"Shork Industries" Avatars & Stuff

[Vixy Sharpfang]

Hai!

I'm Vixy Sharpfang and some would call me a furry or an anthro or whatever. When you play something like Warhammer 40k I'd be an Abyssal Pelager or when you enjoy Earth 2 I'd be a Fukushima Black Shark.


I'm a member of a group that operates in OpenSim, named "Shork Group" or rather "Shork Icecream Cafe", and our goal is to make stuff we feel OpenSim is missing (we left Second Life end of 2022) - or the stuff is exceedingly hard to come by so we didn't find it or it is of rather dubious origin, so we don't want to poke it with a 10 foot pole.

+++ Shameless Advertising +++
We currently are bringing our "finalized" Anthro Shark avatar as a full-perm freebie to OpenSim.
The Kitely Starter Avatar sim has them and they're already available in OSGrid's Wright Plaza (Only a few models), at "Teravus Plaza" ( hop://login.osgrid.org/Teravus%20Plaza/79/193/23 ) and at our homebase "Shork Cafe".
+++

When you take a look at these avatars then, yes, there's a lot to improve.
However, we have no rigger in our team, our designer never created SL/OpenSim avatars before but mostly made 3D printable figurines... and the list of issues goes on and on.
Like, the only CAD program any of the team uses regularly is a web based CAD software for kids age 8 and up.

Much of the expert knowledge was either gifted (Snoots Dwagon: TalkJaw script) or commissioned and paid for ( Mesh components, [SKS] Textures ).
That's why we kept the Avatar design conceptually primitive.
Currently we're working on getting Anthro Lion avatars assembled.




That much for the introduction, now on to the tuna in the pond:

We as a group think that there could be more "everyday articles" available, such as furniture.
From a completely unrelated source we got the suggestions to look for "low poly assets".
Like:
https://styloo.itch.io/kitchen
or
https://styloo.itch.io/classroom-asset-pack
Which are both from the same artist.
Myself and another member of the team tried to import these components into OpenSim for evaluation. And whilst Meshlab - a tool used in the 3D printing room where the PCs are standing our merry group of weirdos is using to play games on in the evening - can successfully convert these items into .DAE files for OpenSim, none of us found out how to get the textures either exported separately as to import them separately into OpenSim, or how to keep the textures in the models so they appear right away in OpenSim.

I thus have two suggestions:

a) The Shork Group sponsors somebody to read the legalese and check if our understanding, that one can publish them however one wants after buying them, is correct. Then the person officially license these assets (paid for by us) and imports them to to OpenSim - specifically Kitely - and uploads them to the Kitely Marketplace with the most open permissions ( that is our wish as we pay for the license and the work ), selling them at an affordable price on the Kitely Market ( as a boon to our gracious hosts and to further compensate the person doing the importing for potential customer support stuff ).

b) Somebody teaches me or the other member of the Shork Group residing in Kitely how to import these items, or even writes a basic manual on how to do that. The Shork Group will then take care of licensing the Assets we deem important, will contact their creators and verify that they as artists are okay with what we want to do. Aaand then we import that stuff and label it as "Shork Group - Equipment & Lifestyle" and publish it either also as FullPerm Freebies in Kitely's Starter Avatar World and other freebie-places such as OSGrids Wright & Teravus Plaza, or we'll have to emphasize that just the Avatars are full Perm Freebies and stuff the equipment into the Kitely Marketplace.

1. I would love to hear for one who thinks that that's a good Idea or, if they think it isn't, why they think so.
2. I also would love to hear from somebody how they interpret the licensing conditions given for the two assets I linked above, in particular if they see any issues importing the items to OpenSim/Kitely and in regards to if and how to distribute the items here in OpenSim and Kitely in particular.
3. Next I would love to read here from people that are interested to try themselves or teach. You can download these assets for free, so you can try to import a single item with textures without any money being spent. Once you are sure correct import is no problem, poke me please.
4. Finally, in case somebody bangs their head onto the desk and decides to run with the idea for themselves, also tell me, please, happily in IM, so that I know that we can expect more cool stuff in the near future.

And in case somebody loves the Shork Group: We have a whole bag of "subsidiaries", i.e. names and occasionally even logos for stores under the Shork Groups umbrella. The "Finest Umbrellas (of) Canada, Kapuskasing, Ontario" is one of the subsidiary names that, seemingly, nobody wanted so far.
Or how about "Whaleshark Ergonomic Interiors, Research & Design"?
*mumbles about other company names and departments*

[Vixy Sharpfang]

Oookay, you guys are totally mad, and I'm happy for that!

I promised not to tell who did it but thank you you little furball!

Blender Basics: Importing and Exporting
Opening .obj Files and Exporting Textures
Step 1: Open Blender

Open Blender on your computer. If you don't have it installed, you can download it for free from Blender's official website.
Step 2: Import .obj File

In Blender, click on File in the top-left corner.
Select Import and then choose Wavefront (.obj).
Navigate to where your .obj file is saved and open it.

Step 3: Check Imported Object

Once imported, you'll see your object in the 3D view. Use your mouse to rotate, zoom, and pan to explore it.
Step 4: Export Textures

Switch to the Layout workspace by selecting it at the top.
Locate the Material Properties tab on the right side (a round sphere icon).
Find the material list and for each material:
Click on the material name.
Scroll down to the Settings panel.
Click Browse next to the Texture field and save each texture image.

Export Textures Separately

Save each texture image separately by right-clicking on the image and choosing Save As. Choose a location on your computer and give it a name.
Exporting as .DAE (Collada) File
Step 1: Switch to Modeling Workspace

Click on Modeling at the top to switch to the Modeling workspace.
Step 2: Export as .DAE

Click on File in the top-left corner.
Select Export and then choose Collada (.dae).
Choose a location to save your .dae file.
Set any additional options if needed.
Click Export COLLADA.

Step 3: Finished!

You now have a .dae file that can be used in various 3D applications.

I thought I'll share that info right whilst it is still boiling hot!

[Shandon Loring]

Exciting!
Enthusiasm is contagious!

[Vixy Sharpfang]

As seemingly usual, it wasn't done with .obj files. Nope!
From an archive of 139 items, there were exactly 3 .obj files, all other ones are .fbx

However:

Exporting Material, 3D Model, and UV Map from .FBX in Blender:

Import .FBX File:
Open Blender.
Go to File > Import > FBX.
Browse and select your .FBX file.

Inspect Materials:
In the "Materials" tab of the "Properties" panel, you should see the materials associated with the imported model. Blender might import these materials with the same names as in the .FBX file.

UV Maps:
Switch to "Edit Mode" for your 3D model by pressing Tab.
Go to the "UV Editing" workspace.
In the "UV Editing" workspace, you should see the UV Map for your model.

Export Materials:
Go to File > Export > Material Library.
Choose a location and name for your .MTL (Material) file.

Export UV Map:
In the "UV Editing" workspace, select all (A) and go to UV > Export UV Layout.
Save the image.

Export 3D Model:
Go back to the "Layout" workspace.
Select the 3D model.
Go to File > Export > FBX.
Make sure to check "Selected Objects" if you only want to export the selected model.
Choose a location and name for your .FBX file.

Done!