Should I get my balls out?

Its not you doing something wrong.

Oddly in SL, if you put 2 anim+script combinations in 2 furniture prims, and those prims are physically touching in the linked set, SL then automatically puts you onto the prim that is the higher in the prim hierarchy, for instance - if the prims are touching and one of them was linked in the item after the other, you will always sit onto the later linked one no matter which one you try to sit on, the next person to sit will go onto the next more recently linked one(because you are occupying the later one), and so it continues.

Even if you pulled a window round the item and used "link", SL always puts the prims into a linked sequence, the one that appears yellow in the "edit" view being the last linked one or "parent"

The ways out of this issue is to have the cushions containing the anims not physically touching the other prims in the item, which would probably make the furniture item look odd, the other way is to use poseballs as those are rarely physically touching the other furniture prims in the set.

I personally think embedding the anims in the item gives it a more "pro" look, but it comes with a couple of problems for the user of the item, the first being the one above, the second being that you can only set the offset in the scripts to fit a particular avatar size, poseballs allow the owner to adjust the position more easily(if the item is mod)

thanks Craig, Ive always wondered why that happened ...and you just explained superbly )

Thanks Craig this certainly solves an issue I have been baffled by!

Thanks for all the feedback!

All very helpful.

I like them both, just depends on SITuation I guess.

As a consumer, I don't have a preference either way. If the animations are quality and the item is well built then whether they use pose-balls or not is of lesser import.

As a creator, whether I use them or not depends on the item. For my vehicles, I never use them because they're another prim you can't use for the rest of the vehicle. For furniture, of which I make only a few items, I'll use them if it seems appropriate, or not use them if it seems unecessary.

I suspect your first estimation of pose-ball use being 50/50 could be indicative that either method is still equally valid.

-Atashi

how about cushions instead of poseballs, that way you could do "edit linked parts" to reposition them, but still you dont have the ugly pink balls and "show/hide" pains.

The poll results seem pretty clear. *Readies scissors*

I voted "built-in" simply because a) it's one less prim, and b) I like the look of built-ins better. Those hovering pose balls have always weirded me out for some reason.

That's what I said above, and I think it's often the best solution, along with some texture convention so the customer can figure out M vs F seats.

This doesn't seem quite correct to me.

I find that the hierarchy is followed when you click->sit on a prim that has no script+anim, but whenever you click->sit on a prim that has a script+anim, you get what you clicked. To some extent this is controlled by LSL and its ability to pass clicks, and I don't remember the details here.

It's quite possible that behavior has changed, and one of us is out of date.

Due to the hierarchy rule, I generally put a generic sit & position in the root prim, and then specific ones in each pillow. Whenever someone clicks on a prim without a script+anim, they get the default one I intended.

This is how I've found it to work too, Lear. I do the same thing, putting a more generic sit in the root, and additional poses in other prims more tailored to their location. I get the animation in the root when I sit on any prim that doesn't have a target/animation or the root prim, and I get the alternate animations when I target the other prims in the link set.

I prefer built-in because it saves on prims. BUT it has to be modifyable.

I will not buy furniture that I can't switch around my own animations, switch textures, resize etc etc.

This is a good tip, I will do this also.

So, to the merchants out there, do you feel that you are missing out on sales by using built in animations? My Av is about 5’7" so very small compared to the SL norm. I find that when I sit on most peoples targets I end up floating in the air a noticeable amount. When I try with an alt that is a foot taller I find most items are a comfortable fit.

Everything I produce needs to look and function perfectly, or as close as I can get. It bothers me thinking people will like the look of a chair for example but when they sit in it they decide not to buy because the pose doesn’t 'fit' them. Other than using a complex menu system offering multiple poses, which I don’t want to get into, I cannot see a way of creating a single item of built in animated furniture that is accessible to everyone without them having to modify the sit target coords. The best method I can think of is using pose balls as everything will be mod/copy. Simple job to then adjust the ball accordingly. This is what is still drawing me to the pose ball option despite it's obvious flaws such as prim count and appearance.

I am also considering displaying an item with a pose built in for the standard SL Av, then also including 2 more versions when they buy, one for small Av’s and one for larger Av’s. So they get 3 versions with built in animations when purchasing a single chair for example. Anyone tried this?

I am also considering selling every item with a pose ball version and built in animation version. So animations will be built in for the display models but there will be both a ball and built-in version in the end package. Anyone tried this?

Thanks