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The last time I exchanged mail with Qarl on this I got the impression that he was interested in eliminating the whole avatar and replacing it with flexible sculpties. Which is to be sure interesting (and I love the idea of flexible sculpties) but I think we need something between full prim avatars and invisiprims.
 Flexible sculpties? ZOMG!!1!!!1!
Personally I was thinking along the lines of numbering each face strategicly, using bitfields for different bodyparts. I'm sure what's cooking in Qarl's kitchen will be very tasty though Qarl's been talking about flexible sculpties all along. The idea was that the flex would be based on the alpha layer, so that areas that had a low alpha (high transparency) would move more.
I like this solution. As I noted in VWR-812 though, it is possible that this could be combined with masking? i.e - a suitable mask (that treats arms/feet/hands individually) would allow avatar mesh polygons to be completely removed if they are entirely masked. Polygons that are not entirely masked would still have a transparency as a result of the masking.
However this has my support even implemented as described, as it's fairly simple but allows us to remove all the common problem areas (or the whole avatar!) [edit] Added alternate user interface idea – sliders.
Haravikk:
Avatar mesh polygons for the eliminated portions would not exist. This would be a truncation of the mesh, not a transparent layer. I don't have a photo of the effect I'm talking about, but when mirrors actually worked you could look at the reflection of your avatar in mouselook and see your head completely pinched off. The same thing would apply here: if you remove the foot using this tool your leg would pinch off at the ankle. Hiding the base avatar completely: I don't care, I don't have a problem with that. Other people do, and what was actually implemented would be up to Linden Labs in any case. Let me make clear the way I understand this suggestion, as I am voting for it. This is NOT redundant with the features that allow you to simply not see avatars if you don't want to see them (Advanced, Rendering, Types, Character). This is NOT a transparency feature.
This is an option that would let you to tell SL not to produce your avatar mesh, or parts of the avatar mesh, at all. The avatar mesh would then not be visible to anyone; it would not be drawn at all. The grand niftiness of this is that, unlike many other good ideas, it should actually REDUCE the work of the servers and the client, by eliminating stuff that servers and client now have to to deal with!!! If it is too hard at present to make each body part disappear individually, it should still be possible to have a single button in Appearance. Click "No Appearance" and, poof, your avatar disappears from view. Simple. This is a very important idea and would revolutionize avatar design. I have many abstract and artistic avatar designs in mind that I simply cannot do at present. I am sure that this option would produce a surge of avatar creativity and quality. Imagine, for example, what Flea Bussy and Psyra Extrordinaire would do if they could attach creations to avatars without the avatars having to be visualized or else hidden with stupid flaky interfering invisiprims. It is completely win win. This MUST be done. bau, I think a simpler solution, at least for hiding/removing the whole mesh, would be a 'new' radio button in the Shape Editor, similar to the gender buttons now, called 'Primitar' (which was in the earliest stages of SL as the only option), that only uses the bone data.
The only problem I can see is if the mesh is replaced by a 'Ruthcloud'.... this shouldn't happen, IMO. if you wanted a small av, or one with seethrough parts, why should you have to cover the cloud? Also, bringing back the Primitar should mean at least slightly less work, since the code may still be hanging around. On the other hand, being able to apply a translucent skin to an av and render it seethrough (to the alpha level of the texture, hidden completely if totally clear) would probably be the most flexible way to do things, allowing for the most avatar customization. The tradeoff, however, is it would likely mean completely redoing the way skins are handled. The problem is that eliminating the whole mesh is only useful for full-prim avatars, it's no use at all for things like robot arms and digigrade legs. This proposal is for something more flexible than that, and even if it's not quite as flexible as an alpha mesh it's a lot easier to implement.
I think this is a step in the right direction toward being able to replace the avatar mesh. So us furries can make better furry avatars!
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New Feature
Open
Normal
Allow portions of the avatar mesh to be eliminated.
Last friday, at the office hour on aditi, Periapse Linden told us that Qarl Linden is working in this direction.
Periapse Linden: "Qarl tends to do these little things that produce grid changing results. Sculpties, uv picking, and now the invisiprim solution"