Rising Star: Here's the Latest Tutorial for Avastar, A Second Life-Oriented Blender Plug-In That's Making Waves

 
Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style

You can probably expect to see more fitted conversions of some of your favorite "vanilla" mesh items soon, thanks to this new tutorial from the folks behind Avastar. It explains in all the gritty, technical detail how to re-rig an item to the new fitted mesh avatar skeleton... So long as you have Avastar installed, of course.

In case you're unfamiliar, Avastar is a paid plug-in for the popular (and free) 3D creation tool Blender. It adds new options and features designed specifically for SL creators, and can be purchased for $27 (or an equivalent amount of L$ at their in-world shop [SLURL]). Avastar seems to have gained a lot more traction since the arrival of fitted mesh, largely because they have been so active in creating and sharing tutorials dealing specifically with their software. Many creators are still figuring out how to rig to the new collision bones themselves, so there is still a tremendous vacuum of information for anyone who isn't even sure where to begin (as if teaching yourself mesh in the first place wasn't difficult enough).  The fact that the educational documentation surrounding the new mesh rigging method is so lacking means that one of Avastar's biggest selling points are its widely available tutorials. For some designers, this plug-in has gone from luxury to necessity almost overnight.

You can find more mesh tutorials from Avastar on Youtube, or check out their website for more information.

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Iris Ophelia (@bleatingheart, Janine Hawkins IRL) has been featured in the New York Times, and has spoken about SL-based design at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan and with pop culture/fashion maven Johanna Blakley.

Comments

[Pussycat Catnap]

Some fitted mesh is already showing up on the grid - and it can be impressive. One of the template makers is selling fitted mesh template clothes, and one of the 'mesh boobies' makers is seller a remake of those in fitted (with avatar physics as a result).

Looks like this tool will be a must have for anyone wanting to stay competitive.

I'd caution builders against jumping off of standard sizes thus far however - I've already read a few complaints from people who have found fitted mesh items that were not fitting so well. People might not need identical shape dials in the 8 dials they needed before - but it looks like 'similar' is going to be needed for some things.