How to ask questions in the blender primstar/jass Group so we can help you

Revised 12-27-12
Here is the best way to help you when you come in with a question in general.  Start with:
 
1.  State your question.
2.  Tell us what version of Blender.
3.  If you are using JASS, Primstar 2 or Avastar, which version.
4.  What operating system are you on?
5.  Don’t make us guess:  

Take screen shots and include the UI (user interface) so that we can

You can upload screenshots (free/no membership) at http://pasteall.org/pic/.  The URL will change to the image location once it is uploaded, that is the URL we need to see it.
 

The other way is to provide your blend file.  This can quickly solve many guessing problems.

 

You can upload your blend file at http://pasteall.org/blend/.  Please remember this is a public repository, so use the password function.  You can IM me with the URL and password.

 
Annotating your image can be helpful.  A really nice, free one is Skitch (MAC/Windows) available at 

http://evernote.com/skitch/.

 
Below is further information on getting answers you need.
 
The blender primstar/jass group was created by Gaia Clary.  It is a technical group for you to ask questions about Blender with particular emphasis on the JASS Products, Primstar 2 and Avastar.  Modeling mesh, in general ,and the creation of sculpts, in Blender, as well as many other related topics are encouraged.  While off-topic discussion can take place, we ask you to keep it brief, or take to private conference/IM, primarily because our more timid members may feel discouraged from interrupting even when they have on-topic questions.  Please be courteous to all members especially those who are new as we all were there once and in need of guidance.


If you are new to modeling, in general, this GLOSSARY is good for learning terms so you can describe your problem.

If you are very new to sculpts, you may want to view some of the many tutorials on sculpts here:

JASS (for sculpts) 
JASS Blender is a build of Blender 2.49, the Python scripting language and Primstar 1.1, the scripts which allow you to work with sculpts in Blender.  They are in one package: .exe for Windows, .zip for Mac and Linux.  The free version is JASS Pub; other versions are paid editions with more and refined features.  

PRIMSTAR 2 IN BLENDER 2.5 AND ABOVE (for sculpts)

If you look at tutorials elsewhere, just make sure they are specifically for sculpts.

WHAT IS MESH?

My friend, Robin (Sojourner) Wood put these videos together when mesh first hit SL.  This remains one of the most cogent explanations of mesh and what to expect in SL.

MESH and BLENDER

IMPORTANT
To upload mesh, you must have payment information on file with Linden Labs and take the mesh IP test (each for our grid, Agni, and the beta grid, Aditi, where it doesn’t cost to upload).
 
This seems to be working for getting to the Aditi IP Test: https://secondlife.aditi.lindenlab.com/my/account/mesh-landing.php

To see mesh, you must use a mesh-enabled viewer such as V3 or one of the many TPV (third party viewers) such as the latest Phoenix, Firestorm, Exodus and others.

Important to understand is how mesh is accounted for in terms of how many prims it counts as against your land.  It’s called LI or Land Impact.

These tutorials are designed to help you with mesh being produced for use in SL:

To learn about the Blender 2.5x-2.6x interface and various topics on mesh, this is a very useful site:
INTRODUCTORY OVERVIEWS
After you view the overviews, you can search the site for relevant topics.

There are also many topics on YouTube and Vimeo.

Try to find topics for Low Polygon modeling, or high poly methods suitable for use in generating baked textures for you low poly models.

These reference areas may answer some of your questions, but if you need specific answers, please consider the following when you approach the group:

It can be very difficult to answer questions without enough details to point us in the right directions.

Please try to provide the following information that is relevant t your problem.

QUESTION 1
Are you doing sculpt or a mesh?  Check the section below that pertains to your answer.

FOR SCULPTS:

2. If a sculpt, are you using a version of Jass Blender with Primstar 1.1 (Jass Pub is the free version) or Primstar 2 in a version of Blender 2.5x-2.6x (and which of these versions; 2.63 is presently the latest)?

3. What sculpt mesh shape did you start with (sphere or cylinder or other? 8×8 with subsurf level of 2, 32×32 with no subsurf)?

4. What were you trying to make and what happened?

5.  Did you use any modeling tools such as extrude on your sculpt mesh?

Please try to show us your sculpt set up in edit mode so we can see the mesh (select all verts) and also be able to see the UV Image edit window to see the sculpt map.

You can upload images to http://pasteall.org/pic/ and give us the URL it gives you after the upload is completed.

FOR MESH:

2. Which version of Blender are you using?

3. Are you doing static meshes or rigged mesh (avatars or clothing that moves with the SL avatar)?

4. Is the problem with your model in Blender or using the SL Uploader or once you have the mesh in SL.
 
STATIC MESH:

1. What are you trying to do? What is it doing or not doing?

If your mesh requires a physics mesh so you can walk on floors, not walk through walls and walk through a doorway, you may need to decompose your physics mesh.  Please be aware that only Linden Labs has the full Havoc license, at this time, which is what is needed to correctly decompose a physics mesh, so you should use the V3 viewer.

What is Decomposition?

Need a video explanation?  Cel Edman, who has some great tools, explains Mesh, Physics and LI (land impact) for SL in these two videos where he goes over the process of decomposition.

Making Mesh Physics for SL:
Recently the Lindens updated the Physics Optimization wiki page.  Some good info here.
 
RIGGED MESH:

If you’re brand new to rigging, please make sure you look at the tutorials and information here.  

1. What version of Blender are you using?

2. Do you use Avastar?

What is Avastar?

How does Avastar work?

For working without Avastar, you may want to look at the Avatar Workbench:
https://www.avalab.org/avatar-workbench/
There are versions of the workbench for the different blender versions; choose the one needed.


3. What problems are you encountering with your rigging?

4.  Are you rigging an avatar or clothing?  Is the avatar human, non-human or four-legged?

There have been some good clothing tutorials, starting with Gaia’s in the Rigging section (see link above under red Rigged Mesh heading).

Other notables are:

 

Ashasekayi Ra

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Mesh/Second-Life-Rigged-Clothing-Tutorial-Series-Blender/td-p/1027925

(Blender 2.49)


Nalates Urriah

http://blog.nalates.net/2012/05/20/second-life-mesh-clothes-blender-2-6-setup-2012-tutorial/


(Blender 2.6)


There has been little done in terms of tutorials for hair.  For sizing clothing for various sized avatars (since clothing only fits the model it was modeled on until changes come into play), it is suggested that you use scaling, proportional edit, hand editing of points and check the model when done to see if it requires the weighting to be adjusted.


Again, pictures will assist in diminishing the amount of explanation at times and, particularly, the amount of questions we may have to ask in order to understand the problem.  Refer to the above-mentioned pasteall site for us to be able to see images that illustrate the problems.

Upload errors can be very frustrating.  There is no list of errors (as far as I can find) and often the solutions are as elusive as the errors are confounding.  Please let us know if you find good resolution for any particular errors.  I believe Gaia feels confident in some solutions and I will list as I as find out what they are.

GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS

Remember that it can be important for us to see the model in edit mode (rigged models, not so much) in your images.

It is also good to see the interface and have the relevant editors and buttons and palettes showing.

If you are following a tutorial, please reference the tutorial and the timestamp of where in the video you are having trouble or prompts your question.

If you use Avastar or Primstar 2, please make sure that you have the latest update for the version of Blender you are using.  If you have lost or did not bookmark your Inventory page, please visit Jass Island in SL and look for the purple octopus with the Inventory Recovery prim that will pass you your URL again.  More info on getting your link at:
This is the Machinimatrix Q&A Page for JASS/PRIMSTAR/AVASTAR:



This should give you a good overview of what can be significant in enabling our understanding of your problem so that we may better answer you.  While the questions here, are very general, please make your answers as specific to your problem as would give us what we need to answer.  We’ll, obviously, ask more questions if needed, but with some initial things covered immediately, we can focus on the real problem at hand.

Thank you,
Eleanora “Ele” Newell
blender/primstar jass Moderator
 
 

TOPICS WE GET ASKED ABOUT