Elinah Iredell

Thanks good to know . I do need tons of l help lol. It is nice how much everyone helps each other here.

Thanks for your review of Blender. The fact that it can be free and better then the extremely expensive competition is impressive to me, but do they really need to make it so confusing? Even you an expert in your field found the interface difficult at first. Is there anything about Blender that can be improved in the future ? Are there things you would like to see added or changed about it to make it even better?

Rolig Loon wrote: I remember seeing a forum post about that software a couple of years ago but I'd never find it now. As I recall, the response from people at the time was one of muted enthusiasm. I haven't seen anything since. I hope when it is finally released it is open source and free ,

I guess that's it then.You both think It's either Blender or the expensive stuff. Unless any new free software comes out this year to compete with Blender I have to give it another try, I did a quick check of opinions on other software on ths forum and it sounds like other software can work in combination with Blender but not in place of Blender. Thanks for your response.

Sounds like a good idea. I wonder if many others in sl have made an effort to try to find an alternative to Blender ? I hope they have tried at least of few of those listed .. I also wanted to ask about this cool looking software developed a couple of years ago at a University in Israel. It apparently can effortlessly change a 2d image in any photo into a 3d model. I saw many articles from 2013 with people waiting and hoping for it to be made open source and offered to the public. I cannot find out what happened to it since then I cant find any recent info on it but it looks like a dream come true for a newbie like me. I wanted to know if you think it could have exciting implications for 3d mesh creators in sl ? http://3dprintingsystems.com/introducing-3-sweep/

It definately sounds like blender has worked hard to be the best choice for second life mesh creators but I still do feel curious about all these others I just found on this website. None of them can compare to blender ? http://alternativeto.net/software/blender/?license=free

Thank you for your kind reply. I guess it is silly of me to just open 3d software like that and try to use it without even looking at a tutorial first .I will view the tutorials but I would also like to try any free alternative to blender if there are any.Is there free software as good as blender that is easier to use? What about google sketch up for instance? I read linden prefers blender over anything else out there but I would be interested in tryng a good alternative as a backup plan just in case my relationship with blender continues to be so frustrating. ,

Okay I downloaded blender wanted to start the begining simple stages of working with mesh. I found a pretty free mesh object from a site and downloaded it. So far so good but then couldnt get the brushes to work to paint it . Tried to do it in photoshop but it was turned the wrong way and I couldnt move it ...Tried to download other free mesh models and now they do not even show up in blender at all! All I see is a stupid cube! Not the object I downloaded. Tried to reaserch why, someone wrote something about working with origins. I tried those buttons nothing worked. I cannot work with a model I cannot even see. This is insane This has got to be the stupidest most confusing software I have ever seen. I thought photoshop was bad until I tried to learn this. I say throw it out and start over ... the most user unfriendly thing I have ever tried to learn. I give up !!! Rant over

Oh that explains a lot.. Thank you so much .

Hi everyone quick question. I have recently discovered gacha machines. I love them. Beautiful items low prices and furniture with low land impact too. It has helped me discover creative stores I didnt know existed. I also had fun searching gacha yard sales in world and on the marketplace for the favorte specific items I wanted. The problem is I have been having trouble finding many of the actual gacha machines themsleves . The birdy alchemy gachas for instance are nowhere to be found even on their own land in their own store. I know the items must be available somewhere since gacha yard sales are full of them but I cannot find them . I wrote to the gacha owner asking where to fnd their machines and they ignored me so that didnt help. Don't get me wrong I love the yard sales when I only want a few of the things the gacha has to offer, but when I like most of the things in a gacha and do not really care which one I get, I think it would be fun to try my own luck and not have to pay the higher prices of the yard sales. Sometimes the prices are really too high at yard sales especially for common items. Does anyone know where to find Birdy/ Alchemy gacha machines? As well as other popular ones?

Its true then that smaller things do not need high resolution images it makes sense I never though of that . What about skins? Some use 1024 textures while some use 512? And the same for mesh textures on clothes ? Is that why some people look invisible when wearing mesh and others do not?

Thank you for answering I see I have a lot to learn. I wonder how much things change with each linden software update? Each time they have a new second life download do you need to test how thinks look all over again ?

It sounds like everyone must walk a fine line between high detail causing too much land impact and lag or so little that the item has no detail and no shape

I know it is ignorant of me but can you explain more about lod? I really do not mess with my settings very much.And how do you know if you need an alpha channel? Is it only if you want something to be invisible?

Under which circumstances should you use a 1024 ? When should you use a 512? And for what can you get away with a 256?

It sounds like I should check a mesh item in different viewer settings before buying it to see how it looks each way. Are you saying it is better for lag and performance on your land to have a few view highly detailed mesh items with higher land impact than a lot of lower detailed mesh items with lower land impact?

I didnt know the texture gets weaker as you move further back but I guess in sl it really has to or you would be inundated with textures coming at you from everywhere all the time.. What types of textures work best for mesh .png. .tga or . jpg? I know textures work differently in sl then on an internet websit where jpg seems to be prefered. . I am still wondering what will happen if and when linden rolls out their knew second life creation type world this year. I do not know if I will switch but I wonder if there will be mesh improvements . .

Thank you that is very interesting. I didnt know mesh has 4 levels and it never really occured to me to step back and observe the mesh item from a distance. Does each level require a separate texture ? Do the resolutions on the textures make a difference on the land impact ? And does texture resolution affect lag as well?

I wonder if I should contact stores with things I like and ask them to focus on creating a line of lower land impact items in the future?

Hi. I have been tryng to decorate my land and I need to be very conscious of the land impact numbers. I have noticed that those selling mesh home and garden creations have land impact numbers that vary drastically for items that look a lot alike. Can someone explain why a mesh garden pergola for instance can very in land impact depending on the creator from 1 - 50 ? Why are some mesh creators able to turn out items with very low land impact and others are not? I feel frustrated because there are many pretty things out there I want to buy but the land impacts are just too high for me. Are some mesh creators just better at it than others ? Do some just not care about low land impact? I wish I understood why.

Thank you for the reply . Some stores have an info button ? That is good to know I guess I never noticed it. I am glad to know they cannot automatically take the money. Since so much is always changing in sl, I just hope one of these days someone will not start setting up pay vending scripts that override that and take the money out right away. That was my concern, that not all stores are set up the same way. and one might be set up to take the money the first time you click on pay . That is one good thing about the second life marketplace .The prices have to be listed so you know right away if it costs too much. Maybe some people in sl buy whatever they want regardless of cost but for me it is a factor in my decision. It's not that I do not have any lindens it's just that I am careful with them just like in real life.

Thanks for your responses. I know if it is setup so that is says buy when I click on it I can easily see the price and then opt out but, I was concerned about the ones that read pay . I was worried it would automatically take the money that way. .You are sure they will not automatically take the money out of my account for the item if I click pay to see the price? I really think the prices should be posted . I do not like to have to risk buying something to know how much it costs.

I just have a question for store owners, often I go shopping in stores and find the items for sale do not have any prices listed anywhere. How do I find out the price of an item before I click pay? Do the store owners deliberately hide their prices or have I missed some way to see it?

Thanks for the reply. None of what you said makes much sense to me about unwrapping and uv maps and such. I guess I would understand more if I tried to create mesh. It is strange that you cannot look at the finished piece to see how well it was created.

So that is what all those appliers are for lol thanks for explaining that one to me . I took a break from sl and when I came back all this new stuff was there and I still never understood it. I see stores selling appliers and didnt know why I would need one. I went to one fancy complicated store to try a mesh avatar . It was just confusing so I finally left. I have been experimenting with creating my own skins . The results I think are not too bad.