Quadraped avitars

Hello, I was wondering if somebody could advise me (or point me to a thread with the answer) on how to make make you avitar walk on all fours. I am making a mystical creature avitar (a dragon specifically) and would like to know how to get it to walk on 4 feet smoothly.

also, does anyone know how to make it so that prims you attach to yourself don't "sink into the ground" when placed lower than your avitar's feet? its hard to make decent feet and other parts like a tail, becasue they don't rest on the ground, but rather sink into the ground like the ground isnt there. I am not sure how to fix this.

any help would be much appreciated.

thanks.

There are two ways to become quad in SL.

One is with an animation overrider, which replaces the walk, run and stand animations with new, custom-made ones that move you about on all fours. You also may need a custom body shape to go with that, to make the arms and legs the right length, proportionately. Over at Dwellget in the Taco sim, they sell a cute fox avatar that looks rather young and anime-like, which has an AO in the tail that allows you to run in quad mode. You might want to look at that is a model. I've also seen pony avatars that do this quite well (can't recall the maker), and you can get quad canines and other forms from Jakkal's Werehouse. I have a great selection of quad dog, fox and wolf avatars from Jakkal's Werehouse.

The other way is to have a static attachment for part of the body, which is how you do a 'taur form, like a centaur or a foxtaur. The hind legs don't move when you walk, but the look is pretty good otherwise. I have also seen a freebie quad zebra avatar that uses this method. The front legs are your legs (made really skinny), the arms are folded in, to hide inside a full-prim avatar, and the hindquarters is all static prims, attached to the wearer's pelvis. Again, you probably need a custom body shape.

Prim paws or shoes that have high heels or platforms should raise you up if attached to the feet. In some cases, you may need an animation overrider there as well. I have some boots that just use prims, and some high heel shoes that use an AO.

For the tail, you're out of luck. Attachments become phantom when attached, and have no way to detect collision with the terrain mesh. So if your tail hangs low, into the ground it will go! No avoiding that, by any method that I have observed.

The BDSM community also has AO for "pets". I have seen a couple of human forms that move like Cats, for example.

I make and will eventually sell (if I get round to it) quad ponies, as does Wynx Whiplash (I think - also probably spelled wrong, sorry!) - the tiny ones have jointless legs, which because they're quite short still appear to move nicely. Mine have legs which move at the hips and knees and are much longer. Both use an animation override which puts you in the position (on all fours) and then animates the arms and legs to move as a horse does, replacing stand, walk, run etc.

So you need the animations to move correctly, a script or AO to replace your movements with the new animations, and prims worn to create those new legs. It's a whole big pile of work. If you're really interested IM me in world and I'll be happy to show you, say, the walking animation with and without prims, so you can see how the different parts move. How to make the animations and the avatar - that'll take a bit of research on your part If you're not already familiar with anims, have a browse through that forum, there's loads of useful threads there.

EDIT - to add my animations actually raise the avatar above the ground to the right height so the lower legs, tail etc don't sink into the ground. The hip height is something you'll have to consider for your quad anims.