avatar.blend (avatar shapes in blender)

I am now starting to investigate into avatar.blend . First of all again congrats to Domino, who has again proven, that blender can do astonishing things, not only in theory but for practical usage too... I would like to back this work by preparing yet another tutorial on this theme. And it looks like it is time to start a new thread with a meaningfull name for its content.

The zero doc:

1.) Just download and open http://dominodesigns.info/downloads/blender/avatar.blend

2.) in the outliner window (bottom left): select "avatar" then scroll down to the bottom of the selection. There you find the body parts (eyes,hair,head,body,skirt) You can click on the titles and the part gets selected. of course you can also directly select in the 3D window with right mouse click.

3.) ensure, that you are in object mode. You can switch wireframe mode to solid mode. So you can better see, what happens on your shape. One caveat though: You won't see which body part is currently selected, but right click still works (seen in 2.48a. why is that so ?)

4.) select the edit buttons (F9) In the far right you find the modifiers/Shapes tab group. Switch to "Shapes"

5.) Click on the up/down arrow keys in the shapes tab. An impressive menu opens. Now select your desired shape key. A slider shows up in the Shapes tab. By moving the slider, the shape gets deformed accordingly. That function is the same as we can find in the SL appearence editor.

6.) at the bottom of the outliner window you find the recording system. All you see at the moment is " < Start:1 > | < End:250 >" . Simply drag up the border line between the outline window and the recording window, so that you can see the content.

7.) now click somewhere in to the canvas of the recording window. You will set the keyframe. At each keyframe manipulate the shape sliders in the Shapes tab to your taste.

8.) After you have set several keyframes, each with different shape slider values, you can play your avatar animation (hit the play button) Watch what happens in the 3D window.

3.) ensure, that you are in object mode. You can switch from wireframe mode to solid mode. So you can better see, what happens on your shape. One caveat though: You won't see which body part is currently selected, but right click still works (seen in 2.48a. why is that so ?)

4.) select the edit buttons (F9) In the far right you find the modifiers/Shapes tab group. Switch to "Shapes".

5.) Click on the up/down arrow keys in the shapes tab. An impressive menu opens. From there select your desired shape key. A slider shows up in the Shapes tab. By moving the slider, the shape gets deformed accordingly. That function is the same as we can find in the SL appearence editor.

6.) at the bottom of the outliner window you find the recording system. All you see at the moment is " < Start:1 > | < End:250 >" . Simply drag up the border line between the outline window and the recording window, so that you can see the content.

7.) now click somewhere in to the canvas of the recording window. You will set the keyframe. At each keyframe manipulate the shape sliders in the Shapes tab to your taste.

8.) After you have set several keyframes, each with different shape slider values, you can play your avatar animation (hit the play button) Watch what happens in the 3D window.

@domino: When i select a shape key in the avatar.blend file it
typicaly contains a "basis" plus a lot more shape keys.

So, if i would want to shape the nose for example, i go to the head
mesh, then open the shape key menu and then i expect a grouping at least
comparable to what i see in SL.

But i get a linear list of shape keys ordered by name and it sometime seems to me as if there are different "presets" available. In any case i feel "lost in menu".

Is there any advice on the intended usage workflow ?

None at all. The avatar file is still a work in progress. Later versions may have a more defined workflow but currently it's just for playing around with. Feel free to blaze a trail or two and come up with methods of using it in production