Coming to Terms With My Animation Overrider

Written 7 December, 2007

Coming To Terms with My Animation Overrider

I just hate it when avies wear Animation Overrides that spam the chat with bright red script errors.

ZHAO AO: CAN’T FIND “BREZEZVSKY’S SUPER_STUDLY-I’M-ALL-THAT SLOUCH_SITTX019-B”
ZHAO AO: CAN’T FIND “BREZEZVSKY’S SUPER_STUDLY-I’M-ALL-THAT NINJA_STANDX018
-C”

ZHAO AO: CAN’T FIND “BREZEZVSKY’S SUPER_STUDLY-I’M-ALL-THAT JACKOFF_POSE099-X”

When an avi has two or three of those improperly stuffed AOs together, it’s impossible to converse through the bleedings words on the screen. I just want to grab those stupid avis and shake them until the stuffing falls out, all the while screaming “Turn that damn thing off!”

I’m like, how do those folks put up with their own AOs?

I mean, if they don’t mute their AOs, they’ll have a hard time reading Chat. And if they don’t mute their AOs, they’ll never know they aren’t finding the designated anims and their avies are reverting to newbie poses.

And what would their role-playing vampire buddies think of them in newbie poses?

Or maybe I’m the only one see that red spam. No one else ever seems to mention it.

Awhile back, Sweetie and I succumbed to hype and bought expensive AOs—the best in Second Life, it was claimed. I won’t mention any names—Oh, what the hell, JK Lab.

The JK AOs came with a lot of cards, but the animations were crappy. Neither of us are using the JKs. In fact, sweetie, after 16 months in SL, doesn’t use an AO at all. I admire her for it and I love the way her avi moves. I wish my avi would move like that without an animation override. Then I could wear prim nails!

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What is an animation overrider? Glad you asked. It’s a gadget you wear on your body or on your HUD. When activated, it will replace the default Linden animations (like the newbie waddle) with custom poses.

Properly configured, AOs give avi’s patterns of movement appropriate for their character and situations. They make for a more sophisticated presentation, and can add sex appeal.

Properly configured. Properly configured. Properly configured. But 99% of AOs are NOT properly configured. They make avatars stand and move like sex-starved meerkats or hyperkinetic jack-in-the-boxes.

I realized a while back that there are two types of AOs. One is worn on the body and responds to chat. That’s why you’re always seeing people type “AO on” and “AO off.” That type is called, I believe, the Framation Overrider.

The second type is worn on the HUD, usually collapsed to a small rectangle in the corner of the screen that can be opened to give various options for loading notecards or selecting specific sits and stands. That type is called the ZHAO, short for Ziggy's Animation Overrider. The ZHAO is based on the Framation Overrider.

The trick with both types is to find poses you really like, stuff them inside the AO, and list them accurately on a notecard so the Animation Overrider will know when to use them (and won’t clutter the screen with script warnings!)

It’s as simple as that.

You can prepare any number of notecards, each set up uniquely, either for general purposes or for some specific purpose. You might have, for instance, a notecard with flirty poses, and another with tough grrl poses, and another with model poses, and yet another with mermaid poses, and yet another with a variety of poses for everyday standing, flying, sitting, and swimming.

When the time comes to be a tough grrl or a model or a flirt or a mermaid, you just load the appropriate card and the anims come into play.

I prefer the HUD AOs, as they’re small on your screen and don’t contribute to lag because they’re not constantly listening to chat. It’s easier and less embarrassing to reach up and touch the off button than it is to type, perhaps at a wedding ceremony, “AO off.” And it’s easier to change cards at a moment’s notice.

When I was new in world I picked up a free AO (the type you wear). But soon I purchased Sensual Casanova’s AO, which I’ve been using since. It came with decent poses, and I stuffed it with some nice stands. It got me through my first year.

Recently, Sweetie and I tried on our JB AOs. She gave up on hers, leaving it on the floor in the House of 1000 Pleasures. I quit on mine too, and for the same reason—many poses were pre-loaded, but I wouldn’t allow my avi to be caught dead in most of them.

But it did get me motivated. I got to work on my Sensual Designs AO (made by Sensual Casanova). I got rid of the Luth stand pose that was driving me nuts (Luth makes BEAUTIFUL poses, but the start and end with a jerk, which makes them nonuseful in AOs) and replaced it with another stand.

Then I added a variety of nice sits and ground sits, getting rid of the freebie defaults.

When I was sure my AO was bug-free (or, rather, that my notecard was configured properly) I made a second card and stuffed it with model poses.

I can easily switch between the two notecards, going from everyday poses to poses that are a bit over-the-top.

I feel I’ve finally come to terms with my AO.

Photos: ZHAO Animation Overrider, Open and Closed (at upper left)