What do you think about sculpted prims?

I was using sculpts on Beta and I had products and freebies out using sculpts almost as soon as they were available.
So can I, if I want to violate the TOS by using glintercept to bypass the SL security model. Alternatively, I can create products using sculpts but if I want to let people modify them I have to pretty much make them full perm by giving them the textures.

This has to be supported IN GAME, without having to have access to the sculpt texture, to make products using sculpted prims modifiable in the same sense as products made with regular prims.

You mean when lossless upload was not implemented yet and sculpties almost always came out borked?

Dont get me wrong.. its entirely possible you have the knowledge to fully utilize sculpties.


I am referring to cases where the sculptmap is present and available
if it is not, it clearly indicates the maker does not want you to have it, and that is i believe fully in the rights of the creator to determine.

As for your ingame request..
There are inworld tools available already to create sculpties that easily rival anything created with even the most advanced 3d software.

why does it HAVE to be implemented inworld anyways?

You cannot create textures inside SL, yet noone cries about that?

and that is, ultimately, what sculpties ARE.
Anything you say about sculpties can just as well be said about textures.

But i dont see anyone suggesting to include GIMP or Photoshop in the SL client?

For organic shapes that's never been an issue, and that's what I'm using sculpties for.
But none to modify them, and there can't be unless Linden Labs changes the way they work.
To allow sculpted prims to be meaningfully "mod/no copy" or "mod/no transfer".
Setting aside the fact that you can (that's what snapshot does, after all), and that I'm not "crying" about anything (for example, I'm not making personal attacks like "some people", the issue is that sculpties turn the restriction on textures into restrictions on entire prims.

In a way, I agree with Tokiko Tigerpaw. As someone who just pokes around with SL's building tools, I find the learning curve for sculpties to be too tall. And yes, I had spent a good few weeks learning Blender, and trying to understand how to make sculpties. It didn't go well.

Combine that with the rezzing problems, including the drop in the sculptie resolution as the camera backs away (I really hate that, especially for things like stairs), and they don't appeal.

Now, sculpties for landscaping and shoes I like. Really like. But I buy those; I don't try to make them.

EDIT: Blender, not GIMP. Duh.

im not referring to you per se, more the general tone of this thread
and , you have to admit there is a lot of whining going on there.

If i am sounding like am personally attacking a specific person, i apologize.

My comments are more directed at the general "People who badmouth a technology without having fully explored its possibilities,blaming their own incompetence on the available tools"

I might have become a bit bitter.
I spend a lot of time educating people every day that seem to believe some of the myths perpetuated in this thread.
Sculpties are oh so laggy, sculpties can only be used for organic things,sculpties cant be textured properly,Sculpties cant be used to make sharp geometric shapes, sculpties dont go well with normal prims.. the list goes on..

Usually coming from people who have no idea how to make proper sculptmap or how to create sharp geometric shapes with sculpts.

So again, I am sorry for the tone,but i still stand by the points i have made.



If you really consider taking a snapshot to be creating a texture

then taking a snapshot of a sculptmap would also just as well be considered creating a sculpty.


Also its not a restriction on the entire prim, its a restriction on the sculptMAP
(which you could, without violation of TOS screenshot and cut out, provided its not alphaed which means the creator does not WANT you to have it )
unlike nomod prims , you can texture it freely, change its size etc.
true you cannot cut it or modify it like you can regular prims
but most likely because youre not meant to.

Sculpties are not regular prims, nor were they meant to be.
they are, in effect, textures and should be treated as such.

Also , with LLs history.. Do you really want them to focus their efforts on a inworld sculpty editor, that most likely will be far inferior to any existing products, take up tons of production time, and probably introduce more bugs?


Edit:To Love Hastings

Your post proves my Point. There are many tools out there, specifically for sculpties,that are MUCH easier to learn than blender.
The Reason because many choose blender: Its free.
It is also one of the most difficult to learn 3D suites i know.

as for the LOD issues ( decay when zooming) a skilled sculpter will plan that in when making the sculpt. My Sculpties hardly decay at all even at medium object detail, often you have to zoom out to the maximum your camera allows to see any effect at all.

I like sculpts, but tend to limit use of them because many of my SL friends have trouble rezzing them. I would like to see a thread which pieces together the reasons for this - it is not only bandwidth, there seem to be specific drivers and/or cards that have trouble as well. I have a friend with a good DSL link and SLI Nvidia 8600 cards that can't rez them ... puzzling.

I am not a graphic artist, so for my own use I buy packs that include sculpt maps. One suggestion on how to improve these: include a sample surface texture that looks decent for each sculpt, so I can tell what SORT of surface texture I should look for.

I do wish people would stop using them in places where one needs non-phantom surfaces - for example, forest floors. They then often put in completely alpha floors and ramps to actually walk on, which due to alpha sorting vastly degrades the look that many avatars spend lots of time and money creating.
.

And that is a restriction on sculpties that doesn't apply to other prims. It's a real restriction. It's one that can't be avoided. It means that a product using sculpties is less customizable by the customer than a product using regular prims.

This is also a bigger problem with sculpties than it is with textures, because *textures on prims* are still more modifiable than sculpties. You can adjust the repeats, rotation, and offset of textures. Also, end-users can usually replace textures (even replace them with "blank" without changing the essential nature of the product. And in the process, they learn how to build.

With sculpties this is a dead end... unless the product includes the sculpt texture.

No, but if they don't, then sculpties are effectively "no mod". That's a real limitation, you can't brush it under the rug.

What are you referring to? I've never seen 100% transparent textures or "0 alpha" surfaces causing alpha sorting issues.

I must correct myself. Many 1 prim sculpties look bad, true. But today I've met a marvellous sculpty builder Vickie Greenwood who showed me that 1 prim sculpts can actually look great! It seems that the skills of the builder make a sculpt look bad or good. My compliments Vickie!