Mesh Imports Coming to Second Life Q2 2010, Say Lindens

On the Lindens' official blog, Chief Product Officer Tom Hale (T Linden in SL) has a roadmap post announcing what's coming next quarter to Second Life. Biggest item, in my opinion: Mesh imports, which enable 3D objects created in industry standard programs like Maya and 3D Studio Max. These were shown by T Linden at the last SLCC, but hinted as being a long way off. Now T says "we're pleased to be able to put it in Residents' hands sooner rather than later." Also coming this Summer is Havok 7, which is currently in the Beta grid, where it already evinces Newtonian awesomesauce.

Comments

[Fogwoman Gray]

Isn't it wonderful how competition drives innovation?

[Troy McConaghy]

For those people who don't think about the year in 'Q's, this means mesh imports will be in public beta before the end of June 2010.

[Loki]

i think the biggest item was better intergration of Avatars united with the viewer2.0

[Toady Nakamura]

We already make sculpties in Maya and Blender at Grendel's Children!! So do many, many other designers in SL!!

Meshes are fabulous, no doubt, but it will take MORE prims to bring in a 'ready-made mesh' than to build same thing in sculpty prims. In fact, some mesh designers have asked that the number of prims per sim be *doubled* to accommodate meshes.

Personally, I can't see the Lab doubling our prims.

So while innovative & interesting, meshes aren't game changers or designer killers, even if it gets a lot more press than fixing less sexy items (like group chat) or the screen hopping which prevents people with motion disorders from upgrading to 2.0.

[Damien Fate]

Toady, I'd argue that Mesh is a game changer, one of the main reasons being that out of all the people in the world who can create 3D objects, only a small percentage currently make them in SL because our tools are so limited.

Now, people with many years in proper 3D design can bring their skills to Second Life. We're going to see a content explosion of quality items!

Exciting :)

[Keller Teichmann]

Toady, your accusation that static mesh is even less efficient then regular prims is frankly hilarious.

Using the same 'budget' given to sculpties (32x32, or 1024 vertices), what was once unthinkable or in the best cases very rare - passable, even high-quality one prim builds - are not only attainable but likely feasible.

To compare, with sculpties I can make a product in 30-50 prims, and gradually piece it together (or hope sim lag doesn't tear apart an auto-building script). With static mesh, I could make it in 2 or 3 and upload it already perfectly sized, upload a texture, and be done.

The things this could do for SL building is simultaneously amazing and possibly traumatizing, however. I can see a ton of game content being ripped and pushed into SL.