Ricky Shaftoe

Is there an animation expert on LL's staff who I contact with my question about Cascadeur?

So @rasterscan, I need both the app and the extension? @Lewis Luminos Bigmoe, up-thread, mentioned something called ShareX. Google says he's right -- it can upload directly to Imgur. No idea how it would work within SL. Gyazo does sound easy to use.

Thanks. I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one who prefers Imgur. Eddy, your link answers my question -- I guess I'd want the app, not the Chrome extension. I'm not sure I want another app. Thanks again!

I'm trying to make a basic test still pose with Cascadeur, for import into Second Life. With the help of the Cascadeur Discord, I'm now able to rig the default SL model (from the Wiki) in Cascadeur. Discord told me to turn off rig/auto-pose, so the model stays in the T-pose after I rig it. I have to cut out a lot of unused joints to export using the free version of Cascadeur, but I was able to export the basic armature as an .FBX file to Blender, and from there as a .BVH file to SL. But when I upload to SL, my avatar immediately gets turned into a hideous monster, with distorted limbs and torso. I suspect I have not named the joints correctly. In fact, I had to rename the base joint to "hip" to get SL to recognize the animation at all. I'm not sure how to rename the rest of the joints. Would anyone know? This was never an issue in Poser. I've tried using Avastar's Avatar Workbench model as a basis, but I get the same distored upload when I try that. I'm willing to buy Cascadeur, as I think it's a great animation tool, but only if I can get a working prototype going. So for now, I'd like to test with the simple "classic" avatar, as that does have fewer than the 300-joint max for Cascadeur's free version. Can anyone help?

I'm back in SL after a break, and everyone is suddenly using this Gyazo thing. I've signed up, but it's now asking me whether I want a Windows app or a Chrome extension. Which do I want for SL? Chrome is my default browser. Also, I'm curious -- why Gyazo and not, say, imgur? Finally: are there any downsides to Gyazo? Is it a security risk? I have crashed once or twice when following someone's link to a Gyazo image. Thanks!

@Aglaia I've tried and failed to export the Avatar Workbench mesh and rig into Cascadeur. I get the mesh and bones into Cascadeur okay, but when I use the rig wizard, invariably it converts it into an A-pose. I can't seem to rotate the shoulder joints to turn it back into a T-pose, nor do I see "dials" or other numbers that I could input to fix this. If I try using the thing I"ve rigged, when I upload in SL, I get a distorted avatar. I've asked for help at both the Avastar and Cascadeur discords; no luck. Any suggestions? I don't need anything fancy. I just want a simple mesh with a T-pose that is compatible with SL.

I've managed to reduce the mismatch somewhat, thanks to some of the comments here. Thanks! This episode now has me looking at Lelutka heads to go with my Signature Geralt body. I posted a separate thread seeking advice on what skins to use with that combination of head and body. Thanks again for the help!

Hi all, I posted here recently about a mismatch between my Catwa head and my Signature Geralt body. I've fixed that to some extent, but I'm still thinking I might want to make the switch to a Lelutka EvoX head. If I do so, I gather I'd want an EVox "head skin" and EVox "body skin" from the same manufacturer, yes? Can anyone suggest a compatible skin manufacturer? I know the Geralt body is not as popular as Gianni (which I also own), but I prefer the Geralt.

Thanks. Okay, next time I'm on, I'll take a photo. And yeah, I'll check for materials shine. Good suggestion!

Hi all, I'm trying on a new head (demo Leluka Eon etc) and body (purchased a Belleza Jake), together with a demo head skin and body "applier" (skin?) from Not Found. I think I've chosen the same skin tone for the body and head skin from Not Found, plus a neck fade. The fade does work, but the head always looks a little darker than the body. Is this intentional? Am I misunderstanding something? I've tried messing with the button next to the BOM button on the Belleza HUD, but it doesn't seem to solve this. It's all rather confusing! Thanks!

Oh, I did not know about the NE corner of each Blake Sea region. I'll look for that. If I can re-rez, then yeah, getting a fresh boat seems like a good idea anyway. Thanks. I think it's a beautiful boat! Loved your screenshot. Nice spinnaker. Oh cool, maybe I'll look for that HUD. And good to know I can't capsize, lol. Thanks.

Hi all, After a long haitus, I've gotten back into sailing in SL. I sail in RL, and I used to sail a Tako (?) or some such in SL. Now I have a new Trudeau One. Loving it, and haven't capsized yet, but have some questions: 1. I don't seem to understand how to moor and pack up my boat. When I moor, the sails furl, and the boat becomes a non-physical object -- and usually is immediately sent to my Lost & Found. Maybe I need to more somewhere else? 2. Once this happens, I find I'm unable to re-rez the boat. I gather there are only a limited number of rez points. This often ruins a trip -- I'll sail across a bunch of sims, hop out to check out an island, and boom, I have to go back to where I started. Today I started at the Nantucket Yacht Club, sailed a long way, stopped at an interesting island with people fishing, and then had to TP back to where I started. 3. What do the black and white needles on the HUD mean? I'm pretty sure black means boat speed in knots; what's the white arrow mean? 4.. The little black triangle means wind direction, yes? I find it easier to use that than to try to look up at the top of the mast. 5. What do the numbers on the simpler info HUD mean? One seems to be boat speed, and one depth, but I'm not sure about the others. 6. I dimly recall racing at the Nantucket Yacht Club, but I can't remember how to "see" the race course. Is there a guide to racing somewhere? Thanks!

Many thanks, @Henri Beauchamp! I'll check out the documentation, the preferences menu, and the forums, as you suggest.

That post was helpful, thanks. Reciprocity makes sense to me. So if I don't want to see others' crosshairs, and I don't want them ever to see mine, is it enough just to disable both lookat checkboxes in the Advanced menu? (I think by default they are disabled, yes?) I just don't ever want anyone to see where I'm looking, and I'm not interested in seeing where others are looking either -- I find it distracting. So when I click "replace outfit," the viewer will add the items in the chosen folder -- and remove only clothing and attachments that I"m wearing? It won't change my mesh body or head or shape or skin? Also, if I move stuff into new "outfits" folders, will that mess up my "outfits" if I choose to return to Firestorm later? Finally, I noticed some of my clothes are in italics in the viewer. Does that mean they're part of a V2 outfit? Finally, thanks for the frame-limiting feature. I'll definitely try that. Your viewer is very sleek! Well done.

Thanks for all the helpful replies! Henri, I tried your viewer and love it so far. Three questions: (1) I see I can show my own lookat data. But can I prevent transmission of my lookat data to others? I don't like people to know where I'm looking, lol. Not that I ever look anywhere inappropriate! (2) are "outfits" supported? I see italicized items in my inventory that look like outfit links, but I don't see a way just to pick one of my Firestorm outfits and wear it in one lazy click. I suppose I'd need to organize my outfits into a folder, then "wear" or "add" the folder? (3) is there a way to customize buttons I see on the screen? I also note that your viewer organizes my inventory differently, but I could get used to that. In some ways, I like it; it's showing me how redundant some of my folders are. And your viewer did not crash me. FWIW, my crashes in Firestorm seem to be video-card crashes. I'll get a gray screen that may turn black, and I may hear audio for a bit before I get dumped to the desktop. Occasionally the entire system freezes and I have to reboot. As I mentioned, my card is an aging nVidia GTX 980 with only 4GB VRAM. I have 12G system RAM, so that may be an issue too, but it "feels" like video-card troubles. I also hear fans spin up before crashes sometimes, but I'm not sure that's always the issue. I play in a finished attic, so it can be a bit warm up here. Maybe water-cooled GPU and CPU are in my future?

Thanks for this extremely helpful post! I was indeed able to get the Avatar Workbench avi into Cascadeur. I used the Quick Rig feature to map the model's bones into Cascadeur. (I seemed to have no choice but to do this?) That worked okay, but the rigged model is hard to manipulate. For one thing, some joints won't rotate, even though they should -- e.g., shoulders, knees. More worrisome, the rig doesn't impose many joint-movement constraints, so it's easy to have impossible elbow bends, at least for me. Should I try fixing this in Cascadeur? I would have thought the Blender rig already imposed joint constraints? Finally, the opening frame had to be a T pose when I worked in Poser; has that changed? The Avalab pose is an A pose. I'm not sure how to adjust it to become a T pose. I actually prefer to use a low-poly model like this Avastar thing, so I'm happy with the model. It's the rig that's giving me fits. Maybe I'm missing something?

Thanks for your reply. I can't even find the model I used to import into Poser to create animations there. Does LL no longer make that available? Put another way -- where can I get the SL rig? If I can find that, I can make my own 3D model in ZBrush and add the SL rig as its bones, can't I?

Thanks, @Chic Aeon. Your performance sounds great. No crashes? It's the crashes that I'd really like to address. Lately I'm crashing 2 or 3 times a night.

I'm about ready to buy (or build?) a new desktop PC to replace my decade-old system, which I've upgraded twice with video cards but now crashes regularly in SL. I'm thinking GeForce RTX 3090 because I do 3D modeling and gaming, and it would be nice to have the 24G video RAM. Are there are other features I should opt for to maximize stability in SL? Any system builders I should avoid or seek out? Many thanks in advance.

I love your work on this. But where would I find a model that is "skinned to the SL rig?" When last I animated, using Poser, back in the dark ages, LL provided a model for us to download from the SL website.

Thanks for the link! Looks like good stuff.

Those options are enough for me to get started. Half the time I wear a suit anyway. I don't know what Cordewa is, but I will look for it in world. Thanks!

I'm sort of tempted to go for it now. I won't play this guy too much in the short term, so maybe he can have some patience for clothes. Is there any possibility some existing clothing might work in a not-too-terrible way, lol? I mean, I occasionally find I can slap on a business suit not designed for a particular mesh body, crank up the body's alpha, and kinda get away with it. This approach never works well with separate trousers and shirts, though. And I don't want to walk around in a suit all day, lol.

@Stephanie Misfit , thank you for your reply. I'm glad you warned me off Davis. I really am enjoying the Anatomy demo. We can't buy the release version yet, can we? I'm still worried about waiting to get my alt clothes, though. Would Legacy be a reasonable interim solution?

@Ayashe Ninetails, I tried the Anatomy body with a newish alt. I liked it. Is there a head that goes with it best? I have rarely ever played alts, but this might be a nice way to experiment with a new look. Still, I dunno if I want to wait around for clothing. I’m thinking of giving that guy Davis and watching how Anatomy develops. Not sure what to do.