How to stop your avatar's head from moving
Posted on: September 24, 2008It's important when you're doing photo shoots and have problems focusing/staying still. Some animations override head motion, but not all. I get asked this a fair amount and decided to go to super-knowledgeable developer, Richard Linden. He Enlightens us:
There isn't a debug option to turn off head tracking. The simplest fix is to play a looping animation that touches those joints (pelvis, torso, and head) with a high priority. Those debug settings are only there to control how fast the camera moved when in mouselook.
There you have it. And he's referring to are Advanced menu > Debug Settings' "YawFromMousePosition" and "PitchFromMousePosition".
I haven't made such a looping animation (yet), but if you have it inworld or as a .BVH file, it'd be a great resource to share! Let me know.
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September 24th, 2008 at 10:26 AM PDT
Won't that sort of loop override whatever animation you're currently playing though?
My super simple fix (forgot where I heard it) is to right click an attachment and Edit it. It freezes all motion on your av, including the eyeballs. The edit glow doesn't show in the picture (not sure if that's a setting or a default though), and you can move your camera around as much as you want without screwing up the pose.
What I normally do is make a small eyeball tracker prim and use it to get my eyes pointing the right direction, then just click on my hair or something.
September 24th, 2008 at 1:16 PM PDT
I just insert the value 0 and my head isn't moving anymore
September 24th, 2008 at 3:30 PM PDT
Made the animation as described in the post:
http://slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=921854
September 24th, 2008 at 7:19 PM PDT
@Annyka: It won't override other joints, and priorities should be set correctly. OH AND THANKS for mentioning that workaround, I spread that around earlier but failed to mention it here. My appreciation is yours — caveat is that it works when you're viewing *yourself*, but others still see you moving.
@Alvi: Value 0 for what? Those Debug Settings didn't work as I expected.
@Latif: THANKS! I hope to check it out firsthand soon.
September 25th, 2008 at 5:21 AM PDT
I use modeling pose animations. Haven't had movement issues in ages. Not even eye movements. I used to have these issues before I discovered the mystery of the pose ball. There is some free pose ball script code on the website but I'm lazy and bought one for L$99 that allows for around 126 poses in it and shift-arrow keys to cycle through. Apparently this works well since I installed them (and lots of expensive poses rofl) in all the photo spots in the public photo garden and that place is busy 24*7. Feel free to stop in and use the place. After all it is *free*.
September 26th, 2008 at 12:24 PM PDT
I zoom in the avatar then he stops looking everywhere and looks straight forward. For me this is the simpler way. It's free and it works.
Of course, if the animation moves the head, this won't work. Just overwriting it with another that stills the head and the neck.
Just don't focus elsewhere but the avatar.
;D
September 28th, 2008 at 7:09 AM PDT
@Fyltreon: I do that too in simpler situations, but the problem comes in advanced modeling shoots (and such) where looking elsewhere at times is needed.
It feels liberating to be able to move your camera around and watch the photographer and other models without fear your head will suddenly crane up, or something.