Recommendations for my avi

[Studio09 0]

I am new (less than a week) and while I wait for my account to be funded I am reasearching shapes, skins and hair for my avi. Can anyone recommend a large breasted shape (but not grotesquely big), a pale skin and redish brown, long or medium length hair.

Thanks

[Bree Giffen 2,824]

Here's an old avatar of mine. Her hair is ETD and her skin is from Mother Goose. The shape is something I made up. Are you looking for redder hair? Or more brown? Lighter or darker skin? Bigger breasts?

 

[Kelli May 23]

Read a freebie hunter's blog like FabFree. I've found a lot of amazing free skins and clothes on there. Even if you plan to buy full-price skins later, you'll get an idea of what's available and whose style you like. They also have a store with more freebies collected at the same location.

For shapes, try Penny's Vitruvian shape package or even the Standard Sizing Package as a base if you fancy experimenting with your own shapes. They're all full-perm  and free so you can make back up copies. I don't buy shapes so I can't recommend the best, although I hear that Tuty's are well-regarded (they sell skins and skin-shape packages too).

There's a thread full of hair stores here; most of the bigger ones get a mention in there somewhere. FWIW, I like ploom, Magika, EMO-tions, elikatira, fri.day and Truth. They all have long & medium styles in reds, and they all sell a mix of flexi, rigged mesh and sculpts.

 

[Studio09 0]

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Bree Giffen wrote:

Here's an old avatar of mine. Her hair is ETD and her skin is from Mother Goose. The shape is something I made up. Are you looking for redder hair? Or more brown? Lighter or darker skin? Bigger breasts?

...

Thank you.  I will visit your store when I get some L$s.  Your Avater is more what I had in mind than the generic one I have now.  I want one a little broader/bigger but her hair, skin and breasts are about right.

 

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[Studio09 0]

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Kelli May wrote:

Read a freebie hunter's blog like 

FabFree

. I've found a lot of amazing free skins and clothes on there. Even if you plan to buy full-price skins later, you'll get an idea of what's available and whose style you like. They also have a store with more freebies collected at the same location.

For shapes, try Penny's

Vitruvian shape package

 or even the

Standard Sizing Package

 as a base if you fancy experimenting with your own shapes. They're all full-perm  and free so you can make back up copies. I don't buy shapes so I can't recommend the best, although I hear that

Tuty's

are well-regarded (they sell skins and skin-shape packages too).

There's a thread full of hair stores

here

; most of the bigger ones get a mention in there somewhere. FWIW, I like ploom, Magika, EMO-tions, elikatira, fri.day and Truth. They all have long & medium styles in reds, and they all sell a mix of flexi, rigged mesh and sculpts.

 

 

Thank you for your recommendations.  I have just gotten the STD sizing pkg and will enjoy experimenting with my own shape(s).  I will check out Penny's too and your hair list.

 

I have one additional question - what is the differences (pros and cons) between flexi, rigged mesh and sculpts?  Or can you point me where I can read up on this.

 

 

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[Kelli May 23]

Very quick word on what you asked...

Sculpts and non-rigged mesh appear the same way: usually with a lot of fine detail, but 'stiff', like you used a lot of hairspray. They are great for short designs and updos. They can be resized and repositioned on your avatar's head for the best fit.

Flexi hair has flexible prims added to it to give movement and softness. It can work very well with short pieces to soften an otherwise rigid style, or with long pieces for ponytails and falls. The disadvantage is that the flexible pieces (especially long pieces) can swing though your head and body.

Rigged mesh is designed to move with your avatar skeleton. It's anchored at certain points, and it bends and stretches between those points. For hair, those are usually the head, neck & shoulders, sometimes the back or chest depending on style. It can still look a bit stiff compared to flexi-hair. Also, you can't resize or reposition rigged mesh (yet). The designer will usually include a couple of sizes and an alpha mask to hide any bits of head that might stick through. 

[Studio09 0]

Thank you so much for your excellent explaination that even I, a newbie, could understand.

 

 

 

 

[Carole Franizzi 72]

Hi Studio09. Welcome to SL. One thing I don't think anyone has mentioned but which is, I think, essential, is an AO. That's short for Animation Overrider and it's the thingy which makes you move like a human being rather than like a waddling robot. I've a horrid feeling the free ones aren't great, but maybe nowadays they're better than in the past. Sadly good or great ones are pretty-to-very expensive to buy, however, they make a MASSIVE difference.

Maybe someone 'in' SL (I'm more of an ex-SLer) could let you know where to get a free one to keep you going.

Oh! Eyes. They seem less important, but a pair of decent eyes make a face so much better. Redgrave used to hand out very decent free eyes - wonder if they still do? 

My suggestion to you would be to look at the SL Marketplace site, filter according to price, and pick up as many nice freebies that take your fancy. Then when you have money to burn you'll already have an idea of creators who make stuff to your taste.

Have fun!

[Theresa Tennyson 4,692]

There are a couple of places that offer good-quality content from a number of creators for free as a way of promoting those creators. I'm very familiar with FabFree Station in a sim called The Wash and the Free Dove in a sim called Gallii. You can find enough to put together quite a nice starter avatar at those two places. Avoid most places calling themselves "Freebie [whatever]" though.

[Madeline Blackbart 17]

actualy orcal and tuty's has fairly inexpensive animation overrides that are very nice.

[Studio09 0]

Thank you Carole, Theresa and Madeline.  Much appreciated.

 

[Marianne Little 15,488]

I will just jump in and correct the AO recommendation, it is Oracul. They are very good compared to the price. You should teleport to the store first and test them. Some AO's are more "fidgety" than some appreciate, like your avatar don't stand still but walks in a circle, turns around and such. You stand on the "posestand" in front of each AO sales poster, and use the arrows to go through all the moves. Pay notice to the stands, those you will see most. https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/19619?utf8=%E2%9C%93&search%5Blayout%5D=gallery&search%5Bcategory_id%5D=&search%5Bsort%5D=&search%5Bper_page%5D=96&search%5Bkeywords%5D=&search%5Bprice_low%5D=&search%5Bprice_high%5D=&search%5Bprim_count_low%5D=&search%5Bprim_count_high%5D=&search%5Bcopy_permission%5D=0&search%5Bmodify_permission%5D=0&search%5Btransfer_permission%5D=0

[Marianne Little 15,488]

A good place to start with a skin is the Shop Free*Style as suggested. Look for the vendor from Pink Fuel, it is the "Alena" skin that comes with red, light and dark eyebrows in each tone. For only 50 L, that is a good skin to start with. http://www.flickr.com/photos/mochimilena/8505339007/

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Solaria%20Isle/109/207/25

[Studio09 0]

Thank you Marianne.  I still haven't fixed my avi yet.  Just got my account funded and got my Linden house last night.  I will be looking into how to control the windows so she's not putting on a peep show and then I'll start making changes.

 

Thanks again eveyone for your recommendations.

 

[Studio09 0]

Here is a picture of my avi as she currently looks. 

My original avi was the STD red-headed designer one (I always wanted more red in my hair) but I feel a little more comfortable with this one.

I went shopping but couldn't find the Pink Fuel Alena skin so ended up getting the LAQ one (since I now have Lindens). Now I will be checking out the hair and AO recommendations.

Thanks again everyone.

[Drake1 Nightfire 3,355]

Should you wish, i would be more than happy to send you a few outfits i have made. just shoot me an IM.

[itsanabanana 1]

Good luck! It can be a lot of fun setting up your avatar's first look..

 

If you're looking for hair, mesh heels, and mesh clothes check out Maitreya. They have some of the very best heels ive seen and their hair has great detail/realism for non-mesh. They've had a store-wide sale going on the last couple weeks.