Unique avatar, clothes, please clarify.

[Makumba666]

Hi,

I have several questions:

1. How unique my avatar can be? In other mmo games there are bunch of bodyparts/clothing/armor/..etc stored in game database and this database is accessible for developers only. Maximum what player can do is to hack his\her own copy of game to change appearance for example, but those changes are visible only to him. If I understand it correctly in Second Life user is allowed to upload his\her own meshes\textures and even use some non-human models. The question is, how such assets are protected? I need no copyrigth and such bull**bleep**, is it possible another user just to copy my appearance and voila there are thousands of me! Is there any way to be unique?

 

2. The same for clothes. If, for example one creates new set of clothes using Marvelous designer, ShoeMaker... you-name-it and adds those models\textures to the game, could those assets to be copied against creator's will?

 

3. Is there possible in very rare cases to modify own avatar\cloth and give to some friend without having store?  Just for several people. Would be assets protected in this case?

 

4. THE MOST IMPORTANT: is there any way to add new animations/interactions to the game? I know you can add some custom animations, but is the same correct gor group animations? for example is it possible to program some group activity with custom animations? If so, kindly point any document tutorial on the point.

[Alwin Alcott]

ehm.. you cleary need to have a real look around in SL

 

there are thousends of shops inworld to make your look as you want, of course you can create it yourself, but there's no real need. Go also look at slmarketplace.com 

You can protect your items by checking or unchecking item properties. This isn't full protection, there are always people who try to abuse systems or work around it.

Yes you can give your friends everything that is owned/created by you and set to be "transfer"

and finaly yes... you can upload animations. But those work for individuals only, but there are scripts who are used to let others also be animated, as used for dancing.

It will be on individual base, can be script conrolled, but only after individual permission, you can not just let others be animated if they don't accept the invit to it.

[Rolig Loon]

Start reading .....

https://community.secondlife.com/t5/English-Knowledge-Base/tkb-p/English_KB%40tkb?attentionState=no_filter&breadCrumb=%5B%5D&draftState=any&publishRangeTime=0&q=creation&restrictionStates=no_filter&search_type=message&toggleableFieldGroups=%7B%7D

One of the greatest features of Second Life is the freedom it offers every r3esident to shape his own appearance and the environment around him. Skilled creators, most of them individual SL residents, not Lindens, have made everything that you see in world.  You can customize almost anything.

Read also http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official:Intellectual_Property and https://www.lindenlab.com/tos#tos7 to see how your creative work is protected legally.  I recommend reading the TOS in its entirety, in fact.

 ETA:  If you are a creator, I'd suggst spending enough time in world to explore and learn about SL's culture, and to develop your own basic SL skills.  Being a great designer or model builder is a good start.  Knowing your potential clients and competition is vital.  Start following the Creation forums here too.

[Syo Emerald]

I get the feeling you never logged in. Not even once. Second Life is not an MMORPG. It simply does not work like that and isn't set up like it. Almost everything you see is user created here. And if you know how, your imagination is the limit of what your avatar can look like.

[Nalates Urriah]

I'll expand on the answers given...

1 - Protected
My answer is 'not well'. The SL system does have protections built in. BUT... there is no protection for any digital asset in ANY game that cannot be copied. For your computer to render the thing on your screen the system had to provide your computer a copy of it. There are numerious ways to retrive that copy and use it.

The Lab does honor DMCA filings. So, RL copyright protection can be enforced. But, that is about it.

2 - Can things be copied?
Yes. You do own the copyright to what you create and upload. Copyrights can be enforced in SL. But, people can still copy stuff and even sell it in SL until to file a DMCA.

3 - Can share with friens no store? Better protected?
Yes and Sort of... If you own something, created and uploaded it, you have full permissions. You can give anything to anyone if you have transfer permission for that thing. No store needed.

is it safer? If fewer people see it, there is less chance of it being stolen. So, I say sort of safer, but not really. I think most thefts are via copybot viewers. These are viewers designed with the intention of capturing mesh and textures. I have no hard data to prove that. But, it seems to be how it is done.

4 - Can animations be added?
Yes. We can build and upload animations as BVH and ANIM files. Blender is generally the preferred tool for most SL users. Maya is another. AvaStar and MayaStar are plugins for Blender and Maya that handle the "unique' problems of animating for Second Life.

Group animations...

That is an excellent example of what is possible. References

Much of the documentation for SL is user created. The SL wiki is in lock down now. Before problems forced the lock most any user could edit and add to the wiki. No longer so the wiki is getting out of date.

Most of the video and written tutorials are by SL users. Those to get out of date. So, pay attention to when tutorials were made.

In December 2016 the Lab updated the avatar's skeleton/armature. So, something like 99% of all animation tutorials are out of date. New ones will come out. But, it will take some time.

[Rolig Loon]

The only place I would take any exception to Natales's excellent summary is in her point #1.  While what she says is true about most assets, it not true about scripts.  Scripts reside and are executed on the SL servers, so they are never exposed directly to a user's viewer.  If a scripter makes her work no mod, therefore, you can't see into it.  If it's also no copy, you can't even make a backup copy for yourself.

Scripters can also be clever about hashing or otherwise encoding transmitted data to make it as secure as possible, and good scripters commonly hard code asset UUIDs (for textures and sounds) into their scripts, so that they are more difficult (although not impossible) to rip off.