Bento Alive™ HUD
The Bento Alive™ HUD is a free little orb you wear in Second Life. Drop in the .anim
expressions you made in the studio, and the HUD lets you play and organize them —
no clunky panels, no setup. One elegant orb, one smart menu. ✨
Grab it from the Green Tech store on the SL Marketplace. It's a gift to the community — the only thing it "carries" is the Bento Alive name and an anonymous usage count (see Privacy below).
It plays your own expressions — the ones you create and export in the studio. New here? Make a face first with the Studio Guide, then export it to Second Life, and come back here to use it.
1) Wear it
Wear the HUD like any attachment — it appears as a small orb in a corner of your screen.
- Tap the orb any time to open the menu.
- The first time, it's empty — that's normal. The orb will guide you. 👇
2) 📥 Add your expressions
Your expressions live inside the HUD, so you decide exactly what's on it.
- Right-click the HUD → Edit
- Open the Content tab
- Drag a Bento Alive
.animfile from your inventory into it
That's it — it shows up in the menu instantly. Add as many as you like, remove any time. The HUD always shows exactly what's inside.
.anim files come from?You make them in the Bento Alive Studio and upload them to Second Life. Full walkthrough: Export to Second Life.
3) ▶ Play
Tap the orb to open your expressions. Then:
| Action | What happens |
|---|---|
| Tap an expression | Plays it on your face. A ✓ marks the one that's playing |
| Tap it again (the ✓ one) | Stops it |
| ⏹ Stop (center, bottom — always there) | Stops everything and resets your face to neutral |
| ◄ Prev / Next ► | Flip pages if you have lots of expressions |
While an expression plays, the orb gently breathes so you can tell it's alive. 💚
Bento faces don't always snap back when an animation stops. Just hit ⏹ Stop — it loads a clean neutral pose. (Still weird? Right-click your avatar ▸ Appearance ▸ Reset skeleton & animations.)
4) ☰ Menu — organize it your way
Tap ☰ Menu for everything else:
⭐ Favorites
Mark the ones you reach for most and jump straight to them.
🗂 Categories
Make your own groups — "Daily", "Date night", "Streaming", whatever you want.
- ☰ Menu → 🗂 Categories → ➕ New…
- Type a name
- Tap a category any time to see only those expressions
- 🌐 All brings back the full list
✎ Organize (rename, favorite, categorize)
☰ Menu → ✎ Organize, then tap any expression to manage it:
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| ▶ Play | Preview it |
| ⭐ Favorite | Add/remove from favorites |
| 🗂 Category… | Put it in a category (or make a new one on the spot) |
| ✎ Rename… | Give it a friendly name |
Tap ✓ Done to leave Organize.
Second Life dialog buttons only show ~12 characters, so files like TRZ_Tongue_Out_v2 look alike.
Use ✎ Rename… to call it "Cheeky" or "Wet kiss" — whatever makes sense to you. Your names
(and categories and favorites) are saved forever, even across relogs.
5) 🎲 MOOD — let your face live on its own
MOOD plays your expressions on a loop, hands-free — perfect for hanging out or streaming.
- ☰ Menu → 🎲 MOOD
- Pick a speed: 🐢 Slow · 🚶 Medium · 🏃 Fast
- It cycles whatever you're viewing and keeps going until you stop it (⏹ Off, ⏹ Stop, or tapping any expression).
Open ⭐ Favorites or a 🗂 Category first, then start MOOD — it will cycle only those.
6) ⓘ About & links
☰ Menu → ⓘ About has quick links to everything in the ecosystem: 📖 Help, 🎬 the Studio, 🛒 Marketplace, 👥 our SL Group, 💬 Discord, and 🌐 thirdrez.com.
Web links open wherever your viewer is set to. If you prefer your normal browser (Chrome, Safari…), set Preferences ▸ Web ▸ open web links in my browser in Firestorm/the SL viewer.
🔒 Privacy
The HUD sends anonymous usage stats (a random per-install id — never your name, never your location) so we can see how many people enjoy Bento Alive and keep improving it. Nothing that identifies you, ever. It's the same spirit as the rest of the Thirdrez ecosystem.
Troubleshooting
"This HUD looks incomplete/corrupted — request a free redelivery." A core part of the HUD was removed from its Content. Get a fresh copy from the Marketplace (redeliveries are free) — and avoid deleting the items inside the HUD.
My expressions don't appear.
Make sure the .anim files are inside the HUD's Content (Step 2), not just in your inventory.
They show up the moment you drop them in.
My face won't move / another animation is winning. Stop other face HUDs or your AO for a moment, then play again — or re-export the expression at a higher priority in the studio. See Export to Second Life.
Two buttons look the same. That's the ~12-character limit — give them ✎ Rename friendly names (Step 4).
Made something you love? Make more in the Bento Alive Studio — and let your avatar truly come alive. 💚