Second Life: New Community Site – How to Use

The SL Blog, Forum, Knowledge Base, Answers, and other parts of the “Community” web site are up and running. See: Welcome to Our New Community Platform! While this isn’t a tutorial, it will give you some tips and probably save you some time.

Community Site Home Page 3/2017

The thinking is the new HOME page provides more information about what is happening in the community. The Blog, Forums, Events, and more are supposed to be easier to find. Well, the Home page has a synopsis of the latest SL Blog post, the most recent SL Forum post, and the Flickr picture of the day… I don’t consider this page particularly revealing as to what is happening in Second Life™. I am curious how helpful you think the page is? 

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Second Life News 2017 w11

Servers

Now that the SL Forum is back we are getting the Deploy notices.

Snapshot_001
Snapshot_001

There was no update on the main channel this Tuesday. Wednesday the RC channels got a new package. This in the same line as previous packages:

  • Added a new internal logging output
  • Changes to increase stability and security

We can assume that previous logging is leading to places where code can be optimized and processes improved. But, we aren’t hearing much more than that. 

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Slink Update

In my article AvaStar Tutorial: Adding the Slink Model to AvaStar I provide the steps to get the Slink Mesh Dev Model updated in AvaStar 2RC5. Slink has been handing out a model made with AvaStar 1.1.34. So, there are a lot of AvaStar updates between that and 2RC5. Enough so that 2RC5 can’t update that old a rig.

Ara
Ara
Nal: Mesh clothes make the…

I contacted both the AvaStar and Slink people in regard to getting the problem resolved. Siddean Munro, the creative behind Slink contacted me to say, 

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AvaStar Tutorial: Adding the Slink Model to AvaStar

Update 5/30 – I’ve run into a similar problem updating from 2.0.30 to 2.0.46 (2RC8). Working on that fix now.

PS: SeeAvaStar – Add the Slink 2017 Model

Update 3/24 – AvaStar 2 RC 6 fixes part of the problem previously reported. But, it does not yield a working rig. You still need to follow this process to update the rig 1.1.34 version to 2.0.45.

Update: 2017 – As I used the Slink model I had updated, I found some problems. So, after more testing and a back and forth with AvaStar/Machinimatrix, I pulled the original of this article the day after I published it and rewrote it.

Revised

Slink provides a developer’s kit labeled Slink Creators Kit March 2016. It contains all the models needed to make shoes, pants, dresses, and shirts for Slink’s Physique and Hourglass. Both male and female models. There are blend, dea, fbx, and mb files for import to various modeling programs.

The file is an older version made with AvaStar 1.1.34. So, the rig in the blend file provided must be updated. I’ll step you through the process.

The video is handy, but unrelated to the rig update process.

The first step in developing for Slink, or any brand of body, is applying for the developr’s kit. In the case of slink it is the Slink Creators Kit. Apply here. Let them know you want to develop mesh clothes. Only ask for one kit at a time. Otherwise, you won’t know which ONE they will choose to send you. The kit will arrive in-world and the model files by via email.

[su_note note_color=”#976402″]Correction: Slink people ask that you ask for all the kits you want in one request. See: Slink Update[/su_note]

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AvaStar 2 RC 5 Released

A new RC version of AvaStar 2 is out. You can get it from your products page at Machinimatrix. I am not sure what got fixed… the release notes and change logs are not up to date. The Maintenance Update function doesn’t seem to work with RC’s. The panel showed 2.0.40 when I clicked for … Read more

AvaStar Price Changes are Coming

The Blender-AvaStar combination is still the least expensive entry point for making clothes, animations, and avatars for Second Life™. Blender is free and awesome, if difficult to learn. AvaStar has sold for US$27 for, I think, a couple of years. So, a price increase is to be expected.

It’s Oh So Quiet
It’s Oh So Quiet

At the end of March 2017, the price of AvaStar will increase from US$27 to $40 for the full version and yearly support from $14 to $20. So, if you have been on the fence about purchasing AvaStar, now would be a good time. I plan to update my support package. See: AvaStar Pricing.

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