adding expressions to MLP anims

I'm not sure if this question should go here, or in the scripting forums... but since it deals with animations I'm going to try here and hope not to get yelled at, lol.

Anyway, I'm making some new animations to put in MLP - yes, they're sex animations - and I'd like to include facial expressions with these new ones. I have already set up some of my new animations in stand-alone poseballs, and in those I have inserted a llSetTimerEvent() to activate after the animation is running on the av, calling the "express_open_mouth" internal animation every few seconds as long as the primary animation is running. I've then set up a llSetTimerEvent(0) and llStopAnimation to end the facial expression when the person gets up from the poseball. All this seems to work fine.

My question regards MLP, which uses its own ball script that is quite different from the simple one I'm using in my stand-alone poseballs, and which I'm fairly hesitant to mess with. So, what is the recommended way to approach this problem? Should I create a separate new ball for every added facial expression, and have MLP call that one for the necessary poses? Or is there a way I can script this using a separate script just calling the facial expressions, which runs when particular poses are running in the MLP?

This problem goes beyond my amateurish level of scripting, and I continue to work on it, but I thought it might save some time to ask the experts....

Thanks very much!

Maybe buy the devPose instead?

It supports expressions out of the box! It works similarly to the MLP, but instead of one big configuration notecard, you have a separate one for each animation set, including facial expressions and other stuff (which you can just leave blank if you don't need it).

To really add expressions to the MLP, you'd have to add more variables to it's notecard reading configuration, and pass that info to the poseballs, and modify all the scripts to play those too (allowing for animations that don't have them specified in the notecard of course). You would also have to add timer loops to replay them, and of course controls to stop them when users stand up, change poses, or click the MLP stop as well... You'll get very good at messaging!

I have read that Miffy has replaced the MLP with something new (xpose), but I haven't read if it supports separate expressions.

i think devPose is not oupen source if what you want to do is sell the bed then you have to choose MLP and you have to add a little bit of scripting to change face expressions.

I've looked into this a bit more since my initial post, and XPOSE appears to be a good option for what I need... much easier to set up and use, compared with MLP, position saving is easier, and facial expressions (including timing intervals for expressions on each avi) are built right into the MENUITEMS formatting notecard. Also I like the professional approach of the creators, in regards to their licensing fee structure.

I have asked the creator of DevPose if a builder's version is available, but have not yet received a response. But based on what I've seen so far in-world, and on comments here, it seems that may not be an option.

Overall, I think at this point the XPOSE is right for my needs. Thanks for the responses and your help, Kahiro and Crystal.

This post seemed closest to the crux of my issue, and I thought I'd add to it, rather than begin a new thread.

I've been looking for something like this, as well, though no multi-animation script is necessary for my items.

I've been struggling through how I get the facial expressions to work in tandem with my animations.

For instance, adding the "Avatar_expression_afraid" animation to an existing animation in a pose I made within a poseball, causes the "Afraid" expression body movement to override my animation and the facial expression doesn't even come into play.

In essence, I'd like ONLY the facial expression, but NO body movement, to run side-by-side with the animations I've made.

I should add that I downloaded all of those so-called expressions from the SL wiki. I hesitate to upload more until I can sort out what the issue is.

Thanks in advance for any information/guidance you can offer.

-Sens

MLPv2 now supports expressions and it is open source.

http://www.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=692115

Thank you. I got a copy of that, and it appears to be very script/config. card heavy. Rather than potentially add to lag, when all I really need to do is add a facial animation (without the added body movement).

I suppose my question is rather confusing. In a nutshell:

Is accomplishing the above (facial expression only to be used in tandem with one of my own animations) a matter of changing the priority on the uploaded animations? i.e. my animation, the main one with body movement, should be priority 4, where the animation to use the facial expression should be priority 1?

Hi,

I picked up the MLP script in SL but my problem is I can't figure out where to get MLPv2 in world - is it available somewhere? i have problems using slexchange.

thanks for any suggestions!
Anik

No, you need to make the script start the expression animation periodically (ever second or so). Otherwise, the facial expression goes away in a second or two. You can find a list of the names of the expression animations on the SL Wiki somewhere. Just use the built-in ones.

Join the MLPV2 group in my profile and get the latest beta (MLPV2.1 beta 4) from group notices. I plan to release beta 4 as the official MLPV2.1 release, whenever I get around to it. If the notice is gone, just ask for a copy on the group.

An earlier version is available inworld. See a thread for MLPV2 questions and bug reports in the Scripting Tips forum for the location; I think it's in the 3rd post or so. (Someone was kind enough to make it available at a builders' depot.)

BTW, MLPV2.1 supports props (an object to be rezzed with a pose). A few minor bugs with MLPV2 were also fixed.

MLPV2 supports up to 4 avatars. It also supports modular configuration, so you can have a number of folders in your inventory where each folder contains config notes plus anims for a market segment, and just drag all contents of any number of such folders into the MLPV2 prim and they all work. For example, you could have a common set, a couples' set, a gay men's set, a lesbian set, and an orgy set, and pick the ones (or let the customer pick the ones) you want to put in a particular bed without editing the notecards.

This will be more useful when Mono comes out and we'll have enough memory for more than 70 or so poses. (MLPV2 allows more poses than MLP.)

Any opinions on how MLPv2 compares to xpose?

I haven't used XPOSE, but it supports up to 8 avatars, rather than MLPV2's 4.

Hey Lear,

Thanks very much for the info. I'm really looking forward to learning more!

Cheers,
Anik

There are two basic types of expression built into SL: one that plays a gesture along with a facial expression and one that just plays the facial expression. For example, with "express_afraid" the av will raise his hands to his mouth and have a frightened look on his face for a couple of seconds. On the other hand, "express_afraid_emote" will only give him the frightened look on his face.

There appears to be a glitch in SL whereby the first type of gesture/expressions will only play properly once in a given session. If the "express_afraid" example is played twice in succession, for instance, the av will only raise his hands to his face but his expression will remain impassive. This problem is not caused by deficiencies in MLP, XPOSE, ZHAO or any other scripted device because I've tested every one of the built-in expressions on a basic av. They just don't work more than once. Hopefully the problem will be fixed sooner rather than later in a future Release Candidate Viewer.

In your case, Sensual, you should use the version that does not include the gesture. There's a full list of the built-in expressions/gestures here:

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Internal_Animations


Matter of fact, XPOSE supports up to fifteen pose balls in a single device. Swap options, multipose and play sequences may be defined for any permutation of that number as well.

I'm personally very happy with XPOSE as an alternative to MLP since it appears to run much more efficiently and it has many more interesting features such as playing facial expressions, sounds and rezzing/unrezzing additonal objects along with animations.


I removed the quoted passage and a query regarding it because I discovered that the problem is neither an issue with XPOSE nor SL. The expressions were not showing because it seems this was just a little to much to expect from two clients running on the same computer, which otherwise manages perfectly well. I tried the same XPOSE device with a friend and the expressions worked fine on all avatars.

For the record, MLPV2 supports 20 expressions, runs more efficiently than MLP, supports more poses than MLP, and (as of MLPV2.1 beta 4, which is currently available in the MLPV2 group notices) allows specifying one object to be rezzed per pose. And it's free.

I'll probably add sounds after Mono comes out, providing more memory. Adding it right now would reduce the number of supportable poses.

Thanks for correcting my mistake about the number of avs supported by XPOSE.

Ok.. i followed your MLPV2 readme concerning adding expressions to poses..
POSE mypose |mypose::1::5.5

and when i restart the menu i get.. 'mypose::1::5.5'not in inventory (ok for build-in animations, otherwise check)

there must be something i forgot to do?

i have everything given in the box in the prim. It just does not want to run. When i play the anime i get the dreaded whitecard popping up, meaning a script error and when i check it says unable to locate this anime. I did not rename the anime to match what its looking for.

please help.

If the above is a cut and paste from your notecard it looks like you may be missing the nesessary space after the "|" seperator

No space is required after the vertical bar. You can have zero, one, or two spaces before or after the vertical bar.

The error message looks wrong; it shouldn't include the colons or anything to the right of it. I'll see if that's a bug or a symptom of something else.

In any case, this should mean that you don't have 'mypose' in inventory as an animation, or you misspelled it, or got the case wrong (it's case-sensitive).

Also, MLP/MLPV2 won't work if the anim name begins or ends with spaces. There's a workaround, which is to make sure there are exactly two spaces before (or after) the first (or last) space in the anim name -- between the anim name and the vertical bar.

Please paste the script error message. To see it, use Tools -> Show script errors, or else in preferences, in the tab for text chat, turn on the one that sends script error messages as chat.