convertering outside 3d files for use in SL

Hi everyone,

I am fairly new to SL and have been working with building.... I am into racing and would like to build race cars on sl but I am having a problem with the way they look with the texture I use.

I have cars modeled in 3d max that I am curious if they are able to be uploaded to SL or to another program for the upload or conversion

the cars are in 3dmax file format and only able to be opened by 3d max as far as I know.

anyhelp with this would be greatly appriciated

Here are a couple of links for you.
The first one is for a script to export a sculptie map from 3ds max.
With this one you will need to separate all of your models parts out and make sure they are
in compliance with the demands of the exporter, and then export them one at a time.

The second one is a method to export sculptie maps of pre-existing models from AC3D.
Of course on that one you will need to find a way to convert your models into a format that
AC3D will accept.
From the limited reading I have done on this it appears that 3ds max files are some of the most difficult to convert.
However if you can export your models in the 3ds format or even better obj. then you will be able to then import them into ac3d which now has a method of exporting multi-object
models. Be prepared for a non trivial process.


/8/9c/185426/1.html
/8/9f/214901/1.html

Any model build in Max without a basic understanding of how SL works would be a disaster.

IMHO . ( a racing car ( which in SL needs to be low on polys/triangles )) should be built in SL using as few prims as possible ..

even a static display example built from sculpties would impact on the client frame rate to a degree.

And while Infiniview Merit is being helpful, he is also being honest. Its isn't trivial. It darn near impossible. So far in the four years of SL history, OBJ, maya, 3Dmax and AC3ed have been converted with some success. That's it.

You have to convert to Primatives then keep it under 15K. So it is nigh impossible with any program short of those High powered beasts.

A perfect and simple example of this is obj to sculptie conversion in Wings3d.
So for the most part, you can't upload premade items into SL.

I don't buy that statement. Zora has been working with Aston Corvale (the author of AC3D) to do more integration of his application with SL and he's been going gang-busters. For instance he's currently wrapping up a Box Importer that let's you export a complete model formed from box shapes straight into SL. Zora knocked out this Roman Bath House (demo attached to this post) in less than two hours with the module and had it in world.

The image I've attached is of the model scaled down for testing but at scale it is 100m wide and you can see it temporarily on our home in Areumdeuli (NE corner of sim).

Zora's also been working on improvements to the sculpty exporter plug-in, so between the two of them the product is ramping up pretty quick to be a one stop model solution for SL, and it's less than 100$US.

The key point is "formed from box shapes." In short, not an arbitrary mesh built with any modeling technique, it has to be modeled with a bunch of box primitives stacked together.

That said, that looks like a really useful tool. Maybe it can't convert arbitrary meshes to use in SL, but what it can do looks very cool!

I think what AC3D is doing is just fantastic I have been learning and playing with it for the last 3 days.
Other than Plopps that simple sort of toy sculptie maker, AC3D seems to be the only company pro actively creating tools to help mesh with Second Life. At least in this model importation context.

I think Brennan's challenge lies more in that he wants to bring in preexisting models he made
that are currently in the 3ds max format.

Oh bye the way it appears that the SL extrude function in ac3d is not working properly.
Ill post this in the ac3d forum as well.

Thats not what I meant either. I mean making anything from one of the 3d programs and doing a straight upload.
As I said, you can move objs if you don't mind the notepads.
Same for 3dmax and maya, the are special plugins for them. But to take a custom clothes that you made for Daz 3d and upload it without alteration into SL is nigh impossible.