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@Moni

It's not a different direction at all.  You have never been able to edit textures in the viewer, yet they've been part of SL since day -842.  You have never been able to edit sounds in the viewer.  Yet sounds have always been a part of SL.  You have never been able to edit poses.  You have never been able to edit animations.  These have always been part of SL and have always needed external programs to create/edit the textures, sounds, poses, animations...  So what's so different about sculpts and meshes?

As a builder, there are far more mesh creation tools in the wild, free and commercial, than there are sculpt creation tools.  And unlike sculpts, mastering meshes gives you a credible skill you can use in the real world -- movies, cartoons, architectural simulations, videogames...  Some jobs require ability with Mesh.  No job I know of requires ability with a sculpty.  People learning and mastering the Mesh inworld will be able to show off their skill and their portfolios within SL and land real jobs paying real cash because of them.

 

All valid points...

Seconds this!

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If by much less effort you mean downloaded off the web and sold for profit then I agree with you.  Otherwise creating anything in a 3D program does require skill that not everyone wants to learn or can learn.  We are going to see a flood of models in SL;  DCMA much?

 

No Trinity, I don't mean stolen off the web or anywhere else.  What I was getting at is that creating mesh objects is easier than creating sculpties.  I have been creating in SL since 2005 and anyone that knows me will attest to my character and morals as far as building goes.  The moral of my post is that, if those who already "create" content with sculpties in a 3D program will now simply have another option for creating that content which is easier than the former method, Sculpties.  And those that choose not to learn a simple 3D program most likely weren’t creating sculpts in the first place.  

There will be always be those who choose to be dishonest and to limit our selves in fear of them is no way to live.  Everything I ever built and put out for sale has been copybotted at one time or another.  Should I stop building because of that?

This popular notion that only the “elite” will be able to use the new mesh import is just not true.  The number of residence utilizing sculpties far exceeds the “elite” and as I stated before, meshes are easier to use in SL than sculpties.  There will always be those who do it better than the majority and those are the “elite”, but that’s true with cloths, skins, hair, sculpts, scripts, prim building, etc… Not just mesh creation.

Also, there are several in world tools for creating sculpties.  I would imagine those who are talented enough to offer them will have in world mesh tools before too long.

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My concern about mesh is that from what I understand, it's kind of against the accessibility that makes Second Life so great. Instead of being a world created by it's residents, it's heading toward a world created by the elite few who have the time and resources to purchase and learn the programs needed to create in Second Life.

It all makes me a bit sad. It seems over the past couple of years that Second Life has been moving further and further away from the utopian vision.

Quoted for truth.

 

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The TRUTH is that creating mesh objects can be done with free tools with MUCH less effort than it was to create good sculpties.  With sculpties you not only had to learn third party software, either in world or out, but there was a steep learning curve involved in how the model would behave, or look like, once uploaded into SL.  With meshes, what you see in the 3D modeling program is what you see in world.  Yes, there will be those that excel in mesh creation but that is true with all of the tools available in SL for creation of content.  Some clothing designers are better than others.  I have seen sculpties that just blow my mind on how detailed they can get.  So to say that only the elite will be able to use mesh imports is just not accurate.  Anyone with the desire to use them is only limited by their desire to do so.  My big concern is that the "prim cost" seems quite high for anything with real detail.  That being said, I can see where sculpties, one prim per object cost, will remain a viable practice for those that are concerned with prim count. e.g.. vehicle builders.