Codewarrior Congrejo

one of these days someone is going to offer us money for our old accounts including lastnames.. ; )

Hold on, found something: http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Mesh/physics-shapes-of-sculpted-prims/td-p/920181 okay this entry makes it clear, it's due to being in need to actively set a physics shape / type now: When i set Physics type to "Prim" (which seems to be the dafault for Sculpties) nothing shows up in the viewers physics shape display. But when i set it to "Convex Hull,something shows up (see right most image). So whatever ways u have used before to trick SL out of the usual Sphere, you have to befriend its new system now and choose one of these settings instead.

I didn't fiddle with sculpts in ages. I said good bye to them the moment mesh was finally introduced. For many reasons i have never been a fan of using this method to create any 3D content. (not saying they did not serve a good purpose in SL, but yeah too limited, too restricted and too many issues in matters of rendertime, shaping, modeling etc) What the other stitching types did you can see in the link i included in the former reply. (and the 'stitching' was generally how its rendering your sculpt - the relation to it being assigned to a box shaped physic shape is new to me- even the wiki says that its collision shape is to this date still a sphere) But yes, with mesh now a lot things have changed. Since you now can include (finally) your own physics shape into the model. I tried to find any posts or threats or infos on the web regarding sculptphysics shapes being changed. but could not find anything.

Hello the question is kind of confusing: 'Stitching' has somethign to do with how SL renders a sculpt and not with its collision shape. What are Stitch Types? Stitch types determine how Second Life interprets the edges of a sculpt map in order to render your sculpted prim. Plane /Planar Stitching Plane stitching is like a square piece of cloth, or like a sheet of paper. When you select this stitch type, Second Life does not assume that any of the edges of your sculptie will touch each other. (http://robynhuffaker.com/sculptblender/tag/second-life/) The physical shape of a sculpty has been allways: an approximated by a lopsided sphere, that is roughly the same size as the sculpted prim. ..due to it being roughly the same size of the sculpty you might just have 'felt' it being kind of box shaped. I am not sure if there was a glitch that could be used to make SL read a sculpties collisionshape as box instead of applying the regular sphere shaped collision body. But if so then it was probably a glitch and not as it should be. And glitches can never be awaited to be unfixed / to remain forever. Things differ now a lot due to meshes being introduced to SL, but i can't see why it would break the old sculpty behaviours. And LL is also not planing on taking them out or changing them.

If it was a couple of years ago.. THEN DO IT! Blender has changed to a great extend. And honestly for the better. The whole UI is now more conclusive, intuitive and really nice to handle and even nice to look at. (not anymore that old cluster made out of pink and orange buttons ...over buttons) I am guessing you will be nicely surprised =) Functionality and content has also stepped up quite a lot. I have all these: Maya, Max, Blender, Zbrush (and a lot more) due to my work. And i still love to jump into blender for certain tasks. Give it a go, it won't hurt, and it surely will not burden that bankaccount of yours. Plus you have due to it being open source.. a huge community, lots of help and tutorials, plugins for everything u could possibly think of. and much more. Some things are still not like in 3D max or maya, but it's mostly stuff you'd need more when planning on a 3D career in the film or game industry. So i guess for now you won't be missing those ; )

okay here we go *takes a deep breat and starts typing*.. - Zbrush: is only worth paying for (and yes i am using it myself) *when you have a certain worklow that includes making the highpolygon models first and then later manually retopologizing them into a usable topology and polycount. * when you plan on making really intense highdetail maps to export them (like HD displacement etc) which secondlife could not handle anyways (it doesn't even have displacement at all - yet). And regular - up to good quality displacement maps u can make also in every other 3D software * When you can't really wrap your head around 'organic' shapes and how to construct these from polygons by hand, and feel like you need a more sculpting like workflow. * For concepting artwork and models. * for technical modeling like bridges etc (which you mentioned) i have seen great artists handling this in zBrush - but it's not made for this. Placement and unit based building is not really intuitive and a quite troublesome. * Z-brush is more of a freeforming program with awesome features when it comes to conceptual design, and highpolygonal creations. And as exactly 'this' it has found a stable place in todays production pipelines. But it never comes 'alone' ; ) - Blender : i am using blender too for models made for SL. i did not 'need' any additional plugins or software to accomplish almost every task including rigging etc. * more the other way around: it has even (in its latest version) an inbuild DAE exporter which supports options for a perfect exporting towards SL. * Every plugin or feature you might want in addition (to the hundreds of them being already on bord and just one 'activate' click away) are free accessable all over the web and won't cost you a dime. * Like the *riggify* skeleton / rig - which you dont even need, because you can download the avatar.blender file for free including the needed skeleton. * so whatever u read: no you don't 'need' additional plugins - but if you want them they are easily accessable. Blender, Max, Maya <-- even when you would have Zbrush- yes you need at least 'one regular 3D software' in addition. * As mentioned above. Zbrush is not made to produce production-ripe or usable models right away. (you can accomplish it to some extend, but they allways need retopology and optimisaton processes which are still bothersome insides of Zbrush) and most artists take it out into a regular 3D software and re-edit the whole model. * you also need it because you can't really do 'bakes', ... * .. Nor do controlled UV mapping in Zbrush (it has one unwrapper plugin - but also the painting seams-controls are still not giving you controled outcome- the quick methods of UV unwrapping in there are meant to apply textures fast to these highpoligon models to paint on them, test and concept things) * There are many other tasks in 3D software that you will need to produce your models that you can not accomplish with Zbrush allone / or even at all. So whatever you decide for. Keep this in mind. Zbrush is more of an additional thing. For one exception: when you would like to make some good old secondlife sculpties. There has been a plugin for z-brush to make these. and due to their restricted faceamount etc, those didnt need to be retopologized or anything. But we want those pesky sculpties to be gone.. that's why we are happy we finally got mesh, right? ^.- And since you found the prices for Maya or 3DS max rather painfull - you might want to have a second look at blender again, and become good friends =) Cheers, Code

Ansariel said it all already ; ) not possible and for good reasons. And we want it to stay that way ^^

to expand on Chic's great answer: April 2, 2013:Merchants will no longer be able to list unlimited-quantity items for L$10 or less using Magic Boxes. Any active, unlimited-quantity listings for L$10 or less using Magic Boxes will be unlisted. April 16, 2013:Merchants will no longer be able to list unlimited-quantity items using Magic Boxes, regardless of price. Any remaining active, unlimited-quantity listings using Magic Boxes will be unlisted, regardless of price. For the time being, limited-quantity items can continue to use Magic Boxes and will not be affected. “Limited-quantity” refers to items that the Merchant does not have rights to copy (such as breedable animals which are “no copy” for the seller). We do not have a Magic Box shutdown date for the migration of limited-quantity listings at this time. After we designate that date, we will give 30 days’ notice so that Merchants will have time to migrate those items. However, to avoid disruption of your listings by the Magic Box phase-out, we strongly encourage you to convert all of your listings to Direct Delivery as soon as possible.

In addition: http://luigialejandro.org/xploder_tracker.php Most of the xploder trackers and pages appear to be kind of inactive or gone though. Maybe it's (finally >.> ) dying out.. but who am i to know... I never felt the need to use them ; )

- This appears to be a OS specific problem. - I am guessing (unfortunately you did not mention which OS you are using) that you have Windows 7. - Here it can have 2 reasons: 1) Additional Software like Bitlocker or also some Antivirus Software keeps locking this file. Possible Solution: * Rightclick the file and see if any context menu item comes up that allows you to unlock this file. * Check your antivirus logs if this application was possibly run in a so called 'sandbox' mode and thus all files are being locked while held in this kind of quarantine. If so - set the program and the file-extensions to allowed / do not run in sandbox mode. 2) Windows and its User-Rights-Management system is locking the files. (either because you don't have the adminrights or just using a regular user profile - opposed to what most people believe the default so called 'admin' profile does not provide 'full' adminpower. You have to create it specifically) Possible Solutions: * rightclick the file - and choose 'share with'. (when selecting 'nobody' that would just allow the main admin again) try to share it with groups such as Homegroup or similar. * try to move the file into another location that is 'not' part of the windows system directories. (i.e.. Into another drive / partition) The whole Win Directory is mostly locked and moving files into there, saving them there etc. can make these locked as well. PS: the reason why second life does not find or show this file, has nothing to do with the viewer itself or its updates. It is because the file is marked as 'locked' by the system and thus not accessable from 'any program'. Cheers, Code.

Extension 2 - Pants Example - Edgeflow and anatomy Okay and here comes the next step. In order to show a simple example of what differences the edgeflow can make I did the following: A) made 2 simple pair of example shorts (pants) B) For both all weighting I did was only just to copy / paste weights from the avatar's lower body. (to ensure that no one feels like 'enhanced' weighting would make the 'difference' here) C) Posed the Avatar and both pants in the same pose (in this case we go for a split pose example) D) Comparing the differences in behavior and their qualities. Note: The more optimal pants was based on 96 quad polygons, and the worse example on 99. Means the bad example could not even with having more polygons before subdivision gain any advantages. (we will later inspect 'why' that is - and what makes the difference) This example does not only apply to pants in certain - it also applies to custom avatar-legs you eventually want to make. 1) First let's have a look at the topology of the default female linden lab's avatar - lower body (if you are making cloth for another custom made avatar you have to inspect its topology of course) The edgeflow is here definitely defining the general flow of the upper thighs muscle tip and the lower body. 2.) Now let's pose that lady ( I choose a split pose because it shows the bending and the muscle influence the best for this example) Here u can see whereto those former marked edges 'wander' off when being posed. (Lindenlab got some extreme angles going on here due to how the edges are placed. Almost 90° for some of them but it works out more or less ; ) ) 3.) Now the (bad) generic example. Some pants made the way most people would start with: make some loops around the hip and behind and then extrude some loops straight down the legs. (Means not taking any anatomy into account here) The problem with these is that everything is in a rather checker-like pattern and does not really provide supporting edgeflows that would behave like real pants would on a body. 4.) And now some pants that actually have some edgeflow and a more thought-though topology: These pants are made with 2 principles in mind: (which you learned before - in case you read the former entries, that is ^^) - More detail where more bending and compression will appear when a body moves (animation), and lesswhere it is not needed. - Following the anatomic curvature of the kind of body we want to make it for (humanoid, in this case) 5.) Let's see how the generic pants would look in this pose: The obvious problems: The first impression one gets here is that It rather behaves like 'folded paper' then actual worn clothing. There is a lot ugly stretching going on (loops that get torn apart from each other) because this topology simply does not support these kind of movements between joint arrangements like this very well. Especially between the legs its getting really ugly and behaves rather un-natural. It also does not really simulate any existing thigh muscles. 6.) Now we compare the look of the better topology in this pose: This looks way more like something we would expect: The edgeloops in the crease between upper thigh and lower body support the contraction. All edgeloops wander off in an even behavior to the places where we actually need them. The relation between the loops stays consistent and fluid. (no big stretching or looking torn apart) The first edgeloop on the upper leg nicely 'imitates' the curving of the upper leg muscle. Conclusion: What is making the difference here? A different topology from the avatar mesh, but yet still following its important edgeloops / flows. Supporting anatomic behavior. Putting the loops in spots and positions where they are used to shape and imitate certain body features. Keeping the bones and their position and movements in mind too. Simply adding more faces or more subdivision is never the 'key' to success. It's about 'where' you add more and where to spare them. (i.e.. If I would just subdivide the whole pants mesh the 'crease's contraction' would become way too dense and strong) Have dense areas join less dense areas instead of subdividing your model into the nimbus of polygon overload. ; ) 7.) And at last let's compare this with real human examples: This will make the (hopefully) now obvious even more justified. When we are inspecting closely the way the fabric is being pulled and stretched (upper example) we can clearly see how the movement and positioning of the bones are working on some pants / fabric in these spots. And even more standing out: the fabric between the legs doesn't just get spread out in a flat manner, it rather 'contracts' before it starts spreading out. (this is due to not much forces going on in this particular spot = the lower pelvis) When inspecting the lower example we see that a human leg when being bend back or sidewards creates a certain 'crease' between the lower body and the top of the thigh-muscle. Some last words regarding fabric and clothing: When you make pants or any clothing you have to keep anatomy in mind, yes. But break it down to the 'main' influences. You don't need to bother forming the shape and behavior of every muscle in a leg into some pants (unless its some sort of tight stretchpants lol). Keep in mind what you can already accomplish with texturing, versus just adding more faces. Take into account that fabric always has an 'own life' as well. Because it floats above the skin and thus can move opposed / or barely influenced by some of the ongoing forces. Also different types of materials (thick leather, rubber, soft wool, satin) have different attributes (stiffness,softness, etc). Just like with modeling - try to see it in bigger pattern and just stick to where its the most needed. There is no absolute solution or best way to do it. Practice and you will find your own ways to accomplish certain things ! =) Cheers, Code.

and in addition here is the link to the instructions: http://community.secondlife.com/t5/English-Knowledge-Base/Parcel-media/ta-p/700097 Cheers, Code.

Could be several reasons, some i could think of: - Did you try to instead of having one vert with all bone weights on 0.001 to pick a vertex that has 1 weighted to any Bone and then add to this one all other weightgroups with the weight of zero? keep in mind 4 influences are allowed on one vertice, more make trouble.(seemed to do the trick when i had issues with a max export) (http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Mesh/Exporting_a_mesh_from_3ds_Max bottom of the page) - Did you alter the skeleton in any way? changed relations between bones. The skeleton has to have precisely the same hirarchie and naming as the default one. - mFootRight, mFootLeft Bone- / Weight-Groups are missing (if it's not in the importet Armature/Skeleton, you have to manually add these) - (you prolly did it already) but make sure there are no vertices left without being weighted to any bone. - I'm not sure about problems and issues with the Max2010 exporters. Might be an issue with that. Maybe read up on common issues. Or try the first to FBX and then to DAE export method. - in addition here is an older thread about that issue of the skinweights/bones not showing up in the exporter: http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Mesh/Rigged-mesh-no-joints-or-skin-weights/td-p/1311901 (its not only about max, but might have pointers to help you) Cheers, Code.

would be very much welcome ! =) and thanks

On firestorm it's in the same location Viewer - Preferences: General Tab To show or hide usernames inworld, both above other avatars and in chat: Log into Second Life. Choose Me (Viewer - in case of Firestorm) > Preferences from the top menu. Click the General tab. Select the Usernames checkbox. If the box is checked, usernames are shown. If the box is not checked, usernames are hidden. Click OK. Hope this helped, Cheers! Code

These links here should answer most of the question: - how to earn money in secondlife - make money in secondlife Cheers, Code

In addition to the former reply, these are all the parameters that can shape your dress if it's a rigged mesh: Section Shape parameters Body Height, Body thickness Head Head Size, Head Shape, Head Length, Face Shear Eyes Eye Size, Eye Spacing, Eye depth Torso Neck Thickness, Neck Length,Shoulders, Arm Length, Hand Size, Torso Length Legs Leg Length, Hip Width, Hip Length Shoes Heel Height, Platform Height All other shape parameters do not have an influence on it. For prim-dresses, just do it as Isabelli Anatine already described. Cheers, Code.

I was in a bit of a hurry. ...happens to the best of us =) I was hoping someone would go into more detail. ...detail-mission accomplished!

Auch ohne die (leider) fehlenden Informationen und auf meinen Annahmen basierend.. gehe ich mal davon aus das du fuer den Upload von Mesh auf dem 'Maingrid' registriert bist. Wie auch immer - fuer den Upload im Betagrid (solltest du es dort vergeblich versucht haben) musst du das IP tutorial nochmals machen unter deinem Aditi (Betagrid) Konto. Sollte der Link im Meshuploader wieder auf eine leere Seite fuehren (bekanntes Problem) kannst du diesen Link hier manuell oeffnen und dich dort fuer den upload freischalten lassen: Aditi IP Tutorial Start Sollte es dennoch ausschließlich um den upload im maingrid gehen, du hast das IP totorial abgeschlossen aber bist trotzdem nicht zugelassen - stelle sicher das Deine Zahlungsinformationen (Paypal oder Kreditkarte) hinterlegt sind. Diese sind zwingend erforderlich.

This is exactly why I have oftened wondered if it wouldn't be better to use the avatar's mesh to create clothing instead of the checkerboard like mesh that I see most people using. yes and no =) the usual "unsatisfying" answer - but I will try to explain (from my perspective) when yes and when no applies: - nononono : definitively no for the 'checkerboard' (as you named it) ; ) So let's break it down into yes = when do I stay very close to the avatar's topology, and no = when do I go more into a different topology' (checkerboards excluded ! ) - yes when you plan on making very tight clothes. (and here I include most clothing items like shirts, jeans, pants etc) - yes when making any kind of clothes based on soft material that is being influenced a lot by the muscles etc. - yes & no : in 'parts' of the topology where the 'shaping' you want to reach can't be provided by the topology of the avatar's ,mesh you make it for. There u have to gradually have the topology change over between edgeflow you 'should' keep and edgeflow that is needed to achieve a certain shape. - yes & no : when making tight clothes that have parts extending from it or materials that have often some own kind of anatomic behavior (very thick leather etc). In those cases I try to keep the 'general defining' edgeloops and their flow (mostly those in the joint-areas) in the same flow but gradually have them change over to accomplish what the other shape / fabric requires. - no when the structure and behavior of the fabric or material this item is supposed to mimic, is 'very' different from the underlying structure of the default avatar (or my own mesh avatars and their own topology) like lets say a metalplate- which would 'move' with the arm but of course not bend. So here I totally don't need to care about having the same topology as the avatar. (when we want something like this to expand over a joint they would, just as in an armor, either have gaps or own mechanical joints.)

thanks =) much appreciated. ( I have expanded the first entry in form of a reply, keeps it more clean and not too long as when being in one piece,. I will try to keep updating on it with further 'extensions')

Extension 1 : Now that we know all this. Lets have a look with the help of our well known default female avatar model from Second Life. ( I hope they are not going to chop my head off for analyzing their model's qualities lol. And we may or may not discuss how efficient it is. I still think in terms of an organized model made to fit the requirements for their engine it has stable ground.) As you can see the edgeloops (red) clearly define the flow of the shoulders. The mesh contains also a higher density in these areas. (because as we learned: more density where more bending and movement is needed) Also the edgeflow in the belly area is having this layout and curvature for a special reason - to mimic the chest and its rips. Down to the rather straight line at the belly where the body also tends to bend rather in a straight way. And everything kind of flows together / is centered. In the green areas they spare adding more faces and keep a lower dense mesh. (because not much will go on here while being animated and posed) The orange edgeloops define something most starters totally neglect: the shoulder muscles and the skin-bend over the shoulder joint. The breast / chest area (blue) might look odd to us, but its topology is made with keeping all sorts of deformations down to a completely flat chest in mind. So also here the topology has its purpose. (something we could never achieve by having just some straight faceloops, which would be pulled out a bit) Now with this 'anatomy' in mind it should clearly come to our understanding why a shirt like this: >>> would not work well. Not only does it 'not' support the curvature and bend in a shoulder it also does not reproduce the curves around the breast. Of course now some might say : but I can 'hide' this part of the avatar, by using some alphatextures. Well of course you can - But keep in mind: Not only when planning topology for a body - but also for clothes that are supposed to animated 'well' along with the underlying avatar and its skeleton.. And most importantly are supposed to behave 'realistically and reasonable' (readable as kind of realistic for the eye) you have to keep the anatomy in mind. And if something bends rather like a 'rubber-pipe' in spots where muscles and all sorts of anatomic influences would bend the fabric of your shirt, then the general outcome just isn't right. : ) This is just one example, but it applies to everything else. (pants, custom avatar meshes, rigged attachments etc) See it like this: with your faces and edges in the mesh you are imitating the behaviour of certain fabrics. And where we have one face there would be tonns of tiny strings in a fabric which can be pulled from several sides and be under the influence of several muscles and bones. Forces of any kind tend to 'concentrate' and flow together in certain areas. This is something you have to break down in the all over topology of your model. In high end game engines this 'sub' behavior (and for other purposes) is often enhanced by using 'Tessellation' (something we dont have in SL-yet) at real time. But the general model it is applied to still has to pe-define the all over structure. Sometimes you might want to have a different edgeflow or topology for certain reasons - with a different behavior to the underlying model in mind. Those are cases where you have to decide based on the material's substance and behavior how you want their topology to be. (as in plastic, leather, fabric, metal etc - not meant as in material-maps) Just give it a try and Google for "t-shirt topology" (same of course with all other potential items you want to make) and you will find many great examples and ways to make a good layout. (not all of them are of course applicable on the SL model. But hey you can download SL's avatar for free and just analyze yourself to find the best method)

... or in other words: "Topology - The 'anatomy' of your model" This post is meant as informative article and to share thoughts and insights into topology and good structuring of a model (mesh). So feel free to add your thoughts about topology as well as questions : ) This is a lot to read - suggested only for whomever it may concern / interest =) Everywhere were you see models you see differences in how they have been made. Models made by different kind of people vary of course from others: professional 3D artists, hobby modelers and people who are new to it and just started on this matter. In addition we can divide into models created for different targets: movie, game industry, certain 3D engines, and as in here: allowed uploads into existing engines (like secondlife). The difference in their creation does not only depend on the artist making them and their specific workflow and pattern, it also strongly depends on what they are made for. As mentioned above a gaming model will differ a lot in its requirements from a model being made for a high quality rendering movie. Not necessarily in its quality rather than certain requirements to polycount, mappings, rigging methods, skinning and a certain topology in order to function with the existing structures. Especially the newcomers or hobby artists are often overwhelmed by all the terminology and different workflows. They have a hard time understanding which of them are even important to take into account and which should not concern them at all. Topology is one of the terms that is important in any of these cases. We can make increments of where it is more important and where it is half-ways negligible. But it always is an important part. To start on the matter let's go first into 'what is topology' to clean up some common misunderstandings: 1) The word topology refers to the geometric surface characteristics of a 3D object. 2) Modelers try to keep "clean" topology, typically illustrated by a 3D mesh with efficient polygon distribution, proper edgeflow and placement of polygonal edge-loops, few or no triangular faces (as opposed to 4-sided "quads"), and clean precise creases that minimize stretching and distortion. 3) A further aspect of good topology, and an important concept when modeling for animation is increased polygonal resolution only in areas of a 3D model that will undergo the most deformation during animation (joints, facial features, moving parts) This means Topology is rather to see as the 'anatomy' of your model than seeing it in relation to it's polycount or mesh density. Even though the density / or count of faces relates to more dense areas where they are needed. (see 3) ). And of course the general topology of your model will define the complete amount of faces being used in your model. Note: the consistancy of keeping quads has to do with workflow. Normally you try to keep your model in this state till the very end of your modeling process in order to have a : more visually conclusive model, edgeloops you can work with, and to work well with modifiers like subdivision. As soon as your model is insides of an engine, or being rendered it all comes down to triangles anyways. (because that is all your graphic card will see and read) Where is topology a rather unimportant part? Or let's better ask: where are 'certain parts' of topology being rather negligible? - Edgeflow: we don't really need to care about edgeflow when making a 8 polygon tube object being used as static prop. - We also can abandon the concept of edgeflow when it comes to rather technical constructs like a house etc. Here the topology matters more in terms of how you place the faces, and how to achieve certain shapes (like beveling the corners) with a limited amount of faces by placing them in the right orientation, rotation. Unless (!) we want to make very organic shapes. Where is topology definitively important ? - Organic shapes, everything that is supposed to mimic the visual nature and behaviors of organic parts (muscles, skin, plants, certain materials, wrinkles, and much more). - Here the edgeflow and all over layout of the model plays a big part in the visual outcome and the behavior of the mesh when being animated. - When working with subdivision a good topology also becomes crucial. Subdivision will make every mistake stand out much more. Edges, Vertices and Edgeflow have to be in certain places and positioning to achieve good bending,stretching or compressing of the model when being animated. Topology is important the most where the model has to deform the most. (such as: crotch/hips/butt, shoulders/armpits, mouth corners/cheeks, knees, elbows, hands/fingers) Side-Note for Second Life purposes: Here we are having already parts where we can (at least in terms of animation) abandon the concept of 'additional edgeloops' for better bending in spots like feet, hands and the face. The Secondlife Skeleton does not have toe-, facial- or finger-bones (yet). Means: you don't need to add unneeded loops and hereby more faces to your model to achieve a good animation in parts that aren't even animated. Spare those faces for more needed areas. - And yes, topology is also important when it comes to efficiency as in fast render times (real time as well as pre-rendered) There are 3 ways to actively 'create' topology: - Lowpoly Modeling, Face Extrusion, Boxmodeling (these kind of fall into the same category) - Sculpting a highpoly-model and then 'retopologizing' it - Subdivision Surface Modeling (by applying any kind of subdivision modifiers to break down your model further from a very basic polygonal geometry) At the very end of editing your topology you mostly will start to 'optimize' things. Make dense rows of faceloops connect to a less dense area where you wouldn't need so much detail (i.e. the back of the head does not need to have the same density as the face). And start to stitch your all over Topology-Pattern together to achieve the best outcome. PS: Extensions to this will be posted - titled as "Extension Nr.#" as replies to this thread so keep browsing through the pages when you want to read more. So far existing: - Extension 1 - Shirt Example - analysing anatomi and fabric - Extension 2 - Pants Example - Edgeflow and anatomy - Extension 3 - Poles, Loops, Edges, N-Gons - The pattern of your topology (and the question: How many polygons to i "need" ?) - Extension 4 - Retopology - or : Topology Reverse - Extension 5 - How to give your mesh several secondlife-conform faces (in blender, plus ZBrush) - Extension 6 - Textures and Lowpoly Model Cheers, Code.

Without knowing what hardware specs she has, and which viewer she is using, or what has been done to her pc before she recieved it back ( i am guessing it was in repair / maintenance? ) it is hard to assume the source of the problem. Could be that her graphic card has been exchanged, drivers could be different, etc. I can only guess and give some general pointers. It looks pretty much like a graphics related problem: - regarding these invisible patches on the avatar: Go to Graphic settings -> hardware options and disable the Enable OpenGl Vertex Buffer Objects. - Check the system properties of the computer and look for what graphic card is in there, and from what date the drivers are. (It is possible that she is back to the system default drivers or even fell back to a onboard graphic card. Or they exchanged her graphic card with something that is incompatible) - where to find that depends on what Operational System she is using (windows,mac, or linux) so if she doesn't know how to, just check the web for it. - In case of using 2 Monitors find more info here : http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Invisible_Avatar - Make sure the drivers are up to date and the graphic card is working error-free. * - * Note: some of the latest drivers have issues with Secondlife (so could also be she needs to get back to an older functioning version) for more info look here: https://secondlife.com/my/support/system-requirements/index.php? Cheers, Code.

Nice dig ; ) And just shows again we shouldn't forget to think about those who might still have to fiddle with dial up. I wondered where that slight increase in december 2012 came from. So i dug around a bit myself. I found that some internet providers actively marketed dial up to people in uncovered areas, in order to get them ' under the hood' and to expand their all over coverage by starting with cheap technology. And in hope to convert those areas later on into broadband aswell. Fancy. Good old dial up still marketed in 2012, who would have thought that =)