Mesh Generator

Building using prims, sculpties and meshes. Texture creation techniques.
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Cooter Coorara
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Mesh Generator

Post by Cooter Coorara »

Hi folks. I'm a builder in SL. I build with prims and use Mesh Studio to convert my linksets to mesh. I use Mesh Studio, and there is also one called Mesh Generator. Before I come back to Kitely, I have to know if there is a similar product here. Thanks in advance for any help.
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Graham Mills
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Re: Mesh Generator

Post by Graham Mills »

I'm not a mesh creator so not best placed to offer advice. However, I'm not personally aware of a tool analogous to those you describe for use in OpenSim although the following thread outlines a process for modifying linksets exported in Collada format.

https://community.secondlife.com/forums ... questions/

UPDATE: having looked at the thread more closely, I see that by no means are all the necessary steps covered and that the supplementary video suggested is not compatible with the current version of Blender,
Last edited by Graham Mills on Mon Feb 20, 2023 5:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Allyson Wunderland
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Re: Mesh Generator

Post by Allyson Wunderland »

Hi Cooter...
Me also not much of a 'mesher', but wondering, if nothing else, if use Mesh Studio like you like in SL, then you could easily export that item to Opensim yes?

Also, you might consider reaching out to TheBlack Box in SL to see if they're willing to make the tool available in Kitely Market.
I have found some vendors to be happy to do so, more so Tools creators then Content creators.

Question: I bought Mesh/Sculpt Studio in SLMP quite awhile ago, planning to create some cool things for Wunderland here in Kitely, I haven't done that yet! LoL... But what do you think of Mesh Studio? There are far too many whizbangs and doodahs in Blender for me to wrap my wee brain around.

Good luck.. would love to hear how it goes for you...

- Allyson
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Tess Juel
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Re: Mesh Generator

Post by Tess Juel »

Cooter Coorara wrote:
Sun Feb 19, 2023 5:21 pm
Before I come back to Kitely, I have to know if there is a similar product here.
There isn't but as Alyson said, you can always import meshes you made with Mesh Studio/Mesh Generator in SL to opensim.

If you are willing to learn some very simple techniques in Blender, Firestorm's collada export function can also be quite useful for converting prim builds to mesh. If you do it that way, make sure all the Options checkboxes except the top one (Save textures) are checked.

There are quite a few things you should do in Blender (or some other 3D modelling program) to turn a bunch of prims into a well functioning opensim/SL mesh but this is also true if you use Mesh Studio or Mesh Generator. The only absolutely vital thing MS and MG will do for you and Fs won't, is merge the prims into a single mesh and that is very easy to do in Blender: Import the dae file, hit the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+J and then export as Collada (dae). That's all.

Allyson Wunderland wrote:
Mon Feb 20, 2023 12:29 am
Question: I bought Mesh/Sculpt Studio in SLMP quite awhile ago, planning to create some cool things for Wunderland here in Kitely, I haven't done that yet! LoL... But what do you think of Mesh Studio?
I don't use Mesh Studio myself anymore, not since Beq upgraded the Firestorm mesh export function, but I still love it. There are two problems with all prim-to-mesh converters, however.

One is that it's very difficult to make good LOD and physics models with them. But then again, how often do we see Blender created meshes with good LOD?

The other problem is that they are often used to make "mesh for mesh' sake". The general rule is still: if it can be made with prims, make it with prims. Yes, you can save on the prim count/land impact by converting a prim linkset into a single mesh but when it comes to actual viewer performance, the prims will nearly always do better than the mesh.
I used to say that 20 prims equalled 1 LI worth of mesh as a rough rule of thumb but some tests I made a few months ago (see viewtopic.php?f=24&t=6575 ) indicate that the difference is actually even higher - more like 30-40 prims perform as well a single 1 LI mesh.

Allyson Wunderland wrote:
Mon Feb 20, 2023 12:29 am
There are far too many whizbangs and doodahs in Blender for me to wrap my wee brain around.
Game/virtual reality assets are only a tiny little part of the World of Mesh Making and there is no software made specifically for it. All 3D modelling programs are crammed full of functions that are irrelevant for us and it can be hard to find the few tools we actually need in that mess.

I used Mesh Studio to learn Blender and that's something I would recommend to others too (although you would probably start with Firestorm rather than Mesh Studio these days). That way you can ease yourself into Blender, learnt he tools that can improve your work one by one. No rush since you already have a functional build to start with.
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