Animations in Second Life are used to animate the avatars. The avatars in Second Life represent human players. Figure 1.8 shows three avatars standing together.

Figure 1.8: Avatars Standing Together in Second Life

    By default, avatars move their arms, legs, and other body parts as they walk, run, and fly about the Second Life world. Animations allow avatars to move their bodies in ways that were not originally programmed into Second Life. Typically, animations allow the avatars to interact with objects. For example, if a canoe were created in Second Life, a corresponding animation would likely be created to allow the avatar to paddle the canoe.

    Animations are created in a third party program and then uploaded to Second Life. There are many different programs that can be used to create avatar animations. This book will make use of a free program named Avimator. Figure 1.9 shows an animation being edited using Avimator.

Figure 1.9: Using Avimator

    Once an animation has been created, it can be used with an in-world avatar. Figure 1.10 shows an avatar using the animation created in Figure 1.9.

Figure 1.10: An Avitar Using an Animation Created with Avimator

    Figure 1.10 shows the avatar posing in a single animation frame. Animations can also be created which cycle through a series of poses, or frames, thereby allowing avatars to act out certain actions.

    Animations will be covered in greater detail in Chapter 5, “Creating Animations.”