Hello,
I've been wanting to get into creating for Second Life and have tried dipping my toes in several times. With all the materials out there, covering different applications, methods, etc.. it's been confusing and daunting, to say the least. I'm not sure a true "Starting from Absolute Zero" guide even exists with all the variety there is in SL.. different UVs meant for different clothing meant for different meshes meant for different figures, etc... Now I see "Bake on Mesh" is another approach/method(?), which seems adds another layer of complexity to it all.
Figuring out where to start and finding my way through it is a bit "deer in headlights". A few kind and very patient folks have offered help/advice in-world, but their suggestions tended to leave me with more questions, and I didn't want to be a burden. So I decided to just step back and come at it anew.
I've managed to get my own custom texture on to a base legacy avatar (one-of-a-kind shirt! yay me!), and that's neat. However, that's the absolute bottom rung on what looks like a very tall ladder. Also, I've been told I'll be ignored and not taken seriously by many in the community with a legacy avatar, so I need to get into a mesh body ASAP. Mesh bodies are another can of confusion for me to figure out still.
I've decided to just ask here for some specific advice, pointing to specific tutorials/guides for specifically what I should focus on learning. Where should I start. Absolute ground zero, for someone who's completely new to all this, doesn't understand all the terminology, etc. etc.
I have a lot of ideas and creativity, for a variety of things that I'd love to create - textures, meshes, maybe even scripting. I just need a good, solid First Step to start learning from, based on current approaches/methods/etc.
Thanks for reading, and for any advice!