Medhue Simoni

You are really going to need to be more specific. Personally, I don't understand the problem. If it is right when you play an animation, then what exactly is the problem? What is exactly wrong, cause I don't see it?

Just a shot in the dark, but when I used to use 3ds Max, there was a feature that was labeled smooth, or something like that. When I first learned how to make meshes, I would use it occasionally to make the meshes smooth, but I didn't understand that it made things smoother by adding geometry. So, I'd check to see that you aren't doing something similar. Oh, and Blender kicks butt. I fricken love it. Once you learn it, it's pure joy to create with.

Don't get me wrong here, there are tons of issues everywhere, including the mesh uploader. That said, I don't have that many issues uploading meshes. I pretty much get exactly what I exported. Sure, if you are crazy about LI, or doing things that have to be 1 LI, and you are using mostly upload settings, then you aren't going to have much consistency. Other than that, like I said, I don't have many issues that were not the direct result of something wrong with the file. More than half of the meshes that I upload are either Avatars or clothing. So, technically, I should have more issues. The whole process is complex to begin with tho, and there are many areas to get wrong or for something to go wrong. Word to the wise, if you want consistency, then remove as many of the variables as possible. Meaning, always use your own physic shape, or make your own LODs, or make sure the size of the mesh is right and all modifiers are applied. If you have changed the mesh considerability, save the mesh as an OBJ files and reimport it into your software, to get rid of any weirdness in it's history or from modifiers, and you have a nice clean model. Sometimes, by saving it as an OBJ and reimporting the mesh into your 3D software, it becomes obvious what the problem was, and is more easily fixable. Just some thoughts.

That's too bad Cathy. I've had to rig quite a bit of clothing from the program. I never used it myself tho. Blender added something similar to their tool set, not as built out yet, but you can basically do the same thing. I've played with it a little. Heck, with a little python coding, I bet someone could replicate some of the best features in MD, or make something better, just cause you have all the other tools in Blender too.

I haven't used Firestorm in awhile, but you should have options to show the Advanced, and Developer options in the Perferences, probably on the last page. What it sounds like to me, is that the scripting is turning the AO off. When I had a full time coder, he always wanted to turn the AO off for this and that, until I told him not to ever do it. I told him this because in everycase, I could create the animation in a way that they AO did not need to be turned off.

I would try playing different animations with it, and see what happens. If I just take what you are saying here, it sounds like the bone length in the animation in the pose stand is different.

More information is needed. Does the animation to hold the umbrella animate the whole body, or just the upper body? It sounds like the whole AO is turning off tho, not really an animation problem but a scripting problem. It's hard to say tho. Does an animation trigger when the umbrella is opened?

I think that feature to choose what kind of animation is not for what you are thinking. It is to automatically make any animation be whatever animation state you want. So, you could take a stand animation, and make it a sit animation, or a walk, or whatever. So, if you choose something different than the stand, then it changes your animation to use the defaults. Just upload your animation using the stand, and make sure it plays as it should.

Sounds like a priority issue to me. I generally upload sit animations with priority 3.

Thanks Nalates! That was some very interesting information. Yeeehaw, 1 button keyframing. I'm in heaven. Setting the types of keyframing in the auto-keyframing text field is not something I've ever seen in a tutorial, but OMG is it handy.

Medhue Simoni wrote: Generally, I try not to switch between the 2, but I can understand why someone would want to. I might have some kind of solution for you tho, but I'm not positive about it, as I haven't actually tried it on purpose. One thing I always do now, is save all the animations that I create in the Action Editor. This makes it easy to store the animations, and to bring them into other projects. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I thought I noticed that when you save an animation, IK or FK, in the Action Editor, you can then place that animation onto an alternative IK or FK rig. So, you could use IK, save it in the Action Editor, then apply it to an FK rig, and do all you want with it. Ok, scratch that. I decided to do some tests. The way I described did not work. I did figure out a way, but it's not just a few clicks, and is somewhat obvious. I created an IK animation, and then saved it as a bvh, and then reimported it. Now, I can just use FK on it and clean it up or whatever. I understand this is not what you are asking, but this is likely how I would do what you want to do. Also, with arms, I would not use IK at all. You can get the same results, or actually better in work time, if you just use Blender's auto IK with the arms.

Generally, I try not to switch between the 2, but I can understand why someone would want to. I might have some kind of solution for you tho, but I'm not positive about it, as I haven't actually tried it on purpose. One thing I always do now, is save all the animations that I create in the Action Editor. This makes it easy to store the animations, and to bring them into other projects. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I thought I noticed that when you save an animation, IK or FK, in the Action Editor, you can then place that animation onto an alternative IK or FK rig. So, you could use IK, save it in the Action Editor, then apply it to an FK rig, and do all you want with it.

Your results are interesting. The problem with v2 sounds like its a scaling problem between the avatar you are using in Avastar, and the avatar you are using in SL. This should also be the case with anim files, at least I thought it was this way. Your results imply that the anim files ignore bone scaling, which is very interesting. I might have to do some tests, lol. Ultimately, the size of the animation files are important because your computer must download it to be able to view it. If you want an animation to play right away, then you should make it as small as possible, to make sure the information gets to everyone's computers quickly. There are cases, like dances, where you don't care as much that they have to preload, as you are going to see the animation over and over again. Plus, dances always have lots of data, and it's hard to get a dance file size small enough to instantly play. What FPS is needed for an animation depends entirely on how fast the avatar is moving. If movement are slow, and don't travel very far, then you can get away with very little fps. Dances have very fast, jerky movements, and they need as many frames as possible to make the movements look smooth and natural. These are just my thoughts on animation optimization. The golden rules are really only what works for you. Knowledge is power tho, lol.

The uploader has issues, but optimization is really not that big of an issue. The reason why so many people do have problems is because they try to upload everything at 30fps. Doing this to all animations will result in the uploader dropping frames that don't show enough movement. In most cases, simply lowering your frame rate will result in bigger changes between keyframes. How you can do this in Blender, is to lower your FPS, then goto your dopesheet. In the dopesheet, select all the keyframe, left click on the first frame, then press s to scale the animation back to the proper speed, and left click when you are done.

Try using Linear Interpolation. What is going on is that Poser automatically rounds off every keyframe, and this is because of the Interpolation between keyframes. I almost never switch to Linear, unless the animation requires it. In most cases, simply adding more keyframes to an interpolation that is Bezier(meaning rounded) will fix the issue.

Hmmm, I caught the video a few days ago when he posted it on Youtube. I soooo wish I had known this before I did my snakes, as it would have make it easy to do each snake's skin, and mix and match them. Here is his video. Sorry, I tried to make this video show here, but it keeps giving me a service error. I'll try again later, but there is the link to the video.

Polenth Yue wrote: My experience is malls or small side shops don't do much unless they're in an area that's fun to explore. I've never had much luck with basic malls, but I do sell stuff from a little shop in a hidden cave behind a secret door. When I tried various selling events, one with everyone in a plain grid pattern didn't sell anything, but Fantasy Faire with its decorative sims meant a lot of sales. So I ignore malls, unless they have shops integrated into a nicely built sim. Which is pretty much never, as they almost always put them away from the main sim areas and have a very generic build. It shouldn't surprise anyone, as one reason for shopping in-world rather than on the marketplace is for the experience. There's not much of an experience in a featureless series of shops. But apparently this does surprise mall designers. I think it might depend on the products and the mall. My experience is similar to yours. What I find to be better, are places that have events or are rpgs, where my products are very relevant to whatever they are doing. This is why I have affiliate vendors, for those places to get commission off my products and they supply relevant products to their community.

Tamara Artis wrote: I am still lets say a baby seller and just want to say its a great idea for the thread!, I hope to find a lot of useful information. Thanks Tamara! The only difference between a "baby seller" and a grand merchants is time, ambition, and knowledge. Good luck with your business!

Figured I'd start a thread where merchants can post tips to other merchants on things that work for them. When shoppers have better and better experiences, we all benefit. One way for shoppers to have a better experience, is for them to be able to find products. On that note, I'll post my tip. Recently, I was browsing thru my items in my Manage Listings page on the Marketplace. I noticed that almost all my AOs were rated M. They are AOs, and there's no reason for them to be M. I knew this before, but was just too lazy to want to fight with LL's naughty word BS. After spending an hour or so trying to figure out the word that was causing the listings to be rated M, I figured out it was "AOs" that was the problem. How crazy dumb is that? Since I made the changes, sales have improved considerably. Yes, I know it is a pain to try and figure out the dumb naughty word, but it can have a big impact on your sales. 1 way to figure out the trouble word in a quicker way, is to first check each section that could be the problem. For instance, LL will say it is in your description, but it could also be in your keywords. So, make sure you test each area separately. I usually just copy my keywords into a notepad, and then delete them from the listing. Then I update the listing and see and the G rating held or not. If the listing is still M, then I replace the keywords, and then copy the whole description to the notepad. Then I delete the whole description, and update the listing. Generally, 1 of those 2 exercises fixes the rating, but now you have to figure out the word. For the description, you just have to delete whole sections of the description, and keep narrowing down until you find the offending word. What's your tip?

The best desktop recorder out there for the moment is Nvidia's new ShadowPlay feature in the GForce Experience. Unlike other desktop recorders, it won't slow your whole computer down while recording. It is made to be able to record games. Most people don't even know about it, but I've used it and it is many times better than any other recorder. It will only export to mp4, I think, but the added frame rate is well worth the format restriction. So, if you have an Nvidia video card that is GTX650 or higher, I think, then you'll be able to install Geforce Experience and use the ShadowPlay feature.

Hence the great thing about SL. You didn't need to be a professional 3D artist, which led to people like myself and others to learn. SL's free market allowed people like myself to engage with it and learn what the market wanted and needed. What I have learned from it all, is that no matter what the level, there is always a market for you. Not everyone wants or needs Motion capture, or a 3D model made in Blender. Price is always a consideration. My MP store is a reflection of that. I have products in there from when I started, up until 1 from a week ago. They all have a place in the market. People who build wasteful models, will eventually learn. The market will drive them to learn, or adjust. It won't happen overnight, but the pressures are constantly there. For those that don't take their business as seriously, they likely won't learn as fast, as they have little interest. Those that want to really make a successful business out of it all, will constantly be learning and adjusting. In a free market, there will always be newbies, and less knowledgable people entering the market, so it is easy to point at this or that and say it is bad. The question is really what creates the best results, and I would contend that only the free market can do that.

Allow me to tell a quick story about Professionals, which just happened to me recently. My client wants to make a game which takes place in the Grand Canyon. For some reason, I've become the companie's goto guy for advice about finding game assets online. Personally tho, I'd rather they just use the mesh modelers that I've suggested, at least for most items. The CEO starts sending me links to Grand Canyons on TurboSquid. They all look fairly nice. He likes 1 more than the others, and asks me what I think. I tell him I'm worried about scale. He buys it, and sends it to me. It's fricken huge. When I place a human by the river, you can actually see the pixels in the texturing. So, I find 1 on turbosquid that has closed ups of some of the cliffs and can tell the texturing will work for them. They then ask me if I'll set up a Unity scene so that they can walk around in it and see if it will work. I agree to do this because I figured it would only take me an hour or 2, max. I bring the Professional approved model into Blender, just to look at it, and OMG. The listing on turbosquid did not show the total polygon count. The model was a mess, with little to know thought process. Just planes with thousands of vertices. Each side of a mountain a different plane. It was ridiculous. It took me more time to correct the models, than it would have taken me to make the models. I never even thought I'd be touching them, let alone correcting them. I sent the CEO what he wanted the next day, but I charged them for a full days work. If they would have just had me, or a more enthusiastic modeler to make it, it would have taken me a few days, and less for others probably, but the company would have gotten something that works a thousands times better and more efficient. The company would have probably ended up paying the same amount too. My point is, that Professional is not as objective as you would think, especially for 3D assets.

Vivienne Schell wrote: Medhue, doo you really wanna provoke me? OK! You are way too much part of the problem to be able to offer any reasonable tthought on the topic. Do your homework and stop playing the 3D pro. No one using Blender on your level (which you display in your store) is a pro. And please don´t yell at me again, or I´ll go very nasty. :matte-motes-evil: I'm part of the problem? No offense, but that's a bit crazy. Do my homework? I think that is all I ever do. As far as Pro or not, I'll let my customers and clients decide on that. I'm not 1 for labels. As it is tho, my clients and customers are generally pretty happy. That's obvious, or they would not keep asking me to do work for them. Even more today, I'm still turning down more jobs than I take on. See, SL holds a special place in my heart because this is very much where I started. Before SL, I had only played with the CryEngine and made some MODs. Heck, even with mesh, although I knew the basics of creating mesh, I really didn't sit down and start to learn the ins and outs until LL anounced that mesh was coming. I was even lucky enough to have a plot right next to Drongle on the beta grid during mesh development. I'm quite happy to have learned from people like Drongle, Chosen, Gaia and others here in SL. What I love to see, is SL creators branch out and show the 3D industry that we are as good or better than "Professional" 3D artists. Recently, I got Watch Dogs. Yeah, the animations are decent, and there are tons of them, but none of them have any facial animation at all. You walk around in the game seeing all this great animation, but the people's faces are almost frozen. Is that "Professional"? You'll also see that most of the characters in the game have major rigging issues. Is that "Professional"? Watch Dogs was created by Ubisoft, and they are easily 1 of the best game companies to ever exist.

That is a very interesting idea. I'm not sure LL is considering anything like this. It's things like this that make me wonder why we aren't part of the creation process now, or very soon. At the very least, LL should start having meetings with us. Although I am optimistic, I'm also pretty hard on LL, and seen them completely mess up what could have been promising. Bugs are really what drives me crazy, and LL's unwillingness to fix them, especially when they involve creation. If they take the same attitude with the new world, which is likely because of the complexities, then all bets are off.

Sounds to me like you just despise anyone that has gone beyond pushing some prims together. It would be impossible for someone that has no idea how to create anything, to understand why the new world is a good idea. From a creator's standpoint, while SL is cool, it is littered with bugs. It's almost impossible to truly create something good with all these bugs and limitations. I'm excited to have something better coming. As far as Unity, how can you comment on it at all? Have you made anything for Unity? Have you made a game with Unity? Have you even opened the editor? Well, I have, and I've helped to develop some complex games in it. Most of my work, outside of SL, is for Unity products or Unity developers. How would you know if a game you played was created with Unity? You would not know at all. With 1 button, any Unity developer can export their game to work on any game platform possible, except Nintendo. Just this past monday I had to deliver a demo for a small game company, and they wanted me to build it for Windows, Mac, Xbox One, and PS4. I had to click the build button 4 times. OMG, that was tough(sarcasm). Unity has been growing at a rapid rate since it was first launched. It's marketplace is quickly rivaling SL's. The games don't need to be a Commercial success. They only need to make a profit. When your whole develop team is 3 people, you don't need to make much. Even 20k downloads for a $10 game is more than enough for a small team. This same concept works in SL too. I'm 1 guy, so I don't need to make a million dollars to pay for my whole studio. The whole studio is just me. That said, Unity can't be SL, or anything like the new world that LL is making. They are 2 different animals. Unity is strictly a game engine. Making it into a virtual world would be akin to Blue Mars, which tried to use the CryEngine. The good part tho, is that it sounds like both Unity and the new world will be able to use the same products. So, if I make something for Unity, I'll also be able to sell it in the new world. Although I feel for the IMVU creators, the platform is crap. Their whole system is crap. IMVU and SL are hardly even comparable. Most of the creators there are somewhat blinded by their devotion to the platform. They don't have experience with any other platform, so they don't know how badly they are being screwed. Everything that is made in IMVU has to be derived from an original IMVU product, and automatically comes with a hefty tax. There is no scripting, as far as I know. Everything fits into categories of products. They can only make a set number of things. There is no innovation, as it isn't possible. Personally, I think you, like many others, are stuck on the whole Creator-centric notion. I think everyone is a creator. If they don't know it, chances are they just haven't tried yet. Just like how people started new careers in SL, people will do the same in the new world. Things they never thought they'd be doing, will now be their new passion. I don't see Creator-centric as only being Blender and Maya gurus. Will the new world have this, that, and whatever? Will they have inworld tools? Will there be prims? These are all things that we don't know about, yet you are going to speculate and then use those speculations as the core of your arguments. What is even more funny, is using those speculations against people who do understand creating 3d content, not just for SL, but any platform.