Gestures in Machinima.

Can anyone reccomend a good gesture maker in SL ?
I mean things like smiles, laughs, frowns.

The ones that come with SL are not exactly subtle, and any of the other ones I have bought seem to just utilise the basic SL ones.

Is it possible to smile, without looking like frightened Clown.

Is it possible to have a small frown, without looking like the sky is about to fall in.

Who is making quality facial gestures, suitable for facial close-ups ?

I could be wrong, but I don't think subtle facial expressions are possible in SL just now. When a .bvh file is uploaded using the client, one is given the option of using a stock facial expression. This suggests to me that this is the only option at present. Maybe there's a petition for this feature in existence, if not there certainly should be.
Actually, just an after thought, but you may get some play out of using the avatars appearance mode. The mouth can be turned up and down to varying degrees. A bit of messing about but maybe your best bet, unless someone else has any other suggestions.

its true that there is only limited control over facial expresios (it is as above). One thing to try is a change in lighting. You may be surprised by the effect this can have on the av? For example, lighting directly below (or above) can greatly exaggerate expresions, and head-on will reduce their appearance a lot- with a lot of possibilities between. Hope this helps.

Thanks Iridescent and Robbie for the replies.

After researching this topic a little more thoroughly, it seems to be the case that the only facial expressions you can use are the ones supplied by LL.

The Toothsmile probably is designed to be seen from 15 metres, but can look a little garish from 2 feet away.

It certainly makes Machinima even more of a challenge.
To convey emotions without using the face is a little.......um.......unusual.

I have tried to make my own gestures, chaining smile-toothsmile-smile.....with a 10 second delay to disable huds, get rid of the UI, press go on Fraps, and start moving the camera. Very tricky to co-ordinate the timings successfully.

Oh and Robbie, my current piece is a film using the slow movement of my Flute Sonata as the soundtrack. So your wonderful Hyper-Flute is getting a good workout.

I am a composer/performer in RL so Machinima gives me a chance to do what all ego-centric soundtrack composers wish they could do.
Write the Music 1st, and then shoot the Movie. LOL

Geuis has produced, what can only be described as the best available emotives for SL.

Your only other option is to to a programme like CrazyTalk and use the emotives in there, although thats not linked to SL directly, but is useful for producing movies.

Dnia is producing animations for music instruments, she is currently working on bagpipes playing lol... so a flute etc should be a walk in the park for her.

Waves at AWM from across the border in Somerset.

I picked up the motor mouth thingy from Geuis. I have been using his FPHud quite happily.

I cant find anything for Dnia,..... Typo ?? Dina ?? Dna ??

Bagpipes huh ?

They have their place I suppose...............(on a Sim far far away for instance)

Scrumpy land

Typos aren't just for SL, they are for life lol.. I didn't have my anti-typo HUD on whilst posting.

Ll-Animations is the company name, the animations are very smooth and cool looking.

Thanks AWM for the info.

Cheers.......raises a glass of scrumpy.

(Then spits it out into a plantpot when you are not looking, and replaces with a very fine malt whiskey)