Realistic avatar Snapshot?

[KingofTheVoid]

So I had a thought today to try and make a snapshot of my avi seem more lifelike. I did find one topic that could help cover this ( http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Texturing/SecondLife-photos-make-it-look-4D/td-p/232897 ), however, I can't use photoshop to save my life (nor can I afford it). I use the program GIMP instead. I did find some online tutorials that gave my snapshot better quality and was very nice to look at, but not really realistic like they linked topic had. What they suggested in the linked topic is Photoshop's "Liquify" tool. GIMP does not have this. I looked it up and the apparent tool that gimp has that is like Photoshop's "Liquify" tool is a filter called "iWarp" I've spent a fair amount of time trying to figure out just how it's supposed to create the same effect to no avail and I can't find anything to help me out.

 

My question is, is there anything or any form of tutorial for GIMP users that can give me a similar effect to what Photoshop has done?

http://storage.koinup.com/090917x191625/191625-6.jpg

^^^^^^That's the picture in question that Photoshop has edited.

[Rolig Loon]

I'm not sure how Photoshop's Liquify tool is being used in that example.  Liquify essentially is a smearing tool.  Depending on how large an area you set the brush to affect, you can grab pixels and drag them into each other as if you were using a spoon to stir blueberries into pancake batter.  It's sort of like using Blur, but I would expect it to be more useful as a way to morph a face into a pudding than as a way to make it more realistic.  I have only a shallow familiarity with GIMP, so I can't say whether its tool works the same way.

[Lindal Kidd]

GIMP is just fine, and it will do just about anything Photoshop can do.  However, like Rolig, I don't think Liquefy/Warp is the tool that will get you where you want to go.

I think that, to start, you should pay attention to the lighting in the original photo you take in SL.  Turn on shadows, up the antialiasing, turn on depth of field.  Experiment with these settings and with different Windlight and time of day settings.

A number of designers and skin makers provide Windlight settings which (they say) will produce the most realistic or flattering results with their products.  You could use a set of these as a starting point for your experiments.

Once you have some stunning pictures, you might not need to do much else...but go ahead and experiment with GIMP.  Pay attention to tiny details like eye lights (the sparkle in the eye), teeth, and hair.  You may wind up painting out some strands of hair that penetrate into the avatar, and painting in some fine strands.

For ideas on things to do, and how to do them, watch some of the many photo retouching videos on the web.  YouTube is a good place to start, but you can find details on many techniques on Photoshop learning sites like Lynda.com or Skillfeed.  Even videos specific to Photoshop can help you...you should be able to translate what they are doing into GIMP terms.