To my knowledge, these programs have never been offered free before. Daz Studio has been offered for free, but not the Pro version of it. The combined value of these programs is over $800 US.

Hexagon 2.5 is a . . . → Read More: Hexagon 2.5, Bryce 7.0, and Daz Studio 4 Pro–Free!]]> Yes, they are free from www.daz3d.com, but only for the month of February!

To my knowledge, these programs have never been offered free before. Daz Studio has been offered for free, but not the Pro version of it. The combined value of these programs is over $800 US.

Hexagon 2.5 is a 3D modelling program. The only problem that I see for Second Life modellers is that this program does not export in the collada format. However, Daz Studio does. You can export your model to an .obj format, and then take it into Daz Studio, or Blender, and export it as a collada.

To test the compatibility of the programs with Second Life, I imported a mesh object I made in Blender (a kitchen knife) into Hexagon as an .obj file.

Kitchen Knife in Hexagon 2.5

I then exported it again as an .obj file from Hexagon, and imported that into Daz Studio.

Kitchen Knife in Daz Studio 4 Pro

From Daz Studio I exported it as a collada .dae file and uploaded that to Second Life.

Kitchen Knife in Second Life

I originally made and UV mapped this Kitchen Knife using Blender. I applied the texture to a copy of the collada version from Daz Studio. As you can see, the texture works perfectly, indicating that the UV map was perfectly preserved through the process. Hexagon .obj format and the Daz Studio .dae format seem to be compatible with Blender and Second Life.

Hexagon 2.5 has features in it that were designed to specifically accommodate the Second Life sculpty format. There is a tab along the top labelled “Second Life”, and you can import sculpty .tga files into Hexagon, and export sculpty .tga files from Hexagon.

To test this, I imported a barrel sculpt map I had made in ZBrush.

Importing a Sculpt Map to Hexagon 2.5

It imported perfectly. I then exported it again as a Second Life Sculpty (.tga format).

Exporting a Sculpt Map from Hexagon 2.5

I uploaded the barrel sculpt map from Hexagon to Second Life, and applied textures I had made for the original sculpt map in ZBrush. As you can see from the pictures below, the shape is perfect, and the textures fit perfectly.

Uploaded Sculpted Barrel from Hexagon 2.5

Textured Barrels

I love mesh and in most cases I will use mesh over sculpties. There are some cases where you may still wish to use a sculpty, such as in a case where you need to use UUID switching. An example of this might be holding something that you wish to change shape, such as a flower that wilts in your hand. Hexagon could be useful for this. (Blender also handles sculpties well with the addition of some Primstar python scripting available from Machinimatrix.org and on sale by Gaia Clary in world.)

I have not used Hexagon 2.5 and have only taken a very cursory look at it. The user interface seems simple and user friendly. Some in the Mesh Dev group said that it does not have all the features that Blender does, and you might as well bite the bullet and learn Blender. For those who are intimidated by the Blender interface at first glance, Hexagon 2.5 might be a good choice. When I looked at the interface of Hexagon and rolled over the icons, the tool tips that popped up referred to familiar terms that I learned using Blender, such as faces, edges, vertex points, orthographic or perspective view, solid shading, UV mapping, and extrude surface. Once these basic concepts are learned in any 3D modelling program, another 3D modelling program will be easier to learn than the first. I would suggest to newcomers to 3D modelling that Hexagon may be less intimidating to learn, and if at some point it fails to meet your needs, then learning Blender or some other modelling program will be easier.

I took a quick look at Bryce 7.0. It specializes in creating terrain, plants, trees, with the purpose of creating illustrations or sets for movies in mind. I thought it might hold some potential to create terrain for Second Life. I am aware of .raw files that you can upload to apply terrain to your private island estate, but I have no idea how to create them or if it would be possible to use Bryce to do so. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable in this area would be kind enough to give us more information in the comments.

I did create a terrain, was able to modify it a little bit, and export it as an .obj file.

Terrain mesh in Bryce 7.0

I then imported it into Daz Studio and exported it as a collada .dae file, which I then uploaded into Second Life. at 10m x 1.5m x 10m it came in at a land impact of 57 prims (with no physics shape). I imagine you might be able to reduce this land impact with a physics shape and through optimizing the mesh (reducing poly count).

Terrain mesh uploaded to Second Life

The last program I quickly looked at was Daz Studio 4 Pro. When I first opened the program, a window appeared offering to take me through some tutorial videos to learn the program. I took the time to watch them and was impressed with the quality of the videos. I think this program would be fairly quick and easy to learn.

Daz Studio Opening Screen

It would appear that Daz Studio is good at animating, and you can import the SL avatar and animate it, exporting the animations in the .bvh format used by Second Life. It is also good for bringing in models, clothing, backdrops, sets and making illustrations or movies.

Perhaps it is coincidental, or perhaps not, that 3D Magazine is offering the popular Victoria 5 model for free with its March 2012 issue.

In the magazine there is a disc with Victoria on it. It is accompanied by an article, “Render Beauty with Victoria 5″ by Alexandru Banuta on how to use the model in Daz Studio, and another article, “Become a CG Broker” which tells you how to make characters and props for programs such as Daz Studio and Poser and make money selling them.

I have ordered a copy of the March Issue of 3D Magazine. It is a bargain, for Victoria 5 sells for about $40 alone.

I will read the article with interest. I am wondering if I will be able to adapt some of the mesh clothing I make for Second Life to the Victoria 5 model and open a new market for myself.

Here is my latest! Created with the medieval kitchen in mind, this board would fit into any kitchen of any period. Touch the board and a dialog box gives you a choice of bread dough to knead or vegetables to chop. Both animate your avatar to knead or chop, and the veggies give . . . → Read More: Black Rose Cutting Board]]>

Here is my latest! Created with the medieval kitchen in mind, this board would fit into any kitchen of any period. Touch the board and a dialog box gives you a choice of bread dough to knead or vegetables to chop. Both animate your avatar to knead or chop, and the veggies give you a knife to “add” to your hand. The veggie board also plays a chopping sound when an avatar is chopping vegetables.

The board and contents are made of 100% mesh. The board alone is 1 prim. The bread dough consists of 7 prims and the veggies 11 prims. After 30 minutes of non-use, the board clears itself to assist with prim management on your land.

You can get it in the marketplace.

Link to Black Rose Kitchen in the Marketplace

Link to Black Rose Medieval Lighting in the Marketplace

Link to Black Rose Medieval Cooking Hearth in the Marketplace

Link to Black Rose Medieval Sink in the . . . → Read More: Black Rose Medieval Kitchen]]> It is finally completed and released for sale! Land impact as shown, 105 prims total.

Link to Black Rose Kitchen in the Marketplace

Link to Black Rose Medieval Lighting in the Marketplace

Link to Black Rose Medieval Cooking Hearth in the Marketplace

Link to Black Rose Medieval Sink in the Marketplace

Link to Black Rose Medieval Cupboard in the Marketplace

Link to Black Rose Medieval Plate Rack in the Marketplace

Link to Black Rose Medieval Table and Bench in the Marketplace

Link to Black Rose Medieval Pot Rack in the Marketplace

Link to Black Rose Medieval Buckets in the Marketplace

Link to Black Rose Split Firewood in the Marketplace

Get it at the Marketplace.

You get a lovely turkey, roasted to perfection, served on a bed of lettuce on our very best china platter. It will look lovely . . . → Read More: New Christmas Items]]> To help you decorate your home in Second Life, or to give as gifts to friends, we have two new Christmas releases this year.

Get it at the Marketplace.

You get a lovely turkey, roasted to perfection, served on a bed of lettuce on our very best china platter. It will look lovely on your table and as part of the setting for your Christmas photos.

If you (or your guest) touch the turkey, it gives you a serving turkey. You “wear” the turkey to serve it. Logic would suggest that you would be animated to carry the tray. Well, you can’t always count on logic with things I make. You wear the turkey, and an uncooked version of it attaches itself to your head. You stumble about blindly, waving your arms. You can “serve” it yourself for comedic effect, or if you wish to play a prank on a friend, ask him or her to touch the turkey to get the serving turkey and serve it.

Get it at the Marketplace.

This is a carefully sculpted and textured sprig of mistletoe tied up with a red ribbon to hang in your home. Once a minute a sensor checks to see if anyone is standing beneath it. If an avatar is found, the mistletoe announces that he or she is beneath the mistletoe and needs to be kissed.

I wish all of my friends, family, customers, followers and well wishers a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

I finally got this mesh outfit adjusted to fit three sizes and have put it up for sale! Try the free demo to see if one of the three sizes will fit your avatar to your satisfaction before buying. Included are mesh boots.

This is definitely a working woman’s outfit. It could be . . . → Read More: Peasant Tunic & Dress]]>

I finally got this mesh outfit adjusted to fit three sizes and have put it up for sale! Try the free demo to see if one of the three sizes will fit your avatar to your satisfaction before buying. Included are mesh boots.

This is definitely a working woman’s outfit. It could be the best dress owned by a peasant, or a working dress for a lady of position. Even the highest born lady would not wear a ball gown every day, or travel about the dusty streets in fine silks, just inviting pickpockets and robbers to follow her.

Available in six colours: black, blue, brown, gold, green and red.

Get the demo on the marketplace!

I had some fun making different sized avatars, from dwarf to orc, to show the size customization that is possible with mesh. Mesh will adjust with many sliders, those associated with bone length, and . . . → Read More: Wagon Master]]> Here is my first mesh outfit for men, made in three sizes. Grab the demo and try it on!

I had some fun making different sized avatars, from dwarf to orc, to show the size customization that is possible with mesh. Mesh will adjust with many sliders, those associated with bone length, and shoulder and hip width. This does permit one outfit to fit a dwarf, child, man, and orc.

Unfortunately mesh does not adjust with sliders for breast and chest size, butt size, or muscularity. For that reason I have provided three sizes to accommodate the most common range of variation in these. The included alpha will hide bits of your avatar that may poke through. With these you should be able to come close to your preferred avatar shape and size, unless your avatar goes to an extreme in slider settings.

The best advice I can offer is to take the free demo and try it before buying!

https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Black-Rose-Wagon-Master-Demo/2852109

This medieval styled rigged mesh dress moves with the body. In the demo package you can try on the three dress sizes and the two alpha sizes to determine if one will . . . → Read More: Lady of the Towers]]> My first mesh clothing is now up for sale! More soon to follow.

This medieval styled rigged mesh dress moves with the body. In the demo package you can try on the three dress sizes and the two alpha sizes to determine if one will fit your avatar as you prefer.

There are two kinds of mesh clothing: rigged and un-rigged.

The rigged dress will move with avatar customization sliders for bone length and width (shoulders, hips, tallness, arm and leg length), but not with morph sliders that control things like breast size, belly size, butt size, love handles, and general muscularity settings. That is why three different sized dresses are provided so that you can find one that should come close to your avatar. The alphas hide any parts that might poke through.

Un-rigged mesh is much easier to fit to your avatar than sculpties or prim attachments made of multiple pieces. The un-rigged shoes are designed for a shoe size setting of 0. Unlike prim or sculpty shoes, they are one piece each, so you can make them wider or more narrow, shorter or longer, by only making one adjustment! There are no parts to the shoes that you must adjust individually!

In general you will find that most mesh clothing will have a lower prim equivalent than would be needed to make it out of sculpties, flex prims, and normal prims, and will cause less lag for yourself and those around you.

The dress is one piece of mesh, and it was much, much easier to rig and weight paint than multiple mesh outfits. I have taken a lesson from that!

The . . . → Read More: Lady of the Towers]]> I have completed another mesh outfit for women. It is a medieval styled dress with a pair of heeled slippers.

The dress is one piece of mesh, and it was much, much easier to rig and weight paint than multiple mesh outfits. I have taken a lesson from that!

The shoes are also one piece of mesh, made of two submeshes. They are not rigged and attach to the right and left foot as regular shoes do. They make use of the alpha layer of clothing instead of using an invisiprim.

For those interested, here is a series of pictures taken along the way to show some of my process, from Blender to ZBrush.

For the past while I have been working on a . . . → Read More: Rigged Mesh Ensemble for Men]]> I have previously made a role play peasant dress and boots for women. The dress was fairly simple, consisting of two pieces of mesh, and it was my first experiment with weighted or rigged mesh clothing, clothing prims that will move with your avatar.

For the past while I have been working on a more complex outfit for men, consisting of bracers, boots, pants, shirt, vest and belt. The vest, belt and boots also had smaller detailed parts making up buckles and straps. It was a learning experience which further honed my mesh sculpting skills.

Below is a composite picture showing progress from a sketch made in photoshop over a picture of my male model avatar, to base mesh, and the final detailed and textured product. I use Blender, ZBrush and Photoshop CS5.

This is a learning process for me, and I am so glad that they opened the mesh beta to everyone so that I can take advantage of this time to improve my mesh making skills before mesh hits the main grid.

The major thing that I learned from this ensemble is that it is very difficult to rig layered mesh clothing so that bits and pieces of the layers do not poke through as the model moves and deforms. In future I will try to make it as one or two pieces of mesh with details sculpted in rather than attached as separate pieces. The boots are separate, and I will make footwear separate so that I can sell them apart from the outfit.

The bracers are not rigged, as it was not necessary since they do not need to deform with any joint movement. The nice thing about the unrigged bracers is that although there are small pieces of submesh making up the buckles and straps, you can adjust their size all as one, so if you make it bigger to fit your avatar you do not then have to move the buckle parts.

Below are pictures in different poses so you can see how the clothing moves with the avatar. In most poses the movement is good. In some extreme poses, pieces of mesh will poke through.

Prim equivalencies keep changing while mesh is in beta. They have yet to arrive at the final formula. As it is, rezzed on the ground it is 110 prims for the whole outfit, which given the level of detail is not bad.

The outfit will adjust with bone length and position sliders, but not with morph sliders. What this means that if you make your avatar taller, your arms longer, your shoulders or hips wider, or your torso longer, the outfit will adjust and follow those sliders. Things that are morphs do not move with the bones of your avatar skeleton, like the sliders for breasts, belly size, butt size and muscularity. The outfit will not move to accommodate those sliders. To get around this, an alpha is provided that must be worn with the outfit to hide your avatar body so that it does not poke through.

The outfit will fit most avatars, but those with sliders set to extremes may need to make a copy of their shape and adjust it to the outfit and keep that shape in the folder with the outfit. I acknowledge that many people will not want to do this, but for some outfits, such as a hallowe’en costume or a dress they love, people may be willing to do this.

I plan to do another blog post soon with pictures to show mesh clothing with different avatar slider positions, so you can get some idea of how things will fit avatars of different sizes.

There are good things to come! Bring on the mesh!