Medhue Simoni

Ren Toxx wrote: Medhue Simoni wrote: [...] So, I'm just kind of wondering. How many think this is a good idea? Is it worth it? Maybe you should ask the creators of the EBody. While perhaps not exactly the same idea, it sounds close enough. Well, that's kind of the opposite of what I'm talking about, as far as mesh avatars. My thought is to simplify things. Have efficient avatars, that you just wear and go. Avatars that are easy to find clothing that fits. Something that works seemlessly with existing skin textures, and no need to match anything. Heck, maybe I'm wrong tho. Maybe women enjoy all those options and playing around with their avatar. I'm a guy, so I could very well be thinking about this all wrong. If hands and feet are the problem, I could easily create new hands and feet, and match them to fit the skin textures. Oh, and technically, with the testing I've done, I don't see any need to alpha out parts of the mesh body, because the weights can be so precise, that there is no need to hide any skin. I really don't understand why those mesh bodies have all those alpha options, as they should work exactly the same as what I tested. Bad weights are the only reason to have those alphas. That wouldn't be a problem with clothing made for these avatars I'm talking about, cause the clothing creators would be getting those weights directly from me, or whomever else might make these avatars. Plus, with these mesh bodies, they don't take advantage of the extra materials that meshes have, and this is because the SL heads don't have theses features. So, with a full mesh avatar, your skin can look many times better, and eyes.

I'm sure that some people have noticed, that a fitted mesh body works much better with clothing rigged for them, than the SL default avatar. That said, there are many issues with fitted mesh bodies. The reason clothing fits better on a fitted mesh body, is because both the bodies and the clothing are using the fitted mesh system, hence they are morphing the same way. What I am proposing, is taking your custom SL default avatar, that you adjusted the sliders for the head to look the way you want, and turning that SL avatar into a fitted mesh avatar. So, it is still the SL avatar, but mesh. You can still use all the same textures and skins for them. The downside is that you won't have SL facial expressions anymore, but you will have working eyes, with eyelids and blinking, and a working jaw. Oh, and of course, you won't be able to use most of the default clothing, or masks. The body would be the default size initially tho, and you would need to customize that when you get the mesh avatar. Doing the avatar this way tho, will make it so clothing will fit about as perfect for almost any size, as possible. Again, this works because both the mesh body and the mesh clothing are using the exact same morphing system, so they can match exactly, unlike the SL default and fitted mesh. The real issue is cost. The time to create all these mesh avatars would be significant, but I really do think it is possible to get that cost down to a range that most could easily swallow. Let's imagine the cost to MESH YOUR AVATAR was only 2k lindens. How many do you think would MESH THEIR AVATAR? For clothing creators, it would be many times simpler to rig their clothing, and they'd only be rigging for 1 size, but it would fit every size. I already sell weights for mesh clothing, and I could do the same for these avatars. So, I'm just kind of wondering. How many think this is a good idea? Is it worth it?

Miltades wrote: Hi Medhu, I should have been a little clearer. I meant that you can no longer weight to eye bones in the same manner you do for other bones. Doing so causes the same effect that fitted mesh did when it first arrived, where the weighted area stretches across the sim. Possibly, you overheard something about using animated attachment bones for the eyes, or for blinking. I know people(meaning LL and Machinimatrix) are working on problems with attachement bones, but I have never touched them, as I've never needed to. There has been issues with attachement bones and compatiblity between LL's viewer and Firestorms viewer for years now, and as far as I know, there still are.

Well, weighting to eye bones is done the same way as any other bone. There is no special way. Like I said, I always use and make mesh eye for every single avatar, human or not, and have never heard anyone complain about them. They just work. I can't explain why this rumor persists, other than some creator isn't knowledgable about doing this, did it wrong, and now thinks it's impossible. I not only make mesh human avatars, but also mesh animals, like a cobra, and I'm working on a bat right now. I have to vastly change the SL skeleton to do this, and they have working and blinking eyes. They are also extremely efficient in every way, compared to 99% of the avatars currently walking around SL.

To be completely honest tho Summer, there is not much you can do, besides find a clothing creator that makes clothing that fits you better. The way mesh clothing works, just doesn't allow you, nor the creators to make them fit people, outside of a small range of people that are closer to the default shape. It's really not the creator's fault, but LL's. Linden Lab had plenty of ways to give us a system to acurately fit clothing to avatars, but instead LL didn't think it was important enough, and just eventually gave us this halfa$$ed fitted mesh system, which is almost useless. All that said, many people, especially the team at Machinimatrix, are working on better solutions, or ways to fit them with LL's fitted mesh system. All solutions tho, take alot of work to be good, and you should really appreciate those merchants that go the extra mile. I honestly feel for all clothing creators, and consumers tho, cause it's quite a mess, which is why I do what I can to help. 1 solution, that I've been contemplating and testing, is selling, or giving away, mesh bodies. With a mesh body, all the sliders match up with the mesh clothing, unlike the SL default body. They do this because they are both using the fitted mesh system. The real SL default avatar doesn't really use the fitted mesh system, and because they don't match perfect, it is nearly impossible to get even close. Like I said tho, with a mesh body, the body and the clothing can match, cause they both morph the same way. There are 2 problems that keep everyone from just using a mesh body. 1) Weights for fitted mesh between creators can be vastly different, and everyone would have to accept 1 general set of weights to match their clothing to. 2) Only having a mesh body, but still using the Default SL head, results in lines where the 2 parts meet, because of how the light shines on those 2 surfaces. To me, the only real solution to the clothing problem, working with what we have, is for everyone to get full mesh avatars, and all clothing creator to use 1 source of weights to match to. The only downside to this, would be the loss of facial expressions. Making the avatars mouth move tho, is actually pretty easy, and we do have an extra bone in the skeleton to do this. I've been considering making custom mesh avatar for people, as a service. For example, using the default SL avatar, the user could send me their xml file of their shape they created using the sliders in SL. I could then take that avatar shape, head and all, and make it into a working mesh avatar for SL, with working eyes, blinking and a working mouth. I could then sell a set of weight for clothing creators to use to fit their clothing to these mesh avatars. It would be much simpler for clothing creators than what they have to do now, and the clothing would match almost as perfectly as possible. Again tho, this would take alot to get everyone to accept this system, and use the weights that I or someone else creates for them. I'm still not sure if I want, or have the time to do all this, but if anyone wants to take the ball and run, go right ahead. It's a sound theory, and there are no holes in it. If some creators want to help me, or want me to help them, I'd be happy to.

There are hands and feet bones in the SL rig, but there are no finger bones. You have a set list of hand poses you can choose from. The hand animations are really more like Shape Keys in Blender, but we can't make our own. The hand types are chosen when you upload the animation.

Miltades wrote: Hey Medhue, From the Firestorm crew. You can no longer rig to eye bones without them going totally spazzy. Unless you use an older viewer, wehich I beleive they are phasing out. So rigging and weigthing makes eyelids go all over the map. I am currently using my jaw bone, for, my lower jaw. If I wasn't, that would have been my go to, but as it is, I like showing off my pearly whites lol. The reason I'm not too interested in a script is partially how my avatar is made (the eyelashes are part of the body as a whole) and partially because I don't think it looks as nice, especially on busier or heavier sims. Lag makes lots of things go, ew. I read something from, years back mentioning 'a' bones. or 'a' attachments. Are these still a thing? And if you're still getting your eye lids rigged and weighted and working. Could you tell me how and what viewer you are using? Cheers x Sorry, I've been ridiculously busy the last few weeks. I ALWAYS rig mesh eyes to avatars, because mesh has materials and eye can look shiny, like they are supposed to. I've never had a problem with them. As far as viewers, I ALWAYS use the SL viewer to test my items. That said, most of the people I do work for, use the FS viewer, and I've never had an issue. I actually just made an avatar for a FS user, with rigged eyes, and she hasn't had any issues. There is nothing special to rigging eyes. Eyelids I use a script to make the eyelids go visible, or invisible. Yeah, script can cripple a sim, but a simple script isn't going to cause much lag, and if the sim is laggy, it's not going to be because people are using eyelid scripts. The problem of lag caused by scripts have much more to do with particle system and complex scripts. I think every avatar should be allow a small amount of script, for things like simple gesture, animations, and avatar related things.

You use your materials to highlight those verts that use that material, then you apply the right texture to those verts in the UV window.

Hmmmmm..... What? Where did you hear that you shouldn't rig to eye bones? Why don't you want to use a script? What I have done, and I think works very well, is I make a separate eye lid, and then I use a script to turn the visibility of that mesh on and off. I also use the skull bone as a jaw bone, but if you aren't doing this, then you could use the skull bone to make your character blink.

Alwin Alcott wrote: all is explained at the Sansara website Links please!

I have 2 videos on rigging using Avastar. I also sell a set of weighted bodysuits to make rigging and weight painting easier.

ZoeTick wrote: I think this LL initiative should be boycotted. Stay away from the Residents' celebrations, LL. Like you have before. Although I was as shocked and dismayed by LL's past history with the event, as anyone in SL, I still think we should all be open minded with LL. Crazy isn't it, that the birthday people could actually insult the people throwing a party for them. I mean, how uncool is that? All that said, I don't think Lindens are evil, and with every new CEO, we get a different approach. I think everyone knows I'm not some fanboy of LL, but if we want things to get better, then that has to involve LL. I'm sure the organizer of the resident event and the Lindens are sane enough to work together. It could be very good marketing for SL, which helps all of us. I just hope that they actually make this a big deal and record it all for Youtube and such.

I wasn't going to post this here, but it is a big part of getting a good workflow going to create with. The default layouts in Blender are not always the best to use, and you can make your creative life much easier by customizing your own layouts.

Can you give a link to this feed you are talking about. I'm not much of a socialite and have little knowledge of things going on in SL, outside of merchant, and creation related topics. It goes to show you how much LL needs to communicate more with the residents. I actually went to the meet up last week, expecting to see something more substantial than what I did see there. That said, it's a step forward in relationships between Lindens and residents. I really didn't know what to expect at the meet up, but it disappointed me because it very much resembled meet ups of the past. Supposedly, you are an instant celeb just because you have a Linden last name. I'm not at all interested in meeting any Lindens unless it is to discuss issues or make plans. I don't see how these celeb style meet ups serve any purpose, other than to stroke the egos of overly paid people. I would think that the platform, and it's residents are past the Linden celeb stage. I was the first day I got here. lol

dewisilures wrote: I think everyone was surprised Medhue as LL pulled their support for the SLB back in 2012. Now they want to horn in on the Resident run event in direct conflict with the Resident's planned music fest. Perhaps LL should have tried to contact them to see if they wanted to work together, again. Well, there is no doubt that the Rodvik era was a disaster, in terms of the relationship between LL and the residents. I remember the fiasco with SLB very well, and it was ridiculous how the organisors were treated. In marketing terms, LL totally lost site of what was in their best interest. A well done, and well invested yearly celebration could be the most efficient use of their marketing budget, yet nobody at LL was economically literate to even understand the basics of good marketing, or business. It was a HUGE slap in the face to all the residents of SL, especially considering how unaffordable LL's platform is. They are dang lucky that we all love SL as much as we do. Now, I have no idea what the plans are of any of the parties involved, but I would think that Ebbe's LL is a little more attentive to the wants and needs of the community. Actually, it would be tough to imagine a worst situation than what the Rodvik era created. Whatever does happen, I hope that everyone remains open minded to a better relationship, so that we can all move forward and help each, as it should be.

You forget the Rating and Review system.

I'm surprised nobody else has posted this here, but it seems like a topic that should reach as many people as possible. LL is hosting a music event, and are auditioning musicians to perform for it. There is not much time to sign up and audition, and the time period for auditions is very small. I'm not a musician, but I want to see a good show that displays the vast range that is the SL community. Personally, I think this is the best idea that LL has had in a long time, so I want to promote it as much as possible. If you are a musician, and you need a guitar for the show, I will give any musicians, picked to play at the music festival, a free mesh guitar, with animations, that I made not long ago. You just have to ask me, or you can purchase it on the marketplace. Here is what LL said in their blog post: "Second Life is turning 12 this June, and we’re planning a few extra special ways to help commemorate a dozen amazing years with our Residents! You’ll have to stay tuned to this blog and our social media pages for all the exciting things as they roll out, but today we’re announcing auditions for … (drum roll, please) … the Second Life Music Fest - sponsored by Linden Lab - a two day music-extravaganza inworld to celebrate! Second Life is full of talented musicians, and we’re hoping to draw out all you guitarists, bassists, drummers, singers, tambourine shakers and other music makers to come audition for the festival. All genres are welcome! The Second Life Music Fest is an opportunity to perform at one of the biggest celebrations in Second Life, and it’s a paid gig! To sign up for an audition, please complete and submit the submission form no later than 05/20/2015. While we encourage everyone to sign up, it is not a commitment on your part and does not guarantee a spot at the auditions. We will review all submissions and extend audition invitations via email to the designated contact. Each invited act will have a short audition time (5 minutes max) to play and leave an impression on a panel of judges made up of Lindens and Residents. This panel will select acts to be invited to perform at the Second Life Music Fest. Upon completion of a half hour slot at the festival, the designated contact for each act will be eligible for payment (subject to Linden’s terms and conditions). All Residents are welcome to participate in the auditions as audience members. For those who are interested, the auditions will be held at the Lavender Field on the following dates and times: May 22nd noon - 2pm (SLT) May 23rd 6pm - 8pm (SLT) It should be a few days of great music and good times, and we can’t wait to see and hear some of the best musical talent there is, and spend some time rocking out inworld!" by Xiola Linden

I'm just embedding the video.

I thought since Blend Shapes / Morphs / Shape Keys have been talked about in the forums a little, and they are used in the SL avatar, as well as in the tools we use to create things for SL, that it would be good to do a tutorial on them. You can also use them on other popular game engines, and I suspect we'll be using them in the new LL world. With Machinimatrix's new tools for Blender, Shape Keys can now easily be used to quickly create all your Standard sizes, for those that still include those in their outfit packages. Here is my little intro tutorial into Shape Keys:

I thought since Blend Shapes / Morphs / Shape Keys have been talked about in the forums a little, and they are used in the SL avatar, as well as in the tools we use to create things for SL, that it would be good to do a tutorial on them. You can also use them on other popular game engines, and I suspect we'll be using them in the new LL world. With Machinimatrix's new tools for Blender, Shape Keys can now easily be used to quickly create all your Standard sizes, for those that still include those in their outfit packages. Here is my little intro tutorial into Shape Keys:

Well, I see that LL is offering a special if you have over 50 marketplace items and switch over to VMM. It's nice that LL is offering as incentive, but did it occur to LL that, if a merchant has over 50 items on the marketplace, they liking already pay for a premium membership. If they do not, then they will just cancel the membership after your free period. Like I said before, to get enough people with big inventories to switch over and test things for LL, then LL should insure them against any losses for doing so. If you are in anyway confident enough to put this stuff out to the public to test, LIVE, then you should not be afraid to insure against their losses. Plus, LL has access to the data of how much those merchants sell. I'm pretty positive, that most merchants with big inventories, sell pretty consistent numbers almost every week. Plus, you could only insure them for more than a set % change. LL could set that insurance at maybe 20%. So, if that big merchant switched, and because of issues directly related to that switch, they lost more than 20% on a give week, or month, LL would pay the difference. And.... they would be invites to be a part of it, not an open process. Just my thoughts.

LlazarusLlong wrote: Next on the list is the establishment of a BUYERS forum in Commerce. Actually, what we need is a safe place to advertising new products, like all 3D marketplaces have in their forums.

Celestiall Nightfire wrote: Medhue Simoni wrote: Well, I'm not really a proponent of the whole VR headset thing. Me either. I've no interest in wearing a head attachment. Hell, I don't even like wearing my glasses, and take them off when using the computer. Imagine Microsofts HoloLens with something like SL tho. Now, I would not mind having to wear a pair of glasses, if I can see virtual things in real life. Imagine seeing all your SL friend's avatars in your living room, or just project SL onto your whole wall. For creators, or even sim designers, it would be amazing to work on the objects right there infront of you. Checkout this presentation at Build: The youtube link doesn't seem to be working, even tho it send you to the video. so I'll just post the url too. https://youtu.be/XLljp8CVpKg

Well, I'm not really a proponent of the whole VR headset thing. Microsoft just put out holograms, and I think that is a better, more mainstream type of technology. It brings the virtual into reality. Beyond that stuff, HiFi is a little in the same boat as VR Headsets. They need more than just your hand, or a mouse and keyboard and monitor. Virtual worlds like SL can still easily be a hit, and is still a unique experience from other options. LL still has a chance to be somewhat more mainstream, but if I were them, I would not go out of my way to be too compatible with any of these device oriented things. I'd stick to a formula that works, which is full customization of the avatar, and then concentrated on making a platform suited for easy game creation.

To me, just like I have talked about LL's new world and SL, the key is the avatar. Other than getting avatars to work with their devices, HiFi has done nothing to standardize a default avatar that users can morphs into the actual avatar they want. I think they are banking on the thought that so many people will make avatars that people will have variety. If this is what they are thinking, it will serioiusly slow adoption. Yes, creator could create all the blend shapes to morph the avatar but what about clothing variations? 1 creator could never create enough to make any 1 avatar with enough variations. It is strictly because we are all creating for 1 avatar that the SL avatar has such a wide range. There is some talk about standardizing the avatar, but they don't have 1 default yet, and there is no interface to even use those blend shapes. The other side of the battle is getting enough users to love their avatars enough, and use the other features unique to HiFi. Few people will want to use those feature if they don't even have a unique avatar that they love. If they do get an avatar that people can adjust to their liking, then people might be engaged enough to use those other features. The problem with those other features tho, is that they can't track fast enough or well enough to work well, whether 3D camera or high def webcam. Even the best 1's don't work all that well. So, HiFi intended uses and features will be reliant of that technology advancing or code to keep your avatar from freezing unnaturally, or filling in the gaps in data to look smooth. Again, just my thoughts.