Avastar

AvaStar 2.0 Beta 29

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Machinimatrix has a new beta release out. You can get it on your product’s page… may be.

My page still shows 2.0-beta-23 as the main candidate (green new). But, we’ve been warned not to use that one… Below with a red test button is 2.0-beta-29. Seems there is a 2.0-beta-28 some think doesn’t work… I’ve never seen it. To see some releases you apparently have to have an open trouble tickets… why? Gaia says so you can see if your issues have been fixed… So, I suppose the rest of us can forget working with Bento for now…

If you are somewhat confused, join the crowd.

The read-me file link doesn’t seem to work correctly. So, I can’t see what any differences from previous versions and 29 are.

The Trouble Ticket system has been fixed to allow some previously blocked file type to upload.

AvaStar 2.0-24 Almost Released… sort of…

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Gaia has a new post up on Machinimatrix.org. According to the announcement they have reached the end of design and are going into a user-testing phase. Those that have filed trouble tickets on the Machinimatrix bug reporter will get their copies of 2.0-24 first. The rest of us, later.

There is a load of documentation in this announcement. So, check it out.

There are people using a 2.0 version for their main production tool. However, others are having problems. I think many of the problems are from a lack of documentation. It is hard to keep the docs up to date with an in-development product. Much less make the video tutorials.

If AvaStar 2.0 finalizes we will start to see more tutorials arriving.

Second Life: Project Bento goes GOLD

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This morning about 11:30 AM The Lindens announced Project Bento is now live. The main Linden viewer has updated to include Bento. Firestorm has talked about releasing their Bento capable viewer next Monday the 12th. I suspect if things go well for them they will release an update. But, FS is picky about quality, so there could be delays. Still I’ll bet on next Monday.

The Firestorm viewer is used by half to three-quarters of SL users. The Linden viewer is used by a quarter to a third of SL users. So, until Firestorm adopts something many developers and merchants consider too few people as being able to use the feature to justify releasing products using the feature.

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AvaStar Update 2016 w41

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Some of us have been wondering what all is going on with AvaStar. We know they are adding support for the new Bento avatar. I had heard people ask for Developer Kit support. So, if you have wanted to make things that fit Slink, Belleza, Maitreya, and other mesh bodies you had to figure out how to integrated the kit to the AvaStar system. Looks like that is a problem that will go away.

Gaia Clary, Machinimatrix, has a promotional video out:

devkits from The Machinimatrix on Vimeo.

Gaia keeps doing this, restricting where the video can be embedded. For a promotional video it is silly. It sucks. But, you can click and jump to the video.

The current alpha, beta, whatever version of AvaStar is: avastar-2.0-23_blender-2-77. The main production version is: avastar-1.7-2_blender-2-77.

Have you seen AvaStar.online?

Blender 2.78 Released Today

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A new Blender release is out: 2.78. You can download it here: Blender 2.78 download.

Blender 2.78 Release Sept 30, 2016
Blender 2.78 Release Sept 30, 2016

There are new features that will help Second Life users. The full list of features is here: Blender 2.78 Release Logs. Interesting ones for SL users are:

  • Viewport Rendering – Improvements in texture display
  • Cloth Physics – New Dynamic Base Mesh and Simulation Speed option
  • Cycles Render Engine – Faster easier
  • Modeling – New tools
  • User Interface – Better snap, new eyedropper, and something about operators

There are more changes. For instance, Animation & Rigging improvements that may or may not help us. It is hard to say clearly because we are limited in what aspects SL actually supports. But, a number of improvements will provide better work flow and make some tasks easier. So, depending on how you work these may help you, probably.

I have not yet tried AvaStar 2 with Blender 2.78. No one in the Blender-AvaStar group spoke up when I asked. So, I’ll just have to try it.

Blender 2.78 RC2 Released

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The announcement is here: Blender 2.78 RC2. Earlier this month I wrote Blender 2.78 Release Candidate is now available. It gives you a bit on what is in this release. We are nearing release of the final 2.78 version.

Current AvaStar Releases
Current AvaStar Releases
Archived Versions of AvaStar
Archived Versions of AvaStar

AvaStar is now on alpha release 2.0-23 for Blender 2.77… If you are confused by the version numbering, so am I. The last version I downloaded was 2.0 Alpha-10. Asking in the AvaStar-Blender group I’m told Matrice said drop the alpha… and that Gaia does the numbering… and that they are just generally inconsistent… I took that as nobody knew.

What they were sure of is: AvaStar 2,0 is still in Alpha. I’m not sure that is so. What I do think is the case is 2.0-23 is not the final release but a beta or RC version. We may find out Thursday at the Bento UG meeting.