Thirty-one blaxxun Avatar Studio Tips 1. After exporting your avatar, you can refine and further customize the jpeg texture file in Photoshop. Save a backup copy of the jpeg in a separate folder case you need to start over. Avoid changing areas near seams and try to keep changes subtle. When you're happy with it, save it in the same folder as the corresponding .wrl file and make sure they have the same name such as Myavatar.jpg and Myavatar.wrl. 2. In the clothing/skin pattern dialog box, keep scrolling right to see all of your options. Notice that there is a transparency adjustment slider. 3. Once you have experimented with the basic features of blaxxun Avatar Studio, try creating a likeness of yourself, a friend, a celebrity, a fictional character or a historic character. 4. Be creative! Use customized proportions, colors, hairstyles, clothing and accessories in unusual ways to make your avatar really unique. 5. You can import your own face image to replace the default in blaxxun Avatar Studio. Start with a good clear frontal face photo. In Photoshop, edit it to be as symmetrical as possible. Crop the border as close as you can around the eyes, nose and mouth area. Extend the cheeks and chin to the outer edges with a smooth matching skin color. Save it as a jpeg in the blaxxun Avatar Studio Photos folder with a file name you'll remember. In blaxxun Avatar Studio, open the Picture dialog and select Import. Select your photo by name. In the picture window, move the geometry points to line up all of the facial features as closely as possible to the photo. Click on Update to see the results. You can still make adjustments until it looks right. It's tricky, but with some practice you can get it to line up correctly. Finally, you can adjust the facial proportions to further refine your likeness. 6. For unusual non-human characters, you can apply any of the decorative clothing patterns directly to the skin of your avatar in the SKIN dialog. Experiment with the color and transparency sliders until you get an effect you like. 7. You can use the default animated gestures or create your own custom gestures and save them for use with any new avatar you make. 8. When creating an animated gesture, make sure that the first and last of the nine keyframes are identical for a smooth looping animation. 9. When creating an animated gesture, you can move the entire avatar up, down, left, right, back or forth from its central position by selecting the central abdomen area on the schematic display and dragging the avatar wherever you want to place it in the active keyframe. 10. It's pretty easy to make normal-looking avatars with Avatar Studio, but challenge yourself by pushing the limits of the controls to see how unusual you can make your avatar.
11. Try interchanging female and male hair, clothing and accessories for additional options. For example, an old wizard might look better with long gray hair from the female hairstyle selections and a beard from the male selections. 12. Notice that certain clothing combinations may or may not be possible. For example, some jackets will work over t-shirts, but not always over buttoned shirts. 13. Notice that some facial controls can affect others. For example, changing the overall width or height of the head can restrict or exaggerate the nose shape controls. 14. Notice that you can remove garments by dragging them off the figure or simply replace them by clicking on a new selection. 15. Avatar Studio has ten slots for default animations. If you save an animation that you like with the file suffix .lil (for female avatars) or .jim (for male avatars) then it will automatically become one of the default animations the next time you use Avatar Studio. 16. You can modify an existing animation and save it with a different file name without losing the original animation. For example, you could start with a basic walk and turn it into walk-wave.
17. For realistic looking animation, keep the weight of the character in mind. For example, bend the knees and keep the feet flat on the ground at the lowest point of a jump. 18. Remember that any animated gesture you save can be used with any future avatar. However, it might need to be slightly modified if used for avatars of very different proportions. 19. Notice that some garments have length and width controls as well as basic colors and patterns. 20. Notice that hairstyles have controls for length, width, and fringe (bangs), as well as the usual control for colors. 21. Notice that some garments like stockings have transparency controls as well as the usual color controls. 22. Notice that hats have height controls for exact placement on the head. 23. If you don't have time to finish your avatar in one sitting, you can still save it and come back to it later. 24. Remember to rotate your avatar when designing it so you can see how the changes look from all angles. 25. You can copy animation keypoints anywhere in the nine keypoint slots by dragging the number from on position to another. 26. You can delete unwanted animation keypoints by right mouse clicking on the number. 27. Experiment with the animation rotation controls and see how the small arrow rotates body parts on the x and y axes, while the large arrow rotates body parts on the z axis. 28. When animating, be careful to avoid having body parts bend or intersect in unrealistic ways. 29. Notice that some beards and moustaches have transparency controls as well as the usual color controls. 30. Use the speed control slider in the animation box to adjust the play speed of your animated gesteure. 31. Toggle the single play switch in the animation box to the loop switch to test continuous animation.