How to decrease complexity before uploading?

[Katerina Kirax]

I have been trying to upload a small but detailed object from blender 2.8 but keep getting a "failed to upload: MAV_BLOCK_MISSING" Error.  With a bit of research I think I have it narrowed down to the fact that there are a lot of tiny/thin triangles and firestorm can't envision the default physics properly.  I've been doing tri's to quads to fix some of this but still get the error.  I've tried the decimation modifier but lose my smooth lines in the process.  I am not sure what else to try.  Any ideas?

[OptimoMaximo]

1 hour ago, Katerina Kirax said:

failed to upload: MAV_BLOCK_MISSING"

I think it's the usual issue with the detailed objects you are trying to upload: there is a limit to the number of triangles each material can have, around 21k-ish, that once exceeded, makes the uploader silently split the section in one or more material sections. As result, the lower LoDs generated by the uploader straight from the original file mismatch in such regard and you get the error. 

[arton Rotaru]

19 hours ago, Katerina Kirax said:

I think I have it narrowed down to the fact that there are a lot of tiny/thin triangles and firestorm can't envision the default physics properly.

Make a custom physics mesh. For small objects I usually upload just a box as the physics.

18 hours ago, OptimoMaximo said:

I think it's the usual issue with the detailed objects you are trying to upload: there is a limit to the number of triangles each material can have, around 21k-ish, that once exceeded, makes the uploader silently split the section in one or more material sections. As result, the lower LoDs generated by the uploader straight from the original file mismatch in such regard and you get the error. 

That limit applies only to DAE files which reference geometry as polylists. DAE files which reference geometry as triangles work fine with more than 21k triangles.
Even Blender is capable to create such files, when the Triangulate checkbox is ticked in the exporter.

[Kyrah Abattoir]

17 hours ago, arton Rotaru said:

That limit applies only to DAE files which reference geometry as polylists. DAE files which reference geometry as triangles work fine with more than 21k triangles.
Even Blender is capable to create such files, when the Triangulate checkbox is ticked in the exporter.

Doesn't mean you're ment to do it. I don't even know why they fixed this.

[arton Rotaru]

7 hours ago, Kyrah Abattoir said:

Doesn't mean you're ment to do it. I don't even know why they fixed this.

Actually there hasn't been any fix done for this. It's like this from the beginning. The only thing that has been done, is that Gaia modified Blenders Collada exporter to generate DAE files with triangles, at some point in time. Exports from 3ds Max, or Maya, for example, were always working fine with the Triangulate checkbox ticked in their collada exporter.

[Kyrah Abattoir]

9 hours ago, arton Rotaru said:

Actually there hasn't been any fix done for this. It's like this from the beginning. The only thing that has been done, is that Gaia modified Blenders Collada exporter to generate DAE files with triangles, at some point in time. Exports from 3ds Max, or Maya, for example, were always working fine with the Triangulate checkbox ticked in their collada exporter.

Actually no, the first versions of the mesh upload process didn't auto split your model, it would just refuse to go beyond the index limit.

Then they "fixed" it.

[arton Rotaru]

6 hours ago, Kyrah Abattoir said:

Actually no, the first versions of the mesh upload process didn't auto split your model, it would just refuse to go beyond the index limit.

Then they "fixed" it.

I think you are talking about the added feature that we can upload meshes with more than 8 materials, which will spilt the model into multiple objects.

Actually, that's something completely different than the still existing "material split".

Edited September 25, 2019 by arton Rotaru

[Kyrah Abattoir]

No

Edited September 25, 2019 by Kyrah Abattoir

[arton Rotaru]

Why so monosyllabic? 

[Kyrah Abattoir]

Because I said something else initially but it wasn't very elegant.

[carley Greymoon]

On 9/22/2019 at 9:49 PM, Katerina Kirax said:

I have been trying to upload a small but detailed object from blender 2.8 but keep getting a "failed to upload: MAV_BLOCK_MISSING" Error.  With a bit of research I think I have it narrowed down to the fact that there are a lot of tiny/thin triangles and firestorm can't envision the default physics properly.  I've been doing tri's to quads to fix some of this but still get the error.  I've tried the decimation modifier but lose my smooth lines in the process.  I am not sure what else to try.  Any ideas?

9 out of ten times the answer to this problem is to use the native sl viewer to upload the object that firestorm is complaining about missing block data.

[Katerina Kirax]

On 10/20/2019 at 10:48 PM, carley Greymoon said:

9 out of ten times the answer to this problem is to use the native sl viewer to upload the object that firestorm is complaining about missing block data.

Smacks head...I can't believe I didn't think of that.  Mumbles something about seeing forests and trees and wanders off in the direction of blender....

Edited October 27, 2019 by Katerina Kirax

[Erwin Solo]

On 9/22/2019 at 10:49 PM, Katerina Kirax said:

I have been trying to upload a small but detailed object from blender 2.8 but keep getting a "failed to upload: MAV_BLOCK_MISSING" Error.  With a bit of research I think I have it narrowed down to the fact that there are a lot of tiny/thin triangles and firestorm can't envision the default physics properly.  I've been doing tri's to quads to fix some of this but still get the error.  I've tried the decimation modifier but lose my smooth lines in the process.  I am not sure what else to try.  Any ideas?

In Blender 2.8, run the command "Merge by Distance."  That will collapse nearby vertices and merge them at a distance that you set.  

I use Blender's Decimation function to create better looking Mid, Low, and Lowest models.  In most cases, Blender's Decimation does a better job than SL's.  I do find that I have to make the Low from the Medium, and the Lowest from the Low.  Otherwise, I get the same error you mentioned, apparently because SL can't match up the models if they're not sufficiently related.  

[arabellajones]

Interesting, but I find myself wondering just what you're uploading to need so many triangles?

OK, it does depend on the object size. And one place where there is a risk of long, thin, triangles is where you model fabric seams and edges. A normal map can be the answer for that.