Mesh/Costs and fees

There are multiple aspects to assessing the "cost" of a mesh:

• Linden Dollar fee at upload time: mesh uploads will eventually require a L$ payment at the time of upload, just as textures do today. Initially there will be no charge during the open beta period. When implemented, the charge is likely to be based on the complexity of the uploaded model.
• Prim equivalence assessed at rez time. Rezzing a mesh object will count against the prim limit of the simulator. Computing prim equivalence is still under active development, but some aspects could include
  • physics cost: the type and complexity of the physics shape chosen for a mesh will influence the server load via cost of physics calculations, such as collision detection.
  • streaming cost: meshes must be streamed at different levels of detail based on their sizes and the distance of observers from them.
• There is also a cost paid in rendering overhead; more complex meshes will impose a higher graphics load on any client observing them.