The Unofficial Second Life® Fashion and Shopping Blog

When Keiki Lemieux, creator of HUDDLES EZ Animator Deluxe first IMed me and asked if she could give me a demo, I inwardly cringed. Please understand this was not a personal reflection upon Keiki - she’s cute as a button. Just look at her:

Rather, it had everything to do with the fact that animation attachments, AO HUDs, and their ilk are the biggest pain in the ass frustration in all of SL as far as I’m concerned. Don’t get me wrong - I have one. I use it every day. I don’t WANT to walk like a duck and I want my pretty poses, etc. I have LOTS of modeling animations and poses and oodles of dances. So, yes, I have them, I just *RESENT* them and I’d rather sit through a Gibb Brother Christmas Special than ever have to set one up again.

But after spending 20 minutes with Keiki I was a HUDDLES convert. This thing is better than the best of a bad situation. It’s truly amazing. It does *EVERYTHNG* you could want. It’s an AO, it’s an animation player, it’s a dance HUD, it’s a chimera, it’s a hug attachment, it lets you set up poofs and macros (curses!), it’s a landmark organizer…the list is endless. It slices! It dices! It even makes julienne fries!

And unlike most of the geek-drenched drek out there, this is one of the most user-friendly items on the market with incredibly detailed support documentation. The fully expanded HUD fits on your screen and gives you a nice, big easy-to-read interface. No squinting and guessing at tiny buttons or sighing at the big ugly blocks of crayon-smeared textures that pass as buttons on similar products.

Up close it looks like a remote control, with nicely textured, clear buttons that are easy to navigate (once you understand what they mean:

All the symbols are common-sense (play, back, stop, dance, play all, load, etc) and figuring them out comes quite naturally. Further, when you don’t have to have it expanded, it minimizes nicely into a tiny little bar which is as non-intrusive as any other HUD I’ve ever seen:

From this mini-bar, you have the most basic applications: randomize loaded animations, dance, stop current animations, on/off AO, and maximize interface.

I could easily turn this whole blog into a HUDDLES user manual, but I don’t have to. Keiki has gone over and above in developing her support documentation. And, for those who are new to AOs and such, she holds classes and she seems to always be on to help with questions as well.

But before talk of user manuals and classes scares you - let me tell you straight: the most amazing part of this device is its versatility. You can use it simply or you can delve into advanced features. If you just wanted to buy it as an AO or a Dance HUD, it would be well worth the money. It comes fully-stocked with oodles of poses, dances, animations, and custom effects (like the dreaded poofs). But you don’t have to start using everything all at once. There’s a lot here. So you can go step-by-step and grow into it. So far I’m only using the AO and Dance features, but I’m eager to set up my landmark organization. Plus, once I get it loaded with modeling poses I’ll be in hog-heaven.

Also (and how much of a godsend is this) if you have an existing Ziggy AO you can copy your ZHAO commands EXACTLY into the HUDDLES default card. Then you just plug in all your animations and you’re golden. You can pick up right where you left off in a few minutes and then begin taking advantage of the other features just waiting to be put to use. (One small word of warning - when loading large numbers of animations into this or any other object make SURE you can see the animations in the Content Tab before you leave Edit mode - things tend to get lost in the void when transferring bunches at a time).

This bears repeating - it’s also a CHIMERA. Not only do you get the AO and the Dance HUD and the other features, but you can invite people around you to be animated as well. You don’t need an AO, a dance HUD, a hug attachment, and the rest of laundry list of items that are out there to bring your avie to life. You just need this ONE.

Oh blessed, sweet simplicity.

A large percentage of my SL holiday list had their virtual stockings stuffed with these pretty babies. They are the most impressive USEFUL toy I’ve seen in a long long, time. At just under L$1500 it may not look like a bargain at first, but when you realize all it does and the content it comes with, you can’t argue with the price tag. You just can’t. It easily replaces L$10k worth of items in my inventory (had I not bought them already, alas).
I would say this item has a moderate degree of difficulty for the beginning user (welcome to the world of customizing your own AO), a small degree of difficulty for the average user (basically you’ll need to glance at the manual a few times before getting used to the features), but for any advanced user of even passing intelligence there is almost no difficulty beyond learning what the buttons are.

Seriously - 20 minutes and I was a convert and I’m a bitchy, stubborn sort with a lazy streak the size of Canada. Where To Buy:

HUDDLES EZ Animator Deluxe - L$1499

HUDDLES Headquarters
No 16, 188, 145