Blender Sculptie Importer - Attached

If you are planning on hacking on the scripts, it's worth getting into the habit of using

git rebase

instead of git pull. That way any changes you make are moved on top of the official release and it makes merging easier.

Domino,
If by 'hacking' you mean doing anything to the scripts other than just using what you have put together with vastly greater knowledge than I'm likely to ever have......... no way!!
I'll use as is - and even that probably with a struggle!

Thanks for the advice anyway.

He he..

One more tip for Windows users is that you can avoid the command prompt altogether with tortoisegit

http://code.google.com/p/tortoisegit/

Although you have already solved your problem, here is a simple (easier to type) alternative to navigate:

cd /d/Apps/Blender/Addons

I'm trying to export a scene consisting of multiple sculpties (16x64 planes) for the first time from Blender:


My sculpties rez in SL, but end up in different places:


For the baking, my settings are Keep Scale on, Keep Center and Finalize off. I tried Keep Center on, too, but this just resulted in a different distribution of the scattered sculpts. I'm using the latest GIT checkout version of the scripts.

Any hints on what I would need to do to have these sculpts aligned are much appreciated!

Thanks in advance,
-L


PS.: Also I noticed that the shading of my exported sculpties is "rougher" in the highest LOD and much smoother in the second highest LOD. Why might that be?

I don't think the latest scripts have been tested with "Keep Scale" enabled yet, so it could well be a bug. I've changed a lot in the bake code since export_lsl was last touched, so it's entirely possibly that I broke it. I'll do some testing and get back to you on this.



One of the problems with oblongs is that they exaggerate rounding issues due to the 256 steps available to sculpties. 256 / 64 = an average of 4 grid points per vertex. So the number of angles available for each face decreases as the face count increases. So you get more visible bumps (or have to work harder to avoid them) on higher LODs.

Leben kindly sent me a test file, and there was indeed a bug. It's been squashed and the fix is in the latest git snapshot.

There was also an issue with the size of the sculpties in the .blend file. These were greater than 10 Blender units ( 1 Blender Unit = 1m in SL ), so the lsl script couldn't build them correctly as it doesn't support megaprims. If you create sculpties intended for megaprims, they will need manual assembly.

I used the lastest fix and now, if I shrink the parented objects to a decent size before exporting, everything works fine (even without applying the transformation with ctrl-a first)!

Thanks, Domino!

Okay, I know I am coming into this conversation WAY late, and I am probably going to ask a few questions that had been discussed in the nearly 60 pages of posts hitherto, but I am going to take a bash at this anyways.

I am a graphic design student who recently graduated, and I have a fine arts background. I am pretty saavy with a PC, and have a good grasp on how best to utilize my Adobe CS3 suite and Blender to achieve a decent design result based on an idea I come up with.

Now I am meeting the challenge of managing, previewing, and sharing my files, data, and objects between my PC (working primarily offline and off-world to build, texture, and edit), and the SL interface that I have being a free member (with no funds to make myself a bit more prestigious, paid member). I am wondering if there have been user-created programs to deal with these issues (gods, I would love a one-shot suite for textures, sculpt maps, 3D objects, and share-features)?

I get Blender, I get using the scripts and now I even get image sizes, bit depth, and mapping restrictions with SL's needs and basics. I am just having a hard time figuring out how best to manage the objects I am creating individually in a data structure that is ultimately network-oriented and not share-friendly to the public. Do I have to work for Linden Labs to get to this point? I have a decent resume, if so... *fingers crossed for luck*

Thanks all, and best wishes.
-will (xidoraven, or xido "zee-do"
[email]xidoraven@gmail.com[/email] & @yahoo.com

PS: sites I have been lurking for some time now in the hopes of being a better 3D world designer:
http://vorticism.wordpress.com/tutorials/sculpties/
http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Sculpted_Prims:_3d_Software_Guide (& all related)
http://blog.machinimatrix.org/video-tutorials/
These forums, friends in-world who build in-world, and a whole plethora of other related Blender and SL sculpty resources

PSS: I just found this stickied thread too - /8/8d/196863/1.html Give me a small break. Anyone have any tips on how best to create and use a workflow with all of this mix&matchery?

One of my goals with the Blender scripts was to support a variety of workflows. Even now people occasionally send me test files that surprise me as they have a workflow for sculpties that I never imagined. So it'd help if you give a little more information on the type of building you are doing. The workflow for an animated sculptie fish would be considerably different to doing wall decorations for a castle for example.

As far as a one stop program, that's what I'm working towards with Blender, but there's still a long way to go to get a good solution for all aspects of SL content creation. One of the things on my todo list which I won't even attempt until Blender 2.50 is out, is logging into SL from Blender to build and modify content.

The avatar.blend is still very crude (though a long way ahead of alternatives) so if avatar creation is your thing, the workflow there is much tougher than other content types.

Also I'm not entirely sure what you are asking about with "not share-friendly to the public"? If it's about the permissions system and content protection in SL, there's no solid solution and there's never likely to be.

Hi, my apologies if this problem has been reported and explained already, I started scanning through this thread but eventually ran out of time and energy looking for a similar case.

My problem is that after installing Blender, Python and the scripts I can Add a sculpty mesh, edit it, but then when I go to Render/Bake Second Life Sculpties nothing appears in my UV/Image Editor window. I've tried Blender 2.46 and 2.49 along with Python 2.5.2 and 2.6.2. I've followed the guide on http://www.secondlifeartist.com and on BlenderSL's youtube videos on how to create and then export the sculpties.

Those are based on old versions of the scripts. They stopped displaying the sculpt map after baking quite a long time ago. Use the combo box in the UV Image Editor toolbar to select the image you want.

It was removed when texture support (and multiple prim baking) was added, as to change the view to the sculpt map I'd potentially be changing settings the user had made. I got caught by this a few times, and I knew what was going on! So the feature was removed as it was detrimental to the user experience.

But can't you always select the sculpty in object mode, go to edit mode and then the image appears in the UV-editor? I thought it was like this... And doesnt the UVmap change online when you render->bake in edit mode anyways ? ...

It depends on the setting of the "Active UV layer" buttons. If you have a textured sculptie with "sculptie", "UVTex" and perhaps things like "LogoMap" then it's likely the user will have changed the settings of the active layer and the render layer. The active layer is the one shown for selected faces in edit mode, and the render layer is the one that Blender bakes go to. My scripts ignore that and pick the "sculptie" layer to bake the sculpt map to.

They are such small buttons it's easy to miss if the script changes the active one to the "sculptie" layer to display the map after baking, and the user might not have a UV Image Editor open to see the change there. In such circumstances it's easy to end up changing something you didn't mean to... Like messing up the mapping for the "LogoMap" or baking a texture to the sculpt map.

Well, it's good to know that even though it's not already completed, it's still out there in someone else's head as a goal. What I would like is some sort of transparency between the editable/downloadable content in my SL inventory and my Blender data (including sculpt maps and custom textures) in a manner that allows me to work without logging on and off, saving files one by one and using Photoshop to view and edit all images, including sculpt maps which can become quite redundant very quickly once you're begun making enough of them. Beyond that, it is quite comfortable for me to use texture paint in blender to compose a basic texture, export, edit in Photoshop, and place back on the object the same way it should be, and see the final result (without spending 20L every time I mess up and have to review it during high-lag time when I just want to be modeling offline).

Also, I am used to dealing with Adobe Bridge in my CS3 suite, which allows me to work with media and data from a wide range of resources and implement it in the various ways I may need to utilize it. I am so far interested in doing only building of sculpted maps and custom textures, and I am not yet delving into animation for avatars, objects, etc. I am leaving that one to the animators in-world whom I know well enough to make my builds come to life if needed.

I also considered creating hair and clothes, which does not seem to be something that should well be undertaken off-world - but I am more interested in building sculpted objects that I can simply attach to my avatar... But in this particular challenge I am still undecided.

As for my comment about "not share-friendly to the public", I was referring to the fact that it is incredibly difficult to deal with data that is on the site's database without logging in, and even then it is far too limited in how best to share files between your inventory and your hard drive. I might be missing a shortcut here, but I feel like Linden doesn't really want us to have a time-efficient workflow for developing media for in-world use and distribution... If I say to myself in the middle of making a sculpted prims, "You know what? I should just edit that wine glass I made last time into the one I need this time - I'll get it from my inventory," or, "I can substitute the brown section of this texture to red in Photoshop, but I want to make sure it still looks right on the sculpty once I've edited it," there needs to be quick and easy solutions for those issues.... Getting media from our hard drive to SL requires space on their servers, so I can understand making that part limited or difficult to deter reckless usage... But getting it back the other way (whatever permissions are set) is still like pulling teeth, and not very user-friendly.

Again, I feel like someone at Linden Labs already has a solution to this, I am just thinking that as a non-paying member I am not privvy to this wonderful time-saver somehow. After reviewing the member-created applications, plug-ins, etc, I am thinking that my particular needs are not really going to be met right at this moment....... But it is a truly challenging goal to reach, I might say. Perhaps I can be of some help in this instead of merely bring a thread griper (I really do hate being that guy), but since I am no programmer the best I can do is say what would make things easier for me as a designer and builder.

Some of my current projects are:
- SF and Doom-style guns for a friend's RP sim/groups
- body parts and custom textures for a family of Rock-biters (The Neverending Story themed sim)
- sculpture (sculpty and changeable custom textures) of an androgynous body-form to use as a marketable product and a gift for a friend (still have to figure out how I will give the sculptures hair and make their hair & robes/cloaks react to breezes, etc.)
- custom mugs, baseball caps, and marketing items to give, sell, and distribute Notes with links to valid commercial entities wishing to make a presence in SL for their business needs, etc.
- cartoony icon (bomb-face with a halo and spinning atomic electrons around it)
- a sculpted head of a dragon-humanoid for a friend's D&D character to show as a design piece, and a study in developing 3D objects for sculpties and for non-SL high-res 3D objects for marketing images (I want to make objects in great detail for rendered imagery, but also have a parallel sculpty which will actually be present in SL - even though the other rendered object might otherwise be completely incompatible to the sculpty build)
- learning the workflow for successfully developing, creating, editing, and finalizing sculpted prim objects and related media (custom texture-painted textures, variations of textures for the same sculpted prim object, and keeping my textures/sculpt-maps organized for multiple uses and projects)

Dear lord, I hope this doesn't make me sound too needy.



You know what, this sounds like a great idea. My only concern and request is that it somehow allow a user and designer to view/preview, import, and export batches of media of more than one file at a time so that there is an actual time-saving workflow method that will make it easier to deal with lots of media and projects at once from an offline perspective. In-world building is fine, and uploading the final cut and having it work is grand - but building, uploading, viewing, exporting, editing, importing, viewing, ad infinitum in order to get a good final result (and spending Linden the whole while) is astoundingly non-productive and will quickly deter anyone seeking to begin building in-world content for this community hoping to be involved and make a difference (and especially noobs to off-world 3D design, as illustrated by yours truly).

I guess the only way to end this posting is: How can I help?

So you are interested in pretty much a bit of everything

http://opensimulator.org/wiki/Main_Page is probably one way to get closer to your goals of an offline development enviroment.

And a cheap way to test content is to use the preview grid http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Preview_Grid

I'm somewhat notorious for not having done much in the way of documentation for my scripts, and for changing the UI as features have progressed. I've always said I wouldn't do indepth documentation until version 1.0 as things would change. Even now the development scripts have two gui's - a usable one and a test one which should eventually become the one used in the 1.0 release.

That's why this thread is so long, and why a lot of the tutorials out there don't always match what you'll see when using the scripts.

I have however been working on setting up a single place for discussion and documentation of the scripts. I've still got to import a few of the pages from the old website, but you can see the new one with forums, an issue tracker and other useful stuff at http://dominodesigns.info/index.php - if you register there you'll need to enter that URL again at the end of the sign up as it currently redirects back to the old site until the new one is finished. The same thing will happen if you hit "home" at any point.

I should have all the old content moved over later today and then work will start on improving it and this little redirection issue will be gone.

The best ways for people to help are in using the development scripts and reporting bugs, adding feature suggestions, and of course by making great content to sell and donating a cut of the profits to help fund the continued development of the scripts

Edit:

New site is live! http://dominodesigns.info

I'm wondering if anyone could point me to a video tutorial for blender that shows how to create a sculpt that looks like two separate sculpts but is actually only one by maneuvering the vertices. I've seen a video before but now cannot locate it. Any help or suggestions appreciated. Thanks!

I'm using the RC scripts and I seem to have an issue with baking my sculpties. When I use 3 levels of multires and bake the sculpty, it seems to only bake what the sculpty looks like in the first multires level.

I've used the old scripts in the past with no problems, but can't seem to work it out with the RC scripts.

open the edit button pannel (F9)
Locate the multires section.
There locate the Rendering section (labelled with "Rendering"

Check that you have set "Render:3"

If you see "Render:1" instead, that was your problem!

I hope, that helps.

cheers,
Gaia

That solved one issue, but it seems to conflict with the use of subsurf. If I bake using only multires, it looks similar to what I have in blender, but with subsurf and multires both used it only does a vague form of what I made.

It sounds like you have more than one vertex per pixel. With a base 8 x 8 mesh you can only have 2 multires, 1 multires and 1 subsurf or 2 subsurf levels. (with oblongs make sure total faces are 1024 or less). Anything above that will give a corrupt sculpt map with the 0.5.x RC scripts. The 0.9.x git scripts will handle high resolution meshes baked directly to a sculptie, but they aren't stable yet. http://dominodesigns.info/node/4/release

You may try out this one: http://blog.machinimatrix.org/2009/08/14/2-in-1-multiple-objects-with-one-single-sculpty/

Thank you so much Gaia!!

Okay, I have another question.

I've created something in blender but when I got to "Bake second life Sculpties" I get this error: "The UV Map is outside the Image area"

I've never had this error before. Is there anyway to fix it? thanks for your help

Ok, now it is evident, which version of the scripts you are running. this is a precision problem which has been introduced in the december-2008 script version.

I have added a workaround to this problem in the JASS-distribution (JASS-1.4) and i think (not sure though) that Domino has removed the problem in the newest RC scripts too. So you
should either move on to the newest RC-scripts from Domino or to Jass-1.4 That should solve your problem.

i hope that helps.
good luck, Gaia

Is there any way to download the old versions of the scripts? I've been following the BlenderSL tutorials on YouTube and spent all day trying to figure out what I was doing wrong untill I found this thread. Both when I try to bake the SL sculptie and when I bake the shadowmap I get nothing and I have no clue how to go about it with the new scripts. Earlier I've been making sculpties in Blender without the scripts but it's so very time consuming. Using the BlenderSL tutorial I learned how to make shadowmaps too which I am excited about, if only I could figure out how to get the textures off my object and into SL!