Purchased avatar that doesn't look anything like the sales pic

[Bear Priestman]

I don't have a lot of time for making/customizing an avatar.  Instead I prefer to throw $L at it.

I just started back in SL about a couple of weeks ago after years of just paying for the subscription.

I decided that I would try and get a better avatar look so searched the marketplace.

(I have spent several thousand $L and either didn't actually receive the items (and no contact from the vendor) or got something that wasn't what it was supposed to be)/

I found the "Nivaro" avatar enhancements and purchased it.  It was for a "Jake" body.

SO, I followed the link to the Belleza store and paid $3K for the body.

Put it on, and it reshaped me "ok".  High avatar complexity warnings, but I turned off some things and got to be "visible to people around me".

BUT looked like a teenager.

I applied the Nivaro kit and it bulked me up to be a muscled teenager.  Then I tried using the several "HUD" pieces, which are supposed to show up on the (you guessed it) HUD.

One did, for color of the head - which doesn't have any colours that actually match the body.  All the others (when I choose HUD) attach to my body and are invisible.

The "body hair" one worked for 1 time and I chose a hair pattern which is supposed to be tintable.

Instead, it put on some white hair that vibrates and moves like a strobe light.  ALL the time.

It looks like my avatar has fallen in a vat of flour.

SO, unless I'm missing something I think this may be added to the about $4kL I've spent that doesn't work?

I know that there are experts here, so if anyone has sage wisdom I could definitely use is.

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

[FairreLilette]

Most of the skins that come with the mesh avatars are not so great.  

Why do you look so shiny though?  Do you want to look shiny?  Or not?  

You might need an applier relay or BOM upgrade.   

Edited April 23, 2020 by FairreLilette

[Bear Priestman]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply. 

I definitely am not a "shiny" skin person lol just came that way.  Seems to be "Facelight" which I can turn off.  

As for skin tone for the head I'm not sure, as I just picked the avatar, and it seemed to change. 

(forgive my ignorance - give me a whole new level of appreciation for those who learned how do to this properly.)

 

 

 

 

 

[Janet Voxel]

To be honest with you, it does look like the ad....body wise. The problem is, it looks like the model in the ad us wearing a mesh head. The beard, hair and eyes go without saying.
 

The ad says BODY APPlIER. so while you were gone, so many mesh heads and bodies have come out that skin makers now sell head and body skins separately. It has upsides and downsides to that. 

The good news for you is, it looks like you’re missing the mesh head and head skin! 
 

Moving forward, if you’re going to go the “throw the money at it” route, you might want to buy a shape first (usually) those have a style card that will tell you exactly what you need to buy to achieve the look you want. 

[FairreLilette]

11 minutes ago, Bear Priestman said:

As for skin tone for the head I'm not sure, as I just picked the avatar, and it seemed to change. 

(forgive my ignorance - give me a whole new level of appreciation for those who learned how do to this properly.)

You need to know the tone of the head skin so you can buy the body skin of the same tone.  Some skin makers have free skins for the body while other's don't.  However, you need to get the body skin from your head skin maker for a better match.

However, Janet sees it differently...that you need to buy a head skin from the body applier maker so it can match.

Do you want the body skin to match the head?  Or the head skin to match the body?

What kind of head?  Did you upgrade the head to BOM?  

Edited April 23, 2020 by FairreLilette

[Scylla Rhiadra]

The "shiny" looks like you have materials turned up high on the body? You should be able to reduce that using the HUD.

Matching the head and body skins will likely entail using a mesh head, or at least a skin by the same maker, in the same tone.

I'm not sure what you mean when you say that the HUDs are attaching to the body, rather than to your screen. Did you just choose to "Add" them?

I wish I could give you more explicit directions, but sadly I don't myself do male avatars. (So to speak.) For what it's worth, I think Nivaro is a pretty popular and reputable brand, so there should be a way of getting this to work.

[Lillith Hapmouche]

A new Jake body unpacks with active Gloss and Environment settings for the body skin. It's the first thing I turn off on m-alts.

Slow down on the spending, seriously.

Read and think and try to understand what you're doing...the stuff you bought works, you just don't understand how to handle it. And that's something you can't buy, but what needs patience.

Demos aren't purely decorative either, but allow you to play around before tossing out L$. So test that Daniel head thoroughly before running out to purchase it.

1 hour ago, Bear Priestman said:

According to that screenshot, you're wearing all 4 body versions at once. That's ok if you want to apply a universal setting to all of them, like an applier or activating BOM (Bakes on Mesh, to allow wearing those system layers which you know from the old days). But unless you have compatibility issues with older mesh attachments, you'll merely need the 2.1 Bento one, without any "Original". 

Plus, a useless Slink Feet applier... you don't have any Slink feet, why would you need the applier?

It's quite the nature of a tintable object to be plain white when worn for the first time, because - well, right - you're supposed to tint it. 
No idea what happened to those body hair appliers, might have gotten overwritten, might have applied to a non-visible one of those worn bodies... who knows.

You got a Tone 04 of that skin creator, so a head / BOM skin should be the same tone.

[FairreLilette]

---

It's not always so easy to understand all this in the beginning but you will in time.  There were times I never thought I would understand it either but I did.   Once you are done with your avatar as you like it you are done and then will just be buying clothes most likely and enjoying yourself as you'd like to be.  

I just wanted to add, you could try some newbie friendly places inworld for help as you move on to further creating your avatar but this is a great place too to get help...it's takes some patience as Lillith said.  

EDIT:  On further reading the OP as you wrote a lot there...to make your avatar less of a teenage looking shape as you say, you right click on your avatar and then choose APPEARANCE and then choose EDIT SHAPE.  

The edit shape is where you have a whole bunch of sliders that allow you to change a lot of the things from height to body weight to arm muscles, to nose, to mouth...etc.  

For the muscles the most important areas you might want to change are the body weight (under body), the arm muscles (under torso) and the leg muscles (under legs) and from the picture perhaps the shoulders - make the shoulders more broad (find shoulders under torso).   There are all kinds of sliders in there to make changes.  After you are done making your shape you save it.  You can edit your shape thousands and thousands of times, not just once.  I hope this makes sense.  

Again to start editing your shape, right click your avatar, then choose APPEARANCE and then EDIT SHAPE.  

p.s.  I don't think your avatar looks quite the picture either.  Follow a few steps I wrote out above to make it a little more muscular and to broaden the shoulders.  

BUT, since you said you don't want to spend time doing it yourself, you then need to do what Janet said and BUY A SHAPE.  However, there is a problem with this and that is most shapes are done for the mesh head shape, not the body.  You will get a body shape but it may not be what you are looking for.  You need to search for shapes under your mesh head name though (at least this is how it is for female avatars - if I want a shape I search for shapes under my avatar's head's name). Ultimately, you may need to do a little work yourself to get what you exactly want.  

Edited April 23, 2020 by FairreLilette

[LunaRavencroft]

When creating/customizing yourself, it's not uncommon to spend what you did, and so much more. For example, go with Legacy, Catwa, and a skin that's compatible with your body and head, and you're spending easily L$15,000 or more, JUST on the body. But, it's worth it in my opinion, because you end up looking far more human/realistic, and you match.

Take it slow.

[Chic Aeon]

This is a bit late for the OP, but since others will no doubt read this, wanted to add.

 

It is a good idea to practice on a free body and head -- especially if you know nothing about mesh bodies and heads.  There are several free male bodies (and many more female bodies) available on the grid at any time. altamura has free male bodies (and ones for gals) in their store in the GIFT room.  This helps you figure out how things work. It is NOT a quick, one step, process.

 

When you get ready to buy a more expensive body (and you might be happy enough with a free one) then you need to DEMO the body with the head AND with skins BEFORE  YOU SPEND MONEY.   Otherwise there is a good chance you will be wasting some of that money. Not all skins will match head and body well even though they say they should.  A bit of practice will let you adjust one of the shapes often included in the body pack and make it "your own style".   There is plenty to learn but also lots of information to be found on various blogs and forums posts. 

 

DEMO DEMO DEMO DEMO DEMO DEMO DEMO DEMO DEMO DEMO DEMO DEMO 

[Bear Priestman]

Well this has been a great number of ideas and suggestions!

I can see that everyone is very engaged and helpful - appreciate it.

When I started back in SL I've been getting more interested in doing things correctly.

I will take in all these suggestions and get better.  No more "right click on the folder and wear".  Clearly that's an issue lol

Thank you all once again and I'm going to try to learn, and be better at it.

 

 

 

[Beth Macbain]

13 minutes ago, Bear Priestman said:

Thank you all once again and I'm going to try to learn, and be better at it.

Look for some visual tutorials on YouTube as well. It's one thing to have people tell you how to do something, and another to be able to see it on someone's screen so you know just what you're looking for!

It's a steep learning curve, but it'll soon be second nature. 

[Marianne Little]

Hi! Since you already bought a body and a body applier, it is too late to talk about setting up another body.

If I were you, look up ReishiProphet. He is the owner of Nivaro, where you bought the body applier. See how he will be contacted and explain to him that you bought the body applier, but you need the rest of the parts. Ask for a stylecard and what head applier the model is using. I am sure it is a Nivaro skin too.

Now you can put together the rest.

Mesh bodies and heads are more complicated than the avatars you are used to.

As you discovered, they sell appliers for bodies and heads separate, that is why your face looks different. A mesh body has 3 onion layers over each other, called tattoo, underwear and clothes. Your body hair goes on one of those. A HUD should attach to your screen, not your avatar. Try to click "Add". Do not change default attach. But, the body onion layers need to be turned on in the Belleza Jake Body HUD. You also select the layer you have bodyhairs on and tint them in the Belleza Jake Body HUD.

And here is a instructions video, they wear Belleza Jake and start putting it on by 15:57.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7xBJzBWElE

Since you have attached 2 bodies, that is why they flicker and vibrates. They are overlaying and clashing.

When you start on a mesh head, you are in for an even harder learning process. The video over comes to that too.

The mesh head used in the ad is probably Catwa Daniel. It will set you back 5010 L 😲 Then comes the head skin applier.

I am sorry. A mesh body and head is some of the most expensive items for your avatar appearance. People want to look better and better and they are willing to pay.

So I am asking if you want to skip learning about layering and go to the Bakes on Mesh option. It let you use skins and tattoos as you did before. And hairbases and beards. You add and take off them as before. They show up on your meshbody without having to add a HUD, and turn layers on and off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lS-0s2-pa-c

The advertisement for Nivaro Lion says it comes with full body textures. You can ask ReishiProphet if that means it is for Bakes on Mesh. It is like the old system skins and tattoo layers. Next to the Belleza Jake ad it is a blue poster that say Bakes on Mesh. This gives you a small HUD that let you change the body to Bakes on Mesh. You wear the system skin and the body hair tattoo (s) you want. You go into Avatar Appearance and tint the body hair there.

 

 

[Marianne Little]

Here are me, set up with Bakes on Mesh on body and head. You can see how many tattoo layers I have. And also the tattoo on underwear layers. Most of this is from before mesh, so I can use a lot of my old stuff.

We can use 62 layers with Bakes on Mesh (BoM), that is for clothes and tattoo layers together. While a mesh body and head that uses appliers, are locked to the 3 onion layers + the head layers. The one that I use have 4 makeup + 1 hairbase slots. I am over that, and nowhere near 62 layers, so I can add chest hair if I want too (lol) and scars and more tattoos and more makeup...

[ballparkdogg]

Its different now that is was “back in the day”.  You could get the complete avatar for one price.  Now you futz around with skins, hair, heads, bodies and such.   

[Marianne Little]

Just now, ballparkdogg said:

Its different now that is was “back in the day”.  You could get the complete avatar for one price.  Now you futz around with skins, hair, heads, bodies and such.   

So true. And DEMO is the most important, because a body is not just a body and a head is not just a head. It is different brands. And avatar apparel designers and skin/makeup designers etc. create for some brands of heads and bodies, but maybe not for the brand you bought.

It is also very complicated to customize, but Bakes on Mesh makes it easier because we can skip the applier stuff and what layers to turn on and off.

Especially for oldies like me who remember how it was to wear skins and add layers. It is natural to go back to it.

[Blaise Glendevon]

56 minutes ago, ballparkdogg said:

Its different now that is was “back in the day”.  You could get the complete avatar for one price.  Now you futz around with skins, hair, heads, bodies and such.   

That's so weird to me. I started out as a furry, so parts, mod kits, and layers of tattoos and textures and skins were part of my starter experience. Not to mention that NO HAIR EVER fit furry heads out of the box. And sculpted prims ALWAYS had to be resized. 

[Bear Priestman]

1 hour ago, Marianne Little said:

Hey thanks for that info!  ALL the info.

Maybe I'll look into the Bakes on Mesh way.  In my day job as a software/web developer I watch youtube videos for a lot of tech stuff, so I'll definitely check out the "how to's".

- and contact ReishiProphet

Thanks.

 

1 hour ago, Marianne Little said:

So I am asking if you want to skip learning about layering and go to the Bakes on Mesh option. It let you use skins and tattoos as you did before. And hairbases and beards. You add and take off them as before. They show up on your meshbody without having to add a HUD, and turn layers on and off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lS-0s2-pa-c

The advertisement for Nivaro Lion says it comes with full body textures. You can ask ReishiProphet if that means it is for Bakes on Mesh. It is like the old system skins and tattoo layers. Next to the Belleza Jake ad it is a blue poster that say Bakes on Mesh. This gives you a small HUD that let you change the body to Bakes on Mesh. You wear the system skin and the body hair tattoo (s) you want. You go into Avatar Appearance and tint the body hair there.

 

[kiramanell]

Perhaps I'm confused, but I was under the impression 'naming & shaming' was not allowed here, subsidiarily bringing disputes with stores, unsatisfactory results, etc, to the forums.

At any rate, even if it's allowed, it still feels like bad form. Best to just contact the store owner, privately, and just ask them about it directly, inworld.

As to your issue at hand, I've rarely seen truly false advertising. Often you're simply dealing with (sheer professional) photographers, 'makeup artists' almost, very proficient in adding eye-lashes,. appliers and the like. to make your avi look very good. Almost too good, but still possible if you followed their (often included) style-sheets to the T. Which is another good reason to just join their inworld group or something, and start asking around.

[FairreLilette]

45 minutes ago, kiramanell said:

Perhaps I'm confused, but I was under the impression 'naming & shaming' was not allowed here, subsidiarily bringing disputes with stores, unsatisfactory results, etc, to the forums.

At any rate, even if it's allowed, it still feels like bad form. Best to just contact the store owner, privately, and just ask them about it directly, inworld.

If I could give my opinion, I don't think that's what he's doing.  I think he thought it came with a shape.  I don't think it does.  Often these items come with a sort of shape and don't always 100% look like the picture.   

To the OP:  The thing I was trying to press upon you is that with mesh avatars is you have to buy the shape for the head and then the body usually just comes along with it.  With mesh bodies, you can't buy a shape for the body because the shape maker doesn't know what head you will be using and it would look all contorted on the face unless it's with the correct head.  So, for shapes, it's basically buying for the head shape - the name of your mesh head and then whatever shape of the body is what you get.

In short, with avatars, you cannot have two shapes.  So your best bet is to either edit the body shape yourself as I outlined in one of my posts above or buy a shape.  However, with buying a shape...it's the head shape you will be buying and the body is secondary.  You will need to do some work on your own to get to the outcome you want.  But, like I said, once your main avatar is done...you are over most of the "work" and then you can just buy clothes and go about enjoying yourself with only minor tweeks here and there.  Getting your avatar done to where you like it is the biggest part and then perhaps choosing an AO or making your own kind of AO is the second, and then the rest is fairly easy, mostly clothes.    

Edited April 23, 2020 by FairreLilette

[Marianne Little]

I believe he thought a body included the head. In anatomy, the head is a part of the body. https://www.englishclub.com/english-for-work/medical-body.htm

This is why demos are so important. When you unpack and wear a demo, you see what you get, and if it is not what you thought, read the description from the seller again. Contact the seller and ask, if it is still unclear.

It is easy for us who are used to the Second Life mesh bodyparts, we know that in Second Life it is common to sell headless bodies, only a few exceptions includes the head.

I think Bear Priestman did not sound like he was "shaming" someone, but that he was honestly confused and needed help.

 

[Marianne Little]

22 hours ago, Bear Priestman said:

(I have spent several thousand $L and either didn't actually receive the items (and no contact from the vendor)

 

You got no reply for this? The Marketplace has a redeliver option now, if you buy no transfer items. https://lindenlab.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/31000153189-how-do-i-redeliver-a-marketplace-purchase-

If you bought it from a store inworld, it is often small, free-standing units with information boards. See if one of them say "Redelivery". Or it can be posters hanging on the wall. If you are lucky and you find this, click on it and it takes you to a page where you can request to redeliver your purchase.

It was a huge internet outage some days ago. Cut fiber? People could not log in, and many of those who were logged in, had problems.

It can simply be technical issues caused by this outage, or the Coronavirus strain the internet because so many work from home. And it is also many who has only internet as entertainment, because it is closed bars, gyms, cinemas, sports events and concerts in large parts of the world.

[Bear Priestman]

22 minutes ago, Marianne Little said:

I think Bear Priestman did not sound like he was "shaming" someone, but that he was honestly confused and needed help.

 

Thanks for the clarification and all the advice.  When I make inquiries on software development forums, they are nowhere near as engaged as this one is.

Amazing contributions.  Also I would certainly not intend to "shame" anyone (have had to deal with enough of that as one of the elders in our province's LGBTQ community).

In software, if we have a challenge say, with a Microsoft script - we mention "Microsoft Script blah blah" because other developers know what you're talking about.

By mentioning the "brand" I thought the experts here would be better able (from their vast experience) to say "oh, that one - yes well you do THIS and then it works.."

I think that those who are creative enough to DO things in-world here, and make products from their imagination are excellent creators, and as someone who makes software for a living, I think I might just get into.

However, if it's not "cool" to mention brands then I'll certainly remember that for the future.

Other than that, thanks to all the amazing replies, I'm sure I'll be able to do something.

Thanks again.

[kiramanell]

15 minutes ago, Bear Priestman said:

Also I would certainly not intend to "shame" anyone (have had to deal with enough of that as o

By mentioning the "brand" I thought the experts here would be better able (from their vast experience) to say "oh, that one - yes well you do THIS and then it works.."

I think that those who are creative enough to DO things in-world here, and make products from their imagination are excellent creators, and as someone who makes software for a living, I think I might just get into.

However, if it's not "cool" to mention brands then I'll certainly remember that for the future.

Other than that, thanks to all the amazing replies, I'm sure I'll be able to do something.

Thanks again.

 

In general, taking problems with vendors/specific purchases to the forum, is something that rarely ends well. ) It's simply usually best to contact them first, our their support group (if they have any). I realize my words came out perhaps a bit too strong, though. And, all-in-all, this discussion ended remarkably civil.  Good luck get it sorted out!

[Skell Dagger]

32 minutes ago, Bear Priestman said:

By mentioning the "brand" I thought the experts here would be better able (from their vast experience) to say "oh, that one - yes well you do THIS and then it works.."

[ ... ]

However, if it's not "cool" to mention brands then I'll certainly remember that for the future.

I'm one of the CSRs for a major mesh head brand in SL, and you're absolutely correct regarding your first point.

If you're asking for any help with a specific brand then obviously it helps us to help you if we know which brand. Each one is different in many ways, so if you were to ask us, "How do I enable Bakes on Mesh on my head?" we could give you some generic advice ("Take off your alpha layers, then look on your head's HUD for a BoM button to click. It'll probably be in a tab called skins, or maybe a tab for extras or settings,") but we could offer you exact advice if you asked, "How do I enable Bakes on Mesh on my XYZ head?" ("Take off your alpha layers, then look in your XYZ Edit HUD v1.0, go into the Extras tab, and click the 'Apply BoM' button in the Additions section of that tab").

In that sense, it's fine to mention brands. In fact, in most senses it's fine to mention brands here, unless one is actively criticising them on a 'name and shame' basis, which is not allowed in this forum.

Edited April 24, 2020 by Skell Dagger