We wish this could have been easier... take your time.
You'll come across these as the time goes by.
Note: Not sorted entirely by alphabetical order
| TERM |
MEANING |
| IMVU Previewer, Previewer |
The editor used to compile exported files and compressed into .cfl file formats for use in IMVU; Primary tool for IMVU product development. |
| IMVU Client, IMVU Software Client, Client |
User-End Software used to run the instant messenging service from IMVU. |
| Copyright © |
– symbolized "©" – is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time. Generally, it is "the right to copy", but also gives the copyright holder the right to be credited for the work, to determine who may adapt the work to other forms, who may perform the work, who may financially benefit from it, and other, related rights. It is an intellectual property form (unlike the patent, the trademark, and the trade secret) applicable to any expressible form of an idea or information that is substantive and discrete.
Reference: Wikipedia on Copyright
Copyright under the Berne Convention must be automatic; it is prohibited to require formal registration.
Reference: Berne Convention
Depending on the users' country of origin, the participation in Berne Convention may differ.
Reference: List of parties to international copyright treaties |
| DMCA, DMC |
Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
The law that protects digital copyrights; Applicable to every IMVU product as IMVU is hosting the products. IMVU assumes the CC owns the copyright unless otherwise contested.
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a United States copyright law which implements two 1996 WIPO treaties. It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or services that are used to circumvent measures that control access to copyrighted works (commonly known as DRM) and criminalizes the act of circumventing an access control, even when there is no infringement of copyright itself. It also heightens the penalties for copyright infringement on the Internet.
Reference: Wikipedia - DMCA
Reference: IMVU - DMCA |
| 10% Mark-Up |
Mark-up, otherwise known as Tax;
Retail price of Products in IMVU receive a 10% increase to the wholesale price set by the developer/CC; All products are 110% of the wholesale price set by the developer/CC.
This increment is added automatically by IMVU on all products.
Users with Gold Pass or possess more than 1,000,000 credits at any given moment receives a waiver of this 10% tax on their purchases; Developer/CC will still receive their designated Profit margins. |
| 2D |
A dimensionally flat image comprising x,y coordinates; 2D images are usually "textures" or "stickers"; Rarely used term. Basic building block for 3D Textured items. |
| 2D Programs, Image Editors |
Software used to create or edit 2D images. Example softwares are Paint, Adobe Photoshop, Corel Paint Shop Pro, GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) |
| 2x, ^2 |
Mathematical use: Multiples of Two or Powers of Two, Used in IMVU commonly with reference to any side of the image's x or y axis ( width or height respectively) dimensions best utilised in realtime engines.
Example: for any axis, 2,4,8,16,32,64,128,256,512,1024... values are in pixels |
| 3D, Realtime |
A 3 dimensional object comprising x,y,z coordinates; Realtime 3D objects are visible only when processed and rendered in softwares; Commonly used term associated with Meshes and Modellers. |
| 3DS MAX |
Autodesk 3D Studio Max; IMVU's primary 3D tool and the only platform source files are released for; Professional Tool used by 3D Modellers.
Currently only Exporter Plugins for 3DS Max 7 and 8 are available; Plugins for 9 and above exist but are not publicly available. |
| 3rd Party Software/Programs |
Development software/programs created by parties other than IMVU that are needed for development but are not supplied by IMVU; Such programs exist in all manners, from free to costly. |
| Access Pass, AP |
A functional product purchased from IMVU that allows the usage of stipulated AP actions on the client software as well as unlocking the catalogs for content requiring the ownership of an Access Pass. User must be 18 and above to purchase the Access Pass. |
| Access Pass Council, APC |
A council of users established by IMVU for the brainstorming and discussions of IMVU Access Pass related issues. |
| Actions (IMVU) |
1] In Client - The movements the user can make their avatar do either on themselves or on others.
2] In Previewer - The Tab function that allows the products to do designated mechanisms; Often the ability to add animation files that control the movements of an avatar or product or both, as well as the supplementing of sound files to a product; Required with the adding of trigger words to a product. |
| Alpha Map, Opacity Map |
2D image that governs the transparency of the product or the composite nature;
Referred to as Alpha Channel (map) or Opacity Map. A grayscale image that provides instructions to the rendering engine on how to display transparency in a 2D image/texture used on a 3D object. White is solid, black is clear, shades of gray equate to different levels of transparency. |
| Attachment Node |
Reference skeletal point on the avatar where the developer/CC can attach accessory-derived meshes. |
| Avatar Name, Avi |
The moniker the user goes by; User's online identity. |
| Avatar |
A representative icon / object / entity of a certain individual; Giving identity to a virtual presence. |
| BETA |
quoted reference:
"A beta version is the first version released outside the organization or community that develops the software, for the purpose of evaluation or real-world black/grey-box testing. The process of delivering a beta version to the users is called beta release. Beta level software generally includes all features, but may also include known issues and bugs of a less serious variety."
reference: Wikipedia on Beta |
| Blender |
A free 3rd party 3D software. |
| Breakeven (Price) |
The fee paid to the developer(s)/CC(s) in a development chain for the sales and development of a product, it is deducted from each sale to pay the developer(s)/CC(s). Expense due for originators of a product. |
| Bot |
A system / spider that crawls over the internet with a designated function.
Often used by IMVU to make announcements; Represented by various avatars such as MissGreenBacks and IMVU Inc. |
| Buddies |
The term used by IMVU to indicate the users' Friend(s); A Buddy List is like a List of Friends. |
| Bundles |
A product containing several products at their wholesale price with a breakeven of 75 credits; Bundles are made by Developers/CCs. |
| Customer Advisory Board, CAB |
A council of users established by IMVU for the brainstorming and discussions of IMVU users' related issues. |
| Cal3D |
Cal3D is a skeletal based 3D character animation library written in C++ in a way that is both platform-independent and graphics API-independent; Rendering system used by IMVU. |
| Catalog Price, Retail Price, Product Price |
The final listed selling price of a product inclusive of 10% IMVU tax (10% Mark-Up), the Breakeven Price, and the developer/CC's profit margin.
Breakdown:
Breakeven - 300 Credits
Profit - 50 Credits
10% Tax = 35 Credits
Selling Price = 385 Credits |
| Catcher Node |
Used in room/furniture developing together with the Pitcher Node to assign where cooperative actions will happen. The catcher is the receiver of the action; The catcher is the target avatar the user is using the action on. |
| Content Creator (CC), Developer (Dev) |
A registered user who purchased their name and signs up under IMVU's Content Creator System to be able to create products on and for IMVU, otherwise known as a Developer. |
| Content Creator Council, CCC, C3 |
A council of content creators established by IMVU for the brainstorming and discussion of content creator related issues. Formerly known as the DC - Developers' Council. |
| CFL |
File format generated by the previewer for submission into the catalog either as a new product or to replace a product. |
| Cooperative Actions |
Actions that one avatar does to another.
Example: Buddy Actions, VIP Actions, AP Actions |
| Credit(s) |
IMVU's in-game currency purchased with real currency for the expressed purpose of trade;
A required asset for the gifting of products to users and several IMVU functions.
Able to be earned and resold via resellers or personal direct sales for monetary value. |
| Developers' Council, DC (Updated to Content Creators Council, CCC) |
A council of developers established IMVU for the brainstorming and discussion of developer related issues. Non-existant; When the DC was being updated to CCC, most of the former members of DC were removed; Now known as the Content Creators Council, CCC, C3 |
| Deriving, making a Derivation |
To derive,
make a derivation: Making a different work based on an original, similar to adaptation.
Obtaining the derivative rights to a product via means of making a derivation; A derived work does not constitute copyright infringement as long as there are changes made that makes the derived work different from the work beign derived from.
To build from one product to make another based on the former.
With IMVU: Usually done by means of applying new textures. |
| Derivation Chain, Deriving Chain |
The derivation network tree of a product in which its origins are tracable to the root product; Hidden products will block further upward access and tracing;
Commonly understood that the longer a chain, the more expensive the product as well as having a larger file size. |
| Deriving fee, Derivation Fee |
The one-time fee paid during submission to pay the developer/CC being derived from, for the copy and derivative copyrights of the product. |
| Developer, Dev |
Old term used to describe and refer to a Content Creator; Term used to refer to an individual as a creator of any product. |
| Developer Tokens, DevTokens, DTs |
The special currency earned by a developer/CC when a user makes a purchase for the developer/CC's product with Promotional Credits either in part or whole.
1 Product earns 1 DT irregardless of bundle.
1 DT = 10 Credits, exchangable only in shoutouts and the 500 credit submission cost of new products. |
| FAQ, FAQs |
Short for "Frequently Asked Questions" |
| Fredits, Predits, Promotional Credits, Promo Creds |
Free Credits given out by IMVU from various participation of a user. When used to purchase products, the developer/CC earns a Developer Token / DT instead of Credits. |
| Furniture |
IMVU products that can be placed in a room; Can be scaled, rotated and moved around in a Furniture Room;
Not necessarily actually 'furniture' or furniture look-a-likes. |
| Furniture Rooms |
Public chat rooms that support the use of IMVU furniture products. |
| Exporters |
The Cal3D plugins necessary to allow a 3D modelling software to generate / "save" files in the format the Previewer needs. |
| GIF |
A file type capable of hodling up to 256 colours in its colour tables and support 1-bit Alpha transparency on standard applications. Embedded Transparency is not visible in the IMVU Software Client |
| Gift Beggars, Beggars |
IMVU Users who engage in the practice of thinly veiled or just plain outright begging for credits, gifts, passes, or name purchase in the form of forum posts or unwarranted page messages or any form of communication method;
A generally frowned upon practice in IMVU and typically ignored. Such messages are often deleted. Some are set into ignore lists. |
| GIMP |
The GNU Image Manipulation Program; A free 3rd party 2D image editer software. |
| Gold Pass |
A product discount pass purchasable from IMVU;
Allows users to reduce payment for the 10% IMVU markup in any and every product on the catalog. |
| Google |
A powerful search engine, great for locating tutorials and such materials;
Bad for obtaining facts;
EternaSky and Keef shares a similar sentiment and he refers to Keef's statement for Google:
"The most underutilized (and your most powerful) tool when learning to use 3rd party programs." |
| Guest_, Guest |
A prefix; A registered user in IMVU that has not purchased their name. |
| Guest Developer |
A user who became a developer in the early days of IMVU before the name purchasing requirement was implemented;
Guest developers have become registered developers with their own names without the "Guest_" prefix. Some remnants still exist and early products are still reported seeing being made by Guests because of this. |
| Handle Node |
Note, there may be Professional terms in use here:
Necessary Dummy>Helper Gizmo for the positioning of the Seat Icon in the IMVU Client and Previewer;
Necessary position reading target for placing the Seat Icon by the IMVU Client and Previewer. |
| Homepages |
The main customisable webpage given to a registered user; Depending on the user's level of web coding knowledge, the user can modify it from the simplest color manipulating and stickers placement, to the advanced levels of web coding using HTML, Javascript and CSS. |
| IMVU |
Prononced: In~m~Vi~u;
Keef: Instant Messenger Viewer
Most other people: Instant Messaging Virtual Universe
Foundry: "Does it matter?" |
| JPG, JPEG |
Joint Photographic (Experts) Group;
A compressed graphic format commonly used on the internet and in IMVU textures and stickers. Able to contain millions of colour. |
| Locked Room |
Formerly: Scenes
Room Products that do not support furniture placement;
These rooms are complete as a package comprising their relevant products; All-in-One Room.
Cannot be added to or have their contents moved;
Locked Rooms are generally faster to load and bears a better load with the users' computer's processing power than normal Furniture Rooms that are full of furniture;
A fixed Georama.
|
| Mapping Templates, UVW Tempates, Templates |
The UVW referencing coordinates of the positions wherein a texture is applied to a 3D model / mesh; Also known as Texture Map or UV map.
The broken / pelted / unwrapped form of the 3D object in 2D representation. |
| Mesh, Model (3D) |
A 3-dimensional object made up by joining 3 vertex points or vertices to form faces.
1 Face (triangle) = 1 Poly.
Generally, the larger the density in vertex count, the more faces created, resulting in high polygon count meshes. This bears more load on the graphical processor resulting in user perceived 'lag' on the client software. |
| Moticons |
Giant balls that the avatar becomes when the user types :D :) :P ... etc webicons.
Accessible by IMVU Software Client as a button category when the user highlight their own avatar and clicks it. |
| OGG |
An audio compression format used by IMVU and developers/CCs in their products for sound effects.
Often music are compressed into this format and loses quality on top of which are mostly illegal. Legal repercussions exist for violators. |
| Opacity Map, Alpha Map, Texture Map |
2D image that governs the transparency of the product or the composite nature;
Referred to as Alpha Channel (map) or Opacity Map. A grayscale image that provides instructions to the rendering engine on how to display transparency in a 2D image/texture used on a 3D object. White is solid, black is clear, shades of gray equate to different levels of transparency. |
| Paint Shop Pro |
A 3rd party image editing software. |
| Paint.NET |
A simple 3rd party image editing software. |
| Photoshop |
A Professional 3rd party image editing software. |
| Photoshop Elements |
A 3rd party image editing software offering the basics of image manipulation found in PhotoShop. |
| Pitcher Node |
Used in room/furniture developing together with the Catcher Node to assign where cooperative actions will happen. The pitcher is the initiator of the action; The pitcher is the user that is using the action. |
| PM, Private Message |
A private message sent to a User's homepage or via the forum's PM function. |
| PNG |
Portable Network Graphics;
A bitmap image format that employs lossless data compression;
Able to contain 8-bits of transparency in its compression;
Most browsers support PNG.
IE7 and above started to support PNG, previous versions do not.
Used for most stickers in IMVU as it contains 8-bits of transparency giving it a nicer blend. |
| Prop Actions |
An action ensemble in a room that involves the use of a object existing in the room. |
| PS |
Shorthand used for various meanings;
Used in IMVU to represent Photoshop at times; Rare term.
Other uses: PostScript.
|
| Rankings Panel |
IMVU's tracking system on the users' activities and according them ratings. |
| Re-texturing |
Modification of an existing texture either by total replacement or partial changes. |
| Room |
The background environment that users in IMVU chats are immersed in; Furnitures can be placed in such Rooms;
Rooms can be anything, from a simple flat background to a complex 3D indoor or outdoor scene;
Often an expansive Georama. |
| RSS |
Really Simple Syndication, is a family of Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated content including, but not limited to, blog entries, news headlines, and podcasts.
Used in IMVU as a means of allowing RSS enabled blogs. |
| Scenes |
Refer to Locked Rooms |
| Seat Node |
Used to assign locations for the avatar to be positioned;
Used in furnitures in conjunction with Handle Nodes to display where the avatar will be positioned when relevant Handle is clicked;
Used in rooms (any type) to set positions for avatars. |
| Shoutouts |
The advertising Ticker Taper that runs on the top of the webpage in IMVU, and on the bottom of the chat client. Purchasable from IMVU. Able to be purchased with DTs. |
| Skeleton |
The infrastructure / hierarchy of bones / connections in a product. |
| Sketchup |
A Low Cost 3rd party 3D modelling software developed by Google with limited IMVU support that can be used for developing 3D models for use in IMVU. |
| Skin |
1] Product: a skin is worn by avatar as exterior repersentation of their basic look
2] Skin Composite: Overlay of a skintight model with the opacity map displaying the original skin of the avatar in the Transparent zones
3] Modifier: Skin; 3DS Max modifier used for wrapping a model around a set of bones |
| SMS |
Short Message Service |
| Spinner, Spin Free |
Slot machine from IMVU; Stand a chance to win from 0 to 500 promotional credits per spin. One free spin per day. |
| Sticker |
2D images used to decorate homepages in IMVU |
| Submission Fee |
The 500 credit fee paid when submitting a product to IMVU; Can be paid for, with Developer Tokens.
This fee is waived for Professional Developers. |
| Texture |
A 2D image that binds to the surface normals of a 3D model;
The appearance of a 3D model is governed by its texture(s);
An image that wraps across designated graphic channels of a 3D Model / Mesh. |
| Token |
A currency system in IMVU existing in several formats;
Name Change Tokens, Developer Tokens, Access Pass Tokens, Try-It Pass Tokens etc.
Utilised by IMVU Credits Resellers when they resell the tokens.
|
| Try-It Pass |
Blue:
A purchasable pass that allows the owner to try on a product for 20 second to preview it in a scene before making a purchase. Allows user to consult with their friends if a certain product fits them well.
Gold: A purchasable pass generally given out free when the user first subscribes to IMVU; Allows the owner to preview the product on themselves in a fitting room with no time limit prior to purchase. No consultation available. |
| VIP Program |
IMVU: A monthly subscription fee that opens up exclusive IMVU VIP content; Comes along with a monthly set of credits.
Foundry: The referral marketting system used by the Vertexual Foundry to reward customers for their patronage. Known as Vested Interest Partners (V.I.P.) |
| Weighting |
A modelling principle/capability in a 3D program; To give instructions to a 3D model's vertex / vertices to its attachment bone/skeleton structure; Necessary to link meshes to skeletons |
| Wishlist |
A location on users' homepages where they can display items they want from the catalog so that those interested know what products they are dreaming of.
Requires the use of credits, not promotional credits, to purchase items from a wishlist. |
| XAF |
A general animation format available with 3DS Max. The Animation file in Cal3D format used by IMVU. Animating bones are goerned by this format. |
| XMF |
The Mesh Cal3D file format containing the 3D model data for use by IMVU. Material IDs are governed by this format. |
| XRF |
The Material Cal3D file format containing the information for textures assigning to materials in IMVU. Name sof textures are governed by this format. |
| XSF |
The Skeleton / Hierarchy data Cal3D file format used bu IMVU to manage the infrastructure of each product. |
| XY |
2D axis coordinates referring to X as the width and Y as the height |
| XYZ |
3D axis coordnates used by 3D applications. Generally either Y or Z indicates the upward height of the model and Z or Y respectively indicates the forward facing/depth. |
| Zzz |
Sleep |
Being a Developer / Content Creator is really easy once you understand how Copyrights work.
