How to make LODs for Second Life mesh

Second Life swaps a mesh for lighter versions as the camera moves away. If those versions are bad, your clothing turns into shards from across the room - one of the most common complaints about a product.

What you need

• Blender
• The finished garment (this is the High level)

Steps

1. Duplicate the garment. Make three copies and name them for Medium, Low and Lowest.
2. Reduce each one. Add a Decimate modifier (Collapse) and lower the ratio: roughly a half for Medium, a quarter for Low, and much less for Lowest. Judge by silhouette, not by number.
3. Protect what matters. Keep the outline, the openings and the material borders. Small inner detail can go first.
4. Keep UVs, weights and materials. Each LOD needs the same materials as the High one, and rigged LODs need their weights. Decimate keeps both.
5. Export each as its own file. One .dae per level.
6. Load them in the uploader. Choose Load from file for each level and check the preview at every distance.

Tips

• Worn rigged mesh is drawn with the avatar's bounding box, so it switches LOD later than a rezzed object - but it still switches.
• A very low Lowest level saves little; a recognisable one saves your reputation.
• Viewer-generated LODs are fine for a first test and rarely good enough to sell.

Next

• How to reduce land impact in Second Life
• How to upload mesh clothing to Second Life

Words you do not know? See the glossary. All guides: how-to guides.

This page is a written overview. In the SL Designers video courses you watch clothing being made from start to finish, and our Blender addons take over much of the technical work.