Here is the video of the Project Bento user group meeting. There is a POST meeting video that I am working on. It has good information. Cathy Foil was answering questions from her experience with Bento from building MayaStar Bento support.

Dan Linden, at the Server Beta UG, elaborated a bit about project Bento going live SOON, saying, “And by live, I mean the server component that will allow the upload of Bento meshes animations that have additional bones. The Bento Release viewer is still a ways off. You’ll need a Bento Project Viewer to see Bento content for now.” 

If you look at the first few minutes of the Bento meeting (week 21) video (above) you’ll see the mess that a horse avatar is. It distorted in my new Bento viewer because of a hiccup in my viewer. But, those using non-Bento viewers will see something looking similar when they encounter a Bento avatar.

Also, notice the Reset Skeleton feature in the right-click menu. I pop it up in the first few minutes of the video (Adobe Premiere CC is giving me problems. I’ve updated to the most recent version. But, as I write this I have still image import problems and the video won’t play wile I am editing. Frustrating.)

The Reset Skeleton is a fix for an older problem. We have had ‘deformers’ in SL for as long as I can remember. There are a number of ‘un-deformers’ around that accomplish the task now handled by the Reset Skeleton feature. Distorted skeletons are a long time PITA. Now there is a fix. It is only in the Bento viewer for now.

Project Viewer

You probably understand the Bento Project Viewer works on the main grid. But, it cannot be used to upload animations on the main grid because of the Bento skeleton changes. So, using it if you are doing animations confuses things. Once the Bento feature server side support rolls to the main channels then we can upload the new Bento animations and Bento mesh bodies with the Project viewer.

Those not using the Bento viewer will see Bento avatars as distorted. Expect to see lots of exclamations in the SL Forum until the Bento Viewer becomes the main viewer.

What’s Coming?

Expect the mesh people (Slink, etc.) to be releasing new bodies, human and non-human.

Hands will update as we will be able to animate the hand, each finder. The first most popular animation will probably be one that raises the middle finger. Humans are so creative and original…

Feet won’t change much. Toes cannot be individually animated.

I think the most interesting new things will be mesh heads. I’ve stayed with the classic head for my avatar. I spent considerable time making my facial look. I don’t plan to give it up. So, I will be looking for a Bento Mesh Head that I can adjust to look like me… or maybe more accurately my avatar me.

So, why get a head that looks like my classic head? I think the new animations now possible will be awesome. Many facial expressions are horrible. For example: the ecstasy facial expression used in most sex animations these days looks to me like someone just got their foot stepped on. Smiles make us look like a nation of canary eaters.

I am looking forward to way better facial animations.