Learning and have not started creating yet but.

[Grace Winnfield]

please correct me if i am wrong as some of these (well all of them) are questions.  I have no clue what i am doing yet.. which will be obvious.  BUT i need some basis of understanding before i can figure this out.  THANKS!! :)

A.  Mesh items are "worn objects" that meld to the avatar frame.

B.  Mesh Objects can be resized off of the avatar in sl but not while on the avatar?.

C.  Mesh objects are a static shape once worn and hence the need for alpha layering.

D. This one is a question... Can you only wear ONE mesh object as is the case with alphas ??  If so must you create the object as a whole item in Blender OR can you piece more than one mesh together in second life.

E.  Since a mesh item appears to be an object... is it created out of a prim or on the avatar appearance tab?  I'm presuming it is out of a prim... using the sculpted texture box.

 

YES i'm a dope.. but please help me understand the basics .. HUGS!  I hope to be creating mesh wedding wear and maternity wear as soon as i have a basic understanding by modifying existing full perm items.. to learn and then create on my own in the next few months.

[Chelsea Malibu]

A mesh, in simple 3D modeling terms is a wireframe.  In most games outside of SL, nearly everything you see is a mesh.  It can be many things and work many ways. In SL, as meshes are new, we will see many changes and new ideas over time much like we saw in 2007 when sculpts where first introduced.  Outside of SL, prims rarely exist in most game platforms and scuplts are pretty much just an SL thing.

A mesh can be animated to do anything movement you want such as a beating heart or a wagging tail.  It can buldge, compress, change or modify specific to the functions that are imbedded in the mesh dynamics.  Right now, you default avatar is in fact, a mesh as it the land planes we use.

A mesh can be a chair, an attachment, a house, many things.  The advantage to mesh over sculpts will be that the level of detail is far greater and the look is more consistent.  It also allows for rigging as the file is created as a single file, bones, rigging, textures and all are imported as on file as opposed to sculpts the require you to make a sculpt map first.

 

[Grace Winnfield]

Ok ,so I get the technical aspect of what a "mesh" is.. In my comments above I am specifically referring to how it is used and manipulated once in the game.  I'm trying to take tutorials on blender but the version available is apparently much changed from 2.49.. sigh

[Chelsea Malibu]

Well, that would require a bit more room to go over than here on this board.  In the end, most of what you will do with your mesh you will do in 3DStudio Max, Maya, Blender, MudBox, Motion Builder, etc, then import that file as more than not, an OBJ file. Within that file are all the functions, textures, riggings etc, to enable that mesh.  You wont be doing much manipulation in world outside of sizing or scriting.

[Grace Winnfield]

Took me a few minutes but .. i have had an AHA! moment LOL  that is the missing piece.. the obj file!~

[DanielRavenNest Noe]

A. Mesh items can be attachments like prim or sculpt objects, or linksets of more than one type.  For example, I made a dress with a mesh top and a flexi prim skirt linked together.  It acts like any other clothing item.

B. It depends if the item is "rigged" to animate.  If not, a mesh object can be resized when worn like any prim attachment.  If it *is* rigged to animate, the size is fixed, because the animation depends on the position of the avatar bones.  If you resized it, the animations would mess up because the parts of the mesh would no longer be in the right position relative to the bones.  When rigged, however, a mesh object will change size with the underlying bones.  So if you make the avatar taller, a mesh dress will stretch along with it.

C. Mesh is either static or animated, depending if it's rigged to the bones.  Position relative to the bones is fixed by the rigging, which the underlying avatar *skin* can change using appearance sliders.  If the skin pokes out in places it is not supposed to, an alpha layer can hide that.  Alternatives are supplying a shape for the avatar to wear (the old style SL shape as an inventory item), or supplying the item in different sizes.  There is a JIRA request for a "parametric deformer" that will make a worn mesh follow changes in the avatar skin.  That would make mesh more adaptable to the wide variety of SL body shapes.

D. You can wear as many mesh objects as you have free attachment points, like any other attachments.

E. Mesh is uploaded from one or more Collada ".dae" type 3D files exported from a 3D program. In that way it is similar to uploading a texture made in an image editor program.  You make item first, then import it.  Once uploaded, it appears as an inventory object, which can then be rezzed on the ground, or worn as an attachment.  It does not use the sculpted texture box, sculpts are a different way to import 3D shapes, with a different asset type.

If you want to create wedding and maternity items as meshes, you will need to learn some 3D modeling program to make the item shapes, then rig them to the avatar bones so they can animate when worn.

[Grace Winnfield]

Thank you Daniel for the detailed description and understanding of my question!  I am forever grateful for the knowledge.. i'm learning.. slowly.. but i WILL get it ... I feel like i have a somewhat better grasp at the capability with what you have put in your answer.. THANK YOU !!!