Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Mesh Graphics - SecondLife - Blender & SketchUp ~ Free Software ! and a Warning !

So after nearly 4 years, of discussion and a lot of dedicated hard work. SecondLife is about to finally be able to import mesh graphics. Currently it is only available if you log into one of the special Beta Grid Servers with the Correct viewer. At this time that means using a LL modified version of Viewer 2, I have heard that several of the TPV's, are or will be bringing out their own Mesh capable viewers.

Now in RL I am a Audio person, my knowledge of computer graphics, and programs that allow talented people to perform near miracles, visually, is mind boggling to me. So I will not even attempt to sound as if I know what the heck I am talking about. LOL :_)

From what I can tell so far, mesh graphics will either make or break SL. According to several long time SL  friends. Mesh graphics may just bring the LL servers and the client to a screeching halt. I guess it depends on the person that designs the Mesh, and the Grid you are on.


Ya gotta keep in mind that all or most of SL, is user created content. So the amount of information that must be retrieved when your Client makes a request to the server, can either be good or bad, depending upon a number of different variable's. And how this new Mesh Graphics will play out, has yet to be seen. I do believe it is worth embracing the idea. However at this point, for me it is a wait and see situation.


I spent some time the past several days researching the topic. Here are a few links. Sadly I wanted to provide some screen shots, by dropping into the Beta Grid and take a look around. But I was unable for some reason to easily  find a Grid Region Name, until I did some poking around. The SL Mesh Wiki, and the SL Wiki Preview(Beta) Grid pages, should answer all of your questions. I would suggest you read both of these thoroughly!, as you may need to update your account and change your password. Based on my past experiences, I recommend that you use or create an Alternate Avatar ( ALT AVI ) that has very low amount of inventory. This way you do not really care much if it gets partially or worse case scenario, totally trashed out by logging into one of the Beta Servers. I stopped participating, in the Beta Server Grid Program 3 years ago. So things may be different now.
http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Mesh 
http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Preview_Grid

If you are new to the topic of working with Mesh Capable Graphics programs, a few good places to start are here.
Wikipedia
The free Blender graphics program,
http://www.blender.org/ 
and Google's free Sketch Up 3D modeling software.
http://sketchup.google.com/


JayR Cela  :_)

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