What changed recently? Avatar shoulder blades are deformed. Leg fat fluxuates...

[Jeni Kuhn]

Has something changed on the SL servers recently?  If not, I don't know what to do! 

It all began suddenly a couple days ago.  Some of my friends were complaining that their shoulder blades were messed up.  So, I cammed in on myself and sure enough, my avatar's shoulder blades were also extremely distorted and pointy.  This is the shape I've been using for years...  It looks awful and is discouraging me from connecting anymore.  Please see some screenshots here: http://i.imgur.com/oNUgy3o.jpg

 

My primary viewer has been the latest Firestorm release and I did all the usual troubleshooting steps: rebake, adjust shape, change genders, change group tags, undeformer, stop all animations, reset/remove/disable ao, remove all worn items, test avatars (both genders), clear cache, login alternate character account, and so on.  The problem is: I see it affecting other avatars too...though it is more obvious on smaller framed bodies.

 

To further test: I installed SL on a netbook and the issue persists there too.  Since friends noticed it and it happens on multiple computers, I can only believe that its not on a problem on my end.  I can't help but wonder if somethings changed with the servers recently?  But, I am very open to other's suggestions or feedback too.

 

Finally, while creating the screenshot above, I started having weird issues with avatar's leg fat.  It kept fluxuating between small and big in a fast cycle.  The only items being worn at this time was the test male (and later test female) ensemble.  No AOs or anything are enabled or even attached.  You can the animation here: http://i.imgur.com/cJAo2iA.gif.

 

Thank you in advance to anyone who takes the time to discuss this and I will remain hopeful that there is a solution!

[495060]

I don't know about deformed but mine certainly seem overly prominent to me. Initially I thought my shoulders weren't set far enough apart? Making them stick out that way? Didn't matter how wide I made them they still were overly there. I looked at a friends avatar and hers are the same and I'm POSITIVE she has a gorgeously proportioned avatar so yeah, there's something going on.

[Jeni Kuhn]

Thanks for the response!  I'm glad to get some feedback on this issue.   I had the same thought about shoulders and can also verify that no setting would fix it.  I also tried every other upper body slider and they had no effect.

I am not sure when this started but I want to say April 30th since that's the time I recognized the change.  I tend to scrutinize a lot but I could have missed it when wearing longer hair.  But it does seem like something's gone very wrong with the "skeleton or bones" on the server end.

[Sidnella Riler]

yes my shoulders seem different, too, but lately with new updates a lot of things are happening

[Theresa Tennyson]

The servers play very little role in displaying avatar shapes and they are actually running OLDER code than normal right now. Seeing shapes, both yours and others, are basically a viewer function. There are a few possibilities:

1) With server-side baking there's a new parameter added to the shape called "Hover" that was an attempt to compensate for the inability to use TPV Z-offset adjustments with the new system. This has been known to cause glitches with body fat and it may be causing problems with shoulder blades too. This parameter was introduced viewer-side with the latest Firestorm release. See if you see the same thing with an older viewer.

2) Some badly-made rigged meshes can deform body shapes semi-permanently - it's mainly noticeable around the eyes. There are ways to reset them though.

The best possibility is probably this, though:

3) They may have ALWAYS looked like that. If your shoulders are narrow your shoulder blades will stick out in sharp points but because the lighting is fairly flat you don't notice them with the standard straight-on view of your avatar's back. However, the points are very noticeable from certain unusual angles and have been as long as I can remember. 

[MinkBlueleaf Fyrewik]

n/t

 

[Hitomi Tiponi]

I suggest you try replicating this on both the official LL viewer and a much older one. This should help identify the problem when filing a JIRA.

[Theresa Tennyson]

Ooo, just had a thought - if "Hardware Cloth" (or something that sounds similar) is on in your graphics preferences, turn it off. It's an old setting that was meant to simulate the effect of "wind" on system clothes and it's certainly not that great an effect.  I don't think turning it off will hurt anything and it may help, especially with the pant legs. This is different from "Hardware Skinning",which is needed for some things involving mesh and should stay on.

[Jeni Kuhn]

Hi everyone!  Thank you for all the replies and suggestions so far!

(Reply to SID Riler) Thanks for adding another confirmation!

(Reply to Theresa Tennyson's post)  Thanks for the well thought out posts.  I thought it may of related to SSB too but I installed an older Firestorm (meaning no SSB code) on a machine that never had an SL installation and it still displayed the problems.  As for always looking that way, I am 100% certain it did not.  My own body shape is something I scrutinize and tweaked over years.  I know of certain poses that can push the shoulder blades out a little but that's how they always look no matter what pose I am in now.  It is also something I know that didn't exist because I have a lot of prim clothing I spent hours custom fitting to my body and most of it now suddenly has shoulder blades sticking through it.  I will look into "Hardware Cloth" next time I am able to though I cycled all the graphics from low, med, high, ultra, and received the same results.  Thanks again for all the well thought out suggestions too!

(Reply to Raimi Syaka) Thanks for sharing your experience!  I admit that the fluxuating body part seems to be a random theme as I haven't been able to reproduce it again.  Maybe it was from switching between the test avatars a few times... Either way, let's hope that one doesn't become common!

(This reply is to Hitomi Tiponi) I have tried using an older version of Firestorm without SSB and the problem persists.  I will need to try the official viewer still.  As for JIRA, I have never looked at that before so this was my attempt to bring it up with the community and brainstorm.  Since I know a lot of others share this issue I think I've done what I can to bring attention to it  

[Jadeclaw Denfu]

The shoulderblade issue (chicken wings) is a very old problem, that still needs to be fixed.
The reason is the simple avatar model with its low polygon count in some areas

When setting Torso Muscles to a low value, the viewer tries to make the upper body look thinner by carving out the arm pits:
( see red circles)

The result: Holes and chickenwings. I did it here a bit to the extreme, with Torso Muscles set to 0.
By setting Torso Muscles above 40, the defect mostly disappears. Which may not the desired solution when you try to
get the mannequin look perpetrated by the fashion industry.

The other problem: Fluctuating skin. The viewer animates the outermost layer, that is usually the clothing layer.
If there is no clothing, the skin gets animated. However, I tried the Avatar Clothing setting and I don't see that
effect anymore on bare skin. I had this effect in older viewers. I do recommend a viewer update,
not only for the improved performance, but also for security reasons.
(Viewers used here: Firestorm 4.4.0, SL-Viewer 3.5.1)

Btw, the additional features make it worthwhlie to get Firestorm 4.4.0.