Altering shoe alpha to eliminate transparent gap between shoe and leg

[paratracker]

I have some shoes where the alpha isn't the right size and a transparent gap appears above the ankle strap for example. Can I modify the shoe alpha to eliminate the gap?  If so, how?

[Innula Zenovka]

Can you not simply move the shoes higher up, using the edit tools?    That might well solve the other problem you posted about, too.

[paratracker]

I don't know the consequences of doing something like, so haven't ventured down that road.  Also relatively few shoes penetrate the floor; most float anywhere from and inch or two to as much as five or six inches.  If you just grab the shoe and give it more Z (to elimate floating), aren't you adding length to the lower leg in the process?  Does the shoe base add or subtract Z from the avi?

[Innula Zenovka]

I don't think SL takes your footwear into account when calculating your height.    In my experience, problems with floating abover, and sinking into, the floor are, at root, to do with the standing and walking animations you have playing.    

The animator can't know in advance what your body shape is like and, in consequence,  has to guess how far above your feet are your hips, as a proportion of your body size (animations use the hips as the main reference point).   If the animator has got it wrong, or if you've got particularly long or short legs in proportion to your shape, then that's when problems start.

 So you might find a bit of tweaking of both the shoe position and your leg length could solve the problem (if you're floating, reduce your leg length).   I wouldn't worry about moving your shoes -- make back-up copies if possible, of course, in case of disaster, but you can always undo that sort of edit wth CTRL Z.  

[paratracker]

Leg length set 50.  Not sure if that means I'm in the middle of the distribution or not.

[Theresa Tennyson]

There's a natural dividing line in the avatar skin between the bottom of the lower leg and the foot/ankle. Most shoe alphas stop at this line because it's easy to get a clean edge. Trying to make the alpha shorter will involve your getting into the nightmarish topology of the foot itself in a graphics program - trust me, you don't want to go there.Your best bet to close the gap you're seeing is to edit your shoes to slide them up to meet the bottom of your leg. Looking at your profile, I see you're a bargain hunter and many cheaper shoes are older and designed for when most people made very tall avatars with VERY long legs. Shoes like you're wearing are simply attached to your lower leg and the makers were probably expecting them to be on a longer leg.

The height offset problems you're seeing sound like issues with the "foot shaper" - the old-style "shoe" (wearable with red sneaker icon). The type of shoes you're using only use this shaper to get your avatar height to be compatible with the shoe. You can either edit this foot shaper or use one from another pair of shoes and that should help with your offset issues without messing with your Z offset in your viewer. You can also create your own.

 

[Rhys Goode]

Its possible to make your own alpha masks, but probably not a good beginners project.  Here is a link to a good tutorial on how to do it: http://www.robinwood.com/Catalog/Technical/SL-Tuts/SLPages/EasyAlphas.html

I've made a few of my own, but first I look through a nice freebee collection, it ususally has what I need.

https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Avatar-Alpha-Overlays-101311-update/2312783

[paratracker]

Taking Innula's advice, I adjusted the Z of the shoe to eliminate the leg gap, but found avi floating more than that distance above the floor.  I couldn't figure out how to edit the shoe base per Theresa's suggestion.  [ How do you select it?  Selecting the shoe doesn't yield the base (unless there's a second step that's required).  I also tried selecting edit from inventory. ]  Experimenting (so I'm not exactly sure what hapened) with detaching the shoe base and trying to edit it unattached, I noticed avi sunk into the floor. Later after reattaching the shoe base, avi was walking directly on the ground.  Maybe detach/attach causes 'elevation' to be recalculated?  Oops, I wasn't watching closely enough, still floating. but there's already a thread open on that subject, so probably best to figure it out there.  I appreciate the help you have all provided ... getting there (slowly).

[bebejee]

Editing definitely is a good solution fors this, thats how I resolved it.

[Ariel Vuissent]

The shoe base is a system layer, like a system shirt or pants. You'll have to find it in your inventory and edit it from there, or I believe you can choose to "edit outfit" through edit appearance. I haven't done it in forever, so I don't have precise instructions, unfortunately.

Some TPV's have the option to edit the height offset of your avatar. The official viewer, as far as I know, does not have this option (which is one reason I use a TPV).

You can also try using an alpha layer for another shoe, rather than adjusting the Z of the shoe. Not all alpha layers are created equal; you may have a pair of shoes where the alpha ends lower on the ankle, and that alpha may work better for you. If I recall correctly, Baby Monkey also has a set of foot alpha layers in their store. I think they're free, but I could be wrong.