I know this post may seem like we're jumping ahead when it comes to building your Second Life Avatar (and I promise we're covering skins and hairs soon) but this is an important topic that I feel I should cover. It's going to be easier to explain now while I'm working on an ao than it will be later when I'm not constructing.
What exactly is an AO, also known as animation override? An AO is a series of animations loaded into an item we will call a hud. The hud houses a script or series of scripts that will read a note card that lists the animations loaded into the hud. I know for a fact that some of the second life viewers have AO capabilities built right into them, unfortunately I don't use a viewer like that so we will be looking at a easier to access way to construct an AO in world.
For this demonstration I am going to be showing you how to build a mixed animation AO in a ZHAO II hud. For those of you worried about script count, this is a favorable option because it only houses 2 scripts. For those of you with more experience in Second Life, I'm sure by now you know that there are a large number of variations of AO huds available for use. My preferred one is the Alchemy 4 Hud available from Sinful Needs. But in all honesty, for a beginning character this may be a bit difficult to process. But what we are going through today is applicable to most if not all AO's.
First thing you want to do is collect a variety of animations that you enjoy in world. I have a fairly large collection of animations, as you can see in this picture, some are dances and some are full ao's. A pre-made ao is not a bad thing. You can use one if you like it, but I find that mixing together animations makes for a more interesting character to watch in world. I have a soft spot for an in world animation store called Creative Insanity, and I also enjoy Tuty's. Oracul AO's get a lot of good talk up as well so remember to look around. Collect animations from different places, and don't be afraid to get more than one AO at a store to pull the animations from, it can be cheaper this route if you like a number of animations in a set.
A default note card is what you're going to find when you put down your Zhao II and open it up. It looks like this.
This listing shows the type of overrides that are available, as well as shows you the type of classifications you're going to find when you look at animations to create your unique AO. There is also a card labeled "READ ME", do. If you don't have a simple Zhao, this note card will explain how to make sure your ao will be configured correctly.
Why does it have so many classifications? To be blunt, avatars just don't walk and sit and stand still. People like to see them do other things, like wiggle and skip, fly and run. Some avatars are even expected to be able to swim!
If you look at the list here you can see some of the animation names in the Bunny Girl AO that I bought at Tuty's.
If you notice there's a large number of animations with similar names. It's advisable to go through each one and preview it in world. by doing an in world preview you can decide if it's an animation that you'd like to have in your AO or not. Many AO's also come with a variety of sits designed for avatars of different heights. In the case of my avatar I use the tall animations.
My default card ends up looking like this by the time I am done.
As you can see there are a large number of animations on my card. What is nice with the Zhao II hud is that it has a random choice button for the stands, so you don't need to hand organize them. Make sure that you put copies of your animations listed on your card into your Zhao before trying to wear it, or it won't work. Check your list multiple times to make sure that your animations are loaded and then reset the script. You should be ready to use your customized AO now. So attach, make sure the button is green, if it is you should be moving now, or pulling a pose if that's what your animations call for your avatar to do.
Hopefully this short look at AO's is helpful for you. It's not a hard thing to do, it's just time consuming. Retyping animation names into the note card needs to be done carefully, because even a difference in the capitalization of a letter can render something un-found by the hud.
Thank you for your attention, and have fun in SL! Hope to see you around.
~Tia~
