Ceri Starts Selling Her Super-Sized SL Avatars

The giant, mesh-based avatars made by Ceri Quixote, which I wrote about last month, are now on sale in the Markeplace -- that's the female Titan, male version here. Now these are not 200 feet tall, like Ceri's original giantess is, but we're still talking three times larger than the average SL avatar. If you decide to become an incredibly tall avatar, however, be warned, for it may change your virtual world experience:

"People will stare," says Ceri. "It's something relatively new on Second Life and people will get excited about it. I include two sizes -- a 2x and a 3x scale. The 2x will fit just about anywhere, it's a wonderful avatar just for wandering around. The 3x is over 20 feet tall -- it looks gigantic, so it's great for making an impression."

More development notes and owner advice from Ceri:

"The avatar is designed to be highly customizable - there are limitations to working with rigged mesh, but I did what I could to work around them. Play with the HUDs: there are three of them, and they make customization a lot easier. The shape is fixed by the mesh, but you can adjust the underlying SL shape for some variation. Not all sliders will work, though. The avatar is also scripted for low lag (always a plus in roleplay sims). There are also full perm clothing templates available for people who want to create their own outfits."

I'm a touch skeptical these giants can be that low lag, but if you buy one, share your own giant-based experiences below. By the way, I still think avatar height should be monetized, so that anyone who wants an avatar over 6'4" has to pay a little extra for that privilege. However, that should only apply to people increasing the size of their base avatar. That way, while the general population largely shrinks to a more realistic size, truly giant avatars like Ceri will seem that much more special.

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Comments

[Aliasi Stonebender]

And I still think it's an awful idea; it's already monetized - people are buying the avatar, after all. :P

In any case, you don't have to be 'skeptical', Hamlet. I've been making giant avatars for a long time and mesh permits some of the best performing ones yet. A resized mesh is far less demanding than even the nicest sculpty-based body and the scripting is limited to something to adjust height and maybe a mild move-booster to keep the illusion going. (AOs can be done client side, after all.) I'm regularly near the bottom of the script list when I go out to places that have script time and size detection gadgets out.

[Adeon Writer]

I can buy the fact that they're low-lag. It's not the size of the polygons that matter... it's just the amount.

[Adeon Writer]

(After all, when you zoom in and get a close look at something in SL, you're... making the polygons bigger.)

[Caliburn Susanto]

Obviously I'm cluelessy missing something. Why do they need scripts to boost movement? (??) Why not just deform the underlying avatar to a stick figure that stretches out and fills the entire giant body for instant movement response (the same way that the Seawolf Dragons and other over-sized non-human avatars do)?

[Ceri Quixote]

Just for reference there are two scripts in the avatar, plus a third in the clothing template. For a Mesh avatar, the scripting is entirely optional - it's just there to facilitate customization and the scripts can be removed without affecting functionality once a desired appearance is set.

[sean]

Waited with anticipation since the Fantasy Faire, where Ceri made quite a sight. For me, it's another SL gamechanger.

[Emerald Wynn]

YAY!!! I'm excited!

[elizabeth (16)]

they are pretty cool i think

[Ajax Manatiso]

What am I missing? You certainly won't be allowed in any one else's land and definitely not in their house. So the purpose of a super-size avi? Stand around your own sim and go "look at me! look at me!"

[Ceri Quixote]

The concerns you bring up Ajax are among the non technical reasons I won't be selling the 200 foot avatar. However, they really don't apply to the avatars I'm selling. One of my goals with the Colossi project was to create a giant avatar that could be worn just about everywhere. The 2x avatar fits comfortably inside just about any sim, indoors or out, and I've confirmed that there are RP sims that would have no issues with it. The 3x avatar is admittedly more of a display model and better for outdoor use but still works remarkably well in most areas of SL.

[Hitomi Tiponi]

They are lower lag than most tinies Hamlet. It's always good to see innovation in SL.

[Aliasi Stonebender]

I've never been 'disallowed' somewhere in any of my large avatars, aside from a few sensible cases (I mean, it's one thing when you have a role-play area where they'd prefer that even visitors wear in-period or in-setting styles, but I do play a hill giantess in one of them).

Yeah, you don't want to bust out the 200-foot avatar that ate the Welcome Area everywhere, but the 9-to-12 foot range works pretty well given the super-high ceilings most SL builds have to begin with.