Based on what I’ve been reading at the Creation/Mesh forum lately, I could really improve this.

Using the excellent new mesh information tab on the Firestorm viewer, I can see that it has only 12 triangles (which is ridiculously low) but is not very well optimized, because it’s still 2LI. It only has the first two LOD levels (same file) and then I was lazy and left the last 2 LOD levels to the uploader to construct, so it degrades at distance.

I think when I made this it was some sort of array arrangement. I did unwrap it, badly, and made an AO map but didn’t use that in my final texture (which was a total botch).

So from my surprisingly organized note in the corner, this was an “etude” to study how to replace a sculpt in one of the OAR files I was playing around with back in 2015. I made more progress after that but then didn’t break through the Blender block, and found other things to do in real life (that were fun and healthier than sitting at a computer all day).

From what I can tell, I could re-do this item as a sort of pallet, re-model it completely, and maybe use this low-tri object as one of the lower LOD levels, and do them properly. The unwrap needs to be redone, the AO map should be redone, and used in the texture stack in GIMP. I have a better idea now on how to mark seams, how to unwrap for better texture usage, and even possibly bake textures.

DON’T get me started on why I’m in Blender Internal Render. THAT is why I got blocked in the first place; someone I respect very much in “Second Life Mesh Help” communities will only discuss texturing in Cycles render, with nodes. And no. I just cannot stand the thought of yet another learning curve beyond the one I’ve been stuck on for years.

But does anyone in SL need a crappy looking pallet? that is a legitimate question.

Meantime, I’ve been fretting for weeks over re-doing an actual mesh product I have up on the Marketplace, that I think could be better, but I keep avoiding. People actually seem to want to buy that item, but is good quality? I fear not.

And here it is, afternoon on a Saturday, one of the rare days when I can spend the day fiddling around doing everything but what I ought to be doing.

So of course I fiddled in Blender for a bit, checked out Bayou Chat Noir, and went to Gacha Garden. As you would.

And now I’m a beekeeper, apparently, but if I want to make honeypots I’ll have to learn how in Blender.