Any Guidance For First Custom Avatar Creation

[QuirkyKrystaline]

I am looking to create my 1st custom avatar but even after several days of web searching and reading articles, I am finding the process intimidating. I haven't found a clear comparison of the different body forms or of brands/manufacturers, the same goes hands/feet/heads. And I am struggling with having a clear sense of the proper order to follow in the customization process. If I purchase a body, does this include breasts and ***** since they are definitely body parts? Sadly, my lack of understanding extends to the following as well:  The avatar height aspect, The physics/animations, The ability or lack of ability to customize various parts, The foot system (high/mid/flat and rigged vs non-rigged,) And the HUDs and  Makeup.

I would be ever so grateful for recent guides, walk-throughs and advice articles that would help educate me on these various aspects. I would also be quite amendable to someone acting as my guide through this process, I do not expect anyone to hold my hand through this but I would appreciate the company and advice of someone adept at avatar customization. I have Linden $s to spend, would prefer to keep the entire process under $3000, and if I could do it for less than $2500 while creating a quality avatar I would be even happier.

Thank you so very much for your time in reading and replying to this post, I look forward to your advice and suggestions.

[Morgan Rosenstar]

15 minutes ago, QuirkyKrystaline said:

I have Linden $s to spend, would prefer to keep the entire process under $3000

This is usually the price for just the meshbody then there's the head.

If you look on this blog : http://meshbodyaddicts.com/ it tells you price and contents for each meshbody.

Then I would suggest you look in the marketplace what kind of clothes and outfits you like there and note for which meshbody there are designed for. It'll help you to fix your final choice based on what you like.

[QuirkyKrystaline]

Thank you so very much, for the link and also giving me a more realistic idea of cos!. Thankfully, I padded my account just to be on the safe side - a lesson learned from RL shopping!

PS - Love your nick!

[Tess Falworth]

The link above that Morgan posted is a great start.. I'd suggest also searching up Strawberry Sing on Youtube and see the videos she has posted on bodies and heads; you might find some good tidbits there and at least get a good idea of what you can find. My personal reccomendation is to check out the main bodies--Maitreya, Belleza, Slink-- and then try demos of them. I also highly suggest the Tonic body as well.  My personal reccomendation is the Maitreya body. Easy of use, great HUD, and incredible amount of clothes made for it are all pluses. The head that you purchase will be very much a personal choice. I own several from LOGO, Catwa, and LAQ as well as Lelutka. All have pluses and minuses. The LAQ has lovely animations and the HUD is easy to use. The Lelutka HUD is the best, seamless, low lag and elegant. The Catwa HUD is clunkier but works ok. For me, the Catwa Bento heads have the prettiest profiles and customizations, and you will find specific creations just for Catwa. Again, the one you choose will be up to you and your aesthetics. The heads all have good representation as far as creators, and are all able to now use Omega appliers for skins, which is a great plus. The cost for the body for Maitreya will be 2750L  and if you get a Bento head it will run you upwards of 5000L. 

good luck and let us know how you make out!

http://bubblegumpop2013.blogspot.com/

Tess

[Coby Foden]

It's also worth checking Vista Lia head which is very beautiful. The cost at the moment is 2500 L$. It comes with three different skins, all with many shades. It is Omega compatible. Included are also lots of nice looking facial animations.

[angeoco]

On 7/1/2018 at 4:25 AM, QuirkyKrystaline said:

I am looking to create my 1st custom avatar

The avatar you get when you join SL can be customised to an enormous extent, by editing your shape (right-click, appearance, edit shape), wearing a different skin/hair/makeup ,and of course clothes. You can go quite a distance with this, but eventually people who care about their appearance start comparing themselves to others and notice that most others are wearing mesh bodies (up to the neck) and maybe mesh heads, which do look a lot better.

Mesh body parts are worn over the system body in the same way as you wear clothes, to give a smoother, more detailed look. Others here have already provided good recommendations for mesh body parts, so the choice is yours whether you want to go that route right now, or wait a while until you get your system body looking the way you want. If money is not a huge concern then a big-name mesh body would be an excellent investment. The system head can be made look much nicer than the system body below the neck, so maybe you could wait a while before thinking about a mesh head.

If you are going for a mesh body, then the most important thing is to get demo versions of all the ones that interest you (making sure they are Omega-compatible as that gives you a bigger choice of skins etc.), try them on and make sure you can customise them to get the look you want, by editing your shape, setting options in the mesh body's HUD, and applying skins and makeup that you like (though you might need a separate 50L$ Omega adaptor to make that work). If your tastes are fairly conventional then any of the big names mentioned above should work for you. I wear Maitreya Lara as it seemed the safest choice at the time, and it still is.

With mesh heads it is even more important to take your time and demo extensively. There is no clear market leader and there are (maybe) hundreds of quality models available, each with its own distinctive appearance which can only be customised within limits. The first thing you should do is only test heads that are Bento-compatible as they can be customised by editing your body shape as well as animated, and Omega-compatible as these have a much bigger choice of skins and makeup. After that it is really a matter of taste. I wear a Utilizator Normie which cost 500L$, not so much because of its price, but because it was the only one I really liked the look of, and its shortage of built-in features is more than compensated by the variety of generic third-party add-ons available and its modify permissions (which lets you make internal modifications if you have the technical skill).

So, you have a lot to go on here. It's a lot of fun, a lot of learning, but need not be a lot of money if you take your time, keep an eye out for bargains, and as is often repeated here, DEMO DEMO DEMO.

You are welcome to contact me in-world if you need any help there.

Edited January 9, 2018 by angeoco