Smoothing out face shapes for mesh heads?

[Jazleen Raynier]

Have started to dip my toes back into SL and after years of using my standard head with Maitreya body dug out the mesh heads I had in my inventory. These are Lelutka Greer and Simone, Genus strong face and Catwa Catya.  Over the last month or so I've been demoing shapes, skins etc but have run into what may or may not be a problem.  After seeing all the beautifully made up Avi's on 'how does your avi look today: I thought I might get some help. My problem is

No matter what skin for what head, or what shape for what head I buy the end result leaves my girl's face with strong lines, especially around the mouth area and the eyes are never like they are on the shape I've looked at and I don't know how to sort it. I've messed around with sliders, windlights, the times of day but nothing is working. Could this just be down to my computer maybe (I don't have any remotely technological programmes to help me wipe lines, smooth her butt etc (sorry, I know its got a name but it's swirling round the vortex that is my brain and can't quite spit it out).

I keep seeing all of you forumites, men and women who have beautifully sculptured faces, eyes that don't look like you've stepped out of a cartoon or that look like pissholes in the snow they're that small...Help, Please...….

Thank  you:

[Fritigern Gothly]

Could you take a pic of the issues that you mention? It always helps to have a visual aid.

Having said that, I know that many people edit their pictures in Photoshop (or Gimp 🙂 ) to remove any imperfections they see before posting them to a public place.
So I think that it's possible that you are suffering from the SL equivalent of the fashion magazine effect, where they photoshop their models to look more perfect than they really are, thus making it impossible for "real" people to measure up to that image.

[Orwar]

4 minutes ago, Fritigern Gothly said:

Having said that, I know that many people edit their pictures in Photoshop

   Pff, as if I'd ever--

4 minutes ago, Fritigern Gothly said:

(or Gimp 🙂 )

   ... Mmmaybe a little.

16 minutes ago, Jazleen Raynier said:

No matter what skin for what head, or what shape for what head I buy the end result leaves my girl's face with strong lines, especially around the mouth area and the eyes are never like they are on the shape I've looked at and I don't know how to sort it. I've messed around with sliders, windlights, the times of day but nothing is working.

   A picture would be helpful as there may be a variety of different issues.

[Eva Knoller]

Yes, please post a picture. I have the Greer and Catya heads, and have not experienced the things you are describing. 

Some Windlights can create harsh lines, but you do say you have played around with various windlights.

[Skell Dagger]

2 hours ago, Jazleen Raynier said:

strong lines, especially around the mouth area and the eyes are never like they are on the shape I've looked at

This bit is key. Oddly-shaped mouth and eyes is a clue that your shapes might not be made for the Bento mesh heads that you're wearing. Because of the way that Bento heads are rigged, you need to wear a shape that's created for that specific head, or at least for that specific brand. (And be aware that - if you choose the latter option - a shape created for, let's say, the Catwa Kittia head won't look the same on the Catwa Catya head, as both heads start out with a different base 3D mesh shape.)

Do you see the same issues when you wear the shapes included in the heads' folder? For example: your Catwa Catya head contains a shape called CATWA Bento Shape [Start your shape with me]. Try that on and see if the 'strong lines' around the mouth and eyes persist. If they go away then you've found the problem and need to look for a shape that's created specifically for the head (or head brand) that you're using.

Edited July 1, 2019 by Skell Dagger

[BelindaN]

I don't photoshop my images but I do mess about a lot with sliders. My main avi is my own doing. My two alts started off as shapes from Elle et Lui, both are Genus. But then I had to tweak the sliders slightly. Try a demo shape and if it still doesn't look right, maybe post your slider numbers for your head?

Always add the default shape which comes with the head first.

[Annie Nova]

8 hours ago, Fritigern Gothly said:

Could you take a pic of the issues that you mention? It always helps to have a visual aid.

Having said that, I know that many people edit their pictures in Photoshop (or Gimp 🙂 ) to remove any imperfections they see before posting them to a public place.
So I think that it's possible that you are suffering from the SL equivalent of the fashion magazine effect, where they photoshop their models to look more perfect than they really are, thus making it impossible for "real" people to measure up to that image.

i have absolutely no idea how to use photoshop or gimp lol so the pictures i post are just using different windlight settings or raw with no windlight added. 

[Annie Nova]

4 hours ago, BelindaN said:

I don't photoshop my images but I do mess about a lot with sliders. My main avi is my own doing. My two alts started off as shapes from Elle et Lui, both are Genus. But then I had to tweak the sliders slightly. Try a demo shape and if it still doesn't look right, maybe post your slider numbers for your head?

Always add the default shape which comes with the head first.

This. I use the default shape that came with the genus babyface, and then messed with the sliders some. But a picture would be good to see what exactly you are talking about.

[Nalates Urriah]

I suspect this is the problem you are seeing.

Our Classic head shape and Mesh head shape are generally incompatible. So, we have to modify any shape we used with the Classic head to work with the Mesh head. Doing it once is bad enough.

During the rigged-mesh age before Fitted Mesh I was buying Standard Size type clothes. One generally modified their shape to fit the clothes. Not a popular thing. But, what's a girl gonna do to get in that HAWT dress?

The result is I have about a couple dozen shapes for different brands of clothes. All made for my Classic head.

I decided mesh heads were WAY more fun. Love the animations and new facial expressions. So, I have a mesh head I wear most days. That means if I wear any of those early non-fitted clothes the custom shape for them gives me a face like 'B' above. I look like a lemon taster.

The alternative was to edit a couple of dozen shapes... zOMG TEDIOUS!!! So, I found a faster way and that is what the JIRA BUG Report is about.

We can make shapes with just parts of the body in "the shape". I now have a "body-only" shape and a "head-only" shape. If I buy a new head and use its default shape that screws my body's shape. So, I import my "body-only" shape while wearing the head shape and presto... I have a highbred shape of the heads' default shape and magically my pains takenly made body shape without ever touching a slider. Or if I put on  one of those older non-fitted outfits, I can wear the shape I made for it and import my "head-only" shape and have a new custom shape.

This is done by editing shape-files outside SL. Firestorm and the Linden SL viewer can both export full-perm shapes.