Blender

AvaStar 1.1-1039 Video

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Early in Week 14 Gaia Clairy put a new video on YouTube. This is a bit of a revision to an earlier one and I think a clarification of the note card she sent to group members of Blender Avastar in-world. I reviewed that and published my understanding of her instructions in: AvaStar 1.1-1039 Released. AvaStar 1.1-1039 is still a release candidate and not a final version. The latest test RC is: avastar-1-1-1045 blender-2-65. The 2.65 is misleading, I think 1045 will only install in Blender 2.70 and up.

The point of the video is to show AvaStar users how to convert previous mesh clothes made for the standard sizes into Fitted Mesh. In other words, how to take mBone weighting and move it over to collision bone weighting. Plus what adjustments one needs to make for the new bones so the items work with the shape sliders.

[youtube QPMZrszi5rw]

In a discussion over on SLUniverse I was pointing out the similarities between Liquid and Fitted mesh. There was concern because some people were finding what was supposed to be Fitted Mesh being sold with multiple sizes included. I think Gaia’s video shows that multiple sizes may well be necessary for close fitting clothes. It seems many think Fitted Mesh eliminates the need for multiple sizes. We are learning that it may not.

Just as we have problems with RL clothes and size designations, I suspect we will see the same thing happen with Second Life clothes. It is a matter of time and someone figuring out a sizing scheme that works and is as easily understood as possible.

The video shows how to create basic weights from scratch and move them to the collision bones. There are many possibilities for how to weight a new item using AvaStar. The video show a simple ‘from bones’ example. But, it should suffice for figuring out the basic idea. The challenge is in explaining what all is possible and still keeping it simple.

AvaStar 1.1-1039 Released

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We still do not have a final version release. This is another test version. But, each version gets us closer to a finished AvaStar. Version 1039 fixes a bug found in version 1038.

The Deal

If you have created an account on the Machinimatrix Blog, you now get two benefits:

  • You can register your purchases once and then always download your purchased products (including updates) right from your Machinimatrix account.
  • Purchases made between 29-mar-2014 and 4-apr-2014, also get you the chance to win a 3-month Blender Gooseberry Account*.

or

You can enter your personal Avastar success story as a short note  and get the chance to win a 3-month Blender Gooseberry  Account*.

cheers, Gaia

*A gooseberry account allows you to download 11 blender training videos and all production material of the previous blender foundation short films (Elephants Dream, Big Buck Bunny, Sintel, Tears of Steel) for free plus all production material from the upcoming Gooseberry Project while in progress.

The big deal in this offer the is the Gooseberry Project, With the deal comes an 11-DVD Blender training set. The set if purchased is expensive. 

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AvaStar Update 2014-13

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Gaia Clary has some news up on the Machinimatrix.org site. It is announced that AvaStar and PrimStar­‑2 will no longer install in Blender versions before 2.70. Uuuummmm… I could have said that better. With Blender 2.70 you will need newer versions of AvaStar and PrimStar-2 to be able to install them.

[youtube XfezG5M2ICg]

Gaia also explains a problem that some of have run into when installing AvaStar updates. When one removes AvaStar then installs a newer version, the install fails. I figured out that I needed to uninstall the plugin, save the User Preferences, exit Blender, restart Blender, then install the updated AvaStar.

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AvaStar 1.1 Video Released

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Gaia Clary has a new video tutorial out. This one uses Blender 2.70, which has been released. Using it and the newest test version of AvaStar Gaia shows us how to initialize weighting for Fitted mesh.

Blender 2.70 Released
Blender 2.70 Released

The work flow for moving existing weighted items to collision weighting is covered in the first part of the video. Mid-way in Gaia covers starting weighting from scratch. The later part of the video is about using the shape sliders to test your weighting.

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AvaStar Update 2014-10

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Blender 2.7 Test Still having problems?
Blender 2.7 Test Still having problems?

 Gaia has an article out explaining the basic differences between AvaStar 1.0 and the coming 1.1 version. We can get test and RC versions of AvaStar from our personal download pages at Machinimatrix. So, knowing the differences is helpful. See: Which Avastar to use ?

The article tells us there is a bug in the shape sliders in the test versions. But, all the other stuff needed to build Fitted Mesh is in the test versions. The ETA on having a fix out is 2 weeks. So, we should see it in week 12 or 3/17-12.

The current test version as of today is: avastar-1-1-998_blender-2-65.

The Blender 2.70 test build is still a 2/20/14 version: blender-2.70-testbuild1-win64. I have links in the left column too.

The nightly build for 3/5/14 is: blender-2.69-4acff9d-win64.

The avatar models provided via the SL Wiki are broken. The current best model for non-AvaStar users is the free file from Machinimatrix: The Avatar Workbench.