Why are still avatars popular?

[Elaini]

Each to their own... but I mainly find it a bit strange that many avatars in the same room don't even breathe or blink.

[Zara]

The truly still ones that don't blink or breathe freak me out but I wish someone would make some decent tall avatars that don't move from the waist down, I might wear dresses then (legs glitching through skirts bothers me).

[oOChrissyOo]

I love the realistic animations of a breathing and blinking avatar..the ones who are "heavy breathers", (the chest goes up and down rapidly)...are the ones that freak me out...like, Um, you gonna hit me? Are you having a heart attack? Do you need a time-out? lol. And yes Zara, I agree about the glitching thru the clothing on some...that can be annoying.

[Elaini]

I love the realistic animations of a breathing and blinking avatar..the ones who are "heavy breathers", (the chest goes up and down rapidly)...are the ones that freak me out...like, Um, you gonna hit me? Are you having a heart attack? Do you need a time-out? lol. And yes Zara, I agree about the glitching thru the clothing on some...that can be annoying.

I have practiced avatar animation to the point where I know how to create a decent, gentle breathing. But I don't think I'll attempt avatar making just yet. At least until I have replaced the sickly skinny, low poly default animating figure and the bobble head with my own body and head shape in that file. And to make things more complicated, that girl has a collared Oxford shirt, huge sneakers, missing textures and already broken wrists? Come on...

And besides that, the IK limits only allow the foot bones to only move left and right instead of up and down (which is more natural)... I need to learn how to fix that.

And even then I have to rearrange the animating bones back to the T shape like in the weighting file so the vertices won't make my own body as a rubber band. IMVU sure didn't make things easy for meshers, even back then.

Actually for the dresses in SL there are "glitch pants". They have the same texture as the dress, so when legs cut though the dress with this you can make it look like they didn't.

In the meshing side, the legs can be cut off if the dress mesh is closed down below with a ruffle texture. But I'm not sure if that's the most realistic option...

[ChocolateCookie]

I love still avatars, because I hate the moving ones. Yes, it would be nice to have an avatar with realistic breathing and blinking, but they almost always have multiple poses and there is almost always one that looks bad. I like wearing long clothing so so many poses do not work for me and I rather have a still avatar instead of unpleasant pose surprises or having to go through an insane amount of trouble to find a multiple pose avatar that only has poses that work for this one outfit

It's just a much better choice out of two bad ones.

[GuySBot]

I'd guess the static avatars non - moving that is are the majority of those available .
I'm guessing the majority of users simply haven't found one that moves due to the numbers
being low compared to the higher number of still ones when shopping . In essence the more
life like ones never really caught on .

[Daphne2219]

I am pretty much old school myself, i do like the fact that my avi turns her head to the one who is talking, and moves to a different pose every minute or so.

However i do agree that a avi with those automatic poses, Always have that one pose that does look weird. But the still avatars are more looking like dead to me, no movements, no eyeblinking, and a death-stare to who-knows-where.

[Elaini]

But the still avatars are more looking like dead to me, no movements, no eyeblinking, and a death-stare to who-knows-where.

I also prefer the avatars to display a wider range of emotions and awareness (reactions) to the surroundings, feeling more like human actors compared to a marionettes, automatons or NPCs. I don't like them going into the exaggerated range of cartoons either. My favorite avatars thus far have been made by VisNova.

As for the quantity of still avatars (@GuySBot), those are always faster and easier to create for less details and stances required for random behavior - that might be one reason. Some have complained that still avatars need their own section though, so animated avatars aren't so hard to find.

[GuySBot]

I am pretty much old school myself,

Like Daphne said I too am kinda old school , I constantly get ragged on for wearing ancient items .
Just the other day someone said to me " you been here 10 years and you look like that " .
To which I replied let me know how I should look as to not offend your keen senses .
The chat didn't get much better after that , I just don't get how in a cartoon fantasy world
people take offense to . . . pretty much anything in regards to style/s .

Anyways my favorite and most used animated or not avi is ( I believe from around 2012 ) . .

*M*Perfect Girl Animated

By Maw

General Audience

http://www.imvu.com/shop/product.php?pr ... d=15404040

As for the quantity of still avatars (@GuySBot), those are always faster and easier to create for less details and stances required for random behavior - that might be one reason. Some have complained that still avatars need their own section though, so animated avatars aren't so hard to find.

It sure would have been nice if IMVU focused on a better catalog sort/ing and search functions et al instead of the directions they do go .
Maybe a good topic here would be to have one for our favorite animations be it avis , dances and so on ?

[Extinction]

The real reason why Still Avatars are more popular over Animated Avatars is price.
PEople don't want to pay 5k+ for an animated avatar, even tho in the end you are more likely spend just as much, if not more, in the long run, for additional poses to stand in.

Personally, I like both. Still avatars has become my new "pose pack" of sorts. I used to buy those a lot but now it's kind of a two in one.
However, almost everything I buy is within mine for my fur/sona or creating. Stills are useful for screenshots, whilst the animated are great for capturing certain poses for necessary screenshots.

[Elaini]

The real reason why Still Avatars are more popular over Animated Avatars is price.
PEople don't want to pay 5k+ for an animated avatar, even tho in the end you are more likely spend just as much, if not more, in the long run, for additional poses to stand in.

VisNova's avatars can cost more though, and he's still a pro creator. He does sell unique features with them, though.

[Nums]

The reason I like still avatars is very simple. It's because the ones that move usually have a pose or two that I absolutely cannot stand. I would use moving ones if there was one in which I liked everything about it, but there's yet to be one. And because of how hard it is to find a compatible moving avatar, I can understand why they've fallen out of style.