Femboy avatar help

[TwoDeez]

Just recently started and I’d like some help creating a femboy avatar is there anyone i can add to help me out or point me in the right direction? Thank you

[Maitimo]

I can offer some suggestions but will need to ask a few questions first.

Do you already have a mesh body and head? If not do you plan to buy them? How much money are you willing to spend? What kind of body shape are you aiming for? Boobs or not? Narrow hips or curvy? Normal human look or more anime style?

[TwoDeez]

Normal human at the moment. As for the hips I do not know, I don’t have any body or mesh head yet. Price I don’t really mind atm I heard the genus project classic is a good head along with the petite chambre koito shape

[Maitimo]

OK, this is a good start (have nothing yet, willing to spend money).

BODY: You really have two options for creating a human femboy avatar. You can start with either a male avatar body, or a female one. If you want to start with a male one, there's really only one body in the running and that's Belleza Jake, because it's the only male body that gets femboy-style clothing made for it. And even that is not much. However, by far the most popular choice is the Maitreya Lara body used with a flat-chest add-on called V-Tech. With this combination you get a lot more options, plus you'll be able to wear most clothing made for Maitreya, which is a lot.  This is the combination I've been using. (There is a third option - the Kemono body which is almost exclusively female/femboy. Its also almost exclusively anime/furry, and hard to find normal human skins for, so we'll rule that one out for now).

SKIN: You'll be wanting to use a male skin (or a female skin that has flat chest options), and you'll want to find a head that looks good with your chosen skin. There are a few femboy-specific skins out there (my favourite of these is Flamboyant Sweets; SO MANY options in there), though I usually use a "normal" male skin from Plastik (they speciallise in fantasy skins but they do normal ones too, and they look pretty androgynous). Egozy skins work well on male heads but not on female ones. For a more feminine look, something like Pink Fuel or the Skinnery where you can get a female skin with a male chest add-on. I believe Mudskin also has these but I haven't tried them. Gessami is another nice option; their male and female skins are interchangeable so you can wear the male body with the female face.  Look for skins that are marked as BOM (Bakes on Mesh) compatible, or as old Classic skins (like the ones that come with the starter avatars); if you're coming to mesh as a newbie, it's far less complicated than messing with appliers, and gives you a lot more skins to choose from.

HEAD: If you pick a male body, you'll need a male head, and if you pick a female body you'll need a female head. This is because the neck fits are different sizes. Catwa has a handful of heads (I think three or four) that are unisex - they have both neck fits - I think this is the only brand that does so. Genus heads are out of the running at the moment, as they are closed indefinitely due to a legal issue, but when/if they re-open, Genus Strong is the one to look at.  For now, Catwa is probably the best place to start because they have so many options. Aside from the unisex heads they offer, there are both male and female heads in their range that work for femboy avatars. I use Freya (no longer available) and Margeaux (female) but I know someone else who went with the male-body route and he uses Victor, but there's also Dino which is made for a more androgynous look. Lelutka is another great brand to try, especially their new Evolution heads. 

SHAPE: Don't worry about buying a shape. Every head comes with one included, and it's modifyable, so you can start with that and adjust it to get the look you're after. If you decide that making your own shape is too difficult (it's really not, but some people don't want to spend the time on it), then you absolutely MUST get a shape made for the head you've decided on. Shapes are NOT cross-compatible between different heads. So don't look at buying a shape until you've firmly decided on your skin, body and head.

COST: Your budget should be around L$5000 for the head, L$2500 to L$3000 for the body and up to L$1000 for the skin. If this is too expensive for you, you can save a lot by getting the Natasha body from Lucyshoes (it is a flat-chested female body that fits Maitreya and V-Tech clothing) and a cheaper head - I have Ciara from Dream and a head from Lightstar. Lightstar female heads in particular are very strong-looking and work well with male skins. The Natasha body is under L$2000 and the Lightstar heads are L$1000 (plus a bit extra for the animation hud). Not sure on the current price of Dream's Ciara; it was free for a while but I'd be surprised if it was more than L$1000. Raven Bell also has some cheap heads that are worth taking a look at.

Edited June 12, 2020 by Maitimo

[Marianne Little]

Since heads are the most expensive, you can try a 55 L head to begin with. I think this store also has a free group gift head, but when I am looking at this default head, it has a nice jaw and cheekbones. Could be a boy? https://ryanschultz.com/2020/05/31/second-life-steals-deals-and-freebies-the-cat-calm-bento-mesh-head-from-genesis-lab/

You can use the money saved for a wardrobe. Maitreya and Maitreya-compatible feet have an awesome amount of shoes made for them. Totally the best if the footwear matters.

That blog post new free bodies all the time, but for one who have money and do not need to hunt for clothes that maybe fit, it is better to get one of the bodies suggested by  @Maitimo

 

 

[TwoDeez]

I cant find the body im very inexperienced when it comes to SL ui and im having a problem finding the items listed in game

[TwoDeez]

updated i got the v-tech chest along with the Maitreya mesh body and Kokota Skin when i try to put on the v tech chest it looks like a white t-***** can anyone explain how to fix this? also is there a way to make the avi stop standing on their tippy toes thanks

[Maitimo]

2 hours ago, TwoDeez said:

updated i got the v-tech chest along with the Maitreya mesh body and Kokota Skin when i try to put on the v tech chest it looks like a white t-***** can anyone explain how to fix this? also is there a way to make the avi stop standing on their tippy toes thanks

First, make sure you are in a place where scripts are enabled. Either in your own home if you have one, or in a sandbox, or even just somewhere in the middle of the ocean. 

To change the tippy-toes, make sure you're wearing the Maitreya HUD, click on the Hands/Feet tab and select the flat feet option out of the five listed. Click on the middle-top of the picture to change both feet, or the bottom left/right corners to change just one foot at a time.

For the skin on the V-Tech, this skin does not work with Bakes on Mesh, it uses appliers only. You need to get this first: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Omega-System-Kit-V-Tech/10055257.  This is an omega installer for your V-Tech chest. Unpack it, wear the installer (it will add to your screen) and wear the V-Tech chest. Click the installer, and a message in local chat will tell you that it's been installed into your chest. You can now remove the Omega installer; you won't need it again (unless you make a new copy of your chest). 

The next step is to wear the skin applier at the same time as wearing your V-tech chest, Maitreya body and Catwa head. There might be a separate applier for each one. Wear the applier, again it attaches to your screen and click it. Your skin will then apply to the V-Tech chest as well as your body.

If you find bits of your underlying body poking through the V-Tech chest, just detach and re-attach the chest. It has auto-hide built in, so it will hide the necessary parts for you automatically.

Edited June 13, 2020 by Maitimo