Good things come to those who wait, and this is one BIG release for Sansar. We’ve got a lot to cover so let’s dive right into it!

As always you can always read the full release notes here

Custom Avatars

Express yourself! Custom Avatars are here in Sansar, as a complete makeover for your avatar. Much like using Marvelous Designer for clothes, simply pull in the Sansar default skeleton (male or female) into your preferred modelling program, create your Custom Avatar as a .fbx and upload it to your Lookbook or to the Store.

And for those of you already alt-tabbing out to start modelling, the Triangle cap is 40,000 tris.

Custom Avatars will not be able to equip wearables however, as a Custom Avatar is essentially a single piece wearable.

This is a brave new frontier for Sansar as we have never before unleashed such creativity for self-expression. So to celebrate that, we are launching our Avatar Contest!

On August 10th, join us at the Custom Avatar Gala to show off your new look to our judging panel. We will have 5 categories, and the winner of each category will receive S$5000!

Here are the 5 categories:

Best Looking Avatar

Funniest Avatar

Most Surreal Avatar

Most Innovative Avatar

Best Original Design

Avatars must meet our Content Guidelines as well as our new Avatar Guidelines, this includes no nude Avatars or Avatars that infringe on Intellectual Property you do not own. To be entered into the Contest the Avatar must be listed on the store prior to August 9th and the Avatar must be present at the Custom Avatar Gala.

You can read the full rules for the Custom Avatar contest here.

HTTP Scripting API

Scripters: On your mark, get set, GET CREATIVE!

This is a big API to open up to our scripter community and we are so excited to see what you’re going to do with it. With this API you’ll be able to pull in web-data where you can get it, into your C# scripts.

This will give you the ability to, for instance, to have different weather objects have their animations triggered by actual live weather data. It rains outside, it rains in Sansar. How cool is that!

Some key points should be brought up about this API though, as sharing web-data can be a two-way street. Please be aware that the following Sansar data could be read:

Avatar name

A user’s unique avatar identifier

When an avatar visits the experience

When an avatar leaves the experience

Where in the experience 3D space the avatar exists whilst in the experience

Public chat of avatars whilst in the experience

The possibilities are as diverse as they are numerous with this HTTP API. So show us what you can make!

Simple Scripts

For some of us the magical world of scripts seem beyond our reach…

That’s all going to change with Simple Scripts!

The Action Team has been hard at work creating these useful scripts that anyone can drop into an experience and begin using them. They are specially designed to work together to form ultimate script combos.

Simple Scripts coming out in this release are:

SimpleCollision

SimpleAnimation

SimpleHotkey

SimpleLight

SimpleInteraction

SimpleMover

SimplePrompt

SimpleChat

SimpleChatCommand

SimpleTimer

SimpleSound

SimpleVisitors

SimpleTeleport

SimpleDebugger

These scripts will be automatically added to your inventory

Let’s break down some examples of what you could do with these scripts:

SimpleInteraction — The workhorse script to enable anything to be interactable. This one lets you press buttons, hit switches, etc.

— The workhorse script to enable anything to be interactable. This one lets you press buttons, hit switches, etc. SimpleSound — This is a simple script to trigger sound effects.

— This is a simple script to trigger sound effects. Combine this with SimpleInteraction in an object and choose a sound to play when you press a button. Ding!

SimpleMover — Perhaps the most flexible of the new SimpleScripts, enabling moving platforms, doors that open and close, and other complex movement. Objects can move between their initial position and a specified position and/or orientation.

— Perhaps the most flexible of the new SimpleScripts, enabling moving platforms, doors that open and close, and other complex movement. Objects can move between their initial position and a specified position and/or orientation. Use this in conjunction with `SimpleInteraction` to make a door that opens when you press a button.

Want to see how much these SimpleScripts can do? Join our Community Manager Eliot (that’s me!) on Fridays at 11am PDT on our Twitch channel. For the next few weeks he’ll be showing you how to use these SimpleScripts!

Quality of Life Updates

To wrap up, here are a few other updates that will make everyone’s Sansar life a little easier:

If you have multiple objects selected in ‘Edit Mode, you will be able to edit whatever variables those objects have in common (e.g. Scale, Rotation, Light Intensity, Audio Source etc.).

You can now adjust your VR “comfort zone”. When someone gets too close to you in VR, they will disappear from your field of view. Now you can adjust that distance to your preference.

When searching for users, you can now search by Avatar name or Avatar ID, and you can also search with just a part of their name (instead of typing their whole name).

Avatar ID, and you can also search with just a part of their name (instead of typing their whole name). You can now add a Sansar Events to “My Calendar” as well as adding them to 3rd party calendars (i.e. your Google Calendar). You’ll never miss an event again! Events also have the option to “Host Again”

You can now choose your Audio Input/Output in the Settings menu

You can use the hotkey CTRL+T to open the Chat Window

Several improvements to physics and the network model will mean better responsiveness with dynamic objects. For example, throwing and catching a ball ⚾️

In addition, we’ve added a few more default outfits to your Lookbook! Try on the Adventurer, Lolita, Punk and Goth looks.

On a final note, we have another update for you being announced on Friday. Expect another blog post then, and come to the Product Meetup at 2pm PDT in the Zen Garden for more details. You’ll also be able to catch that meetup on Twitch.

Once again, for the complete breakdown of every detail in this release, please read the full Release Notes.