apoapostolov

Need some intermediate level advice on using Firestorm AO to achieve: Random play of stand animation and hand motions. The hand motions would need to be much rare and not trigger immediately when I stand.Custom Dances. My character is an awkward dancer and I would love to be able to show that off with custom collection of dances. The way I see it, I put all dancing animations into a separate list as Standing, and just switch to it and stay still. Is there any better wayto achieve that?

Given the game economy and Linden$ worth, Linden Realms crystal hunts is a major waste of time. You may actually earn better by being a conversation company for lonely residents. Just saying, if such a job doesn't exist, it should. Loneliness is a major issue both out and inside Second Life.

Hello guys, First, thanks everyone for sharing your thoughts and advice. Based on this, I have moved to Firestorm Viewer and configured its internal AO with all animations I have purchased from various packs. It really helps having everything in one place, and since I do not do dances, I am increasingly perfectly fine with it. However, I am encountering weird bugs with Firestorm that I am not sure if these are common knowledge: Sometimes when I alt-tab to another application, on returning to Firestorm I find my character running in place. Not sure if this is local animation or played in-world. Frequently when I stop running or walking, the animation keeps playing for a second or two before switching to standing. Again, never sure if this happens in-world or locally.

The choice between standard model shape and a mesh body is a very conflicted one: Standard Bodies look significantly outdated compared to mesh bodies, especially for superior physique. If your boyfriend is going for average look and not muscle or model propotions, than he is best suited by standard body shape. You get the widest choice of clothing and at the lowest prices since the economy has shifted completely towards high margin mesh clothing compared to old standard body stock that has decreased in value. Mesh Bodies look amazing, and at Ultra Settings you may feel like you walked out of Poser or Daz3D, however once the honeymoon period of enjoying yourself is over, you find out that you are a victim of a technical limitations, scarcity and cutthroat competition between designers. First, there are huge limitations on what a mesh body can do at the moment. No idea if Project Bento will change that, but top of my list is that the head of most mesh bodies is mesh as welland has no support for talking and facial gestures. Some mesh designers go the extra mile to implement various mesh models that have facial expressions but then you're swapping model for model which is visible in the game. Scarcity of clothing and accessories comes next. You will be at the mercy of the mesh designer's existing network of clothing designers who support it. In this case few models, like Aesthetic, emerge victorious based on sheer scale of content, where others are incredibly under-supported. Some creatives actually feel they need to control the whole ecosystem of their models which means they are your only source of body, clothing and accessories. You absolutely do not want to be owned by someone else, but such is the case. This leads to the competition-removing tricks where some designers will deliberately make their models impossible to combine with other models, i.e. making the head part of the body so you can't use their head on another body mesh. And at the end, the long-term investment in a mesh body is going to baloon as you will be forced to pay for custom job like clothing and accessories, or begging creatives to make a version of existing stock for your model, and typically all good creatives are extremely busy or finnicky to work with. With so many negatives for using mesh bodies right now, you'd think people would be mad to sign up for this business model. Truth is, beauty is such a temptation, everyone gladly sells their soul to the devil for it. Myself included. But never forget what you sign for.

Thank you for the very elaborate review, it seems what I need is indeed in Firestorm. I downloaded and merged my Rock AO with Aesthetic AO, and so far I am loving the ease that I can add and remove animations to it. Just one question regarding Firestorm - can I have one active list of animation for standing, one that contains my standing legs movements, and one that contains my arm movements, each on a desynced cycle so that it creates interesting combinations.

Great advice, thanks a lot NordenTafali! I actually went out and bought Rock AO that you speak of. My initial impression is very mixed - HUD is very old school, arm stretching animations are a bit over the top and don't fit Aesthetic very well, and has a horrible, dealbreaking running animation I am glad I was able to edit out of the AO. Now I use a mix of Aethetic AO (based on ZHOU) and Rock AO. Bit of overhead to the UI, I will definitely look into merging them into one custom, ultimate AO just for me. I am open to ideas if there's a good and very rich featured AO HUD to do that. All I found is ZHOU II but it is very simple and ugly unless you take time to mod its resources as well. If I make the switch to Firestorm I will definitely migrate completely towards client-based Animation Overrider. Not sure if I can fully replicate Rock AO since it has Breathing animation, separate cycles of standing and arm stretching, etc. Can all this be replicated in Firestorm client UI? What do you think about AKEYO PowerAO?

Some Tellaq mesh models ahve separate head, like recently released Abraham. You can use Aesthetic body and use Tellaq head for the typically african skull mesh. Matching head and body skin may be an issue but can be achieved.

If Linden Labs have money to burn, which they are unlikely to stretched between Second Life and a potentially huge investment that is Project Sansar, the worst way to burn them would be buying Flickr, an old school startup with barely any profit that has nothing to contribute to the betterment of their two main projects. If Flickr goes down under, the users will simply move to another photo sharing website, be it Imgur, 500px, etc. If Linden Labs want to spend their money wisely, they should be buying VR tech and 3D software tech, things that directly contribute to their existing and future projects

No, I am on the standard client. I will check Firestorm, it may answer what I need without an AO HUD in particular.

Hello, I am looking for designer with experience working with Aesthetic model to create set extreme vascularity layers for Aesthetic Model.The vascularity should cover all body, especially visible neck veins and forehead/temple veins. To make the task bit more difficult, it should work well and be prominently visible on Smith african skin. The final product could consist of several (ex: 2 or 3) layers of varying level of vascularity with the final one going beyond humanly achievable. The developer may be further contracted to merge tattoos on top of the existing layers, so this could extend to further paid support. Let me know if you're interested in long-term support or only limited to one-shot task. Message me via SL Forums. Thanks!

Thanks for your reply. I am aware of the basic bone rigging of mesh models, with the only exception of the face where some head mesh designers go the extra mile to develop expressions but very few do (none for Aesthetic). However my inqury is about the most COMPLEX AO HUD when it comes to simulating behavior. It is great if it comes from established AO seller with many options with great animations, however it may even come with 0 animations as long as it is the most flexible basis for a power user.

Hello, I am using Niramyth Aesthetic model (Smith) and I want to change the default AO with the best option possible for male mesh. Price is never an issue, customizability is. This is what makes choice harder than usual. I want to be able to add additional animation as I buy or custom order them, modify moods sets, have random walks, etc. The typical stuff. The more options I have the better, but it has to be focused on mesh models. The goal is to have a power user friendly AO HUD. Thanks in advance.