What are Product Types?
Everything that you make for IMVU becomes a product in the IMVU shop. There are 5 basic product types that you can make for IMVU. They are:
- Avatar body parts and clothing
- Avatar skin
- (a special material only product that applies only to the skin tone of the avatar)
- Avatar attachments
- Rooms
- Furniture for rooms
Rooms and furniture products can be made to interact with avatars!
Key points about product types
• Avatar body parts and clothing
These product types include: Hair, Heads, Tops, Bottoms, Shoes (feet), Gloves (hands).
These types of products replace any existing body part or clothing product being worn. For example, an avatar can only wear one head at a time. When an avatar wears a head the existing head being worn is removed. This system is controlled by what is known as the body part ID. More information on this can be found here Avatar Body Parts.
These products are composed of Materials, Meshes and can include Actions and Particle Systems. A skeleton is used when creating meshes or animations in your 3d editor, but is not imported into IMVU Studio for these products.
• Avatar skin (and eyes)
As mentioned above, skin and eyes product types are material only products. Meaning when you derive from one of these products the only thing that can be modified is the materials. You can only replace the textures of the existing materials and you cannot add meshes or additional materials or any other components or assets.
These are special product types that when worn by the avatar replace the skin tone of the avatar. An avatar can only wear one skin and one eye product at a time. When an avatar wears a skin or eye product any existing skin or eye product being worn is removed. More information on making skin products can be found here Making A Skin Product. The same principles for making skin products apply to making eye products, but you would derive from either Female Eyes or Male Eyes.
• Avatar attachments
This product type includes accessories (hats, jewelry, handbags, wings, etc.) and pets.
What distinguishes this product type from avatar body part and clothing products is that avatar attachments contain a skeleton which is separate from the avatar skeleton used by avatar body part and clothing products.
Another important point is that when these products are worn by the avatar they get “attached” to the avatar skeleton. Where they are attached is specified in the skeleton component of the product by selecting a bone of the avatar skeleton.
Products of this type are composed of a Skeleton, Materials, Meshes and can include Actions and Particle Systems.
• Rooms and Furniture
Room and furniture products share many similarities. Their primary purpose is to provide a place where avatars can interact with one another or the environment.
For more information on making furniture products please see Meshing Furniture – Introduction.
For more information on making room products please see Meshing Rooms – Introduction.
A main feature of rooms and furniture is avatar “seats”. These are specially named nodes in the room or furniture product skeleton that provide a location to place an avatar.
Similar to seats are “furniture nodes”. Rooms can have specially named nodes in the room product skeleton that provide a location to place furniture products. The process of placing furniture in rooms is referred to in IMVU as “room decoration” and is done by players of the game.
Interestingly furniture products can also have furniture nodes making it possible to place furniture on furniture!
For more information on room and furniture nodes please see Meshing Furniture – Skeleton and Nodes and Meshing Rooms – Skeleton and Nodes.
Additionally, both rooms and furniture products can contain actions which affect the avatar, the room or furniture product or both! When you make a product that contains actions that affect both the room or furniture product and the avatar, this is referred to as a “prop action” product.