Today I found some additional information about what Linden Lab is doing with the avatar.

In the JIRA there is an item:  STORM-1800 – The vertex weights of the default character mesh could be better. Recently Alexi Reggiane added a comment (09/Dec/13 8:41 PM):

LL is currently working on making on the avatar in their fitted mesh project. Are these [meaning STORM-1800] improvements being submitted along with changes in the collision bones in this project? Now would seem to be the optimum time to implement these changes. They have said once the fitted mesh project is complete it will be years before they would be willing to make changes to the avatar again.

Oz Linden edited the comment to add:

That has not been decided yet. Even if we decide not to include these or other weighting changes, we may do so as a follow-on project. It’s skeleton changes we probably will not revisit any time soon. – Oz

This makes a big difference in the scenario. We may see some additional changes coming for the avatar. Or not…

I do expect some clean up of weighting. It seems there almost has to be some weight changes being made to get the new collision bones working correctly. This would be the ideal time to handle some of the flaws in avatar weighting. Especially sense there are fixes provided as part of STORM-1800. Many of us use the changes now.

The changes must be manually installed after each update of the viewer. So, they are not overly popular. But, they do improve avatar rendering. I use them on and off.

I don’t find adding the STORM-1800 changes creates problems. I expect the Lindens to be cautious about making these changes. But, I also think there is a decent chance they will be added in a follow on project. We may even see some minor mesh layout changes. Or not…

For now…

We need as many creative types as possible testing Fitted Mesh with the Fitted Mesh Project Viewer. Please contact your favorite designers and ask if they are testing Fitted Mesh and providing the Lab feedback.