Avatar Creation Questions

Alright I tried searching and looking several times but I think I'm just missing the proper lingo to search for. I also didn't see any specific newb questions forum so I guess I'll toss this in here.

Basically I would like to know some info about avatar creation. Not the animations per se but more about what methods are used in the actual modeling of a new body.

Do most people go with attachments? Is it possible to create a new body mesh? Basically I just want to understand the process of the various ways by which people alter the geometry of their avatars.

I don't know anything about meshes in Second Life, so I couldn't say.

I find there are many possibilities given just prim attachments, however.
It is possible to create rather unusual avatars just with prims. I have seen people that are big clouds with tentacles sticking out, robots, giant squid things, and other unusual shapes.

I've created a metallic spider and a "crab" before. To do this, I make my shape as small as possible, with the lowest height, arm, torso, leg, etc. settings possible. I made a body (sphere) big enough to cover my torso and head, and then used an invisiprim to hide my legs. I created multiple spider legs, and linked them together and attached them to my upper legs.

I link the legs together so I can attach them something like so, R being one set attached to my right upper leg, L being a set attached to my left upper leg.

L R
R L
L R
R L

I did it that way so they kind of alternate as I walk.

Sometimes when I make prim attachments to go over my arms or legs, I will set my muscle settings rather low, so the default mesh don't go through the prims. Or I sometimes try to match the color, and use the same texture as the prims for the tattoo settings.

I guess some people do use custom animations or animation overrides, to help them alter their appearance. For example, I've seen an "armless" animation, and others that rise move up into the air a bit (made for giant or very large avatars), or animations that make them shorter than is usually possible.

The only control we have over our meshes is done with the appearance editor.

We can apply textures to our body and clothing meshes.

The fancy avatars like Psyra Extraordinaire's, for one example, are done with prims, just like building a building or statue.

The prims are applied to our bodies as attachments.

The prims are textured for the proper look, and animated textures under script control can be used for things like eyes turning left and right or blinking.

Effects like flapping wings generally use scripts to do such things as rotate the parts, or turn different pieces clear or opaque to create the illusion of motion.

Special animations can be created and used to make movements that work properly with the constructed avatar's size, shape, and distinctive type of movement.

Thanks for the help all this was very informative combined with tells some other helpful people sent me in game.

Hi Suez,

You have that URL wrong in your sig. We're at http://forums.secondcitizen.com ... no 'S' in citizen.

You should clear out your forums PM box. You're full and I could not send you that in PM.

-Ghoti