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First I am going to inflate an image to make a quick sword mesh
Select Inflate Image from the Mesh menu
To inflate a greyscale image use relief mode
I am going to make a symmetrical object including the reverse side of the sword
I will use an image I made earlier
Pure black RGB (0,0,0) parts of the image are cut out of the mesh
The model is too wide, so choose the scale tool from the menu
Hold down Z and drag left mouse to scale in Z
Next draw a lathe inside the sword
I set it's colour to red by clicking on the base light colour, and dragging the sliders
Drawing a second line keeps the lathe inside the sword object
To help see what is going on I set the inflate mesh to be see through
Use the widget move tool and curvy smooth to fit the lathe inside the sword
Now I am going to choose a white curvy map by holding down left mouse on the curvy map image.
Dragging the Curvy Map slider now expands the lathe
I am setting the curvy map slider so the expanded surface just covers the sword
Click on the Curvy Map to select it
Drag the sword onto the lathe in the groups panel
I hide the original sword by selecting it and pressing 'H'
Choose Image/Apply Children: Add from the menu to create a new Curvy Map that matches the shape of the lathe to the sword
You can adjust the smoothing with the bar under the Curvy map displacement slider
And finally - choose Export Sculpties from the file menu
Now in Second Life I can upload the sculptie map
This is only a very simple example of what is possible - for more see www.curvy3d.com