Cathy Foil sent me a note about a new tool, well updated one, for Second Life designers: MayaStar. This is the equivalent of AvaStar for Maya users. Awesome… not so much for me, I’m a Blender user. But, I suspect Maya users will be thrilled.

Cathy wrote me that she wanted to create something like AvaStar for Maya users. She’s apparently talked to Gaia about the use of the name MayaStar. My take from Cathy is that Gaia is somewhat flattered. Whatever, Mayastar is similar to Avastar in more than just name.

Kathy says she has figured out All the technical issues with collision bones. That may be reaching a bit, but she has made videos explaining what she learned.

Kathy is planning to remake her videos, because they’re out of date with her current Mayastar. Gaia had the same problems keeping her videos up-to-date with Avastar’s fast updates. 

The above video is for Mayastar 4.0 and the current release version is 4.1.

You’ll find several videos in Cathy’s channel on YouTube.

Kathy points out that Mayastar does not do everything that Avastar does. But, it also does some things that Avastar does not do. Mayastar does have the shape sliders, which would probably be the most important thing to me. It also has some resizing tools for working with standard shapes. As I write this I haven’t seen videos yet. But, I have the impression that with a click garments can be resized to any of the standard sizes with just a click. Now that’s handy.

You’ll find Mayastar in the Second Life market place here: MayaStar Rigging System for Fitted Mesh & Regular Mesh. It is currently selling for L $5000 or about US$20. Her market place store: Cathy Foil. While MayaStar has few reviews, they are good. Like this one.

Those that have purchased Mayastar are eligible to join the in-world group: MayaStar Liquid Mesh Support Group Autodesk. This is a closed group. So, I’m assuming that you get your invitation to the group along with purchase of Mayastar. Not being in the group can’t say how busy or large it is… or isn’t.

If you Google Mayastar you will find a page over on SLUniverse. See: MayaStar Liquid Mesh Templates for Maya Autodesk. The page has been there since November 2013. The page is a bit out of date and Mayastar has features the promo specifically says it does not have. So, don’t be confused by an older ad.

Search using SLUniverse’s search tool. You’ll find a newer page promoting Mayastar. See: MayaStar 4.1 Fitted Mesh Maya Autodesk Plug-in. This is a more up-to-date ad.

Cathy Foil has a Facebook page. She doesn’t seem to be active on FB, but I’m not friended there.

Bit of trivia: I’ve heard that Cathy foil was the first in SL to create a whole sculptie prim foot and put it in a sculptie high heel. She is said to have been selling her feet in heels about 6 months before Stiletto Moody. I’m impressed. Also, anyone that hangs around Second Life this long is probably still going to be here for a while.

Back in March 2014 Cathy commented on my article: Other Aspects of Fitted Mesh.

While Cathy is not normally on my radar, she has been around awhile and active in the community.