Kwakkelde Kwak

I really want this to work:) I just can't figure it out, not with the help page either. Are you sure you can select all normals on a seam between objects and unify them? Given the 5 minute estimate, I have the feeling you use the "average selected" command, otherwise it would take more like 5 seconds. Even though it looks like a lot of work, the workflow I posted takes a whole lot less than 5 minutes. As I said (and you as well), if you want to keep the 3 objects separate, you're absolutely right, the "Edit Normals" modifier works really well for that. One other thing, the avatar created by SLAV is far from clean. UV seams turn into split edges (= duplicate verts), different materials turn into separate objects. On top of that there are the small glitches I mentioned. At least this is how I get my SLAV avatars presented.

Storm Clarence wrote: Scary, ain't it! The legacy continues... In a child's tale kind of way. (That goes for both the scary and the legacy part.) Children certainly like repetition. The continuing (not continuum for sure!) of what you call a legacy feels more like a re-re-rerun.

Dresden Ceriano wrote: I must be missing your point... Pep hasn't posted here in a very long time. ...Dres Maybe "Pep" hasn't, but his identical twins certainly have.

That doesn't work for me. Only the "Average Selected" works in that case. For me the "Unify" only works on normals that share a vertex.

Dresden Ceriano wrote: Kwakkelde Kwak wrote: In Second Life, would "Pep" really qualify? In today's society, it wouldn't at all surprise me that there are some people who honestly believe that a person can be mocked to death. ...Dres Could that be the person trying to do so? Then Pep was ahead of his time, unless a couple of years ago (when maybe a small fraction of his posts could be interpreted as funny) is "today's society" as well. Could a bogeyman mock himself to death?

As I said, I could be missing something, but I can't figure out how to unify two normals from different vertices.

In Second Life, would "Pep" really qualify? By no means an "embodiment of terror" and not exactly "mythical". I can see how some children could be scared by this bogeyman, most adults will see the bogeyman is a load of nonsense. I do like the comparison. The bogeyman is a character with no development at all and he's a single trick creature. ETA Maybe he will reply by to prove it?

That should work, but it's not the way I'd smooth out the SL avatar. There are a couple of reasons for that. First of all, SLAV doesn't split vertex normals just between head, upper body and lower body, it also splits between UV seams (and a couple of random places all across the model). You could use the same technique for those areas, but it takes a really long time to do so, not to mention it's a royal pain to select only the normals you want to average each time. Secondly, not just the normals, but also the vertices are split by SLAV, leaving you with a lot of overlapping vertices. This means extra geometry you do not need, with an extra load on the network and rendering process, for no reason at all. Third reason is I like to keep an object like the avatar as a single object. SLAV splits the model into three pieces, according to their material. _________________ So here is what I'd do: Import/create the avatar with SLAV. Select the three objects, not the skeleton. Make a copy of them, convert to editable poly and attach them to eachother, so you end up with a single object. Select all vertices and weld them together, make sure you have a very small threshold so you don't weld vertices that aren't in the same location. Make sure the individual polygons have three different material IDs, so you can texture the head, upper body and lower body separately. Select all polygons and put them in one smoothing group. You now have a single object, without overlapping vertices, completely smooth and with all the UV data unchanged. It's no longer rigged though, so that needs to be redone. Select the new single object. Apply a skin wrap modifier to it. Add the three original objects and convert to skin, make sure the distance is at an absolute minimum, the vertices of the new and old are still in exactly the same position, so that's not an issue. ________________ It looks like a lot of work, but in my experience it's a lot faster than editing all the normals, not to mention you end up with a slightly more efficient object. Editing the normals can be very effective in other cases, for example interchangable body parts that need to blend in with the avatar. If you (for some reason I can't think of right away) want to keep three separate objects, it's also the way to go. EDIT @arton: I see you wrote "Unify", I assumed you wrote "Average Selected". That will get rid of the smoothing group issues in one click, but I don't see how it solves the issue with the seams created by duplicate verts. Am I missing something? The only way I see to match the normals in those areas is by "averaging" them, that means selecting and "averaging" vert by vert.

In addition to those three graphic combinations, have you tried setting the alpha mode of all objects to "none"?

The only reason I can think of is that CG Textures mentioned you can still use the textures you've already uploaded to SL. They seem to have a much better understanding of what's workable than LL. If you ask me the LL ToS are very clear, the use of all user content will be licensed to LL, no exceptions, no timeframes.

Coby Foden wrote: Ok, I sent them email notifying them about their error in the company name. :matte-motes-big-grin: :smileywink: I'm sorry to force your hand like that and hope you don't mind. I just couldn't help myself

From Renderosity: "Second Life is owned and operated by Linden Labs...." Coby?

(I don't use Blender, so some things are different for me. Sorry:) ) So you do need to export with the armature from Blender then. Still the last thing you want is the skeleton in the dae file moving around bones in the SL avatar. The thing that needs to stay unchecked is "include joint positions". That's probably the setting that messes up the shoulders.

trevyr wrote: Thanks I did have the "include armature" enabled when I went to export my .dae file. Guess i need to make the shoulder bones in my armature smaller? Its a small avatar shape im creating clothing for. I downloaded my custom shape and imported it into Blender then used the default SL armature. Last month when I started learning and created a mesh shirt, I didnt notice any other body parts distorting when I wore that mesh so I assumed using the default armature was ok? I guess your avatar is small, but small because of appearance sliders in SL. That means you are still using the default skeleton as a base in SL. If that's the case, you shouldn't upload the armature at all. Whether you leave it out of the export process or import process shouldn't make a difference. Just make sure you upload the pants only.

Chic Aeon wrote: Apparently when you add materials to a "prim" it changes the legacy prim to count under the new land impact. It's probably the physics weight if the difference is as big as Zeaig said. Changing the physics type of the prims to "convex hull" or even "none" should help out in most cases. It won't work for hollow or concave objects that need a matched visual and physical shape.

The only thing I can think of, is included bones in your upload. When you build a dwarf, giant, animal or any non-human avatar, that can be very helpful to get the joints into position without having to use the appearance sliders in SL, which probably don't even offer the changes you need. For a normal avatar and especially for attachments, uploading without the (I think it's called) "include bones" box checked will work better.

That's not what I meant. I meant the entire workflow of building clothes, or anything else, involves so much, it would be pointless to post it. "At least a forum page" might be the understatement of the year. How would one post years of experience and knowledge on a forum? I don't mind sharing anything I know, which is quite a bit but by no means everything there is to know about 3d modeling. On the other hand, I don't see the point in breaking everything I know down into tutorials from A to Z, whether I get paid for it or not. Googling for tutorials or reading books are probably better means to get help on a basic workflow. Then when one runs into specific issues, the people on this forum will most likely be able to help. btw, if the tutorials are for Blender, a full workflow, which would probably be an entire book, would take so long to write, chances are the program has changed before the article is done

NatalieSeymour wrote: I think it's hard to get a "straightforward" answer on work flow because let's face it, getting a good workflow nailed down is hard work. Who wants to give their hard work away for free? Plenty of people here on the forums share their knowledge for free. Building clothes includes designing, modeling, UV mapping, texturing and rigging. Any of these can take a full forum page if not more, that's why a post like this is not very likely to get a complete answer.

Glad I could help!

That's odd. I add the bone names by hand in the dae file, maybe that will work instead of assigning all the unused bones in 3ds Max. Also, make sure your exporter is working as it should, 3ds Max 2012 has an exporter that's not compatible with SL. There's a 2013.3 version of the fbx plugin available for 3ds Max 2012. That one works for me (using 3ds Max Design 2013). You can download it here.

You can leave the bones in the scene, but make sure you export just the skirt, not any bones. (Export -> Export selected). That way the bones won't be in the dae file, but the weights of your skirt will.

It looks like you converted your bones to editable mesh or poly, that's the last thing you want. First of all, in order to make sure the rigging went well, did you try to rotate the leg bones in 3ds Max to see if they make the skirt move? If that works as it should, export just the skirt and add the bones to the dae file. If that all goes well, you should be able to check the box in the uploader. You won't see the gray 3ds Max bones, but if I'm not mistaken you will see the blue SL skeleton.

Did the problems start when you installed windows 8 or when you updated your graphics driver? If not, your graphics card or power supply might be on its final legs.

Painting the weights IS rigging. Maybe you forgot to check the "include skin weights" in one of the upload tabs?

Up to now I had the feeling the only person being put down is the person trying to put others down, doing it to himself. That doesn't change the fact that it's a rather pointless exercise to keep posting, I do agree:) It's crystal clear there is no reasonable discussion possible. That doesn't change the fact that someone unwilling to see the difference between being a smart-ass and being smart (or just an ass maybe?) can at times be amusing. Note that "laughing with" and "laughing at" are two very different things.