Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
FIGURE 6.10
OpenSim screen shot of the range of virtual forms that can be made with a ring and its modiiers:
shown from the left going right they are: none, path cut, path cut and hollow, skew, hole size, top shear, proile cut,
taper proile, and revolutions.
6.3.7 T
he
r
ing
Rings are what you get when you stand up a triangle and extrude it around a perpendicular circular path. They
are useful for mechanical parts, clothing like collars and cuffs, and all sorts of surface details. Try making the
modiied ring forms in Figure 6.10.
All of the other forms that are offered in the creation menu (the pyramid, hemisphere, hemicylinder,
and tetrahedron) can be made from the basic seven forms. To derive the greatest beneit from this exercise,
it is recommended that you spend some time creating these families of forms, and saving samples into a
“building component” folder for future reference and usage.
6.4 MESHES AND HOW THESE CAN BE IMPORTED
Since 2011, the 3D objects made with externally generated meshes have been available for a builder's use
in Second Life and OpenSim. In fact, meshes have always been used in builds; the standard prim objects
native to the virtual worlds are simply custom meshes designed for use with the modiication tools included
in the viewer. For the purposes of this topic, the instruction in various methodologies for building meshes
in Blender, 3DS Max, or any other 3D modeling package are left to the wide range of tutorials available
online or through your local educational institutions. It is highly recommended that you take an online or
in-school course in your chosen program so that you learn to model quickly and eficiently. One of your
most valuable assets is interaction and social networking with your peers. Join the inworld groups, visit
the software bug tracking and program development pages (JIRA) to comment on the new programs you
use, and share what you have learned freely with your peers. When you start to make your own meshes in
a modeling program like 3DS Max or Blender and want to import them into Second Life, you should be
aware of what the options and costs are. Fortunately, the Firestorm Viewer has an easy-to-use importation
