SL House Building

[Zousug Corvinus]

Hello,

I am looking at making a house in Blender for SL and was looking for updated tutorials and info on it.

I did a sample (and before i knew of the test area) uploaded it to SL and couldnt walk through the door.. any help be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

[arton Rotaru]

I can't provide any updated Blender tutorials for this, but when it comes to the physics of a mesh there are a couple of things to be aware of.

1) You need to provide a custom mesh as the physics shape during import. (Physics tab) Otherwise the mesh will end up only with the default single convex hull the uploader assigns automatically.
2) You need to set the Physics shape type to Prim in-world (Build floater > Feature tab) to be able to walk through doorways. If the Prim option is missing in that drop down menu, you did not provide a physics mesh during upload.
3) Experiment with the options under the Physics tab in the uploader. Analyze will break down the provided physics mesh into a set of convex hulls. 256 hulls max with 256 points max each. So keep your physics meshes as simple as possible. Use the Explode slider to see how the mesh is been decomposed into hulls.
4) If you don't press the Analyze button, the physics mesh will be used as is, as a triangle based collision mesh. This can give good results on large builds like houses. Avoid tiny or narrow triangles, though.

Caveat:  On objects in_world with dimensions less than 0.5 meters in one or, more dimensions, the Physics engine will secretly switch to the default single convex hull even the physics shape type is set to Prim. Walking through doorways will be blocked. In this case you need to Analyze the physics, or make sure the mesh is big enough in all dimensions.

[animats]

Ah. Here's a tutorial on house physics. 2017, though. SL hasn't changed much, but Blender has.

 

[Rain Alderbury]

On 4/8/2022 at 5:51 PM, Zousug Condor said:

Hello,

I am looking at making a house in Blender for SL and was looking for updated tutorials and info on it.

I did a sample (and before i knew of the test area) uploaded it to SL and couldnt walk through the door.. any help be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Hello Zousug;

Building houses (correcty) is probably one of the most difficult projects because of the number of things you need to be aware of seemingly at the same time. And it doesn't help that Blender changes frequently, which can be disconcerting.

I teach Blender for Second Life at Builders Brewery, and I'm currently running a series of lessons that will culminate in the building of a house. Issues of optimization, LODs, texture baking for large areas, shadows, material limitations, root prims, and physics (which is your issue)... all are being addressed and everyone is welcome to join. 

Bottom line is that you can't build a house in one lesson. Everyone will have different issues, so I've designed this as a class project that will span a period of time. Some classes have already taken place (Procedural Materials for example) but many more will come very soon. I'm hoping to announce the culminating project in a couple of weeks, by around late April (2022). I invite anyone with any house-building issues to climb on board and get involved to help prepare yourself for this series.

For fun, have a look at a windmill I build a couple years ago. I live in it...

Edited April 11, 2022 by Rain Alderbury
media is missing

[Zousug Corvinus]

Thanks everyone for your replies,

On 4/9/2022 at 11:03 PM, arton Rotaru said:

I can't provide any updated Blender tutorials for this, but when it comes to the physics of a mesh there are a couple of things to be aware of.

1) You need to provide a custom mesh as the physics shape during import. (Physics tab) Otherwise the mesh will end up only with the default single convex hull the uploader assigns automatically.
2) You need to set the Physics shape type to Prim in-world (Build floater > Feature tab) to be able to walk through doorways. If the Prim option is missing in that drop down menu, you did not provide a physics mesh during upload.
3) Experiment with the options under the Physics tab in the uploader. Analyze will break down the provided physics mesh into a set of convex hulls. 256 hulls max with 256 points max each. So keep your physics meshes as simple as possible. Use the Explode slider to see how the mesh is been decomposed into hulls.
4) If you don't press the Analyze button, the physics mesh will be used as is, as a triangle based collision mesh. This can give good results on large builds like houses. Avoid tiny or narrow triangles, though.

Caveat:  On objects in_world with dimensions less than 0.5 meters in one or, more dimensions, the Physics engine will secretly switch to the default single convex hull even the physics shape type is set to Prim. Walking through doorways will be blocked. In this case you need to Analyze the physics, or make sure the mesh is big enough in all dimensions.

not sure how to make a custom mesh but ill look into it now i know its something i need, thank you for the rest of the info, i dont tend to use small objects so that should be ok.. as soon as i can log into the beta / test world where i can upload ill play around with the settings ^.^ thank you.

On 4/10/2022 at 5:13 AM, animats said:

Ah. Here's a tutorial on house physics. 2017, though. SL hasn't changed much, but Blender has.

 

Hi, yeah i have seen that video but i kinda of got lost.. 1) its just pics and her talking not actively showing but its also a different version of blender so i got lost a bit there to..

2 minutes ago, Rain Alderbury said:

Hello Zousug;

Building houses (properly) is probably one of the most difficult projects because of the number of things you need to be aware of seemingly at the same time. And it doesn't help that Blender changes frequently, which can be disconcerting.

I teach Blender for Second Life at Builders Brewery, and I'm currently running a series of lessons that will culminate in the building of a house. Issues of optimization, LODs, texture baking for large areas, shadows, material limitations, root prims, and physics (which is your issue)... all are being addressed and everyone is welcome to join. 

Bottom line is that you can't build a house in one lesson. Everyone will have different issues, so I've designed this as a class project that will span a period of time. Some classes have already taken place (Procedural Materials for example) but many more will come very soon. I'm hoping to announce the culminating project in a couple of weeks, by around late April (2022). I invite anyone with any house-building issues to climb on board and get involved to help prepare yourself for this series.

For fun, have a look at a windmill I build a couple years ago. I live in it...

Yeah I am a member of Builders Brewery but as I live in Australia its hard to get to your classes

 

again thanks everyone for replies, ill rewatch the video and see how i go with it to ^.^

[Rain Alderbury]

1 minute ago, Zousug Condor said:

Thanks everyone for your replies,

not sure how to make a custom mesh but ill look into it now i know its something i need, thank you for the rest of the info, i dont tend to use small objects so that should be ok.. as soon as i can log into the beta / test world where i can upload ill play around with the settings ^.^ thank you.

Hi, yeah i have seen that video but i kinda of got lost.. 1) its just pics and her talking not actively showing but its also a different version of blender so i got lost a bit there to..

Yeah I am a member of Builders Brewery but as I live in Australia its hard to get to your classes

 

again thanks everyone for replies, ill rewatch the video and see how i go with it to ^.^

Zousug, the video is somewhat out of date. It may not answer what you need to know.

[Zousug Corvinus]

23 minutes ago, Rain Alderbury said:

Zousug, the video is somewhat out of date. It may not answer what you need to know.

Yeah thats why I was asking for any updated ones people know of (or other updated tutorials in text form etc) ^.^

[Zousug Corvinus]

so im wondering.. when texturing the house, is it best to do that in SL or in blender?

[arton Rotaru]

19 hours ago, Zousug Condor said:

so im wondering.. when texturing the house, is it best to do that in SL or in blender?

You need to UV unwrap it and assign materials before uploading. Textures can be applied in SL. However, you probably want to see how the UV mapping is working out, before you upload the mesh. So you actually are going to apply textures in Blender as well. They don't have to be included when uploading, though.

[Zousug Corvinus]

ah ok thank you

[Chic Aeon]

I agree that my tutorials are old and that Blender has changed :D.  But that house physics tutorial is still used often and my top video of all time so if you cannot find anything NEWER (and I am guessing there is not much if anything as a whole lot of even old creators don't understand about the physics) then maybe just WATCHING it and not worrying about doing step by step would at least give you an idea of the process.  

 

Also if you haven't made a lot of other things --- like furniture which are much easier to deal with, then you may be way ahead of yourself in the learning process.  It very much sounds like you are starting in "advanced algebra" when you haven't done the prerequisite course :D.  Just saying. 

 

It usually takes years before folks really know what they are doing in Blender.  Little by little. 

Edited April 13, 2022 by Chic Aeon
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[Zousug Corvinus]

On 4/14/2022 at 8:17 AM, Chic Aeon said:

I agree that my tutorials are old and that Blender has changed :D.  But that house physics tutorial is still used often and my top video of all time so if you cannot find anything NEWER (and I am guessing there is not much if anything as a whole lot of even old creators don't understand about the physics) then maybe just WATCHING it and not worrying about doing step by step would at least give you an idea of the process.  

 

Also if you haven't made a lot of other things --- like furniture which are much easier to deal with, then you may be way ahead of yourself in the learning process.  It very much sounds like you are starting in "advanced algebra" when you haven't done the prerequisite course :D.  Just saying. 

 

It usually takes years before folks really know what they are doing in Blender.  Little by little. 

Iv watched it a few times and (most likely just because im doing it so late at night) just cant make sense of it..

 

iv got the building done i just need to get the other bits done ^.^

ill try watching the video again tomorrow during the day instead of late at night haha

[Chic Aeon]

9 hours ago, Zousug Condor said:

Iv watched it a few times and (most likely just because im doing it so late at night) just cant make sense of it..

 

iv got the building done i just need to get the other bits done ^.^

ill try watching the video again tomorrow during the day instead of late at night haha

One thing that most often works better is to upload the house in pieces -- so main walls, roof, floor etc rather than trying to upload all in one piece -- that "can" be done but the more complex the building the greater chance that the uploaded will cough and sputter.   

 

IN GENERAL (for cube physics)>  

Make SIMPLE cube shapes that do NOT touch each other in place of the more complex pieces of the finished house. 

Apply location, rotation and scale to BOTH house or house pieces and house physics pieces (or the one piece).

Do NOT try uploading as a linkset (again possible but more difficult). 

Choose the physic model(s) that you made to correspond to the house parts when you upload. ANALYZE is you are using cube physics. 

Change the pieces to "prim" in the build menu so that door openings work and let you walk through.

 

 

[IvyTechEngineer]

Great idea to ask the forum. I have also been working on building object that can be upload to SL (but more based on CAD drawings). I believe the idea for uploading models in sections will help you texture inworld. Blender is a great tool but it has a steep learning curve. Many tutorial as too fast or just difficult to follow but it is a tool worth learning. The only other thing I can add is LOD considerations when building. I built my house and uploaded it but failed to consider the LOD. This results in poor rendering from a distance.