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Learning shape shifting.


Fiona Atheria
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Hi,  Yes, this is my first post on the forums.  But I've been lurking forever 😊

I've always used bought shapes, or the ones that come with body parts, before, but I've decided to get more adventurous, and make my own.  Are there any tutorials on how to do it properly?

I understand the mechanism of the Shape Editor.  I started by wearing the ones I have and noting down all the numbers (wish there was a way of getting a dump of them), then combining the attributes of each that I liked.  This seems to work quite well.

I just wondered if I was missing a trick?

 

Edited by Fiona Atheria
grammar
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12 minutes ago, Fiona Atheria said:

I just wondered if I was missing a trick?

 

the sliders are your friend to do it, no tricks
Just a advice, don't blindly copy and combine numbers, sooner or later you'l find your head to small, or feet to large ... and so on.. the total balance will be different for the parts than for the original.
Keep trying :)

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There are some tutorials. There is also a lot of debate about how tall avatars should be. There are some viewer gotchas that tend to make avatars tend toward 7' (2.13m) tall. You can find my contributions to the discussion here: http://blog.nalates.net/tag/shape/

It is possible to export and import shapes. See Second Life Shape Export. It is also possible to create body only or head only shapes. - Shapes export/import via XML files. These are specially written text files. I think they are easily figured out. So, export one and look at it. In shape files it is mostly a matter of deleting lines of text to get a head only or body only shape.

Then there is the idea of a "pleasing shape". Back in the day Leonardo figured it out... or maybe just had the PR to get his name associated with it. Humans have an eye for the human form. Deviate from the normal range of shapes and people perceive something as wrong. One can push far past the norms and create what we perceive as carnicture or cartoonish. So while we aren't limited one does have to consider who they are making a shape for. I sell a tool for aiding one to make a 'proportional' human shape. Mine and a few others can be fone here: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/products/search?utf8=✓&search[category_id]=&search[maturity_level]=GMA&search[keywords]=model+shape+tool

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If all of SL were proportional it would be so simple to make a proportional shape wouldn't it! I like the idea of a "pleasing shape" as applied to SL  -- it's something that, to me, depends on the clubs I visit, my furniture, my home and partner. So, OP,  sounds like you're on the right track. It's a very personal thing and there is a LOT of debate over what's right. Experts will probably disagree with this as, yes, ideal human proportions are rather well established. And the available tools are useful. Know the fundamentals and why you do or don't want to follow them exactly.  

I remember, for example, a dust-up over Strawberry Singh's shapes having what someone callously referred to as "gorilla arms" when in fact they were following perfect proportions. And in a world where everyone's (but not your) arms are too short, the correct length perhaps looks too long. This and many other similar conundrums are what make shape making in SL a frustrating art.

Again, if SL were truly proportional it would be that easy. Check out the shape making tools, they are an invaluable guide, but also trust your eyes and what looks pleasing to you. Know the rules to break them and all that.  

 

Edited by missyrideout
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