Mesh Products

[Sparrow777]

I don't understand what mesh is. Can someone please explain it? *I'm mostly referring to clothing, hair, etc.

[Rolig Loon]

In simplest terms, mesh is a 3D virtual model.  Everything you see in SL is a mesh object -- a three-dimensional drawing that is composed of hundreds (thousands!) of little triangles.  Until fairly recently, the only mesh objects we had in world were the ones that Linden Lab gave us as Primitive bulding blocks (Prims).  We made more complicated objects by stacking those simple mesh objects like Legos.  Around 2010, Linden Lab introduced a more complicated sort of mesh -- a sculpty -- which is like an origami figure.  Builders could use the new method to make some smooth, organic shapes that they never could make with prims.  Sculpties were a step on the way to letting builders create true 3D models  -- the ones that people call "mesh" today.  They don't have the limitations that sculpties did, and you don't need to stack them like Legos.  You can make a very complicated 3D model outside SL, using professional-level design programs, and then import them to SL. 

There are many fresources and informational sites on line about mesh.  Here's one you might find helpful >>> http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Mesh/How_mesh_content_affects_you

 

[PeterCanessa Oh]

GOOD question.  Glad someone asked :-)

The very short answer is that 'mesh' is the most complicated, but flexible, way to make objects in SL.

The longer answer is it's all about 3d computer graphics:...

All 3d shapes in an environment like SL or most computer games is made up of surfaces/faces/planes which themselves are defined by their corners and edges.  A simple cube would have 8 corners, 12 edges connecting them (4 around the top, 4 around the bottom and 4 'uprights') and 6 faces that they define.  Once you have all this information you can put pictures/textures on each face to make, for instance, a die with the numbers 1 - 6.  Essential point: 3d shapes are made of a number of faces (planes), which are made of a number of edges (lines), which connect corners (points).

The built-in SL building tools provide this information for a number of simple (primitive, prim) shapes; cube, pyramid, etc. so we don't have to bother with the detail of every point/line/plane.  That makes building in-world, with prims, simple and quick.

A few years ago LL introduced 'sculpted' (sculpt) prims to SL.  They can't be built in-world but are a sort of half-way house between prims and 'proper' mesh.  To cut a long story short a sculpted prim 'has' a mesh of 64 x 64 points, each connected to its up, down, left and right neighbours - like a fishing net.  Just as you can twist and turn a fishing net you can make all sorts of shapes with a sculpt by changing the X, Y and Z positions of all those points, but you can't "untie" them from their neighbours.

Full mesh is still pretty new to SL but is the way most 3d graphics are made 'by hand' in other environments.  Instead of only having a few shapes to start with - like prims - or only a fishing-net with a fixed structure - like sculpts - it is entirely up to you what points, edges and planes you have and how they connect to anything else.  Doing this literally by hand is far too much work but most 3d-modelling programs let you draw and build this way then save the 'mesh' you've defined.  A GOOD 3d (mesh) modeller can make much more detailed objects that don't require as much computer-power to draw than someone using more simple tools.  Unfortunately anyone who isn't good at 3d modelling usually makes things that are much harder for computers to work out.

[Hope that explains it without being too simplistic or too techy.  If you wanted to know something different please use options > edit against your post to clarify exactly what you're asking]

 

[Lebok]

I'll try to give an answer a little more simple:
Mesh is anything that can be placed in any part of SecondLife.

You can do this by exporting 3D objects from external programs. For this you must pay $ L. The cost is a calculation determined that runs automatic when you "upload" 3D file. Another way is when you buy some products in SecondLife and save it to your inventory. Those are two examples.

You should know that not everywhere can do mesh of an object. It is good practice if you have no land of their own, you then go to a "sandbox".

For more details please read the help of SecodLife.