Learning mesh-making

 Learning to make your own mesh is hard. There's no shortcut to getting the knack for what will inevitably be a very complex piece of software (Blender, Maya, etc.), or for learning how to get cubes, planes, and cylinders to become what you want them to be. There are many steps involved in making shapes easy to work with and able to accept textures in-world. 

I highly recommend starting with Blender, for a number of reasons. First of all, it's free—and yet unlike some other free options, the price doesn't reflect the quality or caliber of the software at hand. Second, Blender can literally do everything that the other options can, at least in some form, and it will be all that you need for SL. And third, there's a huge user base for it, both in-world and in general, which means there are TONS of tutorials for learning how to use Blender.

Some people prefer Maya, and while I've never even seen Maya in person, I understand that it is a bit easier to learn and a more intuitive user interface. It will also cost you more than $200/month or $1600/year, which—unless you are one of the huge brands in SL (and if that's you, what the hell are you reading this little blog for?)—will never pay for itself. I know there's a student version available which is much more affordable; it also says in the license that it is NOT FOR COMMERCIAL USE which means that anyone who is using a student license for making goods for sale in SL is doing so illegally. If you have the dough to afford Maya, go for it! 

Regardless of which one you choose, you WILL be intimidated the first time (or dozen times) you open the program up, even without doing anything. I was fairly comfortable with programs like Adobe Photoshop and InDesign, and with my first trips into Blender I felt like it made Photoshop look like 1990s era MacDraw. There is a LOT going on, and you need to spend enough time in the program to get past the intimidation. It will happen eventually, I promise!

If you're taking my advice and starting with Blender, you are in such luck—there is SO much help online to guide you through learning how to do this. I taught myself using random YouTube videos, searching for something until I found one that showed what I was looking for (or close enough to it), then carefully watching the videos over and over as I learned. Now, though, if I were starting today I would go directly to the Blender Guru YouTube channel. Andrew Price is both a great tutor and a fun/funny guy, which makes his videos a rich and wonderful resource for anyone starting out (or even advanced—I still watch a lot of his stuff to learn and re-learn).

Start small and slow. Don't try to build a house or a living room suit the first time out. Try making a picture frame or a bar stool instead. The first thing I made that was actually a thing, not just a mess, was a candy cane. Then I made a curved plane (which would become a backdrop). Then a simple whisky glass. Small victories will be far more satisfying, and will encourage you to learn the next thing. 

My final advice: you CAN give up if you hate it. You have permission (not that you really need it). Some people love making mesh, and others despise it. If it's not for you, that's no mark against you in any way—it's just how it is. If you took my advice about Blender, you've spent very, very little money in the first place, so it will cost you nothing to walk away. 

If you stick with it, good for you! I can't wait to see what you come up with. 

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