Gestures FAQ

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What are gestures

Gestures are items in your inventory (Inv item gesture.png). They allow you to create macro in order to trigger animations (for yourself), sounds and text chat.
They can be triggered with :

  • Shortcuts,
  • Words or phrases,
  • Voice (volume).

Gestures can be found in your library.

How to create gestures

  1. Open your inventory and go to the Gestures folder.
  2. Right-click the gestures folder and select New Gesture.
  3. Right-click the new gesture, and rename it.
  4. Double-click the gesture. The Gesture edit box will open.
  5. Type a description of the gesture in the Description field.
  6. Choose a Shortcut Key combo to trigger the gesture, or type a text trigger in the Trigger field. For example, /sit. Later you would trigger this gesture by saying /sit in the local chat.
  7. In the Steps field, there are three default steps. Select each one and click the Remove button.
  8. Under Library, click Animation and click the Add>> button. (in order to add the animation in your inventory)
  9. Select the animation from the Animation to Play dropdown menu.
  10. Repeat steps 8 and 9, if you want to add more animations to the gesture. You can also add text and sounds. You can use the Preview button to see how your animations string together.
  11. Click the Active checkbox, click Save and close the gesture window.

Video: How to create & use gestures in SL

<videoflash>RZgz1KNQKMc|250|206</videoflash> This tutorial is about :
Gestures (normal video size)

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Read the related blog entry

Video: What are voice gestures?

<videoflash>Qa7-aRi4VpE|250|206</videoflash> This tutorial is about :
  • *summary*
Voice Gestures (normal video size)

Download in HighQuality
Read the related blog entry

Common Gesture Questions

I'm new and my gestures don't work. Why?

They need to be activated.

  • Open your inventory and go to the "Gestures" folder.
  • Right-click on each gesture and select Activate.
    • you can also activate gestures by dragging them on your avatar. (it's also working with folders)

To use them now, either type them in with a forward slash then the name (i.e. /hey), use the pull down menu (near the Shout button) or use the appropriate hot key (i.e. F12 to dance).

I don't know what hot keys belong to which animation or, I want to change my hot keys.

  • Right-click your avatar and select Gestures from the pie menu. Edit which animations you wish to change the shortcut or hot key for (In this example choose /bow).
  • Select Edit and replace the shortcut or the text that triggers the animation.

Default for this animation is F4, however, you have the option of making it any F key 2-12 with Control, Shift or no additional key. That's a total of 33 presets!

I am a male but a female voice comes from my avatar. How do I change that?

As an example, we will use the "hey" sound/gesture.

  • Right click your avatar and select Gestures from the pie menu.
  • Highlight the /hey gesture in the Active Gesture menu and select Edit.
  • On the right side of the Edit menu, highlight Sound:Hey Female.
  • Just below that is a drop down menu titled Sound to play. Click the arrow and scroll to select a new sound. In this case you can select Hey Male.
  • Click save. Repeat as necessary.

I made (purchased, was given) an animation. How do I make it a gesture?

You must have full permissions (copy/modify/transfer) on the animations to use it in your gesture. Create a new gestures as explain at the beginning of the page, your animation must be among animations available in the "Animation to play" field.

How can I write gesture words in local chat (they are always hidden)

Second life analyse the fisrt words of a chat line. If the gesture words (ex : /hey) are put later (but on the same line chat), they won't launch the gesture.

  • "/hey type" => You say "type" (and launch the gesture)
  • "type /hey" => You say "type /hey" (and launch the gesture)

For example, this tip is useful to explain in chat how to launch macro.