Cathy Foil

Hi Napili, I copy and pasted your DAE file into Notepad and saved it as a DAE file. I then tried to upload it into SL and it uploaded just fine. Did you have a problem uploading the DAE sample you pasted here? If you did have a problem uploading the DAE sample, then the viewer you are trying to use may be messed up. I always use the current LL default viewer to upload mesh with since LL makes it a high priority to keep it working right. Not that the other 3rd party viewer don't also. It is just LL makes changes to code that break the viewer's mesh upload feature so they get their viewer fixed first then all the 3rd party viewers get fixed. I am glad you were able to figure out what options you need change for the Combine feature in Maya. My Combine doesn't have any options. Oh if you ever want to restore all your settings to the factory default settings just click on "Window" then "Settings/Preferences" then click on "Preferences" and then at the top left of the Preferences window click on "Edit" menu and select "Restore Default Settings" and all of Maya will be rest except the plug-ins and shelves you have created. I don't think you will have to click "Save" but best to click it to be sure. If you are making jewelry you know you can't make anything smaller than .01 meters. There is a work around. Just create a two faces/triangles and put them at 90 degrees to each other and make them bigger than .01 meters. Apply a texture/material to them so you can make them invisible. Hope that helps. Cathy

Try this. Open up your Plug-in Manager window and put check marks next to objExport.mll. In most versions of Maya that plug-in is not activated by default. Create two cubes and combine them. Then do "Freeze Transformation" and " Delete History" just to be safe. Next select "Export Selected" and export the now combined cubes as an OBJ file. Then open a new scene and import the OBJ file back in and then export it as a DAE_FBX (*.dae) file and try to upload that to SL. Only other thing I can think of is save your combined cubes as an MA file or if you have the ability save it as a Maya 8.0 MB file and post it someplace that I can get it and open it up to take a look at it. I can't open up Maya 2013 MB files but I can edit an MA file so I can open it up. Just to make sure my DAE exporter was working fine I took two cubes combined them, Delete History, Freeze Transformation and exported it as a DAE_FBX (*.dae) file and uploaded it to SL. It worked just fine. Here let me copy and paste the DAE file so you can compare it to your DAE file: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <COLLADA xmlns="http://www.collada.org/2005/11/COLLADASchema" version="1.4.0"> <asset> <contributor> <authoring_tool>FBX COLLADA exporter</authoring_tool> </contributor> <created>2013-07-29T03:48:05Z</created> <modified>2013-07-29T03:48:05Z</modified> <unit meter="1.000000"/> <up_axis>Y_UP</up_axis> </asset> <library_materials> <material id="lambert1" name="lambert1"> <instance_effect url="#lambert1-fx"/> </material> </library_materials> <library_effects> <effect id="lambert1-fx" name="lambert1"> <profile_COMMON> <technique sid="standard"> <lambert> <emission> <color sid="emission">0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 1.000000</color> </emission> <ambient> <color sid="ambient">0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 1.000000</color> </ambient> <diffuse> <color sid="diffuse">0.400000 0.400000 0.400000 1.000000</color> </diffuse> <transparent> <color sid="transparent">0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 1.000000</color> </transparent> <transparency> <float sid="transparency">1.000000</float> </transparency> </lambert> </technique> </profile_COMMON> </effect> </library_effects> <library_geometries> <geometry id="polySurface1-lib" name="polySurface1Mesh"> <mesh> <source id="polySurface1-lib-Position"> <float_array id="polySurface1-lib-Position-array" count="48"> -0.544355 0.000000 3.005157 3.546641 0.000000 3.005157 -0.544355 4.237116 3.005157 3.546641 4.237116 3.005157 -0.544355 4.237116 -1.233439 3.546641 4.237116 -1.233439 -0.544355 0.000000 -1.233439 3.546641 0.000000 -1.233439 -2.572837 0.000000 5.091171 1.518158 0.000000 5.091171 -2.572837 4.237116 5.091171 1.518158 4.237116 5.091171 -2.572837 4.237116 0.852575 1.518158 4.237116 0.852575 -2.572837 0.000000 0.852575 1.518158 0.000000 0.852575 </float_array> <technique_common> <accessor source="#polySurface1-lib-Position-array" count="16" stride="3"> <param name="X" type="float"/> <param name="Y" type="float"/> <param 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target="#lambert1"/> </technique_common> </bind_material> </instance_geometry> </node> </visual_scene> </library_visual_scenes> <scene> <instance_visual_scene url="#RootNode"/> </scene> </COLLADA>

The mesh objects are still polygon objects after combining them right? I wish Chosen Few would chime in here. He is awesome when it comes to anything that has to do with Maya and mesh. You say even if you take two simple polygon cubes and combine them you get the same error? You can export each cube separately as a DAE file and upload them OK I believe you said? I wouldn't worry about LOD values. Those are set in the mesh upload window in SL. I wonder if it could be the Collada Plug-in for Maya that has a fault in it. I seem to recall some people having problems with Maya's newer versions of the Collada Plug-ins and stand alone Autodesk FBX converter. You could try an older version of the Maya plug-in or an older version of the Autodesk FBX converter. Here is a link to the Plug-in and Autodesk FBX stand alone converter archive: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/item?siteID=123112&id=10775920 If you are going to try an older version of the fbxmaya.mll plug-in I would rename it before installing a different one. Here is where mine is kept: C:/Program Files/Alias/Maya8.0/bin/plug-ins/fbxmaya2012.mll Yes my version is that old. Maya 8.0 and Alias was the original creators of Maya not Autodesk. It is from 2006 the same year, I believe, Autodesk bought it from Alias. Anyway just rename the fbxmaya.mll to something like fbxmayaORIGINAL.mll. Other wise it will be written over by the new plug-in you are installing. Your new plug-in as well as your original one, now named fbxmayaORIGINAL.mll, will be in the Plug-in Manager window. You will most likely have to activate them once installed. In Maya just click "Window" at the top of the screen and then select "Settings/Preferences" and then "Plug-in Manager". Then just put a check mark in Loaded and Auto Load for the version of exporter plug-in you want to try. You can have both plug-in activated at the same time but it will be very hard to know which DAE_FBX(*.dae) to chose from in the export window because there will probably be two of them in the "files of type:" drop down menu. So I would make sure only one has check marks next to it at a time. If you don't want to go through all that trouble you could try an older version of the Stand Along Autodesk FBX converter. Just export out of Maya as an FBX file and then convert it with the FBX converter. Hope that helps. Cathy

I have an older version of Maya. My "Combine" does not have any sort of options for it I don't know about your version. If your "Combine" used to work but now it isn't I would try reinstalling Maya onto your computer. Over the years I've had to remove Maya and install it again fresh a few times. You might be able to install it right over the original install without having to uninstall Maya first. Hope that helps. Cathy

Did you weight / skin your ring to the avatar skeleton? If you did perhaps the bone names got messed up. With Maya if you copy and paste the skeleton into a new window Maya renames all the bones and that will mess up the DAE file so it won't upload. Another thing is you need to look at the Second Life Log file to find out more about the errors you been getting. Here's a link you may find useful. http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Mesh/Troubleshooting You can find the log on your hard drive. C: \ Users \ myLoginName \ AppData \ Roaming \ SecondLife \ SecondLife.log or for XP C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\SecondLife\logs For the life of me I can't remember the shortcut key combination to view the error log while logged into SL. Something like Ctrl + U Hope that helps. Cathy

Here is a cleaver trick I came up with when wanting up load many individual mesh objects that need to lined up perfectly once in SL. First export all the objects in your scene as one DEA file but don't combine them. Don't worry about LOD or physics for this mesh model. This DEA file will create a multiple unlinked object in your inventory which you will use to line up all the individual mesh objects you will upload separately. Then upload all your individual mesh objects separately so you can control LOD and physics for each. Rez your multiple object uploaded model the one you uploaded first. Link all the mesh together so it will be easier to select it in the end to delete it. With the "Edit" window open and "Edit Linked Parts" option selected rez one of your individual mesh models and right click on the corresponding mesh object in your linked mesh and copy the XYZ coordinates and then apply them to your single mesh object. You might also need to do this for your XYZ rotation. Once you placed all your individual objects you can delete your linked mesh object you were using as a guide for placement. Most third party viewers have copy and paste buttons right next to the XYZ coordinates as well as the size and rotation so it is a snap to line up all your individual mesh objects. Hope that helps. Cathy PS. If Maya is crashing when trying to export make sure you "Freeze Transformation" and "Delete History" for each of your mesh objects. This will help keep your file size smaller so Maya doesn't run out of memory. Plus depending on the complexity of the mesh object it can take a long time to export a really big file. Maya may look like it is frozen but just really working hard to export the file. Listen to your hard drive and the watch the LED on the front of your computer to see if the hard dive is being activated. Start an export right before you stop to eat lunch or dinner. I have had exports that take as long as 40 minutes to an hour to finish exporting. Mind you my computer is 8 years old but she is still a pretty decent computer even by today's standards.

I did a search of the forums for a posting that had the same error as you and I found this: http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Mesh/Unrigged-mesh-size-limit-at-0-1m-just-like-prims/m-p/2062327/highlight/true#M22171 Check out what it says. Could be you are having the same problem. My only other suggestion would be to open up the both DEA files and compare the two in a word processor program like Notepad or or Word. See if you can spot a difference between the DEA file that would upload and the combined one that keeps giving you an error. I would particularly pay close attention to the materials. Hope that helps. Cathy

Thanks for the info Drongle! I what I did was a quick google search for maximum vertices a mesh can have in SL and 65,536 popped up on a few SL wiki pages. I really appreciate your more detailed explanation on how the uploader works. I learn something new everyday.

Most hair designers I believe combine all the hair in Maya into a single object before uploading it to SL. If you have already tried that and the mesh won't upload my guess is that you went over the maximum number of vertices a single mesh object can have 65,536. I seen hair designers and clothing designer use huge amounts of vertices in their creations. The sad thing is that using so many vertices causes a lot of lag. The best designers always try to use the fewest amount of vertices as possible while making the best looking objects they can. It takes a lot of skill but you be amazed at how few vertices can be used and how awesome the final product can look. It is easy to make a super cool looking smooth object that uses just an absurd amount of vertices but they are usually made by beginners that just don't know any better. I haven't really looked to see how mesh hair designers have used the new Normal Map material feature. Theoretically you can get a lot of detail using a normal map and just a few vertices. Hope that helps. Cathy

Once combined you can only have up to 8 different materials for that object. You don't have more than 8 materials/textures applied do you? Hope that helps. Cathy

There is no reason why LL would have to throw out that old default avatar mesh in order to introduce a new one. I am pretty sure LL will never do away with the old avatar mesh simply because any substantial changes would break too much existing content but LL could easily offer residents a choice to either use the original avatar or a new one. Actually LL could offer several default mesh avatars. One for specifically for females. One for males and perhaps an even simpler one for people who have really old computers. As far as will the mesh deformer help when an avatar is doing an animation the answer is YES. Will it make all clothing move perfectly so no skin ever pokes out? NO. Nothing is ever perfect. Any clothing designer worth their salt is going to always provide an alpha layer to wear with their clothes preferably with full permissions so it can be modified by the buyer if absolutely need be. I really don't understand why people seem to be hesitant about wearing an simple Alpha layer to make everything work. The mesh deformer will make any mesh clothes fit your existing shape weather you are standing still or moving around.

I agree. That many vertices on such an unimportant and trivial part of the mesh is just a waste. Hopefully the meshes creator will learn. LL needs to put more of an emphasis on good design practices. Perhaps free uploads for anything under a certain amount of vertices?

Hey MyAlt4099, Check out this posting. It may have the answer to your problem. http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Mesh/Invisible-Mesh/m-p/1748247#M17953 Hope that helps. Cathy

I ran into the same problem like a year ago. I am wracking my brain trying to remember the fix. Try logging on with a different viewer. Take the mesh off and put it back on with the different veiwer. I searched and I think I found how I fixed it for me. You might need to increase your MeshMaxConcurrent setting in the Debug menu. To get to your Advanced Menu press Ctrl+ Alt+ D Then under the Advanced Menu click on Debug Settings In the Debug window type MeshMax The default value is 32. Raise that number to something above 100. I hope that helps. Cathy

Hi Medhue, I hope you are right about the Qarl thing. I just watched an interview with Rod Humble and I really think it was the first possible reason for the delay I put fourth. It seems Rod really wants to improve the overall performance of SL and all hands are working towards that goal. Here's the link to the video: Improvements could be made to the existing default avatar without breaking content or adding vertices. I agree that any new default avatar that was to be significantly better for deforming mesh would probably have way more vertices and cause more lag something that should be avoided. What I like to see instead of an official default 2.0 avatar from LL is allow custom mesh avatar's uploaded by residents to have access to all the layers that the default avatar someone is currently wearing. If that customs avatar mesh drove the clothing deformation then any clothing from any designer would fit it automatically. I had mentioned to Qarl, way back in a pod cast I did with him on Metareality, an idea I had called Deformer Underwear. My idea was to let residents create invisible mesh layer or underwear which the default avatars mesh would deform and then use the now deformed invisible underwear mesh to deform any mesh clothing someone was wearing. By having more vertices evenly spread out in the deformer underwear and only in the areas that the designer wanted, such as just under the clothes, it would more evenly deform the clothes themselves. Qarl was actually intrigued with the idea but said it was too late to get it out in the first version of the deformer but that it could be an option in version 2.0 of the deformer. In this case instead of making the underwear mesh invisible just make it the custom avatar mesh. The custom mesh probably having more vertices more evenly spread out would deform the clothes better. Now I do believe there should be a limit on the number of vertices a custom mesh avatar could have to keep lag reasonable. Custom mesh avatars could use the same UV layout or pattern as the default avatars have now. That way all existing content would still work on the new custom mesh avatars. Since the default avatars mesh would be deforming the mesh avatar directly all the editing appearance sliders would also automatically work. I would eventually love to see custom skeletons and morphs for completely new human and non-human avatars.

There is nothing wrong with your skeleton. It is just a joint size display issue. The size of the joint scale doesn't effect the skeleton just by making them smaller or bigger makes it easier to work with. To change the Joint Size just at the top of your screen click "Display" menu and then move your mouse over the word "Animation" another menu will pop open and then click on "Joint Size...". A window will open named Joint Display Scale. You can use either the slider or type in the eact size you want. I hope that helps. Cathy

I hear you Tenly but the deformer doesn't need anymore testing. Its limitations are well known and can't really be improved upon unless LL gets a new default avatar mesh which is not going to happen. If LL is saying it needs more testing that is just a smoke screen to keep us off their backs. I don't know why LL is sitting on their hands with this project. Perhaps they are short handed and all resources are being put into implementing the up coming changes to the viewer and servers. Perhaps they are spiteful and don't want any huge improvements to the SL experience to be attributed to Karl Stiefvater a former LL employee who's name was Qarl Linden and who when they stupidly laid off caused a wave of protests by many residents. Just incase you didn't know Karl Stiefvater created the deformer who was paid by our fellow SL residents to create it not LL. Karl Stiefvater was also responsible for creating sculpties which in my opinion saved SL long enough to get us here before mesh was available. The deformer is ready and should have been implemented months and months ago. All that is needed is a few wiki pages on how best to create clothing to work with the deformer and perhaps an instructional video or two.

I am with you White Rabbit! LL just needs to release the Mesh Deformer now! I put in several weeks working and testing the Mesh Deformer well over six months ago. It worked fine back then it works fine right now. Oz I don't think people have lost interest in it. The reason less people seem interested in it is because we are tired of waiting for LL to impliment it. For how long and how many times can we test something that works? Please release the Mesh Deforemer. :matte-motes-kiss:

What I think you are seeing is a problem I have experienced for a few months now and are probably viewer related. If you look closely at the remaining reef part of it is missing. What has happened to me is the vertex positions are not in their correct space. Either the reefs vertex have moved backwards placing them inside the fireplace or the face of the fireplace vertex have jumped forward. What I found helps is logging off and back on. If it is an item that is worn taking the mesh off then logging off and then back on and wearing the mesh again seems to fix the problem. Perhaps delete the mesh item log off and then back on and rez it again. I have logged on with different viewers and each seems to have a different problem with other meshes but not with the mesh I was having the original problem with. If you follow? Say I have three meshes A B and C. I log on with LL standard viewer and "A" there is a problem. I then log off and log on with a different viewer say Firestorm. Now "A" looks fine but "C" is messed up. I hope that helps. Cathy

I am pretty sure it is a bug. I had same problem happen on and off over the past six months. It hasn't happened to me in the last two months or so though. Some viewers you can right mouse click on an object and select reload textures. That sometimes has worked for me. The only other thing that comes to mind is from time to time I forget to replace a temp texture with a normal one. Some viewers allow you to upload a temp texture for free. LL default viewer doesn't. I don't know if it is related but stuff been going missing from my inventory a lot in the last six months. It is usually stuff I just made or uploaded like mesh or a textures but can also be stuff I just made with prims. Really makes me angry when I pay for a mesh upload to find it gone the next day. I been leaving my stuff out at sandboxes letting it autoreturn so I at least have a copy in my Lost and Found folder. I have had other friends report the same problem.

Could be so many things that can cause problems loading rigged mesh from Maya into SL. If you import your skeleton into your mesh scene it will mess up the naming of the joint/bones so you have to make sure the names are all correct. One bone not named right will cause an error. You have to open up your skeleton file and then import your mesh into it not the other way round. Here is a link to a wonderful video on how to rig mesh in Maya and export it for SL. http://saeluan.com/tutorials/maya/rigging-mesh-in-maya/ Sea Luan did a fatalistic job making this video. Hope that helps. Cathy

Here is an excellent video tutorial on how to rig and export mesh for SL. It was created by Sae Luan. She did a fantastic job! http://saeluan.com/tutorials/maya/rigging-mesh-in-maya/ Hope that helps. Cathy

I know this is an old post but I was having the same problem today on some mesh I was texturing with PNGs. My solution is super quick and easy. 1. If your image isn't already on a transparent background, in photoshop create a new file with a with transparent backgound copy and paste your texture to it. (Ctrl +N to create new file) 2. After you have cut out or deleted the areas in your image that you want to be tranparent, 100% or even a graded transparency, create a new blank layer and put it at the bottom so it is the new background layer. 3. Fill this new backgound layer with either solid black or white doesn't matter which. 4. Change this new layer to 1% Opacity in the layers window. 5. Save As a PNG file. You do not have to flatten the image or anthing else. 6. Save your work as a Photoshop file is you ever wish to make changes. What this does is fill the area that is to be transparent in SL with pixels that are invisible to the naked eye on looking at the screen.

Here is a link to a page where you can get the default female and male avatar mesh already skinned to a skeleton. On the page go down to "Attachments". There will be several zip files there of the avatars. https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/STORM-1716? Hope that helps. Cathy

Watch this video and make sure you are doing everything exactly as she is doing it. http://saeluan.net/tutorials/maya/rigging-a-mesh-in-maya/ I hope that helps. Cathy