Turn any object into a Sculpty

In this tutorial I show you how you can use zBrush 3.1 to convert an existing object to a sculpted prim. We’ll be using the Subtools feature which allows you to work on more than one object mesh at a time, and the zProject brush to transfer the 3D geometry from the original shape to our new sculpty-friendly shape. I’ll also be using the Material Baker script to bake the shadows and highlights into a texture to be applied to the sculpty in-world.

The zProject brush rocks! The more I play with zBrush, the more ways I find to combine the tools to create new effects. In my first zBrush tutorial I used zProject to texture an object with a photo/image reference - and now I’m using it to transfer actual 3D data. This technique is not limited to just copying objects, either. It could be used anytime you want to copy 3D info from one object to another object. There’s also now reason that you couldn’t use multiple sculpties to convert parts of a complicated object.

If you haven’t done so already, you might want to watch my first video where I demonstrate the entire process of creating and texturing a sculpted prim in zBrush. Besides the Material Baker script you’ll also need 2k Suisie’s SculptyMaker converter program.

Sorry about the scratchy audio in this one, dunno what happened. :) You can also download a higher resolution, Quicktime version of the video.

Linden Lab just announced a new feature in the Release Candidate viewer called Avatar Rendering Costs. A.R.C. will let you gague how an avatar and all their attachments is effecting your graphics rendering performance.

What an abosoltely wonderful idea! Finally we have some concrete in-world evidence that ‘hoochy hair’ really does lag up an area. :) Seriously though, I think that this tool will really encourage people to be a bit more aware of how they are constructing their content and a bit more careful about how they dress up their Avs.

Check out the LL blog post for more specific details, then download the new RC viewer to try it out for yourself. The post hints that there will be more similar features in the future. Here’s hoping that there will be something similar for every in-world object. Can you imagine the improvement on the grid if low-lag was the new buzzword?

So what is your Avatar Rendering Cost score? I’m going in-world right now to find mine. :)

Mermaid Diaries

I happened on this stash of SL tutorials created by Natalia Zelemanov. She runs a cute, pink site called Mermaid Diaries. She has created quite a few informative tutorials covering everything from shoes, hair, and clothes to sculpties and particles. Definitely worth a look.

Saw this great tutorial on the LL forums today. Photo-sourcing a face skin: Start to finish.

Asuka Martin shows you step-by-step how to put your own face on your Second Life avatar using only two reference photos. He does a great job of explaining the steps he’s taking and the results are very nice. Definitely worth a look if you want to create a virtual you.

Encode, Upload, and View

This is the 2nd of a two part tutorial where I show how you can use videos inside of Second Life. In part one I showed how video works and in this installment I show you how to convert your own videos for viewing in-world. You’ll see how to convert videos using Quicktime Pro and also a free program for Windows called Internet Video Converter. Then you can even host your videos for free on Blip.tv.