When you're new to using mesh objects, there are a few important topics that you have to know about: how to show as the creator of your item, so people buying at your store recognize you as the creator, how to texture the mesh faces, and a note about resizing mesh objects. This short document covers those three points.

Table of Contents

• How to show as the creator of your item
• How to texture the mesh faces
• About resizing mesh objects

How to show as the creator of your item

Unlike sculpted prims, mesh objects don't have a "mesh map" that you can apply on a prim that you've created. Mesh objects are imported into SL as a piece that contains all the geometry information (plus some other important data), and the person uploading them shows as creator. However, as a creator, you want that your creations show in your name, not mine. What to do? This is actually easy.

You only have to link the mesh object to another prim that you have created, making sure that YOUR prim is the ROOT prim! Remember: The root prim is the LAST prim you select before linking, and once the object is linked, it's outlined in YELLOW.

A simple cube can make it. And there you go: you now show as the creator of your item :-)

How to texture the mesh faces

A mesh object may have up to 8 texturable faces, numbered from 0 to 7. The way you apply a texture is THE SAME as you apply a texture to any other face of any other prim.

• Right click your mesh item. Click "Edit" from the menu that shows.
• Go to the "Texture" tab.
• Click "Select Face" from the options atop of the "Edit" window.
• Now click on one of the faces of the mesh.
• You will see the texture show on the "Texture" little square. You can use it exactly the same as you do with other prims. And, as with the other prims, you can also color, apply glow, transparency, etc... to EACH face of the mesh object.

This number, the texture face, is important to know. Some scripts operate at face level, and you will have to provide them the right face number.

TIP: With "Select Face" checked, if now you:

• Click on the face whose face number you want to know
• Click at the same time the keys:

You will receive in local/nearby chat, or in a little popup/alert window, the number of the face you have selected.

About resizing mesh objects

As you have noticed, the product vendor says "approximate LI" instead of just "LI". Why this? Because of technical reasons, the Land Impact of mesh objects may increase as you resize the object.

For example, if you have a LI 0.5 object, and you resize it just a little bit, the LI may not change at all, but if you resize it to double the size, it may have the LI raise to 1, and if you raise it to the max size of a prim (currently 64x64x64 m³ as of August 2017), it may have the LI raise to 4, or to 7, or more.

Normally, you will use the mesh objects in the same size the model provides, but keep this in mind if you decide to resize big :-)

For more information on mesh, you may want to check the following links:

• Mesh, in the SL wiki
• Calculating Land Impact
• A guide explaining about Land Impact and the Physics Type

Your mesh package comes with "Ambient Occlusion" maps, and you don't what these gray scale images are for? You've never heard about the UV layout and don't know what the guide image is for? Then continue reading.

Table of Contents

• What is an Ambient Occlusion (AO) map?
• What is a UV layout?
• How do I use the Ambient Occlusion (AO) map?
• How do I use the UV layout?

What is an Ambient Occlusion (AO) map?

An ambient occlusion map, is a texture generated inside the modeling program used to create the mesh object. This texture shows in grayscale: the darker areas are areas where light is occluded more than lighter areas, and so by using these maps, we're giving more depth and realism to our textures.

They are named, shortly, AO maps (AO map: Ambient Occlusion map).

Although SL's viewer is able to render this (V3 and FireStorm, at least), so objects have a more realistic appearance (not only we see the effects of lights, but now we can also see the shadows), it's a very high-consuming resources feature which not all people may have active all the time.

To emulate this effect, which really adds life to the meshes, the ambient occlusion maps are used. "Somehow", we have to add these shadows to the texture that we plan to apply on to an object.

How do we do this? That's explained on the "How do I use the Ambient Occlusion (AO) map?" section.

What is a UV layout?

Unlike sculpt prims, mesh objects may have faces that don't use the full texture, but only the part of the texture delimited within the UV layout.

We understand here that an "UV layout" is a texture generated inside the modeling program used to create the mesh object, so it shows us the edges that delimit the faces of the mesh. Its purpose is to give us a visual reference of where on the texture we have to paint. You would use this in conjunction with the AO map. This is explained on the "How do I use the UV layout?" section.

How do I use the Ambient Occlusion (AO) map?

To use it, you need to:

• Download the AO map to your computer.
• Download the texture you wish to apply the shades on, to your computer.
• Manipulate both textures within a graphics program that supports layers.
• Upload back to SL the resulting texture.

Q: How do I download a texture from SL to my computer?

Depending of the viewer you have, this is done differently.

Open your texture within SL, wait for it to load.

• V1-Style viewers: File menu, "Save to disk" option.
• V2-Style viewers: The texture window has a button on the bottom part that says "Save as TGA". Click and save.

In both cases, make sure you type the image extension (.tga for example) at the end.

Q: Which graphic programs support layers?

The following list is not fully inclusive, but just some programs that you may use:

• GIMP
• PhotoShop
• PSP
• Krita

If you know of another program that supports layers, then that program is ok.

Now that we know how to download a texture from SL to our computer, and which program to use, let's outline the steps that we should follow. Every program has a different way to name the procedures, so please, consult the documentation of your program of choice to learn how to do this, if you already don't know how.

• Open the texture you want to apply the shades on in your graphics program.
• Open the AO map as layer, above the texture.
• Change the "layer mode" or "blending mode" of the AO map layer to Multiply. Other choices you may experiment with are: Overlay, Burn, Grain Merge.
• Experiment with the different blending modes as well as the opacity of the AO map layer before you decide which to apply.
• Save as an image that contains the "merge" of the two layers.

IMPORTANT: If your texture should not contain transparent areas, make sure that you flatten it before saving. Do not save the alpha channel in this case!

• Upload the new texture to SL.
• Apply the resultant texture normally to your object.

When you do this, you have "baked" the shadows on the texture.

Some creators may offer, apart than the mesh kits with the AO maps, add-ons consisting of texture packs with shadows already baked that will fit the mesh perfectly.

How do I use the UV layout?

To use it, you need to:

• Download the UV layout to your computer.
• Download the texture you wish to apply following the shape of the mesh, to your computer.
• Manipulate both textures within a graphics program that supports layers.
• Upload back to SL the resulting texture.

The questions "How do I download a texture from SL to my computer?" and "Which graphic programs support layers?" have already been answered on the "How do I use the Ambient Occlusion (AO) map?" section.

Now that we have the textures:

• Open the texture you want to use along the surface of the mesh, according to the UV layout, in your graphics program.
• Open the UV layout as layer, above the texture and lower the opacity so you can see the lines and your work.
• Manipulate the texture until you get an arrangement that satisfies you.
• You may want to open as layer the AO map, above all the composition, to apply shadows.
• Do not forget to HIDE THE VISIBILITY of the UV LAYOUT layer once you're finished! (or the lines will show on your mesh.)
• Save as an image that contains the "merge" of all the layers you've used.

IMPORTANT: If your texture should not contain transparent areas, make sure that you flatten it before saving. Do not save the alpha channel in this case!

• Upload the new texture to SL.
• Apply the resultant texture normally to your object.

When the mesh package says "materials ready/enabled", it comes with normal and/or specular maps.

Is it a special kind of item? Yes and no.

All objects in SL (even prims, yes) can be "materials enabled". This means that when using special maps called normal and specular maps, and seen with a current viewer that has Advanced Lighting Mode turned on, they will render some detail and effects more realistically.

You can see objects in a non materials enabled viewer, or with the Advanced Lighting Mode turned off. You will not see the extra rendered features, but the object will render correctly anyway. This means that materials are OPTIONAL. You can use this mesh model without any of the supplied normal and/or specular maps.

If you want to know what normal and specular maps are, and how to use them, then continue reading.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• What is a Normal Map?
• What is a Specular Map?
• How do I use the normal/specular map in SL?

What is a Normal Map?

In easy words, a normal map is a texture that tells the 3D engine, SL in this case, how to simulate "bump" detail that would be otherwise too resource consuming (LI and rendering time) if modelled. For example, cracks in walls/floors/rocks/etc. , tiles, cloth detail, skin detail and many more can be added without our mesh having dense geometry that takes quite a while to render, thanks to using normal maps.

If you like the "bump" effect achieved with the provided normal maps, then feel free to use them. You can create your own normal maps to be used with your own textures. You can do this within Blender, or using other tools:

• https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Normal_Map_Creation_in_The_GIMP
• https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Normal_Map_Creation_in_Photoshop_or_Paint_Shop_Pro

How do we use them? That's explained on the How do I use the normal/specular map in SL? section.

What is a Specular Map?

In easy words, a specular map is a texture that tells the 3D engine, SL in this case, how to simulate the way the light should reflect over a surface. Instead of having SL calculating the reflections over all the surfaces, which would be very (VERY) resource consuming, SL emulates how the light should reflect if the object provides this information in a specular map.

If you like the specularity achieved with the provided specular maps, then feel free to use them. You can create your own specular maps to be used with your own textures. Following there's a tutorial discussing this for SL:

http://www.lelanicarver.com/2013/05/gimp-texture-normal-map-tutorials-specular-spectacular/

How do we use them? That's explained on the How do I use the normal/specular map in SL? section.

How do I use the normal/specular map in SL?

In order to use these maps, the first we need is being in a current viewer. When we do this, the Texture tab of the Edit window changes, from what it has been... all the time! (Before materials were introduced to SL.)

Instead of giving us a texture box, to drop the texture we want to texture our item with, it shows the color, transparency, full bright and glow, and below, there's a drop down menu with a "Materials" option, then a texture box plus three options:

TEXTURE (DIFFUSE)
    BUMPINESS (NORMAL)
    SHININESS (SPECULAR)

When we select "Texture (diffuse)", the texture we drop under the "Texture" box will be the texture we'd use to texture our object. When we select "Bumpiness (normal)", the texture we drop under the "Texture" box will be the NORMAL MAP. Finally, when we select "Shininess (specular)", the texture we drop under the "Texture" box will be the SPECULAR MAP.

Check the provided sample object to see how this is done.

Working with mesh doors/gates... is no different than working with any other kind of doors (prim, sculpt). However, there are a couple of technical details that you need to be aware of, specially if you will be using them with scripts. Hopefully, this document will clarify some doubts :-)

Do not change the Physics Type to other than Prim

Our gates/doors are always modeled so they rotate around the central hinges. For that reason, the following is very important: Do NOT change the "Physics Type" of this gate/door to "Convex Hull" !!!

The door has a custom Physics Shape built in Blender and uploaded with the model that assures you, you will walk through the invisible half of the bounding box, but stumble against the visible half of the bounding box (the door/gate itself). That requires the "Physics Type" under the "Features" tab of the edit window, to be set to "Prim". If you change it to "Convex Hull", you will stumble against the invisible part. Should this ever happen, simply change the "Physics Type" back to "Prim" :-)

The little transparent triangle (No longer present in meshes from 2017 and newer)

In order to extend the bounding box of the mesh so it rotates correctly around the hinge, there's a little triangle at the edge of the invisible part. It is textured with transparent texture and also a 100% transparency. It uses its own material, so it doesn't interfere with the other materials in the door/gate, which you will see colored independently when you rez your model.

Keep this in mind if you use a script that turns all the object to non-transparent at once, for that tiny face will then be visible too :-)

If the door is one of the new ones from 2017, worry not about any little triangles: they are no more, the doors are created with a different technique.

Scripted linked doors? Check out this script

Also, if you plan to use this door/gate linked to other items, including more copies of the same door/gate, that could be benefited of incorporating scripted linked doors/drawers. If you're interested in the single script governing the whole linked object, check out the [Black Tulip] Multi-Door/Drawer/Curtain Tools v2 script at the main store, in the scripts and tools section, and also in Marketplace (where there's an available demo.)

If you have any question about, please use the customer service form. Working samples are at display in the main store.

The creation of some of your items may be enhanced by using animated water.

If your package does not contain a sample texture and script, then download the FREE "[Black Tulip] How to create ZERO LAG animated water" set.

That set contains extensive documentation that will help you understanding how to create animated water... not creating lag! This documentation is also online.

If you would like to create your own animated water textures, the following tutorial may help you.

PS: Actually, the same script theory applies if you're using animated flames, etc. Delete the scripts from the animated texture prims!