Watch: How to Convert Prim-Based Objects Created in Second Life Into Mesh

The Mesh Generator from Naonao Watanabe looks seriously useful and valuable for SL content creators who prefer building with old school prims. You select a build you've made with prims and run it through the Generator, which then spits out a mesh file that can then be downloaded from Watanabe's website -- and once downloaded, uploaded back into SL as a mesh object! Watch this tutorial from longtime SL creator and artist MangroveJane.

This could become a great way of bridging the vast gap between prim and mesh creators -- and converting old prim builds into mesh. Yes, you read right:

As Jane explains, old prim-based builds can also be converted to mesh through this Generator, as long as full modifiable permissions are set. That could go a long way to helping SL spaces perform better for most users.

A couple other tips from Jane: If you're creating a door or other object with a space, it's better to create it as separate pieces and link them together afterward. (By default, the mesh generator converts builds into fully solid objects.) And only set a high Level of Detail when that's really needed. (I.E. Do you actually need everyone to see a small vase from a hundred meters away?)

If you've used this Generator, please share feedback (and links) in Comments as I'd like to blog about it further.

Comments

[Grid Famous Games]

That sounds awesome. I'll let you know what I think...ouch. I just spotted the price. It's a bit outside of my working budget at the moment.

[Chic Aeon]

Nice clear video BUT:

BUT? LOL. That door is 598 triangles. For any kind of optimal mesh it needs to be taken into a 3D modeling program and have MANY vertices removed.

A prim has 48 triangles (originally for more "lifelike light reflection"). A MESH CUBE has 14. So this final door (as shown in the uploader) has WAY too many verts. The only advantage of this method would be to lower land impact -- and it certainly can do that.

But for many people that want to build with prims, just turning objects to convex hull will cut land impact dramatically (approximately half). In both cases you have the issue with physics not being correct on some objects -- as in the door frame in the video.

We see lots of questions about this on the SL forums. One BIG issue is the physics model, another is texture rotation. The list goes on. Several techie devs have said that mesh made in this way is LESS efficient than prims as simple prim shapes are built into the viewer and easily recognizable.

I wasn't exactly sure how much more efficient this door would be made directly in a 3D program and so I made it. My version is very similar to the door in the video. (I would have actually made it a bit more "elegant" if it was a real door I was going to use). One door knob not two and no hinge -- which is necessary for most door scripts to work on a mesh door.

My Blender door came in at 168 tris.

You can see it with the numbers here: https://tinyurl.com/yb9gur42

So I would like to encourage folks that DO want to make efficient mesh, to put in the effort and learn to make it within a 3D program. The list of reasons is oh so much longer than my short post here :D.

[irihatpeti]

things like this are useful for learning mesh modelling.

make the thing with SL prims. Export to dae. Import dae into Blender. Inspect and then start modding it in Blender.

modding an existing something, which you already made yourself, is always an easier learning path for a new toolset than trying to make stuff in it from scratch.

ps. a fyi. Is not an easy task to write code that can optimally cull and stitch faces correctly.

pps. I think the comparative of any algorithmic tool like this, isn't the handcrafting talents of a expert Blender operator. I think the comparative is:
A) how much LI can be saved over LL viewer convex hull convertor
and B) how much further LI can be saved over the standard mesh exporter found in Singularity viewer

[Han Held]

I've been using the Mesh Generator tool for roughly three or four years now. It's been a huge lifesaver for me, and there have been a number of times when I've managed to get significant LI savings by using it.

That takes nothing away from Chic Aeon's post, however. I am a "fairly technical" user, meaning that I understand the nuts and bolts of some things, other things I'm a complete noob about. Mesh falls into the "noob" category for me.

Even though I am playing with blender and related tools (like Avastar) the scales haven't quite fallen from my eyes yet -Mesh is still a confusing jumble for me.

One thing I'm doing with generated meshes wich seems to help some is to import them into blender and then clean them up there. Using the "mesh" > "clean up" submenu in Edit Mode and then hitting the object with "degenerate dissolve" and "decimate geometry" and re-exporting it.

I only usually end up doing that for opensim, which has become more finicky about meshes since the release of 0.9. But occasionally when the LI is through the roof in SL that procedure has helped to bring it down to earth.

That said, there are still a number of times (like 1/4th of the time) where I find out that the LI of the Mesh Generator-created mesh object is't that much less than just simply prims ...in that case, I just stick to prims.

There's a lot of things that Mesh generator does that the mesh exporter in Singularity doesn't. In singularity, the objects tend to not be joined together, and also it seems (in my nooby eyes) like the Mesh Generator does some work to make the objects (specifically the faces) simpler than the viewer-based mesh exporters too.

For all of this YMMV, of course ...especially if (unlike me) you know what you're doing.