Melita Magic

I think Qie hit the nail on the head. The current creators/vendors might well be replaced in SL with new ones, as the skill set changes. But will the new set rent land? Will they need to?

I guess you both missed where I said it was not intended as a pejorative. It's a broadly accurate analogy. There are the few who will decide things then there are the rest of us. In today's world the middle class is vanishing steadily, and it's becoming the l33t and the peasantry. It has nothing to do with money, really, but it has to do with access or opportunity. It has to do with who decides. And it was half a joke. I guess it fell pretty flat. And also you're forgetting I'm not in the l33t so I'm a peasant too.

So yeah, i virtually see Anshe#s avatar jump thru the non existant roof of her 1000 SL sims in joy. While her sweatshop boys work their ass off for peparing their alreay made stuff for day zero. Win-Win for her. In ANY case. I thought about that, too. Not much any of us can do about it. In any new world or market, the first and most determined will wind up on top. I'd say more but I'm sure she can afford better lawyers than I can. ;-p

If LL exposed a messaging format for manipulating temp mesh assets and applying them to objects, multiple TPV implementations of such an editor would exist within a month. Even if they were rudimentary at first, even if they had to export the model to get UV maps, even if they were little more than a glorified Blender backend, they would make Second Life a social building experience again. And it would kill Blue Mars overnight. I like the sound of this.

Apparently Bryce has a free version but one has to buy the manual, it doesn't come with one. Maybe that's what she meant. I only know what I read in you tube comments under a Bryce tutorial last night while I was looking at other mesh editors. I still can't figure out what people are selling on Renderosity or rather, who or what they are selling to or for. The products look just like what's in Second Life shops except the resolution is sharper. Skins, avatars, hair, shoes, clothing...but for which program out there? If all those people come streaming in to Second Life, current shop owners are going to have a rough go of it. I do think this higher quality stuff is "the future" but it's going to be a painful transition (as many transitions ever are) for current residents. After a point, though, people will look back and think, how did we ever wear those pixelly things? Kind of like Playstation 3 vs. Atari. An in world mesh tool would be great, and make the transition less painful for many. While keeping the atmosphere of "anyone can play."

Thanks, having people's recommendations is really invaluable, though. If I had to sort through all the google results of things available...It's like sorting through a huge pile of castoffs not knowing what's good or bad. I would appreciate any links you have, you can send them by NC in world or however you wish. I will be offline until later tonight probably. Or I would've PMed you in world.

I really, truly appreciate the recommendations by those who used the programs and knew what I was looking for. I looked up Sculptris, ZBrush and more and I'm so excited. I watched some tutes of those on youtube briefly, and although I don't know yet if I'll be good at it, it looks closer than Photoshop (splaying out a 2d texture) to what I hoped for. I wanted to post mainly to say that again and equally to give others something back, which is, I just found out there's a free download of the new Sculptris Alpha 5, which looks really intuitive to use, from what I can tell. I haven't tried it yet. I have to see if an old PC can handle it, first. But if I can't maybe others can. http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?t=090617 In the page there is a place to download and it's free. Windows only at this point and it may soon go commercial, which is why I decided to let people know about it. I looked at Renderosity website too and if that's what people are making SL is about to get better looking.

Thank you, both, very much.

However, I will say that it has a steep learning curve. You might want to give Sculptris a spin first to get your feet wet. Thanks so much! Although, the tech in that program differs from some of the others. An intuitive interface is a must for me. I will definitely check it out, thank you. As for Photoshop, you can paint directly on a 3D model in the "Extended" versions of the program. I know you can export to Collada .dae from Photoshop CS4 Extended for sure. Thank you so much. Er, any idea where to find a video tute for any of this? Or a message board community where I can ask all this stuff without just annoying one person or risking being told to use google?

Telling painters that they may not paint because not everyone in the world knows how to paint does nothing to make the universe more just or better. True. But I think it's also just to support programs like "Free Arts for Abused Children" http://www.freearts.org if one is fortunate enough to know what art can do. And has the means. Or the time. (Or a program like it.) It's nice if everyone at least has some material to try with. I know that Utopia isn't possible but then again, if not in SL, where? The better prim building interface Maelstrom mentioned would sure be nice. Prok's posts are interesting IMO as are all the posts in this comment section actually. I feel I am learning a lot in indefinable ways. SL is one of the most level playing fields you will find for creation. You have a point, but at the same time. A new train seems to come along distressingly often for us pikers. Lol

That's really an amazing thing you plan to do (for the SL community.) Thanks in advance!

True, the consumer will still drive the market, if they remember they have that power. It may move slower than some predict simply because not everyone can afford to simply replace their inventory overnight.

.give me triangles and polygons and prims that can be sliced and shaped in world..a few extra building menus that relay the dimensions of edited prims correctly... Introduce megaprims as norm.. the ability to slice prims in any plane, round their corners and see the results in world without having to import anything..... ... I think people should be calling on lindens to make sure theres an up to date innovated building system inworld that can be used by anyone whos stuck prims together inworld... Yes please. That would be nice.

I don't know you, Maelstrom, and I never intended to speak as or for anyone other than myself. It's the blog comments section and I'm simply commenting (as well as trying to learn.) Yeah, I drool over any creation tool. I feel the same about my new set of colored pencils. I like creating. I too wish technology would stick to one format or at least keep selling ways to use the old ones. But I also can't help but wonder over new possibilities. I've always been that way. I'm both a luddite and a technogeek if that's possible. I would love to learn to quilt and make candles just as much as I would love to learn Maya, or even new languages, if it were possible. But finding teachers....it's like asking for water in the Gobe.

peasants is a bit extreme milady. Not sure if it read as a pejorative, but it certainly was not meant as one. I was speaking to the feudalism that defines modern society. I was speaking of the need to define oneself sharply in today's world or wither. I think Prok is right about the return of guilds and such. I repeat, SL in the end reflects RL whether it wants to or not. I think the ideal for it might have been that it change or guide RL, but I don't know if it has. (Not sure that's quantifiable, if one really wants to argue that point, though.) PS as to the have and have nots. It isn't only about skill but opportunity and resources as well. As you said it's not only a matter of having a program. Not everyone is able to go and learn it, or learns equally well on one's own. Not everyone has had the running start those with degrees will have from the outset. It isn't an equal playing field, but as you said, it's no skin off your own nose.

Uh - WOW. But all I can say is, I was not even able to make a table with Blender. Lol. There has to be an easier to use program out there for us dunces.

Yayyyyyyyy! *happy dance* Erm, it will be legal, right? LOL

Im wondering if thats why teenagers are now allowed in world because they'll have the computer education to manipulate these techniques... Now that you mention it... I don't know if it was that calculated, or if they just wanted to open the SL world up to more people... But the teens are the ones who will benefit the most long term. But then isn't that always the way with new techniques - not only new technology. Imagine what they will create in 20 years, if they are able to do all of this, today. If Second Life was always meant as a sustainable, alternate world, then the youth is where they would, and maybe should, invest the future. When the rest of us die off, it will all be in their hands, anyway.

Eh, what's wrong with an in world mesh creation tool?

Who are you calling a peasant ???? LOL. Me.

Unfortunately - most already are passive and mute consumers. The freebie culture somewhat assuaged this, since at least people can compete with those who are able to import money into Second Life. But, it's still become a mostly consumerist culture, I think. *ETA - I meant compete in the "fashionista/av aesthetics" sense.

Okay , u still don't want to recognize that there are modern tools to lower the resolution of the mesh so i will show u.. The left model is 5832 vertices the right one 2916 , the left one 11492 faces the right one 5735. This optimization took me exactly 3 clicks The differences are barely noticable and the optimization took out 50% of the geometry. Enjoy. I hope you will write a tutorial on how to do this.

Really informational, thanks Qie!! I wondered what the meshes would do to existing clothes and skins. I thought it might make them look like the Ruth avatar and newbie skins look to us now. Sounds like it will. I think for a while the animations will be backward compatible but then people will make skeletons or meshes that are capable of much more, putting all old furniture in the way of the dinosaur too. Which is why I haven't bought any in a while...Lol. I can see an upside to being able to create out world though. (Although I still hope they will toss at least a rudimentary mesh making tool in world for anyone to use.) Any time I am in world there is too much else going on and I can't get anything creative done, really. Even alts tend to accumulate groups and friends and same thing. Also there are times I can't get in world but can spare a bit here and there while at my desk for something like creation. When I log in I feel committed to stay in for a while usually, or else somehow dissatisfied; but as with posting on the forums vs. logging in world, I think creation out world will feel different. Less time pressured, maybe.

I thought that in Photoshop 4 and up, one could paint directly onto a mesh. Does Photoshop 4 and up import collada meshes? If I am using the wrong terms I hope my question is still clear. (How will people paint onto the meshes and can they use Photoshop 4 and up to do it?)

FireFox, which (affordable) program would you recommend for the truly right brained? What I'd love is a program that's akin to sculpture in RL. Just pushing and pulling, not having to visualize in 3d in one's mind before making a line by dragging a mouse from one point to another point. Then, painting directly onto the mesh one has made, and with even lighting and zoom-in capability. Does something like that even exist?