A call for feedback

Huge Avatar Update incoming!

It’s been a fair bit of silence from me, but now it’s time for some updates! For some time now I’ve had the idea of putting my avatars on a common standard, with support for more mesh bodies, more features etc, since over time the contents and quality of my avatars evolved. So I’ve taken the gryphon, dragon, tiger, fox & wolf avatars and standardized them, as well as gave the latter two a sizable overhaul!

Since this doesn’t sound awfully exciting by itself, let’s dive into what’s new:

  • More mesh body support – the avatar kits now support all Slink, Signature and the Legacy female bodies. This means seamless digilegs, the appropriate appliers etc. – This should more than double the amount of bodies these avs are compatible with!
  • New claws & Pawpads – all claws/pawpads are no longer textured on but now are modeled and customizeable, across all hands, feet, digilegs, as well as wings, where applicable. You can texture, tint and show/hide individual parts as needed on them! These claws and pads will also be available as a separate product, though are by default sold with any of the new kits.
  • Better appliers – The PsiCorp, Omega and Maitreya appliers have been merged into one HUD, with Legacy HUDs also included in the box now. This makes applying textures a quick and easy experience, and ensures all avatars now come with appliers for all supported bodies. Ontop of that, more bodies get the androgynous texture option, for those brands that support flat-chested addons.
  • Head improvements – besides general fixes, all heads received new eyelashes, which come in 4 styles that can be switched via the HUD, as well as hidden if needed. The universal neck standard is now also supported, allowing for a truly seamless neck connection on all bodies that support it. Also, the “hole around the eyes” bug is gone for good now!
  • Better standalone heads – all standalone heads are now better positioned to work alone, with better head HUDs, full texture appliers etc.
  • Adjustable tails and wings – if you find your tail or wings do not sit quite correct on your body, you now can adjust their positions somewhat via the HUD! Also, tail sizes have been standardized, no more male/female wings or tails, all kits now come with small, medium and large versions of them.
  • Standardized digilegs – All digilegs now use the new UV layout that the most recent avs employ, using the SL leg texture down to the ankle, and a custom UV for the foot portion. Digilegs are virtually seamless on all supported third party bodies as well!
  • Rigged eyes – finally all updated avs will have rigged eyes, allowing them to seamlessly scale alongside the head slider, as well as having the side effect of reduced script usage.
  • Unpack HUDs – with all the new items in the box, I transitioned to unpack HUDs, which will allow you to pick the gender of choice, followed by the desired mesh body you want to use, but also offer one-click shortcuts to the blog, discord, SL group, helpdesk and twitter.
  • Updated HUDs – new functions aside, all HUDs have been updated to the new, cleaner style, resulting in a much easier to read experience. Also they have been un-merged from the Core Nova HUD, to declutter, improve performance, and remove options that just were confusing to third party body users.
  • Better macro kits – Macro kits now come with more items, proper earless heads, standardized and adjustable tails and wings etc.

The actual changelog is longer still, if you’re interested in even more detail, check out this link!

Beyond these improvements, the wolves and foxes got some special attention. Being the oldest out of the bunch, they received extra care and attention ontop of all the other changes:

  • Reworked the head – updates to the general shape of the head, jaw and eyes, and an improved highpoly base, aka better normal maps, resulting in a much more defined and appealing look.
  • Texture updates – textures were essentially redone from scratch, and shaded with the more subtle setup found on newer avatars.
  • Other improvements – The tail received some love, fixing the somewhat glitchy shading, teeth were updated as well to make them fit better against each other, remove clipping and generally integrate it better with the mouth.
  • Animation tweaks – facial animations were overhauled, adding some expressiveness and adjusting for the new facial shape.

Please note that I kept all the UV maps the same, /except/ the digileg feet. Since wolf and fox still used the old style digilegs, these had to get updated. If you have / sell any mods that make use of my digilegs, please be sure to update the textures accordingly! However anything involving the head or tail textures will work as before, no UV map alterations have been made there!

With that out of the way, how and when can you get your hands on them?

As for the how, once they are released, you will be able to visit any inworld location and use a Caspervend redelivery terminal to receive your items. If you are buying new, please be aware that due to the significant increase in stuff you get with each kit now, the kit price will be increasing from 800 to 950L$ to account for all the extra parts that had to be made!

As for the when, we plan to have a couple of release parties again, at the following times and places:

  • Saturday, September 4th at noon SLT – The Ark
  • Sunday, September 5th at noon SLT – Containment

As always, me and my fiancee will be attending as well and showing off the updates, as well as be there should you have any questions!

Also, due to the sheer size of the release – essentially touching every item for five whole avatars – I do expect there to exist some potentia bugs, despite my best efforts at testing everything I can. If you find any, please be sure to report it on psicorp.freshdesk.com so that I collect any issues and get them fixed!

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