Making Mesh Physics

• Unlike Second Life's default primitives which have a set system physics shape, you can create your own unique physics shape for your mesh objects. These should be as efficient as possible (the less vertices the better) and reflect the necessary physical shape of the object.

• While the Second Life mesh uploader will create a physical shape for you, it's always better to make your own. You'll save in land impact and upload fees plus you have much more control over how the physical shape interacts with animated objects.

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  Uploading mesh object

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  Uploading physics shape

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  Setting uploaded mesh object to Prim

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  Setting object to Static Obstacle in Pathfinding Linksets

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  Results of physical shape in the navigation mesh

• Once uploaded, you aren't stuck with the physical shape of your object. If you find you don't need the physical shape as you uploaded it, simply create what shape you do need (the more minimal the better)and utilize the PRIM_PHYSICS_SHAPE_NONE option to better streamline your object:

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  Creating a simple physics shape in world for my object

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  Setting un-needed areas of the object to physics shape None

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  The resulting simple physics shape in the physics engine

A couple things about mesh physical shapes:

• Setting an object to phantom does not remove it from the physics engine.
• The mesh uploader uploads the physical shape file based on the bounding box of the main mesh file.

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