How to make gestures?

I am sure this has been asked before, but I couldn't find anything using the Search function. What sort of file is a gesture? I can make .bvh animations and .wmv files; I gather a gesture is some combination of the two?

Gestures are made in game and resemble macros to me. You get your animations and sounds together and then create them from a menu in game.

From: here

Currently, you cannot add no copy or no transfer animations to a gesture. This is a known limitation that was added in 1.4 as a temporary solution to a permissions problem, but it has yet to be resolved.

If the animation is copyable, make sure it is in your Animations folder. You can then create a gesture and the animation will show up in the list of available animations.

To create a gesture for an animation (full copy, full transfer only), do the following:

1) Open your inventory and right click on your Gestures folder. Select New Gesture.
2) This will create a blank unactivated gesture called New Gesture. Double click on it to edit it.
3) Remove the sample steps that are included by highlighting each one under Steps and clicking on Remove.
4) Under Library, choose Animation and click Add.
5) It will add a step called Start Animation: None. Under Animation to play, choose the animation you wish to use from the dropdown list and make sure Start is selected.
6) Under Trigger, type in the command that you want to trigger this animation. Prefixing it with / will cause the command not to show when you type it.
7) Check the Active box to activate it, click on Preview to test it, assign a Shortcut Key if you wish, then click Save.
Right click on the Gesture and select Rename, and give it a new name - generally it is best to name it the same as the Trigger.

Note: As an alternative to step 5, you can drag an animation from your animations folder onto the Gesture window, and it will add it already preselected. This again only works with copyable, transferrable animations at this time.

Thanks for those very helpful replies. I'll give it a go. I have a few anims that might make nice gestures. Luth, I gather from Keiki's comment that the interface you describe also has room for a .wmv file?

I believe you can only upload .wav files (sound files). Gestures are basically a combo of animations, sounds and text/emotes. Aren't .wmv video files?

Yup!

Animations are constructed in world of animations (.bvh), sounds (.wav), and text in chat. You can compile them in any order you want with breaks etc.