Xena Barzane Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 Wondering what the community at large thinks, about avatar heights. My avatar is 7ft tall, and the more I explore around the more I am noticing Avatars of child like heights around the grid. The reason for this is the height for the avatar in the appearance mode, but in comparison to the grid, and buildings etc around, the smaller heights of under 6ft just seems out of proportion, and in some instances, inappropriate, especially in places like sex sims, where people will take these for young teenage avatars. Just would like to pick the communities brains on this subject as it's becoming a topic of heated debate amongst SL users, to the point where groups are created to out tall avatars, and even the other side to out small avatars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keli Kyrie Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 I am about 5'7'' in SL and RL. I try to promote more realistic hight but each to there own. What ever makes you happy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ceera Murakami Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 Avatars and objects in Second Life are larger than in real life, by default. There are two main reasons for this. The default visual perspective of the follow-camera is a couple meters behind and above the avatars's eyes, and this makes everything "look small" if it is scaled accurately. And the scripted command that is used by virtually every "Avatar Ruler" to report an avatar's height actually measures only to the height of their eyes. Add to this the fact that by adding prims and scripted attachments, some avatars may be as large as a full-grown dragon, and the end result is that most buildings, vehicles and furniture in Second Life are scaled at 1.25 to 1.5 times the "Realistic" size. Most people simply accept this, after a while, since trying to make an "accurately sized" avatar gives you a form that is too small for most of the world around you. My own preference is to go with a realistically-scaled avatar, based on eye height as reported by an avatar ruler. Ceera's default form is 5' 7" tall, by that measure. That makes her actual height, as measured against a prim, closer to 6' 1", but puts her at a scale that works with the way most of SL is built. But I have other avatars that are child-sized, teen-sized, or as tall as the appearance sliders can make them. It just depends on what that character is supposed to be. As a builder and content creator in SL, I tend to make buildings and furniture at a 1.25:1 scale versus real life, meaning something that measures one Meter in reality is a 1.25 Meter prim in SL. I find this works with the majority of avatars on the grid, and is a good compromise between ultra-tall and strictly-accurate sizes. I think it is wrong to equate "that person is shorter than the average height in the room" with a knee-jerk response of "That's a child avatar! Get out of my sex room!". I have a very good friend in RL who is only 5' tall, yet unquestionably an adult, even though my 15 year old daughter is taller than her by several inches. And in SL, where not all avatars are even Human, heights change a lot. Most furries, for example, tend to be smaller in stature than Humans, even as adults. The height of an avatar is affected by several factors: The obvious factor is the Height slider, which does a proportional scaling of the whole avatar. But neck length, torso length, hip length and leg length also contribute to how tall or how short you actually are, as does the gender of your avatar, and any shoes or other attachments that you may be wearing that affect your height. Here's the defaults and the height ranges that can be reached with just the appearance controls, as reported by an avatar ruler (so this is actually the avatar's eye height) : ====================== Default height for the "Male Outfit 3" avatar is 6'5" tall. From that default, move the height slider to 100 and he is 6'11" tall From that default, move the height slider to 0 and he is 5'2" tall By streaching every body part that affects height to max values, he could be 7'4" tall By compresing every body part that affects height to min values, he could be 4'1" tall ====================== Default height for the "Female Outfit 3" avatar is 5'7"" tall. From that default, move the height slider to 100 and she is 6'5" tall From that default, move the height slider to 0 and she is 4'9" tall By streaching every body part that affects height to max values, she could be 7'0" tall By compresing every body part that affects height to min values, she could be 3'9" tall ====================== Smaller avatars, called "Tinys" or "Minis", can be made by using a scripted attachment called an animation overrider (or AO) that compresses the body into a folded up ball, and interprets normal movements commands in ways that appropriately move attached prim arms, legs and other parts. Note that these tiny avatars can not use the same animations for sitting on furniture, dancing, or other activities that other avatars can use. There are special animations, furniture and vehicles made just for these ultra-small avatars. Small butterflies and other "impossibly small" avatars can be made this way. Gigantic avatars are also possible, again by using an animation overrider (or AO) that raises the body off the ground, and possibly also compresses body into a folded up ball, and which interprets normal movements commands in ways that appropriately move attached prim arms, legs and other parts. Some of these gigantic avatars may be 50 M tall or more! But as with the tinies, these giants are much more limited in how they can interact with animations and furnishings and vehicles. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mally Shippe Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 I like my avi to be the same height as me in RL, which is 5'7", but she seems really short, so I put her to 6' , which is still short comparatively.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claireschen Hesten Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 i've noticed the height in appearance mode and inworld scriped height checkers don't give the same height infact there is a big difference according to appearance mode i'm over 7ft to a scripted device like the one included in Alicia Stella's free cool tools i'm a foot shorter at over 6ft. in RL i'm atleast a foot shorter than my smallest given SL height Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conifer Dada Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 I just assume that SL feet and inches are slightly smaller than RL ones. I'm physically the same height in RL as SL, but that measures 5ft 6in in RL measurements and over 6ft in the smaller SL feet and inches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jur Moonites Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 it seems there is a kinda wave, in avatar heights, it s best to just see if yiur avatar has the right ''height-feel'' in relation to other avatars and surroundings, it means that you have to tweak a bit some times,... but in general ah found that it s absolutely useless to look to the '' exact'' measured height. it s all relative, because ceilngs, and there fore building insl are too height in relation to the avatars anyhow, so avatars always are too small. the problems start whit the child like avatars, they also should be child in relation to the not child avatars. so it is in mah idea silly to create an adult avatar, that looks to small so ppl will consure you whit a kid avatar.Also in real life, kids size is a relative thing.But in second life, you have smaller and bigger adult avatars, but there is also the childsize avatars, who are like 60-70% off regular adult size, ands some times even smaller Some times kid avatars are more or less the size off a petit female adult. I think that if you select that, that you must take care that adult forms( breasts, hips) are clearly visible, to avoid to be possibly considered to be a kid avatar. For legal reasons, it is important for other gamers to clearly recognise a kid avatar at first sight. So if you play a kid, take care you look like one. and if yo are playing adult, make sure that your shape and face are not possibly confused whita kid, by ppl out world, like FBI officers, or the neighbours, just peeping in ! It can create terrible misunderstandings and lives being broken. So, if you play adult, make sure you to not look like a kid, from close up, and if you play ''minor'' make sure that it is clear! then no one needs to worry or need a war Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Venus Petrov Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 Hey Xena, welcome to the Forum! Venus is 6'10" . It is much more common nowadays to see avatars much shorter. Variety is wonderful and I welcome all shapes and sizes. Just because someone is shorter stature does not mean they are underage or playing a child. Trying to 'out' someone's true age based upon appearance is a losing proposition, methinks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zog Ozsvar Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 Im tall in real life and short in second life - thats life! I think I made my shape to fit my real height back then and never bothered to change it to fit in with the Amazon-esque style that was very much the defailt in those days. Building buildings is a pain in SL as they have to be over large to accomodate the camera, and the doors have to be huge to accomodate extra tall avatars - thats SLife! Why anyone would get weird over what height an avatar completely defies belief for me (this is not aimed at the original poster BTW, but their comment about others who do get weird!). A/Z Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeeWillian Wylie Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 Since I first started here over 3 years ago I noticed a tendency towards excess in heigth and shape...and I was really a participant myself (most avatar levers were all set to 100 excluding those that would have made me fat..lol..) I was oevr 7' tall and extremely muscle bound. With the advent of prim attachments to clothes though I noticed most of them didn't fit well and needed tons of adjustment so I started adjusting my shapes to something closer to the prim attachments.It reduced my heigth and muscle content to something less then "suoer hero" (or villian depending on your perspective)... Then in another forum coughsluniversecough I ran across a post in tutorials that discussed sizing of avatars in relationship to artistic perspective. It showed heigth as a measure of head length( chin to top of head) and how that length goes throughout the body. Basicaly the body is 8 heads in heigth. So I made some adjustments and found I went from 6'11" to 5'11"...I became a child amongst other avatars..with a beard..lol..I can say that if you were to look up that particular tutorial you should start with a large enough head..lol.. I finally made enough head adjustments to raise my heigth to 6'4" which is rather nice although still a little short amongst my friends and low and behold most clothing prim attachments fit just fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imnotgoing Sideways Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 Since I've turned human I got taller. I've gone from 5'1" to 5'2". ()y Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kairi Popstar Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 My avatar its only 5"4 my height in rl. I'm not playing a teen and I'm over 18. Sometimes I look way too short but hey its sl and I like being short. A lot of avatars are just to big but its the fad to be pretty and tall like a model Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Finora Kuncoro Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 I'm not bothered by people's height choices, although as Ceera points out, the tendency to being tall is due to operator error (i.e. judging height by eye instead of against a prim of a known height). I do however object to people thinking small = teenager or child. I have plenty of friends who are well under 6' and they don't seem out of proportion with buildings. That whole concept seems a little silly IMO, when you compare the grand victorian buildings of the past with 12'+ ceilings, you could say even 7' people look short... What I tend to find much more jarring on the eye than AV height is the lack of proportion of many AVs. Long skinny legs seem to be a favourite closely followed by triangular bodies (for men) and pneumatic mammary parts (for women). Certain parts of Finora sometimes choose to be out of proportion in private, but I don't inflict it on others in public. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arriane Ethaniel Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 I used to be 6'9" but found that although I felt 'normal' height when shopping or building on my own, when I would catch up with friends or visit a club I would always feel like I was some sort of giant towering over everyone. So I have adjusted my height to 6'5" now, which is still tall by RL standards but feels just right in SL. :smileyhappy: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caitlin Tobias Posted March 11, 2011 Share Posted March 11, 2011 Caitlin is 6"2 (or close to it), used to be 5"9 and is considered a shorty...I am okay with it, I like her shape and height. Actually I only made her a bit taller for katanafighting, as it is very difficult (and sometimes considered unfair play) to fight a really short avatar. Has to do with the reach of the weapon's and the shorter the opponent is, the harder it is to hit them. So for the sake of fairplay, Cait grew a bit (in rl I am 5"6 and I do not feel short at all! ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suspiria Finucane Posted March 11, 2011 Share Posted March 11, 2011 Xena Barzane wrote: Wondering what the community at large thinks, about avatar heights. My avatar is 7ft tall, No problem at all. To each their own. Don't cave to peer pressure :smileywink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalynn Carnell Posted March 11, 2011 Share Posted March 11, 2011 When I first started in SL 4 years ago, a friend of mine who had been in for much longer and made shapes made one for me. It was tall, but well proportioned, with actual muscles on the legs! *Gasp* Well shaped legs, almost unheard of! Anyway, I think Kalynn was about 6'5 or so back then. Today, she's about 5'2" or so, which is my height in RL. Yes, this puts me about equal with most avatar's leg length, but I like being short. It is very apparent that I am not a child avatar, as my womanly features on the upper region of my torso will attest to. I've also made a point of saying this in my profile. Kalynn has a tall shape that I will put on sometimes, but even then, she's only about 5'10". I like variety in my SL, and love being a "shorty". :smileyvery-happy: As for those "sex sims" the OP mentioned; I worked at one club as a host, and the owner told me that she had had some questions directed at her about the size of my avatar. This conversation is what prompted me to put the disclaimer about not being a child avi in my profile. It irritated me that my height was even questioned. I mean, come on; the owner wouldn't have hired me if she had had any question about my age or reservations about my avatar's height. Course, it didn't help that where I stood sometimes put me right next to a very tall male (one of the shift managers) and I only reached his waist. LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nancy Hilltop Posted March 11, 2011 Share Posted March 11, 2011 6 ft for combat purposes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sidnella Riler Posted March 11, 2011 Share Posted March 11, 2011 @ Imnotgoing sideways , I love those pants you have on, and my height is not tall, compared with the normal height or average height of avatars Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marianne Little Posted March 11, 2011 Share Posted March 11, 2011 I don't pay attention to how tall I am. I just look at how I look in my surroundings. I change my shape all the time too. Recently, I spent more time in Japanese sims, and so I shrinked a bit. Many Japanese builds are closer to RL scale. I also notice that furniture is much, much better sized now. 2-3 years ago, it was huge and I had to be over 6'4 unless I would look like a midget in chairs and sofas. So to me, all that matters is what I see on the screen. I seem to remember one height mesasurement thing saying I was 5'8 some months ago. Clothes and skin is so important. Compare these 2 pictures. It's the same shape in both. Not a slider touched. To the left, I look like a tween/teen. To the right, I look adult, yes? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dana Hickman Posted March 11, 2011 Share Posted March 11, 2011 My AV height is governed by its proportions, and nothing at all to do with world objects or other people. Used to be a SL giant at a hair over 7 feet with heels on, because in RL i'm a giant at an inch or two under 6 feet.. the perspective is natural for me. I've settled at about 6'4" to 6'6" in SL lately and have watched over the last couple of years as everyone else kept growing taller or shorter. Now I'm definately in the middle range, and constantly seeing AVs that tower over me or barely come up to ma bewbs. To each their own, as I really have no opinion on someones overall chosen height. FTR, I dislike any AVs portraying underage in adult activity, not just the short ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Undercroft Posted March 11, 2011 Share Posted March 11, 2011 I used to have an avatar that was fairly short compared to others in SL. Now I'm just typically tall like most other human avatars. I don't think establishing the exact scaled height is of particular significance. The fact is that most objects are created on too large a scale. This compensates for the height of most avatars and also (in terms of, for example, doorway height and width and ceiling height) takes into account ease of manoevreability of both the avatar and "trailing" camera. I discovered that AOs of all types did not always work as well, or look as intended, when I was shorter. The problems were especially acute with couples AOs. For example, when I was shorter, when engaged in dancing as a couple, either my feet would appear 15 inches off the ground or my female partner's feet and ankles would disappear into the dance floor. Life is much simpler going with flow and being typically tall. Without doubt, I now do a much more effective impersonation of Fred Astaire as I glide across the dance floor! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suspiria Finucane Posted March 11, 2011 Share Posted March 11, 2011 Ian Undercroft wrote: Life is much simpler going with flow and being typically tall. Without doubt, I now do a much more effective impersonation of Fred Astaire as I glide across the dance floor! I think other men feel the same way you do :smileywink: And I thought I was tall hehe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhonda Huntress Posted March 11, 2011 Share Posted March 11, 2011 I am tall in RL. I still have 5' 10" on my license but I think I am an inch shorter now -- age does that. I wanted to make my shape about that size, but when making the shape, it was 6' 1" when I was done and felt it looked good, so that is where I keep it now. Xena Barzane wrote: Wondering what the community at large thinks, about avatar heights. My avatar is 7ft tall, and the more I explore around the more I am noticing Avatars of child like heights around the grid. I can not say what the community at large thinks, but for myself I don't worry about other people's height. It is just another source of drama if you let it bother you. You say child like sizes, they say will call you a glamazon and the name calling and finger pointing goes on and on. The only way to win is not to play. Think of it like a bad date and just let it go. I have a very close friend that is 5' 2". I have another friend I adore that is well over 7 foot without heels. I just live my own SLife and don't worry about anyone else. Well, except my partner, Clover ... I make her stay shorter than me :smileywink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evangeline Twist Posted March 11, 2011 Share Posted March 11, 2011 My avi is around 5'8 and has an average build. I do notice that most are gigantic compared to me and not only in height but in build as well, especially most males I have come across. Even if they make themselves shorter they don't change anything else about their build and that seems to give them an "incredible hulk" appearance. Which is fine if that's what you like haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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