Real, REAL basic questions on the SL side

Love this forum!

I've used Poser for awhile, and I know my way around the animation kit semi-decently. My questions are about exactly what SL does (and doesn't) want on its side.

If what I'm about to ask is in a FAQ somewhere, please feel free to lob a FAQ-pointer-wrapped prim at my head the next time you encounter me in-game. Having made that feeble attempt to pre-placate the more curmudgeonly amongst you all, here goes:

This morning, having lost all the games AGAIN at Germaine's Bingo park[1], I decided to try my very first SL animation project. I aimed fairly low: adding a custom stand to my Animation Override. So, I cranked up Poser, grabbed a Millenium Male figure (I know, I know, first big mistake..duh) and did a 2-frame animation.

I left Frame 1 pretty much in the default pose, but, based on something I overheard in-game recently, dinked with the major joints just a micro-nudge or two...apparently that helps SL latch the motion points...? Then, in Frame 2, I set immediately to my target stance.

I made sure that all of the no-no keyframes were removed that I could think of; that is, eyes, fingers, toes, buttocks, (genitals N/A)...and I think there's one more, which I didn't unset, because I can't remember what it is.

I then tried uploading the animation, and was hit with a priority selection dialog. I was expecting that...had no idea what to select, but was prepared to bluff my way through with SOMEthing...but the animation had already been rejected. Can't remember the specific message; something to do with SL not being able to find rotation points.

So, my umbrella question is: given that I simply want to upload a stand-around-and-try-not-to-look-like-a-dork animation, how many different ways did I screw this up?

More specifically:

1. Should I use Don for a model? The Poser skeleton?

2. Should I be generating a looped BVH file? (I didn't.) A longer file, with some minimum number of frames?

3. What's the other Mystery Body Part for which keyframes shouldn't be set?

4. (Specially Marked Bonus Question) If I break a spline, does SL handle it correctly?

5. What priority should I use?

6. What else should I be asking about?

Thanks, and again, if there's a doc or something that covers this, please direct me to it, so that I can come back and apologize for being a complete dweeb. Or, feel free to refer me to an in-world instructor (such as yourself) who can expect to be compensated for such hard-won expertise. But any pointers about basic setup (or pointers to resources) for accomplishing what appears to me to be the simplest of all possible SL animation projects, would be most welcome.

-yoshi

[1] Not that I'm bitter.

Edit: Spelled "resources" correctly on the second try.

I just made my first ever SL animation myself today with a BVH and it worked perfectly. Might try this =)

Can you help a struggline idio^W fellow player with a few gory details?

BTW, anyone who reads this: I tried hitting Ulrika's tutoral, but the server's offline...

Yoshi, use the Poser 2 Hi figure.

Many thanks, Beau!