Friday Siamendes

Belated thanks - all replies were accurate and helpful!

Thanks, good to know - I'll seek some earlier releases. My dread is that I hook up a shiny new SpaceNav, the same problems recur, and the old SpaceNav sits on the shelf smirking at me

Before I spend $$$ to replace my trusty (aging) Space Nav, I'd appreciate very simple feedback from other users: Have you encountered any recent (2017) Spacenav issues in any SL viewer, such as limited directional control, mid-session de-activation etc? "Mine is working fine" or "yes, I HAVE had recent problems" is all I need. Thank you!

Wow it’s great to get two helpful replies! I will check out those tutorials Janet. Heather, I’ve spent enough time struggling with Blender to appreciate your experience. I learned enough to realize that there’s a reason why Bentos are really hard! I’m more of a bourbon drinker but I needed more than one for sure, and I didn’t even try UV unwrapping and texturing. I also gained huge appreciation for what skilled makers have been able to do with the grotesque proportions of the SL default. “Wait, the eyes are HERE and the neck is WHERE?” As an animator I have had to explore other platforms such as iClone for facial animation. Their Faceware technology produces files that MIGHT be useful for SL, but as you know the skeletal vs morph based differences can be so challenging. Another promising direction is the advancing facial “depth” technology emerging in the micro-Kinect in the notch of the Iphone X. But will any of it ever translate to the special Bento rig? If you want to animate emotion that goes beyond sequencing the Bento-head packages (which are cool) do you adopt another platform? A final note: I’m seeking a face that’s neither a luscious-lipped Playmate nor a rock-jawed stud. If anyone wants to earn some actual dollars rigging a facial mesh that I already have as an object file, IM me! Yes I’ll gladly approve a Scotch budget. thanks again!

As I swim deeper into tutorials and manuals about Bento heads, I am more awed than ever by the artistry and skill that goes into these creations. I'm in the planning stage for animated movies that use Bento-enabled facial expression. Current heads meet many of my needs, but sliders can't quite achieve a particular shape I'm seeking for special applications of projected light. As an animator with crude modeling skills, I could conceivably sculpt and rig this shape on my own. Would that mean weeks of study and $$, or months and $$$$ (for Mudbox or Zbrush)? What about commissioning the shape from a 3D sculptor and paying another artist to Bento-ize it? Could a major creator easily produce a variant, which she could then sell in her store? I realize there may be many possibilities. Before I choose a path, I'm just seeking perspectives from this expert community. Thank you!

And a bit more information from Gamers Nexus. This video adds FRAPS to its comparison of the Radeon and Nvidia screen recording utilities. It clarifies up/downsides for FRAPS: FRAPS minimizes gameplay impact with a super-low-compression codec, but the downside is HUGE files that can challenge even SSD write speeds. ReLive and Share/Shadowplay, optimized by the GPU designers, minimize gameplay impact by putting most of the load on the GPU and producing much smaller files in H264. This has implications for editing and rendering too. Gamers Nexus channel

Hi Gadget, Radeon is stepping up as well with enhancements to its Crimson/ReLive feature, which records up to 2160p. I have the impression that a lot of SL machinima makers are not gamers (that's true in my case). Share and ReLive are marketed to the gaming community. Thanks for sharing your experience.

Wow - a sleek chic machine

I also used Fraps extensively without problems at 1080. It's encouraging that Fraps gives you good results at 1600. I have talked to a couple Fraps users who get jerkiness as they raise resolutions. System differences and SL settings can play a role too. And yes, as you say sim performance has to be good in the first place. My Mac recorders, like most screen recorders, don't offer the low-render settings that reduce the Fraps system load while recording (although the Fraps codec produces huge raw files). I could upgrade my old custom PC and return to Win/Fraps/Share, but only if the effort and $$$ deliver a high-res solution. There's always iClone/Daz and Blender, with no recording overlay to worry about - but I hate learning curves! Thank you Chic!

Have any SL machinima makers used Nvidia's GeForce Share feature (formerly Shadowplay) for recording? Share is designed to record high-motion gameplay at 4K with minimal impact on fps. Add-on software like Fraps, Movavi, Screenflick etc. can produce seriously jerky recording at resolutions above 1080. Better recording utilities could bolster SL's viability as an animation/movie platform. Please share any experiences with GeForce Share - thanks!

I am resuming my use of Avastar, and just exported an .anim file on a Priority 5 setting. I then imported to SL. When I play the anim, whether inworld or locally, it goes into a motionless T pose. When I click the Stop button - the animation actually starts to play. No stop animation command will stop it. If I load into a poseball, a similar thing happens: when I sit on the poseball, I get T-pose. When I Stand, the animation starts. With the same problem, I can't stop it. I'd appreciate ideas or any similar experience - thank you!

As all SL animators know, especially if they create machinima, the current SL avatar limits facial expressions to a few ghastly presets. I have messed with Avastar a bit and it looks like the Bento rig will offer enhancements. My question is for more practiced Bento testers: do you expect Bento to deliver significant facial advances? For example, can we animate a mesh face to speak with eye directions, timed blinks, expressions etc, comparable to Blender rigs, Poser or Daz3d? Any thoughts would be most appreciated!

Excellent Loki, you are so good with lighting and moving characters through these complex sets. World's bravest goonies!!!!

I don't mind that - I'm in this to get an updated animation tool. If coders can figure out how to earn something, great. But since I'm getting zero response anyway, it looks like a moot point.

Although Daz and other apps have many strong features, slat remains a unique tool with several features hard to find anywhere else, such as independent 3-axis curves for all body parts, blending, smoothing, frame adding etc. For that reason I'm interested in commissioning or collaborating with someone who can modify and update slat and qavimator source code, and combine some key slat and qavimator features into a new hybrid app. It's largely for my use and the community's, but the right combination might have commercial potential as well. Once bvh creators understand how these added features work they will appreciate the value. The slat creator's user name back in 2006 was "rod Martin," no longer discoverable in-or-outworld. Here's a link to the old forum posts on slat's genesis, with posts by the equally vanished "Vince Invincible" (nee "Vince Plunkett") who created Qavimator: http://forums-archive.secondlife.com/52/2e/83702/1.html The author is "housepainter" at the SourceForge download site. If anyone knows these creators, or if you're an experienced coder with an interest in this collaboration, let me know.