re: Dev Kits for Mesh bodies

[TandyDreams]

 Hello all!

I have been hearing about the dev kits for mesh avatars. Exactly what is in a dev kit?

If someone would tell me I would greatly appreciate it!

thank you

[ChinRey]

6 hours ago, TandyDreams said:

Exactly what is in a dev kit?

A dev kit for a mesh body is a bundle of stuff you need if you want to make clothes and such that fits it.

Usually there are two mesh kits for a body, a basic one for applier clothing, tattoos and skins and a advanced one with all the rigging info for mesh clothes. Most, maybe all, mesh body makers give away the basic kit for free to anybody but they can be very selective about who they share the advanced kit with.

[TandyDreams]

thank you Chin!

But, what kind of stuff is in the  bundle? for instance does it contain  body templates or ? 

I truly appreciate your replies

[Da5id Weatherwax]

3 hours ago, TandyDreams said:

thank you Chin!

But, what kind of stuff is in the  bundle? for instance does it contain  body templates or ? 

I truly appreciate your replies

"templates" - as in UV maps that allow you to lay out skins and tattoos  etc and have them properly positioned on the body are usually, as Chin said, readily available. What you typically get in the advanced kits are the "tailor's dummy" - typically a lower-LOD version of the body or parts of it that you can import into your 3d modelling program of choice and see that the item you're creating will fit properly. Ideally, this dummy model - while lower in fine detail - will be weighted to the standard SL skeleton and so in your creation workflow you can pose the dummy and your clothing, see that they move together properly without weird clip-throughs or - if you're using a tool that allows you to do it - that when changing shape sliders on the body the clothing properly conforms.

Many of the smaller-market bodies make these available freely - because (so long as it doesn't look totally hideous) if there's a better way to have your body gain market-share than to have lots of good-looking clothes available for it nobody in SL has yet discovered it! Getting the advanced devkits for the bigger names or more paranoid creators is sometimes a bit like pulling teeth. They are much more protective of their "brand" and are more concerned with excluding "bad" creations than encouraging as many creators as possible to build for them.

[TandyDreams]

Thank You da5

I appreciate you and chin's replies and the information you provided. Even though I have much to learn as I am new, you still gave me valuable info and insight into dev kits.

[HarrisonMcKenzie]

The dev kits I have are copies of the mesh body, though often without things like alpha cuts or hands to prevent theft. The idea is that you can model off of and test against the body to make sure the clothes actually fit that body and the rigging works properly. None of the devkits I have include clothing.

[GiddeonYork]

Is there a way to export your avatar into a kind of dev kit if the developer is completely unresponsive?

[MaxMare]

You can only export SL default body.....sadly there are ways to export your 3rd party mesh body but that`s illegal and just wrong...I`d stick with dev kits, you get all you need for creating mesh clothes..

IN order to get the kit, you are expected to already own a store and have something to show for, also clean track record (no previous DMCA complaints)...They are essentially giving away something they worked hard developing in good faith expecting ppl won`t abuse that trust which is why they have to be selective...that said, it`s much easier today then it`s been when mesh bodies first hit the grid...My advice would be, create a few items just for show and re-submit your request...Start with Slink, Belleza and then Maitreya and Legacy...I believe Tonic and Signature are the easiest to obtain...

 

[Sara Nova]

17 hours ago, MaxMare said:

You can only export SL default body.....sadly there are ways to export your 3rd party mesh body but that`s illegal and just wrong...I`d stick with dev kits, you get all you need for creating mesh clothes..

I don't see how it can be considered "wrong" in a moral sense if you aren't using the exported model in a way that's harmful to the creator. That said, it's still against the ToS, so I don't recommend doing it. Still don't know why it has to be; they could easily have written the ToS to only prohibit harmful uses. But that's what LL decided.

Quote

IN order to get the kit, you are expected to already own a store and have something to show for

Not everyone with a legitimate use for the dev kit would necessarily own a store. Isn't that unfair to people who just want to make things and don't care about selling them?

[Da5id Weatherwax]

52 minutes ago, MyAlt4099 said:

Not everyone with a legitimate use for the dev kit would necessarily own a store. Isn't that unfair to people who just want to make things and don't care about selling them?

They are entitled to set whatever terms they like for their dev kit. You may not LIKE those terms - and you DO have a right to gripe, but they DO have the right to set them. If you want a devkit for your body but don;t qualify for an official one, you do what I did for my body or that the avastar folks have done with the default av and put in the months of work to reverse engineer one without violating the ToS or infringing the creators IP.

 

Edited April 6, 2020 by Da5id Weatherwax

[Sara Nova]

1 hour ago, Da5id Weatherwax said:

They are entitled to set whatever terms they like for their dev kit. You may not LIKE those terms - and you DO have a right to grips, but they DO have the right to set them. If you want a devkit for your body but don;t qualify for an official one, you do what I did for my body or that the avatar folks have done with the default av and put in the months of work to reverse engineer one without violating the ToS or infringing the creators IP.

 

Yep, I know that. And I'm entitled all the same to give my opinion on those terms. (edit: actually, just noticed you already acknowledged that)

Edited April 6, 2020 by MyAlt4099

[Da5id Weatherwax]

Re the MyAlt4099 guy - he messaged me this morning asking me to use my current support to pirate the avastar 2.81 test version for him. Do not have anything to do with him. I've added him to my ignore list.

[Sara Nova]

38 minutes ago, Da5id Weatherwax said:

Re the MyAlt4099 guy - he messaged me this morning asking me to use my current support to pirate the avastar 2.81 test version for him. Do not have anything to do with him. I've added him to my ignore list.

And if you weren't so quick to ignore me and actually gave me a chance to respond, you'd see I linked this page, and quoted where it says it's GPL, meaning it would be legal—not piracy. How is this anyone else's business anyway?

Edited April 6, 2020 by MyAlt4099

[OptimoMaximo]

3 hours ago, MyAlt4099 said:

And if you weren't so quick to ignore me and actually gave me a chance to respond, you'd see I linked this page, and quoted where it says it's GPL, meaning it would be legal—not piracy.

Depends on what you asked him for. 3d content is under cc3 license, but the software itself - the whole script set - is not. Getting an avatar and a rig for the 2.8 version of Blender from the beta test addon is just useless without the support of all the procedures performed by the avastar scripts set, plus you're asking someone who was trusted enough to get into the beta testing selected group to break that earned trust. 

[Sara Nova]

57 minutes ago, OptimoMaximo said:

Depends on what you asked him for. 3d content is under cc3 license, but the software itself - the whole script set - is not. Getting an avatar and a rig for the 2.8 version of Blender from the beta test addon is just useless without the support of all the procedures performed by the avastar scripts set, plus you're asking someone who was trusted enough to get into the beta testing selected group to break that earned trust. 

Look at the page; it specifically says Avastar is distributed under the GPL.

Also, I was under the impression that the beta was just available to anyone who bought Avastar. If they're manually selecting people based on trust, I wasn't aware of that.

[OptimoMaximo]

12 hours ago, MyAlt4099 said:

Look at the page; it specifically says Avastar is distributed under the GPL.

I contributed to avastar in the past, I looked at that page and I'm fully aware of the license that applies to whatever is contained within Avastar that comes from LL (avatar meshes and skeleton). the code is NOT gpl or cc3. 

[OptimoMaximo]

12 hours ago, MyAlt4099 said:

Look at the page; it specifically says Avastar is distributed under the GPL.

I contributed to avastar in the past, I looked at that page and I'm fully aware of the license that applies to whatever is contained within Avastar that comes from LL (avatar meshes and skeleton). the code is NOT gpl or cc3. 

[Sara Nova]

7 hours ago, OptimoMaximo said:

I contributed to avastar in the past, I looked at that page and I'm fully aware of the license that applies to whatever is contained within Avastar that comes from LL (avatar meshes and skeleton). the code is NOT gpl or cc3. 

Okay, well maybe I was mistaken.

[MaxMare]

If your goal is to create some software mesh body brands and supporting creators would benefit from, you can always contact brand owners/managers directly? Same goes for Avastar ppl, if you think you can contribute in some way, get in touch, introduce your self,  elaborate your plan, explain your intentions, show samples of your work etc... That`s how business is conducted, isn`t it?

[PhebePage]

On 4/7/2020 at 2:19 AM, OptimoMaximo said:

I contributed to avastar in the past, I looked at that page and I'm fully aware of the license that applies to whatever is contained within Avastar that comes from LL (avatar meshes and skeleton). the code is NOT gpl or cc3. 

I'm sorry but that is Incorrect. If you look at the source files for avastar it clearly says they are GPL. Which they need to be to comply with blender licensing terms. https://www.blender.org/about/license/   You can charge for the download / initial sale, and for support,  but the person who buys it has the same rights so really assuming they can't talk someone else into sharing it "redistributing" they have to buy it then they have that option. 

Note: other assets such as ICONS, documentation etc, do not fall under the GPL. Some artwork and assets such as morph definitions llm files from linden labs etc, is creative commons 3.0, license is in the same folder as files.

 

Edited February 22, 2022 by PhebePage