So where do I begin learning to create?

[VixFoxetta]

Hello.  I want to learn how to create.  For some background, years ago, I used to create for IMVU.  I made houses, furniture, clothing, hair, accessories, just about anything you can imagine...but I only made textures and created from another artist's meshes.  I've got thousands of items in my old catalog, and did my own work. I realize SL is more complicated to create for, and I've been looking in the SL forums and blogs trying to find a good starting point for research, and I really can't find one , lol.

I'd like to start at the basics and just work my way up. If anyone has suggestions or links, I would be so very grateful.  I am most interested in creating houses, furniture (with animations), clothes, and hair. I am also willing to take In World classes, if there are some really good, verifiable ones out there...I'll pay a fee to learn.

I also have some questions...

1.  It looks like you can combine different meshes in outfits, for example, and sell them together as an outfit?  I have recognized some of the same elements in different outfits and was wondering if this is how that happens.

 

2.  If I were to, say, decide to make hair, what about HUDS?  Would I pay someone to make the HUD for me, or how does that work?

 

3.  If you have idea for scripts or products, can you pay someone to make these scripts and products for you and you resell them?

 

4.  Is there a way to find out what mesh a certain product came from?  For example, an outfit that has a different opacity map can look different from the other, but they come from the same mesh, but you can trace it back to that main mesh. I also ask this because knowing that you're using the "base" mesh will save size on the product and to also stay true to the original artist of the mesh.  I will also confess that sometimes I would see an outfit and realize that I could make something completely different, but that particular mesh actually allows for more detail or the other mesh has more facings, etc.

Edited June 14, 2023 by VixFoxetta

[SarahKB7 Koskinen]

If you'd like to learn to build things with the existing tools provided in the SL viewer for free, take a visit to the Ivory Tower Library of Primatives in Natoma region to learn building with Prims.

Prims, (short for Primative Meshes) are those funny looking plywood cube things you can create, reshape, join together and retexture to create objects.  The Ivory Tower has an extensive walk-through guide and has been a valuable location for builders over the years to learn such skills.

However, if you want to create more modern and more realistic looking and detailed objects than those possible with prims, then you'll have to log out of SL and download something like Blender (which is free), then learn to use it to create mesh objects (and texture them) which you can then save and upload into SL as DAE files.

For scripting, you could join the Builders Brewery group, which also has their own sim regions.  You could then ask the group members for assistance in creating or obtaining scripts.

Edited June 14, 2023 by SarahKB7 Koskinen

[Resi Pfeffer]

36 minutes ago, VixFoxetta said:

1.  It looks like you can combine different meshes in outfits, for example, and sell them together as an outfit?  I have recognized some of the same elements in different outfits and was wondering if this is how that happens.

Its completely up to you, if you want to sell single pieces or a complete outfits.
If you see at top appearing 8 times in a package you bought, then its because its rigged for different mesh bodies to give it a snug fit.
In case i misunderstood you, and you meant you saw an identical piece of fashion at two different stores in SL, then its because many of them only buy the full perm mesh templates and only colorize and texture them to make them kinda unique.
 

40 minutes ago, VixFoxetta said:

2.  If I were to, say, decide to make hair, what about HUDS?  Would I pay someone to make the HUD for me, or how does that work?

There are HUD kits available on the marketplace, providing you at least the scripts, often also the prim and texture you can use as a starter. There is probably no need to pay a scripter or to reinvent the wheel, unless you want to have something very special.

41 minutes ago, VixFoxetta said:

3.  If you have idea for scripts or products, can you pay someone to make these scripts and products for you and you resell them?

Hiring someone is always an option, but make sure to get the conditions right. Paying someone 200 Lindens for 2 hours of work and expecting to get the product full perm with rights to resell is not very likely.
But like mentioned in No.2, most of the things you probably need is already there.

45 minutes ago, VixFoxetta said:

4.  Is there a way to find out what mesh a certain product came from?  For example, an outfit that has a different opacity map can look different from the other, but they come from the same mesh, but you can trace it back to that main mesh. I also ask this because knowing that you're using the "base" mesh will save size on the product and to also stay true to the original artist of the mesh.  I will also confess that sometimes I would see an outfit and realize that I could make something completely different, but that particular mesh actually allows for more detail or the other mesh has more facings, etc.

There is nothing like a base/main mesh, but there are 3 ways for you to can make our own clothes
-you buy full perm clothes, and then you color themyourself , add a HUD, pack them, and resell them
-you buy full perm clothes (including the 3D project files, you can open and alter in Blender), colorize them, add a HUD, pack them and resell them.
-You do all by yourself. Instead of buying clothes ready to use, you open blender and start from scratch. You would need to create a top on your own, and then you need all the dev kits for all the bodies you wanna rig that top for. When done, then you proceed with adding a HUD,  packing and selling it.


Its nice to see people like you being creative, but i get the feeling about you wanting too much in too less time.
I dont know how hard or easy it is to create stuff in IMVU, but even when you go down the most easy route, using full perm clothes, it will take you hours to get a complete outfit ready. If you dont really know what you do, it will take days or weeks, as you still need to figure out how to make the HUD work, and how to create a texture for in Photoshop, as you probably want to use your own color palette, as you need to roam the marketplace or  stock images websites for patterns for your clothes. You also need to figure out how to add your items to your markeplace store and many things more.

Long story short - pick one topic you would like to do the most and then get the basics first. 
If its houses or furniture, its actually kinda easy. Create and texture a chair in Blender, upload the mesh and texture to SL. And then you try to add poses or animations with AVSitter.

[Thecla]

I would definitely suggest that you become proficient at creating, editing, and combining in-world created prims as a first step. While most contemporary objects in SL are mesh, it is all imported and knowing how to handle them as objects and potentially combine with with in-world prims is a basic skillset.

While you can buy full-perm, untextured clothes on the MP, or those with AO and specular maps and so forth, I think you'll find it far more creatively rewarding to jump right into making your own mesh, which you're going to do anyway down the road. Might as well jump right in. As suggested Blender is free and is a tremendously powerful program. It's a bit of a swiss army knife and for SL you'll find yourself using only a fraction of it's features.

Blender can be intimidating at first, learning the interface and basic function, but if you're disciplined about it and put in the time within a week or two you'll pass that threshold where suddenly you feel moderately comfortable learning more skills and functions seems less daunting.

I tell people that learning basic modeling in Blender is pretty straightfoward and logical. Texturing, on the other hand, is not only far more involved but also in some respects a craft and art form...not just in what textures you are applying, but i now they are applied. Many people end up using other programs to texture their mesh such as Substance Painter, but Blender is still the first place to start with texturing. One reason to skip buying full perm clothes is that you're stuck using the basic templates that they come with. If you're making your own mesh, you have far more latitude in the texture creation process than simply recoloring stuff in Photoshop.

Builder's Brewery provides classes that run the gamut from scripting to learning Blender, to texturing, as well as very SL-specific topics such as uploading meshes and configuring LI (Land Impact) and LOD (Level of Detail).

YouTube has a smattering of useful tutorials on creating for Second Life, and a HUGE number of Blender tutorials.

I'll end by saying that it's worth the upfront "WTH...how do I do this" challenges.

[VixFoxetta]

10 hours ago, SarahKB7 Koskinen said:

If you'd like to learn to build things with the existing tools provided in the SL viewer for free, take a visit to the Ivory Tower Library of Primatives in Natoma region to learn building with Prims.

Prims, (short for Primative Meshes) are those funny looking plywood cube things you can create, reshape, join together and retexture to create objects.  The Ivory Tower has an extensive walk-through guide and has been a valuable location for builders over the years to learn such skills.

However, if you want to create more modern and more realistic looking and detailed objects than those possible with prims, then you'll have to log out of SL and download something like Blender (which is free), then learn to use it to create mesh objects (and texture them) which you can then save and upload into SL as DAE files.

For scripting, you could join the Builders Brewery group, which also has their own sim regions.  You could then ask the group members for assistance in creating or obtaining scripts.

Thanks so much for that!  I think it's best for me to start with prims and work my way up.  This gives me a starting point.    

9 hours ago, Resi Pfeffer said:

Its completely up to you, if you want to sell single pieces or a complete outfits.
If you see at top appearing 8 times in a package you bought, then its because its rigged for different mesh bodies to give it a snug fit.
In case i misunderstood you, and you meant you saw an identical piece of fashion at two different stores in SL, then its because many of them only buy the full perm mesh templates and only colorize and texture them to make them kinda unique.
 

There are HUD kits available on the marketplace, providing you at least the scripts, often also the prim and texture you can use as a starter. There is probably no need to pay a scripter or to reinvent the wheel, unless you want to have something very special.

Hiring someone is always an option, but make sure to get the conditions right. Paying someone 200 Lindens for 2 hours of work and expecting to get the product full perm with rights to resell is not very likely.
But like mentioned in No.2, most of the things you probably need is already there.

There is nothing like a base/main mesh, but there are 3 ways for you to can make our own clothes
-you buy full perm clothes, and then you color themyourself , add a HUD, pack them, and resell them
-you buy full perm clothes (including the 3D project files, you can open and alter in Blender), colorize them, add a HUD, pack them and resell them.
-You do all by yourself. Instead of buying clothes ready to use, you open blender and start from scratch. You would need to create a top on your own, and then you need all the dev kits for all the bodies you wanna rig that top for. When done, then you proceed with adding a HUD,  packing and selling it.


Its nice to see people like you being creative, but i get the feeling about you wanting too much in too less time.
I dont know how hard or easy it is to create stuff in IMVU, but even when you go down the most easy route, using full perm clothes, it will take you hours to get a complete outfit ready. If you dont really know what you do, it will take days or weeks, as you still need to figure out how to make the HUD work, and how to create a texture for in Photoshop, as you probably want to use your own color palette, as you need to roam the marketplace or  stock images websites for patterns for your clothes. You also need to figure out how to add your items to your markeplace store and many things more.

Long story short - pick one topic you would like to do the most and then get the basics first. 
If its houses or furniture, its actually kinda easy. Create and texture a chair in Blender, upload the mesh and texture to SL. And then you try to add poses or animations with AVSitter.

Thanks so much for your post.  It was very informative and helpful.  Don't worry about me overwhelming myself.  I know what I am in  for.  You didn't mention that there's also making your ads, your brand, your catalog, etc...it's a lot.  And as a "self-taught", I can tell you that I have spent days just on a table top to look nice, so I know all to well how time consuming it can be to make it RIGHT and make it NICE.  But thanks for the warning.  A lot of people need one.  I have seen time and time again when people think "Oh, I can make things and get rich;  all these other people just don't know what they're doing..." and they fart around and find out., to their disappointment.  

8 hours ago, Thecla said:

I would definitely suggest that you become proficient at creating, editing, and combining in-world created prims as a first step. While most contemporary objects in SL are mesh, it is all imported and knowing how to handle them as objects and potentially combine with with in-world prims is a basic skillset.

While you can buy full-perm, untextured clothes on the MP, or those with AO and specular maps and so forth, I think you'll find it far more creatively rewarding to jump right into making your own mesh, which you're going to do anyway down the road. Might as well jump right in. As suggested Blender is free and is a tremendously powerful program. It's a bit of a swiss army knife and for SL you'll find yourself using only a fraction of it's features.

Blender can be intimidating at first, learning the interface and basic function, but if you're disciplined about it and put in the time within a week or two you'll pass that threshold where suddenly you feel moderately comfortable learning more skills and functions seems less daunting.

I tell people that learning basic modeling in Blender is pretty straightfoward and logical. Texturing, on the other hand, is not only far more involved but also in some respects a craft and art form...not just in what textures you are applying, but i now they are applied. Many people end up using other programs to texture their mesh such as Substance Painter, but Blender is still the first place to start with texturing. One reason to skip buying full perm clothes is that you're stuck using the basic templates that they come with. If you're making your own mesh, you have far more latitude in the texture creation process than simply recoloring stuff in Photoshop.

Builder's Brewery provides classes that run the gamut from scripting to learning Blender, to texturing, as well as very SL-specific topics such as uploading meshes and configuring LI (Land Impact) and LOD (Level of Detail).

YouTube has a smattering of useful tutorials on creating for Second Life, and a HUGE number of Blender tutorials.

I'll end by saying that it's worth the upfront "WTH...how do I do this" challenges.

Thanks for the support and the information!  Especially where to start and begin, and the Builder's Brewery info.  I'll be sure to check them out, as it's a big concern of mine, how heavy my products would be In World, and we ALL could use to learn more about that...always room for improvement.

[Persephone Emerald]

I think IMVU has only one basic body type, or maybe a male and a female body, so any clothing you make will be rigged to fit those bodies. Second Life has many different body meshes, so clothing designers usually have to rig for several different bodies.

About a third of the users in SL who use a purchased female mesh body use the Maitreya Lara mesh body, so that's a good one to rig for if you can get the developer kit for it. Not everyone can. Linden Lab is planning to come out with new starter mesh avatars though, and they've promised to make the developer kits for clothing for these avatars free to anyone who wants them. If you can develop your basic clothing making skills with Blender now, you may be primed to step in and start making clothing for the NUX (New User eXperience) avatars as soon as those developer kits become available.

I've never used Blender myself. I've bought Full Perm mesh clothing on Marketplace and inworld, then tinted it to resell - mostly Yabusaka Petite and standard size mesh. This is a very easy process, but no longer profitable, because those sizes for mesh bodies are no longer popular. The NUX mesh bodies will likely stay popular for new residents for years. With other mesh bodies, the market for them is likely to be ever shifting as fads and creators come and go in SL.