Bits of News
The new ‘fitted mesh’ avatars for new users were initially released as no-mod. It appears that has been corrected and the new mesh bodies are now mod-ok. Linden Lab announced the change: Updated Mesh Starter Avatars Are Now Available.
Update: Dagger Faulkwing finds that ONLY the shape of the avatars is mod-ok. So, these avatars still really suck.
Mesh ‘People’ Starter Avatars
There were also problems with some avatars’ feet sinking into the ground. They say that is fixed too.
Slink is rumored to be preparing a mesh body for release. A picture of it leaked. I am using the Slink hands and feet now, flat and high. The hands I love. The feet are OK. All the appliers for various things make both way too fun. I love the gloves and nails I can use.
The site Big Boobie Babes (BBB) is reporting on the Omega Applier System. I have not tried it, yet. But, I am already seeing a problem with the appliers I am accumulating. The Omega Applier System purports to be the solution. One applier rules them all.
BBB reports the Omega Applier System is being offered for free at Love N Lust Designs (SLURL).
Loki Eliot writes about problems creating fitted mesh clothing in: Thinking about this year so far. I think he is representative of many trying to figure out how to make Fitted Mesh. Gaia Clary has been striving to find a good work flow and a way to explain how to get fitted mesh to actually fit. I’m following her efforts and working through problems in my own way too.
At this point my thinking is it is possible to get well fitting clothes. But, the idea that one size fits all is NOT possible. No one has decided how to do sizes with Fitted Mesh. Several designers are converting their standard sizes to Fitted Mesh. Typically they use the extreme sizes from their Large and Small sizes. If they have XX sizes those get converted.
The basic idea is that we still need sizes. So, converting the XXLarge and XXSmall along with a Medium seems to be what I see working.
I am starting to find closer fitting clothes. Many of the mesh clothes have gorgeous patterns and prints. I love them. But, few fit me well enough to tempt me to purchase. I am going through lots of demos.
Hamlet at new World Notes points to a Philip Rosedale interview on CNBC: Revolutionizing Virtual Worlds. The later part of the video shows the state of HyFy’s avatars. They are getting better. I think they suffer horribly from the Burger King King syndrome.
The ‘King’ thing they used in commercials for years was freaky. Numerous studies were done to determine why so many people found it freeky and hated it. I refused to buy Burger King until they stopped those commercials. However, Jack-n-Box’s Jack with the giant ping-pong ball head was generally found to be amusing by most people.
According to studies of peoples’ reactions to the King and other similar characters there is a range for human likeness. Past a certain point of likeness and short of photorealistic likeness people reject the character. I say Philip’s avatar is in the ‘rejection’ range.
Over on SLUniverse they are discussing camera offset values. See: Share Your Camera Offset Settings?
If you are not familiar with Second Life Camera Position Tips, the thread may not make much sense. I change the Debug Settings values for my CameraOffsetRearView and FocusOffsetRearView in all my viewers. If you plan to visit places built to scale, these are much change settings.
Some people also change CameraOffsetFrontView and FocuseOffsetFrontView. I don’t use that viewer often enough that I always change these. But, for some videos I’ve made I have made the change.
Adeon Writer suggests setting FocusOffsetRearView to x: 4294967296. This simplifies adjusting CameraOffsetRearView values and keeps things… level.
Oh it’s all fun and games for me, except for the sleepless nights crying about why i can’t get fitted mesh to work. Actually today i made a break through and got my belly to grow fat. I’ve basically got right down into the Manuel side of things weight painting from scratch. Avastar IS really good if you want to make make mesh clothes and they have done a great job making it easy to add fitted mesh, I’m just not playing by the rules and make it hard for myself.
With regards to High Fidelity, the openness of the platform means there is so much possibility, not just how the avatar looks, but how it moves and expresses. So far there does not seem to be any ‘default’ avatar to customise, they are all modelled and created individual creations. I think what people are seeing so far is the bare bones and this time next year you’ll see avatars that you can only dream of having in SL. It’s utterly exciting :-p
Good luck with DIY mesh clothes. I suspect many people will be interested in your experience. So, once you feel you have your work flow figured out, consider writing it up.
I agree this is HyFy early on. We may see very realistic avatars eventually. But, to avoid that human aversion thing to too close a resemblance but not close enough, they have a ways to go.