Building Buildings

[Frionil Fang]

1 hour ago, ChinRey said:

That's almost correct but there are no quads in SL, only tris and that can sometimes make a difference.

Yeah, hence the "could help with distortion" I mentioned. It's worth trying like you said, but probably won't affect something like terrain texturing, more important for something that needs non-organic precision.

[IvyTechEngineer]

After many, many hours of work on my mountain it still doesn't work. I believe the physics model looks great with no error. However, when I upload with everything to include the texture the physics don't allow me to go inside and I cannot walk on the surface of the mountain? The mountain is larger than 64 meters in one direction so SL want to scale to 0.982. I do not know where the Beta site is but this is frustrating. Suggestions?

 

IvyTech

[Chic Aeon]

1 hour ago, IvyTechEngineer said:

After many, many hours of work on my mountain it still doesn't work. I believe the physics model looks great with no error. However, when I upload with everything to include the texture the physics don't allow me to go inside and I cannot walk on the surface of the mountain? The mountain is larger than 64 meters in one direction so SL want to scale to 0.982. I do not know where the Beta site is but this is frustrating. Suggestions?

 

IvyTech

You don't show your physics model but the one that appears to be showing is WAY TOO COMPLEX.  

Resixe the mesh yourself before uploading so that nothing is beyond the MAXIMUM 64 meters (hence that maximum thing)

Make sure you have changed the mesh to "PRIM" in the build menu -- I am guessing you did that but just saying.  

Don't expect to walk perfectly on the hills and valleys; That pretty much never happens  . You do seem to be too high though. Look at the physics via the viewer (Firestorm does this easily) or you can look at Physics through the advanced menu (I think - been awhile) in the Linden viewer. 

 

Posting some pictures of what is happening to the physics will let others help you better. Good luck. 

[Quarrel Kukulcan]

2 hours ago, IvyTechEngineer said:

I do not know where the Beta site is

It's called the Beta Grid, Preview Grid, or "Aditi". It is invaluable for uploading mesh for testing physics & materials without spending real Lindens. You will probably have to file a support ticket to enable access and wait a few days, but trust me, it's worth it.

https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Preview_Grid

 

[Wulfie Reanimator]

48 minutes ago, Chic Aeon said:

You don't show your physics model but the one that appears to be showing is WAY TOO COMPLEX.  

How come? 500 tris for a 64 meter hill doesn't seem terribly complex.

 

I also think the physics mode is just set to convex hull, that's why they hover and can't get into the cave. I made a similar model as a test and it turned out fine.

[Aquila Kytori]

 

 

8 hours ago, Wulfie Reanimator said:

I also think the physics mode is just set to convex hull,

I visited the Ivy Tech sim, found the mesh island and checked the Physics............ Wulfie is correct, the island is set to use the default Convex Hull type physics.

I think it has been mentioned before in one of your previous threads but I will mention it again,  if you enable the Developer > Render Metadata > Physics Shapes option you can see the collision surfaces of all the objects in the scene. For your Island see the screenshot below :

 

I noticed from a previous screenshot of yours that you don't have the Developer menu active. You will find the option to enable it at the bottom of the Advanced menu :

 

To walk correctly on the surface  and pass through the cave opening of the Island you will need to change the Physics shape Type from the default Convex hull to the Prim option. This option is found in the Build floater when editing the island in-world.   Build floater > Features tab > Physics Shape Type drop-down menu :

If you don't see the Prim option it means you didn't specify a physics model to use when uploading the Island.

 

Just a note, The Firestorm viewer is very popular because of its many "extras", one of which is the ability to quickly see the collision shape of the selected object :

[IvyTechEngineer]

On 3/31/2023 at 4:53 PM, Wulfie Reanimator said:

It's not really possible.

The reason why it's not really possible is because SL terrain uses repeating textures that blend between each other (based on height -- like the grass and rock textures in your image).

While you could create a texture for your mesh that blends between two kinds of textures (by doing that manually), the resolution couldn't be anywhere near as sharp as regular SL terrain, because SL terrain uses repeating textures to cover the large surface.

And while you could create your land mesh with repeating textures in mind, your current geometry wouldn't work for it, and you'd lose the ability to blend textures arbitrarily.

 

9 hours ago, Wulfie Reanimator said:

How come? 500 tris for a 64 meter hill doesn't seem terribly complex.

 

I also think the physics mode is just set to convex hull, that's why they hover and can't get into the cave. I made a similar model as a test and it turned out fine.

I know, I am slow, lol. My goal was to build a mesh model of the mountain that is part of the terrain.raw file in my region. I wanted this so I could have access to the area under the island. After a fair amount of effort I got a mesh model that I could start with using L3DT (import_opensim_raw.zs ) and Blender. The original thought was to float the mountain so I cut it flush in Blender to the water line, i.e. 20 meters. After some edits I got down to a model with 3520 tris. OBTW, I got a good deal of help from people like you in the forum, thank you. 

In an effort to create a physics file I reverted back to a simpler model. I even tried to draw it in Blender but it was a challenge for a CAD guy, lol. I was able to create a stl file and 3D print it which is pretty cool.

[IvyTechEngineer]

1 hour ago, Aquila Kytori said:

 

 

I visited the Ivy Tech sim, found the mesh island and checked the Physics............ Wulfie is correct, the island is set to use the default Convex Hull type physics.

I think it has been mentioned before in one of your previous threads but I will mention it again,  if you enable the Developer > Render Metadata > Physics Shapes option you can see the collision surfaces of all the objects in the scene. For your Island see the screenshot below :

 

I noticed from a previous screenshot of yours that you don't have the Developer menu active. You will find the option to enable it at the bottom of the Advanced menu :

 

To walk correctly on the surface  and pass through the cave opening of the Island you will need to change the Physics shape Type from the default Convex hull to the Prim option. This option is found in the Build floater when editing the island in-world.   Build floater > Features tab > Physics Shape Type drop-down menu :

If you don't see the Prim option it means you didn't specify a physics model to use when uploading the Island.

 

Just a note, The Firestorm viewer is very popular because of its many "extras", one of which is the ability to quickly see the collision shape of the selected object :

I don't see the Developer selection in my SL Viewer or in FireStorm?

[Aquila Kytori]

17 minutes ago, IvyTechEngineer said:

don't see the Developer selection in my SL Viewer or in FireStorm?

Enable in preferences.

SL viewer :

 

Firestorm :

 

[IvyTechEngineer]

55 minutes ago, Aquila Kytori said:

Enable in preferences.

SL viewer :

 

Firestorm :

 

Thanks, learning something new every day, lol

[IvyTechEngineer]

This fixed my physics problem, thank you. I can now go into the cave but the walls are transparent? Maybe it is because the model is just a shell? Do I need to build the another model that flips the normals and texture the inside walls?

[Aquila Kytori]

24 minutes ago, IvyTechEngineer said:

Maybe it is because the model is just a shell? Do I need to build the another model that flips the normals and texture the inside walls?

Yep That's exactly what you need to do.

As the inside cave walls will not match exactly the outside mountain/island walls you will have to have a physics model also for the cave.

 

Edited April 7, 2023 by Aquila Kytori

[IvyTechEngineer]

ok, sort of makes sense. The inside probably ought to be different than the outside anyway. Is it is because it is a "shell"? However if was extruded, like circular structures is a connecting arch, I wouldn't have this problem?  

Thanks

Ivy

[Quarrel Kukulcan]

5 hours ago, IvyTechEngineer said:

The inside probably ought to be different than the outside anyway. Is it is because it is a "shell"?

It's because the SL rendering engine only renders the front sides of triangles. (Some renderers only do the fronts, some always render both front and back, and some can do it either way. It depends on the programming.)

[IvyTechEngineer]

Can I use the Solidify modifier in Blender to build the inside walls of the mountain? 

 

[ChinRey]

10 hours ago, IvyTechEngineer said:

Can I use the Solidify modifier in Blender to build the inside walls of the mountain?

Yes, you can. Just make sure you delete the superfluous thin tris along the edges. This too would make the entire mountain hollow though and that's probably not what you want.

[IvyTechEngineer]

I have been thinking about maybe just making the mountain in two parts, an upper half and a lower halves. However, I am leery about mating the halves because I think have very little control of the "origin" for the halves. 

I have filled in the top half of the model but I get an odd quad in the lower right of the UV MAP. First, all vertices for the quad have a Z value of 0 meters. I have deleted and added the quad several time and it still acts the same. When I attempt to paint it doesn't seem to totally paint on the bottom of the part. I can paint it in the UV MAP but I don't understand what is wrong with the quad ... 

[Aquila Kytori]

3 hours ago, IvyTechEngineer said:

have deleted and added the quad several time and it still acts the same. When I attempt to paint it doesn't seem to totally paint on the bottom of the part. I can paint it in the UV MAP but I don't understand what is wrong with the quad ... 

 

Strange ............... umm,  what happens if you uncheck the Backface Culling option in the paint brush Options menu ?

 

If you don't get it sorted then just copy and paste that part of the mesh into a new blender file and share it so we can take a look at it .

Edited April 12, 2023 by Aquila Kytori

[IvyTechEngineer]

I played around with it a little more and just deleted the quad and replaced it with two tris. It had some weird unwrapped shape, maybe because some of the vertices were in odd places. The texture looks weird on the bottom. Should be a solid color. Also, since I didn't solidify it before adding the texture the mountain is transparent on the inside. If I add the solidify modifier will it still be transparent looking from the inside?

[IvyTechEngineer]

Solidify didn't work the (0.25M). Looking inside to outside is still transparent. I will need to switch the normals and texture the inside and somehow link the outside and inside together in SL...

[IvyTechEngineer]

1 minute ago, IvyTechEngineer said:

Solidify didn't work the (0.25M). Looking inside to outside is still transparent. I will need to switch the normals and texture the inside and somehow link the outside and inside together in SL...

 

[Quarrel Kukulcan]

3 hours ago, IvyTechEngineer said:

Solidify didn't work the (0.25M). Looking inside to outside is still transparent. I will need to switch the normals and texture the inside and somehow link the outside and inside together in SL...

Are you trying to make just the inside? Solidifying will give you both together for one export. At least, it should, with the correct normals. You may need to apply the modifier manually, and keep in mind a lot of modifiers work funny if you have unapplied scaling on the object.

If it still doesn't work, you can make an inner shell manually:

1. Go into Edit Mode.
2. Select all.
3. Duplicate (Shift-D).
4. Scale along normals (Alt-S). Move the mouse a little to put the inner shell where you want it, then left-click.
5. Flip the normals. (You should still have just the inner shell selected, which is what you want to flip.)

[IvyTechEngineer]

Thanks, I have tried to do this but I was not able to scale easily. So maybe just make an outside and inside model? On the inside model I can modify it and remove some geometry and then invert the normals and texture paint the inside. I can then upload and somehow link the two models with a linkset. I also think that I can revert back to the full model that has a top and bottom together. Then just texture the inside. Maybe if I could scale the model it would look better.

Edited April 17, 2023 by IvyTechEngineer

[IvyTechEngineer]

Does anyone have any advise on how to build models that use linksets? This is new to me ...

[IvyTechEngineer]

ok, I think I got it. I just built the inside part of the model and textured it. Then in SL I was able to link them. Need to do minor texture cleanup but this looks great. Thanks