PhotoReal Avatar Skin Creation

[Cerebrogasm]

Hi all,

I have been striving to create a photo-realistic head and body skin for my avatar(s). I met a woman in-world that had achieved a non-sold, personalized, self-made skin - that is extremely close to natural human skin. She told me she used multiple purchased vendor skins and morphed them together - adding her own detailing - using Photoshop. She then took the resultant skin back into her in-computer library files and then used this new morphed skin to apply to her avatar. The results are truly amazing.

My question is - how is this done? (I was disconnected from SL before I could ask her). She told me briefly that the skin files are located locally (as well as on SL) - in a special folder. From that folder she was able to copy, morph, and replace the original purchased skins. 

Have any of you tried anything remotely similar to this? I'm currently on a Mac and I have no idea how to approach this technique for my male avatars - any suggestions will be greatly appreciated (and credited if you wish)...

Much Thanks - James

 

[Callum Meriman]

1 hour ago, Cerebrogasm said:

She told me she used multiple purchased vendor skins and morphed them together - adding her own detailing - using Photoshop.

Doing such a thing can be a copyright violation and could see your account sanctioned under the TOS/CS.

2 hours ago, Cerebrogasm said:

She told me briefly that the skin files are located locally (as well as on SL) - in a special folder. From that folder she was able to copy, morph, and replace the original purchased skins. 

It is not legal to "rip" skins without permission, if you alter them or not.

 

[Pamela Galli]

1 minute ago, Callum Meriman said:

Doing such a thing can be a copyright violation and could see your account sanctioned under the TOS/CS.

It is not legal to "rip" skins without permission, if you alter them or not.

 

One of the most famous RL court cases involving SL was one about ripped skin.

A good rule of thumb in life is Don’t try to profit from other people’s work.

[Peony Sweetwater]

Way back when I started trying to make skins, I played with the Eloh Elliot skin files.They taught me a lot about what it takes to put a decent skin together. The licences for use should be on the files, so you can check them and the CMFF skin templates out - links here: https://www.outworldz.com/download/ . Like the others said - don't rip or use others' work without permission. Btw - if you're using a mesh head, most mesh head makers will put out creator packs which will have the template you can start from.

These days, I work with photos I've taken - may favourite, used on my forum av, was sourced from pics I took of my Mum. I also did a skin with my own skin as source. It does take a lot of editing, layering and work to turn it into something useable, but it is doable if you're competent in Gimp or photoshop. 

[Fionalein]

6 hours ago, Cerebrogasm said:

My question is - how is this done? (I was disconnected from SL before I could ask her). She told me briefly that the skin files are located locally (as well as on SL) - in a special folder. From that folder she was able to copy, morph, and replace the original purchased skins. 

This is neither legal nor anymore possible...

There are fullperm skins however which allow downloads to your local drive (check user liceses before purchase). Uploading textures to SL involves granting a lot of rights to the Lab, I am not sure the license included in Eloh's skins is still compatible with that.

Edited January 15, 2019 by Fionalein

[Peony Sweetwater]

6 minutes ago, Fionalein said:

This is neither legal nor anymore possible...

There are fullperm skins however which allow downloads to your local drive (check user liceses before purchase). Uploading textures to SL involves granting a lot of rights to the Lab, I am not sure the license included in Eloh's skins is still compatible with that.

Good point - I haven't checked out the Eloh skins for years...worth following up on the license for anyone planning to use them.