[Mesh Update]

@kalliopi

 

Clothing layers are not affected in any way. your tattoos will be fine. Mesh is just an addition, not a replacement for anything. If someone uses an alternative avatar, your clothes will probably not fit, but none will, except the ones made specifically for that avatar. I'm pretty sure most people will keep their old avatar as their main shape for that reason, or their entire wardrobe will be useless.

Viewer? Well I have to say I have used Viewer 1 until recently. I'm used to V2 now, it even performs better, IF it runs, that's true:). There's a viewer 1 alternative though, as far as viewing the meshes goes, for uploads you need V2 (for now at least). The Coolviewer has mesh tech and Phoenix will follow.

[Mesh Update]

@Broody Flow

You might want to tell everyone what people using mesh should read about. I haven't experienced any more lag than usual myself since the mesh came available on the main grid (Ofcourse I can only speak for myself). What kind of lag are you talking about? There are so many kinds of it.

In theory mesh objects should create less viewer side lag, since the LOD can be set by the creator. On top of that LL has made the prim equivalent rise with size, meaning the rendering cost and prim cost are linked, unlike normal prims or sculpted ones. On a mesh object every face is visible, again unlike sculpted prims, where in a lot of cases the faces are pushed together adding to nothing but the load.

I'd like to add mesh objects look a lot better than sculpted ones and are easier to build and use. All in all I am for a change very happy with LL. Who cares they didn't "invent" meshes, they didn't invent avatars or reflective water or IM or 3D environments as a whole. Does that mean they shouldn't use that? Then we'd have a chatroom. Oh wait, those were invented already, we'd be staring at the desktop of our computer.

[Mesh goes gridwide: Create, sell, buy & enjoy all-new things in SL]

@icon allen

I can only repeat myself here... I am working on some vehicles and without patting myself on the back I can say they look a hell of a lot better than all the sculpted cars out there. Just make sure your lower LODs aren't too heavy in prims and make a clever physical shape. Staying under 33 prims isn't all that hard plus you have the benefit of being able to finally texture the thing properly. There is no need to see mirrors and carseats and tire valves from 200 meter away.

In fact I doubt a shape with as many faces/vertices in mesh or sculpt has a factor 5 difference if you count all the LODs and at least with the mesh you have control over LOD so from a distance your item doesn't look like a bunch of sticks or some weird blob.

 

@whoever thinks v1 users are dinos... this isn't about upgrading the hardware, the v2 viewer performs better on my mediocre pc. It's about the worthless UI.

[Mesh goes gridwide: Create, sell, buy & enjoy all-new things in SL]

@MasterEdward

You might want to play with the LOD settings and physical shape. I think you'll find out the mesh is not at all that prim hungry. When you say you're better off with sculpts, you can set the physical shape to near zero. LOD low and very low can be VERY simple aswell and still look a lot better than any sculpty ever did. ( I discarded LOD very low completely on a 6x2x1.5m mesh and it takes a very long draw distance to make the object go poof)  I'm sure in some cases the sculpt will be better, but saying mesh is only good for clothing doesn't do the technology any justice.

_

One problem I faced today was in the primcount when you start linking items. A 7 prim equivalent mesh linked to two normal prims cost 11 prims, even with the physical shapes set to none. Now that is annoying.

[Mesh goes gridwide: Create, sell, buy & enjoy all-new things in SL]

@Icon

The equivalent mesh model might be 5.6 times higher in prim use than the sculpt you mentioned, but most sculpts, at least the non blob shaped ones have a TON of unused, tucked away vertices... AND faces. So the equivalent shape (not model) will be better than 5.6 times higher. You might not get the same shape for 1 used prim, but then again it should be a lot easier to build and texture. Not to mention the fact you can apply the texture to it any way you like, or apply multiple textures (as a builder). On top of that the control over LOD and physical shape make the meshes much nicer to work with than a sculpted prim (also for the end user). No more need for dumb, difficult to link "walkprims"  (which ofcourse add to the primuse).

Now I am sure in some cases the sculpted prim has the overhand. Well in those cases, use them, LL didn't stop supporting those. The only downside I see is a very personal one, I liked the challenge of folding, wrapping and molding a sculpt into a nice shape, that challenge is gone now.

__

No viewer issues here, as a matter of fact I was pleasantly surprised by the V3.0 viewer. I tried the 2.0 when it came out and didn't like it. I've been using phoenix since and have to say V3.0 doubles my fps, up to a point where I can turn on shadows...on my near empty building platform...with 5 fps. (hehe)

Anyway, a big improvement over phoenix, I guess I'll get used to the unneccesary changes they made (V1 -> V2).

__

One thing about the Philip Linden reference, stating people can build together and discuss the progress while doing so. Most people build alone, either outside of SL or inworld. I'm sure some people will miss this with building meshes, but I will take a more efficient and better looking build over a stack of boxes anytime. When working on large projects you can always use some dummy prims to see how things will look. That works pretty well, see it as a model or drawing before an actual building is constructed. Adding a mesh workspace to SL could help, but it would never be as good as the stand alone programs around.

[Mesh Import Open Beta Starts Today]

Yes and this last bit makes no sense at all if you ask me , I'll have a look at that physics type thing, didn't notice that.

Also I found something new (at least to me) with the primcount and physics. I uploaded a simple upside down T for my car. SL only uses the middle part so you can walk through the front and back end. Also after shift dragging it is now 6.4 instead of 7.2 and the physics setting doesn't matter anymore. Weirdness.

Still haven't found a solution to the UVW map getting lost in the upload... Grrr.

[Mesh Import Open Beta Starts Today]

Thanks for the reply, what settings should I use in the autodesk exporter? I crashed the betaviewer numerous times already trying to upload one of these exports and the model looks really distorted in the preview window. Also importing the file back into max gives a really distorted and rotated mesh.

[Mesh Import Open Beta Starts Today]

Overall this thing works really well for a beta. I have some issues though, some are due to SL, some I can only blame myself for I hope.

It seems the primcount doesn't make any sense whatsoever. Upload a mesh and it's 9 prims for one object. Then drag a copy and all of a sudden it's over 30. Linking a standard box takes 0.1 or so prim. It just makes no sense.

A bigger problem I have is this though:

When I make a model in 3ds Max 8 and export it with the FreeCollada plugin, the shape translates remarkably well, but the textures are messed up to say the least. In Max I made a UVW map and the textures look fine. But when I upload into SL it becomes either one big mess or the textures don't show at all. The collada file is fine, when I re-import it into max the textures still look ok. Am I missing something really obvious or is there something wrong?