Mesh Education

[HD Pomeray]

I have been watching and reading the mesh forum for a few months now without contributing much, as most of the regulars in here are far beyond my level of technical knowledge. So, I just listen and try to absorb as much knowledge as possible about meshes and their use in SL.   At this point my conclusions are that mesh imports can actually be a usable building tool for many projects but you really need to understand the intricate nature of how they and their PE work in SL.  From what I see there are many “rules” you must follow concerning mesh optimization, scale, LOD objects, physical objects or representations, linking, scripting, and final usage of the actual mesh that come into play.  I see that single objects, non-linked meshes, are probably not a good choice for mesh use.  I see that objects larger than 10 meters are not a good candidate for mesh use.  I see that linking meshes to regular prims and sculpts is probably not a good use for mesh.  I think given the limitations of rigged meshes in this release, that meshes are probably not a good choice for clothing or complete avatars that need to be clothed. 

There are probably a lot of people out there that can create well constructed 3D models but will need to be educated on the proper use of importing and using meshes in SL.  It’s not as cut and dry as building with prims or sculpts and will require a higher understanding of the process as a whole, taking into consideration all of the variables that effect the final mesh content as it will reside in SL.  I’m really hoping that either LL or some of the more knowledgeable members of this forum put together, in laymen’s terms, some sort of guide or check list of the proper use of meshes in SL.  I don’t see this as some say, creating a gap between average residence and pro builders, but I do think there needs to be some sort of way to pre-educate the average resident beyond the IP tutorial now being required by LL prior to letting just anyone start filling the world with mesh content.  Your thoughts?

[York Jessop]

I believe Charlar mentioned they are currently working on all the documentation to put all the complexities into perspective but I think you are absolutely right about the comprehension between 'residents' and 'pro builders'.

I wouldnt consider myself to be a pro builder but compared to the average resident I know a lot more about meshes than i did 3 weeks ago, having not touched any mesh building tools or anything before then I have spent a great deal of time and effort just learning how to model, uv and bake meshes, the import process I feel right now is as complex and time consuming to understand as actually learning the 3D application and thats really saying something.

Most of my understand thus far has come from testing different things on the mesh beta grid, how PE works, how scaling affects PE, how LODs affect PE, how linking works and even though I have a basic grasp on these different methods im still far from understanding it properly, when I think how the average resident is going to feel when mesh starts being sold i shudder with expectations of spending as much time on customer service than i will on actually building.

Lets hope this new documentation can shed light on meshes for resident and pro builder alike!

[Ceera Murakami]

---

HD Pomeray wrote:...

 I see that single objects, non-linked meshes, are probably not a good choice for mesh use.  I see that objects larger than 10 meters are not a good candidate for mesh use.  I see that linking meshes to regular prims and sculpts is probably not a good use for mesh.  I think given the limitations of rigged meshes in this release, that meshes are probably not a good choice for clothing or complete avatars that need to be clothed. ...

---

Doesn't that pretty much eliminate all uses of mesh? They aren't good unlinked. They aren't good if you link them to prims or sculpties either. They aren't good for big stuff, or for avatars that need clothes... That doesn't leave much that they ARE good for, does it?

For my own part, I've gone to the sidelines for a while to wait for the soccer riot to die down. The 'rules' aren't clear enough yet for my liking, nor are the concepts of 'best practices' laid out clearly anywhere that I can see. I have a ton of tools that I could use to make Mesh stuff, but taking the time to learn to do that seems pointless until the framework for how it should be done and what it should be used for is clearer. It's like firing a gun before you can clearly see the target.

I'll eventually do mesh products. But not until I have a better understanding of how they can effectively and properly be used.

[HD Pomeray]

In reply to your fist statement, “That doesn't leave much that they ARE good for, does it?”  I agree, the limitations of meshes will seriously limit their use in SL.  But it will be a good choice some things…   Moderately scaled linksets, vehicles, attachments, etc... will be excellent choices for mesh builds as long as the creator is educated in the proper use of them.   

In reply to your second part, I think that is what I have done as well and we agree that, “the concepts of 'best practices” needs to be produced, published and made easily available for the education of all that will be creating with meshes.  That was exactly the point of my original post.  :-)  

 

 

[HD Pomeray]

I’ll even go as far as to put my neck out on the forum chopping block and say I think it would be a good idea for LL to require a basic mesh fundamentals course prior to being approved for mesh uploading.   {{{DUCKS}}}  :matte-motes-agape:  LOL

 

 

[XiangChen Ugajin]

*chuckles*

Then, they need to require a course for scripting, hair building, etc too.

[HD Pomeray]

---

XiangChen Ugajin wrote:

*chuckles*

Then, they need to require a course for scripting, hair building, etc too.

---

 

Yeah... I guess you have a good point there ... LOL

[Tarius Auxarmes]

---

HD Pomeray wrote:

In reply to your fist statement, “That doesn't leave much that they ARE good for, does it?”  I agree, the limitations of meshes will seriously limit their use in SL.  But it will be a good choice some things…   Moderately scaled linksets, vehicles, attachments, etc... will be excellent choices for mesh builds as long as the creator is educated in the proper use of them.   

In reply to your second part, I think that is what I have done as well and we agree that, “the concepts of 'best practices” needs to be produced, published and made easily available for the education of all that will be creating with meshes.  That was exactly the point of my original post.  :-)  

 

 

---

I think they are trying to limit their usefulness on purpose without actually saying that they are. Mesh has the ability to be more useful at everything than prims or sculpties while having the ability to be optimized and less laggy(a basic cube has multiple polys per side when it could have less, as an example); so in otherwords, unless they limit how it can be used, they are faced with it making everything else obsolete.

That said, I think they are limiting it far too much while they would be fine having less severe cost penalties.