Second Life Default Avatar Question

[JackRipper666]

Hello guys, I was just curious about the Second LIfe default avatar. What makes the face smile, frown etc just all the facial expressions how is this done on default avatar for SL? Are these blend shapes or just a rig with more bones inside default avatar. I'd love to be able to use the same setup for mesh avatars. But not sure if that's possible currently. Anyway thanks for reading!

[Mora Eldritch]

Hey there, I'm fairly certain that mesh does not currently support blend shapes or custom rigs.

I believe some users have found ways to manipulate skin weighting to make certain effects with the default rig, but I'm not sure about the details. I have experimented with mesh skin weighting with the default rig along these lines, and it's very finicky.

Blend shape and custom skeleton support is planned for the future I believe.

You can currently download the default rig and weight a skin to it but you cannot modify the bones or it results in a mess.

(Feel free to correct me if I'm off-base, I'm not 100% on this)

[Perrie Juran]

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Mora Eldritch wrote:

I believe some users have found ways to manipulate skin weighting to make certain effects with the default rig, but I'm not sure about the details.

 

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There was a Forum thread and a JIRA on this but it is eluding my search efforts.

A Resident was working with the coding in his (her?) Viewer to adjust the weighting.  It actually showed some promise. They were doing a good job of getting rid of some sharp angles in the wrong places.

 

Why Linden Lab appears to be resistant to the idea of Avatar 2.0 is a complete mystery as far as I know.

I would of thought this more productive and important than the flubberred introduction of Mesh.

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Avatar_2.0

 

[Mora Eldritch]

Especially since the current default avatars are ripped straight from Poser. The base models are terrible.

I would personally prefer fully integrated mesh features (including blend shapes and custom skeletons) since that would allow creation of high quality avatars of all types.

It'd be hard for avatars made in this way to become the standard though, but people have been trying already and it looks pretty promising even with limited mesh. https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/UTILIZATOR-Avatar-20-beta/2861916

I assume LL is busy pressing the SL steam release and graphic features that are supposed to come with it right now, but who knows.

[JackRipper666]

Thanks guys! I'll have to look at that Avatar 2.0 information just for fun then. So far the only way I do it which is very difficult to hide seams but I cut the face up into parts script them. It's tough though the mesh pieces don't always turn on when using alpha maps or transparency under texture tab while using a 2048 map for your texture. I try to make it real high quality on paint since I am using xnormal for baking out maps seems I'll have to try lowering the polygons of mesh and hopefully a 1024 map will be more efficient. I was thinking of trying some work arounds I seen on youtube for added bones but it's again difficult to probably make face expressions if it even works.