A little teaser:

 

 

Downloads (Classic Rigging)

workbench-271.blend Blender 2.71
workbench-265.blend Blender 2.65
workbench-263.blend Blender 2.63
workbench-260.blend Blender 2.60
workbench-1.1.blend Blender 2.5
workbench-249b-1.1.blend Blender 2.49b

Note: Newer Workbench files should work on older Blender Versions.

Note: The workbench comes as it is. We do not provide any kind of support for it.

Important: For Fitted Mesh Rigging you must use Blender 2.70 or newer, see here:

 Important: Use the Female Skeleton also for Male characters!

Please take a look at our Avastar Addon

Bento meshes: (without any warranty)

 Note:

I have not added male versions because i first need to know what you need. Please let me know how you want them. With modified skeleton, or male mesh adjusted to female skeleton or anything else… ?

I realise that i have no idea how to make a male Avatar without Avastar.

Short User Manual:

The workbench adds some nice to have features (please explore by yourself):

  • A Female SL character with default female Rig
  • A MakeHuman character, fully rigged, weighted and adapted to the SL-clothing textures is also embedded
  • A male SL Character (works reasonable well since workbench 2.71)
  • The pose library now contains a relaxed pose. (workbench-263 and newer)

since workbench 271

I use 6 layers for nicer organisation:

Layer 1: The Head, UpperBody and LowerBody of the SL-default female Avatar

Layer 2: The MakeHuman Avatar, also separated into Head,UpperBody and LowerBody.

Layer 3: The SL-Male armature, Head, UpperBody and LowerBody of the SL-default male Avatar

Layer 6: The skirt-, eyes- and hair- templates of the female SL-Avatar

Layer 11: The The SL-Female armature.

Layer 12: The same armature

Layer 13: the armature used for the Male character. Note: This is essentially the same armature as the female armature. The Male mesh has been adjusted accordingly. When you later enable “male” in your SL shape, then the imported mesh should snap to the correct shape.

up to workbench 265

I use 5 layers for nicer organisation:

Layer 1: The Head, UpperBody and LowerBody of the SL-default female Avatar

Layer 2: The MakeHuman Avatar, also separated into Head,UpperBody and LowerBody.

Layer 3: The SL-Male armature, Head, UpperBody and LowerBody of the SL-default male Avatar (since workbench-265)

Layer 6: The skirt-, eyes- and hair- templates of the SL-Avatar

Layer 9: The control empties from avatar.blend (removed in workbench-263)

Layer 10: The SL-Female armature.

  • I have cleaned the meshes. The Weights have been slightly optimized for the feet.
  • I added the missing mFootLeft and mFootRight vertex groups

You can combine all layers as you like (use SHIFT select to select multiple layers at once).

Create a tiny (or giant):

  • select the armature in object mode
  • scale the armature to the desired size (1 Blender Unit = 1 SL Meter)
  • Object -> Apply -> Scale (for the asrmature)
  • Select Armature AND Mesh
  • Export the selection
  • Import the dae to SL with weights and joints

Create a still pose (statue):

  • Select the armature
  • Go to pose mode
  • Pose your character
  • go to object mode
  • switch to the Modifier stack (in the properties window)
  • Apply the armature modifier
  • Export your mesh
  • Import the mesh as static (no weights no joints)

The beginning (avatar.blend)

Since the avatar.blend file uses the original data, the models and armatures and weights in avatar.blend are 100% identical to what the SL viewer used by the time when it was created. However the Mesh specification has never changed.
Hence the original avatar.blend can still be used as a reference model of the avatar definition for SL, OpenSim and similar online worlds. You can download avatar.blend from Domino Designs.Since avatar.blend is so useful for any kind of clothing creations and meanwhile also for mesh avatar creations, we have improved this file over the years to make it easier for users to get started with Avatar creations:

The present (avatar-workbench.blend)

The avatar-workbench.blend is fully based on avatar.blend and it adds some convenience features. The detailed descriptions of the added features can be found further down in this article.
We we meanwhile provide a variety of versions, each one has been optimized for a newer Blender release, see below. We recommend to use the workbench that matches best to the Blender version that you intend to use.