[sldev] SL 2.0?

[Melinda Green]

Meshes will give an amazing improvement to the flexibility of building 
but they will not be a replacement for most current uses of sculpties. 
Sure, some cases where people have managed to painfully create polygonal 
forms will be more efficiently remodeled using meshes, but all of the 
lovely organically shaped models that have been modeled using sculpties 
will be best left just as they are.

This is not a boon for the user resource haves versus have-nots, or if 
it is, it's the other way around from what you describe in that it will 
be a boon for people with low-end systems who will be able to experience 
the same levels of realism they currently enjoy but with faster frame 
rates that will be possible when inefficient built prim and sculpty 
content is replaced with more efficient mesh versions.

I don't think that it will be even possible for open-source developers 
to bring mesh modeling into SL. Aside from overall transforms and 
textures, I doubt that it will be possible to edit the topology of 
existing meshes any more than it is possible to edit existing textures. 
I therefore agree with you that it makes the most sense to do all mesh 
editing using external tools. What you lose in the community experience 
of collaborative building that Lawson mentions, you gain in the ability 
to make really efficient models and to easily make portable back-ups of 
your work. The back-up feature is the one that has long kept me from 
investing much effort into content generation but now it gets a lot more 
attractive to me and probably to professional 3D modelers as well.

-Melinda

Ann Otoole wrote:
> Sculpties are blobs of melted plastic compared to mesh. (Assuming mesh 
> import is not just a new sculpty that loses all the fine detail when 
> rezzed)
>
> When mesh is delivered (correctly) then people will want the better 
> looking mesh based content. Things will change. And a lot of money 
> will change hands when it does. And if LL takes the technology farther 
> out to where it needs to be so we can construct completely custom 
> avatars to go with all the better more detailed builds then all the 
> better.
>
> However there will continue to be a need for low geometry sims for the 
> corporate and educational use cases as well as for people entering SL 
> with less than optimal hardware. Then, if they want to have a good 
> experience with the more detailed areas and builds, they can choose to 
> upgrade.
>
> So the "game" will change. For those that can afford it.
>
> As for bringing tools into the viewer well that SL v2 has to be open 
> source and then some clever person with time and motivation on their 
> hands can bring in the functionality from the open source 3D modelers 
> that makes sense to be brought in. And that interface will still be 
> necessarily more complex than the normal resident can use so the 
> question must be asked why bother when you can work in a purpose built 
> design environment and upload the model file.
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* Lawson English <lenglish5 at cox.net <mailto:lenglish5 at cox.net>>
> *To:* Ann Otoole <missannotoole at yahoo.com 
> <mailto:missannotoole at yahoo.com>>
> *Cc:* sldev at lists.secondlife.com <mailto:sldev at lists.secondlife.com>
> *Sent:* Sun, January 10, 2010 7:58:52 PM
> *Subject:* Re: [sldev] SL 2.0?
>
> Ann Otoole wrote:
> > That's too bad because mesh will be a "game changer" and I can't 
> wait. (Now that I am quietly making meshes)
> >
> > I do think (wish) LL should give us some info on what the meshes 
> will need to conform to for upload.
>
> In-world meshes won't be a "game changer" until in-world tools exist 
> to create/modify them. Otherwise, Blue Mars
> would be a "game changer" already, and by most accounts, it is not.
>
>
> Lawson
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
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