Tag Archives: Avastar

Avastar 1-1 Release Candidate

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Gaia Clary has an update of Avastar out: RC 1-1. This version has files dated 2/10/2014.

There is also a test version out: avastar-1-1-973_blender-2-65. The files in this release are dated 2/14/2014. So, the test file is a bit newer than the RC release. There is no information on what has changed.

There is also a preview video out (updated 2 weeks ago) showing the rigging of a quadruped, horse in this case. See:

[youtube wnsZiaD6CPY]

Remember. In regard to Fitted Mesh the Blender Collada export for Second Life is broken. For now only the Avastar Collada export is working for Fitted Mesh. If you are rigging to only the mbones, Blender’s Collada export works.

 

Avastar Fitted Mesh Tutorial

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Gaia Clary released a new tutorial for using Avastar to make Fitted Mesh clothes. The video tutorial was published December 24th on YouTube.

[youtube jzZbDqZ6fg4]

This tutorial gives you a quick education on how Avastar is intended to be used. I think it also clearly shows that weighting is going to be a more complex task. Using the old bones, old as in pre-Fitted Mesh era, and weighting one could kind of get by using just the avatar’s skin weights and a rudimentary understanding of weighting. That meant for a short skirt one was focusing only on the mPelvis, mHipLeft, and mHipRight bones.

Now we will also be considering the Butt, Belly, Right_Handle, Left_Handle, and Lower_Back. That gives us a total of 8 additional bones to consider. Weighting was complicated enough with 3 bones.  Continue reading →

Avastar 1.1 Beta Released

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Today I see Avastar® has a new test version out. Gaia appears to have had it out since Dec. 8th. For whatever reason I am just seeing it show up in Feedly today. Since the announcement of Fitted Mesh Gaia Clary has been updating Avastar and figuring out how to work with the new Fitted Mesh options. Since the Fitted Mesh announcement in November there have been a dozen or so updates to Avastar as they add Fitted Mesh support.

[youtube GRFkK6vcOEs]

Until now the releases were simply called test versions, which since they were released to users might be considered Beta versions too. The current version is: avastar-1-1-931_blender-2-64.zip. Update: 12/22 – now avastar-1-1-934_blender-2-64.zip. This release is called a beta version in the announcement: Avastar-1-1 (beta). Gaia says they plan for this to be the version that goes to final release. So, in the newer SL terminology we might consider this more of a release candidate than a beta version.  Continue reading →

Avastar 1.0 Released

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Gaia Clary has a new release of Avastar out. This trailer promoting it was released Saturday July 20th. The 1.0 release number should not be the significant problem it is with most other software. I’ve been using the release candidate builds and think the software even in pre1.0 releases is has been pretty solid.

[youtube MtwRAxZZbWA]

You can get more details about Avastar 1.0 on Gaia’s site: Machinimatrix.org. There is a list of improvements (14) and highlights (13). There is a known bug that has to do with animating the aSpine bone… I’m going to have to look for this problem, as I haven’t noticed it. But, I don’t recall attempting to animate the aSpine bone.

I will have to wait until I’m home sometime Monday to get my copy of Avastar 1.0. I’m looking forward to checking it out.

I’ll also be downloading Blender 2.68, which was released Thursday July 18th. This is the version Gaia used for testing Avastar 1.0. Less testing has been done with other Blender versions. Gaia believes Avastar 1.0 should work well with Blender versions 2.64 to 2.68.

Note: This is NOT a paid promo. I purchased my own copy of Avastar (US$22).

Avastar Update RC5-834

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Gaia Clary of Machinimatrix.org the home of AVASTAR has a new Release Candidate out: 834. I just installed it. The fix I wanted is not yet in it. Gaia tells me I won’t see that until after the next release. 🙁 But, there are fixes and improvements.

You need your special URL to get the download. But, you can see the release notes here: RC5-834.

Second Life Weighting Collision Bones

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While we wait for the Mesh Deformer people are looking for ways to make mesh clothes fit. There are some alternate methods for making clothes that change with the avatar shape. One of those is the use of Collision Bones. Some call it Collision Volumes. We have heard that method called liquid mesh in promotional stuff. It works to a point. But, how does one use Collision Volumes?

Collision Bones/Volumes

Collision Bones/Volumes

Using the Collision Bones in the default SL avatar one can achieve some measure of sizing tied to the avatar shape. The problem is getting that information from the modeling program to Second Life™.

Continue reading →

CG Cookie New Blender Animation Training

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If you are interested in character animation you probably know about CG Cookie. They have a load of free and pay-for tutorials. All the basic information is free. The advanced and time saving stuff is usually pay-for. So far, everything I’ve paid for I have been happy with. I haven’t paid for all that much, but I have paid for some.

Recently CG Cookie put up a new YouTube video: Animation Toolkit – Training Series for Character Animation in Blender. It is promoting their release of the new training series.

[youtube XAY3JbI4jBs]

This series gets into things that cannot be imported into Second Life™ with the BVH import. Gaia Clary’s Avastar is progressing toward what I think is the best all around tool for making mesh clothes and animating avatars, human or non-human. One of its better features is the ability to create .anim files that the SL Viewer can import. The .anim file format allows one to use more of the animation features found in Blender.

Continue reading →