Making a shape

[PUNKbUNNY]

Mebbe a daft question, but do creators who make shapes use a special programme to do it, or do they have to use the sliders, like the rest of us?

I ask because I have tried many times to make my own shape, based on a photo, and failed. It's amazingly easy to make UGLY AS SIN avatars lol, but actually getting a quite pretty shape? Seems impossible. 

[Theresa Tennyson]

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PUNKbUNNY wrote:

Mebbe a daft question, but do creators who make shapes use a special programme to do it, or do they have to use the sliders, like the rest of us?

I ask because I have tried many times to make my own shape, based on a photo, and failed. It's amazingly easy to make UGLY AS SIN avatars lol, but actually getting a quite pretty shape? Seems impossible. 

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Any shape that shows up as a "shape" in your inventory (i.e. not a separate wearable mesh) was created with the exact same sliders that everyone else uses. Shapes and skins are yin and yang - they have to work together.

Working off of a photo will only frustrate you because there are limits to the shape sliders that mean you'll never be able to create an exact match - for instance, everyones face is actually asymmetrical if you look at it closely but there are very few ways to create asymmetry with the sliders, and most of them don't work the way faces actually do. There are real issues with the body shape as well. You can be inspired by a photo but dont' try to reproduce it - just try to capture some of the qualities of it.

 

[Vaase]

The shapes are used using the same options we have. 

[Perrie Juran]

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PUNKbUNNY wrote:

Mebbe a daft question, but do creators who make shapes use a special programme to do it, or do they have to use the sliders, like the rest of us?

I ask because I have tried many times to make my own shape, based on a photo, and failed. It's amazingly easy to make UGLY AS SIN avatars lol, but actually getting a quite pretty shape? Seems impossible. 

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I am going to suggest that you look at Pussycat's Tutorial.

Shapes are an art form all in themself and take some patience to learn.

I've heard many a girl comment that their first shape really took them several hours to get right the first time.  If you do it enough you can get very good at it.

You can also google the subject 'Second Life Shape' and find other references to read.

[Dresden Ceriano]

It helps a lot to have a half-way decent shape to start, then modify it to fit your specific needs.  This free pack of proportional shapes might help... link.  If nothing else, it can't hurt.

...Dres

[Madelaine McMasters]

I think basing a shape on a photo is problematic. Look at a photograph of someone, then watch them in motion. You'll quickly discover that a body in motion is quite different than one at rest. It's even worse in SL, where the body and face contort in ways that real humans can't.

I find that my opinion of my own shape is affected not only by the skin, but by the AO, clothing, makeup and hair I wear. For example, I like the shape of my body when it's standing, but it appears too masculine when it's walking. So my never ending quest for a shape that feels right to me draws from everything I do in SL.

[Abigail Longmeadow]

The links above to Pussycat's tutorial and to the Vitruvian shapes are very good. I like to start with one of the free Linden shapes in the library (found under your inventory), copy it, and then modify the sliders.

[Kelli May]

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PUNKbUNNY wrote:

Mebbe a daft question, but do creators who make shapes use a special programme to do it, or do they have to use the sliders, like the rest of us?

I ask because I have tried many times to make my own shape, based on a photo, and failed. It's

amazingly easy to make UGLY AS SIN avatars

lol, but actually getting a quite pretty shape? Seems impossible. 

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Unfortunately, any number of creators, models and fashionistas find it amazingly easy to make ugly avatars too. 

[Lewis Luminos]

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Kelli May wrote:

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Unfortunately, any number of creators, models and fashionistas find it amazingly easy to make ugly avatars too. 

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I concur. I have a bunch of creator-made shapes, mainly ones that come bundled with a skin, and they're nearly always ugly in some way. But if they're mod, they can be a starting point to making your own shape; it's easier to correct one or two flaws than it is to start from scratch with "New Shape".

[Noober1488317557]

Yes, there is a program MOST of these idiot 'shape makers' use. It's called 'Darkstorm'. There really aren't that many legit shapemakers in SL. Most of the shapes out there are stolen.