Nacy Nightfire

I'm guessing the single biggest reason this happens is due to vertex(ies) remaining unassigned to a vertex group. Here's my double check list (since at one time or other each of these things was a "gotcha" for me"). 1) Verts unassigned to a vertex group. In blender Edit mode: Editing Palette (F9) Links and Materials section > Vertex groups, go down the list and hit select and then H to hide each group. Anything left over is unassigned. Assign them to a group that makes sense. 2) Interior faces/non manifold. In blender Edit Mode: CTRL ALT SHIFT M to find and correct them 3) Double faces. In blender Editing Palette (F9) > Mesh tools > Remove Doubles 4) Material not assigned. In blender Links and Pipeline (F5) . Make new 5) UVs not assigned. Not sure this is mandatory if there is an material assignment. I make them anyway for good luck. 6) Unintentional extrusions. Accidently clicking ctl and LMB when a vert is selected. Can extrude a vert that you don't see and it's not assigned to a group 7) Accidentally duplicated entire mesh in place. Right click once on your mesh and try moving it after pressing G. If there is another mesh underneath delete it. Edited to add: 8) Forgetting to "Make Real" the armature modifier. Select just the mesh in object mode and hit the Make Real button. 9) Forgetting to select the armature after selecting the Mesh before exporting as a collada file. If someone can add anything I've missed from their own check list, that would be great. I'm sure I'm leaving something out here.

I just called smith micro/poser and was told PoserPro 2012 will be using Collada 1.5...although the person I spoke to seemed a bit hesitant about her info.

Oh great, I can do that myself! I can read it (I just can't understand it!). Thanks!

Collada 1.5..oh what a nightmare! But wasn't it delightful to learn at the mesh meeting that getting Blender 2.59's version of Collada is a priority :matte-motes-smile: That's really been holding me back from jumping over from ver 2.49. It's annoying that these programs don't allow you to just plug in the version of Collada you prefer. Or maybe that's possible and I'm not tech savvy (saavy?) enough to know how to do it. When Modo first offered Collada, they referred their customers to the Collada website. Now with the current version it's included automagically, but there's no information I can find on their website which Collada version they are using. Well since you are a Poser and and an advanced 3d artist , I feel better about my purchase. And I'm intrigued also about where the new weight painting feature will take us, at the very least it ought to smooth out the animations. It seems folks talk more about Daz, which I'm assuming is a competitor to Poser, but I never checked into that and quite frankly I don't want to start with another package. I bought Poser 6 on ebay when I started in SL because I was intrigued with making simple animations for SL and I've just hung in there with it.

You wrote: "I was just wondering if to upload mesh in future everyone will need payment on file. Not just some kind of confurmation but some premium paypal accout or giving credit details to linden labs. It seems to me that linden labs is allowing mesh only to restrict it enough that it woun't be an easy way to build items using it. This type of thing will lead to a huge skill margin between pro builders who can afford to use mesh and normal residents." I hope by now folks have gotten over the idea that it's some sort of injustice to be forced to have payment on file to build with mesh in SL. First of all "payment on file" doesn't mean you spend money unless you chose to upload. And you can find other means of working in SL and use the money you earn for uploads. Second, there few ways to do ANYTHING in rl without some form of payment on file or verifyable info about where you reside and this goes for the rich and the poor. Lastly, it has become common for companies to offer a basic and very usable version of their product for free and if you wish to upgrade to receive access to more advanced features there's a cost associated with that. Companies that do this are considered very generous for offering a stripped down free version. In SL you can still work with most off the building tools (which are still relevant) for free and without any ID. And I consider that a very generous arrangement on the part of LL. (And this is coming from a "normal resident" who doesn't have a business in SL, is self taught in 3D modeling, and who uses the FREE program Blender - no professional builder speaking here, and who does not see any impediments for people on a budget to enjoying building in SL.)

If its a rigged item that generally means you have some unassigned vertices. Check all your vertex groups. One way is to select each and with the vertex group "select" mode, highlight then hide them (short cut H to hide and alt H to unhide). Do that for each group in turn and then what remains on your screen are unassigned vertices. Add them to the group that makes the most sense based on their location.

Hmmm interesting. On impulse I took advantage of a preorder discount to convert Poser 8 to PoserPro 2012 because it has collada import/export. Now I'm thinking I may have made a error in being so hasty since I have no idea what version Poser will offer...most likely the most updated 1.41 since PoserPro 2012 hasn't been release yet. :matte-motes-bored: And I looked at what version of Collada Modo uses...no info there. How very frustrating. Clearly the version matters since it's used to export to other programs.

Another thing to mention is the walk animation is just one I had in inventory that I purchased somewhere. It's a sexy walk that has a bit more hip movement which is cat like. Alot of human walks have arm movements that match the quadraped (sp?) walk movements quite nicely. Some of the dance animations look nice, also. I'll probably end up making alot of my own cat animations, but its been fun picking thru my inventory and testing things out.

Karl, I'm not a Maya user so I can't speak to that, but in Blender 2.49b I both repositioned bones AND scaled them. And I uploaded the mesh with the armature, so the option skin weights AND joint positions highlight and II check em off. And it took about 40 hours over 4 days for me to get it right since I had NO previous rigging/skinning experience other then shrinking/scaling up the basic avie on the beta grid. So its not all that simple, it wasn't for me at least, but at least its do-able. And now I'm exhausted :matte-motes-yawn:.

Choose version 1.4 and check off: Triangles Only Export Selection Apply Modifiers

Skinned to the Avatar Armature. Takes a bit of tweaking, but it's do-able. :matte-motes-smile:

""It isn't mine! I was just holding it for a friend!" It's better to just abstain from any illicit behavior." I agree, completely, Relapse, but I wasn't presuming this was illlicit in nature, just talking about someone who might have worked on a creation of their own and wanted to upload it for their own personal use. The question is whether it is allowable, or even adviseable to assist them out in this way. I'm guessing probably not, but I was interested in hearing other opinions about this.

"On the blender UI...yeah, ugly colors and slightly dated...sort of militaryish! Those tiny buttons mean more stuff packed in AND you can zoom in and out on the button bar/panel/window thingy. It is odd, but once you learn it you seem to get it. The stumbling thing....sort of still happens, which is why I think people like the windows poping up rather than button bar/panel/window thingies. " Poenald, Blender is like your grandma...most people just see her as an unsexy old lady and discount her.. But when one has a close relationship with one's grandma YOU know she is a beautiful person, inside and out, with all her complexities, her history, her experience and because you know her and she takes care of you. She puts alot of love, thought and experience into those meals she cooks for you! Now with Blender 2.59, "grandma" got a face lift! I'm having a bit of trouble getting used to that!!

I'm not a programmer so I have no idea what I'm looking at, but I compared a collada file from 2.59 and 2.49b and they look quite different in a number of ways. Maybe someone who can parse these files can comment on that.

Strider, which version of Blender are you using. I just tried out 2.59 tonight and it doesn't work when deforming a rig and saving it out as a collada file. And this is the same experience other's have reported. If you ARE trying to use 2.59, switch back to 2.49b and you won't have a problem, I don't think.

That's an interesting solution, although personally I'd never go to that much bother for someone by adding my personal payment info to a strangers account, no matter how friendly we were in SL. I wasn't even considering a situation where the creator would ever be an issue such as doing this favor for someone who plans to make a business of selling mesh. Anyone planning to exchange real money for their creations ought to have it together enough to be able to have payment on file. I guess I was thinking about a scenario where someone just wanted to upload a mesh or two for their personal use, but doesn't have a credit card or whatever it takes (I forget at this point) to have payment on file. Thanks for your input!

Also, don't forget to delete any slm files already created on your computer if you plan to edit them and reupload them with the same file name.

Sorry for not being clearer in my explanation. If you don't already have the advanced menu available on your viewer, press ctl alt D. Then go to debug settings and scroll down to MeshImportUseSLM and select FALSE.

What's the current policy for uploading meshes for a friend via transfered dae data if the person can't upload due to lack of payment on file. It's possible thru a viewer (I use 3d browser) to look at the dae file to get a sense if its an original creation and not a copyright infringement so you aren't uploadeding "blindly, however I guess the risk would be that it might be a stolen dae file and the person doing the upload is ultimately responsible 9and could lose his/her mesh uploading priviledges...hmm, maybe I answered my own question here). Anyone have any thoughts on this?

I haven't spent much time in 2.59, but I just attempted to to make a mini avie with a clothing item and I had the same results as you and Chodai did. I spent quite a bit of time trying things like importing the dae file back into blender 2.49 (mesh mess) and into Modo (it was fine there). I rotated it to face the x axis, just for the heck of it, and the same results. It's interesting that it stacks the avie parts horizontally. The legs on the left, the top in the middle and the head on the right. I merged my verts to have one obj of the avie. Maybe I'll try deleting the uvs and going just with a single material group.

If you've already tried uploading the mesh, remember to either debug/false the slm file (see pic) so you can stop the .sml file creation and remove any sml file already created or rename your file every time you re-upload. Also, if you haven't tried this already: select your mesh then select the armature...make dae file. When you import in the modifier tab check Skin Weights and then Joint Positions will appear. Check that also.

I started from scratch in 3d when I joined SL in late 2007. I ended up with LW, Modo, Blender, Zbrush, Sculptris, 3d Coat, Mudbox and Poser. Mostly I use Blender and Zbrush. As a beginner, you can't beat Blender for all the available free tutorials. I started with Modo on someone's recommendation, and although its a terrific product and a very lovely interface its not for beginners, I'm only now getting back into it after learning a bit about 3d modeling and rendering via Blender. And I love Zbrush, although lots of folks hate THAT interface, it never bothered me. So each to his/her own ...it's very hard to make recommendations for that reason. Lightwave 7 was something I bought on Ebay for cheap $ as I did Poser 6 as well. I have used Poser quite a bit for animations for SL, but I find the interface a bit irritating. I can't say much about LW since in fairness I jumped over to Modo and then to Blender in frustration.

I wasn't feeling picked on, but thanks for saying that. I was just responding to your posting in a friendly teasing fashion :matte-motes-smile:, (and really I don't want to give out misinformation, so I'm glad you jumped in to correct my mistake.) Thanks so much for explaining your technique for creating a second layer and for explaining how the layer system works on the default avie Your solution for mesh avies is incredibly clever.

Actually it would be nice if someone could complile a reference list of terms as they vary across the various popular programs like Blender, 3d Max, Maya, Zbrush, etc. Even the basic components: faces/polys, verts/points etc. differ from program to program. I would volunteer for this project, but sadly I have no access to Maya or 3d Max and my overall experience in 3d modeling is limited to what I learned for SL purposes. Maybe it could be a group effort and someone can start with the terms they think are most "changeable" and a beginner should grasp. The most scary and off-putting aspect for a raw beginner is the terminology. When I had to start thinking of UV's I got a bad case of virtual hives. I thought I might push a button blow up my computer. Ahhh the early days.