How to upload mesh clothing to Second Life

The uploader looks busy, but for clothing only a handful of settings matter. Go through its tabs from left to right.

What you need

• A Second Life viewer
• Your garment as a Collada (.dae) file
• An account enabled for mesh upload, and L$ for the fee

Steps

1. Open the uploader. In the viewer choose Build > Upload > Model and pick your .dae file.
2. Levels of detail. Load your own LOD files for Medium, Low and Lowest, or let the viewer generate them and set the triangle counts yourself.
3. Physics. Worn clothing needs no real physics shape; choose the lowest or a simple shape to keep the cost down.
4. Upload options. Tick Include textures only if the file has them.
5. Rigging. On the rigging tab tick Include skin weight. Leave joint positions off unless your body's kit tells you otherwise.
6. Calculate and upload. Press Calculate weights & fee, read the fee and the land impact, then Upload.
7. Wear it. Find the model in your Objects folder and add it. Move, sit, and change shape to check it.

Tips

• Do your trial uploads on the beta grid (Aditi): same uploader, no real cost.
• If the preview shows the garment far from the avatar or deformed, go back to Blender and apply transforms.
• "Missing required level of detail" or material errors mean the LOD files do not use the same materials as the high one.

Next

• How to make LODs for Second Life mesh
• How to set permissions on Second Life products

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.