Nikki Shinn

Thanks! Even still, the images in the Flickr album look hundreds of times better than before. I hope SL will catch up though.

Checking out the Flickr link... @Timmi Allen ZOMFG you meshed that farrari? *faints* that is seriously badass. Just to clarify - not that I know the first thing (yet) about mesh - will there be an actual editor built in, or is all this to-do just over the new ability to import stuff from outside SL? Also, I was browsing some pics of Blue Mars and WOW, the environ there is absolutely stunning, so my next question for LLers is - are you guys planning on upgrading SL to be able to look like that in world? While BM may not be totally the same, if they tweak it just enough to make it consumer friendly, I can see it having enormous impact on SL....because the aesthestics of BM make SL look like a cheesy cartoon by comparison. I would love more than anything, and probably end up spending more $, for SL to become that rich, that immersive and lifelike. Please be on the drawing board..and finally last question, is that potential now available with the mesh option?

Speaking of gimp...let's clear this up right quick. There are people in the world who have the ability to walk. There are others in the world, for whatever reason, who can't walk. They're wheelchair bound. Question: does the rest of the world stop moving because of those who can't? No. It does not. To help accomodate those who can't walk, the ones who can have been considerate enough to HELP those who can't, by installing ramps and lower furniture and wider toilets, and we've grown up enough to no longer giggle and stare or ask intrusive, uncomfortable questions. We've made things like prosthetic limbs with computerized motors to make it even easier. Now there are two camps in the can't walk category. Those "old school" cripples who refuse to upgrade to a motorized wheel chair, depending on someone to push them all over the place, and then there are the bionic ones who have the latest technology in mobility products, from the supersonic hover chair wth built in sensor control and emergency response, the prosthetic leg/s (that were printed in 3d, mind you), and robo arm. Those in this group are getting about, being outside, getting on with life as best they can. Old school cripples refuse to upgrade and this technological stuff will ruin the quality of life, it will turn us all into cyborgs who will take over, old school cripples can't compete with the "elite" cripples with souped up chairs and robotic limbs, so what are they supposed to do? They shouldn't have to be "forced" into upgrading if they're completely happy with their circa 1930s era chair, it's just social darwinism at work. It sounds like the real problem isn't about mesh, flexis or sculpties. It sounds like the real problem is these people have a seriously skewed sense of self worth, low self esteem, are so insecure they are personally threatened by anyone doing better than they do, and because of it, want to shut the whole thing down so nobody can enjoy life if they can't figure out how to.

What about you? What are you going to do as a result of meshes being introduced? I'm going to takw a fork, stab it in my eye and attempt to learn Blender or Wings3d, while mastering Sculptris and Sketchup, then figuring out how to get products from those into SL at all. So hit me up with your tutorials. Can I come hang out at your house so you can teach me? ;-p All I know is to those who have mastered this stuff, PLEASE PLEASE have the presence of mind to provide tutorials to help the complete novice make an easier transition. And by tutorials, I mean with audio instruction, not an obnoxious music video watching you whip up a build while being tormented by the latest techno beat. We want to hear what you're saying, clearly and simply. Click this button here, do this, understand that. Thank you kindly from those with open minds.

Ditto on the in world editor. Even though it has a learning curve initially, once you get the hang of it, it's not so bad, but being used to external editors for all sorts of programs, the SL editor is really poor and limited. I would love to see a texture organizer built in, or a thumbnail viewer for that matter - it would be incredibly helpful. Adding sculpty and mesh to the actual editor that will automate some of the more intricate demands of creating things, like scaling and "face" limits, and easier texturing, that sort of thing. I would *prefer* that the in world editor was exactly that, providing the ability to create and modify mesh and sculpty the same as we can with prims, so we don't need external programs to import things...but importing being made available is better than nothing. I have downloaded about 8 of the free programs, but out of all of them - including Blender, Wings3D, 3D canvas, etc - only Sculptris has been intuitive enough to start the program and click something and begin making whatever. The biggest pain of using it cold was trying to figure out how to turn the object left and right. I got all other directions and zoom down, but left and right - no clue. Heh. But in 15 minutes I made a sculpted head - looks like a pokemon character with spikey hair but I was less focused on style and mostly pushing something to see what it does. By contrast, I fired up Blender and these others ones and there are 50 window panels and options and no matter what I clicked, nothing much happened and the help files made me figured I'll have to return to college just to master how to open a new file...Sculptris is like click and go. That sort of in world ease would be IDEAL. As to the rest of you particular people who are convinced the sky is now falling and prim content creators are doomed and the economy is history, there's a reason we no longer drive Model Ts. Virtual reality gaming is growing, the technology is advancing and maybe in 10 years LL will be showing us plans on the holographic in world out world avatars and you same people will scream bloody murder that the world is coming to an end. Technology is rapidly surging forward. There are 3D printers that will very soon print bodily organs, there are many people actively working on internet activated contact lenses, the self driving car is currently being tested, the walls will be wired for internet, all sorts of things that will hit in record time...it is progress. Currently, I do not own a cell phone, "i-anything" no lap pads - none of that. I work off a 2009 model desktop with Win7, and a laptop. I am not at all against technology. But I'm aware of Moore's Law and have no problem giving it a year or three when I can pick up one of those nifty gadgets with the kinks worked out for about 50 bucks. I never jump on fresh tech because it's glitchy, costly and oversized. But let me ask you this... Everything - and I mean EVERYTHING - is rapidly moving toward open source. The heavy players like Adobe putting out Photoshop, the 3D editor makers, all sorts of these people charging hundreds of dollars still hang in the game despite hundreds of open source free programs surrounding them. So what is the real problem if everything is one day free and open source? If you can easily produce what you want then you don't need to shop for that...your need for money decreases the more you can do for yourself, but the same rule applies for everyone else. Instead, trading would rise...some people specialize in this or that item, others in something else. I might make all my houses and furniture, but I can't make hair, skins or avitars, nor can I script anything yet. I don't foresee people going out of business...but I can foresee a platform that *changes* the inworld economy, rather than destroys it. Granted the current way of going about things changing brings the current way to an end, but that's not disastrous - people ADAPT to changes and those people prosper. If you're still sitting at home with a 386 and dialup, nobody feels sorry for you if you can't compete or keep up. If you refuse to keep up then your business will suffer unless your business is irrelevant to mesh one way or the other. The open source/DIY movement would be what changes the economy in SL and in RL for that matter. But maybe that's not a bad thing. The less we need money to handle our lives, then money as a means to an end diminishes. If everything was free or easily obtainable, and money was gone, it would solve a LOT of problems across the planet. Other new ones would surface and we would adapt and work out productive solutions. That's the trick to productive vs failure. Choice though is yours.

FTR, while reading this thread, I downloaded a couple of those free programs, Sculptris etc. and they're pretty intuitive. Maybe check them out and see for yourself. You Tube has an abundance of tutorials for them, it's not that difficult to learn. It really all boils down to one thing: either people will learn the new stuff or they won't. If they do, they just enhance their experience. If they don't, they stay at their current level and will have to compete with those who did. I don't really see how introducing mesh would wipe out SL's business sector. PS LL isn't going bankrupt anytime soon unless they happen to get sued to death, but their legal team seems pretty on the ball. Lord Linden seems to enjoy that LL rakes in a hundred million a year and the economy has raked in 600 million. It's not going anywhere anytime soon, and surely not because of mesh and the potential for some people to fail to compete. And there will be many people who provide tutorials and bases and maps and all sorts of aspects for mesh work, same as they've done for every other aspect of SL. Check out the post from Aeronya Arai with the list of free programs... and Thanks Aeronya for providing that, it's very helpful!

@Lightscribe Your example, however, also shows just how easily a proven and popular product could be rendered instantly obsolete by the introduction of Mesh. Would you be so happy if your 243 prim gun was already perfected, fully functional and on the market? If it was one of your best selling items, and the introduction of mesh slaughtered your sales because someone else beat you to the market with a better-looking, two-prim version of your primmy gun? So what if someone came in and made a 240 prim fully functional gun that collected damage data? Should Lightscribe just toss in the towel and go play WOW? If somebody builds a better mousetrap then you either toss in the towel in defeat, which is what visionless people do, OR maybe, just maybe, you refocus your skills, upgrade, learn something new and build an even better mousetrap. Or just tweak something to make it different - if the product is factually good, then sales will come, period. Tons of people build furniture - prim and sculpted. They're all in competition with each other. Search "sofa" on the marketplace and get a gazillion returns...some are high prim and low quality, some are high prim high quality high price, others are reasonably priced, lower quality, lowest prims. It depends on what a buyer is after...but just about all those sofa builders make sales - even the crappy freebie offers get picked up. The only people who will get run out of business (regardless of mesh) are those who are clueless to how business actually works.

Prokofy Neva Evolution happens. Stagnaton kills. In the beginning, Philip Linden said, let there be physics and physics happened, and then the second day Philip Linden said, let there be a creation tool and there came the creation tool...and lo the N00bs had to spend a good long time attempting to master the edit features just to crinkle up a square, but lo, the N00bs worked it out. Then Philip Linden said let there be sculpties and windlight, and then came sculpties and windlight...then Philip said let there be Torley Linden and then there was Torley, and then on the 7th day Philip Linden went on vacation with the Missus... The noobs mastered the edit tool, the noobs mastered sculpted building...and the noobs will master mesh. Some will have a knack for it, others will always struggle. Same as now. There are plenty of prim builders that suck. Plenty of sculpty builders that suck. There will be plenty of mesh builders that suck. The upgrades for those who want to move forward is a good thing. If a prim builder makes good stuff, they'll stay in business. But it is what it is. It is also going to help reduce prim count which is nothing but a good thing. Progress happens. Those with the willingness to move forward and adapt, develop new abilities will prosper. Those who are demanding that the good old days consisted of a stick and a rock will be SOL, evolution happens. That is the way of Life. Evolution IS change...

Holy boxopener...thank you for that! I had no idea you could do that. Learn something new every day and this time it comes in handy! You'd think after all the countless times I accidentally wore a box I'd have figured that out already ;-p I hate to do this since it's a good spot and I'd hate to see it get abused but my old reliable sandbox has been the Kelly Work Zone for a long long time. Hooligan keeps a tight ship there...can type that in the map search - kelly work zone and it'll get ya right to it.