Avatar extracting for 3D printing

[Frasoir Cioc]

Hi there

I am a London based artist attempting to extract and 3d print Second Life avatars, but have little technical know-how.

So far, I have tried OGLE 3D extractor with little success as well as Autodesk 123D catch in an attempt to extract my character. I am also aware of Fabjectory (although I don't think their service exists anymore)

If anyone can offer further insight into the software or perhaps could offer some help with rendering from images that would be greatly appreciated. The avatars will be featuring as part of a large exhibition in Scotland later this year, so expect some credit!

Thanks
Fraser

[Amethyst Jetaime]

You can't, its against the TOS.  LL owns the copyrights for all things in SL except user created content.  You must obtain their written legal permission as well as the permission of the creators of any avatar parts, such as skin,shape eyes etc.  As well as clothes, hair and things if  you want to use that you didn't create yourself. 

You should contact LL and discuss your project with them. If it is beneficial to them such as a way to promote SL, they may allow it.  If they will allow you too do it they can advise how to proceed.

You only other recourse is to obtain a copy of the basic avatar mesh and use it in a 3D program to make a model of an avatar.

 

[Hoaghes Beaumont]

To the above poster, please don´t play admin if you are not one?

Even if it´s against the TOS it is not up to you to take action or play police about it, so either reply to his question or do not reply at all. Cheers.

Regarding your original question Frasoir. Yes of course it is possible to extract your avatar, there is even an option hidden somewhere in the viewer settings that lets you extract your avatar as an .obj file. Which should be easily convertible to whatever format your 3d printer uses.

I myself make mesh clothes and use 3ds max. I have bought a very nice plugin on the market place (SLAV plugin or something) that lets you bring rigged avatars into 3ds max, you can use the advanced menu (developer menu in viewer 2 I think) and then under character test -> export shape to .xml or something. Then you can find this .xml file in your second life folder (if you are interested I can give you a detailed walkthrough when I am behind my computer)

This is no copybotting or anything by the way, all fully supported viewer 2 features that either let you extract your avatar as an .obj or as a .xml datasheet to load into a program like SLAV.

Cheers and if you want more help, just post a reply and I will give you a walkthrough when Im behind my own computer.

[Irene Muni]

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Hoaghes Beaumont wrote:

To the above poster, please don´t play admin if you are not one?

Even if it´s against the TOS it is not up to you to take action or play police about it, so either reply to his question or do not reply at all. Cheers.

---

???

Is it necessary to be an Admin for inform abut the TOS and possible legal consequences of the question asked by the OP?

[Nyll Bergbahn]

Information on extracting your avatar as an OBJ file is given in this link on Gaia Clary's Machinimatrix web site.

http://blog.machinimatrix.org/3d-creation/blender-meshes-trail/rigg-your-avatar/

[Amethyst Jetaime]

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Hoaghes Beaumont wrote:

To the above poster, please don´t play admin if you are not one?

Even if it´s against the TOS it is not up to you to take action or play police about it, so either reply to his question or do not reply at all. Cheers.

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I'll post what I feel is helpful.  He didn't ask about the basic avatar mesh only, which is available for download, but 'his character' which to me means extracting his avatar as it looks in SL  This would be a violation of IP rights of any creator of things he used to make his 'character" that he didn't create himself. If this is going to be a public show he could end up in a lot of legal trouble inadvertently if he wasn't familiar with TOS and how IP rights work in SL.  I wouldn't want that to happen to anyone who just doesn't know better.

As a content creator myself, I am surprised that you, a content creator, have such a cavalier attitude about IP rights.  How would you feel if I took your designs or creations out of SL without your permission?   

[Luschious Nightfire]

3D printing... as in a tangible 3D model? like an action figure?  I would pay copious amounts of money to be able to get my hands on an action figure of my SL avy

Time for me to start searching the web to see if I can get me one of those

[Hoaghes Beaumont]

" but 'his character' which to me means extracting his avatar as it looks in SL" 

You are making assumptions here..All he did actually ask for was a way to extract his avatar, which TO ME means his base mesh and is perfectly possible in Second Life with LL provided tools.

"As a content creator myself, I am surprised that you, a content creator, have such a cavalier attitude about IP rights.  How would you feel if I took your designs or creations out of SL without your permission?  "

I personally couldnt care less about it, actually, I would feel quite honored if I would see one of my creations on display in an exhibition in London or wherever..This is all theory anyway though because nowhere did the OP state he intended to throw a fashion show or anything along those lines.

And yes, I think it is up to Linden Labs to play police here and no one else, we do not need any self-appointed TOS police just like we don´t need any self appointed anti-grieving police in Second life, they caused more problems then they solved as well. If I have a need to defend my IP I am perfectly capable of doing so myself, or get into contact with LL about it, just as you seem to be perfectly capable of doing the same.

So yes, even though I do not like starting a flame war, I feel strongly enough about this point to stick to it.

[Kwakkelde Kwak]

Nobody is playing police by making someone aware of the fact displaying items based on Linden labs property is against TOS, not to mention against the law. All I see is a helpful person, what can possibly be wrong with that?

Furthermore, Linden Lab shouldn't  "play police " either, in fact they don't and they won't.

[Hoaghes Beaumont]

Geez, apparently I did start a flame war after all, and I apologize for the fact.

To make it clear: I am sure that the original answer was meant to be helpful, and made with the best intentions. I am not here to bash some other resident who I don´t even know.

 

Saying: "You can´t" to a perfectly legitimate question for which the answer can even be found within LL´s proprietary tools, and then refer to the TOS and such things does make me iffy though, because yes "YOU CAN" extract your avatar, and no, it´s NOT automatically against the TOS to do so.

So yes, like you say, LL of course reads this post as well, like they read all posts, and if they feel the need to step in they would do so and have done so, I am sure they don´t need residents to explain the TOS to them in this respect.

Besides this, you know the general stance they take on this subject, namely that it is up to the copyright holders themselves to bring up any infringments, not anyone else. So even if I see someone selling and advertising batman masks on the marketplace (just an example) it would not be up to me to file a complaint (or lecture the seller for that matter), but up to the actual copyright owner (Warner Bros or something?).

The same goes here in my opinion. It is not up to you to bring up the TOS or any possible infringment, but up to LL if they feel any of their intellectual property is in danger. Knowing the origin of Second Life I don´t think LL easily does this, they seem to favour a more Open Source-ish approach and its their full right to do so without residents reminding them or telling them about what their rights are.

Cheers

 

[Min Barzane]

As Nyll sayed its explained on Jass site how to extract character shape as xml file you can use in blender and that's avatars shape that's not necessarily made by persone who extracts it (most ppl have bought shapes) and possibility of extraction is included in official LL viewer ,so no,its not base mesh,its exact duplicate of avatar shape you currently have on when you exporting it,bare bone ,naked,no clothes or hair but not necessarily your creation shape vise,so if LL incorporated it in viewer its not against TOS,atleast shape vise!

 

[Reg Mannonen]

I know this is an old thread..... but

What about pictures?? What he's talking about doing is basically printing a 3d "picture" of himself.

 

If that's against TOS, so is every picture out there. Do I need to get permission from the creators to take a picture of myself in their outfits?? NO, nore would I need to do so to make a sculpture of myself either.

[Chosen Few]

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Reg Mannonen wrote:

I know this is an old thread..... but

What about pictures?? What he's talking about doing is basically printing a 3d "picture" of himself.

 

If that's against TOS, so is every picture out there. Do I need to get permission from the creators to take a picture of myself in their outfits?? NO, nore would I need to do so to make a sculpture of myself either.

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Good question.  Here's the deal with pictures. The reason it's not illegal to take pictures of things in SL is because all of us as content creators have agreed to the grant to all SL users a "Snapshot and Machinima Content License", as described in section 7.4 of the TOS.  Without that license, it would indeed be a violation of copyright law to take such pictures.

Snapshots and machinima are a far cry from extracting entire models for use in other media.  You haven't necessarily been granted license to do that.

If you personally believe there's no logical difference, there's certainly an argument to be made there.  There is a legal difference, though, and we do have to take that into account.

 

Here's the bottom line.  If your avatar is wearing only items that you've created yourself, then it's all fine; do whatever you want with it.  However, if it's wearing items that are someone else's intellectual property, then legaly you must obtain the owner's permission before you take those items out of SL. 

Note, the avatar model itself is Creative Commons licensed, so there's no issue with that.  It's only other people's textures and attachments that are off limits until and unless you obtain the proper authorization.

[Jexpek Waverider]

and now the thread is even older ...   im interesed in 3d printing. I am involved in a startup here in the US and we are activily setting up to be printing commercially in large scale come Feb 2014. I am using a new technology that acually uses a non toxic material and i can print in full color.. my cost to print is a tenth of the cost of anyone else on the market. Im wanting to partner with in-world designers and modelers (same thing?) I also wish to be able to print avatars... so need help working through the TOS hurdle... please feel free to contact me in world via jexpek waveride

I presently provide 3D renderings and animations for the architectural markets here in south florida... 

 

i think i could provide help to the original poster of this thred.. if they're still around.. and if anyone else is interested i'd like to get together and discuss.. 

[fimbulvetr]

Actually, there is a thing called photogrammetry. Its basically 3D-scanning using only a camera. If that works in rl, it works in sl too. So basically, you can "steal" avatars just by snapping a bunch of snapshots and then open them in some photogrammetry software. So my point is. theres no real difference taking snapshots and acquire the model otherwise.