- Joined
- Sep 20, 2018
- Messages
- 451
- Location
- Somewhere Purple, Germany
- SL Rez
- 2007
- Joined SLU
- Dec 2007
- SLU Posts
- 9108
Promptly inspired by the Blender News thread, I've figured it might be a good idea to collect a showcase of great and neat Blender Addons, no matter if free or for purchase. Additions to the thread welcome!
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Avastar
2.7*: Yes
2.8: In Development
Free: No ( 11000 $L or ~40 Dollars)
Most SL Content Creators probably heard of Avastar
It is a Blender Addon that is specifically tailored for SL Content creation, namely: Rigged meshes, Avatars, and SL Poses + Animations.
It fixes several bugs/quirks with the DAE Import from Blender into SL, has a ton of special SL-related rigging and posing tools (including SL appearance sliders for the Avastar rig), includes extended Bento rigs, and all in all is almost a must have convenience tool if you plan to do anything SL-Avatar related in Blender.
A version for Blender 2.8 is in the works, but sadly not available yet.
Retopoflow
2.7*: Yes
2.8: In Development
Free: Yes! (Though you can aid the development by buying it here for a high price. Free link is in the title above.)
Retopoflow is an awesome Addon for dreaded retopology work in Blender - i.e. the conversion of a high poly mesh into a low poly variant to make things Game/SL-ready.
The way it works is, Retopoflow lets you paint stripes of quads over an existing high-poly model, creating a low poly model using this neat method. It has many features, from symmetry settings, to quick-stroke tools that allow you to quickly retopo around a shape, to many fine tuning and control tools. I highly recommend watching this Youtube video to see it in action - it's impressive:
If you are an SL content creator, and have a really high poly mesh for SL...please, work it through something like Retopoflow first >:|
Y.A.V.N.E
2.7*: Yes
2.8: ?
Free: Yes!
Or "Yet Another Vertex Normal Editor", Y.A.V.N.E is a tool to quickly smoothen and fix the normals of a mesh surface; You can best see the results of the tool by checking the title link, but if you've ever wondered how to fix a seemingly uneven surface (lighting-wise) despite the geometry being perfectly smooth? This is the tool for you. And it's free!
...Alright, so here's an image:
Great little tool, but not available for 2.8. (Yet?)
UV Packmaster 2
2.7*: Yes
2.8: Yes
Free: No (20$ bucks on Gumroad)
THIS. ADDON. IS. AWESOME.
I want to shove this Addon down the throats of many SL Content Creators. Seriously.
Essentially what this Addon does is, using heuristic and fancy calculation tricks, it densly turns/scales/packs your unwrapped Blender UV into an arrangement that makes the most of the available texture space. It's really worth watching the Youtube video:
If more people paid attention to making efficient UV layouts, we'd need smaller texture sizes for the everything. This tool helps a LOT with the annoying work! Spread the word.
.
--
Avastar
2.7*: Yes
2.8: In Development
Free: No ( 11000 $L or ~40 Dollars)
Most SL Content Creators probably heard of Avastar
It is a Blender Addon that is specifically tailored for SL Content creation, namely: Rigged meshes, Avatars, and SL Poses + Animations.
It fixes several bugs/quirks with the DAE Import from Blender into SL, has a ton of special SL-related rigging and posing tools (including SL appearance sliders for the Avastar rig), includes extended Bento rigs, and all in all is almost a must have convenience tool if you plan to do anything SL-Avatar related in Blender.
A version for Blender 2.8 is in the works, but sadly not available yet.
Retopoflow
2.7*: Yes
2.8: In Development
Free: Yes! (Though you can aid the development by buying it here for a high price. Free link is in the title above.)
Retopoflow is an awesome Addon for dreaded retopology work in Blender - i.e. the conversion of a high poly mesh into a low poly variant to make things Game/SL-ready.
The way it works is, Retopoflow lets you paint stripes of quads over an existing high-poly model, creating a low poly model using this neat method. It has many features, from symmetry settings, to quick-stroke tools that allow you to quickly retopo around a shape, to many fine tuning and control tools. I highly recommend watching this Youtube video to see it in action - it's impressive:
If you are an SL content creator, and have a really high poly mesh for SL...please, work it through something like Retopoflow first >:|
Y.A.V.N.E
2.7*: Yes
2.8: ?
Free: Yes!
Or "Yet Another Vertex Normal Editor", Y.A.V.N.E is a tool to quickly smoothen and fix the normals of a mesh surface; You can best see the results of the tool by checking the title link, but if you've ever wondered how to fix a seemingly uneven surface (lighting-wise) despite the geometry being perfectly smooth? This is the tool for you. And it's free!
...Alright, so here's an image:
Great little tool, but not available for 2.8. (Yet?)
UV Packmaster 2
2.7*: Yes
2.8: Yes
Free: No (20$ bucks on Gumroad)
THIS. ADDON. IS. AWESOME.
I want to shove this Addon down the throats of many SL Content Creators. Seriously.
Essentially what this Addon does is, using heuristic and fancy calculation tricks, it densly turns/scales/packs your unwrapped Blender UV into an arrangement that makes the most of the available texture space. It's really worth watching the Youtube video:
If more people paid attention to making efficient UV layouts, we'd need smaller texture sizes for the everything. This tool helps a LOT with the annoying work! Spread the word.
.
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