Anyways...
Some of you may have seen my floating abouts here and there talking about Second Life, Carrara, Collada, Blender and a host of other things Second Life (or SL) related...
Second Life is a virtual community, even better, it is 3D. You control an "avatar" which you use to communicate and interact with throughout the SL world/environment. You can custom design this avatar to your likeness, or to your hearts desire. You can make "inworld" purchases, or buy things from their online marketplace store using "Lindens", which is a system of virtual money. Mind you, it is virtual, not fake... You need to buy Lindens with REAL money, using either a credit card or Paypal account. You can use or buy Lindens to purchase inworld real estate, custom designed virtual world content such as furniture, architectural stuctures (called "pre-fabs"), scripts, animations and poses, and even textures, which you can use custom style your own creations or that correspond to SL's default character avatars, much like the way we purchase skin textures for Victoria4 or Michael 4 from Daz3D. You do not need Lindens or money to have/own or access a Second Life account. You can have fun with the inworld games and role playing communities, or join in on "live entertainment concerts"...
Currently, their custom content creation system is limited to objects called "prims", which are native to the SL environment. These start off as simple -primitive-objects, which users can then manipulate using the SL prim modifying tools... Don't get me wrong, some very interesting and unique things can be done with prims, but ultimately, any artist would understand that you want to shape and mold things "your" way, and this is why people are eagerly awaiting the Mesh system to go live...
The Mesh Viewer is in an open beta stage, and Linden Labs (LL) strongly encourages users to test this awesome software out to get a heads up of the system before it goes live. I myself have been taking advantage of this time to familiarize myself with the system, and have had great fun exploring it's many possibilities. To upload custom designed rigged or textured objects (or "meshes") they simply need be exported in the Collada .dae format.....
Sadly, that is not as easy as it sounds... Many content creators and developers have become frustrated in trying to establish a pipeline or workflow, in order to set a foundation of guides, rules, do's and don't s, best and worst practices, and everything else under the sun that goes into the wondrous content that fills the virtual environment of Second Life... Collada, the file format of choice, is still in its experimental stage. The Mesh Viewer is also in its beta stage, and to compound the trouble, the programs that can export a working Collada .dae file are slim, as those programmers and developers struggle as well over the new format... I call this a 3 point combo system for failure, but hopefully, together, as a community, we can work through this. Currently, a working pipeline has been established for 3D Studio Max, Maya, and Blender...
I have been trying to establish such a workflow for Carrara 8 Pro, my weapon of choice, but sadly, the rigged Collada files will crash SL Mesh on import =( Static models import great, textures intact and all. I have done some terrains and simple objects, and for rigid models the process is quite simple: create your object, map it, paint it, export as .dae file..... The weight map/painting however seems to be an issue, I have tried but no luck... But I don't think it impossible, error or problem could very well be my inexperience in the process, so more testing is in order, I will try to keep you posted through this Blog =)
Having seen Second Life on CSI: New York, the 3D artist/graphic designer I am couldn't resist. I downloaded it the next day, and was "turned off" from it for about 2 years... Just fumbling through some programs and having been in a good mood with a bit of patience, I opened it up again, and just kept with it... I started to enjoy it, it's like a video game without the speed rush (I suppose I am getting old =P), and once you start looking around, you find some quiet spots that actually allow you to appreciate the artistry and craftsmanship of the environment. Once you get used to the controls, custom design your avatar, and listen to some of the awesome music streams, you're hooked =)
It wasn't until after I became familiar with the controls that I learned about the Mesh Viewer, and as a content developer, couldn't resist at the opportunity to explore and exploit a possible and exciting new market... I personally, can not wait for Mesh to go live and is finally released... Not only as a content creator, but as a SL resident who owns real estate on the mainland, I believe it will immensely increase the quality of the Second Life experience.
You don't have to take my word for it, but why not try it yourself. It's free, and no obligation will be set upon you...
>> Try Second Life <<
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