Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
12.4 ANIMATING YOUR AVATAR
In a 3D world, the animations that move our avatars are actually a sequence of coordinates or “positions” for
the skeleton inside the mesh surface of our virtual bodies. Like a puppeteer, the animation iles (Biovision
Hierarchy or BVH format in Second Life and OpenSim) move our bodies and give the avatar a sense of life.
The most basic of these is called the “idle” animation. You see this when the avatars are standing, shifting
their weight, crossing their arms, and so on. Watch closely, and you will see it cycle as the animation plays
through a loop. If you decide to walk your avatar somewhere and press the Up Arrow key to send the avatar
off, the idle loop stops, and the walk cycle begins. This is another loop, which repeats for as long as you
are walking. Should you decide to ly, another animation kicks in as your avatar moves up in the air. Most
people who have been in Second Life for a while will opt out of using the standard animations and wear an
animation override (known as AO) on their avatar. These are attached prims, or head-up displays (HUDs)
that contain a group of animations and possibly a screen menu for selecting them. For the record, anima-
tions should not be confused with gestures. Gestures can contain animation iles, but they will also contain
sounds and text messages. These are social tokens in virtual worlds and are often created to be given away
and shared with a group.
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The quick-and-easy way to obtain animations for your avatar is to buy them. The Second Life Marketplace
has a large selection, and if you are in OpenSim, there are several websites that have free collections of basic
animations. Maria Korolov keeps an OpenSim vendor directory list on her virtual worlds newsletter site,
Hypergrid Business (http://www.hypergridbusiness.com/).
If you need a special animation, you can hand make your animations with the free software QAvimator
(http://qavimator.org/). Mixamo also sells animations tailored speciically to the Second Life avatar, which
you can create (http://www.mixamo.com/motions) and download as Biovision animation (BVH) iles for
use in Second Life or OpenSim. Due to the differences in skeletons and rigging, you cannot use the same
skeleton and animations in Unity that you utilize in Second Life.
12.5 WHAT ARE NONPLAYER CHARACTERS?
Nothing makes a real country or virtual world more interesting than its peoples. In the virtual worlds of
Second Life or OpenSim, real people come together as avatars to represent their cultures and aesthetic inter-
ests simultaneously across a virtual landscape. By doing this, they create a fascinating mosaic of virtual
environments, pulsing with the sounds and sights of their collective creative imaginations. Despite high num-
bers of visitor concurrency, many popular user-built virtual environments experience the “crowded empty
paradox” [5], the emptiness of vast structures echoing with few visitors and the false perception that no one
is there. To be sure, some design changes could be added to the architecture and planning of these regions,
social centers could be added, and entertainment venues provided as a possible antidote to the lack of a crowd.
Another excellent way to enliven these empty spaces is with nonplayer characters (NPCs), who can serve
as “ambassadors” to your virtual environment, providing the visitor with a point of contact, a guide to your
region, and information about you and your creations.
NPCs provide us with the artiicial life forms that add an extra dynamic to the environment; they give it a
“heartbeat” if you will. The virtual environment designer's task is to make an environment that will support
an NPC population and enhance the immersive game play experience for the player. A virtual world designer
must recognize and capitalize on the human need to communicate and interact.
