Bento Face - Can someone customize for me?

[Jaimee Millar]

OK, I bought a Bento face and body and spent an eternity messing around with the sliders and stuff.  The best I was extremely disappointing.  I was wondering if there are people out there who can customize a Bento face for me to look exactly like my current Mesh face.  If this is possible or if you or someone you know can do this kind of thing, please please let me know.  I can be reached by email at jaimeemillar@yahoo.com or maybe send a response here.  Thank you

[Alwin Alcott]

6 hours ago, Jaimee Millar said:

OK, I bought a Bento face and body and spent an eternity messing around with the sliders and stuff.  The best I was extremely disappointing.  I was wondering if there are people out there who can customize a Bento face for me to look exactly like my current Mesh face.  If this is possible or if you or someone you know can do this kind of thing, please please let me know.  I can be reached by email at jaimeemillar@yahoo.com or maybe send a response here.  Thank you

it's not very likely you will get your bento face to match your current one.

The easiest solution is you look for bento shapes what come as close as possible.

[Ariel Vuissent]

If you already have a mesh head you love, why do you need to switch to a Bento one? For that matter, if you already love your system head, there's no reason to switch to mesh. Go with what works for you. 

That being said, since you have the head already, if you still want to customize it, you'll first want to see if the skin you use has appliers for it. Faces can be hugely influenced by skin, so if you don't have the right one when trying to edit the rest of the face, you'll never get anywhere. Once you find a skin that looks right, you can edit your facial features. 

Remember that while Bento IS adjustable, you still can't change the shape of the underlying mesh. Certain features will stay no matter what, although you may be able to mitigate them somewhat. Alwin's advice is correct: best to start with a Bento head/shape that closely matches what you like, and edit from there. Again, though, since you say you've already bought the head, try skin hunting, check the marketplace for shapes (make sure you search for shapes made for your head; they're not all interchangeable anymore!), and edit, edit, edit!

[Jaimee Millar]

14 hours ago, Ariel Vuissent said:

If you already have a mesh head you love, why do you need to switch to a Bento one? For that matter, if you already love your system head, there's no reason to switch to mesh. Go with what works for you. 

That being said, since you have the head already, if you still want to customize it, you'll first want to see if the skin you use has appliers for it. Faces can be hugely influenced by skin, so if you don't have the right one when trying to edit the rest of the face, you'll never get anywhere. Once you find a skin that looks right, you can edit your facial features. 

Remember that while Bento IS adjustable, you still can't change the shape of the underlying mesh. Certain features will stay no matter what, although you may be able to mitigate them somewhat. Alwin's advice is correct: best to start with a Bento head/shape that closely matches what you like, and edit from there. Again, though, since you say you've already bought the head, try skin hunting, check the marketplace for shapes (make sure you search for shapes made for your head; they're not all interchangeable anymore!), and edit, edit, edit!

I bought another Bento head and started messing around with it but I got frustrated again.  I'm not sure I completely understand how the whole Bento thing works.  Does anyone have a 'Bento for Dummies' or something so I can learn Bento?

 

[Chase01]

The head should include a starter shape from which to start customizing from. This is IMO the more difficult approach but it gives you kind of a blank canvas to start with. This is also better suited for someone with a little more confidence and experience in creating shapes. However if you aren't coming up with something you like then the other alternative is to check the marketplace for a Bento head shape. There's a ton of them out there!

Like Ariel suggested, try looking for a face that appeals to you (whether that is a new look or something similar to your current head). Once you have purchased the shape, you can then either use it "as is" or edit it further using the sliders in the edit shape mode. Which head(s) did you purchase? (brand and model).

To her point again, the skin is going to alter how that shape looks. Generally from my experience if you're skin is a lighter tone then you may have to be more aggressive with the sliders in some cases. At the end of the day Bento is giving you a lot more freedom to customize your mesh head. Experiment! That is part of the fun. 

 

[Jaimee Millar]

2 hours ago, Chase01 said:

The head should include a starter shape from which to start customizing from. This is IMO the more difficult approach but it gives you kind of a blank canvas to start with. This is also better suited for someone with a little more confidence and experience in creating shapes. However if you aren't coming up with something you like then the other alternative is to check the marketplace for a Bento head shape. There's a ton of them out there!

Like Ariel suggested, try looking for a face that appeals to you (whether that is a new look or something similar to your current head). Once you have purchased the shape, you can then either use it "as is" or edit it further using the sliders in the edit shape mode. Which head(s) did you purchase? (brand and model).

To her point again, the skin is going to alter how that shape looks. Generally from my experience if you're skin is a lighter tone then you may have to be more aggressive with the sliders in some cases. At the end of the day Bento is giving you a lot more freedom to customize your mesh head. Experiment! That is part of the fun. 

 

I bought the Genesis Eva Bento head but I'm still confused on how to use it.  I have a Maitreya Lara mesh body and currently I have the LOGO Alexandra Mesh hybrid face.  That is what I'm trying to reproduce as close as possible but I think I'm just not understanding how to work with Bento items.

[Chase01]

Well everything I gave you should get you started.You can just hit "edit" on your shape, select any category related to the head and you can use the sliders to adjust the shape of the head to your liking.

[Ash Cyriac]

I have one of the CATWA bento heads. For me, customizing the face was fairly easy, although it does not look exactly how my originaly avatar looked- it was close enough in that I was satisfied and happy with the result. As Chase01 said, hitting "edit" on your shape, going to the head sliders, and adjusting the sliders to your liking would be the way to go. 

[Rhonda Huntress]

On 4/15/2017 at 10:31 PM, Jaimee Millar said:

look exactly like my current Mesh face.

Doubtful.  You might be able to get close by exact is not going to happen.

Have you looked in the Market Place for a shape to work with?  Strawberry Singh has one for that head which is close to what your avatar and flicker pics look like.  You would need to decrease the lips width slightly, tho. I am not familiar with Genesis Eva at all so you will have to look and see if there is an open lip setting.

Working with bento is not much different than working with system mesh.  However not all heads respond to all the sliders and they all respond differently when they do.

[Ariel Vuissent]

LOGO is working on a bento head, so stay tuned!

Bento is just extra bones. That's all. Extra bones (and, I suppose, "fat pads" and muscles) that creators can rig mesh objects to - sort of "tack" them, if you will, to those points. That way the objects move along when those points move or are changed. Finger bones means fingers can now move independently, and new points added to the face mean mesh heads that are rigged to those new points will move when you edit the face sliders in your normal shape. The reason mesh heads are unique is the same reason they've always been unique - the mesh head itself is made with a certain general outline, but now you can move points within that outline, whereas before you got that single shape and no ability to change it. 

With a Bento head like the Genesis Eva, wear the shape that came with it. That's what the creator used when they rigged everything, so that's its "default" shape. You can add your preferred body values, if you like, then get to the head itself. Change a few things, save as a new shape. Change a few more things, save as another new shape. Saving at each step means you won't lose your progress if you make a change you don't like. (Also, you can play around with this without buying the full version of the head. I often do, to make sure I can change the features to my liking. For me, specifically, the lips are often too full or I don't care for the shape of them. Fullness can be mitigated a bit, but not always enough, and the essential shape of them won't change, so it's important to test these things before buying a very expensive item!)

Back to my previous point, though - mesh heads are unique because they're created with specific features in the mesh itself. It's unlikely you'll be able to get a mesh head to look EXACTLY like another mesh head, especially one from a different creator. If you like the head you're using, stick with it. There's no reason to change.

And all THAT being said, if you'll tell me what skin you're using, maybe I'll play around a little  I get bored. 

ETA: I forgot - for a great "what is Bento" video tutorial, check out meshbodyadditcs.com. Here's the youtube link to that specific video, but her blog has lots of great stuff. 

Edited April 17, 2017 by Ariel Vuissent

[Jaimee Millar]

I'm using a Maitreya skin/body

[Ariel Vuissent]

Maitreya doesn't make skins. If you're using a skin that came with the Maitreya body, you're using Glam Affair; that's what the body came preloaded with. What are you using with your mesh head, though? Something that came with it, or an applier you bought for it?

[Fionne Burleigh]

Okay, I'm pretty late to the party, but customizing shapes and heads for bento mesh is something I enjoy doing. I'm only familiar with (and on a limited, just got back in SL after 8 years and everything is so different kind of way - LOL) the Maitreya bento mesh body and AK bento mesh heads.  I've been able to get my body (that was simple enough) and head (not as simple) to replicate my system look quite well.  If you look at this Gyazo from my original tweeking back in June you can see - I've tweeked a bit more since then (the nose was a bit too skinning and such).  System to Bento

The numbers and sliders between system and bento mesh are going to be and react differently, but I personally think you can make your bento mesh head look similar to your system look with the right skin (I went with the same skin maker but an updated applier) and patience - and the right head.  I enjoyed doing it and have had people tell me I should offer my services - hehe. But just be patient and it can be done. My best advise is Demo Demo Demo - BEFORE buying that bento head.

[Morgan Rosenstar]

On 16/04/2017 at 5:31 AM, Jaimee Millar said:

OK, I bought a Bento face and body and spent an eternity messing around with the sliders and stuff.  The best I was extremely disappointing.  I was wondering if there are people out there who can customize a Bento face for me to look exactly like my current Mesh face.  If this is possible or if you or someone you know can do this kind of thing, please please let me know.  I can be reached by email at jaimeemillar@yahoo.com or maybe send a response here.  Thank you

Maybe a stylist would be able to help you if you're ready to pay for her services?

[Marianne Little]

I am late to this tread too.

I had Catwa Jessica on an alt. This is Catwas first head, not Bento. It will never be updated, and it was also difficult to find lipsticks for it. since it har a strange shaped mouth.

What I did, was to keep the static Jessica head ON when I tried on demo heads. I added the heads and did a rough testing, to see how the nose, eyes, mouth on the new Bento heads could be resized to fit the Jessica head. I had got used to the head you see, and didn't want a totally different look.

It is not easy to see on the images, but when I tested it in SL, I could see the two heads blink, two sets of lashes, and they were in almost the same place and the nose were just as long, the mouth almost in the same spot. Other heads was totally different, even from the same Catwa brand. I ended up with the Kathy Bento head to replace the Jessica head. I think it was a good replacement. Skin is Pink Fuels "Bambi", hair Exile and eyes Avi-Glam.

 

[FckthatBlasian]

Does anyone know a creator that makes custom skin services for catwa? 

[Callum Meriman]

On 20/04/2018 at 5:28 AM, FckthatBlasian said:

Does anyone know a creator that makes custom skin services for catwa? 

This has nothing to do with the necro'd thread. You should have started your own thread in the wanted section.

As far as your question; can you afford 25,000 to 75,000 lindens, maybe more depending what you want, to pay for it?

[FckthatBlasian]

On 4/24/2018 at 4:33 AM, Callum Meriman said:

This has nothing to do with the necro'd thread. You should have started your own thread in the wanted section.

As far as your question; can you afford 25,000 to 75,000 lindens, maybe more depending what you want, to pay for it?

Yes, I can afford it &  I never used this thread thing before so I didn’t know.

[Nalates Urriah]

On 4/16/2017 at 8:25 PM, Jaimee Millar said:

I bought another Bento head and started messing around with it but I got frustrated again.  I'm not sure I completely understand how the whole Bento thing works.  Does anyone have a 'Bento for Dummies' or something so I can learn Bento?

Don't buy any more heads... 

I wanted a head that I could make look like my classic head. I found that is NOT possible with many heads. I think I found two brands that had a 'head' that would come close. I have a dozen+ demo heads now. If I had bought each one I would have been out US$200 to $300.

I took a picture of my avatars face, pasted it on a cube, parked the cube next to my posing stand just off my shoulder, sized to to match may 'classic' head then started adjusting demo heads to see if I could get them to look the same. Usually within 15 to 30 minutes I knew it was or wasn't going to work. So, I have a solid 8+ hour day (spread of weeks) trying to get a head shape I wanted.

If I try this face matching again, I'll use my alt. There is a switch in Preferences that will let you run more than 1 viewer. I can log in my AV and Alt at the same time. My computer does OK with two copies running.

The 2D picture and 3D head made matching more difficult than it needed to be. I could have had my Alt trying the demos and me stand there tapping my foot...

Unfortunately, not all head-makers make the heads the same way. It isn't just a matter of sculpting a pretty face. The mechanics of hooking up the sliders and determining how much a face changes when a slider moves is all personal preference. So, the mechanics is different in every head. Similar within a brand, but still different.

[LaBellaAnna]

I was lucky enough to bump into somebody who made ma custom so my ava looks like me in RL.