Archive for the ‘product updates’ Category

I made a major update to the TouchBound system, it concerns currently the most pressing items: the cuffs and collars. It features a few changes and new things here and there:

Changelog – general:

• Toned down the amount og glow from the active sections.
• One script less per attachment.
• Added LockMeister Version 2 compatibility.
• Complete code rewriting.
• Removed the auto inversion of certain commands to get more consistent behavior for the end-user.
• Reduced the prim count of some objects (less click helpers are now required).
• General speed increase with the different actions.
• RLV: When leashed you will be automatically unseated if the leash point move away.
• RLV: When leashed you cannot teleport.
• RLV: When someone hold your leash they can force teleport you.
• Improved the chain reconnection on login/teleport.
• Improved animation system, less script activity.

Changelog – wrist cuffs:

• All wrist related animations redone.
• Two new wrist to neck poses:  over head and inverted prayer.
• More room for larger breasts on the wrist to nipple poses.

Changelog – ankle cuffs:

• All ankle related animations redone.
• New, more stable avatar slowdown code with limited jump and no flight ability.
• New “hopping” mode for the ankle to wrist animations and ankle to ankle tight hobble.
• Added a “hobbled” walk, which currently simply slow down the avatar (until I can make a decent hobbled walk).

Existing buyers, you don’t have anything specific to do to get the update, the self update should trigger automatically the next time you wear your TouchBound items.

Until I update the online documentation, feel free to contact me for help and information inworld. I will be happy to be of assistance!

All the textures are more or less assembled, I also made a lighter metal for the buckles and a few LODs, a big thank you as usual to Linden Labs for not supporting custom bump maps, specular maps or anything else that would let me use textures more efficiently.

Anyway, here is the result, and unlike SOME shoes designers, this is IN second life, not a pretty raytraced render in DAZ3D 🙂

I probably rendered … maybe 4 or 5 failed texture batches between Monday and Tuesday, between having the resolution set too low, various errors in the UV padding and several tests. I’m rendering the (hopefully) final version as I’m typing this post. I kept the eyelets painted on, it turns out they look fine as they are, added a little metal KDC logo on the neck strap for branding. Now I’m waiting for those renders to finish so I can complete the composing in photoshop and make the LODs for SL.

After that, it’s either i start modeling one or more bits or script the bridle first. (They are independent objects)

I also added a couple of scripts in my “Free Stuff” category if anyone is interested.

On a side note I am also slowly replacing the current delivery boxes for KDC products for a model that isn’t as easy to break.

Oh! I also have a Flickr page too.

Stitches, and some texturing done, tested it in SL, even with this amount of detail it’s still about 35 prims.

I’m probably going to do the eyelets in 3D rather than paint them on.

And here is yet another episode of our regular show 🙂

Uvwmapping is done as far as I am concerned, all the UVs are packed in 3 maps, the mesh is merged, I added locking tabs and rollers to the buckles and corrected a few minor issues.

Mesh wise, I need to add eyelets to the straps  where the holes should be (unless I change my mind and draw them into the texture).

Texture wise, I need to start stitching everything.

Enjoy a few material testing and a look at the final UVs.

I think an update every 2-3 days is the right rate… everyday would be a little spamming and i generally do not have enough things done in one day.

I’ve added stitches to the entire bridle, it looked nice and then I deleted it all because if I keep adding details while the model isn’t a little more complete, it’s going to come back to bite me later. Now the goal is to complete the bending/mirroring of all the parts so we have a mesh that is complete and ready for detailing, and before this I need all the texture UVs to be in a reasonable state, simply because as long as everything is flat, it’s easy to make good-looking UVs.

I apologise for today’s pictures, but it’s the same bridle so i see no reason to post more fancy pictures until i get to the point where i will work on the textures.

So that’s what I’ve done most of the day, getting all the little parts UVWmapped, I will .. most likely pack all these on 3 distinct maps: base, accent, and metallic parts.

A friend of mine suggested that I add a support to add a personal logo on the bridle, the outside of the blinkers is a nice, mostly flat surface that would be perfect for that, so that’s probably what I will add once I’m done unwrapping the straps.

I still haven’t made any kind of bit, but considering it will work as an independent part, and that it’s a fairly easy shape, i will keep it for later.

A little update for those who are still following. Straps are more or less done, I added the edge details on them and the face contour of the bridle, smoothed the edge of the leather pieces so it’s more rounded. I also added a plume socket to the forehead strap.

I’m not sure if I’m going to keep all those “inner face” rivet heads as polygons or if I will use the texture for that, they kinda eat a lot of polygons for detail stuffs. The outer ones however will stay as they are.

On the second set of pictures you can see how it looks with the material IDs set (in black and red, my favorite :D) So the inner face + edges will be independent of the outer face, maybe the metal bits too… I’m not sure yet.

Still a lot of work to do:

• Unwrapping everything.
• Adding the buckle prongs.
• Adding eyelets (textures or polygons?)
• Making stitches.
• Figure out where the KDC logo would add an elegant touch without going all “advertisement” like.
• Removing all the hidden surfaces.
• Making LODs.
• Rendering textures.
• Scripting.

As usual, I’m open for suggestions 🙂

This is the first post on the creation of the new KDC mesh pony play bridle. I decided i would continue on the “boxing helmet” style because it has many elements that I like.

• It looks very sturdy and non slipping.
• It gives plenty of possible attachment points.
• Lots of room for potential decorative elements.
• The connecting straps can support interesting things like plumes and other stuffs. and doesn’t get too much in the way of the hairs/mane.

I’m thinking about a lot of things now, obviously the blinkers will be removable, most edges need some kind of padding, maybe I will make it in such a way that the inside and outside can be colored differently.

The forehead strap will need some thinking to make it looks pretty and can accommodate a plume.

I’m also thinking about the possibility of an

I know people will want a HUD too (check the included… preliminary “HUD view”) i have to think about the most elegant way to do this later.

I’m not entirely sure that i want to make the bit an integral part, the separate bit of the previous design worked well, and it will allow me to make it a piece that can also stand on its own (bit burrs, tongue depressor maybe?) so it can be work without the bridle.

Feel free to comment on those ideas and on the work done so far, I’m open to suggestions.

I started the new year by putting the groundwork necessary to update the LockMeister protocol.

For years now, the system relied on a simple ping/pong message to recover the key if the chain anchoring point. LSL Scripts now allow scripters to call pretty much every prim changing commands from the root prim of an object, making the need for child scripts mostly obsolete.

Unfortunately, chat commands are not part of those, to this day, we still cannot send a chat command from the root prim and have it look like it’s coming from one of the child prims and Linden Labs doesn’t appear to be interested at all by this idea. Because of this, a change in the lockmeister protocol is required so content creators can avoid using a slave script to relay LockMeister pong messages.

I am currently writing the new example scripts, the LockMeister protocol V2 will be structured in such a way that it piggyback on the original system and will be able to work with V1 and V2 objects regardless.

Before i start I’m not sure if I’m actually going to publish change logs all the time but this one felt needed considering it affects nearly every TouchBound products:

Affected products:

• Lined Chrome Collar (version 3->4)
• Lined Chrome Cuffs (version 4->5)
• Lined Chrome Ankle Cuffs (version 3->4)
• Stuffed Ballgag (version 6->7)
• Isolation Headphones (version 2->3)
• 10 Gauge Nipple Rings (version 1->2)
• ER Chrome Collar (version 1->2)
• ER Chrome Cuffs (version 1->2)
• ER Chrome Ankle Cuffs (version 1->2)

Changes:

• Fixed a sound glitch.
• Corrected an error in the anchoring code.
• Removal of the glow synchronisation table and move to llSetLinkPrimitiveParamsFast().
• Added code for Mitten type object forced cancelling.
• Added Mitten status flags in the shared bitfield.
• Added ability to reject touches when the Mitten flags are on.
• Tidied the shared bitfield manager in a function.

The self updaters contained in those objects should request the new version automatically, if you come around any delivery bug, or general bug, do not hesitate to contact me inworld, file a bug, or leave me a message.