Dance Options

[gabestone]

Hello, all :)

I'm exploring my options to get dance animations, mainly for my new parcel of land, but also so I can have personalized dance animations available pretty much anywhere.  I'm mainly interested in couples dancing, especially some slow sexy dances. But having the ability to do single dances would be good too.  From what I've read so far, it seems a dance HUD might be the best choice.  I'm OK with the dance itans in the clubs I visit.  But I'm not sure if getting a dance itan or machine is the best way to go for my parcel or if a HUD or a Chim is the best way to go.

I doubt I will need hundreds of dances, probably a few dozen would suffice.  And I don't think I will be interested in something that is pre-loaded with a bunch of dances either.  I'd prefer to select my own, high-quality, perhaps mo-cap dances to load into the machine or HUD or whatever.  Also, having something that's easy to set up would be great!

Any suggestions?

[Ethan Paslong]

you could have a look at TIS ( there in spirit) they have huds ánd balls for couples also hybrid for both in one.

For dances i would reccomend Humanoid, Bits and Bobs, Myanimation and 3FX ...but there are many many more

[Sassy Romano]

Just be aware that for alignment, couples dance systems be they hud or whatever will need to rez poseballs.  You may not have rez rights in your favourite spots though it's worth seeing if group membership or a cuddle with the land owner will help.

HUD's don't do couples dances without poseballs because there's no way to accurately align avatars and the result will be a mess.

[Pussycat Catnap]

Intan has long been the queen of couple's danceballs for good reason.

The only limit they have is that if somebody else owns the land between where you rez a poseball and where you have put the main 'server' - and that somebody else does not give you rez and object entry rights, it won't work.

But if you own all the land between point A and B, you can use them to have dance systems anywhere on your land.

 

For individual dance systems, I think Humanoid does a better job. Nicer menu options. BUT it requires the danceball be somewhere the dancer can see and click - which means if you have no-copy dances, you can only use them in one place.

Intan again, with its dance anywhere system - you can put no copy dances in the dance ball, put that anywhere, and then use a 'dance anywhere post' at the places you want to allow dancing, for people to click and use the dances, even no copy dances.

(and for individual dances, which don't need a dance ball, you can even have the dance ball and the post be on opposite sides of a sim with all the land in between owned by different people, even people with banlines and no permissions).

 

For the actual dances... just be sure to get motion capture.

I find the best are made by "MyANIMATION", followed by "Humanoid", then there's one I always forget the name of because its a number or something, then Henmations...

 

 

[Amethyst Jetaime]

Definitely Intan is the way to go for a couple dance machine.  I've managed a few clubs that have the other systems and had problems with them.  I have had an intan for years and years since they first came out and never had one problem with it.  Actually I have two, one for dances, one for other couple animations I and my partner like to be able to use anyplace on our land using the Dance Anywhere.

Intan also has a single dance system that compliments the couples.  You can access it through a dance anywhere too.

For motion capture couple dances I recommend 3FX as they have some of the best in SL. They sell them as single dances but if you buy one or more of the several packs they offer you get a substantial discount depending on the pack, you get several more dances 'free' compared to the price of buying them singly.  and they are ready to load into an intan by just dragging and dropping them in.  

 

[gabestone]

Than you, all, for your helpful responses.  It sounds like an itan may be the best choice vis-a-vis a HUD.  The more I think about it, I'm probably only going to need/want it on my little parcel of land, which I own, for times that I have guests. ;-)  Otherwise, if I want to dance, I'll most likely just go to a club. 

I'll check out the vendors you all have recommended.  Thanks again!

[Pussycat Catnap]

Oh... If you're looking for dances to take with you when you go places, get the blank AO from Akeyo.

You can load all your AO and dance animations into it - and then just click the dance button and it will switch you from your AO to your dances, and has options for inviting other people to dance and so on.

There really is no good competition to Akeyo's combined AO/Dance HUD. There are other HUDs out there, but they don't anywhere close in quality, tend to cost more, and be more script heavy because you have to wear both them and an AO...

That said, as an AO itself, the Akeyo option is way too script heavy... so its only good to get for people who like to bring their own dances with them.

 

Most clubs in SL are using very outdated poor quality dances that were made manually rather than with motion capture, but are now freebies. You can spot this by the jerky arms that rarely seem to match a smooth motion with the body or legs... and the avatar is often standing at an angle, as if leaning sideways 5-degrees... and well, they just look funny...

- But that's the vast majority of the dances clubs have in their dance systems... I don't know why so many venues gives their visitors such bland choices...

But its why I keep a pack of dances of my own...

 

Then again 've probably spent more than 200,000L on dances in SL... because I get them for all my alts but give each alt different dances from the others.

[Aethelwine]

I am not aware of an intan hud, maybe that is a new thing. The intan system is certainly reliable and not too hard to set up, you need to add the notecards as well as the animations, and follow the instructions to edit a notecard to organise the folders.

But I prefer the there in spirit machine and their hud too. You add your dances like with the intan and then go to a webpage to configure their menu and copy and paste the text it creates in to a notecard. So far as I am aware their product is the only couple dance hud. To use the hud you will either need rezz rights or be going to a club that has a TIS server. It has been a while since I have been clubbing, and whilst you would have thought these would be common in clubs by now they do still seem to be a rarity. For my purposes the hud works well as I normally have rezz rights where I go to dance.

For couple dances... humanoid, Sinewave and bits and bobs are the best places to shop. But... do go to A&M too because their rock n roll dance is great, also 3fx deserves a worthy mention.

[gabestone]

Thanks, again, to all of you.  After spending hours of research (you'd think I'd have something better to do with my time...lol) I think I've decided to go with the TIS HUD.  I don't want to have to mess with note cards and I really like their ease of use and their website is laid out very well and has great, detailed instructions.  And I will certainly check out the vendors you all have mentioned for the individual dances. 

Much obliged to all!

[MALIFAX]

Does someone know if TIS HYBRID danceball accepts HUMANIOD couple and solo dances ?

[Cindy Evanier]

Just now, MALIFAX said:

Does someone know if TIS HYBRID danceball accepts HUMANIOD couple and solo dances ?

Yes mine has them in

[MALIFAX]

Oh ? Weird, when I try to drag the anims from the Humanoid folder to the content of my HYBRID it get a red circle with a stripe on my mouse pointer (meaning I can't)

[Cindy Evanier]

11 minutes ago, MALIFAX said:

Oh ? Weird, when I try to drag the anims from the Humanoid folder to the content of my HYBRID it get a red circle with a stripe on my mouse pointer (meaning I can't)

Its been a long time since I loaded it but I definitely have Humanoid animations alongside many other brands in my TIS Hybrid

[MALIFAX]

I'll ask Dancing Lemon, ty ;)

[Conall DeCuir]

I am carrying since a few years my VISTA Couple Dance HUD with me. It works without poseballs and the dance partner is invited with the HUD. I am using it when the dances in clubs are either to old or i want to dance my latin dances in a rock club.

For my own parcel i use TIS. 

[Aethelwine]

I would r-click edit the TIS Machine, open up the contents folder and drag and drop the animations in there. If you are just dragging the anims on to it from your inventory without it selected with edit, you need to be extra careful or you could be missing and trying to drop them in the floor or an adjacent object.

Edited December 14, 2019 by Aethelwine

[Garnet Psaltery]

I've been happy with TIS for years and have used dances from all the shops mentioned above, but would add Abranimations for a variety of styles, single and couple, and a range of Bento dances.  He has a ton of very funny ones too, for parties.