emSynth

Also, a few words are appropriate in response to Chosen Few's accusations. The threats were twofold. One person said that if I carried out my plans to offer a sculpt2mesh service, I should expect to hear from a lawyer, the obvious implication being that there could follow a lawsuit. The other was that someone might get angry at me and have a friend who was a hacker, and the implication was that I could expect to be hacked. Rather than act fearfully as Chosen Few has suggested, I replied that I did not fear lawyers or hackers, and that their thinly veiled threats were ineffective. What Chosen Few has chosen to do is twist the situation around, implying that I am behaving in an unreasonable way. This is just one example of many such manipulations of the facts that clearly indicate deception and manipulation on the part of Chosen Few. Yes, it does read like abuse because it is abuse. This is Second Life, Chosen Few, many of the participants of this forum are thoughtful and intelligent people who will read through your smokescreen of distorted facts and argumentative techniques. You are not helping your argument by behaving in this way. Please stop. emSynth

Well, in regard to the issue of answering anyone's questions regarding the uses of sculpt2mesh, I do not see how I am responsible for that. It is a data converter. It converts one form of data to snother. It was a programming exercise to implement it. I gave the source code to the community. Those are the relevant facts and my responsibility ends there. Any arguments regarding usefulness or suitability for purpose may be carried out by others as far as I am concerned. I am not championing this tool or suggesting that you use it, I am just offering it to whoever wants it. End of story. emSynth

For those who will be using sculpt2mesh, i would also like to mention the existence of the utility programs provided by atangeo. The balancer free demo program is suitable for optimization of many sculpt2mesh objucts. Far better than simple decimation, the optimization process, which requires user interaction for best results, produces a mesh with larger triangles in smoother places, good ddge detection, and generally more efficient use of triangles. You may wish to convert a sculpt to mesh at higher resolution than the final desired result and use atangeo's tools to optimize your mesh. emSynth

prim2sculptprim2meshsculpt2primsculpt2meshmesh2primmesh2sculpt Alright, I'll tell you what. I am sick and tired of dealing with people who blindly insist on arguing the lost position that a data converter has moral implications. What's done is done, the cat is out of the bag, the source code has been released. Now you have to deal with the reality of the situation. I suggest you do so rather than attempt to put words in my mouth, paint me in a bad light by taking my words out of context, or craft imaginary scenarios implicating the criminalization of this inevitable step forward. And if that isn't enough to fry your noodle, try this one on for size. There exist three types of objects in Second Life and the rest of the Metaverse: prims, sculpts, and mesh. That means that there exists the possibility to create a total of six categories of object data converters. These are listed above. Eventually all of them will exist, to one degree of automation or another. I suggest you prepare for the inevitable. emSynth

i suppose a few additional details refarding the sculpt2mesh tool are in order here. First let me correct myself in that the output file will go to the same folder as the input file, not to the desktop (that was an earlier version). Also it is important to note that the decimation values must be powers of two sech as {4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256} and they must not exceed the original dimensions ofvthevsculpt. I,e, decimation is forvequivalence or reduction, not expansion. Another key note i that there appears to be a slight error in the numeric conversions that causes somr smooth sculpts to have a slightly choppy or faceted appearance. In fact, if you want a smooth rounded shape such as a car fender or similar object, you might want to consider using a sculpt anyway As sculpts are inherently good at approcimating rounded forms. Mesh is best at faceted or angled forms, especially considering the land impact factor. However, mesh can be smoothed such as by using the smooth button on the leftbhand toolbar of Blender forvexample, but this has the additional effect of negativels affecting texturing andcas such is best for solid or non-detailed textures. So you see, the trade-offs are complex. I have coded the sculpt2mesh script asca command line only script with the specific intention of embedding it in a server web page as a paid service. If anyone wishes to set up such a service, i have secured the URL "sculpt2mesh.com" which I would be happy to transfer either for free (in the case of a nonprofit effort) or for a reasonably small fee (in the case of commercial use). I would like to thank one person who shall remain anonymous for now (you know who you are) for promting and proddingbme repeatedly to code sculpt2mesh, and another anonymous person for help implementing thevserver scriptbthat was never used. Please note that even when your efforts do not result in actual implemented end product, you are still part of the creation process and therefore deserve credit. If either of the folks mentioned would like credit associated with their name or nickname, please contact me and I will do so. I guess thatbis all for now, please feel free to adk any questions you likecand I will attempt tonanswer them, thanks. emSynth

I do not recall making any "promise" at all, however I am happy to list some legitimate uses of the sculpt2mesh tool. One is the situation where a resident has created a sculpt using a tool that does not have mesh output. Another is when the source materials, tools, or computer, or operating system used to create the sculpt are no longer available. Yet a third reason is when a resident has permission from the sculpt creator to perform the conversion. A fourth reason is when it is desired to enhance the sculpt with one of the advntages of mesh (which at your request I will not list here). A fifth reason would be to add detail or sharpness to a sculpt beyond the capability of sculpts. Sixth, one might wish to combine two or more sculpts together or combine with a prim2mesh tool (which I have also created), thus turning any SL object into a mesh only object. There are six reasons, all legitimate, and I am sure there are more. Please do not be afraid of a simple data converter. When Linden Labs introduces a new technology there are always implications, not all of which are viewed as favorable by all people. Rest assured that sculpt2mesh will not replace sculpts, as sculpts are the clear choice for many applications, especially in terms of land impact, but also for other reasons. Fear not The turning wheels of progress! EmSynth

Alright, where to begin? I suppose a brief mention of how to use the code would be best, because you're probably eager to give it a try. later I will discuss history and credits or whatever. To begin with,the code is set up to be run from the command line so you open it in your Applescript editor and export it as an app. Then you run it with the command as follows. sculpt2mesh inputFileName xDecimation yDecimation stitchingType where inputFileName is any common type of graphics format in quotes, xDecimation and yDecimation are the output resolution you want as integers, and stistchingType is one of {"Spherical", "Cylindrical", "Planar", "Toroidal"}. Oh, and also important is you need to search Google for the Imagine Photo app, which is free, and download / install it because the script uses Imagine photo extensively. The result should be an obj file on your desktop. it is as simple as that. emSynth

Greetings My fellow Second Life Metaverse residents! I have a special gift for you, my source code for a program that converts sculpt map files to obj files suitable for use as Mesh source material. I will first simply state that the code is protected by the GNU GPL, and that my intention is to protect it under the GNU GPL whether I have properly labeled the source code or not. I think I have, but such things confuse me. In this post I will simply do first things first and post the code only, explaining all the details in following posts. The code is Applescript, by the way. -- This Software is Protected by the GNU General Public License -- See http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html for details -- -- by Les Hall (emSynth) -- on run argv -- set input file alias from argv parameters set inputFile to path to desktop set inputFile to ((inputFile as text) & (item 1 of argv)) as alias -- set output file as random name and then open it for write access set outputFile to ((inputFile as text) & (".obj")) set outputFileDesignator to open for access file outputFile with write permission -- get size and color info from iMagine Pohto application tell application "iMagine Photo" set thisImporter to import graphic inputFile if the component error of thisImporter is not equal to 0 then close thisImporter display dialog "Not an image file that quicktime recognizes." return end if set {x, y, xDim, yDim} to the natural bounds of thisImporter -- figure out decimation stuff set dims to (xDim as string) & "x" & (yDim as string) set promptText to "Sculpt map dimentions: " & dims & ", decimate to:" set decimations to {2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256} set xDecimation to (item 2 of argv) as integer set yDecimation to (item 3 of argv) as integer if xDecimation is not in decimations then set xDecimation to 64 as integer if yDecimation is not in decimations then set yDecimation to 64 as integer set scale of thisImporter to {xDecimation / xDim, yDecimation / yDim} set xSize to xDecimation as integer set ySize to yDecimation as integer set theLeft to xDim / 2 - xSize / 2 as integer set theRight to xDim / 2 + xSize / 2 as integer set theTop to yDim / 2 - ySize / 2 as integer set theBottom to yDim / 2 + ySize / 2 as integer -- draw the sculpt map image file set thisDocument to make new window document with properties {dimensions:{xDim, yDim}} set the drawing destination of thisImporter to thisDocument draw thisImporter close thisImporter -- get pixels and write them out as vertexes set imageColorsByLine to {} set maxValue to 256.0 * 256.0 repeat with yValue from theTop to theBottom set startPoint to {theLeft, yValue} set endPoint to {theRight, yValue} set pixelValues to get pixel values of thisDocument with properties {pixel value class:pixels on line, start point:startPoint, end point:endPoint} set pixelInfo to get pixelValues's items set pixelColors to item 2 of pixelInfo -- save vertexes of obj file set vertexString to "" repeat with vertex in pixelColors set x to ((item 1 of vertex) / maxValue) as string set y to ((item 2 of vertex) / maxValue) as string set z to ((item 3 of vertex) / maxValue) as string set vertexString to vertexString & "v " & x & " " & y & " " & z & linefeed as string end repeat write vertexString to outputFileDesignator as string end repeat -- close the input file close thisDocument quit end tell -- get stitching type set stitchingTypes to {"Spherical", "Cylindrical", "Planar", "Toroidal"} set stitchingType to item 4 of argv -- set up triangle generation according to stitching type set xWrapValue to 1 set yWrapValue to 2 set endcaps to true if stitchingType is ("Spherical") then set xWrapValue to 1 set yWrapValue to 2 set endcaps to true else if stitchingType is {"Cylindrical"} then set xWrapValue to 1 set yWrapValue to 2 set endcaps to false else if stitchingType is {"Planar"} then set xWrapValue to 2 set yWrapValue to 2 set endcaps to false else if stitchingType is {"Toroidal"} then set xWrapValue to 1 set yWrapValue to 1 set endcaps to false end if -- save triangles of obj file set yDim to ySize as integer set xDim to xSize as integer repeat with yVal from 0 to (yDim - yWrapValue) repeat with xVal from 0 to (xDim - xWrapValue) set upperLeftCorner to yVal * xDim + xVal set upperRightCorner to yVal * xDim + (upperLeftCorner + 1) mod xDim set lowerLeftCorner to (upperLeftCorner + xDim) mod (yDim * xDim) set lowerRightcorner to (upperRightCorner + xDim) mod (yDim * xDim) set ulc to upperLeftCorner + 1 set urc to upperRightCorner + 1 set llc to lowerLeftCorner + 1 set lrc to lowerRightcorner + 1 set face1String to (("f ") & (ulc as string) & " " & (llc as string) & " " & (lrc as string)) as string set face2String to (("f ") & (lrc as string) & " " & (urc as string) & " " & (ulc as string)) as string set outputString to face1String & linefeed & face2String & linefeed as string write outputString to outputFileDesignator as string end repeat end repeat if (endcaps is true) then repeat with xVal from 1 to (xDim - yWrapValue) set outputString to "" set faceString to (("f 1 ") & ((xVal + 1) as string) & " " & ((xVal + 2) as string)) as string set outputString to outputString & faceString & linefeed as string write outputString to outputFileDesignator as string end repeat set xOffset to yDim * (xDim - 1) repeat with xVal from (1 + xOffset) to (xDim - yWrapValue + (xOffset)) set outputString to "" set faceString to (("f ") & ((1 + xOffset) as string) & " " & ((xVal + 2) as string) & " " & ((xVal + 1) as string)) as string set outputString to outputString & faceString & linefeed as string write outputString to outputFileDesignator as string end repeat end if -- close obj file close access outputFileDesignator end run Enjoy! emSynth (AKA Inventor Alchemi)

Solstyse, you said it very well. I should clarify that I have worked plenty of those mundane jobs myself, everything from the family business as a youth which was tough, grimy labor to putting myself thru college doing everything from fast food to cleaning up after dogs. Which is why, now retired on disability, I value my Second Life so much. Well you get the idea. Now if only I could get Splashtop running... Ah, matters not, things are about to change anyway. emSynth

You know solstyse, I have found that the majority of people have little or no real imagination, at least when it comes to innovations. I think I know why too. It is because the vast majority of work that must be done is mubdane labor and service jobs, which far outnumber innovation related jobs. And the history of mankind is filled with the meat and potatoes of mundane work, only slightly spiced with innovation seasoning if you see the parallel there. For this reason society is filled with mundane thinkers who downplay innovation and cast stones in the path of creative thinkers. i suggest you burn the old adage "do not cast your pearls before swine" into your memory and rather seek out more imaginative types to share your ideas and accomplishments. Friend me, lets talk. emSynth

Another thing that happened today was that I encountered a possible security violation on my server. Fortunately the solution was easy, MacStadium just gave me a brand new squeaky clean server to solve the problem. if I were running a home computer developing software locally and someone hacked my system, I would have to unplug the machine and drive it to the computer shop for an overhaul which would cost who knows how much and take who knows how long, but since I rent a machine from MacStadium it's nothing to just swap out the box. That advantage alone makes the USD $52 I am paying per month seem quite reasonable. Of course there are other companies that compete with MacStadium and I get the impression that they are all equally good to deal with, but I gotta give the recommendation to MacStadium because they have gone out of their way to accommodate me in situations like this three times already. Probably the others would have done the same as well, so shop around but do include MacStadium on your shopping list. Oh I have some good news about future plans being cooked up at MacStadium and probably at their competitors as well. For reasons of professional integrity I will not repeat details, but suffice to say they are giving some careful thought to accommodating folks like us with new products, new services, and even more for our money. Huh, it's funny; you think up a simple thing like SL on an iPad and it tuns into an opportunity to make a small difference in a lot of people's lives. Unexpected outcome! emSynth

Today I bought the client of splashtop for iPad and attempted to make it work. At USD $3 it was a holiday bargain so I grabbed it, all excited about the possibility of bidirectional audio which is the most important feature that all of the other solutions I have tried lack. Audio, specifically the ability to voice into a sim is what friends tell me is needed for them to consider a remotely hosted solution streamed to their mobile. They want to participate in prayer meetings, attend sermons or bible studies, or just hang out and enjoy fellowship and they want to do it in voice On their mobile. For this reason I am being patient with Splashtop as it does not work for me. I am sure the problem is me, but I cannot imagine what part of such an elegantly simple setup process I could have screwed up. I installed the client and ran it, answered the questions which included setting up a Splasdot account, and was then instructed to install the Splashtop Streamer on "the computer". Once I figured out that in my setup "the computer" was a reference to my MacStadium server in Atlanta, I realized that I actually had to use ANOTHER VNC client to log into my server and set up the streamer, which I did. At this time I get an error message when I attempt to log into my server using Splashtop. I am uncertain as to whether or not the other remote connection must be maintained to keep the streamer running or whether the streamer will continue to run without the login connected. It's a mess. Fortunately it breaks nothing else and I am only out three bucks so no big deal, but I really wanted that audio, sigh. emSynth

Hi solstyse, I am using the onscreen keyboard for cost and convenience reasons. The cost I can overcome by just waiting a month but the convenience is paramount. Recall that one of the goals is to play SL while in bed so I can rest my sore feet and lower legs because of my congested heart failure. It is a medical bed so it has motors that position me in a seated position, semi-upright. Well, I must hold the iPad mini with one hand while controlling SL with the other. If I had an external keyboard, that would be a real juggling act. Plus I am already struggling with a set of headphones as an accessory, any more and this thing becomes unwieldy. Not to mention the charging chord if I need that. What is needed as far as additional controls go is to harness the available iPad sensors. These include the accelerometers, the compass, the ambient light sensor, and the two cameras. In an ideal world, all of these would be available to the SL VNC software and to the viewer, and ultimately the avatar. For example what if the cam and / or avatar motion were controllable by moving the iPad around? In one such implementation, you would hold the iPad in front of you like looking through an empty picture frame and the cam and avatar orientation change according to the iPad used as a portal. It would be like WYSWIG for viewers or something. Tilt down to look down and up to look up. For the cam pointed at the user, this gives us an image stream of the user. I have thought of broadcasting this to a website then using media on a prim to place my face. Either on my avatar face or above and behind the avatar at camera position in a ghostly image of myself. Being a scripter, I could make it so that this ghost of me in RL floats around at the camera position and points in the camera direction, thus showing everyone what I am doing both in SL and in RL to a degree. Maybe I will work on that tonight. If I created that and put it on the marketplace, would anyone buy it? emSynth

OK I am back from playtime and will respond to what has been written. First I will ask that you not pick apart every word I write like some usenet junkie starting a flame war. That will get us nowhere. Also please refrain from threats, that is inappropriate. I do not fear hackers or lawyers so your mention of their imagined response on your part is not only ineffective, it actually appears to be a cry for help. Do not fear the unknown consequences of progress. I have previously stated the advantages of and situations within which one might benefit from converting sculpts to mesh And I see no need to repeat them here. Also I am not distributing the obj output files to anyone but the customer - I am not spreading mesh files among my customers As Oh asserts. In fact, I will not address any additional misconceptions except to ask you to Go back and read the thread again. I have proposed to include creators in the profit model and for that matter Linden Labs as well so that everyone involved receives compensation for their role in this plan. I have also proposed a no resell disclaimer In which the mesh output may only be used in builds. And most importantly I made an effort to incorporate all of your concerns to the best of my ability. There is nothing else that I can do short of canceling the project, which is not appropriate. Please realize that you cannot stop the march of progress no matter how strong your fear of the unknown may be. If i were to listen to you and give up, then someone else would provide this technology and guess what? They might not be quite so accommodating! So I respectfully suggest that you learn to deal with the emergence of sculpt2mesh - it is not going away! emSynth

Chosen Few, I have read your post and I will be happy to explain the advantages of using sculpt2mesh, however at the moment I am going to hang out with some friends and have a little fun play time which is am rare opportunity for me. It is nearly one am on New Years data and I need a break! In the mean timeyo if you wish study read the more recent posts than the ones you referenced in your very detailed and thoughtful post, you will find some good answers there. Have a grat evening and I will get back to you as soon as I can! emSynth

Casper, calm down. There are answers to all of your concerns and I will at least begin to address them here. Many people prefer to avoid Blender for various reasons, and even fewer want to find and install an use a script in Blender or any other program. The obj file format allows our customers to run optimization software such as atangeo's balancer programs which do a superb job of adjusting the quality / LI trade off. Also there are many ways of converting obj to colada that are far more user friendly than the intimidating UI of Blender. Your statement describing our customer base is inaccurate as well. Sculpt2mesh is a tool for builders who wish to incorporate the advantages of Mesh using sculpts as source material, not a hack for criminals. So to be a bit straightforward with you, yes you did miss something - you missed it all! Not that it matters, but I have been an SL creator for close to three years now, my prior alt is Inventor Alchemi. emSynth

Security is definitely a major concern. First, regarding automatic upload to SL, that is possible but it opens up a wole other can of worms that we cannot afford to deal with at this time. We could modify a viewer to do this natively or use automation software to do it, but one mistake and the whole system breaks down which is not good for anyone involved. Also, please realize that our output file format at this time is obj, not colada. This is the best first file format from a development standpoint and it permits the user to run an optimization program on the mesh to improve the appearance / LI trade off in a smarter way than simple decimation. For all these reasons automatic upload to SL is a no go situation. However the good news is that we can protect your IP in several ways. We can delete the files automatically and immediately after use. This will significanly lower the window of opportunity for theft. We can perform cross checks between the LSL token and the server scripts, comparing things like owner name, file name, and possibly do something with the sculpt map data itself such as show the user a big randomly selected pixel in SL and on the web page and asking them if they are the same color or what color it is, as a sort of captcha thing maybe. Also we can pay extra for a dedicated security router to be installed at the server site and install security software as well. There are lots of possibilities for security enhancement and we will begin with the automatic file deletion and go from there. Also, my partner in this venture mentions that it is unlikely that someone will attempt to hack a server to steal a product that they can either copy bot or more easily just purchase with the intention of violating the agreement that you specify. So not only can we remove the data and secure it, we can also be the path off greater resistance to theft. We also will add a disclaimer which states that the output file is for use in builds only and is not for resale in any form or circumstance. How's that? emSynth

Hehe, then I shall do just that! The operator of sculpt2mesh should have the sculpt maps in SL as well as in RL, so to speak. I can require that a copy of the sculpt map be placed into the purchased token as part of the upload process. Then the script can simply use llGetObjectDetails() to find out both owner and creator and relay this information to our server. We can then keep a database of upload fees (since each token will report its own fee) paid in each creator's name. Then it is a simple matter to occasionally pay the creators L$ automatically from an in world prim. This way the Lindens get a piece of the action from the sale of the tokens in the marketplace, the creators get a piece of the action automagically showing up in their accounts, and we get our piece as well... Plus the customer can feel free to convert sculpts since all of the creators might be motivated to proactively send out new policies encouraging this new method of increasing profits! We might even get some complaints from creators such as: "Why are you sending me L$?", haha. The Lindens have already set their percentage of the net profits via automated marketplace deductions. Let me suggest something in the neighborhood of oh, say 25% of the amount received from the marketplace on a per conversion basis as automatically tracked by our system For the creators, leaving us with 75% of the post Linden revenue if you will allow that comical term, heh. We can of course negotiate that number. Also, such a system requires oversight so I suggest that we agree to pay a third party scripter to independently help with setup and maintenance of the software that makes all of this happen. Do these terms meet with your Approval? emSynth

Hi Amethyst, so many questions You ask! I will attempt to answer them all right here. A sculpt map reachable by our upload component must be available for upload. Basically the process begins with uploading your image file which can be one of several accepted formats. How that sculpt map image file gets there is a function of the user and their integrity. If downloading from Second Life that means the sculpt map texture must be full perms as I understand it. The output of sculpt2mesh is an obj file. We will add colada output later, but for now it is obj only. There is only one texture side in the obj file. The work flow therefore involves importing the obj file in a 3D editor such as Blender where texturing add texture sides as you wish, up to eight of them naturally. You can then edit the mesh object to your heart's content including combining it with other sculpt2mesh conversions or even prim2mesh conversions. So if you can drive a 3D editor somewhat then you can take a Second Life object made of prims, sculpts, and even mesh (if you have the source files for the mesh) and turn it into a single mesh object. Regarding LI, or Land Impact, the Lindens have chosen to set things up such that a direct conversion without editing, decimation, or optimization of a 64 x 64 sculpt map results in an LI of around 32! This is ok for clothing attachments where LI is not as much of an issue, however it is excessively large for Rezzed objects. For this reason we have added decimation to the work flow. You can take the 128x128 Apple sculpt map texture from the library and run it through sculpt2mesh with decimation of 8x8 or so to get a somewhat blocky but usable Apple mesh With low LI. As to the advantages of converting a sculpt to a mesh object, there are many. LI is not one of them! If you need low LI which is often the case, then keep it as a sculpt. Mesh conversion advantages include making flexible cloth items from previously rigid sculpts, better texturing, the ability to alter sculpts for which the original tool used to create the sculpt is no longer available or the source materials are lost. Creating mesh objects from sculpt only tools, faster rezzing, physics shapes, up to eight sided textures, and other advantages that escape me at the moment. Oh, and for simple faceted objects like gems for jewelry, you can make objects with LI less than one (0.5 minimum). This works well when you link together several such objects and their LIs add up fractionally. emSynth

Thank you fort that clarification. In the case of no mod maps, since they cannot be downloaded, they cannot be run through our tool. The work flow for sculpt2mesh begins with an upload to our machine from your machine, meaning that only full perm maps can be converted. Regarding the accepted practice in the event a creator cannot be contacted, what is it then? You bring up a very interesting point with the creator name being assigned to that of the uploadIng party. That would imply that only the creator of the sculpt map could use our tool, which would be fine with me. If I recall correctly, however, according to the ten question upload test, one only needs permission from the IP owner to do an upload. And upon mentioning that, I have just realized that the creator and the IP owner may be separate people. So, sigh, it gets complicated. We can put a terms of use with required checkbox indicating agreement on the web page if the community feels this would be prudent. Also, I have just begun to design the token based monetizing system in which users will buy tokens from the SL marketplace and Rez or wear these tokens to gain access to the server based sculpt2mesh tool. I could get fancy and require that the sculpt main texture be placed in the token for some sort of testing. Unfortunately any such verification is limited by the available LSL features for sculpts and textures which are limited. i would like to mention that I have made every reasonable effort to understand these issues and to operate in accordance with accepted practice, and I rely on thoughtful people like yourself to help me resolve any issues that arise. We will, within reason, tailor our software the meet the needs of the community. emSynth

Without getting into semantics about my choice of words and such, i sense that you are intending to raise the issue of intellectual property rights in the context of the emergence of a new tool that performs data conversions of IP storage files. This is a very valid concern and I would like to express some related thoughts that are based upon my asking some people I know, not upon some legal expertise. It goes like this. The creator of the sculpt map typically reserves the right of ownership of each data file via copyright, however the situation is that the files are released as full perm items due to the nature of their use by the customer. To protect the IP, the creator specifies terms of use that the customer agrees to by making the purchase. As long as the customer acts with integrity this system works for all involved parties. With the introduction of mesh to SL, the possibility of a sculpt2mesh converter emerged and has now become a reality. This affects the existing agreements because the creator may not have foreseen this possibility and therefore did not specify what the customer may or may not do in converting a sculpt to mesh. Creators are justifiably concerned because their customers, without specific guidance on their rights, may just assume that they can do the conversions freely without getting the creator's permission. This is a mistake that can be made even by a customer acting in good faith. So how do we handle this situation? There is precedent. On occasion a customer of a sculpt map creator may need to contact the creator for clarification of the rights agreement for whatever reason. When this occurs, the generally accepted procedure is that the customer must make a good faith effort to contact the creator, and if after some time the creator cannot be located - usually due to leaving SL for some reason - then the customer can consider the IP to be public domain. To my limited knowledge this is accepted procedure. Basically the same applies in thie situation. The burden of responsibility on the customer is to seek out the creator, and the burden of responsibility of the creator is to be available via typical search and contact means. The fact that the tool is new and unforeseen by many creators does not alter this accepted practice. Finally, I will mention an analogy that helps us understand the situation. A software tool is a lot like a hardware tool. The sculpt2mesh tool is a bit like a wrench in that it performs some function that either a car creator or a car customer may wish to perform upon the car. Unfortunately it is also possible for the wrench to be misused in a variety of ways ranging from damaged bolts, stripped threads, or even illegal and / or violent use. Do we outlaw wrenches because of the possibility of misuse, or do we educate all wrench users about the proper use of the wrench? I choose the latter. emSynth

Coming to a website near you soon: sculpt2mesh conversion! It will be simple, easy, and affordable to convert sculpt maps that you own into mesh objects. Checking file creation dates, apparently it was November 23rd of this year that I began the scripting. I have been sitting on the code for a over a month now because of the influence of factors beyond my control. Then recently a new member of Designers Coalition asked me for a project to develop. One thing led to another and now it looks like we will have something ready for you to test soon. We still have technical details to work out such as a metering system, and business concerns to resolve as well, so I ask for your patience regarding the release date. Trust that we are doing our best to bring you sculpt2mesh as soon as possible. Please direct any comments or questions to this thread to centralize the discussion for now, thanks. emSynth

Since my last post to this thread I have gotten a bit more familiar with the "Remoter VNC" product and I now feel it is a viable option for driving an SL viewer. The reason for that is my discovery of many mouse and keyboard controls that were not blatantly obvious to the new user. The mouse revelation was to discover the use of the second button from the lower left corner, a hand with pointing finger to lower left. This is a toggled control which seems to help with the assertion of mouse clicks of greater than zero duration. Toggle it on and you can click, drag, then release even when enduring frame rates of one FPS or lower. It may also work with the other two mouse controls, the right click and the left double click icons. In the keyboard discovery category, I found this teeny little button at the rightmost side of the controls bar above the keyboard. It is a mode switch which cycles thru three sets of keyboard controls which provide complete keyboard emulation of things like arrow keys, meta key, ctrl, alt, etc. Though I have not tried moving the avatar with the arrow keys, I think that may work because the arrow keys assert as characters not as packed strings. So in summary, Remoter VNC is a good option for controlling an SL viewer via iPad or other iThing. Plus it's on sale at USD $2, so you won't feel that you spent too much in the event all this becomes obsolete due to a rumor which I shall not reveal. Please note that I have no affiliation with Remoter VNC nor do I even know who owns it. emSynth

Some folks have been asking what software to use. The good news is that there are many choices, and the bad news is that there are many choices. Also the market is evolving and software is being rapidly upgraded so anything we might observe today may not be true next week. I will say this: I tried many of the free apps and not one came close to what is needed for this demanding application. Then I tried just one app for a measly USD $2 and was pleasantly surprised. So one lesson learned is that software creators need to eat too, they pay rent and electricity and incur all of the costs of living that the rest of us have to deal with, of course, so it only makes sense to begin your search with the paid apps if you can. The next thing to consider is the ability of the software to assert the various mouse and keyboard gestures that are required to command an SL viewer. They all assert the single left mouse click just fine. None that I have tried can assert a right click, drag, then release which is vital for pull down and pie menus. Because of this I find myself looking for workarounds like opening the edit feature via the viewer's build menu rather than the pie menu. Also moving the avatar is problematic because the iPad keyboard seems to send strings, not characters. This means that even if you are in the move my avatar mode, calling up the keyboard and typing the WASD keys does not move the avatar. Pressing enter doesn't help either. So you see the present state of VNC client human interface device emulation is quite insufficient for full control of an SL viewer. So what do we do? Well we can make HUDs that perform various avatar actions in response to single mouse clicks, we can try the more expensive VNC clients, and we can experiment with different viewers. We can also share our experiences in this thread or elsewhere to the benefit of all involved. If we work together and share our discoveries band related creations, pretty soon we will have a few or even several alternatives that do the job satisfactorily. For this reason I invite you to post any thoughts or ideas that you may have about SL on mobile devices to this thread. emSynth

One solution here is to get a "Y" connection cable from Radio Shack or some other electronics store. Cost is very low, under $5 if I recall correctly, and then you can leave both headphones AND powered speakers hooked up at all times. You will need a volume control on the powered speakers so they can be turned off while the headphones are in use. It is no big deal if the headphones are kranking out tunes at high volume during speaker jam sessions, though for optimal life of headphone elements you will want to have a volume control on them as well (Also available at places likes Radio Shack). Be careful to check that you are not jamming loudly with headphones on, but you got the volume knobs wrong so that the speakers are actually providing the sound. I did that once about 20 years ago at work. I was listening to loud rock music with headphones on but the sound was actually coming out if the speakers and filling up the whole office! This was in a staunch government job and management got all upset and took away everones music hardware and software. My coworkers were outraged at me! Also I recommend getting soundflower so you can do audio routing with Second Life, but that is a whole other ball of wax. emSynth