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Multi-Sculptie Builds

Sometimes it's necessary to build an object with more than one sculptie. A knee-high boot, for instance, may need to be attached to more than one bone on the SL skeleton, or a shape may simply be too complex to do easily with one sculptie.

You can model both sculpties in the same .blend file to be sure that the two sculpties fit together, and to do useful texture tricks, like having the sculpties cast shadows on each other. (See this tutorial)

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You can work with more than one mesh created by the Primstar scripts.

After baking your sculpt maps, parent the objects to the object that you want to be the root prim.

Then use File > Export > Second Life LSL to save the sculpt maps and one .lsl file to a folder.

Upload the sculpt maps to the grid and place them in the contents of a plain prim. Then create a new script in the prim and replace the default script with the text from the .lsl file. Next add a plain prim called "Primstar" to the contents of the box, give the script link permissions, and then sit back and watch as your object is recreated in world.

Primstar Scripts

Domino's new Primstar scripts actually include the ability to export multiple sculpties with a script that will let you recreate a multi sculpt object in Second Life.

Once you have things finished the way you want in Blender, bake the sculpt maps for all the sculpties you want to export. Next, select all the sculpt meshes in Object Mode, making sure the root prim is highlighted in bright pink.

Press Ctrl-P and select "Make Parent". Double check that the other meshes are parented by selecting just the root object and moving it around. If the other objects follow, you've got it.

With that root object selected, go to the top menu and select File > Export > Second Life LSL (to dir). Browse to a folder (preferably an empty one) and hit 'export'. This should save all of your sculpt maps and ONE plain text file with the extension .lsl. Open this lsl file with a program like Notepad, select all the text and copy it.

In world, rez a plain cube on the floor. Upload all of the sculpt maps and add them to the contents of your box. Next, create a new script inside the box, then double-click the new script to edit it. Delete the default script and replace it with the text you copied from the .lsl file.

Hit Save, and after a few seconds, the script will ask you to create a prim, name it "Primstar" and put it into the box. Do that. Then the script will ask you for linking permissions. Once you give the permissions, the script will start recreating your object in world, ending by linking everything together.

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Use ALT-D in Object Mode to create duplicate objects that will always have identical meshes.

Use SHIFT D in Object Mode to create copies of an object that can be edited individually.

Duplicating a Sculptie

If you want to make a single sculptie that will be used on multiple parts of your build, go into Object mode and press Alt-D. And move the new object to where you want it.

This will create a new object, but the mesh for both will remain identical. If you edit the mesh in Edit Mode, both objects with change. If you scale/rotate/move the object in Object Mode, it will only effect the one object.

If the shape you need for a new sculpt mesh is similar to a mesh you already have, but not identical, go to Object Mode and press SHIFT-D instead. This will create a copy, but both the object and the mesh will be separate, so you can edit the new one without effecting the old one.

Note: You can also use SHIFT D in edit mode, but this adds vertices to the same object, rather than creating a new one. When this happens, exporting your sculpt map becomes impossible.

 

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To add a sculptie mesh from a previous file:

Go to File > Append or Link.

Hit ".." until you get to your save directory (usually twice). Then find and select the file you want, then click "Object."

Select the object that you want to import into your current file. Remember that you can rename the objects in your .blend files. This makes finding the right one a lot easier.

Adding a Mesh from an Older File

If you have a sculptie from a previous file that you'd like to add/edit in your current one, you can 'append' the object.

You may want to save your current file now, in case of error. Now we'll be using a function in Blender that lets you browse inside another .blend file and select a part to add to your current file. Go to File > Append or Link.

From here, you may actually start inside your current .blend file, which is useless because Blender doesn't let you append anything from inside your current file. (Can someone explain to me why Blender does this?) Hit ".." until you see the contents of your save directory, then find the .blend file that contains the mesh you want to append and click it, then click "Object". From here you'll see a list of the objects in that file. Hopefully you've renamed your sculptie objects so that you can easily identify them. Select the one you want, and click "Load Library."

If you haven't been doing it already, it's good practice to rename your Objects in your files by selecting the current name in the Edit Buttons (marked in yellow) and entering a new name.

This makes browsing with the Append feature easier, and also lets the Primstar export script name your sculpt maps something meaningful for you before you export them to your hard drive.


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Choose which sculptie you want to edit by selecting it in Object Mode, then going into Edit Mode. (Tap TAB)

Switching Between Sculpts

You can only edit one sculptie at a time. To switch from one sculpt to another, switch to Object Mode (TAB) and right click to select the sculptie you want to edit. Then return to Edit Mode (TAB).

 

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Remember to play around with what you've learned. Experiment. Be adventurous. Make mistakes.
Nothing in Blender is precious.

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Introduction | Primstar Scripts | Duplicate Sculpties
Append from Other Files | Switching Sculpties

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