Exploit A Friend on a Product Box? Me?

Definitely inspired by the White Queen in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland.

Model: Her Grace the Duchess Loch Avie, Eva Bellambi
Wardrober: Nicky Ree
Jeweller: Alienbear Gupte

I went to a whole new level animating stands with this, it's over the top, princessy, comes with a voice/typing animation override and a very funky flight AO I've not before grafted as part of an actual full featured AO. Let us just say it will take your aerobatics to new heights.

*rimshot*

And you too can look like an ingenue, or a drag queen, for L$1,000.

Talking to Grandma

Even before Grandma's health started declining, trying to explain technologies was... interesting. Now that most of my activities revolve around digital art it's even more odd. Apparently, moving abstractions around as an accountant is less bewildering than manipulating nothings for artistic purpose. :)

But once in a while I manage to explain things in ways she understands. I showed her a flash key and said, "This is a modern filing cabinet. A whole filing cabinet's worth of paper can fit in here."

And today she asked again what it is I do, and I said, "I'm making puppets dance."

And so I'm a puppeteer and finally respectable again.

Affiliate Vendors

I've occasionally receive the odd inquiry from dressmakers asking about me putting an AO vendor in their shops, saves sending them off to my place to find a matching AO. Groups available being at the premium it is, I've been fussing with Apez.biz affiliate vendors. These things are a network vendor where I have the product in a network server and I can send someone a configured vendor for them to place out where they like.

You make big dresses and not averse to Apez? Contact me and I'll send one over. O_o

Gown AO

This is my ad run for the Gown AO.

I was originally going to put it all together in the complete Lady, but it ended up with a gawdawful confusing pile of notecards, so it's a standalone and includes the Classical set.

This is a little different from a normal ZHAO-based AO, I added a button to switch on and off arm animations. With the sub-AO running it adds a wild amount of pose variety to the mix, also, it's the first roll-out of the Voice animation override. Use Voice? Gesture with your arms. :)

It's structured with three sizes of four 'twinned' standing poses, with four ready made notecards inside. They should work for 9/10 gown sizes regardless of avatar size.

Here's the rejected first try, just for the_lulz.

SL Belly Dances

Not a secret, one of the two things I love best in Second Life is dressing up like an extra from I Dream of Jeannie. Consequently, I've gone out of my way to sample just about any bellydance I've found. In fact, I've coded and sculpted and revised and particled my own costume several times over three years, and made my own dance HUD system. I keep two HUDs, one newer motion capture ones where you run all over the place, and a standing in spot, full of pre-motion capture dances. Here are my favorites, in order.

1. Animazoo. (Motion HUD) Fabulous, fabulous. They have the brain cells to make the animations priority three rather than four, lovely work all around, nary a glitch that I can see. Not exactly perfectly traditional, but they have that flash. Sole complaint, lousy naming convention: Dance 1, Dance 2, etc. But they're modifiable, so you can change their names. Copyable too, so put them in your HUD, put them in your dance balls in your club, put them everywhere.
2. Lillita Lacey (Snakecharmer - Static HUD) Manually made dances are not dead. Mocap hasn't killed them! Unfortunately, I cannot find these sold anywhere anymore. :( The most excellent feather they have, aside from being copy-mod, is the neck is free! Your avatar head tracks the camera! Alt-Click your favorite viewer, and you're lookiing right at them! There was stands, a great hands behind the back dancer walk, and with 17 animations available, all at L$50 each, it was a no brainer to get them all. I use these for private shows in small, intimate venues.
3. Sine Wave. (Motion HUD) These seem more authentic than the Animazoo ones, but they lack that pizazz that you need in SL. Authentic - Drab. Artistic licence - Wow. They're a good compliment to Animazoo. Unfortunately no copy, no mod. 1-5, fine. Dance 6, ugh.
   
4. Alexicon Kurka. (Static HUD) This creator has some nifty Greek dances and bellydance. Not bad at all, I use a few in my mix. No copy, no mod.
5. Luth Brodie. (Static HUD) As far as I know, these are the first bellydances in SL, ever. I used to save my stipends up for more of them. They feel a little dated now, but if you can still find them, they're worth a look. No copy, some no mod.
   
6. Djezebel Drake. (Static HUD) I'd like these more if they didn't feel quite so tarty. I use them anyway but have been known to restart my randomiser when they come up. No copy.
7. Seagel Neville. Static HUD) The original freebie bellydances, a couple are quite good. I have the bellydance collection at various places as a freebie, if you don't find it, ask me, or try XStreetSL.com.
   

Have not tried: Hap Underwood. I messed around with the trial HUD once, and it might make a good manual show for someone with Voice. I may have a look again.

Disappointed: Moonlight Animations. When the store has no dance pad set out to try before you buy, that's a sign. When the branding is identical or eerily similar to other makers, in this case, for a wear anywhere dance machine called a 'Chim', (Owenmations Chimera?) and a 'Huddle' (Keiki Lemieux's Huddle?), that's a sign. If it's motion capture, it's not as good as Animazoo or Sine Wave. If it's hand made, it's rather good, except for the large glitches at the end of the loops. Animation priorities had no standardisation. The lack of understanding of SL animations, and in the case of the boxes, permission system, is curable with experience. The brand name cloning and unconvincing motion capture has me feeling uneasy I spent money there.

Mermaid Version 2

Ready for release this weekend.

Watch more video games and play free games at WeGame.

Swim Wedge Update

Major, major update. Bugs squashed, mobility increased, multiple dives. Get your update or purchase here: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Caledon%20Lionsgate/84/3/30

To update, rez a prior version canister near the vendor and you'll get a new on in a folder. Replace your old canister with the new one, and the wedges will cycle through. The swimming pool setup is unchanged, and there is a video demo below.

Watch more video games and play free games at WeGame.

Look! I Dropped A Handkerchief!

Whatever will I do?

Watch more video games and play free games at WeGame.

The Genie

I've been fooling with WeGame.





The Genie is coming.

Bridal AO

Awhile ago Yuriko asked me about a Bridal AO, something I hadn't considered seriously before. The wedding market's already glutted with advanced systems and moving poseball systems to do all the thinking and aiming in high lag situations.

We weren't up to building an entire cathedral and I wasn't up to programming, maintaining and marketing a complex full wedding system, but I did have a variety or script parts lying around for a two layer animation override system. The main thrust of this system is to be very easy to use. Wear and walk. Buttons control the bouquet pose, five to choose from, and five foot stances as well. There is a toggle to switch off and on the automatic stance shuffle. There is also a main on/off switch.

This system operates the arms independently of everything else, so I was able to use a lower priority animation for the arms. This allows the avatar to carry most animated or unanimated bouquets.

The system could also double as a simple override for large dresses. The walk works really well for the ballroom gowns. :) Holding the page down key and walking performs a slow walk, step-stop-step-stop, good for those more dramatic entries.

One Week

One week is what it seems to make one full AO with extra peripherals.

The poses and walks and such a day or two, but this one is a wee bit different.

The cane and top hat responds to individual animations playing, provided the notecard is filled in correctly. What it means to the user is, as you walk, fly, shuffle poses, the cane will respond to them and reposition itself.

It's complete with typing override, had comes off the head by holding the page down key. Give them a try at Posture Is Everything. Free cane in the Info box, try the Cane series on the single animation vendor. Full kit in the box, L$1000.

Free upgrades to all who have a prior version of Gentleman Jim. Drop a copy of your old version, or the box on the altar in the main store.


Next up, Bridal AO.

The Queen is Dead, Long Live the King

If I'm going to build a gentleman's animation override, I'll bloody look the part. Hopefully by Christmas, input welcome.

Things on the dreaming table are an add-on for hats, to remove the hat for certain poses and hold it in the hand.

Absolutely excellent spat shoes by Edward Pearse and an equally underpriced and excellent Firebrand Waistcoat and Trousers by Nix Sands. Shop them. Do eeeet. Nao.

Complete Lady Update

I added a typing override and did some work to various poses. The Bombshell no longer tilts over when you're typing.

Updates issued to anyone on record, if I missed any, please contact me in world.

The Complete Lady

And here it is, a rework of some components of The Complete Lady, and a new addition to the mix.

Available as single animations or sets at Posture Is Everything.

The Bombshell

Coming soon.

Seahorses Are Here

Using my motion override engine and Virrginia Tombola's excellent sculpt work. Get yours here.

Nautilus Exploration

I've been playing with a Max Case Neighbours HUD. (If you explore, you really need one. And decided to piddle about Nautilus with it. It's been explored heavily with the HUD already, but I was intrigued to see what looks like a collage of just about every interesting site on the grid I've seen since 2005.

Oh, and I've now a performance benchmark on Openspace sims:



She may be bigger, but I'm more mobile.

Testing out this almost complete seahorse system.

Big Job, Done

Done deal, the Mermaid releases are distributed. If I missed anyone, contact me.

Mermaid is Back

It's back, and it's here in Caledon Lionsgate.

Both gender sets, the gender parts can be mixed and matched, the difference is mainly the style of turn and the 'mood' of the animation sets.

An update feature is installed in the HUDs, but there's nothing to update yet. :)

Holders of the Relay For Life edition, I'll be manually passing out copies this weekend. Want one sooner? Contact me via IM in World. IMs should be delivered to my email.

Thank you for your support. :)

State of the Water

Swimming:
The Swim utility's finally branded, I've dubbed it the Swim Wedge. It's out there, on the market, any of you who bought an earlier version for the Relay For Life benefit can rez the Rezzer near the Update system and you will be given the latest version. Now with speed controls. :)

Located HERE.

Mermaid:
Off the market for the moment, but available on request. No update system in it just yet and I just hammered out the last Really Annoying Bug. There remains some 'personality issues' but it's largely functional. I need to box, brand, vendorise, price, and update the Merman edition first.

Seahorse:
Planned for next!