who are willing to share even the smallest of things, as they will add up over time. One should always start at the beginning, which is the intention(now with trying to learn between 2 versions is gonna be a doozy). It'll just be a slow process, but we'll all get there.

[kiramanell]

3 minutes ago, s2Pandora said:

My apologies, I am a bit of a jaded individual and tend to speak my mind(it tends to run away on me faster than I can catch it), but I don't necessarily intend to step on toes.

I know Blender is hard, i've spoken to many, and tried myself, but my stance is coming from also talking to others who have had the same issue when they asked creators.

I had looked in to some previous places I was pointed to but much of it made no sense to me. I am a bit "slow" when it comes to learning some things, and often need interactive explaining for things. I tend to take hours of going over some of the simplest things and sometimes making sense of them in a different way than others(yet somehow I found a man who was willing to marry me, lol). I was pointed in the direction of potential classes by another user in a group I am part of that is also learning, so I will see how that goes over time. My intention to learning is purely for myself, as I often struggle to find things on SL that i'd like to have but simply are not around.

I will always be very grateful to those who are willing to share even the smallest of things, as they will add up over time. One should always start at the beginning, which is the intention(now with trying to learn between 2 versions is gonna be a doozy). It'll just be a slow process, but we'll all get there.

 

No need to apologize for just speaking your mind.  I just happen to believe creators aren't really holding back out of fear for losing business. Why, actually, some probably really are; but at the 'blonde' level I'm asking questions at, I don't think that's ever going to be an issue. 😁 And, I figure, by the time I'm reaching the kind of level in Blender that I might actually pose a 'threat' to their business, I won't need to ask questions any more, anyway.

I *have* noticed a reluctane in creators sharing Blender knowledge, though; but it's usually more of a matter of them realizing I know sh*t, and thus like "We wouldn't know where to start!" And I don't blame them: I really do need to get disciplined at some time, and start forcing myself to do a full beginners course, as I haven't discovered a Royal Road to Blender yet.

And I often think I'm really too blonde for Blender, no kidding. Overall, I honestly don't think I'm all that dumb, but I just don't seem to 'get' Blender. Like the other day, I added a subdivide filter, to smooth out a ring. I googled it; but how long would it have taken me to figure it out on my own? Probably for ever. It's like: either you already know how to do it, or you'll never find it. In that sense, Blender doesn't feel all that intuitive to me.

[Teager]

I don't think it's entirely fair to be upset with creators for not taking the time to personally teach you. As kira said, there are many resources out there to help you get started, and those resources are put out there by people who have the time and desire to teach, which may not be true of every Joe Artist. It's an extremely time-intensive, long term project to mentor another individual in a new skill, which is not necessarily a service every creator has the time or energy to provide for everyone who asks - especially at no real benefit to themselves, since (in my personal experience) most of those who ask for that kind of guidance are not particularly willing to pay for their mentor's time.

I find that when someone approaches me with a general attitude of "teach me how to do everything", that even if I did have the desire to teach them it's simply impossible to know where to start, or where to end for that matter. It is a promise of a bottomless investment of my time - writing an empty check so to speak - and therefore my answer is nearly always "no". But when someone approaches me with a single question needing to solve a single problem, I am far more likely to provide the answer if I know it, or even to go digging in their blend file until I can find it and explain how I've done so. If it is evident to me that the person asking the question has researched the problem on their own and has tried multiple solutions to fix it, that goes a long way with me: not just because the person has shown initiative, but also because it reduces the likelihood that I will need to devote the next four hours of my workday to explaining my solution, then explaining the explanation, then explaining the explanation of the explanation, and so on. In researching and trying things on your own, you build up a base level of familiarity with the problem such that when I respond that the square root of nine is three, your response is "oh I get it now!" instead of "what's a number?" Or, to put it another way, it's like the equivalent of asking "How do you say 'book' in French?" instead of asking "How do you speak French?"

Edited July 8, 2019 by Teager

[Beth Macbain]

My experience with Blender, as told through my thoughts...

I want to make all the things. Imma download this thing and make all the things. Beth, you're a pretty smart chick... should be easy for you. Why am I talking to myself in the 2nd person. I'm right here and I'm literally me.

Anyway... download, download, download... install... accept... awesome, let's do this! 

...

What is this? What is happening here? Why did it do that thing? Crap. Crap, crap, crap. Okay, yeah... regroup. TUTORIALS! I'm sure there are some really awesome tutorials that'll walk me right through this. You're great at the self-learning thing, Beth. You got this. Why am I talking to myself in the 2nd person again? Am I going nuts? Hahhahahahahahahahahahaha... I went completely bonkers ages ago! 

Oh tutorials, right. Got it. YouTube.com, search, Blender for beginners... WOOT! Alrighty!

Watches 2 minutes of tutorial.

Okay, that's enough! Time to try again! 

...

What is this? What is happening here? Why did it do that thing? THE TUTORIAL DID NOT PREPARE FOR THIS AND I HAVE NO #($(&%%)*% IDEA WHAT I'M DOING.

More cussing. Slapping some keys. Try to watch tutorial again. Try to get past the first step again. Close Blender, uninstalls Blender.

Welp, time to top up my Lindens...

[Raevyn Addams]

2 minutes ago, Beth Macbain said:

My experience with Blender, as told through my thoughts...

I want to make all the things. Imma download this thing and make all the things. Beth, you're a pretty smart chick... should be easy for you. Why am I talking to myself in the 2nd person. I'm right here and I'm literally me.

Anyway... download, download, download... install... accept... awesome, let's do this! 

...

What is this? What is happening here? Why did it do that thing? Crap. Crap, crap, crap. Okay, yeah... regroup. TUTORIALS! I'm sure there are some really awesome tutorials that'll walk me right through this. You're great at the self-learning thing, Beth. You got this. Why am I talking to myself in the 2nd person again? Am I going nuts? Hahhahahahahahahahahahaha... I went completely bonkers ages ago! 

Oh tutorials, right. Got it. YouTube.com, search, Blender for beginners... WOOT! Alrighty!

Watches 2 minutes of tutorial.

Okay, that's enough! Time to try again! 

...

What is this? What is happening here? Why did it do that thing? THE TUTORIAL DID NOT PREPARE FOR THIS AND I HAVE NO #($(&%%)*% IDEA WHAT I'M DOING.

More cussing. Slapping some keys. Try to watch tutorial again. Try to get past the first step again. Close Blender, uninstalls Blender.

Welp, time to top up my Lindens...

You are my spirit animal! 🤣

That's pretty much my experience to a tee. Though I did watch around 2 hours of tutorials first. Opened Blender. Found the version I downloaded didn't match ANY of the tutorials I'd just watched. Couldn't find the button mentioned in the first steps so couldn't put a damn thing into practice. Uninstalled. Swore to never do that again. Months later did the same thing again anyway. Think I'd rather study quantum physics or rocket science. Or brain surgery. Probably all three would be easier.

[Leora Jacobus]

Sounds rather like my first experiences with Blender ... only that I didn't talk to myself in the 2nd person ... or talk at all...

... and that I didn't bother to deinstall it. This way I kept the illusion up that some day I might ...*hums*  "there's a time for us! someday some time for us!"

and now having read the tutorial by @Marianne Little I guess the time has come!

 

Edited July 8, 2019 by Leora Jacobus

[Leora Jacobus]

1 hour ago, RaeLeeH said:

... Think I'd rather study quantum physics or rocket science. Or brain surgery. Probably all three would be easier.

THAT's just what I felt! 

The darned thing is just toooo complicated! They tried to squeeze tooooo many features into one programm! It lets you not only make 3D Objects but also make your own animation film! I do not want that! And I do not need 95% of their buttons! And I do not know how to find the 5% that I do need!

[Marianne Little]

Hope you make it @Leora Jacobus.

I like Blender 2.8 best. First of all, we leftlick to select. Not rightclick. Just that is an improvement.

Finding tutorials for Blender 2.8 is a bit tricky, since the changes is so big, and it is an ocean of tutorials for earlier versions....2.8 came out late 2018, I think. So selecting tutorials from the last year helps. I did the second floor in 2.8.

Blender tutorials can be compared to cooking in RL. Let us say I am cooking dinner for 8. I will find out how many gram meat I need to buy per person. But all I can find is recipes for all sort of dinners, three courses, taco dinners and dinners for 8, 5, 20 persons, and all in between. The one thing I need to know is in one of these recipes. But which one?

Edited July 8, 2019 by Marianne Little

[Leora Jacobus]

Well I am on a journey now so cannot look wether the Blender I have installed is the 2.8

The tutorial ... can one use it with an elder version aswell?