A Shape Styling Notecard System

[Jewel Laurasia]

Imagine a formatted notecard with slider values for any/all shape categories that could be drag/dropped into the edit shape window for instant changes. The notecard could be hand typed or created in the edit window.

 

This notecard could be included with skins to allow buyers to get the look they want with the skin instantly, and the notecard could be edited to delete certain aspects you don't want changed, such as neck length or nose size or hip width.

 

I thought of this a long time ago, but I bring it up now because I have the toughest time with values above the shoulders :) Would be nice to buy a skin and have a styling notecard with face values in it I could just drag/drop into my shape edit window and not effect torso or legs.

 

Looking for thoughts on this.

[Jade Nova]

Or you could just buy modifiable shapes and eliminate the step of having to drag and drop a notecard onto the edit shape window.

[Jewel Laurasia]

Maybe I didn't make myself clear...

 

Instead of buying a modifiable shape and then having to change torso and legs the way you want, you could have those values stored on a notecard that you could just drag and drop to change those particular sliders. Or maybe a skin you buy has a styling notecard with values for the face/head, and you can drop that in and not have to mess with anything else.

 

And you can save those values on a notecard through the edit shape window. Nothing you would have to manually type out. This isn't a system for everyone, but for those that like to change their skins/shapes a lot and like to try new things. This would give some flexibility along with saving features you don't want changed.

[Peggy Paperdoll]

The very first problem I see, and it's a big one, is how long is this notecard going to be?  Do you realize how many different combinations of slider settings that can be made?  Way more than just a few hundred, or even thousand.......millions is more what I think.  Each slider setting effects the shape in other areas....change the nose and the cheeks change or change the head size and the ears change.  How would anyone determine what a customer might want and might not want for a shape?  You'd have the include a notecard pages long just to make a few options available......impossible to cover all the possibilities (or even close to all the possibilities). 

Probably a good idea if there were a finite number of shapes possible in SL.....but that just isn't the way SL is.  You have almost infinite possibilities available.  A notecard could never cover that and if you tried no one could (or would) bother to use it.  The best way is to get a shape that is mostly what you want that is modifiable then make the changes to suit you.  There really is no easier way...........or, in my opinion, a better way unless you create your own shape from scratch.  There is a reason shapes are somewhat expensive (by SL standards)........they just ain't that easy to make.

[Jewel Laurasia]

There are 12 slider values for the Torso, and 8 for Legs.

 

If I buy a new shape but want to preserve my torso and legs values, Those 20 values could be on a formatted notecard which could be drag/dropped into the shape editor. Done. Easy.

[Fabiano Dover]

 

i don't see the point of a notecard with the full shape written out in numbers....a complete mod shape in the box and it's done at once., no messing in the viewer code for letting the appearance read notecards.

 

[Jewel Laurasia]

I'm not talking about the full shape. Is anyone reading what I'm posting or just replying at random?

 

This is more of a power users option I'm talking about, not something I would ever expect new or casual residents to use.

[Fabiano Dover]

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Jewel Laurasia wrote:

I'm not talking about the full shape. Is anyone reading what I'm posting or just replying at random?

 

This is more of a power users option I'm talking about, not something I would ever expect new or casual residents to use.

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we're simple,  noobs and casual?... thanks!.

 

[Jewel Laurasia]

Not what I meant, but read into it for yourself what you will

 

Another idea would be to tick off a check box in the edit shape window on values you don't want changed, so when wearing a new shape, those values would remain the same. That would be simpler than a notecard with values.

[Peggy Paperdoll]

Done?  Easy?

I did read what you said in the original post and, believe it or not, I think I understood what you want.  You want a shape in notecard form that you can "drag and drop" in appearance to alter (in your case) the face.  Sounds easy.  But I know from spending some 2 years altering my shape to get where I wanted it isn't easy.  Each adjustment you make effects other parts of the shape.......even limiting the adjustments to the head only.  Adjust the lips  and maybe your chin changes a little, so you adjust the chin and the lips are not what you want.....back a forth you go without ever getting what you want.  Then, you decide to leave the lips alone for a while and adjust your nose.  And guess what, your lips suddenly look the way you want and so does the chin..........but the cheeks changed.  Here you go again.  It's not easy and it can take a very long time before you are "done".  But you finally get it right and write down all the slider values, put them on a note card to pass to others........and those others have a shape where the torso is just not quite right for the face.  How do you reconcile that?  What you want and what shape you are starting out with is not likely the same as anyone else's.  You have to do a shape as a whole......not just the head, the torso, the legs, the bust, the butt.....everything interacts to get the shape you want.

It's not easy and it's not just done.  It's a good idea but I can't see how anyone could successfully craft a note card without including the entire shape.  And why do that anyway.  Like someone else mentioned get a shape that is mod and customize it the way you want..........without a notecard.

[Madelaine McMasters]

I like the idea. I spent a lot of time trying out shapes years ago. It seemed that the faces I liked were always on bodies I didn't and vice versa. The face is terribly important, as reflected in the fact that it occupies about 3% of a human body's surface area and about 16% of the SL avatar texture space.

I finally spent a few hours noodling with LL noob shapes, writing down all the numbers from regions of each avatar I liked and typing them into a full perm shape of my own. I was able to tease out those regions that don't interact with each other so much as to make co-mingling impossible. It was a tedious process and I don't look forward to doing it again. I don't recall if sliders like "Body Fat" have a large impact on face shape.

While I think having the ability to swap a new head shape on an existing body is terrific, we won't see LL implement it. They've lost the ability to render my house completely and I'd rather they fix that before making this improvent.

[Madelaine McMasters]

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Jewel Laurasia wrote:

Not what I meant, but read into it for yourself what you will

 

Another idea would be to tick off a check box in the edit shape window on values you don't want changed, so when wearing a new shape, those values would remain the same. That would be simpler than a notecard with values.

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Yep, that's an interesting way to handle this, providing you can understand the effect unlocked sliders would have on locked ones. As I mentioned elsewhere, I found the face to be immune enough from the effects of body sliders to allow me to "Frankenstein" up my current shape from more than one LL noob avatar.

[Sidnella Riler]

I hate moving sliders, I also like some shapes but dont want the face, or viceversa, if they make skins for face only or body only, why can't something like that be done too, but for Shapes

[Ren Toxx]

I think I understand what Jewel means... it's something I, too, have sometimes wished was available in SL, though not necessarily as a notecard item... considering it would require changes in SL code, it might as well be a new type of item, kind of a sub-type of shape item, let's say, a 'shape modifier'... which would only store a few shape parameters and, on being applied/worn, would alter only those particular parameters while leaving intact the rest.

Yes, the objections made in this thread are at least partially valid... some shape adjustments do have an effect on others, even if you don't want them to. But not all.

Say, for example, I sometimes change my skin and find that the new one requires some shape modifications to again make the face look right. So I create a new shape from the old one. But then, all the shape modifications I stored for many mesh clothing items that require it (usually with pants, which only make me change the sliders affecting the hip... and those most certainly don't affect the face one way or the other), are rendered obsolete, and I have to redo each one of them. The suggestion Jewel made, regardless of the particular format... would greatly minimize that need.