Model Building

[IvyTechEngineer]

Thanks, I know it was a crazy idea to build something so complex. Just wanted to have some fun for a change. Thanks for your comments and help. I did try to build a simple house model using Chic Aeon video above in Solidworks and create a physics file that goes with it. the LI was 0.6 and the cost was only 13 to include the physics file. I wanted to add textures to in in SL but you cannot select just one face to texture. So I thought I would just build something in SL for fun. It is more difficult even for simple building to align all the walls but it was easy to texture. Next I will add a texture in Blender ... found this Youtube on getting 800 free textures - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cblc9GGavyY

Thanks

[Chic Aeon]

6 minutes ago, IvyTechEngineer said:

Thanks, I know it was a crazy idea to build something so complex. Just wanted to have some fun for a change. Thanks for your comments and help. I did try to build a simple house model using Chic Aeon video above in Solidworks and create a physics file that goes with it. the LI was 0.6 and the cost was only 13 to include the physics file. I wanted to add textures to in in SL but you cannot select just one face to texture. So I thought I would just build something in SL for fun. It is more difficult even for simple building to align all the walls but it was easy to texture. Next I will add a texture in Blender ... found this Youtube on getting 800 free textures - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cblc9GGavyY

Thanks

Good job on the physics if you got that working so you can walk in the door AND rez on the floor.   When you make "materials" for the various faces of your house make sure you don't have more than 8 per upload (you could upload the roof and or floor separately if you have more materials).  Bad things can happen with more than 8 materials per object. 

Also it is good to note that MANY (MANY) texture places have agreements that prohibit people uploading to Second Life using any part of their textures (so even on baked models). So be sure and read these agreements.  This is NOT new but folks just starting to work on buildings often don't know.      

 

Good luck and have fun!!! 

[Aquila Kytori]

1 hour ago, IvyTechEngineer said:

So I thought I would just build something in SL for fun. It is more difficult even for simple building to align all the walls but it was easy to texture.

Check out Rolig's suggestions and video in this post :

 

 

I had no idea this align tool existed. Almost makes me want to try some prim building again.

 

Edited March 17, 2021 by Aquila Kytori

[IvyTechEngineer]

I don't think Align is part of the Second Life Viewer anymore, just like you can no longer download your models (dae) with the SL Viewer. Need to use Firestorm I think. OBTW, when I uploaded the small house, I get the same kind of response that I got when I first uploaded a model a year ago. "When I view the model in Second Life it doesn’t look right until I get closer. When I am ~10 feet away it looks weird. Is there a way I can improve it’s look from farther away?" I was told that I should modify my SL Viewer preferences. In the Firestorm viewer the small house looks great, no issue but the original object I uploaded (IvyTechLogo2b) may have had a misalignment of the physics file with the original object. Any Ideas? (PS - I know my objects needed to be scaled but I was unsure how to measure in Belnder when the model was originally created.)

https://pasteall.org/blend/d7752dc1c8ac4f72a250ad259d47b1d0

https://pasteall.org/blend/4d70930748744e5f8ab520b6d9f10f2a

[ChinRey]

16 minutes ago, IvyTechEngineer said:

"When I view the model in Second Life it doesn’t look right until I get closer.

You need to make Lod models. I can't possibly go into details here but there's a lot of info about how to do it in odler threads in the forum.

Edited March 19, 2021 by ChinRey

[IvyTechEngineer]

Also, Chic Aeon suggested that "MANY (MANY) texture places have agreements that prohibit people uploading to Second Life using any part of their textures" and indeed https://www.textures.com/ states "6.3 You are not permitted to use Content in Second Life, Sansar or any other Linden Lab product or service;" so where do you typically textures? OBTW, thanks for the heads-up

[Quarrel Kukulcan]

16 hours ago, ChinRey said:

You need to make Lod models. I can't possibly go into details here but there's a lot of info about how to do it in odler threads in the forum.

Allow me to toot my own horn:
 

 

[IvyTechEngineer]

 

On 3/16/2021 at 6:06 PM, Wulfie Reanimator said:

When you're making physics shapes for complex objects like this one, it's best you don't try to make the physics shape from that model.

The point of a physics shape is to approximate the collisions of an object as simply as possible.

What I would do (and recommend) is to create a new, separate model from scratch and use as little detail as you can. Here, I made a quick recreation of your model, with multiple floors:

And here's the physics version:

Many things about the building can be considered unnecessary if there's little to no chance of an avatar trying to walk on it. Note how the hollow cylinder goes all the way from bottom to top, without the extra ridge near the bottom. The floors are flat cubes (or thick planes?), not rounded. The big pyramid-shape serves two purposes: it's a ceiling for the inside, and it approximates the main roof with the four pillars. There are no windows in the physics model, as you're not meant to walk through them. (Doors are a different hurdle, but not very complicated either.) The two big cubes on the sides are not connected to the main building.

With the object scale at about 33x51x64, the physics cost of the building is 2.920, not even 3 LI.

 

Edit: I just realized you linked your Blend file. Oops.

I made a physics shape for the first floor based on your model. It consists of 7 separate hulls (joined as a single object before exporting), with a physics cost of 1.720. This includes the stairs for upper-floor access.

Here's your blendfile: http://puu.sh/HpNiz/e6c33006cd.blend

http://puu.sh/HpNiz/e6c33006cd.blend

I can't seem to open the Blend file. 

[Aquila Kytori]

Opened OK for me. (Blender 2.92)

Try this reupload :

 

https://pasteall.org/blend/ef7de1a034304a848308e36f3b8c8e45

[IvyTechEngineer]

On 3/19/2021 at 11:50 AM, ChinRey said:

You need to make Lod models. I can't possibly go into details here but there's a lot of info about how to do it in odler threads in the forum.

Thank I understand. I did look at our Blog @ https://chinrey.blogspot.com/2019/09/creating-lod-models-case-study-1.html

I had no idea that Medium, Low and Lowest LODs could be uploaded from a files. Thanks

[IvyTechEngineer]

On 3/20/2021 at 4:05 AM, Quarrel Kukulcan said:

Allow me to toot my own horn:
 

 

Started to watch your videos and have subscribed to your YouTube channel. You do have some cool stuff to buy in the Marketplace. The Elephant looks pretty cool. Also, wanted to get the hat and put an Ivy Tech logo on it. 

[IvyTechEngineer]

43 minutes ago, Aquila Kytori said:

Opened OK for me. (Blender 2.92)

Try this reupload :

 

https://pasteall.org/blend/ef7de1a034304a848308e36f3b8c8e45

That worked, thanks

 

[Quarrel Kukulcan]

7 hours ago, IvyTechEngineer said:

Started to watch your videos and have subscribed to your YouTube channel. You do have some cool stuff to buy in the Marketplace. The Elephant looks pretty cool. Also, wanted to get the hat and put an Ivy Tech logo on it. 

I didn't make the videos.

[IvyTechEngineer]

43 minutes ago, Quarrel Kukulcan said:

I didn't make the videos.

Thanks anyway, I think I got the video links from reading the Dec 2020 post...

Edited March 23, 2021 by IvyTechEngineer

[IvyTechEngineer]

Hello again. I do appreciate all the help I have gotten since I started. There is a tremendous amount of information to learn. There was a comment that Chic Aeon made in her video regarding changes from Convex Hull to Prim. Is this related to adding textures? Currently, I have some models that I cannot add different textures to in SL. Also, I am not sure I understand why the original small house model was segmented. Was this also for texturing? Lastly, I had a question about Land Impact. In the Marketplace there are items that have 200+ for land impact. I bought the Space Academy back in Jun of last year and has a land impact of 270. Comments?

[arton Rotaru]

18 hours ago, IvyTechEngineer said:

There was a comment that Chic Aeon made in her video regarding changes from Convex Hull to Prim.

This is about the physics shape. By default meshes rezzed for the first time are set to Convex Hull physics. That is, the entire model is encompassed by a single hull. When set to Prim, the model is using the explicit physics mesh provided during import. It's set under the Features tab > Physics Shape Type in the Build floater.

 

18 hours ago, IvyTechEngineer said:

Currently, I have some models that I cannot add different textures to in SL

Hard to tell what's wrong there. Make sure your models are properly UV mapped, and have more than one material assigned when you need different textures on a single mesh.

18 hours ago, IvyTechEngineer said:

Also, I am not sure I understand why the original small house model was segmented. Was this also for texturing?

It's easier to create properly working physics when the house is segmented. It's also good practice to keep any detailed stuff as separate objects. Like window frames and the like. This helps to keep the download weight down, because all the little triangles won't count at the size of the entire house.

Just for texturing it's not needed to separate a model. Given the fact that you can apply up to 8 materials to a single mesh. If you need more than 8, separate it.
Best practice is to keep the number of materials as low as possible though. Ideally, it's 1 mesh = 1 material.

19 hours ago, IvyTechEngineer said:

Lastly, I had a question about Land Impact. In the Marketplace there are items that have 200+ for land impact. I bought the Space Academy back in Jun of last year and has a land impact of 270. Comments?

Hard to tell from the picture. Looks like large cylindrical, conical shapes which are quite expensive compared to square shapes. Plants, fountains etc. Nothing fatally wrong with that number IMO.

[IvyTechEngineer]

On 10/29/2020 at 11:54 AM, Aquila Kytori said:

Still works

@IvyTechEngineer

 

The image texture is on the object when rezzed and the actual texture is saved at My Inventory > Textures.

 

It is not clear to me what you are trying to do.

   1: Create a 2D image texture of the top surface of your MEMS sensor so that it can be slapped onto the top face of a flattened prim cube. or

   2: Upload a 3D mesh model which uses two materials to illustrate how the electrical circuit is etched onto the top surface of the lower Substrate. 

   see screenshot below:

or ................ ?

 

Sorry, I am not sure I responded to your question. Thanks you for your response. Either textured object was ok but the one of the right is more representative of what a MEMS device might look like magnified. One of the process steps is to deposit a thin layer of gold over the etch silicon wafer so the image on the right looks more like the final MEMS device so that is what I was attempting to do. I am still a little fuzzy on how the texture painting in Blender and have been working on a set of PowerPoint slides that layout the step by step process. So when you upload to SL the mesh model (DAE) file and the image somehow they are aligned and the image will wrap around the object? The limitations are the image size cannot exceed 2048 x 2048? 

Thanks

IvyTechEngineer

[IvyTechEngineer]

On 10/30/2020 at 1:30 PM, Aquila Kytori said:

I watched the 2.80 hammer tutorial (very good) and only noticed a couple of differences to 2.901.

Look Dev mode is now called Material Preview and the Point light now uses Power in Watts. In the Use Nodes panel leave the Strength at 1 and vary the Power with the Watts value.

The painting tutorial was using 2.75 ! so completely different now. look for 2.8 paint tutorials.

Then you will need a baking tutorial

 

Playing around with  SL Shininess gives results like this:

You can find noise textures with google (good for car paints )

Nice idea, you must know some things about MEMS devices and electronics. This MEMS device is a pressure sensor and the small gold traces deform differently based on their trace pattern due to pressure. The gold traces are laid on a thin silicon nitride membrane like a drum head and deform based on their pattern. A comparison in their deformation can be used with sensing electronic circuits to translate pressure into an electronic signal. Several years ago, I built this model in Solidworks and wanted to use the STL version of that model in SL but with a texture which I attempted to create in Blender. The flat image would be easy but a wrapped image would be better because you could some more 3D details.

[IvyTechEngineer]

On 3/16/2021 at 6:06 PM, Wulfie Reanimator said:

When you're making physics shapes for complex objects like this one, it's best you don't try to make the physics shape from that model.

The point of a physics shape is to approximate the collisions of an object as simply as possible.

What I would do (and recommend) is to create a new, separate model from scratch and use as little detail as you can. Here, I made a quick recreation of your model, with multiple floors:

And here's the physics version:

Many things about the building can be considered unnecessary if there's little to no chance of an avatar trying to walk on it. Note how the hollow cylinder goes all the way from bottom to top, without the extra ridge near the bottom. The floors are flat cubes (or thick planes?), not rounded. The big pyramid-shape serves two purposes: it's a ceiling for the inside, and it approximates the main roof with the four pillars. There are no windows in the physics model, as you're not meant to walk through them. (Doors are a different hurdle, but not very complicated either.) The two big cubes on the sides are not connected to the main building.

With the object scale at about 33x51x64, the physics cost of the building is 2.920, not even 3 LI.

 

Edit: I just realized you linked your Blend file. Oops.

I made a physics shape for the first floor based on your model. It consists of 7 separate hulls (joined as a single object before exporting), with a physics cost of 1.720. This includes the stairs for upper-floor access.

Here's your blendfile: http://puu.sh/HpNiz/e6c33006cd.blend

This was a big help and I should have paid more attention to the physics especially with spiral stair cases. Thank you

[Aquila Kytori]

5 hours ago, IvyTechEngineer said:

So when you upload to SL the mesh model (DAE) file and the image somehow they are aligned and the image will wrap around the object? The limitations are the image size cannot exceed 2048 x 2048? 

NO.

The "aligning" of 2D image to the 3D mesh is done in Blender before exporting.

The process is called UV mapping.

The X Y Z (3D) coordinates of the mesh object are mapped to a 2D,  U V ) space. To get the the 3D object to lay out flat we have to add seams.

There are so many tutorials covering UV unwrapping / mapping so no need for me to try explain further.

Example tutorial can be found here :

 

 

Edited April 9, 2021 by Aquila Kytori

[Aquila Kytori]

4 hours ago, IvyTechEngineer said:

Nice idea, you must know some things about MEMS devices and electronics. This MEMS device is a pressure sensor and the small gold traces deform differently based on their trace pattern due to pressure. The gold traces are laid on a thin silicon nitride membrane like a drum head and deform based on their pattern. A comparison in their deformation can be used with sensing electronic circuits to translate pressure into an electronic signal.

 

I work in quality control and many years ago, a part of the course was learning the basics of how electronic weighing scales work. When Googling your MEM device it mentioned about its uses and reminded me of the strain gauges used in scales. At the time we learnt that these gauges were equivalent to a set of variable resistors which was called a Wheatstone bridge, just like in your image. Where I work now we have scales in the labs that can weigh to a precision of 0.001g and in production scales that can weigh anything from 5g to many thousand kilograms. Perhaps the lab ones use MEMs

 

 

Edited April 9, 2021 by Aquila Kytori

[IvyTechEngineer]

On 10/15/2020 at 2:47 AM, Aquila Kytori said:

This has happened before : https://www.simscale.com/blog/2017/12/nasa-mars-climate-orbiter-metric/

"In September of 1999, after almost 10 months of travel to Mars, the Mars Climate Orbiter burned and broke into pieces. On a day when NASA engineers were expecting to celebrate, the ground reality turned out to be completely different, all because someone failed to use the right units, i.e., the metric units!"

Blender by default uses metric units.

 

Have you tried setting your BCC crystal model to use Smooth shading? This may improve the look when rezzed inworld and will also reduce further the download cost.

In Blender Object mode with model selected:

Open the Object menu and choose the Shade Smooth option.

So how did you create this animated gif? Pretty cool

[Coffee Pancake]

9 minutes ago, IvyTechEngineer said:

So how did you create this animated gif? Pretty cool

You can do it with Sharex - https://getsharex.com/

Once installed, right click on the tray icon 

set your recording preferences in "Task Settings" before you start.

[Aquila Kytori]

 

17 hours ago, IvyTechEngineer said:

So how did you create this animated gif? Pretty cool

I use ScreenToGif.     https://www.screentogif.com/

 

[IvyTechEngineer]

Thanks