we talk with sam watts from makereal3d gdc, vrdc, looking from the outside [in this case brighton in the uk] in [the valley!] and of course we will dissect the official sansar promo video!
enjoy:
more stuff to read up on and look at while you listen:
- new sansar vid, this time it is OFFICIAL [and not just drax made!]:
- our guest sam connects vr with the real world:
- nice wrap up = liv erickson about her first gdc:
- vr fan event in hifi: can you spot the draxtor?
- linden’s at gdc/vrdc
- new sl homepage – good start?
- a trip back into the past – william gibson in sl:
- second life resident bri hasp has passed away…
the drax files radio hour [with jo yardley] is a weekly production of basicdrax entertainment.
the show is supported by time portal, slartist, warbug, bay city you know for kids, zero-one heavy industries corporation, hextraordinary, ionic, maven homes, gizza creations, botanical, strawberry singh, abranimations, aeros avatars, kahruvel design, the cube republic, {what next}, landscapes unlimited, fallen gods incorporated and death row designs.
thumbnail by justin esparza
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the drax files radio hour 
In defense of LL, lip syncing, because of latency, is difficult to be perfect. Even animation wise, it’s difficult because RL talking happens extremely fast. Why the eyes don’t blink is baffling to me also, as it is a very key component to making avatars seem real. There were 2 things that struck me about the avatars. With all the talk about lighting and materials, the avatars looked very flat, in 3D lighting terms. The other part was the lack of physics and believable hair. Yeah, I know these things are very difficult to stream and causes much lag, but this makes the sansar avatars not better than SL, especially since we have Bento now. Would, at least, be cool to give them dedicated bones just for hair. Then again, it makes me wonder if these are custom avatars, or if Sansar even has an avatar customization system at all.
As far as the new look of the SL website and those things, yeah looks better, but it’s a bit crazy to wait weeks for things to comeback, and it kind of looks bad for it to be under construction for so long. Plus, it seem strange the order of importance that they are coming online. Like, why Knowledge Base first?
Gotta say something about HF and the Power Rangers video stuff. HF seriously needs to work on their avatar system more. I really don’t understand why HF is promoting all this stuff when basic things around the avatar are so bad. None of them blinked, at least that I saw, and it was way scarier than the Sansar avatars. Why are the hands like they are? If you are going to not have fingers moving, at least pick a decent relaxed pose for the hands. Overall, those avatars are disturbing. Even the IK system for the arms is crazy weird. Maybe they need to set limits on how far the bones can rotate relative to each other. They need to step back and look at their avatars more objectively, instead of being just geeked out by them. Sorry, I might seem a bit harsh, but like I said, it’s kind of disturbing.
I tend to agree with the HiFi avatars and it also highlights an old problem: while it was really cool to hang in-world with a crazy assortment of friends once this stuff is broadcast on YouTube to people who have NO CLUE what is going on >>>> their perception is a simple and understandable WTF? HiFi has tremendous freedom to create avatars because they can be brought in from anywhere so you have semi photorealistic/scanned people and then cartoonish looking avatars. The BIG challenge to translate what a free and open virtual world with that kind of colorful array means in terms of empowering people is HUGE and I am NOT sure it has gotten any easier than from the early days of SL when all my friends and family said: “O M G this is the weirdest s**** I have ever seen….”
Photo realistic avatars that move like marionettes is very strange.Had my sl avatar moved in this way, I would never have stayed so long. Immersion hinges on the look and feel of ones avatar. Thankfully SL got that right early in it’s development. HIFI have not. Lets see if Sansar can do better. I doubt it. Sometimes more is less.
Thank you for commemorating Bri in the show. Means a lot to me.