Sean Heavy

I am creating a mesh body in Blender for upload to SL. I have divided the mesh into multiple objects, each object with multiple materials/faces, to allow for multiple alpha cuts on the resulting mesh body. When I had the mesh as all one piece, I assigned a texture to it. As I assign the multiple materials/faces to each object it loses the texture assignment the original object had. For each material (8 per object) on each object (about 18 objects so far), I currently: 1. On the Material panel->Surface tab, Change "Color" to "Image Texture". 2. Select the texture from the list available (or open for a new texture). ...in order to get the texture to show up on that new material on an object that already had the texture showing on the whole object. Is there a shortcut way to select multiple materials, or the whole object, and assign the texture to all the materials on the object? Or a way to create the new materials that inherit the current texture settings? I am using Blender Version 2.79b 2018-03-22 on a Mac.

Thanks @Kyrah Abattoir, That makes sense. So, while this procedure, suggested by @SarahBeil, won't create a perfect duplicate of UV mapping compared to an original LL avatar UV map, it would at least be a good start, (compared to blenders almost random UV assignment), to be tested and adjusted until one is happy with the way a texture shows up on the new mesh.

So, are saying that the UVs that are being copied from the 'subsurf'ed LL avatar will not be accurate as the UVs on the original LL avatar?

What won't be as accurate if you don't mean the UV? Isn't the original post only about copying the SL UVs?

Agreed. Fortunately they have said it is likely to be implemented in phase 2. Using a multi-layers mesh body, i.e. onions, for clothing will still look like the clothing that was painted on. Most only use it for clothing intended to be close to the body, like lingerie, leggings, tight fitting Ts and tanks, and other very tight fitting clothes. BoM is intended to alleviate the need for a multi-layered body, not the need for full mesh clothing like a coat or dress or loose fitting sweatshirt. True, adding a coat or sweatshirt could technically be considered layering, but it's more like layering clothes in the real world and less like an onions' layers. This statement is about release to the end user, not developers creating content for other developers/retailers. The end user doesn't have to do any of those things you mentioned about full perm. 1) BoM has nothing to do with the UV template; it only bakes textures and sends it as is to the mesh, which then uses that texture with it's own UV template. 2) It is not intended to be used for mesh clothing other than skin tight fitting clothes. Yes, it could be used for a big fancy dress, but that is not the intent. The number of avatar bakes is appropriate for replacing mesh body onion layers. Using your assumption that BoM is intended to replace texturing for anything and everything that is attached to an avatar, you are right, it failed. Using the assumption that it's primary use case is to replace multi layered onion skin mesh bodies, most of your critiques don't really apply. The one critique I think you are right on is Materials; there are some skins that take full advantage of Materials. Fortunately, that should be resolved soon. ~Sean

This doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Ruth is pure LL/SL UV maps, which is what is *required* for Omega. Also, if you *add* something to go along with Ruth, but not derived from Ruth, then the AGPL does not apply to it; that's why I can include EE skins and clothes made by others without worrying about AGPL. I thought some mesh bodies had to be modify to allow the end user to insert the Omega script? In any case, permissions can be modified for use with Omega at their request. The Ruth 2.0 team even made an exception for permissions because of skin/clothing appliers just like Omega. Omega has also worked with mesh body appliers instead of directly with the body, which could easily be done with Ruth Too to for sure avoid any issues with AGPL. Agreed about Ruth being freebie, but I would assume her cut is going to be the same either way. And someone who gets a freebie body will have more L$s to spend on clothes. Why would she pass up more income? Also, I would have to pay her for any scripting she has to do to support an Omega for Ruth. Just because Ruth is free doesn't mean she gets less L$s. I'm not expecting you to know her actual reasons; I realize that you are just giving your idea of why she might not want to work with Ruth, (and I also realize you may very well be correct about her reasons). What confuses me is why she won't tell anyone her actual reasons. The whole purpose of creating Ruth is to provide a low poly, decent quality, freely available, and usable mesh body. If the creators knew the issue that prevents Omega from working with Ruth, then they might have used, (or now change to), a different copyright that is more compatible with SL/OS clothing industries like Omega. There is no point in creating a brand new mesh body if nobody wants to use it because they can't get clothing for it. The Ruth creators knew that. And, I do plan on creating what I can for mesh clothing/mesh bases for Ruth Too, but I'm not very efficient or quick with Blender. It won't happen overnight. ~Sean

Chellynne Bailey got back to me on Omega today. She will not support any mesh body derived from Ruth 2.0, which mine is. She says she cannot disclose her reasons. I guess I'm waiting for BoM for sure now. ~Sean

Ruth is not intended for people who have already spent big L$s on fancy mesh bodies like Maitreya. To start with, Ruth is free. So, it is primarily intended as a decent mesh body for people not wanting to spent 1000's of L$s on a commercial mesh body. Ruth is also fairly simpler than the fancy mesh bodies, having a reasonably low Avatar Complexity. Ruth Too RC3 is already copy/mod. You could even download Ruth Blender files and/or the DAE files for uploading to your own account to do what you want with, (on SL or OpenSim). You can do this now with the free Ruth Too RC3. My questions primarily had to do with making Ruth Too RC3 more compatible with what is out there now. But all I seem to be getting in response is don't do it, wait for BoM. I haven't done it yet; my Ruth Too RC3 is currently only available, (for free), with a single layer mesh body, a skin applier HUD and alpha cut HUD, all open source copy/mod including the scripts. (Even some mesh clothes available for existing other mesh bodies fit Ruth fairly well.) ~Sean

My Ruth Too RC3 is not transferable; so it could be Omega compatible. (You can get DAE's to upload and do what you want, but then it wouldn't be *my* Ruth.) I am already getting requests for the Omega skin applier, and I only released my Ruth Too RC3 2 weeks ago, (Nov. 28, 2018). Maybe I'll just do a skin only Omega applier that only uses the one layer. I am planning to create a BoM applier for my Ruth Too RC3, but from what I've been reading on the BoM forum, I'm not confident it will be available anytime soon. (I realize "soon" is a relative term; so, I'm thinking it won't be available for a few months. I've written code and of course debugged it; so I don't have confidence that the bug mentioned below will be an easy fix or the last bug found.) https://community.secondlife.com/forums/topic/430696-any-updates-on-bom/?tab=comments#comment-1829762 I suppose it wouldn't hurt to start on the BoM applier now since I have yet to hear back from Omega about my request. ~Sean

I have recently released a very basic, single layer, open source, female mesh body, (Ruth Too RC3), with a basic skin applier HUD and alpha-cut HUD. (Available on the MarketPlace for free.) I am looking at making it Omega capable for access to a lot more clothes. Since BoM appears to still be quite a ways off, I'm assuming I will need to create onion layers for the mesh body to accommodate skin, tatt, undies and clothes. Is there a more or less standard or recommended way of doing layers? I have seen at least one mesh body have all the layers combined as one attachment, but I am considering creating separate attachments for each layer to avoid unnecessary complexity if you don't need a tatt layer and/or underwear layer, (just don't attach it). I am also looking for recommendations as to the best way to create appliers to be most compatible with clothing makers/skin makers/Omega/etc. (Perhaps another forum focusing on LSL might be better for this?) I am pretty capable at LSL. So, I should be able to implement a decent applier interface, but I have no clue how most creators do their appliers for mesh bodies. The skin applier I have for Ruth is open source, uses UUIDs and a Config notecard. Since this is completely open, it obviously won't work for commercial skins, but it shows how I implemented it for Ruth. Any recommendations for implementing a creator friendly applier interface would be appreciated. ~Sean

You really should try Avastar to rig and weight clothing for SL. It is possible to do it with Blender alone, but a real PITA. https://blog.machinimatrix.org/avastar/ ~Sean

I tried re-uploading to the Beta grid without recalculating normals, and that fixed it!! Yay! Thank you Beq Janus!!! ~Sean Heavy

No, it looks like this. This is a side view of a leg at about the knee. This is with a single normal Eloh Eliot skin applied to the Mesh Lower Body. I have seen other bodies that I know are cut up and have materials, but they don't do this; only my uploads seem to be doing it. None of these lines show up if the mesh is one big piece and no materials/faces. ~Sean Heavy

I have a mesh body that I am trying to cut up and assign materials using Blender 2.79 (primarily for using alphas under clothing). I am using Separate by selection to create smaller mesh pieces. I am assigning materials by selection. Each mesh piece has no more than 8 materials/faces. I have not done any resizing or modifications to any new piece created. When I upload the entire mesh body, i.e. all the pieces together as one DAE, I can see shadows at the edges of each material/face (in SL Beta grid) even after assigning a skin texture. Seeing horizontal and vertical lines on a thigh or a knee just doesn't look right. I am using Avastar 2.4 to export the DAE from Blender. I am using the latest official release of Firestorm to upload the DAE. I have also tried the standard SL viewer to upload. Are there settings that I am missing either when creating the pieces, creating the DAE, or uploading to SL? Are there settings in Firestorm that affect whether I see those shadows or not? ~Sean Heavy

I love this thread. Thank you for entertaining an old fart who wrote programs on punch cards for an IBM Mainframe in the late '70s. Our graphics claim to fame was ASCII art printed on an old, (at the time even), IBM 1403 line printer. ~Sean

Thank you very much @Gaia Clary!! I had been reading your Fitted Mesh Kit page, but I never made the connection to the "Keep Bind Info" needing to be enabled for Collada exporting. I just tried the export/import again with the proper settings, and it is working great. I would like to suggest adding your statements below to the Fitted Mesh Kit page for those like me who just don't seem to make the connection: @Gaia Clary, Thank you for all the work you do on the Blender to SecondLife transitions. I am hoping to soon purchase your Avastar tools when I have the extra cash, if anything to encourage you to keep up the good work. Thanks again! ~Sean Heavy

Thank you @Beq Janus, That is exactly the problem I am having. Sometimes the "alien" look changes here and there, but it is obviously not correct. I had read recently that @Gaia Clary is very involved in the Blender Collada export, even though she sells software, (Avastar), for doing just that. I appreciate her involvement! ~Sean Heavy

Macro, On a Mac, there is no 'install' to bork. You just unzip it, move it to the Applications folder and run the program. Also, the latest release is the one having the problem. I went back to a previous release to not have the bug. I have heard in private that others are having similar, if not the same, issues with the latest release of Blender. I was hoping to reach more people in the forums. ~Sean Heavy

Hi Beq Janus, I just realized, I too am using 2.79b, (I left off the b in my post.) I am using the built-in Blender collada export tool. I am using the default "Sl + Open Sim Rigged" settings, which work fine in the other Blender versions I tested. I am not using Avastar, and, yes, rigged meshes for SL avatar bodies. For now, I have just started using 2.78c since it works fine, but I would like to find out what is happening with 2.79b. Here are some screenshots of my settings for export from Blender and Import to SL. Note the deformed body on the SL import. BTW, the deform only happens when you 'skin'/wear it; if you just set it on the ground for editing, it looks fine. ~Sean Heavy Editing, This was the wrong screenshot for the collada export. Here is the correct one that I am using.

I have tested the Blender Collada export for SL avatar mesh using the fitted_mesh-270.blend Blender file downloaded from here: https://blog.machinimatrix.org/fitted_mesh_survival_kit/ Earlier Blender versions, (2.72, 2.75a, 2.76b, 2.77, 2.78c), are working fine for exporting your Blender mesh as an SL Avatar Mesh. The latest, 2.79, does not work for exporting your Blender mesh as an SL Avatar Mesh. (Using a Mac; I dunno about the PC version, but I assume it is the same.) The problem is the resulting avatar looks completely deformed. Is anyone else having this problem? Am I the only one experiencing this issue? Should I report it as a bug to Blender? My tests on all those versions had essentially identical settings in the Collada export tool. I have also tried a number of other meshes, also exhibiting the same problems. ~Sean Heavy