Over the past few days, I’ve been spending a little time setting up my avatars on Central Grid and OpenLifeGrid. I started off by copying down all of my shape settings from Second Life and then re-entering them into the new grids. It seems like there are to be a standard for defining shapes for import and export. Doing it as a simple XML file might be a good starting place, so using the names from the Second Life viewer, I created this xml file as an example of some of how this could be approached.

I also started playing with Second Inventory. It seems like this could be a great tool to manage inventory for all the worlds you are part of. It doesn’t work that way yet, but I’ve written to the developer about how that might be a good idea. I did use it to easily extract some textures from objects I have in the Second Life main grid, and bring them over to Central Grid and OpenLifeGrid, so I now have T-shirts like the ones I wear in the main grid.

I’m also kicking around porting Lillie Yifu’s wikiHUD to some of these other grids. I meet people in Central Grid, and their definitions are not set up the way they are in the main grid, so it is harder to remember who I am talking to. To compound this, in OpenLifeGrid, they have followed the Linden Lab approach which means you have to choose from a list of names. I chose Holden as my last name there, so in the main grid and in Central Grid, I’m Aldon Huffhines. In OpenLifeGrid I’m Aldon Holden. I think I’m Aldon Beta and/or Aldon Test in some other grids. secondlife.wikia.com might be a tool to help keep track of some of that.

Meanwhile, there has been an interesting discussion about what sort of avatars people chose over on the Second Life Educators list. That will be part 2 of More about Avatars, coming up later.