[1643] Fallback avatars linked to an avatar, as an alternative to current user-selected fallbacks and Imposters
anatawa12
Since this canny is highly related to deprecation of fallback avatars in this canny, I'm posting to open beta board.
I'm proposing fallback avatars that is linked to an avatar, instead of user-selected ones.
Currently, all users need to select fallback avatars.
However, fallback avatars are not popular feature and most one does not set fallback avatar (uses default randomly chosen fallback).
I think this is why VRChat is pushing Imposters, but I feel Imposters have ugly appearance due to mechanism limitations so I want to see & show (properly selected) fallback avatars instead of imposters where possible.
To achieve both not requiring setting fallback avatars for most users and seeing Imposters less often, I think it’s good to have fallback avatars linked to an avatar (blueprint id).
Creators generally have more knowledge than most players so I think it’s reasonable to ask creators for uploading avatars.
Therefore, I'm proposing fallbacks avatars that is linked to an avatar, instead of user-selected ones.
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cubee_cb
this says pretty much what i wrote out before canny suggested this post.
main difference is that I link the fallback ID from the main avatar, allowing multiple avatars to link to the same fallback, and for users to specify an existing Public Fallback to use for their avatar.
--- my write-up below
A bunch of my avatars are too low-poly for impostors to look good (impostorisation produces very distorted segments/joints, particularly in the hips) and I would much prefer to "link" them with fallback versions of those avatars instead.
Expecially for my marketplace avatars, I'd prefer to construct a dedicated fallback model than leave people with an impostor I cannot fix.
At the same time, I'd like to have other avatars (e.g. publics) still show as impostor instead of being replaced completely with my unrelated "per user" fallback, as happens with the current "Use Impostor as Fallback" setting.
So, I propose the following priority:
Avatar > per-avatar Fallback (if present) > per-avatar Impostor (if present) > Robot (or per-user Fallback, if still present)
It would be nice if multiple avatars could link to the same Fallback; basically just add a field to the avatar that specifies an Avatar ID for it to use as its Fallback.
also made some UI mockups for fun:
Photo Viewer
View photos in a modal
haileyscommit
Two concerns: there are plenty of old avatars that won't get updated to pick one; and it would be harder to tell when you're seeing the fallback vs the full-featured avatar (the ugly blockiness of impostors tells you that for those).
I support this idea in full. I'd set the "high-performance" crummy-looking gimmick-free versions of my avatars as avatar-selected fallbacks -- you're right that they're better than impostors.
Ideally we could go one step further and have support in the SDK for setting the fallback (as opposed to having to go to the website to do it), especially if it's in the scene.
haileyscommit
I think I'm going to add onto this: users should be able to pick how they want their fallback to work: the "normal" way (i.e. avatar-specific fallback -> impostor -> maybe user-selected fallback -> gray robot), no fallbacks (so, impostors or robots only), no impostors, or always robot. Mostly, the always robot option would be useful especially if a "fallback" robot is shown.
It wouldn't be a bad idea if there were some shortcut for avatar creators to pick the fallback robot as the avatar fallback, if they wanted to (say, for an avatar where effects are its main focus and there's nothing to see in a fallback).
bd_
+1 to this - I use a single quest compatible avatar that I reupload for dozens of PC avatars (different outfit variations). Having this be a fully supported feature would make it much easier to manage quest compatibility.