BF Products

PBR

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A new rendering system is coming to Second Life, known as PBR, or physically based rendering.  This is the industry standard these days, and it’s really nice to see LL stepping up and making the major code change needed to support it.

If you have no idea what PBR is, and you want to know all the gory details, you can read about PBR on Wikipedia.

Some of the most eye-catching effects have to do with reflections.  For example, realistic metals are one of the most difficult things to represent with the old rendering system.  And PBR makes it a piece of cake!

The official SL viewer already has PBR enabled, and it’s coming to Firestorm Real Soon Now™.

Which brings me to the reason for writing this post… I’m revisiting some of my products to redo their textures to support PBR, starting with the carbon truss scope, which I textured before PBR became the way to do things, even in Blender.

Here’s a new render with the recommended SL HDRI sky lighting the scope.

Updated render of the BF Carbon Truss Telescope using PBR (physically based rendering)

I’ve redone all the materials using what Blender calls the Principled BSDF shader, which I’ve been using in Blender since it arrived there.  Only now I can take the shader outputs directly into SL and expect the textured object to closely match how the render appears in Blender.

Some noticeable changes in the above image:

  • You can clearly see the resin overlaying the carbon fibre
  • The steel counterweights and support rod look much more realistic (and should provide realistic reflections of what surrounds them in SL)
  • The matte black inside the tube and the optical path now has just the right touch of gloss to make it look believable (nothing in real life is totally matte)
  • I’ve added a finder scope on the OTA, which you can easily remove from the scope if you like the plain look.

I can’t wait for the version of Firestorm with PBR to launch so I can try this out in SL!

Japanese Teapot

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I’ve released a new BF product today!  This decorative Japanese styled iron teapot would make a lovely addition to any kitchen, and would obviously be right at home in a Japanese theme.

The item is modify, so you can resize it if you like, but be aware that resizing mesh will change its land impact.  As delivered, the teapot is only 1 land impact, and fits my stove top nicely.

See it at the in-world store, or you can find the teapot on marketplace!

BF Rain of Stars

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BF Rain of Stars is now available exclusively in my in-world store!  It’s a cool and romantic particle effect for parties or for when you just want to impress that special someone.

Here’s a video!

Wind Sculpture

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Here I am, struggling to find outfits for blog posts, and I realize I haven’t promoted our wind sculpture!

wind-sculpt_001

This is based on a real life sculpture that rotates in the wind.  Our version doesn’t rely on SL wind, but you can set the speed that the vanes rotate to slow, medium, or fast to suit.  As the vanes rotate they create a wonderfully hypnotic pattern, and with the addition of a light that can be switched on or off, it makes for a stunning visual object, particularly at night.

The land impact is 13, but you can derez the vanes when not in use, reducing the LI to 1.

Full instructions are included, but really, all you need to do is rez it where you want it.  The sculpture takes care of rezzing and positioning the vanes for you.

Wind sculpt

The sculpture is available for purchase at our marketplace store, or you can visit our in-world store to see it in action!