TzunCet Xomotron

You are very helpful, it is truly appreciated... I could use some help in the experimenting dept, it's driving me nuts. The resource files provided are great, if you use Blender (I haven't seen any Max or Maya files), and the simplebot .dae works great, but I havent a clue where it came from (I like the anonymity of .dae files =P). From what I have seen so far, you can import files via the .dae format from Studio and Carrara, but I have not been able to bring anything in rigged. Note that I haven't been using the correct practice. One would need a rigged figure set to SL avatars features/joint for that to work, and it won't, the Poser crew uses a different naming system for joints. You won't be able to simply export Mike or Vicky and import them into SL (least not yet anyways). The joint names don't match... On a good note, meters in Carrara translate to meters in in-world SL, so for architectural type stuff, thats a HUGE plus =) (With the news of weight painting, I wouldn't be surprised if Daz was in cahoots w/ the SL team, even further, Daz could easily provide a "standardized platform" for content creation for SL) We shouldn't exclude Poser from the equation, it too exports in the .dae format... Like we already said though, it's a 3 point combo system, the Collada export itself, the program the end user would be exporting from, and then SL's ability to handle that .dae file. This is a VERY early stage in this process, but by next year, things will be d i f f e r e n t for sure...

Yes, I am aware of that. All of these advancements are making HUGE waves for 3D GraFX people, it's going to get VERY exciting and REAL soon =D But what brings me back here are a few related questions... Someone mentioned the "other" resource files available. I assume you mean the avatar.blend file and the simplebot.dae and .dae files... If from what I now understand these are the files that supply the joints/rigging, I am screwed unless I learn Blender... Now I understand why importing these files results in blank or static files in my other programs. Simply put, the .dae export option, w/ regards to communicating w/ other programs, is pretty broke. No ones "fault", just the fact of the matter. I can not access the joints or bones in my other programs in order to effectively interact w/ them to export a viable .dae myself. Blender, Max, Maya and what else works for the rigging of the avatar? I need more options, I can't stress enough how much I dislike Blender =( Does the "naming" of the bones matter at all?!? In Poser, Rshldr and rShldr are two completely different things, one will work, the other will not. If I were to "rename/work" the bones of a custom modeled Poser rigged figure, would that work? Problem w/ that is, I need a list of the SL avatar bones... Will all future custom avatars be limited to the generic SL avatar figure? That means, no tails, elongated necks, quadrapeds, etc... Is this true due to the nature of the SL system? That's ok, but I'd like to know. Is everything dependant on the joint files provided. I know, more to learn =) Again, thanks for the help/advice...

Well, you make some good points, that I am finding out as we "speak" on this... It really doesnt matter what program the model is made in, the meat and potatos is where you do the rigging, and as you say, it is then dependant on a program that does rigging, exports the collada fomat, AND exports all the joint/skeletal information that SL needs. That's a 3 part combo, and a hard one to come by, Collada itself is still pretty experimental... You're correct, both Poser and Daz Studio export in the collada format, however, I have not had any success w/ these programs. Carrara also exports in the .dae file format, but again, no success... You would think it would be easy, as there are already preset characters, but it hasn't worked with those, nor my own custom modeled figures rigged in those programs... To better explain my end, I use Carrara, Hexagon, 3D Coat and ZBrush to model in, but that pretty much means nothing. Mostly, I use the Poser/Daz Studio system for rigging. I can rig meshes in these programs, but as I render w/i that "family", I generally don't have issues w/ crossing into other sibling softwares, using the Poser standard .cr2 format. I can, and have rigged meshes in Carrara, which does support weight maps (I think?!?), so i will continue to try there. Admittedly, I have not looked into the Max/Maya best practices, simply because I do not own those applications. However there seems to be "general" info in there that requires "extraction" for my sakes and purposes... You gus are really awesome, thanks so much =) When this is all finalized and we are NOT in beta, I really hope to condense all this info into simple and easy to use resources for "my" community. It's a "fun" transition =P

You guys are most likely getting sick of my pestering, fear not, vacation is almost over =P I have been trying w/ immense frustration to get a rigged avatar mesh to work in SL... You guys seem to be way ahead of the game, and I was wondering if you could explain the process to have a model become an SL rigged avatar, from start to finish, going VERY slow for those of us who may still be having trouble... My biggest problem so far w/ this whole mesh/rigging thing is that everyone seems to be using Blender, which I do NOT =/ I think the ability to import custom meshes/objects/models is going to be far bigger than the Blender community, other (not necessarily better, I do NOT want to start a 3D application war) programs are sure to want in on the fun. 3D Studio Max, Maya, LightWave, ZBrush are just a few, the list goes on and on, BECAUSE you're giving -everyone and their grandmother- the opportunity to bring in their custom designed content. But it feels like SL just wants everyone to learn Blender, sadly, I have no interest in it, and "you" can't expect everyone else will either, even though it is free.So is Daz Studio, so is Wings3D so is Sculptris (I can go on and on about freeware). No, they don't do the same, but you can dig where I'm going..... But back to the topic in hand, what does it take to make the custom modeled mesh workable for SL purposes?!? How'd they do >> this << ?!? I immed who I believe is the creator, but its only been a little while, they haven't responded as yet. It explains how to put one on, but not how to create one. Understand it's not the "modeling" I need to learn, it's the process of getting the rigging to work in SL... Is the process/practice the same for making custom modeled clothes for avatars?!?

I'm only on day 5 of my "real" SL life, bare with me =P I honestly didn't even know we had an option to make custom avatars... That's a great thing. However, Linden people are sure to have their own default character, and working BOTH sides is not a problem for me (shouldn't be for any merchant). You can imagine plenty of new comers, most will use the items that for the linden default characters. The more advanced and long time users will use custom avatars, plenty of room for both markets... But this is really a marketing issue, and right now I just want those friggin leggins on my character =P I don't really care about the leggings..... I want the practice to work =/ I took me a few hours trying to get Blender installed (had to fumble between various versions, not cool, and new comers wont take to it I don't think) and getting all the right "things" and plugins and scripts and pythons to work correctly only to find that the exported .dae doesn't work or yield expected results. I can bring in my objects from Carrara through Collada, and even better, the "small" world system of Carrara matches the Linden Meter scale system "perfectly", meaning I can design and work w/ SL in-world dimensions flawlessy (10m in Carrara is 10m in SL)... But because the provided resource base SL avatar mesh is not to scale, what I do w/ clothes doesn't translate w/ regards to size/position =( Not trying to tackle marketing here, but I will get to that. Can't do marketing w/o anything to market =P

I really like SL and am looking forward to content creation for it. Please understand that my issue is not about modeling or Blender. You say you use ZBrush w/ great success, so then I ask how would do "you" bring in your clothes modeled in ZBrush into SL... I saw sheep in sequin video tutorial, but it was obvious that there was a problem w/ size and positioning on import/upload. In the MachinMatrix video (Mesh Overview) while in blender she models the arm cover over the base geometry of the SL avatar object. On import it "snap fits" over the arm w/o issue of scale or position... That's the good stuff... How can I ensure that that happens if I model in ZBrush for example. In theory (or through my basic practices) if I model over a base figure in "any" program, the model -should- fit over the zero position/pose of the figure I modeled the clothing item for. In SL, the drag/drop process doesnt allow for that to happen, or I just don't know how to do it yet. The next step would be to have the model (the clothing item) move with the figure, but we cannot put the cart before the horse =/ I have to admit, that just in my short time here (less than a week), it seems that this beta stage is extremely inconsistent. Practices and techniques (and even programs) seem to become outdated way too fast, and picking info thru the forums and searches is like a wild goosechase... Should I "not" practice until the final release? Will there be updated content creator resources easily available to us? For practice, I started a simple test project. Just simple leggings... If the item was NOT modeled in Blender, how do I have the figure "wear" the item? You would think it's simple, but this really is all I am trying to do =/ I believe the practice would work for custom avatars (by hiding the figure) and clothes, so I'm admittedly VERY eager to test out some "stuff" I have...

Nah... Don't want Maya either... I own/use Carrara (which does have collada 1.4 export), Hexagon 2.3, ZBrush 4 and 3D Coat among other tools... It's not that I have a problem modeling, I don't know how to bring my models into SL to "SL-erize" them.

Made some progress in my SL transition, but need a little more help... What I would like to do is design clothes and maybe even full avatars. I watched the videos at Machinimatrix and I understand the theory behind most of what is going on, but there are still some missing blanks... One thing is that I do not (and will not) use is Blender. I have my own arsenal of software which I am very comfortable using, and would like to incorporate what I have in my workflow rather than deal w/ another program and a learning curve. I was so desperate, I even converted the avatar.blend file to a .dae which I tried using in Carrara, but I'm going to assume the collada plugin for Blender doesnt like Carrara, the file caused constant crashes and no matter how many times I wrote the file, it was unusable =( How does one go about designing clothes for SL w/o Blender or any of the other "sister" modeling programs? Usually, I model the clothes/props around the base model and import, but SL doesnt import the model in the same space/position as where it was modeled. How would I get items/clothes to snap or fit to correct position?!? Even worse, items imported are scaled wrong, making that process even harder. This happens even when I use the base Mesh as a "model" to model my clothing items over. Between size and position, I can't get things to fit. Also, I am not getting any results trying the skin weight or joint options. I tried using the export from the avatar.blend file, and also from the robot mesh (found someone in these forums) none produced "any" results =/ I noticed a .cr2 was provided w/ the base avatar mesh. This is awesome, but how could I make the most use of this gift?!? I tested it in Carrara, and works great (poses pefectly), but how can I utilize this in Poser fashion?!? Any help would be golden and greatly appreciated =)

Many thanks for the help... If it's a SL side glitch, I can live w/ it =P So long as I can bring the cost down on my imported models, I am ok for now...

I have since updated the Mesh Viewer and am having great success w/ my imports and keeping costs down (or at least understanding how to control cost to some degree w/i SL). However, after a great amount of finagling I was able to see that when I use the analyze, that the model will not import. After a drag/drop, I hear the rattlesnake, but see no model I can interact with. So I can't help but feel I may still be doing something wrong =/ So what I am doing is importing the model, setting my LOD, selecting the same LOD in Physics, and that produces an acceptable result. Note that in the other Viewer, the LOD would also determine the quality of the texture imported w/ the model, doesn't seem to be an issue w/ the latest update, which is awesome... The help and advice is appreciated thank you =) When this goes live, expect a lot of cross application terminolgy chaos and workflow requests =P

Thank you all for your responses, it is appreacted =) Seems that most of the problems are from my not having the correct version. Instead of getting into all of that, how would I make these setting adjustments with the version I am using now... A lot of the options and features that were/are refered to in the tutorials are either not present in the version I am using or are grayed out. So how would I provide a physics shape?!? The prim option was NOT available for me to use, and the analize option was grayed out. I couldnt make heads or tails between the two different UI's, there are HUGE changes in them. I have installed and am using version 2.6.3 (226799) =/

Hello all, hope everything is well and working in your favor as you read this =) I finally got the Mesh Viewer Beta installed and working, and have found an awesome combo in workflow using 3DCoat, Hexagon, ZBrush and Carrara... It will be very exciting when it's finally released. One thing I wanted to know how to do w/ the current version bind the character/avater to the physical geometry of the imported model. In the video tutorial by Machinimatrix, they use a method in which he changes a setting to a prim, but the current version does not allow or have this option. This process refers to the part in the video tutorial when the lady attempts to stand on the lighthouse, but falls through, and checks the mesh geometry using the develop>render metadata>shape feature. Also to note, they used some technique in which he dragged/dropped the geometry info onto a tetrahedron?!? My models, when imported/uploaded do not create a "Mesh" folder, so again, this was an option that was not available to me. Also, since I'm here and asking, are there any rules/restrictions/guidelines to follow w/ regards to the textures?!? Best format to use? Best size? Any do's and donts, pros and cons to be aware of?!? Any advice that could be offered would be of immense help and greatly appreciated =)