Chic Aeon

I don't think there IS a simple method and most folks seem to use Avastar. These tutorials might be of help. A series that includes fitted mesh and no Avastar -- if I remember correctly - didn't see any mention of Avastar in the the tutorials I opened. Here is the first one: http://ainetutorials.blogspot.ca/2015/11/tutorial-principles-of-blender-rigging.html

Just letting you know that if the shape was "no mod" (as in your mention of locked I am gussing) then the creator of the shape didn't want it changed and you have no "right" to make changes. There are tons of mod shapes out there and on the marketplace and many are free. So it would be better to use one of those or make your own shape from scratch (a good skill to learn). There are different permissions on objects in SL for a reason .

Thanks for posting. Making a notecard in case I ever need to do this.

Minimal weight depends a lot on what you are uploading AND the size of the object (size determines a lot in SL with small items costing much less LI wise - imagine you know that. ) Just wanted to say that as a user I kept my LOD setting at 4 for many years. I don't believe that was a wise thing to do. Now I keep it at 2 and even though my machine is very hefty, life is much easier with less issues. I have remade (or actually added higher LOD versions) of some popular products to give folks a choice depending on their needs. I now test at LOD 2 and make my mesh for that setting (the default in Firestorm - other viewers go down to 1.25 to 1) as I am primarily making mesh for the "upscale" market where most folk likely have their settings maxed out anyway. Still, their FRIENDS should be able to see there "stuff" easily IMHO. The best plan I believe is to make the mesh as light as you can while modeling (no multiple subsurf modifiers and the like) and use textures to make things look as good as they can. I make physics models for houses and parts of houses but often use a cube for decor items. I don't like walking THROUGH things which you see a lot of. I would rather bump up against something that is supposed to be solid. There are always decisions to be made and those rely in part on the people you are creating for. If it is just for you -- well then that's easy. Test, test, test on the beta grid. PS. I am happy to see that in the venues I am in, most Home and Garden folks have good LODs these days an objects don't break apart at a near distance. I think we are all learning -- well, most of us .

You can save YOUR OWN mesh to a dae file via several third party viewers. Anything "exportable" has to have been uploaded by YOU. This is obviously because folks that sell things (even full perm mesh for builders) never meant for it to be exported under other people's names . Most EULA state that clearly anyway. Same with textures.

Sorry, this was too the OP. I never seem to hit the correct REPLY button I saw this thread earlier but didn't comment because --- well learning the key combos are NECESSARY in Blender. I am a mouse gal and it was VERY painful but I persevered and eventually remembered most of the often used ones. And yes, if you are going to use Blender you really need to bite the bullet and just learn them over time. It takes awhile. In all the video tutorials I have watched I have only seen ONE person use the menu options without key combos. That tells ya something. Sorry.

It really depends if you are going to USE all the bells and whistles that may come with the future. I have a Lelutka head and have for well over a year and very seldom use any expressions. I now and then close my eyes for a photo. So for ME, none of that really matters. And as someone said, no one knows when the new tech will be integrated. Honestly I would get a head demo that you like and a skin applier demo and wear them around for awhile and see how you feel about the heads long term. That's what I did and it was quite helpful.

I think you might want to post this in MERCHANTS as this board is mostly for folks making their own mesh. So maybe some answers there. I suspect you get the Slink kits from Slink and you may need to do a resume thing in order to get one -- that's sort of what I hear in general. Not a clothes maker except on grids where I absolutely HAVE to be LOL.

It IS an issue at times. My alt has a biggish head and can't wear a lot of things. Happily hair makers are getting it these days and give options of sizes or fitmesh which works. There is of course no "alpha" for the heads until someone makes a hud like for the mesh bodies. That would be a good thing IMHO. The hair bases don't seem to fix the issue (or hide it anyway). I am guessing it is an alpha channel thing in the textures? Not sure. You can of course change your head shape a bit, but this sometimes will alter the look of the head in a manner you aren't used to. Sorry I don't have the shiny star news.

Arton gave you a very good explaination. Just like trying to make a 400 x 400 pixel jpg into a 1200 x 1200 jpg (that is increasing the area without increasing the pixels) you WILL have blur. The amount of blur depends on the quality of your uploaded texture. The answer -- if you can do it -- is a clear, high resolution (like 300dpi), 1024 x 1024 tiling texture for your whole sim. One texture to load, it will be as clear as it CAN be. It will still be blurry on your terrain as the tiling for that is built in. The only way to work around that would be to use prims, mesh or sculpts for your ground. And of course the more you TILE the textures, the more "cookie cuttery" it will look with the repeats. So finding a middle ground is often necessary. If you own your own land or have access to the estate tools, you can use various textures in the elevation levels of the sim to blend various textures together for the ground. That might be something you want to look into. Good luck.

ChinRey wrote: Far too many unknown factors: Who are the customers there? Experience creators only or will there be room for direct sales to end users too? What are the technical/performance requirements? Will Sansar succeed or will it flop? And perhaps even most important: considering Linden Lab's horrible record when it comes to handling b2b, do I really want to enter another venture where I have to rely on their whims? Agreed on the unknowns and head shaking at "committed" folks numbers (still not buying that although about half of the people answering the survey said they had NO plans to join Sansar or HiFi). From the official text and videos that I have perused I get the sense that the real intent was to make a space where other "big players" could create experiences that could be then monetized as gateways --- think maybe MadPea? But along the way it seems like that idea has expanded as there have been mentions lately of "regular folks' (my quotes) being able to "create their own world" (pretty close to the video text as I remember LOL) by purchasing items and designing their own environment. So NOT just a world for content creators. I can guarantee that doesn't work out well *wink*. Some of the tech specifics have been known and made public for quite awhile. Different file types and programming languages but likely not all that far away from the tech we know or would be willing to learn. There are a fair amount of ideas adopted from Cloud Party and I really loved Cloud Party -- so that is attractive to me. And I just like new adventures. But no, of course we don't know how well it will do and it takes TIME. The folks here thirteen years ago no doubt remember when the world was VERY young. That same pioneer spirit will need to be a part of the outlook of those that venture over. Someone wrote awhile back that Linden Lab wanted SL's top 100 creators to move over (or add to their SL presence). I doubt that will happen -- certainly not in the beginning unless there are some incentives (disclosed or not). But personally I am interested to see the new world and discover if it fits "me" .

Recently a well-know blog did a survey and found that 38 percent of SL businesses "are already preparing to launch their brand in Project Sansar". Beyond the adage that you can say just about anything you want with statistics, the general announcement has been bugging me. I am guessing the folks that voted -- voted; that's not it. What I am wondering is HOW can folks "already" be preparing to launch their brand in Sansar -- whether moving or adding a platform -- when we know so little. I am certainly interested in seeing the tech and the possibilities, and while I like many snippets of info that have been released -- especially the echos of some Cloud Party ideas, I am certainly not committing myself blindly. Hi Fidelity sounded pretty exciting until I got in there with the first wave of the second wave of Alphas :D and we found out some head shaking things. Many departed. So I am wondering if those folks that voted were actually content creators OR if they were "just folks" that like to take surveys and really aren't into the business side of VR. There were plenty of people who signed up for early content creator review at Sansar that had never made anything (they posted that info on other forums). So?????? How many are already working in the new file types and actually feel committed. Just wondering.

A quick search of the forums with your error message gives LOTS of entries. I have never had that issue but here is a post with over 7000 views and it is on Maya so maybe your answer is here. Searching always good https://community.secondlife.com/t5/Mesh/Material-of-Model-is-not-a-subset-of-reference-material-Error/m-p/2086777/highlight/true#M22432

Drongle McMahon wrote: Adding to Chic's instructions for baking the separately applied texture into a composite single UV map, which is not so simple Had to smile at that. Your steps are absolutely essential as part of the process. Since the method includes actually "mapping twice" -- once for placement on the main UV and once to get what you WANT in that spot just as you want it. So what one would do to get the ties mapped to shape (or oftentimes to find the prettiest part of a complex pattern and use THAT as your texture fill -- ignoring the not so pretty parts) certainly has to happen. I was happy to see your "not so simple" statement. It really did take me FOR-E-VER to get this. So many steps and so very many things that can go wrong while you are learning. STILL, one of the best things for workflow around in Cycles methinks .

So the good news is that you CAN do what you want to do. There is really no need to break off your long ties from the rest of the UV map. In simplistic terms (and this is SO not simple) you need to make a separate UV map for the ties and then connect that UV map (TiesUV) to the main UV map -- making your adjustment to the texture input on the TiesUV map. I do this all the time now BUUUUUUUUUUUT it took me forever to wrap my head around it all. Happily someone made a video that will give you a start on the process. I suggest you go through that tutorial a few times (LOL) before tacking your actual model. *wink*. Once you learn it, it all makes sense -- and perhaps it was just me Adding a couple of recent screenshots which will hopefully help some also.   Going to look for that video URL. ALSO, I have to say that I am a bit worried about the density of your mesh. We have seen a lot of dresses like that come through this forum with folks not being able to upload because of the density. So I suggest -- if you haven't -- uploading it before you get tooooo far along. You may need to lose some of thos edge loops . Good luck. This is a WONDERFUL skill to master.

If it is just "today", it might be a temporary database issue. Whad does "not fully rez" mean? Can you put in a screenshot? And did you see if the same houses would rez on other land -- like a sandbox. If the house that WILL rez is prim and the others are mesh then it may be a mesh rezzing issue which does happen from time to time. I am guessing that with some further issue there might be more ideas. AND again, it might just be temporary.

There are tons of 512s available often for less than a linden a square meter. Search the land tab and "512". Then explore. If you aren't terribly picky about neighbors (as in a skybox for your shop) you should be able to find something easily. Most sims are pretty low lag now. Just check for clubs and the like. Of course what is on a sim when you BUY your land has little to do with what might be there next month - . Good luck.

This is an LOD problem (level of detail). When you upload to SL there are settings in the uploader that determine how your mesh will look as viewed from a distance and with different LOD viewer settings (Firestrom default is 2 but people can change to 4 and some viewers are 1 or 1.25 as the default). The simple way since you are apparently just starting is to increase the LOD settings when you upload. The LAST (lowest setting) most oftentimes can be turned down as far as possible and the item will just disappear when seen from afar.  That's the EASY answer. The more complex answer is that you can make your own LODs that will solve this problem. So remember that down the line. For more info on LODS, this very old but still good video explains it well. It was a series made to help SCULPT creators move into MESH. PS. If you prefer text over video tutorials, I have some beginning ones here: https://plus.google.com/u/0/100190052320604204973/posts/a8DDxZXB5Eh

I am not sure standing preview EVER worked. I dimly remember trying it out VERY LONG ago. I have been uploading sits via the "standing" choice for six years or more. They work perfectly inworld. I use Qavimator. Either Priorty 3 or 4 should be fine. You might want to adjust the "height" of the sit in your software before uploading so that it is lower than a stand, but since sits are normally used in furniture which has a target that may not be terribly important to you. That's all I know .

You can have as many avatars on a single account as you want assuming they would all be named Tara Innis. I have a pony and several guys and likely some odd animals I don't remember I have -- oh and a robot LOL. You can also make ALTS if you want to be someone other than Tara Innis. The rules on alts change over time so check the official TOS and corresponding pages that lead off that to find out the current rules. In the olden days you paid to make "legal alts", then you could have FIVE, then you could have as many as you wanted IF you had a good use for them (and obviously not using for griefing). I am not sure anyone ever asked me if I was really a girl -- maybe because I look so much like a "real girl" would make herself LOL. But lots have asked my age. I would say "three" and now "eight" and there would be a pause. Sometimes folks just don't get the VIRTUAL bit of it all.

You might be best off with FITMESH rather than standard sizing for men. Honestly I don't think the standard sizing for men ever worked as well as for women (I have a couple of male avatars for when I need them even though I am a gal). Check out some of the venues for men like The Mens Department and Men Only Monthly. Likely they are in the destination guide as I have certainly seen TMD there. Other monthly event venues sometimes have menware also. Always of course try the demos. These days lots of desginers are making fitmesh for the various gal bodies which oftentimes works the very best (not always as not all fitmesh is of equal quality), but I don't know if the folks making male clothes are doing that. Again, I don't shop for mensware. Hopefully a GUY with an ADAM body will reply. Quite a few female bloggers have that body and they would likely be the ones that know. Good luck!!!

If you are using Cycles to make your textures and baking to a texture plane within Blender, you can adjust the RESOLUTION (see screenshot below) OR bake to a larger texture (like 4096). Both of these methods will give you a much sharper image. If you use 4096 then be sure and sharpen in some way after resizing. Note that BOTH METHODS take a lot of computer power and depending on your computer it may not be practical. Before I got my new computer, it could take up to 40 minutes to bake. Now it takes just a few even on a complex and very high resolution. Note my new computer was VERY expensive LOL. Be sure and experiment on the beta grid where it is free and good luck! Edit: You can TEST your bake on a much lower resolution (like 20) to see if things are baking correctly and the lighting is "close". Also note that MUCH in Cycles depends on your lighting and so it could easily take a few tries to get the look you want (you may already know that but just in case). Also while the screenshot below says 250, I sometimes bake at 400. It all depends on the complexity of the project (I am usually making furniture and decor and sometimes houses). EDIT 2: and here's another thought -- since you are making the garment, IF NEEDED, you could map the dress for example into two parts which would give you two textures to upload and increase the clarity of your texture. This will also increase the DOWNLOAD for folks viewing your dress so I would use that as a last resort *wink*. 

You are very welcome. Should be easy with the shadow maps

If you don't want to upgrade your computer you might try hooking directly instead of wireless. That changed my speed by half so a big difference. You could also try a third party viewer with less bells and whistles that is based on the 1.23 viewer. Singularity is one, you can find others in the SL third party viewer list via the download page. As someone mentioned turning down your graphics settings if you can would be a VERY good idea also. Your machine has Win 7 Service Pack ONE? which leads me to believe it is pretty old. I have a similar machine from long ago and it won't run SL except for maybe chatting and gives a "your computer is SO not usable for SL" message (my verbage) when I try and log on. If you plan to spend a fair amount of time here, an upgrade is in order.

Generic instructions: If you ONLY have the UV map, then you put a layer over or under the UV making one of them semi tranparent and then "draw" (adding sections of textures in the appropriate areas if you want and adding shadowed edges etc.). You then make sure your texture is at 100 percent on the layer that will be your uploaded texture and upload. If you have the AMBIENT map then you typically layer the texture you are adding to the already shadowed map and use "mulitply" in the layer options to meld the two layers together and then merge it all and upload. There is a tutorial from a mesh maker here on the ambient method that might help: http://nakedmesh.blogspot.com/p/mesh-faqs.html That general method works for any graphics program that I have ever used, but the wording of the features might be different. A starting place maybe . To add within Blender you would need the original mesh dae or blend file. I am guessing you don't have that.