[Mesh Information showing 1 triangle on all LOD models / model disappearing with distance]

My uploaded mesh shows it consists of 1 triangle on all LOD models when I view the details in object menu.

But when I click through all LODs in the menu below the mesh information, they are all there. I did not upload my mesh with 1 triangles in LODs.

Is this something to worry about or is it just visual bug?

Sometimes when I zoom far out my mesh disappears (its not view distance, it happens even when I can see myself in max view distance), could this be related to the 1 triangle in mesh information?

The LODs change properly from LOD3 to LOD0 but when I zoom far far out, my mesh disappears. 

Im using firestorm.

[Having trouble understanding llSetTimerEvent]

The reason why I called close_menu (llListenRemove) at the start of touch_start is because it was listed on the llDialog wiki. This is there -  "Ensure any outstanding listener is removed before creating a new one"

 touch_start(integer total_number)
    {
        key id = llDetectedKey(0);
        // Ensure any outstanding listener is removed before creating a new one
        close_menu();
        open_menu(id, mainMenuDialog, mainMenuButtons);
    }

I put the llSetTimerEvent(5.0) at the end of touch start and llOwnerSay("Dialog timeout"); in timer() below close_menu().

After I press the button and wait for the "Dialog timeout" message..the dialog no longer brings any submenu (which I added) or doesnt change the texture anymore.

So I guess it works...?

Thanks everyone.

[Having trouble understanding llSetTimerEvent]

So Im working on a dialog texture change script but having a hard time understand llSetTimerEvent function.

This is my script so far. I am under an assumption that llSetTimerEvent should prevent llDialog from firing after a certain period of time. Or is it so that the llSetTimerEvent works but it still returns a command in chat even after 5 seconds (which I set for now)? It still says Texture on Channel 0 after 5 seconds if I click Texture in llDialog. Is it because I have it set wrong or because it should work like that but the llListen stops listening after 5 seconds pass?

I want it to stop listening after 60 seconds in the final version, set it to 5 just to test it.

 

string mainMenuDialog = "\nMain Menu\nWhich settings would you like to access?\nClick \"Close\" to close the menu.";
list mainMenuButtons = ["Texture", "Animation", "Close"];
string textureMenuDialog = "\nTexture Menu\nSelect which texture you would like to apply.";

integer dialogChannel;
integer dialogHandle;

main_menu( key inputKey, string inputString, list inputList)
{
    //CHANGE CHANNEL!!!
    dialogChannel = 0;
    dialogHandle = llListen(dialogChannel, "", inputKey, "");
    llDialog(inputKey, inputString, inputList, dialogChannel);
}

close_menu()
{
    llSetTimerEvent(0.0);// you can use 0 as well to save memory
    llListenRemove(dialogHandle);
}

default
{
    state_entry()
    {
        llSay(0, "Hello, Avatar!");
    }

    touch_start(integer total_number)
    {
        close_menu();
        key id = llDetectedKey(0);
        if (id == llGetOwner());
            {
                main_menu(id, mainMenuDialog, mainMenuButtons);
                llSetTimerEvent(5.0);
                close_menu();
    }
}
    timer()
    {
        close_menu();
    }
}

 

[How to make efficient mesh - general principles]

On 5/23/2022 at 2:53 PM, arton Rotaru said:

C'mon.... how low you want to go? 😋 It's 3 LI already for a fairly large build it seems.

Well, I  think Im fine with 3LI!

Thanks Arton, Quarrel and ChinRey for all the info and help!

[How to make efficient mesh - general principles]

On 5/22/2022 at 3:21 AM, arton Rotaru said:

It's just the materials that have to be present in all LODs. Except you upload mesh with a recent Firestorm viewer. Then only LOD3 requires all the materials. The lower LODs can have any subset of these materials present in LOD3.

Unfortunately no, I don't have a link, or tutorial. I could put something together, but that would be in 3ds Max. The principle is quite simple though. You just build some planes around an object, and then project the textured model onto those planes. Similar of how a highpoly to lowpoly bake is being done.

I was thinking how am I supposed to add another texture after reading through the post Quarrel mentioned, thinking that's not possible..

The I got it...Materials! 

I'm quite satisfied how it looks, even used the impostor on details on LOD1 to get rid of some more triangles. No moving faces, shape kept even on lowest LOD.

 

I have a couple of questions though if you don't mind.

 

1. If I use impostors, does the alpha settings need to be set to blending or masking? Won't I get alpha fighting if I theoretically use multiple impostors overlaying in the future? I know some alpha settings make clothes, body or hair transparent. How can I be sure it won't happen?

2. How can I lower the physics cost? My object is split into 4 (3LI Vs 14LI if uploaded as 1 object 8x4). I made the physics into 4 planes that are on top of my mesh as I have 4 objects. Currently the physics cost is 1.72.(uploader says 1.720 base hull, 2.5 mesh)

3. Is there nothing I can do to squish the server cost? It's 2.5 ATM. Is it high because I split the mesh?

[How to make efficient mesh - general principles]

2 hours ago, arton Rotaru said:

Depending on what it is, I often create the LOD0 from scratch. It will just be a few polygons anyway, so uv mapping those onto the texture is quick, and easy as well.
When reducing geometry doesn't work well, I also like to make LOD0 as an imposter model. Projecting the LOD3 model onto a cubic like shape. Baking diffuse, normal, spec to  maintain the shading. (these texture maps can be really small, like 128x128, 64x64. I usually put the diffuse and the normal onto a single 128x128 and adjust the texture offset and scale in-world accordingly)

Well, as I know ChinRey, I don't think that she is really recommending this. It's just trading something bad, for something that is a little less bad.

Looking at an object on it's own, it may not be that obvious what is happening. But when I think of that this is placed somewhere in-between other objects of similar size, and 1 object is dropping out of existence while everything else around it stays put..... 🤔

Maybe so, maybe not. Depends on the size of the object. But having something around 12 to 20 triangles in the lowest, won't do much harm regarding LI either.
 

I just realized this thread is from last year..oops!

Never thought about doing it from scratch.

 

I assumed the uploader won't accept it if the UV and the entire UV space and materials are not the same as on the highest model. So that's what I've been doing, removing edges, merging vertices but only to the moment where the UV looks the same (minus the dissolved edges and merged faces).

 

Or is just the materials need to be the same and the UV just roughly similar?

 

 

As for the impostor object. Do you have a link to a tutorial or something? I think that'd be really informative for the future.

 

[How to make efficient mesh - general principles]

On 7/1/2021 at 3:32 AM, ChinRey said:

Do not use "zero LoD" models generated by the uploader!

I'm making something and and LOD0 I think took me the longest.

 

I deleted every edge I could without breaking the general shape or UV maps.

I got to the point where I squished the LI of the object to 4.9 and no other edge could be destroyed without it breaking the mesh. So I removed all the side faces so on Lod0 it looks completely flat 

 

Never occurred to me I can just 'hide' the LOD0 with just a few triangles (I'd probably scale them to almost 0) and assigning the materials I have to said triangles.

 

Would it be OK to make Lod 0 seem like it's really no there like you mentioned?

 

I started meshing a few months ago, even if I sell the object noone will complain that it disappears when zoomed out all the way?

 

If I remove LOD0 it'll probably make the LI of the object even lower.

 

 

[Split mesh with llSetLinkTextureAnim question]

On 5/18/2022 at 9:33 PM, Frionil Fang said:

Texture animation is a viewer effect, so sim performance will have zero bearing on it.

Once the animation property has been set, it's all down to the viewer to handle it and it's possible, but I don't know how likely, that they will eventually go out of sync depending on viewer performance. If things were reportedly going out of sync either for you or someone else, you could try to circumvent the issue to some extent by restarting the texture animation once every few minutes, so any build-up of missed precision should be nullified. I've tried that approach with multi-prim constructions and despite having like 32 prims displaying an animated "pixel grid effect" I haven't noticed serious staggering of the animations despite using them in crowded low-fps situations.

Hmm..didn't think of automating it by restarting the animation. I wanted to make a button in llDialog that would reset the animation to default state and then start the animation again.

 

I Assume the restart every few minutes you mentioned uses llSetTimerEvent and timer? Will have to look into it.

 

my noob script self would solve this by setting a llSleep and after sleep ends - LlResetScript followed by

 llSetLinkTextureAnim(LINK_THIS, FALSE, ALL_SIDES, 0, 0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0);  

and the line that starts the animation again in state entry.

Does the repeating with llsettimerevent has any impact on the SIM it's on?

[Split mesh with llSetLinkTextureAnim question]

If I have a mesh thats split in half (cough lower LI cough), both sides use the same texture (left and right side is different but UV space is the same and both sides look like 1 texture) and I use a function

 

 llSetLinkTextureAnim(LINK_SET, ANIM_ON | SMOOTH | ROTATE | LOOP, ALL_SIDES,1,1,0, TWO_PI, -0.01);
 

is there a chance the animation will break at some point if the sim experiences lag? 

What I mean, if a sim experiences lag or a user experiences lag is there a chance that the textures on both left and right side will go out of sync? That there will be a visible tear in the middle where left and right mesh touch?

Or if the sim lags will both sides lag at the same time and wont tear since its 1 script?

Thanks!

 

[Issues with LOD when trying to upload multiple objects as one.]

On 4/7/2022 at 11:41 PM, arton Rotaru said:

You definitely can send me the .blend and I can take a look. I have to admit though, I'm a 3ds Max user. So my Blender knowledge is mainly from version 2.49b. 😇

However, you say mirroring. If you do any mirroring, make sure you do apply Rotations & Scale before exporting. The importer doesn't like negative scales.
However, IIRC the error is "can't parse dae" and not the material subset error.

If I fail to find the issue in Blender, I would recommend to send @Aquila Kytoria msg and, ask if she could take a look. She solves pretty much any mesh problem in Blender.

Edit: Forgot to say, when applying Rotaion & Scale on mirrored meshes, you will have to flip the normals as well, or they will be inside out.

What fixed the LOD issue was - I exported it as OBJ without the materials, made a new blender project, imported it and reassigned the materials.

There must have been something wrong in my original scene as I redone the UVs and mirrored it again, but this time I had no LOD error. I will try to remember the flip normal tip though.

I was  able to make all LODs which made the object 9LI at the end.

Thanks for your help!

[Issues with LOD when trying to upload multiple objects as one.]

On 4/6/2022 at 2:35 PM, arton Rotaru said:

The jump in LI is to be expected on those dimension. Now all the triangles count at the size of 16 x16 meters. Detailed pieces, which are usually rather triangle heavy, should be detached from large objects.
Because, a 16 x 16 x 0.5 build will have a bounding box radius of 11,31 meters already. When the bounding box radius is greater than 10.86 m, the Low, and Lowest LOD won't have any effect in reducing the download weight any further. Where on smaller pieces the Low, and Lowest will be taken into account as well.

So rule of thumb: Large structures should be as lowpoly as possible. Add details as separate smaller meshes.

So I would suggest to try to narrow down why the errors are still ocouring. Maybe Show a screenshot of the upload window with the Log tab visible as well.
 

So, I have been trying to upload parts/ upload whole thing trying to figure out what is giving me an LOD materials error. So far it seems I have narrowed it down to the mirrored left window. When I try to upload the whole skybox with Medium LOD it gives me the LOD materials error - if I try to upload the skybox and medium LODs but exclude the left window the uploader doesnt give any errors. If I try to upload only the left window and its medium LOD it works (I had to rotate it a few times or the medium LOD would be flipped).

I even tried not mirroring it in blender, but duplicating and rotating it but still get an error.

--

As for the bounding box radius you mentioned - I tried to split the big walls that allow mirror in half (with UVs overlapping so I can reuse the same texture) and it basically almost halved the LI of the skybox.

With the walls split in half - excuding the left wall, and uploaded also split I get 6.1LI(with default LOD)..with the left window I think it would be 8-9LI?

If I join the 8 splits (4 walls) together into 1 object in Blender I get 15.1LI (with default LOD)

 

I would very much like to upload the whole thing split for lower LI, but no matter what I do I cant seem to fix the left window.

I could upload the North and South walls that give no error (4.2LI without LOD) and the right window (2.64LI x 2) and then duplicate it. I tried just now and I had the unlink the right window split in half and then rotate each part and swap them out. I think I didnt make the top half and bottom half truly symmetrical. That gives me 12 LI.

Now the question is - how much LI can generally 512m2 parcels hold? Thats why I am trying to squish it down. It still needs the floor and ceiling and 2 prims for glass.

IF this is way too confusing I can give you the blend file if you want to have a look. Im not sure if it wouldnt be the best idea to start over..I thought I was being smart with mirroring and overlapping the UVs so the texture appears higher quality (bigger UV islands) but it seems its giving me a headache

I mean, I could upload it joined in Blender but at higher LI cost..

 

EDIT: the log says this

LOD model Cube.119_LOD2's materials are not a subset of the High LOD (reference) model Cube.115
Model Cube.119 has mismatching materials between lods.
LOD model Cube.119_LOD2's materials are not a subset of the High LOD (reference) model Cube.115
Model Cube.119 has mismatching materials between lods.
LOD model Cube.119_LOD2's materials are not a subset of the High LOD (reference) model Cube.115
Model Cube.119 has mismatching materials between lods.
LOD model Cube.120_LOD2's materials are not a subset of the High LOD (reference) model Cube.115
Model Cube.120 has mismatching materials between lods.
LOD model Cube.120_LOD2's materials are not a subset of the High LOD (reference) model Cube.115
Model Cube.120 has mismatching materials between lods.
LOD model Cube.120_LOD2's materials are not a subset of the High LOD (reference) model Cube.115
Model Cube.120 has mismatching materials between lods.
 

Cube 119 and 120 are the left window. Cube 115 is the 1 part of the right window. The UVs are overlapping perfectly - its only 1 material for the whole window and all 4 parts of the window have the same material...both high and lod2. Only uploading the left window with LOD 2 works.

[Issues with LOD when trying to upload multiple objects as one.]

15 hours ago, arton Rotaru said:

Some do, some don't. I for one am a big fan of uploading linksets. Just for the same reason as you mentioned. Not have to assemble it all in-world.
The Land Impact remains the same, though. Because the geometry is still the same.
The upload fee might be less when uploading it all at once.

Important is to use the correct naming convention for your objects inside the modeling app.
Chair <-- High LOD
Chair_LOD2 <-- Medium
Chair_LOD1 <-- Low
Chair_LOD0 <-- Lowest
Chair_PHYS <-- Physics shape

Cushion
Cushion_LOD2
.... same as chair example.

Also make sure you have a separate physics shape for each of your objects. 3 objects, 3 physics shapes.
Check if you haven't removed a material from the LOD models when removing geometry.

The same naming convention works also for the .DAE files themself.

MyChair.dae
MyChair_LOD2.dae
etc....

This way the importer will load them into the appropriate slots automatically.
 

I was trying and trying, trying your suggestion but having errors still..

The problem was, I needed to join the objects into 1 in Blender and then no more errors when uploading.

Well, theres another issue though. When I upload it together the LI is higher than if I upload it separetely. I triple checked if Im selecting and exporting to correct pieces and correct LODs. The difference is 26LI when joined vs 14 when uploaded separately. I was just testing it atm but Ill remove some more unnecessary edges from the LOD2 to lower the LI.

Is there any LI limit as to what I should a 16x16 build fit into? 1LI per piece would propably be ideal but I think I need the geometry.

[Issues with LOD when trying to upload multiple objects as one.]

I thought Id try to upload the mesh I made as 1 object instead of 3 but having problem with LOD.

I removed some edges manually for the medium and low so the objects still retain their original form, but the upload is giving me an error "LOD materials are not a subset of reference model".

The materials are the same, the UVs didnt get broken or anything, but the uploader preview is giving me a very weird preview on 1 piece of the 3.

If I try to upload the mesh object by object with respective LODs, the uploader accepts it and all is fine.

I could just upload separately, but I wonder if I do it together that I might lower the LI even more. Or is the LI the same no matter if I upload the objects as 1 piece or object by object?

Do people upload separately? The reason Im trying to upload is as 1 object is because I have all the positions set and wont have to tweak it in world.

Thanks!

[Is there any way to make wall texture look not darker than it is?]

17 hours ago, arton Rotaru said:

That's the way it is with sunlight only.
Full Bright on things that usually don't glow in the dark looks very disturbing, though.
If it really needs to be brighter, I would try with an emissive mask. Which is the same as what Full Bright does, but adjustable in strength, on a per pixel basis. (Works only with Advanced Lighting Model.)

100% white  does look very artifitial, same as with 100%  black. Even more so when using specular maps. A 100 % white surface won't have any room left for specular highlights. So in practice, a white surface should be something around 80 to 90 % white. Which is, indeed, a light grey.

The other way to bright it up is to put out some lamps (local lights) to illuminate the area.

Just my 2 cents.

I agree full bright doesnt look too good. I had no idea about emissive mask! It works and indeed reflects light which full bright doesnt.. Thanks

14 hours ago, Quarrel Kukulcan said:

This page shows how various features affect render weight. Each multiplier will only affect the prim's cost once even if more than one face uses that feature. (PS "alpha" specifically means alpha blend mode only. I'm not sure if "bump" and "shiny" count the old standard settings or only if you supply a normal/specular texture.)
https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Mesh/Rendering_weight

Neither Full Bright nor an emission mask increase render weight. Full Bright will make that face look as bright as in full sunlight at all times, and also never have shadows cast on it. For an emission mask, you have to re-make your texture with a full image alpha channel at some moderate value that you'll have to experiment with to get right (hint: preview it with the Local Texture feature!), plus you won't be able to have any transparency or translucency. You'll need to set the face's alpha mode to emission and always set Transparency to 0%.

What do you mean by "rotating the wall horizontal"? Do you mean lay it flat so the inside points toward the sky, like it's a floor, or rotate it like a doorknob turns so it switches from landscape to portrait?

I had no idea about emissive mask.

The way I tried it, is I took my 2D texture from substance painter and baked only color on a new texture with alpha enabled.

The one thing I noticed is that the emissive mask texture with alpha uses 1/4 of texture memory more than a texture without the alpha mode.

My other question is - if I use the emissive mask, do I risk alpha fighting (not sure if its the correct term) as sometimes seen with hair and other objects with alpha? I tried looking through my hair but I havent noticed any transparency issues (like with hair where it makes your clothes transparent). 

[Is there any way to make wall texture look not darker than it is?]

I'm trying to texture something but running into an 'issue' where the wall texture will appear grey in world even though it's white.

The texture color is only correct when rotating the wall horizontal. It seems it's how the SL engine works but I'm wondering if there's a workaround?

Making the object Full Bright seems to fix it, but does Full Brigt have any impact on rendering weight?

Thanks!

[Force inventory update on beta grid]

4 hours ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

Simply put -- Nope, not at this time.

Since the move to the Cloud, LL cannot currently sync to the beta grid.  They cannot sync inventory, nor can they even create accounts over there for anyone that doesn't already have one.

 

BTW - When they finally fix it, it is supposed to sync nightly, but if it doesn't you can force a sync by deleting a folder than you need sync'd.  

 

Any idea when they will fix it? 

This is a big issue as me and I imagine a lot of other people can't test upload some meshes (like rigged mesh) to see if everything is correct. 

10L upload fee (for 0 LoD) may not be much for experienced creators, but for us who are starting and uploading a different model for every minor detail it adds up. 

[Force inventory update on beta grid]

Forgive me if this question has been asked a million times. 

Is there a way to force update inventory on beta grid? 

I searched and found that changing password help, well I changed my password 3 days ago but inventory didn't update at all. 

Thanks. 

[Undeforming attachment animation?]

@OptimoMaximo said in another thread when I had issue with the fingers similar to you and it fixed it:

'Make sure that translate keyframes aren't set on the fingers AND that you're not exporting with use translations checkbox' 

 

Not sure if it will help with the attachment. 

 

Edit: Nevermind I think, it's late and missed the part where you mentioned you used the bone translations. 

Can't you make the attachment an animesh with its separate skeleton and animation? 

 

Will keep my comment if someone replies for future reference. 

 

 

[Maitreya cyber WEEK, 50% off]

Well, I'm glad I waited to buy the body because I wasn't in a rush. 

I did ask in store on Friday whether they will have a sale or not, but the Maitreya rep said they weren't planning a sale. 

Pleasant surprise to save L. 

[Black Friday sales]

7 hours ago, Marianne Little said:

Lelutka: https://www.flickr.com/photos/15634428@N06/50632408343/

 

I was planning on getting the lelutka head all along and 50% off is nice, but now I'm afraid after reading some replies that I won't even be able to get into the sim at all. 

[Black Friday sales]

Thank you everyone.

[Black Friday sales]

Hi, I'm sorry if this is a weird question but I can't get in world at the moment, and I've been wondering if anyone knows which brands are/will be having  black Friday sales? 

I'm mostly interested in mesh head, bodies, skins. 

I've got everything demoed out but have been waiting for possible black Friday sale to save L. 

Thank you. 

[Websites where people share their looks with all details]

Thank you everyone for suggestions! 

[Websites where people share their looks with all details]

Just now, FairreLilette said:

On FLICKR there is a lot.  The Second Life photo groups on FLICKR are great plus many of the photos say all the things they are wearing in the photo(s).

Thanks Fairre, first time hearing about Flickr. Will check it out. 

[Websites where people share their looks with all details]

Does anyone know of any website where basically people post their looks with details of what they are wearing? 

 

Like skin, hair, which head, eye applies, eyebrows, clothes, etc etc. 

I'm in a phase where I'm completely demoed, but I think I could propably find a different skin that I would like more. 

And I'd rather be 100% sure that what I'm wearing I like before buying everything then going back to different stores and use more Lindens on things I should have bought in the first place. 

I have lelutka evo head. 

Thank you!