Tutorial #7: The Artiste Mover – Part 2 – Method #2

In Tutorial #6 I introduced you to our long-standing unique simplified approach to implementing object and avatar movement.

This tutorial will introduce you to our new Advanced Mover System.aka Method #2.

This method uses what we call “markers” to create a “route” of movement. It is meant to add visual acuity to lengthier routines as well as routines that include more than 1 route for either extra objects/avatars or for just 1 avatar traversing more than one route via sit-2-sit (Palette transfer);

Controller – You rez a Controller. The Controller controls creating, adding, and inserting markers plus other features. Controllers now match the color or their ‘”markers”.

There are 8 colors of Controllers and their matching Markers that match the Palette names(A-H). It is intended that colors be used to distinguish between object or avatar routes. But nothing prevents you from using more than 1 color to represent more than 1 route for a given object or avatar Palette(mover).

There are 3 types of Markers. as opposed to the traditional 1 type. I chose to distingusish the first and last marker with a different textured-face for easy locating. The maximum markers you can have is 11. This allows for 10 move-turn pairs for a given Controller. That is one Palettes(movers) worth of moves.

So you could have 1 First Marker, 1 Last Marker(at a minimum) and from 0 to 9 Normal Markers. You don’t have to worry about determining them. Their creation and choice is automatic when you create or add or insert markers.

=========

The following illustration shows how we can get an additiona 10 move-pairs for a total of 20 move-pairs using the same color. After 20, we would need to use an additonal color. 20 requires 2 Palettes(movers). We would use Sit-2-SIt Palette Transfer during runtime to seemlessly transition between the 2 Palettes thus creating an illusion of 20-move-turn pairs. Lets hope this more than suffices most of your needs but know that the number of possible moves is technically infinite using Sit-2-Sit.

I think I will keep this post short. And let these key elements sink in. I hope the visuals give you some idea of what your experience would be like as well as a more informed basis for which to consider whether it suits your current or future needs.

Next tutorial I will talk about the Artiste Turn. A seemingly unique feature to the Artiste Mover.

======================

Below are highlighted features that I feel, at this writing, uniquely identify the Artiste Mover System.

======================

1 – One of the  most  differentiating features is that the Artiste treats a Palette move as a special type of action that includes an optional move-type, a smooth rotation called a TURN, as opposed to a succession of short moves. Turns can have their own animation, duration, and pause-after time.

2 – Each move can have its own unique animation.

3 – Each move can trigger an associated ‘action‘ (like fading another palette) and as such a move can identify as a mini-event.

4 – A move-set (10 move-turn pairs) can be extended to subsequent move-sets via Sit-2-Sit.

5 – There is virtually no limit to the number of moves an object or avatar can make, nor is there a limit on distance.

6 – You can execute multiple move-ranges and are not limited to just one range.

7 – Moves can be triggered from the HUD at the beginning or end of a given dance when the HUD is used to sequence dances.

8 – Movers can be used for couples dancing via paired-palette naming as well as unique-palette naming..

9 – Movers can have 2 types of labels. One for the BallSitter if used as an avatar mover, and another called a NickName that indicates the purpose of a particular move in a set of moves.

10 – Artiste Movers can function as multiple type sof devices. Example: A mover could ALSO be a fader or a light or a host of other types of devices all while functioning as a mover.

11 – Movers can be part of our rezzer as our rezzer has special intelligence built in to handle the peculiarity of our mover.

12 – The Artiste Mover system has intelligence to augment reorientation between various direction-facing venues. This also facilitates the ability to MIRROR movers by using either EAST and WEST or NORTH and SOUTH oriented movers.AS WELL AS normal X and Y mirroring centering on the Anchor.

13 – There is a shortcut way of creating movers that doesn’t require the use of ‘breadcrumbs’ (Controller and Markers). Just pressing menu buttons then a copy/paste in the end. This is referred to as theMenu Method

14 – It is possible to avoid copy/paste when using the Marker Method of creating moves. This facilitates quick testing of changes to the routes for a given Palette-Mover.

15 – You can easily scale the size of the marker up or down via an entry in a notecard inside the Marker-Controller

16 – There exists the ability to REPEAT all moves for either: 1) a given number repeats, 2) a given length of time, or 3) the total length of the HUD events, 4) or when you specificially tell it to stop repeating..

17 – You can now move the root/first Marker and the others will follow using the new GroupOffset feature in design.

18 – You can reassign (Regroup) a Marker-Set to a different ArtisteID (color A-H)  along with its corresponding Controller. This allows you to easily offset dancers on different movers and then easily dump the move/turn vectors with new identifiers).

19 – Individual Color Coding of HoverText for each marker to more easily identify matching marker-points for different ArtisteIDs (Avatar-Movers)

20 – Marker HoverText now contains total  move times (move-time, pause-after-move-time, turn-time, and pause-after-turn-time)  and accumulated marker times.

21 – MarkerTrails – see markers light up and glow in order of execution. You can specify how long they remain lit and if you want all markers or just a particular group to light up. Odds glow white. (ACEG) and Even glow yellow (BDFH).

22 – Pauses can have their own animation

23 – Nearly completed is our new auto-alignment for couples-animation. No manual-intervention required.

Tutorial #6: The Artiste Mover – Part 1

The main motivator for a person to try the Artiste has been “if they have a friend who uses it”. That has been the leading buying pattern; a personal testimonial.

Such was one case where a person was somewhat impressed with the long laudtry list of features, although they candidly admitted that they didnt know what half the features did. They were cajoled to consider trying it out aided by a strong unrelenting recommendation from a long-time user. But the new potential user made an eerie remark to me, something to the affect of: “If your system does not have a mover, I will never use it…but if it has a does have a mover, then I know I will never use anything else”. The Artiste had a mover system at the time, albeit, simplistic, so I was not sure if it would suffice. Turns out it did the trick.

The topic of ‘mover’ is a very weighty one. It is so deep that I won’t even entertain the thought of covering it all in one blogpost. If it wasnt for the keen interest and existing wide base of user-awareness, I probably would not consider it as a topic for non-Artiste owners.

==============
The Artiste offers 2 primary ways to create object/avatar movers. I call them Method #1 (Palette Menu) and Method #2 (Marker-Controller).

There is an illustrated manual on the topic…the longest manual at 122 pages…but…I did gave a mock one-on-one familiarity class to Aura and I was able to cover the whole book in one hour, albeit without any hands-on or Q&A.

I suspect in reality that it might be broken up into 2 or 3 classes to allow for hands-on, Q&A, homework, etc.

==============
Method #1 just uses a single Artiste Palette and Artiste  Anchor.

Method #2 uses an Artiste Controller and Artiste Anchor and the Controller generates 2 to 11 Artiste Markers that define the route.

Method #1 was born during the video entitled The Battle . The Battle (video). I got the idea that it would be cool to have chess pieces move as part of the routine while it was in development. I wasnt sure it would work as envisioned but it did.

It was even at that point that I decided that this thing, at the time called an Artiste Gadget and later renamed to Artiste Palette, would do more than just ‘move’.  I didnt want to create a new ‘thing’ everytime I got a new idea or need.

Three videos later the need arose to plan and see a route visually identified at key points along the way during a video called Sisters Sisters (video). This need came from Aura and so I whisked up something quick to faciliate the mapping out of 2 mirrored routes. Each avatar route consisted of 6 or 7 moves including a turn and descension down stairs. And thus theMethod #2 (Controller-Marker) system was born, albeit crude in its design, it was the 1st and last time I believe that it was used.

(A sidenote: I had developed a moving system about 3 years ago back in 2012 while at Orchids, abeit clunky in its design, it worked, going up and down stairs with animated walk and turn and I was excited but didnt garner the enthusiasm from peers enough for me to make it a paramount endeavor at the time and so the idea died. Little did I know it would garner such interest later on)

Meanwhile, the Controller-Marker system sat on the shelf until summer of this year when I decided to revamp it and combine it with a couple of other features. I was able to kill 3 birds with one stone in the redesign. It took the whole summer but I managed to trudge thru it.

And thus was born the new Advanced Mover System. I don’t claim it as advanced over other systems. The adavanced moniker applies to being advanced over what we already had.

Method #1 covers the 1st 25 pages in the manual. Method #2 covers the next 97 pages.

Sounds scary I bet?

But…I am able to create a working moving object-mover Palette in 8 seconds using Method #2, albeit using default values.

I just like to go slow and spell things out and try not to leave any gaps in the learing process when I create manuals and it is very feature-rich compared to its former incarnation.

And those who have been using Method #1 don’t seem interested in the new Method #2 because they say Method #1 is so easy. But they posit that people coming from other mover systems would find Method #2 an easier transition.

I agree that Method #1 is easy and the way to go and recommended by me if you have about 3 or less moves of which I think covers 95% of mover situations. A beginning move followed by a turn and an ending move usually suffices most needs, from what I have seen.

========================

Method #1: Creating a single object-move

1) Rez Palette and Anchor. Move Palette to its  first position relative to the Anchor…press the  DumpInitial button

2)  Press  StartMove button, move the palette,  then press EndMove button. Then press DumpMove.

3) Copy and Paste the owner-only chat output into the *moves nc, change NoOfMoves from 0 to  1. Change Moveable,off to Moveable,on in *palette nc. Save nc and Reset the Palette. Palette will move and rotate to its home position and rotation orientation.

Done!

To test, press TestAllMoves. Your Palette will move

=================================
Method #1: Creating a 2nd object-move

To add a 2nd move to the end of this 1st move

1) Press EditMove. Press the 2 button

2) Repeat steps 2 and 3 (change NoOfMoves to 2 and dont need to set Moveable because its already changed)

Done!

To test, press TestAllMoves. Your Palette will move 1st move then 2nd move.

Making it into an Avatar-Mover takes a few more steps.

======================
I kept this simple and short as I could. And yes it uses default values but it is easy to edit new values into the nc to change the duration or add a pause time at the end.

Adding a turn is as easy and will be covered  in another Tutorial. I just wanted to introduce you to how Artiste approaches moves and the level of effort involved.

Pressing buttons, moving the Palette, editing a nc, and copy/pasting are the 4 primary operations.

Lat “Yummy” Lovenkraft

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tutorial #5: Artiste Events

I hope those who’ve been following my tutorials have come away knowing more than they knew before about the Artiste.

In real  life one could think of an event as a meanrngful, memorable, milestone in a persons life.  When you got married, , birth of a child, high-school graduation, major surgery, entering the military, getting engaged, your wedding, your honeymoon, an illicit affair, separation, divorce,  auto-accident, death, funeral, an arrest,  drunk-and-passed out, a physical altercation, your first-love, close-calls, fired-from-job, awards, etc.

I think we remember events more than dates. we can sort of put these in some sort of meaningful order…as to how they relate to each other…easier than we can assign exact dates or even years to them.  Example: I had to have surgery after my accident which was a day before Thanksgiving day. They brought me turkey from home.

We often express events in terms of other events. I plan to start a family 2 years after I am married. I plan to enter the military upon high-school graduation. I lost my job during the recession. I plan to take college-prep courses prior to entering college.

This is the  approach taken to demark when things are to happen in a performance of scheduled events. Its a different mindset but one I find more meaningful than an “arbitrary timeline of things”.

=================================
Performance Events You Already Know

I first got the idea from Nottoo who blogged on usng song-structure changes to identify when dances should transition from one to another. Example: Song intro, chorus, verse, bridge, solo

For performing, those are good arbitrary event markers when nothing else comes to mind because we have already identified them as events, having  assigned names to them. We know when they happen relative to each other.

As you progress from song-changes, obvious other events come to mind…curtain open, curtain close, special lyrics or sound-fx embedded in a song. Song endings/beginnings from a medley of songs.

Artiste uses events at its core. Nothing that is sequenced can really happen without events. All the fun interesting stuff you do will be tied to events.

===============
The Artiste Event

Events are defined on a notecard. One event per line. Each HUD event has a number from 1 to 20 assigned to it.  You can use less than 20.

Each event has a name you give it.

And each event has a time value in seconds.

This can be duration or elapsed time.

The 2 examples below are identical but are 2 different ways to express the same sequence of events. If you can understand the difference then you know how to create events in the Artiste.  Event #1 happens 10 seconds after pressing PLAY. Event #2 happens 15 seconds after pressing play.  This about as technical as these Tutorials will get.

Example #1:

DURATION
1,”Event #1″,10.0
2,”Event #2″,5.0

Example #2:

ELAPSED
1,”Event #1″,10.0
2,”Event #2″,15.0

So now your HUD notecards (for emoting, adorning, stripping, auto-special-fx, audience-directed-camming, announcing, dance-sequencing, outfit-changes), that express when things are to happen, use the event number, (just 1 or 2) in this example, to tell when things will happen. The beauty is that by changing the event times (10 & 5  OR 10 & 15), all things attached to that event automatically move with it in time either forward or backward.

==============================
The AutoFX Function and Notecard

Most notecards limit what you can do to one thing per line on a notecard (i.e. dances, emotes).

But for the special-FX notecard (we call it AutoFX), you can specify multiple things to happen at nearly the same time for a given event. AutoFX controls things external to the HUD like movers, Palettes, etc. Your only limit is 255 characters for a given notecard line. And using the special WAIT command, when you specify multiple things to happen at the same event, you can create fine  adjustments and offsets BETWEEN the  multiple things that happen for a given event so they all don’t have to happen at the exact same time.

In fact, a special defining feature of the Artiste is built-in redudancy that helps you get out of tight spots. Did you know that using our powerful AutoFX, you can emulate all of the other functions as well?

Yep!  This list includes: Playing a dance sequence, emoting, adorning, outfit-changes, audience-directed-camming, stripping, as well as…!!!ALL of the 80 to 90 action-features of the Palette!!!.

There are also other subtle features assignable to AutoFX, like singalling a change in choreagraphy-grouping, dance-formation changing, curtain control, HUD chaining….and the list goes on.

======================
Palette-based Mini-Events

One last notable ADVANCED feature on the topic of telling performance-stuff when to happen is…the Palette “action” or mini-event.

You already know you can have up to 20 major events per HUD and each major event can trigger one (or more) Palettes to move as well as do a zillion other things.

Well you can define about 20 moves inside of one Palette (not to be confused with the 20 HUD events). Each of those moves can serve as a mini-event meaning you can attach what we call an “action” to the move. And also realize that a move can be a dummy move or place-holder for an action. Each dummy move would ahve a duration associated with it  but no distance to travel or rotation to turn.

So when, say, HUD event #1 tells a given Palette (or more) to perform all (or a range) of its moves, then that Palette can begin to perform mini-events in the form of actions attached to moves,  one-after-the other and do actions and not just moves, or actions in concert with moves.

What this offers is finer granularity as well as being economcial with your 20 major events by passing off extra event-work to a Palette.

This Action can be any of the 80-90 cool action-feature thingys that  Palette can do. So this means that within one HUD event, you can have several Palette-based-mini events that do things. And, a palette-action can and often does contol what other Palettes do.

20×20 = 400 major and minor events so this ability could address the needs of someone who wanted to put on an uninterrupted hour long presentation…theoretically. And by using HUD chaining, you can introduce manual intervention where you could have manual control over say a few different major acts within a given hour-long show.

Of course you probally wouldnt start ouit this advanced.

Keep it simple.

Grow slowly.

One event talks to one palette and tells it to perform just one move and then graduate and tell it to perforam all of its moves. Then graduate to telling it to do a ‘range of moves‘. And then graduate to Palette-actions.

——
I hope I didnt overwhelm you. There are a few more nice features that I didn’t cover.  What I covered here are the basics.

We have a manual on events that goes over what I just talked about here and classes will go over events as well. And you can ask for one-on-one help on top of the manual and classes.

Artiste events are powerful, flexible, precise, and are at the core of  how Artiste operates best.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking Forward to the New Year – Artiste Classes!

After a successful first-run of classes at K&M SOPA, I am working on revamping much of the curriculum.

In addition to the courses already offered, I am thrilled to announce that in 2016 I will be offering classes on The Artiste.

I will be teaching courses aimed at helping new owners/users to understand the main functions of the HUD and palette.

New users will create ‘working models’ for reference for various abilities of the HUD and palette.  These ‘working models’ are invaluable when working solo to re-create Artiste abilities.

In addition, Yummy will be teaching ‘Master’ level courses on various topics, including advanced features like the Thrower, Grouping functions, and Dance Diva.

Yummy has been writing a series of Tutorial articles on the Artiste to explain some of its capabilities and the thought process behind its creation.

In case you’ve missed them, you can find them under the ‘Product Reviews‘ page of the blog.

Tomorrow marks the start of the sale of the new Artiste product combos, which Yummy wrote about in Tutorial #1.

For those interested in a taste of what the Artiste can do, you can now purchase the following:

A-50: 1 NOCOPY/NOTRANS/MOD HUD      $5,000L
A-75: 1 NOCOPY/NOTRANS/MOD HUD & COPY/MOD Palette      $7,500L
A-100: 2 NOCOPY/NOTRANS/MOD HUDs & COPY/MOD Palette  $10,000L

The A-50, A-75, and A-100 are only guaranteed valid From December 1st, 2015 thru December 31st, 2015.

I am having to re-educate myself on some of the functions, because Yummy is constantly developing and adding to its capabilities. (Such a wonderful problem to have, right?!)

Once I have finished creating the curriculum, I will open registration for K&M SOPA classes, including those on the Artiste.  I anticipate that will happen mid to late December, with the classes actually beginning in January 2016.

In addition to the Artiste classes, I will also again be offering courses on choreography, dance tools, set building, etc.

What new skills would you like to gain in the new year?

Tutorial #4: The Artiste Palette

What is it?

The Artiste Palette, simply stated, is a unique concept, and methodology for “extending” the reach and ability of the Artiste Performance HUD.

It came into being after satisfying multiple requests to friends for special one-time scripts to do this and special one-time scripts to do that. I simply gathered up all th contrubitions that myself and Jemma, a fellow scriptor, have provided over the years, and then added what i felt was a full compliment of anything else that people might and would ask for in the future. Everything except the kitchen sink.

===========================
Inside a Palette

As of this writing, it is comprised of 10 scripts, (2 of them optional), and 5 notecards (3 of them optional).  Anything that is modifiable can be a Palette. Just copy the scripts and notecards into its root prim.  Special handling and consideration should be taken when turning a multi-prim object into a Palette.

===========================
Friends

So imagine that you know you could accomplish a special task if only you knew how to script, but you cannot script yourself. So you go to a friend and ask them to script the solution for you. And then you ask another friend the next time. Then you ask friends if they have a script to do such-and-such.

And you really want it to perform a little bit different than the last time you used it but you don’t know how to modify it so you try and find someone to modify it . You may find someone or you give up and ‘settle’ for how it works.

The Palette was created to address people who have ‘imagined needs’ that are able to ‘follow a recipe of instructions’ and can edit a notecard.

It requires attention to ‘sets of instructions’ and an ability or determination to find and fix typos.

===========================
Illustrated Manual

There is a 70-plus-page illustrated intellibook on the features of the Palette. You learn how to ‘make it do stuff‘ by changing parameters on the 5 notecards.

The 5 notecards inside of the Palette tell it “what” it can do and become.

The instructions you write on 2 notecards in the HUD tell it “when” to execute.

===========================
Horizontal vs. Vertical Thinking

Up until now, you may have had a tool that does cool things and may specialize in a few cool things. And once you learned how to make it do a cool thing, you made it to that same cool thing many times. The more times you made it do that same thing, the better and more able and proficient you felt. I compare that to “vertical” creation.

The Artiste focuses on “horizontal” creation. The goal is to do many different things one time each. Like adding more colors to a graduating from black-and-white to color. The more colors, used creatively, the more vibrant is the creative expression.

I don’t posit it as ‘better than’, just a different approach, an additonal choice, an extra tool in your tool-box,  that offers more variety and options and allows one’s creativity to ‘stand-alone’. Once you have become adept at vertical-creation, horizontal-creation may be a logical next step to unleash your more of your creative energies.

==================
Compound vs Complex

The Palette lends it self to compound as well as complex construction.

Compound means that it can be “more than one thing at the” same time’. You saw an example of that in the beginning  State-Of-Shock video State-Of-Shock video when it shows one Palette serving as a “mover” a “light”, and an “animated texture”. It had to be first imagined that combining them would produce a desired result.

As of this writing, there are in excess of  80 “things that a Palette can become and/or do”. I call them “action-features”.

Complex means that when 2 ‘action-features’ happen in succession and careful order of executio, they tell a mini-story by their very association an. I present 2 examples.

1st example: Letters From the Sky

At the beginning of this video, Aura falls over backwards over a cliff and then continues to fall down a cliff. Those are 2 different action-features, tip and move of the Palette that occur 1 after the other. They convey a mini-story when presented in close proximity to one another. But it had to be ‘imagined first’. The Palette does not come with pre-ordered sets of compound creations.

2nd example: Stink

Here is an idea I had and then implemented it. A foul odor in a room that i want to get rid of. The window opens and the stink exits the room thru the window, changing its color as it does to imply its composition is affected by the onset of fresh-air. It is, again, a one-after-the-other sequence of 2 actions, that tells a mini-story, that of clearing a room of an undesired odor.  By themselves the 2 events, window opening and stink moving don’t say as much as the 2 together.

I am suggestiong that the constant presence of the 80+ action-features AND your ability to make your own personal adjustments helps empower you to create using manageable building blocks.
You can change not just the color of the stink dynamically but also any other particle-parameter(s).  And I even provide the notecards I used to  create this mini-story. This is how many unique mini-stories still to be told. 7.156946e+118  (over ‘7 followed by 119 zeros’) using the Artiste system.

The window is just one of 50 easily-controllable binary-state objects that come as part of a complimentary package I call Set-Responders. (There is an additional charge for this package and is not part of any Artiste offering). You can of course find your own very inexpensive or free binary-state items that accept chat commands and then substiture appropriately.

===============
Customizable

It is important to note that the action-features are not static. Each has been intimately addressed as to how best to offer adjustable notecard-parameters to change and expand its behavior and presentation.

==================
Owning It

With the adoption of the Artiste Palette, you would transition from “No big, deal. I can do that too” …to…”I did this, my own creation that I had personally not seen done before”.

Enjoy the experience of peers and/or audience members coming up to you asking you ‘How did you do that?” Or all of a sudden seeing a lot of copycatting of your invention.

I think the fact that the 80+ action-features, plus the dozen or so Palette abilities, which I have not discussed yet, plus the several HUD functions, all in combination and ever-present in your face, constantly remind you of what different mixture of Artiste-colors you can blend either in a compound or complex way or combinations of the both.

What is a Palette Ability?

There are currently 15 abilities. Abilities are like light-switches either on or off. If off, then action-features requirding it cannot be performed. Example: A palette cannot be a mover if the ability “moveable” is not on, even though it has all the moves defined. They help narrow or filter what a Palette can and cannot do or be as well as help limit interference.

Well you have already glimpsed at some of them:
You know about:

Moveable (State-Of-Shock)
Texturable (State-Of-Shock)
Lightable (State-Of-Shock)
Sittable (State-Of-Shock)
Animatable (State-Of-Shock)
Throwable (State-Of-Shock ending)
Particles (State-Of-Shock ending)
Collidable (State-Of-Shock ending)
Attachable (State-Of-Shock ending)

So you now already know half of them and probably how they were applied.

===================
Imagine Then Do

It is like seeing a random spread of scrabble letters and imagining what words you can make from the letters. Letters in close proximity to each other give you clues as to what words can be made. The Artiste is like that cause you are always seeing letters that could make up words.

====================

And so lastly I will list some of the features of the action-features of the Palette, many of which you have seen in action:

Object Mover
Avatar Mover
Thrower – Throw, catch, roll, drop, dribble, boomerang, sail,
ricochet, matrix, stop-motion, kick, and more
While the thrower is briefly covered in the Palette book, it is so
intricate and advanced that it has its own 50-page book.

Animated Texture – (you can start and stop as well as animate for a set
number of times)

Tip
Fader – (many customizable controls)
Oscillator
Collider
Rezzer
Die
Light
Sit-2-Sit – Palette Transfer
FollowSpot
Glow
Control
Particles
Flash

————————
I hope this tutorial on the Artiste Palette and the previous tutorial on the Artiste Performance HUD will help you make a more informed decision on whether or not to adopt one of the reduced-price package offerings good thru the month of December 2015.

In case you missed the prior tutorials, here are convenient links:

Tutorial #1

Tutorial #2

Tutorial #3

Lat “Yummy” Lovenkraft

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tutorial #3: The Artiste Performance HUD

The Artiste Performance HUD is the centerpiece of the Artiste Performance Suite. Let us familiarize with some of its basics.

The HUD “functions”.

On the face of the HUD are buttons that can toggle red and green
except for the yellow button that does not toggle. It is always
active. Clickin the yellow button brings up a menu.

The purpose of the buttons, that represent the primary “functions”
of the Artiste, is to be able to jointly test different combinations of funtionality while at the same time excluding other functionality.

The idea being to simplify creation and testing scenarious by temporarily
suppressing functionaly that might other wise muddle the waters, so to speak.

Once you have an area of functionaly tested, then suppress it by toggling it RED.

Now focus on a new area.

To start the HUD playing all of your “enabled functional instructions“,  press the GREEN PLAY button that looks like a triangle pointing right.

To stop the HUD from playing your set of instructions prior to it reaching its normal end, press the RED SQUARE button.

 

Artiste Primary Functions

The Functions are now listed with the most used functions at the top.

1 – AutoFX – This function essentially allows you to control devices that are ‘external’ to the HUD. It uses chat commands to start, modify, and stop various devices, the most prevalanet being the Artiste Palette. This is the most used notecard because if its wide flexibility.

There is a nc called *autofx. Each line on it corresponds to 1 of 20 events or points in time after pressing start that you want to be able to specify 1 or more funtions to occur. More about events in a  subsequent tutorial.

And you can have multiple actions on a given line. So you can instruct multiple actions to have for a given event, limited to 255 characters.

External devices other than the Artiste Palette include but are not limited to: Artise Camera Controller, Artiste Curtain, Artiste DanceDiva, Artiste SetRezzer, and devices made by other creators that accept chat control.

Unlike most systems that exclusively communicate via chat-channel numbers, the Artiste HUD communicates  not only via channel numbers but ‘names‘ at certain situations for easier identification.

2 – AutoSequence – This controls wether you will be dancing animation sequences.  There are 2 ways to ‘dance’. Immediately upon pressing PLAY. This is handy when you want to start dancing when you first hear music.
The other is to start a sequence playing in sync with one of the 20 events that you will define. The Artiste allows for up to 4 sequences per HUD. Each Sequence can have 1 or more animations in it.

One important attribute of a sequence of animations is the ability to instruct one or more Palettes to ‘do something‘, moving being just one of the things you could tell a Palette to do. Just like an animation, you tell it how long you want it to perform it before continuing to the next
animation. This allows you to easily synchronize Palette features to occur at precise moments just before or after a given animation.

3 – AutoAdorn – This is the function used to add props, make props appear attached, to the HUD wearer. There is now also a ‘negative adorn‘ which allows for the removal of a prop. This can also apply to a layer of clothing.

And a new feature is the Adorn Swap that allows for a simultaneous exchange of props attached to 2 different body parts. This is how a Hat-from-Head-to-Hand or Hat-in-Hand-to-Head can be more easily performed in one command rather than using an add and a remove.

There is now some overlap in functionality between AutoAdorn and AutoStrip. But this flexibility allows ways for you get out of tight jams.
Giving you extra events to accomplish prop/clothing removal.
AutoAdorn also has the ability to occur at a given offset in time to an event as opposed to
exactly on the event. This has proven invaluable in tight-timing-synchronization situations.

4 – AutoStrip – The Artiste started out solely as a tool to aid burlesque dancers in helping to streamline the process of removing items of clothing so a lot of work has been put into this one area. There is aA lot of flexiblity.

AutoStrip allows for the removal of layers of clothing or attachments …either a single layer or attachment from several layers or attachments to the same body part…or ALL layers and attachments for a given body part.

It is one of few areas that can work manually as well as sequenced.
The Standard A-250 package comes with 25 NOCOPY but TRANSFER/MOD FREE relays. These are to be worn by members in group performances so performers can perform functions in sync with each other  like Adorning, Negative-Adorning, Stripping, Swapping, etc.

5 – AutoEmote – this function is pretty straight forward. You control whether the HUD will send emotes to local chat. You caan also send the HUD wearer ‘warnings’. Other options include name spoofing. You are allowed 1 emote per event for a maximum of about 20 emotes per HUD, using just AutoEmote. Recently we enabled AutoAnnounce to also produce emotes in local chat, so now yo have an additional 20 for a total of 40 chat lines per HUD. And on top of that, if that is not enough, since AutoEmote and AutoAnnounce are tied to events….Palettes can produce local chat emotes…So essentially an unlimited amount of chats per HUD.

And is Palette-based emoting is over-bearing for you, there is HUD chaining to more easily extend 40 chats with another 40.  40 for each new chained HUD.

And yes you can use /ME in your chat line There is also an entry that simultaneously delivers a chat to a chat-extender or shouter on a channel you choose.

=================================

What has been presented is a lot to absorb for those new to the Artiste so I will cut this tutorial short. I will briefly identify the other areas but not in as much depth.

6 – AutoChange – this is for outfit/costume changes

7 – AutoAccess – this was born from the need to quickly get to and control common show-time functions like: Curtain Open/Close, logging in and out,  showing and hiding palettes, hovertext control on palettes, group-dance assignments, dance invites, resetting of palettes, homing them, etc

One in-demand feature is the ability to send ‘all sittable‘ palettes
to their 2nd move and then wait for the HUD-wearerto press PLAY. This allows for easy sending of people below stage or above stage or elsewhere hidden in preparation for actual show-start

8 – AutoAnnounce – much like AutoEmote, only it sends to a different channel

9 – AutoCam – controls automated controlled-camera viewing to the audience. There is Also has built-in StageSight that allows the HUD-wearer to quickly see the stage and themselves and/or group as the audience sees them and instant angle-change to the tipjar.

—————–

I hope this has shed enough light on most of the key functionality of the Artiste Performance HUD for those considering purchase. Up next will be a more in-depth look at what the Palette can do.

In case you missed the prior tutorials, here are convenient links:

Tutorial #1

Tutorial #2

Lat “Yummy” Lovenkraft

Tutorial #2 – Artiste Suite Overview

Trying to wrap one’s mind around the Artiste can be challenging so hopefully this will help you see the bigger picture. The main 2 pieces to understand at this point is the Artiste Performance HUD and the Palette. Not listed in the chart, for brevity sake, are other entities like the Master Rezzer (for sets) and the Artiste Curtain, and something HUGE coming in 2016..

As you can see, the HUD can communicate to many entities, not the least of which is that it can communicate to another Artiste Performance HUD.
It has 2 ways to talk to itself. By loading another HUD and then waiting for the HUD wearer to tell the newly loaded HUD to run. Or…it can autorun the new HUD without any operator-interevention and then old HUD and deatch itself. We call this HUD-chaining.

HUD-chaining allows for an infinite number of control stages when one runs out of HUD resources: like events, emotes, dances, etc. This is handy for those 1 hour-plus productions.

99%  of the time you can get by with extending a HUD’s capabilities by using one or more Palettes. While the HUD has about a dozen or more primary funtions, its abilities are extended to about 100 more what I call, action-features, by using a Palette.

Think of a Palette as the friend or source you go to when you need a special script. Maybe a fader script, as an example. Well now you can bypass the friend and the need to acquire a script .

The Palette can be that fader, one of the 100 or so things it can be or do.

You no longer need to settle for a fader scripts fixed settings. You can customize your fader using the Palette notecards. Oscillation, transparency limits, intervals, single-shot (credit to little Zed from whom I got the idea) …to name a few.

——-

A Palette is copyable so you can have a HUD control more than 1 Palette.

A Palette can can control another Palette.

A Palette can create another Palette.

A Palette can communicate back to the HUD.

A Palette can talk to products from other creators.

Anything that is modifiable can be a Palette. It is not restricted to the object you get that is a single-prim box. No linking required although it is not prohibited from linking.

Many of you are now familiar  with movers. The Palette is what becomes a mover in the Artiste world. It can be an Object-Mover. It can be an Avatar-Mover.

The Artiste Palette can be a mover AND other things (if that is your choice)  at the same time. And you can tweak the characteristics of the ‘other things’ it can be.

Here is a link to a video where 12 Palettes are in use. I wish to to direct your attention to the opening. A Palette is: An avatar-mover AND an animated-texture AND an Artiste-Light.  Later on in this video, the same Palette-based-Avatar-Mover morphs into an Palette-based- Object-Mover and is instructed at precise times, from the HUD, to follow the moves of the animation. Insane. More crazy stuff happens near the end of the video but for now focus on its ability to: 1) behave like multiple items and 2) to change what it is and how it behaves dynamically. NOTE: A Palette as a mover can perform different selected ranges of moves from a given move-sequence and is not restricted to all-or-nothing execution of all-moves.

Credit to Aura Fitzgerald (auricrose Resident) for: Concept, Choreography, Design, and Execution

State-Of-Shock Video (compound Palette)

For a more in-depth analysis of the techniques, see this link:

State-Of-Shock (Behind the Scenes)

and scroll down to where it says: “STATE OF SHOCK –  Video  – Watch the video ==>“

It goes without saying that this is an advanced adaptation of Artiste technology and not something one could expect to master over-night or even a few nights but it does show what is possible with “imagination” and perserverance married with technological innovation.

—-

One person told me after hearing of the wide berth of offerings, “wow, you’d better have good support“.

That is an understatement with the weight of this offering. Thats why support doesnt end with a website, manuals, and videos.  So very key is ‘attitude‘. So very key is ‘patience‘. So very key is ‘availability‘. As are ‘product knowledge‘ and ‘product experience‘.

You will ask what you feel are stupid questions. Its ok. Not to me. Fine by me. Used to it. There are no stupid questions because that is the state of a new person learning.

You may ask the same question over and over. Its ok. Fine by me. I am us used to it.  I will answer you again.

In fact, I dont feel users elicit personal one-on-one help often enough. It is often pride or fear of feeling stupid or a determination to figure things out on their own. But this can lead to wasteful hours especially if its a simple thing like a typo, systax, or a rule they may be unaware of. I have seen and solved so many issues. Even issues that are not the fault of the Artiste but are an anomaly of SL. I still try to offer a solution. Quite a few Artiste abilities are the result of overcoming SL limitations and anomalies. I go out of my way not rely on “It’s SL, live with it”.

And yes, sometimes you will be doing everything right and its really a bug. That’s why its important not to ‘beat yourself up’ needlessly. I am very attentive to fixing bugs and 95% are solved same day, Often within the 1st hour.

And the best time to ask questions is in the beginning when you are trying to get a foothold and gain confidence.

You can ask anything you want in group from other users. I encourage people helping people. Our users are very eager to lend assistance.

 

I will keep this 2nd in a series of tutorials short and brief and let this material sink in. Hope you gained some insight.

Lat “Yummy” Lovenkraft

P.S.

I don’t want to overwhelm people with a myriad of information about the Artiste. The purpose of the tutorial series is to deliver byte-sized and digestable portions of information and ease people into the Artiste. But at the suggestion of a few others,  I will provide a link to our blog-site that has more information, however I would hope you would try your best to hold off going there unless you are unable to contain your curiosity.

The Artiste Blogsite

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tutorial #1: Introduction to the Artiste Performance HUD & Suite for Non-Owners

Attitudes seem to be changing about the Artiste or maybe attitudes towards interest in ‘new dance-community technology’. There was a time when few knew or seemed to want to know about the Artiste or the applicability of modernized-dance-tools. I take partial responsibility because 1) its steep price-tag and 2) it not having a store presence or MP presence like my other products. However a store presence does not always insure a safety-blanket of support, as in the case of the Huddles and a few other dance HUDs. I have been in SL 8 years daily, missing only a few  days due to illness or internet availability. I am approachable, helpful, and very patient .

Due to its price and intricacy, it is preferred to have a short casual Q&A interview with prospective buyers to make sure the product has a fair chance to meet their expectations as opposed to people buying it off the shelf without having their questions  answered and have some confidence that their specific needs are cared for.

—-

Times have changed and people seem accustomed to a ‘process’ of using one or more tools, sometimes tools in concert with each other, to help aid in  presenting a cohesive and more professional solo or group stage performance.

Also there are so many new performers in SL that were not here a year or more ago so this is a good time to introduce the Artiste to the ‘new’ as well as reintroduce it to those who were or are vaguely familiar with it.

The goal is, of course, in presenting a comprehensive tool is to witness  and enable people to simply do cool, great, fun, and creative things via technological ingenuity!

I think there is currently an ongoing hunger for something new or a ‘next new(big?) thing’ as has been hinted in several interactions with people in the dance community.

Kat and I discussed what seemed to be a prevailing malaise of creative energy for many, but of course not everyone.

There are so many venues and so many acts and performers that there are a lot of recurring themes, sets, costumes, dances, songs…and all justifiable because they are learning firsts for those newcomers who have just as much right to travel down the roads of  discovery as their forebearers. It is hoped that a new tool might go a long ways to invigorating the creative process. I like to think of the Artiste as a tool able to help unleash the creative-centers  and amplify a person’s ideas to new heights and expanses. Something to kickstart one’s imagination.

We also shared the view that although new-technology is good and a timely ‘new shiny’, that without a passionate creative-center, few if any new cool-tools will make a person a ‘next performing-wonder’ nor bring a modicum of self-satisfaction.

And people also seem very amenable to learning new things as well as relearning what they think they already know, with the sudden explosion of training and classes on a wide variety of dance-related topics.

It seems the time is right for a ‘something else’. Not  necessarily a replacement but an adjunct to the tools one is already successful with.

Some have asked that I offer a class on Artiste along-side of other product offerings taught in classes that have been offered as well as future classes.

Others have offered to help teach the Artiste.

And more than a few people have suggested that I present an on-going digestible tutorial on the Artiste for non-owners who wonder what it is all about.

It appears all signs point to an emergence of information presented to help close the gap of knowledge about it.

And that is what this series of articles will be about. A presentation specially tailored for the non-owner of the Artiste.

So that means that it will be much less technical than previous offerings and more general.

================
PRODUCT PRICING

GREAT NEWS!

First let me announce that there are now 4 NEW price-tier offerings lest you turn off now due to its former prohibitive lofty single price tag. More than a few people have requested partial-product offerings.

A-50: 1 NOCOPY/NOTRANS/MOD HUD      5,000L
A-75: 1 NOCOPY/NOTRANS/MOD HUD & COPY/MOD Palette      7,500L
A-100: 2 NOCOPY/NOTRANS/MOD HUDs & COPY/MOD Palette  10,000L

A-250: The Standard Artiste Performer Series. 25,000 L

The A-50, A-75, and A-100 are only guaranteed valid From December 1st, 2015 thru December 31st, 2015.

I will expand on the differences in a subsequent post.

——-
NOTE: The Palette is required in order to create object-movers and avatar-movers as well as all of the special-extended show-effects.

——-
The new pared-down package offerings are meant to be entry-level affordable and provide accessible and practical learning models. The HUDs and Palettes are fully functional and are not intentionally crippled in functionality. The Standard package may be more than what many people need. These product offerings allow people to ease-in to the Artiste mind-set.

You also get the same level of support, access to all information and educational sources including our: group, blog, website, classes, and unlimited one-on-one support.

All future upgrades are FREE.

And YES, what you pay for the 3 low-tier offerings are 100% applicable should you decide to upgrade to a higher tier-level at a later date. And YES, your upgrade offers survive the 2016 deadlin.e

==========================
Who is the Artiste targeted for?

1) Advanced Choreographers/Performers who are ready to take that ‘next step’. Those looking for ‘a next big thing’. Those who like to position themselves on a leading edge.

2) Those who are patient and determined

3) Those who are reasonably technically savvy.

4) I don’t recommend the Artiste to someone who has never used any dance-hud prior and/or never edited a note-card unless you are very tech-savvy and accustomed to picking up new technoligies with ease and acumen.

5) Those accustomed to scheduling their in-show activities to occur at specific pre-planned times. This means everything is sequenced.

==========================
The Artiste

Ok so what can be said about the Artiste to those new to it or unfamiliar that it even exists? The following descriptives come to mind:

————
HUD-Centric

It is an all-encompassing precision performance suite for burlesque and cabaret stage soloists and groups, the heart of which is the Artiste Performance HUD. The HUD tells the other parts of the suite what to do, how to do it, where to do it, and when to do it.

————
Features-List

The Artiste has an ungodly amount of features so I won’t even attempt to enumerate them as it would serve no good purpose now and likely do more harm than good.

I will attempt to highlight the most important and popular ones in coming tutorials.

The good news is you can do a lot with just a few features and pick and choose which of the various other features you want to focus your energies on.

Many are easy to use. You dont need to learn or master all of them or even most of them in order to find utility and usefulness from the product.

————
Analogies

The Artiste Suite can be likened to:

– a science laboratory kit-experimrent with mixing chemicals

– a Lego-kit, with the Palette likened to a transformer-toy that can be a say, a robot or car or weapon.

– an iceberg. Only maybe 25% of its capabilities have been tapped, 3/4ths of it abilites remain unchartered.

– the difference between power-steering and the gas pedal in car. Some tools you may be familiar and comfortable with you expend very little effort, comparatively speaking, and get a many times the results, albeit that you are not moving forward but side to side. The Artiste is like a gas pedal.. The more pressure you apply the faster it goes and the farther it goes …but you need to keep applying pressure to keep going.

————
Discovery

It is a discovery tool. You can make unique personal discoveries using imagination, experimentation, perseverance, and patience.

————
Identifying Strategy

You can combine more than 2 or more features to create a new hybrid feature.

By imaginative ordering of the execution of 2 or more features, you can also create dynamic run-time cause-and-effects. I will demonstrate in a subsequent tutorial.

————
Pre-Scheduler/Sequencer

While it does have some ‘press-this-button, make-this-happen-now‘ features it was engineered to pre-schedule a wide variety of activities in close coordination with one another. This is familiar with the way you sequence dances to occur one afte ther other by pressing a button. THe idea with Artiste is to sequence everything else as well, emotes, special-fx, outfit-modifications, etc.

To the dismay of some, it is not a primary-support-tool for those who like to dynamically make things happen during show-time, though there are some measures that can be taken to accomplish immediacy with some imaginative effort.

————
Reminder

It is an all-in-one-tool by choice. The reason being that from the layout of the HUD to the concept of ‘Palette abilities‘ to the simple long laundry list of features and Palette-Actions, it is meant to be a constant reminder of ‘other things it can do‘. Its ever-present array of offerings is meant to help stimulate you into being more creative.

————
Dedication

I strongly do not recommend it for someone ladened with having to put out 1 or more shows a week as others have fallen into the trap of thinking they can learn a cool new Artiste-technique and implement it in one weeks time ready for their upcoming show as an adjunct to what they were are already doing with other tools.

While it does have a history of playing well with some others, I would not expect to inject new coolness quickly. Allow time to learn and make way for typical growing pains. Give your self time for trial-and-error without the pressures of having to be productive almost over-night.  Patience.

————
Familiaity

You will find many things simple (emoting)…

..and familiar like the way an animation is identified:

Example:
name-of-animation1 | time
name-of-animation2 | time

————
Reliable Timing Engine

It has a pretty tight timing-engine that seems to perform consistently and reliably as you can see from some of the many show and demo videos. Many cool-things depend on reliable close-proximity-executions of various tasks in conjunction with one another.

————
Plays Well With Others

It has been show-tested to have worked successfully with some other popular tools.

————
Single-HUD Solution

One popular attraction is that those used to having a screen full of HUDs have found a lot of screen-space freed up because the Artiste presents as a one-HUD solution.

————
Optimized Work-Flow

Our note-cards are grouped into sections so you only ever reload just the section you’ve made changes to. (i.e. dances, emotes, stripping, outfit changes, special fx, etc). This provides for very fast reload work-flow as we call it. (reading the notecard info into the HUD.

————-
Selective Testing

Using the buttons on the HUD face you can enable and disable functions so that you confine your testing to a limited set of features at a time…allowing you to focus with simplification and isolation of functionality.

————
Time-Tested

The Artiste 5 years in the making.
The SILVER version, two-and-a-half years in test and live usage.
The GOLD version, just celebrated one-year live-usage.

————
Built-In Redundancy

Users have found there are usually multiple ways to accomplish a given task or challenge which provides for flexibility when you run into a dead-end.

————
Challenge

The Artiste is an advanced-performance-tool ideal for those who are
ready to ‘push boundaries‘ to paraphrase how Kat has characterized it.

It reportedly has a steep learning curve and I won’t argue with that majority opinion from actual users.

It is not a magic bullet. It requires imagination and perseverance to make it jump thru hoops so to speak.  However, it is an enabling suite of tools.

It is important to take baby steps, take pride in small accomplishments, and to persevere.

————
FUN!

I really think its FUN to use and create with. Its a joy if you like experiment, solve  puzzles, and come up with solutions to your creative dilemmas.

————
ACTION!

If at some point during these ongoing tutorials you find your interested peeked enough to take action in acquiring or at least investigating into an Artiste product offering as part of your creative compliment then send me an IM or notecard conveying your interest and/or concerns.

==========

 

Do You Wanna Dance?

NOTE: This is a re-publication of an article I wrote for an in-world magazine. 

Interested in performing in dance shows in Second Life? For those new to the performance dance scene in SL, figuring out where to get started can be confusing and frustrating. Or perhaps you have a dance HUD, but have wondered whether another HUD would be better?

Every dancer has his/her own personal favorite, and there are a variety of options available. After a quick search on Marketplace, I found over 1000 listings for dance HUDs. Some are specialized for certain uses, like cheerleading HUDs.

There are some dance HUDs that have become popular with performance dancers, including the HUDDLES EZ Animator Deluxe, the Barre, the SpotOn Performance Director, and the Artiste HUD. Each HUD has different capabilities, so find one that seems to be the best fit for you and what you want to do.

HUDDLES

The HUDDLES EZ Animator Deluxe has long been the most popular dance HUD in Second Life. In fact, it won an AviChoice award for Favorite Dance Choreography Tool in 2015. The HUDDLES has many attractive features, including dancing multiple dancers, chatting emotes and/or commands, a built-in AO, and the ability to do sequenced choreography.

There is no longer an in-world store for the HUDDLES, but you can still purchase it via the Marketplace for $1499L. The HUDDLES is fairly straightforward to use and there are still many dancers who use the HUDDLES, so finding someone familiar with it shouldn’t be difficult.

Barre

The Barre HUD was developed after the HUDDLES, using feedback from performance dancers. The Barre also has the ability to dance multiple dancers, chat emotes and commands, and the ability to do sequenced choreography. However, the Barre introduced the ability to do ‘group’ dancing – where different groups of dancers could do different choreography sequences. Though the ability to do group dancing was cutting-edge, the macros required were rather technical.

The Barre also no longer has an in-world store, but it is available via the Marketplace for $1200L. There is a support group in-world you can join for assistance. Racheal Young, the creator of the Barre, announced on her blog in February of this year that she was leaving Second Life and releasing the Barre to be open-source.

Since the HUDDLES and the Barre, there have been many advances and changes in the world of performance dancing. Instead of ‘stand-alone’ dance HUDs, what we are seeing now are ‘suites’ of products made to work together.

SpotOn

SpotOn released their Choreography Design System and gave performance dancers the ability to plan out routes to move their avatars around the stage. The system was immediately popular and is used by most dance performers. The Choreography Design system is not a dance HUD, but made to be used in conjunction with a dance HUD. Most any dance HUD can be used with the SpotOn mover system.

The SpotOn Choreography Designer is available via their in-world store (where you can demo all their products) as well as on Marketplace for $1999L. SpotOn has continued to release additional products, including the Group Formation System ($1999L), the Performance Director HUD ($999L), the Costume Assistant ($499L), the Smooth Dancer HUD ($999L), and the Stage Manager ($999L). It’s not necessary to buy every product, of course, but since the suite of products all work seamlessly together, it’s easy to buy the pieces that you need.

The Group Formation System is a product that lets you control the formations of your dancers, either using a pre-configured sequence or changing them ‘on the fly.’ SpotOn has two dance HUDs, the Smooth Dancer HUD and the Performance Director HUD. There is a comparison on their website of the two HUDs. The Costume Assistant, through the use of RLV, lets you add/remove costumes and/or attachments from yourself or other dancers (if they also own the Costume Assistant). The Stage Manager is their newest product and is a set rezzer that has the ability to remember multiple stage configurations.

The Artiste

The Artiste HUD is another suite of products that come bundled together. Included in the Artiste GOLD Performer Series are the following: the Artiste GOLD Dance HUD, the Palette, the Set Rezzer, the Director, the Stage Sight (a directed camera HUD), the Stage HUD, the Dance Diva (a group formation system), the Follower Relay (for use with the Dance Diva), and the Message Board. Everything is included in one package for $25000L and is available for purchase from the creator, Lat ‘Yummy’ Lovenkraft.

The Artiste suite of products includes a mover (the Palette), the dance HUD, the ability to do group dancing, a group formation system, and the ability (through the use of RLV) to add/remove costumes and/or attachments directly through the HUD. The Artiste Palette also has other abilities beyond its use as a mover, including the ability to shrink/grow, shatter, oscillate, flash, collide, and throw. The Artiste Rezzer has the ability to rez multiple sets at once and crossfade them, as well as using no copy/no mod items in a set.

Comparison

The big question, of course, is which system is best? The short answer is – it depends. All the HUDs have their pros and cons, and each dancer has his/her own preferences when it comes to HUDs and performing. Some prefer to feel ‘in control’ and have multiple HUDs for different pieces of their performances. Other dancers prefer to be able to have everything controlled by one HUD. Before purchasing a HUD, try out a demo if possible and/or ask others who have used the HUD.

The long answer would take up more space than I could cover in one article, unfortunately. There was an in-depth HUD comparison done by Nottoo Wise (founder of Dance Queens) and the information is still available on the DQ blog. The comparison, however, was done before the release of the SpotOn and Artiste products.

As stated previously, each dance HUD (mentioned here or not) has its own pros and cons. The best way to decide which one you like is to try them yourself. However, that isn’t always possible (or affordable). I have personally used each of the four HUDs in performances, so I do have experience with all of them. One of the biggest questions users have is how easy it is to learn to use the HUD.

For the HUDDLES and Barre, there are still a large number of users (or people like me who have previously used the HUD), so it may not be difficult to find help. However, neither HUDDLES nor Barre offer much customer support. There are support groups in-world, but generally consist of users helping each other. The Barre creator has ceased customer support, and I could not locate any customer support for the HUDDLES. (The person listed on the creator’s profile for support is apparently no longer in SL.)

Neither HUD is particularly difficult to use, though the macros needed for group dancing with the Barre can be confusing. But for ‘wear and go’ use, any of the dance HUDs covered here work well.

Ease of use applies when learning the more advanced features of the HUDs, particularly with the Artiste suite of products. It simply does so many different things that there is a fairly steep learning curve. However, both SpotOn and the Artiste offer ongoing customer support, including one-on-one help.

One other consideration is how the HUD performs under laggy conditions. Every creator has done their best to make sure that their HUDs are as low-lag as possible. However, given the multitude of variables during performances (including the many different computer/viewer configurations), it is sometimes hard to say which product performs better.

I have tried to come up with a short list to compare some of the major features of the HUDs mentioned here. This, of course, does not cover all the features of the different HUDs, but is offered solely as a means of comparing some of the more pertinent features.

*Price reflects the entire suite of products

+The ability to dance groups using different dance sequences

~The ability to ‘layer’ animations in order to use only parts of animations in a sequence

This has been a brief overview of some of the more popular dance HUDs in Second Life. There are so many features and capabilities that it isn’t possible to compare them all in depth here. Decide what features are ‘must-haves’ and find a HUD that works for you. Any of the HUDs discussed here work for performance dancing, so experiment and have fun!

EDIT 11/10/2015:  Rachael Young, creator of the Barre, has announced recently that it will not be released open-source and is again under development.

First Artiste Show

Yesterday I had the pleasure of dancing in a show at Yummy’s new venue, Le Artiste.

It’s a small, intimate, casual theater and I love the vibe of it.

There were, of course, technical glitches, but the show went wonderfully well.

I started off by swinging from a chandelier (it was a ton of fun, and not nearly as complicated to work out as I had thought).

Lil was an adorable Tinkerbell who took us on a dark journey to Never Never Land.

Aura’s number was incredible – she danced, she crawled on the ceiling, she floated – just amazing. 🙂

I am in love with the creative freedom that I have with the Artiste.

Things that I would never have attempted before suddenly seem possible – easy, even.

Yes, sometimes it has been incredibly frustrating, trying to learn a new way of doing things.

I still struggle with it.

But I am in awe at the things people are able to do with it.

I can’t wait to see what marvelous things will be at the next show.

I wanted to post a picture from the show, but unfortunately, I was so busy I forgot to snap some!

So, you’ll just have to come see for yourself. 😀