AO

[windinface]

What is an AO and how do I find it?

 

[Orwar]

   AO is short for 'Animation Overrider', and generally consists of a variety of animations for the different movements of your avatar, ranging from standing animations for when you're not moving, to different animations for running, walking, flying, turning, sitting, swimming, etc. 

   You can get animation overriders from various stores specialised in animations, and at most of those stores you can also try each animation individually before deciding on which ones you like. You can even put together your own AO by selecting different animations from different stores. I'd suggest simply searching for 'animations' and going through the list to pick out the stores from the random clubs and whatnot that pops up, but if I were pressed to name a name, you could start at Vista for example.

[Rowan Amore]

https://community.secondlife.com/knowledgebase/english/

[Rolig Loon]

And since you asked about the Firestorm viewer in another thread, take a look at its built-in AO. It's easy to use. As you buy animations from various merchants, you just drop them into the AO, following the simple instructions in their wiki:  https://wiki.firestormviewer.org/animation_overrider

Edited April 7, 2022 by Rolig Loon
typos. as always.

[Bree Giffen]

Here is a recent discussion of stores where you can purchase an AO.

[MoiraKathleen]

When you visit stores that sell AO's, you should be able to try each one out, so that you can see how the stands, sits, walks, etc., look on your avatar.  I would not buy an AO without being able to try it out, and I also would not buy one without going to multiple stores - some are more expensive than others, so you want to try out enough different ones, from different creators, so that you feel pretty certain that you are buying the one that suits you best. 

[Lindal Kidd]

Absolutely follow MoiraKathleen's advice!!!! Try out several AOs from several stores. Some of the stores even have free, or very low cost, "starter" AOs for new residents. You may want to get one or more of these before investing in a more full-featured, and therefore more expensive, AO.

[Maryanne Solo]

Your AO may come to define your avies persona & character. (to yourself and quite possibly others).
This is where SL far exceeds any other world or "game" in character creation and can become almost scarily real-*ish if you're not careful. 😮☺️
The previously mentioned Firestorm viewer AO lets you create multiple AO sets. (I'm sure other AOs do too).
I have a couple that I choose to use specific sets of animations to suit my mood. The following is an example:
Eg: Not feeling very confident, a bit shy & reserved in RL?
Select AO set of animations purchased & assembled for firestorm use, by me, which I named "Demure". 
Consists of animations where your avi: *Doesn't move around much when standing, *You rarely look directly at others, *Walk with no swagger or runway model swish.
and you dress "Librarian style".
I have many Librarian friends in RL and they are very capable, lovely, much admired, (by me), people.
I have other AO sets that exhibit brash, bold, extremely confident behaviours - but we wont go into detail about those.

Edited April 8, 2022 by Maryanne Solo
Overdue return. 8^)