Fully Rigged Customized Avatars Are Now Free From Evolver

Fully rigged avatar creation is now free from Evolver following its acquisition by Autodesk. Pro Model exports were previously $39 each.

You may create your Character for use in popular 3D software like Maya® and 3DSMax®. You specify your preferred output formats, skeleton type, polygonal resolution, others, and you can even add a custom set of 77 blendshapes to drive facial animation.

This service can give those experimenting with Second Life's new mesh capabilities a head start for imports into the modeling platform of their choice. Avatars for a number of other platforms including Project Wonderland and realXtend can be exported directly to the host format.

Here's a brief walk-through I created a couple of years ago. The features illustrated are still the same.

Transportable Avatars Today: Video Tour of Evolver and the Many Worlds

Now that the smoke has cleared a bit from last week's intra-blog conversation about digital property, I thought it would be a nice change of pace to share some of the fun I've been having with Evolver.  You can create avatars on their site for free and export them to other platforms including:

• Wonderland
• RealXtend
• VastPark
• FriendsHangout
• Animeeple
• Mixamo
• Source Data for 3D Software
• Many others

Some exports are free. Others require payment, for instance $39 US for the 3D model source data.

At this time, you can either start with their library of avatars or build your own from a photo of a face. After a couple of hours playing around with their photo import and avatar morphing interface, I haven't been able to duplicate my Second Life appearance, but it's in the general ballpark. What I would love to see in the future is a means to import OpenSim/Second Life avatar xml files and textures.

Anyway, it's a brilliant concept. Here's a video that gives a quick run through of the avatar creation process and the resulting avatar on a few different platforms. For a better viewing experience, click through to YouTube and view in HD resolution.