Modeling

[DMTLC]

I'm quite new to this life and i was wondering where to start with models. I was asked to Model a Credit card and Wallet, any tips where to start. I really want to get into it ^^

[Lindal Kidd]

Hi @DMTLC, welcome to Second Life...and kudos for your desire to be a creator!

There are basically two ways to make things for Second Life...prims and mesh.

Prims are "geometric primitives"...basic geometric shapes like prisms, spheres, and cylinders.  You can make and edit these with the built-in building tools.  It's easy...here's how to make your first cube!

• In an area where you are allowed to rez (a public sandbox, for example), right click the ground and select Build.
• The mouse cursor changes to a magic wand symbol.
• Click it on the ground again.
• A plywood cube appears!  You will also see a new window, the Edit window.  Use the controls here to change the size, shape, position and texture of your object.
  • Exercise for the student:  Use these tools to make a credit card!

There is a great display of self-paced tutorials on using these tools at the Ivory Tower Library of Primitives.

Until about 2011 or so, this was how ALL things were made in SL.  Then came Mesh...

While everything in SL is, really, made up of 3D meshes, we use the term "mesh" to refer to 3D objects that are created in an external program, like Maya (expensive!) or Blender (free!) and then imported into SL.  Almost everything that is created for sale these days is made this way.

Objects made in this way can be much more intricate and detailed than objects built from prims, because the software used to make them has so many more tools and options.  The corollary, of course, is that it takes more time and effort to learn to use all those options!  There are many tutorials and YouTube videos available to help you learn Blender.  There's even a group in world, "Blender Benders".  They offer a 50-lesson series of classes (one per week), and it's FREE.

[Wulfie Reanimator]

I assume you mean 3D modeling, in which case you will need to use some kind of third-party modeling software like Blender.

You can ask questions here: https://community.secondlife.com/forums/forum/303-mesh/

[DMTLC]

48 minutes ago, Lindal Kidd said:

Hi @DMTLC, welcome to Second Life...and kudos for your desire to be a creator!

There are basically two ways to make things for Second Life...prims and mesh.

Prims are "geometric primitives"...basic geometric shapes like prisms, spheres, and cylinders.  You can make and edit these with the built-in building tools.  It's easy...here's how to make your first cube!

• In an area where you are allowed to rez (a public sandbox, for example), right click the ground and select Build.
• The mouse cursor changes to a magic wand symbol.
• Click it on the ground again.
• A plywood cube appears!  You will also see a new window, the Edit window.  Use the controls here to change the size, shape, position and texture of your object.
  • Exercise for the student:  Use these tools to make a credit card!

There is a great display of self-paced tutorials on using these tools at the Ivory Tower Library of Primitives.

Until about 2011 or so, this was how ALL things were made in SL.  Then came Mesh...

While everything in SL is, really, made up of 3D meshes, we use the term "mesh" to refer to 3D objects that are created in an external program, like Maya (expensive!) or Blender (free!) and then imported into SL.  Almost everything that is created for sale these days is made this way.

Objects made in this way can be much more intricate and detailed than objects built from prims, because the software used to make them has so many more tools and options.  The corollary, of course, is that it takes more time and effort to learn to use all those options!  There are many tutorials and YouTube videos available to help you learn Blender.  There's even a group in world, "Blender Benders".  They offer a 50-lesson series of classes (one per week), and it's FREE.

This helped a tone, already got blender and looking for some tutorials, will make sure to check out the blender benders for sure, once again thank you😍

Edited March 19, 2020 by DMTLC

[Tonk Tomcat]

Also make sure to look for blender tutorials NOT especially made for second life (modelling wise), because if you do so, you will most likely find tutorials how you should not do it (extreme highpoly non-game optimized content). For rigging questions it's okay tho.