Using your Mesh Objects
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
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.
My mesh objects try to assist you in knowing which each face is:
- I have colored differently each face, so you quickly see where the faces are.
- I have also textured them with a texture that shows the face NUMBER.
This number is important to know, for some scripts operate at face level, and you will have to provide them the right face number.
TIP: With "Select Face" checked, if you now:
- Click on the face whose face number you want to know
- Click at the same time the keys:
CTRL ALT SHIFT T
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 ad of the product says "approximated 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 October 2014), 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
I wish this information helps you in using mesh objects in your creations.
-- Auryn Beorn
