New Tools means new possibilities. I got a new tool recently and I’m putting it to use on this Latex Drone project. Part of the avatar is a pair of built in boots, and that’s where I started, as it has the most materials in it. After working awhile in my new tool, I produced this:
Now you may notice the texture is in Greyscale tones. That’s on purpose. We want to be able to tint this inworld And so we can:
The cool part is, all the details have their own specular qualities, despite the fact none of the are actually modeled in Mesh or prim. They are all tricks of light produced by what is called a “Normal Map”. Not only is this more efficient, but better on your framerates too.
After finishing tweaking everything, some closeups:
Oh and did I mention all the reflections are generated by the viewer, they aren’t baked on. So they change as the viewing angle changes, just like in Real Life. 🙂
Even the Earth is feeling Frisky this time of year.
I won’t lie, I’ve been finding it pretty hard to focus on SL lately (truthfully on anything, if I’m honest) But knowing myself as I do, it’s a temporary situation as the seasonal shift changes gears in my hormonal makeup. I just need to get some things out of my system and knock a few things off my RL to-do list and then I’ll be right as rain. 🙂
It’s not to say I’m not getting anything done. I am; it’s just slow. and I am not happy if I’m not progressing as fast as I want to be. I did get the Boot 100% UV mapped, and I’ve started tinkering with some new materials for an improved leather look. but it’s very fiddly and will take some time to get just right.
As well I’ve been working on a ‘secret’ project, which really doesn’t need to be that secret. but I’ll just say, it’s a new partnership with someone, and we are working on a project together. When we have something to show, I’ll tell more.
There’s several things I have to touch on this week, so let me get right to it. 🙂
HTTP Changes
Last week I touched on some HTTP changes LL is making, and how I was testing them out. I’m happy to say I’ve finished with that, and relieved to say it’s not so horrible as it first sounded. There are some changes in various areas I’ll have to make, but nothing earth shattering. I also ended up uncovering a nasty bug during my testing which LL has already fixed. That will be one less headache when the changes release. 🙂
Still, testing on the beta grid and having something live on the main grid, are two completely different things. So we will see exactly how it all goes when the time comes. Fingers crossed!
New LSL Scripting Stuff
Last week also brought an announcement and discussion concerning some new goodies for scripters. Basically these break into two groups, Animation/AO related, and Particle Related.
The new Particle flags will bring the following:
Glow Flag
Blending Flag
Ribbon Particle Type
The glow and blending are pretty self explanatory. The ribbon is a little more in-depth. During their talk, LL linked to a picture on the site http://www.digitalrune.com which appears to sell libraries for use with XNA and Mono. Now knowing that LL’s scripting engines also run on Mono, it’s not hard to imagine maybe they are using part of all of this product. Or at the very least, based their implementation on that seen at the site.
So here’s a video Digitalrune posted showing ribbon particles (among other things):
So what’s special about that? well, notice how smooth the arc is, even though it’s made up of segments. and also note how the segments are of varying lengths. It basically creates a long, contiguous ribbon. How cool is that? 🙂
I could think of a few things that might benefit.
The Animation/AO changes will bring some new functions:
string llGetAnimationOverride(string anim_state) * Get the name of the animation currently set for state.
llSetAnimationOverride(string anim_state, string anim) * Set the animation that will play for state. (Requires new runtime permissions PERMISSION_OVERRIDE_ANIMATIONS)
llResetAnimationOverride(string anim_state) * Resets the animation for the given state to the default. (Requires new runtime permissions PERMISSION_OVERRIDE_ANIMATIONS)
The goal of these is to allow the *replacement* of the default animations an avatar plays when walking/running/jumping/sitting/etc. The idea is to make wearing an AO less necessary. There are a lot of caveats to the usage though, so I’m still not convinced these will champion their intended goal. However, they do give people some interesting possibilities to work with.
The Particle changes requires a special viewer, which isn’t ready yet. However, the animation stuff works with existing viewers, and is already on the Beta grid to try out. (Sim names: CCMTEST17, CCMTEST22, CCMTEST23, CCMTEST26, CCMTEST29)
And Finally the Boot
I”ve been back working on this, and I’m happy to say all the mesh parts are done. 🙂 I”ve already started on the UV mapping, and I’d estimate I’m about 50% done with that.
Other than the addition of the straps buckles and bow, it probably doesn’t look any different to you. But there’s stuff going on under the hood, as usual.
I had some fun making the bow. I created it from one loop and one lace end piece, mirrored it, edited to be a little less symmetrical, and then ran the cloth simulator (whee!) to make it all droopy. I think it turned out pretty good.
That’s about all I have for you this week. Until next time. 😛
I guess judging by the winter storm many are experiencing, the Groundhog must have seen his shadow. But maybe I can take some minds off that for a bit. 🙂
Well, I have to confess, I’ve been a little lazy this week, what with Holidays coming up and all that. I *still* haven’t adjusted the tread pattern like I discussed, but It’s still on my list. :3 However, that doesn’t mean I haven’t done anything…
Darien Caldwell and [H]arsh Styles 