customizing avatar help

[melanatedaquarian]

So I'm completely new to SL and I've been trying to figure out how to customize my avatar with little success for a few hours. I can add pants and shirts, but shoes seem to be a problem. I've tried adding 3 different pairs and none show up, though my avatar's feet change shapes as if it is wearing the shoes. I bought a pair of shoes and it just opens to a box on my avatar.

Also, is there a guide to shapes, skins, and meshes? I'm confused by the whole idea and I don't want to buy something else and it doesn't work with the Alex Avatar by CG Designs (https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/ALEX-COMPLETE-AVATAR/7066318). Also, is there a way to change complexions? Sorry for all the questions

[Marianne Little]

1 minute ago, melanatedaquarian said:

So I'm completely new to SL and I've been trying to figure out how to customize my avatar with little success for a few hours. I can add pants and shirts, but shoes seem to be a problem. I've tried adding 3 different pairs and none show up, though my avatar's feet change shapes as if it is wearing the shoes. I bought a pair of shoes and it just opens to a box on my avatar.

Also, is there a guide to shapes, skins, and meshes? I'm confused by the whole idea and I don't want to buy something else and it doesn't work with the Alex Avatar by CG Designs (https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/ALEX-COMPLETE-AVATAR/7066318). Also, is there a way to change complexions? Sorry for all the questions

 

I will not call that a complete avatar. I hope you read this:

DISCLAIMER :

Alex avatar is wearing a body builder mesh body that is NOT included in this package. The MESH BODY has to be purchased separately.

[Marianne Little]

To continue... I can not say the ad is a rip-off. It has that disclaimer that say the mesh body is not included. But all you really get is the skin texture for a default standard head that comes free as a starter avatar. The shape is edited a bit. But from the neck and down, it is this mesh avatar:

https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/NIRAMYTH-AESTHETIC-ENZO-PACKAGE-10/7037603

If you do not buy the mesh body, you can not use clothes/tattoos/shoes/ made for it. Here is a video tutorial that show how to unpack and wear the mesh body Aesthetic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0s_PbaUM3OM

Most things you buy in Second Life comes in a box or some other container.

To follow up your questions, we need to know how you will proceed. Will you buy the Aesthetic mesh body, in that case all wearables you buy must be made for Aesthetic, or else they will not work.

If you feel that is too high cost, you can try to use what you have without the Aesthetic mesh body. Then you must shop for wearables that "work with classic avatars". This is a different way to dress and customize your avatar.

So I will not say more for now, because it will not be helpful if I start typing about how to dress Aesthetic and you don't have it.

 

Edited April 17, 2020 by Marianne Little
Typos

[Marianne Little]

Sorry to pile up replies like this. But I make a new reply instead of going back and editing the older ones, unless it is a typo or a minor change.

The advertisement on the Marketplace has a text line under the "Buy now" tab. It says: "Get the demo version".

I can not stress enough to do that, get the demo. If it is no demo, consider if you will buy this unseen, and you risk wasting your money if you think the item is something else than it is.

The demo should give you a clear image of how the finished product, in this case an avatar, will look. If it looks totally different, it is not going to look better with the full priced product. Demos have lines over them and the word "demo" written on, that is the main difference.

If you try the demo and are surprised because it looks different, you must read the description again and especially read what is not included. That is things you have to buy in addition to make the avatar look like it does in the advertisement.

Sellers often present their products with attractive, added on details that is not included. Then they write a disclaimer.

I mean "general you", because I understand you have already bought it.... 😞

[melanatedaquarian]

Thank you for your response Marianne! I think I'll have to do some research on which is best, but I'm thinking of getting this legacy mesh body (https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/LEGACY-Male-The-Ultimate-Meshbody-All-New-Next-Generation-Hyper-Real-HD-SL-UV-Closet-Compatible-Bento/17463790), but I'll probably have to get a different skin, maybe this one: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Lefort-by-RevoulEzekiel-Catwa-Applier-DELUXE/16676216. Do you have any opinions or recommendations for realistic bodies and skins?

The shoes that I can't get to work are these: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Balenciaga-Arena-HighWhite/15516798 it doesn't specify any requirements though

[Marianne Little]

3 minutes ago, melanatedaquarian said:

Thank you for your response Marianne! I think I'll have to do some research on which is best, but I'm thinking of getting this legacy mesh body (https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/LEGACY-Male-The-Ultimate-Meshbody-All-New-Next-Generation-Hyper-Real-HD-SL-UV-Closet-Compatible-Bento/17463790), but I'll probably have to get a different skin, maybe this one: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Lefort-by-RevoulEzekiel-Catwa-Applier-DELUXE/16676216. Do you have any opinions or recommendations for realistic bodies and skins?

The shoes that I can't get to work are these: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Balenciaga-Arena-HighWhite/15516798 it doesn't specify any requirements though

As long as you buy and try the demos first!

But for the shoes: I assume you wear the foot shaper, but you have not added the two with a "Box" symbol. Everything that is not painted on the avatar is an attachment, and it has to be added. It has a box symbol. So, these shoes are old. I think you have to edit them in place, and that they need a shoe alpha that may or may not be included. It can be a lot of work.

And they also does not have a demo. It is better to buy 200 L shoes that you have tested, instead of buying cheap shoes unseen. So try to add everything in the folder and hope for the best! 😉

For the skin... hooo... where to begin. It is a crazy price. You must get the demo first. It is here: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Lefort-by-RevoulEzekiel-Catwa-Applier-DEMOs/16677690

It does not include a shape. That is not sold on the marketplace. I assume you can get a demo for it in their inworld store. Add an unknown cost for the shape. It does not include the head. Add 5010 L for a head from Catwa. It does not include body appliers. Add unknown cost.

If we think the shape and body appliers is 1000 L together - wild guess, it can be more or less - we have a cost of maybe 14 000 L, and that is from the neck and up!

The mesh body from Legacy are the most expensive on the market. Some defend it and say it is the best, others are more critical. It is only you who decides if it is worth it! Other mesh bodies to try is Belleza Jake or Signature Gianni. It is made much content for these bodies. I will strongly suggest you go to the Belleza store and the Signature store to get demos of them, and try then too, with the Legacy demo.

For realistic skins, try stores like Birth and Avenge (on the Marketplace) or in world, Stray Dog, L'etre and Not Found. It is many more stores, but I am partial to Stray Dog. I have bought their skins for my male alts with my own money, so I am not paid to say that I like them. (because I recommend them all the time)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/gac_akina/

Look at the skin recommendations and see what you think.

 

 

 

 

[Dano Seale]

With the shoes, sounds to me like you're only adding the 'shoe base' and not the shoes. It's what usually happens when adding a shoe base, the feet jump up  slightly etc.

Anyway, look up 'Naria Panthar' on youtube. She has a "noob to decent" video up from yesterday (I followed it for one of my alt's last night). Join this link and get all the free goodies:
https://www.thestayathomeclubsl.com/avatar-accessories
and bounce around the mens shops joining their group if it's free to get the free group gifts. 

[melanatedaquarian]

Thank you all for your help! 

4 hours ago, Marianne Little said:

As long as you buy and try the demos first!

But for the shoes: I assume you wear the foot shaper, but you have not added the two with a "Box" symbol. Everything that is not painted on the avatar is an attachment, and it has to be added. It has a box symbol. So, these shoes are old. I think you have to edit them in place, and that they need a shoe alpha that may or may not be included. It can be a lot of work.

And they also does not have a demo. It is better to buy 200 L shoes that you have tested, instead of buying cheap shoes unseen. So try to add everything in the folder and hope for the best! 😉

For the skin... hooo... where to begin. It is a crazy price. You must get the demo first. It is here: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Lefort-by-RevoulEzekiel-Catwa-Applier-DEMOs/16677690

It does not include a shape. That is not sold on the marketplace. I assume you can get a demo for it in their inworld store. Add an unknown cost for the shape. It does not include the head. Add 5010 L for a head from Catwa. It does not include body appliers. Add unknown cost.

If we think the shape and body appliers is 1000 L together - wild guess, it can be more or less - we have a cost of maybe 14 000 L, and that is from the neck and up!

The mesh body from Legacy are the most expensive on the market. Some defend it and say it is the best, others are more critical. It is only you who decides if it is worth it! Other mesh bodies to try is Belleza Jake or Signature Gianni. It is made much content for these bodies. I will strongly suggest you go to the Belleza store and the Signature store to get demos of them, and try then too, with the Legacy demo.

For realistic skins, try stores like Birth and Avenge (on the Marketplace) or in world, Stray Dog, L'etre and Not Found. It is many more stores, but I am partial to Stray Dog. I have bought their skins for my male alts with my own money, so I am not paid to say that I like them. (because I recommend them all the time)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/gac_akina/

Look at the skin recommendations and see what you think.

 

 

 

 

This seems like a lot lol. I'll give it a go later today, I've wasted my night trying on clothes (demo) that never seem to work with what I have, but maybe later I'll have more luck. I've given up hope for those shoes, if I decided to stick around SL and get the hang of it maybe I'll try again. I read somewhere that a lot of people abandon the game because it's too complex, I'm starting to understand why lol. Stray Dog's skins look fantastic, thank you for the recommendation. I'll visit when/if I decide to go with the mesh body I linked earlier. 

 

[Nalates Urriah]

1 hour ago, melanatedaquarian said:

Thank you all for your help! 

This seems like a lot lol. I'll give it a go later today, I've wasted my night trying on clothes (demo) that never seem to work with what I have, but maybe later I'll have more luck. I've given up hope for those shoes, if I decided to stick around SL and get the hang of it maybe I'll try again. I read somewhere that a lot of people abandon the game because it's too complex, I'm starting to understand why lol. Stray Dog's skins look fantastic, thank you for the recommendation. I'll visit when/if I decide to go with the mesh body I linked earlier. 

If you try to figure out how to do avatars in Second Life (SL) without learning the basics, you will WASTE a load of time. 

The design of SL is complicated by the requirement new stuff be legacy compatible... meaning new stuff has to work with old stuff and without breaking old stuff. The evolution of the avatar and avatar clothes is obtuse to a new user because of the Legacy rule. You'll never intuitively figure out what they did or why they did it without a history of SL design. That also precludes guessing how things will work. You'll forever be asking, 'Why didn't they just...' The answer is always because they did "X" first a long time ago. Skip all that mostly useless information and learn just what works now. It is easy enough even snowflakes can figure it out.

I like video tutorials. YouTube has a ton. Search on:  second life tutorial beginner 2020 

Some are better than others, of course. I am not going to weed through them for you. But, what you learn from almost any of them is going to make things much easier for you and save L$ and time.

When you are getting advice, on whatever, it is a good idea to let people know what you want to do. Dressing an avatar for dancing, operating vehicles, role playing in combat games, and many other activities makes a difference. In combat performance is THE key issue, dancing - looks of the clothes, making videos - viewer performance, operating vehicles - optimizing region crossings... it goes on. And just as in RL there is sex, a whole other level of avatar preparation.

You can deal with SL with extreme simplicity or unimaginable Machivalian complexity. Both work. I can't really say one is better than the other. Like real life the variety and possibilities are endless. Long time users do NOT see SL as a game. It is far too boundless to be explained by such a simple word as 'game'. Thinking of it as a game will walk you into walls and endless frustration.

Once you get an inkling of what SL is... it is a blast of possibilities. Wish you all the best in your experience here.

[melanatedaquarian]

On 4/17/2020 at 10:32 AM, Nalates Urriah said:

If you try to figure out how to do avatars in Second Life (SL) without learning the basics, you will WASTE a load of time. 

The design of SL is complicated by the requirement new stuff be legacy compatible... meaning new stuff has to work with old stuff and without breaking old stuff. The evolution of the avatar and avatar clothes is obtuse to a new user because of the Legacy rule. You'll never intuitively figure out what they did or why they did it without a history of SL design. That also precludes guessing how things will work. You'll forever be asking, 'Why didn't they just...' The answer is always because they did "X" first a long time ago. Skip all that mostly useless information and learn just what works now. It is easy enough even snowflakes can figure it out.

I like video tutorials. YouTube has a ton. Search on:  second life tutorial beginner 2020 

Some are better than others, of course. I am not going to weed through them for you. But, what you learn from almost any of them is going to make things much easier for you and save L$ and time.

When you are getting advice, on whatever, it is a good idea to let people know what you want to do. Dressing an avatar for dancing, operating vehicles, role playing in combat games, and many other activities makes a difference. In combat performance is THE key issue, dancing - looks of the clothes, making videos - viewer performance, operating vehicles - optimizing region crossings... it goes on. And just as in RL there is sex, a whole other level of avatar preparation.

You can deal with SL with extreme simplicity or unimaginable Machivalian complexity. Both work. I can't really say one is better than the other. Like real life the variety and possibilities are endless. Long time users do NOT see SL as a game. It is far too boundless to be explained by such a simple word as 'game'. Thinking of it as a game will walk you into walls and endless frustration.

Once you get an inkling of what SL is... it is a blast of possibilities. Wish you all the best in your experience here.

Thank you for such an informative post. I'll watch some tutorial videos tonight for some more guidance 🙂

As far as what I'd like to do: mostly explore, chat, a good bit of dancing. I also would like to get a vehicle at some point in the near future and I'd like my avatar to be anatomically correct for some after hours fun, too. 

When flipping through L'homme's sl magazine, more realistic avatars were my preference. I demo'd the legacy body and it looks great! I used an altered aesthetic (or enzo) shape to good effect with stray dog legacy skin. The catwa heads didn't show up, still the same aesthetic head/face maybe one of the videos I come across will explain how to wear. @Marianne Little

[Nalates Urriah]

@melanatedaquarian There is a bunch to learn. The videos make as painless as possible. There are Catwa videos. There is a CSRep that hangs out in How does your avatar look today? @Skell Dagger is the guy to help with Catwa. He can point you to what he thinks is most helpful. And he blogs tutorials.

Wish you the best...

[Lindal Kidd]

This may provide a little understanding...https://acrossthegridwithlindal.blogspot.com/2011/05/omg-shoes.html

[melanatedaquarian]

On 4/22/2020 at 10:59 PM, Nalates Urriah said:

@melanatedaquarian There is a bunch to learn. The videos make as painless as possible. There are Catwa videos. There is a CSRep that hangs out in How does your avatar look today? @Skell Dagger is the guy to help with Catwa. He can point you to what he thinks is most helpful. And he blogs tutorials.

Wish you the best...

Yes they do! His blog has been helpful in learning the basics of dressing and tweaking avatars, but didn't know he was actively on the forums. Thank you! 

On 4/25/2020 at 1:48 PM, Lindal Kidd said:

This may provide a little understanding...https://acrossthegridwithlindal.blogspot.com/2011/05/omg-shoes.html

Read it yesterday and it really helped me, too! Thank you for making such a clear post. Between your post and @Skell Dagger coupled with YouTube videos I"m getting a clearer understanding of this whole process. Thank you so much for sharing that!

[melanatedaquarian]

Just sending a follow up thank you to everyone that helped me get a handle on setting up my avatar. In the end I went with a legacy body, Catwa Victor head, Blake stray dog skin with matching body applier (though a Birth face and skin were very strong contenders). I'm pretty proud of the end result considering the hours (yes hours) spent to figure it all out. Now comes the fun part: shopping! 

Also, if anyone knows of good photographers that could take some nice photos for Flickr I'd be very grateful for the help. 🙂