Linden labs have just released a new video which shows how the new fitted mesh system functions, the system hasn't been totally finalised and is subject to change, but the project is well into development. Traditionally when creating mesh outfits creators would have to make various sizes due to different shapes and sizes of avatars, this made creating outfits a hit and miss affair for many.
What fitted mesh does is allow mesh outfits to fit the avatars body however its sized and shaped, this will make purchasing items an easier decision as you can feel more confident that clothes will fit you properly.
Check your seondlife viewer notes to see if it supports this feature yet or in the future.
So you what to take advantage of the prim saving properties of using mesh but don't want to go through all the pain of having to use out of sim 3D software on your computer and relearning the wheel again. If you have a few spare L$ burning a hole in your pocket (around L$ 5,000 should do it) you may be able to afford something like Mesh Studio, this is a specially made product which takes the standard inworld prim objects and turns them into a mesh object.
We have a couple of videos which give a basic explanation on how this works.
If it sparks your interest you could always give it a look, like anything, purchase at your own risk, we take no responsibility if something goes wrong but all the kudos if you like it, I can't say fairer than that <Evil Grin>
Graphics in SL look like they are going to get a further boast with some joined development work from the open source developer from Exodus Viewer who have been working on Normal and Specular Maps, lighting and reflections. The people at Linden Labs are working on getting these features on their servers so we should be seeing more eye candy akin to modern gaming in the near future.
Talking about Gaming, it has been revealed that Secondlife will soon be downloadable from Steam which is one of if not the biggest gaming platforms where you can purchase a host of online titles and PC games. By placing SL in that environment it gives exposure to upto 40 million users. News Link
One of the barriers to the wide spread adoption of Mesh in Second Life has been that it wasn't supported by arguably one of the most popular viewers, the general conception being if phoenix doesn't support it then its going to have a tough time being universally adopted, well it seems that wait is over and the excuse is nothing more than an update away.
If your not on a mesh capable viewer I think there are now enough options which support varying degrees of computers from power hungry beasts with processors so hot that can only be operated at the north pole to machines a five year old would turn their noses up at, so this should cover most members.
Mesh for those who don't already know is the newest building technique for Second life. Though mesh is now incorporated in all sims it still requires you to have the appropriate viewer to see the new graphics and can cause some hilarity when your viewer doesn't support it as objects, clothes or avatars can look like a badly textured beach ball or biscuit. In the above example GFC's resident Klingons Kal Aie donned a mesh outfit and we can see how it looks from 2 different viewers.
Which do you prefer the Biscuit look or flamed sworded skeleton?
If your present Second life viewer doesn't support mesh then you can try it out with these popular updates.
