2010.01.20 01:00 - how to customize an avatar

The Guardian for this meeting was Bolonath Crystal. The comments are by Bolonath Crystal.

    Bolonath Crystal: namaste cal :)
    Calvino Rabeni: _/!\_
    --BELL--
    Fael Illyar: Hi Cal, Bolonath :)
    Bolonath Crystal: namaste fael :)
    Calvino Rabeni: Hi there Fael
    --BELL--

after a very silent start we exchanged some experiences with acupressure

    Calvino Rabeni: Acupressure seems like a useful thing to know
    Fael Illyar: Yes, it does sound like that :)
    Calvino Rabeni: I learrned a point today, now I know 2.
    Calvino Rabeni: The only one I knew was for the runner's cramp
    Fael Illyar: oh, where's that?
    Calvino Rabeni: About 3 cm up and forward of the end of the short rib
    Calvino Rabeni: I found it worked quickly even without stopping a run.
    Fael Illyar: oh, that's interesting.
    Calvino Rabeni: very handy for the runner
    Fael Illyar: if I knew where short rib is :)
    Calvino Rabeni: part of first aid
    Calvino Rabeni: Oh, it is the lowest rib on eitther side, it doesn't go all tthe way to the front, You can feel it in the chest
    Calvino Rabeni: it feels weird because it is only supported on one end, so feels weak
    Fael Illyar: yes, it does
    Calvino Rabeni: If you had a real body here I could show you, but avis don't have much inside
    Fael Illyar: yes, a bit thin inside :)
    Fael Illyar: so what's the new one you found?
    Calvino Rabeni: Bolo told me about one for sneeze or allergy, on the outside of the elbow crease
    Fael Illyar: oh... interesting, I'm asthmatic and that's a place I've often found myself "playing" with my fingers
    Calvino Rabeni: by instinct perhaps
    --BELL--
    Calvino Rabeni: Must have crashed.
    Fael Illyar: my wireless connection dropped again.
    Fael Illyar: would be interesting to know what causes that.
    Calvino Rabeni: Anything on your mind tonight Bolo - now that the hour's almost up ? :)
    Bolonath Crystal: hm... my mind is rather silent today :)
    Fael Illyar: yes, mine too
    Calvino Rabeni: OK
    Bolonath Crystal: i had a nice meditation last night. i listened to the silence
    --BELL--
    Bolonath Crystal: maybe that still works on me :)

how to customize an avatar

    Calvino Rabeni: I like the slowly rising pink hearts that escape from Fael's avatar
    Fael Illyar smiles 'I've made it myself. Want one?'
    Calvino Rabeni: Yes!
    Fael Illyar: it takes an eye slot :)
    Bolonath Crystal: i have to go...
    Fael Illyar: Have fun Bolo :)
    Bolonath Crystal: have a nice day (or night or wahtever *g*)
    Calvino Rabeni: Take care, Bolo
    Bolonath Crystal: om shanti
    Calvino Rabeni: namaste
    Fael Illyar: I got the idea for making this when someone gave me another with similar idea but I didn't like the way the hearts looked so...
    Fael Illyar: since I couldn't just replace the heart picture, I made my own.
    Calvino Rabeni: Where do you have it attached on the avatar?
    Fael Illyar: right eyeball :)
    Fael Illyar: you can see it if you activate the transparency highlight
    Fael Illyar: it shows as a red overlay on the eye then
    Fael Illyar: ah, you attached it to your ear :)
    Calvino Rabeni: where is the menu to make it visible?
    Fael Illyar: view-menu, highlight transparent
    Fael Illyar: or ctrl-alt-t
    Calvino Rabeni: I see, it's like an earring
    Fael Illyar: it's on my AVs eye.
    Fael Illyar: but you can wear it wherever you want :)
    --BELL--
    Calvino Rabeni: I like the slowness of the rising hearts, and their sparseness
    Calvino Rabeni: It is the right amount of subtle
    Fael Illyar: yes, I spent quite a while adjusting the speed and amount :)
    Calvino Rabeni: perfection
    Fael Illyar smiles.
    Calvino Rabeni: hearts
    Calvino Rabeni: The japanese have really good demons, so I think those would make good "weird avatar" designs
    Fael Illyar: definitely :)
    Fael Illyar: I'm sure you'll find many of them easily too
    Calvino Rabeni: I don't know the "facts of life" for avatars.
    Calvino Rabeni: Where do they come from; are they constructed?
    Fael Illyar: anyone can create them.
    Calvino Rabeni: How is it done?
    Calvino Rabeni: And has anyone done "genetic" programming on it ?
    Fael Illyar: partially in SL, parts in other programs.
    --BELL--
    Fael Illyar: if you want a full avatar, you'll need animations, textures and then the shape.
    Fael Illyar: if it's human-like, you can use the default shape system and just move a few sliders
    Fael Illyar: if not, you'll get to be creative with animations and sculpted shapes to hide the avatar under them and have it look the way you want.
    Calvino Rabeni: What would the hidden avatar be to begin with? Is there a simplest case?
    Calvino Rabeni: like a skeleton?
    Fael Illyar: what you'd need to hide is pretty much what you see on your screen right now.
    Fael Illyar: although, you can make it quite a bit smaller still.
    Calvino Rabeni: Is it made by linden, the one I have?
    Calvino Rabeni: They create certain models, and people work with those?
    Fael Illyar: not exactly
    Fael Illyar: the shape is made with a system that lindens made.
    Fael Illyar: lots of sliders
    Fael Illyar: the skin is... well, people took a texture layer lindens intended for tattoos and started making hand-drawn skins for it.
    Fael Illyar: that's drawn by some user somewhere
    Fael Illyar: I would think you've either got it as a freebie or bought it somewhere
    Fael Illyar: there's also system hair that looks horrible and nearly no-one uses it.
    Calvino Rabeni: Every day is a bad hair day for standard avatars
    Fael Illyar: the hair you're wearing looks to be user made and prim attachment (like mine too)
    Fael Illyar: then the clothes... those are done in quite similar way to the skin. Someone has worked to make them look like they do.
    Fael Illyar: Most likely not a linden
    Calvino Rabeni: Yes, it is beter than the slider hair
    Fael Illyar: so there's the slider system that's very old, dates back to the beginning of SL.
    Fael Illyar: and all kinds of improvements people have improvised on it
    Fael Illyar: using whatever tools the Lindens have been adding
    Fael Illyar: often in quite unexpected ways
    Fael Illyar: my dress has a lot of prim parts
    Calvino Rabeni: it looks skin tight, is that prims also, or something else?
    Calvino Rabeni: LIke a shirt
    Calvino Rabeni: is a shirt a primitive?
    Fael Illyar: it has system clothing layer too
    Fael Illyar: the skintight part is actually skintight. the most common clothes in SL all are a bit like that
    Fael Illyar: texture is drawn and applies on the AV just like the skin textures.
    Fael Illyar: it's quite helpful to draw on top of a skin texture when creating clothes :)
    Fael Illyar: there's some sliders that can be used to make it look less skintight though
    Calvino Rabeni: Did you make the dress or buy it?
    Fael Illyar: but I think what I'm wearing right now has been especially made to look skintight.
    Fael Illyar: the tattoo under the dress is my own making, the rest is bought
    Fael Illyar: (it's quite a transparent dress)
    Calvino Rabeni: I'm not a big shopper in RL either :)
    Fael Illyar: I shop more in SL han in RL :)
    Fael Illyar: but it's been ... over a year since I last spent an entire day shopping :)
    Fael Illyar: and most days I don't go shopping
    --BELL--
    Calvino Rabeni: I find it intolerable to walk around shopping in SL, when with a database and teleporter you could find stuff quickly
    Fael Illyar: yes... SL is still lacking a good overall system for finding good things.
    Calvino Rabeni: Actually, I expected it to "evolve" much faster that it has
    Fael Illyar: yes... it must be a more difficult problem than it looks like :)
    Fael Illyar: XstreetSL has a database system though
    Fael Illyar: and the webpage for the shop I got this one from is pretty nice
    Fael Illyar: http://barerose.xeraweb.com/index2.php
    Fael Illyar: it's rather embarrassing for Linden's how much easier it is to use a webpage for looking at product pictures :)
    Fael Illyar: much less waiting to see images of better quality.
    Calvino Rabeni: Yes, I think a lot of it is because you can't make script libraries
    Calvino Rabeni: So nothing complex can be constructed
    Fael Illyar: yes, they're working on it but it's apparently not an easy problem to solve.
    Calvino Rabeni: I thought a lot would change from 2007 to 2009, but it seems pretty much plateau-ed
    Fael Illyar: yes, the current infrastructure is pretty much used as well as it can be
    Fael Illyar: only Lindens can make radical improvements right now so.. that's what's holding it back
    Calvino Rabeni: Grow or die, probably
    Calvino Rabeni: There must be some stats, or used to be
    Fael Illyar: The resources Lindens have pale when compared to what the overall userbase could do
    Calvino Rabeni: something like population 70000
    Fael Illyar: that 70000 is the peak concurrent users from a while ago
    Calvino Rabeni: Earlier today there was a couple of attempts at the topic of "honesty"
    Fael Illyar: those peaks appear to be at around 78000 currently
    Fael Illyar: ah, sunday peak is 80000
    Fael Illyar: yes, there was :)
    Calvino Rabeni: So with respect to that topic, I have to admit, not having said a word about "Being" in this location tonight, just seems improper :)
    Calvino Rabeni: Anyway, now that I've made this confession, I will depart
    Fael Illyar smiles.
    Calvino Rabeni: thanks for the hang out and tech talk, Fael
    Fael Illyar smiles 'Good night Cal.'
    Calvino Rabeni: Bye