Static Poses

Time for Part 3 of my Second Life animation series - Static Poses. 

But They Don't Move!

Yes, I know, they shouldn't be called 'animated' if they're static, but they work exactly the same way as the Sit Animations and Animation Overrides. You drop them in an object with a script, and sit on them to pose your avatar. 

Static poses are perfect for Second Life photography, and I use them a lot. Check out my Flickr and Primfeed pages for examples. And then everybody else's, because there are some amazing scenes out there.

Ways Static Poses Are Used

• In A Poseball -  One pose stored inside a simple sphere with a script. Right click and sit; the ball disappears and your avatar is in the pose. 
• In A Stand - basically a rug or tiny platform, with buttons or a menu to shift you from pose to pose. In the photo above, I am using a stand by pose maker Pixit. I can click on it to make it disappear when I am ready to take a photo.
• In A Handheld Object - this is an object that you hold, like a phone, mug, package, purse, etc. Right click it in your Inventory and select 'add,' like you do with clothing and hair, and it will appear on your body, while your body assumes the pose inside the object. They usually work over your AO.
• In Furniture - Static poses are the same thing as Sit animations, so they can also be used in furniture.  People prefer animated poses in their furniture in Second Life, so you won't find them there very often.

There's Poses Everywhere

I could list my favorite pose shops, but what I like might be completely different from what you need. I lean towards action and activity poses, while a clothing maker might need more subtle poses that clearly show off their products. Some shops specialize in feminine style poses, others only do masculine styles.  

I will say I'm more likely to buy from a store that has in world demo stands. Shop around on Marketplace. Click on the store's name under a listing, and check the upper left hand corner of the next page to see if they have an in-world store. Be sure to try them out in person if you can! Some poses may not work as well if your avatar is not a traditional shape and size.  For instance, my avatars, Aggi (female) and Rowan (male), are the same height, intentionally.  Most couples poses have the female avatar much shorter than the male, so I have to be careful with my selections or else it looks odd.

Static Poses Stack!

You can use multiple animation files with your avatar to get that perfect positioning. All animation files can be set up so that they only control certain body parts. The rest of the body's positioning gets determined by your AO, or whatever other animation you want.  These are mainly used for the face, hands, and in handheld objects. 

For example, In the photo on the left, I am still using the Pixit pose stand from the first photo, but now I am also wearing a 'handheld' object - a gift set of balloons from the store 'Extra.' 

The Balloons were designed to only animate one hand to make the object look realistic, and given a higher priority number when created so that it overrides other animations.

Awesome Tools

These are some of the tools that I use with static poses to take the perfect picture. Please note I am not being paid to advertise, I am just a satisfied customer.

• WAG Pose Stand
• This low cost, easy to use pose stand is great for when I can't decide which pose to use.  I make copies of the stand, and load each one up with different types of poses. 
• Examples: One stand just for 'sitting-in-chairs' poses, another for a collection of 'dramatic hands' poses, or poses that are decidedly masculine. All's you have to do is drag and drop the animations into the stand - the script is already in it.  You can also adjust the colors, touch it to make it invisible, and move the arrow buttons so they're easier to reach.
• Instant Poseball Script
• This free, simple little script on the outworldz.com website is great for when I do figure out what pose I want to use.  I create a sphere, drop the script in, along with my chosen animation, and then sit on it. I can rename it whatever I want within the script, which is helpful for when you have multiple people in a scene.
• Camera Lock HUD
• When preparing a scene for a photo, you will have a pretty clear idea of what angle you want to shoot from, but you'll have to adjust your camera position frequently as you get everything ready.  This HUD saves that angle. Add it to your avatar. Once you get it in the right place, you click the 'save' button, and then you click the 'use' button. Now, you can freely reposition your camera to whatever you need to look at. Every time you hit escape on your keyboard, your camera view will return to that same saved location, rather than the default. Remove the HUD to go back to the default camera angle.
• Mobile Studio Pro 
• If it's just you, you can right click on an animation and select 'play inworld' or 'play locally' to pose your avatar anywhere you go.  However, if you want to pose someone else with one of your poses, you have to have rezzing rights on a property to place a poseball, or use this HUD.  You can grant permission to another avatar to use the poses you've preloaded into it. Note - it does not work that great for couples poses, as you need to be able to stand in the right place in order to line them up. 
• Lelutka Axis HUD
• They're famous for their heads, and have easy to use HUD for expressions, but not everyone has a Lelutka head, and sometimes you just want to adjust an expression a bit more. This not only lets you easily make those expressions, but the expressions of up to three of your 'closest' friends. The HUD will ask permission of the selected person within your vicinity, and then you can make changes on their faces. It works on any mesh head or mesh eyes - including Bespoke.  It's pricy, but worth it if you have take a lot of expressive photos of multiple avatars.

If you know of more special HUDS and features, please comment below! I want to try them all.

A Few Posing Tricks In The Firestorm Browser

Drag Your Avatar Around

Sometimes, you want to be in a very specific spot to take a photo, but it's not easy to get there by walking or turning. It's possible to turn your avatar into a moveable object in the Firestorm Viewer. Sorry about the lack of illustration, I don't have video recording capability, and nothing special shows up when you do this.

• Turn on Developer Mode:
•  Go to the Avatar menu/Preferences/Advanced
•  Check 'Show Developer Menu (use at your own risk!).' 
• Click OK. 
• There will now be a Developer menu in your row of tabs at the top of the screen.
• 
  
• Go to the Developer Menu, and click on 'Avatar,' 'Character Tests', and 'Allow Select Avatar.'
• Nothing will appear to happen. That's normal.
• Remove all handhelds, and stand up from any object you are sitting on.
• Now, right click on something, anything, it doesn't matter, and select 'edit'
• Once your editor menu is open, click on your Avatar's NAME, the text hovering above your Avatar.  
• You should get positioning arrows, and when you click and drag on them, your whole avatar will move with it.  

Some Notes:

• If you need to rotate your avatar, hold down the CTRL key on your keyboard, and your position arrows will change to rotation arrows. Release the CTRL key when you're done turning.
• Keep the Edit window open. When you close it, your avatar will revert back to the location you started in.
• Don't try to sit on a pose stand or use a handheld. Instead, right click on an animation in your Inventory and select either Play in World or Play Locally.

Making Your Own Poses

It is possible to make your own poses in-world for other people to use, and I will cover that in a future post.  Probably three future posts, because it's a little different in every viewer.  

But for the moment, the last few releases of the Firestorm Browser now have a Poser feature under Avatar.  I am very excited about this.  It allows you to position your avatar in any pose the body can handle, including the face and hands. 

There are some limitations to this feature, namely that no one else can see the pose you make, or use those poses. They are solely for taking photos of your own Avatar. You can save poses you've made, but only your avatar can use them. It is still fantastic for custom poses and making slight adjustments to a pose you're already using.