Archive for January, 2014

So that’s one thing done, I’ve also got some texturing going on and ambient occlusion, Here are the mandatory screenshots for today.

And as a bonus, early normal mapping preview.

I’m experimenting with a new mesh creation pipeline to make buildings. I started a replacement for my manor a few weeks ago but got overwhelmed by the sheer complexity of making this kind of model in regular 3D tools. I’ve been turning my attention to a tool called Trenchbroom.

Trenchbroom is very simple to use 3D level editor for Quake that use CSG brushes (Constructive Solid Geometry). It’s different from how you would normally make a 3D model, it’s not as messy as SketchUp and it will crunch down your construction in a single mesh. A bit like SL, a bit like booleans, but different.

I might write a tutorial on how to get something built-in this tool on SL at some point.

The collar LPM got completed pretty quickly, there is an area that I’m slightly worried about (on the edge where the inner and outer materials meet) that might need further work, but other than that, it looks about right.

I optimized the straps, removed non visible faces and things like that, same for the ring anchor point. And added the mandatory KDC logo 🙂

I though it might be useful to get a few things straight about how I handle customer support, if you have a problem with a product, please follow these instructions:

I can only reply in French or English.

If you need to contact me, please try to use one of these two languages. Sure I can use a translator, but for precise instructions it’s going to turn into a catastrophe.

Do not send me notecards

I don’t know who decided that notecards where the “superior” way of contacting shop owners, but it isn’t! Send me an I.M. instead, those arrive in my mailbox and I can reply to them quickly. If for some reason you cannot send me an I.M. (overzealous RLV settings for example), there is a contact form on this website, just don’t forget to put your avatar name then.

Be brief and clear.

I don’t need a copy of the entire marketplace transaction, the transaction ID, buyer name and date is all I need.

Be patient.

Give me at least a day to reply, I’m not always in SL or browsing my emails.

Talk to me before giving me a bad review.

I’ve had several customers drop me a 1 star review on a product, it hurts, it’s the wrong way to attract my attention, and I usually end up solving your problem in the end.

The “detailed” model is complete… pretty much and so is most of the textures, I still need to do the slots in the straps. After that, like always, I have to build the “optimized” model for use in SL.

I couldn’t show it properly but the inside/padding and outside will have independent coloring, as usual, I’m still debating whether the lining should be the same color as the padding or not.

I’ve spent the past couple days working on an update for the RLV activator, it will add several improvements to the system:

First: The RLV activator will not need to self lock anymore, I made a couple changes to the system that make this need irrelevant.

Second: The RLV Activator will now with on the HUD, offer a quick link to the documentation wiki and will also allow the wearer to perform special animations that I designed to make clicking TouchBound attachments easier for them and others, I tried to make them fairly natural looking, but you will also be able to drop animations in it. The HUD design is supposed to mimic the SL UI.

Third: I made a version of the RLV activator that can be dropped inside OpenCollar products.

I got around working some more on the posture collar, mostly on the strap work really, it’s a little bulky. I decided on an “over under” style where the collar meet at the back but, I’m not so sure about the angled sides, they make it MUCH easier to fit to the avatar neck, but I’m afraid that it might look… weird for a posture collar, all the cylinder type posture collars that I found have parallel sides.

The buckle and straps are “standard sized” the same size that was used on the bridle because I wanted to reuse the locking buckles I made for it, is that too

I’m not sure on the detailing, I like a simple and no-nonsense look, but should I add side rings and/or a back ring? (the latter might be as easy as slipping a D-ring in the same leather loop as the strap retainer.

I thought of a way to have a name”tag” on the collar but there isn’t enough room anywhere to make it look right.

(The flat version in the pictures show a possible rivet placement.)

I hope everyone had a good time for new year eve, I only came back the 3rd and am still “recovering” from 4 days of excess. As soon as I feel better it’s back to work, I promise!

So many things to do, so little time…