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Roger Raabe
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Ā  Ā OP's last name brings to mind a former chief of police from my home town .. Nils Edvard Raab (1841-1901). He made his mark in local history for his rather unconventional personality.Ā He embodied what many comedians try to achieve today.

Ā  Ā A concert was to be held in the university aula, but there was concernĀ whether the venue was sufficient to handle as large a crowd as was expected. So he went there with a constable by his side to look into it. When he returned to write his report, he noted that: "Himself and Constable Morin have, personally, attendedĀ to test sit every seat on each chair and bench in the galleries, and thus concluded that they shall be sufficient to accommodate the weight of a larger crowd."

Ā  Ā .. On topic: I generally agree with the aforementioned and have nothing to add.

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32 minutes ago, Roger Raabe said:

Yep!

Thanks to all who posted.

So, circling back... You have an avatar without mesh body and head now, am I right?

The good thing is that you don't have to learn about appliers. This "BoM" we talk about, is simply some "magic"* that let skins and tattoos show up on the mesh body parts. Before, we covered up the avatar with an alpha layer, and then we put on the mesh bodies and heads. Now, we skip the alpha layer, find a skin in our inventory and wear it. Some bodies and heads has a tab where you must activate BoM first.

Add and take off hairbases, tattoo layers and all other things you can have on a layer. Your old trousers, you can wear them too and they will show up as painted on your new mesh avatar. But please, don't do it. It looks awful.

*I call it magic, because it is some technical explanation I can't remember.

Ā 

Ā 

Edited by Marianne Little
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So far, I have spent four or five hours. I tried both signature bodies, but they both looked more muscular than I wanted to. I settled on the Slink body. I don't want a large wardrobe, only 6-10 outfits, so clothing availability shouldn't be an issue. Trying to find a suitable combination of head, head shape, and skin has been a real challenge. The first head I tried was the Signature Geralt (I could have lived with the body if the head had worked well). I went to every store listed on the Signature web site as selling skins for their avatars without finding anything I liked. I searched Marketplace with the same result. I had the free Lelutka Alain head, so I decided to try it. I searched for a good skin and shape combination for it, and didn't find one. For the ones that came packaged together, my face didn't look at all like the face on the ad.

Maybe I should just be content to look like a typical 2010 avatar?

Seriously, this is much harder than it should be, It's no wonder SL isn't growing when it's this hard to just put a nice avatar together. LL really should do something to make it easier.

If anyone can suggest sources for shapes and for BOM skins, I would be grateful. I am striving for an ordinary nice guy look. Most of the head shapes seem to be intended to look like a tough guy.

Edited by Roger Raabe
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1 hour ago, Roger Raabe said:

So far, I have spent four or five hours. I tried both signature bodies, but they both looked more muscular than I wanted to. I settled on the Slink body. I don't want a large wardrobe, only 6-10 outfits, so clothing availability shouldn't be an issue. Trying to find a suitable combination of head, head shape, and skin has been a real challenge. The first head I tried was the Signature Geralt (I could have lived with the body if the head had worked well). I went to every store listed on the Signature web site as selling skins for their avatars without finding anything I liked. I searched Marketplace with the same result. I had the free Lelutka Alain head, so I decided to try it. I searched for a good skin and shape combination for it, and didn't find one. For the ones that came packaged together, my face didn't look at all like the face on the ad.

Maybe I should just be content to look like a typical 2010 avatar?

Seriously, this is much harder than it should be, It's no wonder SL isn't growing when it's this hard to just put a nice avatar together. LL really should do something to make it easier.

Stray dog has a lot of skins for lelutka.Ā  Body skins to the right on the wall.when you walk in.

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

Shapes included and also which head is used in the photo.

Edited by Rowan Amore
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I have tried a number of head skins and the shapes that came with them from several stores, all with the same result. I look nothing like the picture in the store. Here is one example, the Swaim skin and shape from Stray Dog.

682003546_DemoStrayDogSwaim_001.thumb.png.494f120788b2f47b3d46f09c10cc5f22.png

What am I doing wrong?

I have given up on the idea of getting a nice, up-to-date avatar quickly and easily, but it seems I can't even get one when I spend considerable time and effort.

Help!

Ā 

Edited by Roger Raabe
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6 minutes ago, Roger Raabe said:

What am I doing wrong?

I have given up on the idea of getting a nice, up-to-date avatar quickly and easily, but it seems I can't even get one when I spend considerable time and effort.

Help!

Ā 

shapes will only work for the body Ɣnd head, if its specificly made for the type of head within the brand you use. And even than it often needs to be taken in mind that the creator made his pics wiht a different lightning situation.

Edited by Alwin Alcott
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25 minutes ago, Roger Raabe said:

What am I doing wrong?

This is why you don't look like the ad:

swain_skyler.thumb.jpg.9071e925ebff77d9753a0b0f94ff5799.jpg

The shape included with that skin is for the Skyler head from Lelutka. You're using the Alain head. If you want to look like a store's ad, then you need to find an ad for a skin that also contains a shape for Alain, as that's the head you own.

Edited by Skell Dagger
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49 minutes ago, Roger Raabe said:

I have tried a number of head skins and the shapes that came with them from several stores, all with the same result. I look nothing like the picture in the store. Here is one example, the Swaim skin and shape from Stray Dog.

Ā 

What am I doing wrong?

I have given up on the idea of getting a nice, up-to-date avatar quickly and easily, but it seems I can't even get one when I spend considerable time and effort.

Help!

Ā 

https://marketplace.secondlife.com/products/search?search[category_id]=338&search[keywords]=alain&search[maturity][]=General&search[maturity][]=Moderate&search[maturity][]=Adult&search[page]=1&search[per_page]=96&search[sort]=_score_desc

There are many shapes for Alain. Many cheap ones too. You can try one of them. First, ignore how the body looks with that shape. Most premade shapes are way too muscular. Only look at the face for now. Maybe this shape? I think it looks relaxed and not that scowl you can see on so many other shapes. The body isn't too bad as a start. https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/SHAPE-MARCO-for-LeLUTKA-Alain-Head-25/21219757

After you found the face you like, wear the shape you used with Slink body and write down the body numbers. Then, wear the shape with the Alain face you like, go into edit shape and change the body numbers so your body is as you want it.

I know it sounds like a lot of work, but trust me, it is better than trying to edit a face. The body sliders aren't so many, and the face is more different to sculpt with the sliders.

Edited by Marianne Little
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13 minutes ago, Roger Raabe said:

The vendor from which I got the demo skin said it was for Lelutka Evolution heads. It didn't mention a specific head, so I assumed it was for any Lelutka Evolutiuon male head.

Ā 

Ā 

The picture I posted above your post is from Clef de Peau.Ā  Looking at his Flickr, he seems to include a shape for Alain with some of his skins.

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

https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Clef de Peau/138/154/21

Edited by Rowan Amore
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13 hours ago, Roger Raabe said:

The vendor from which I got the demo skin said it was for Lelutka Evolution heads. It didn't mention a specific head, so I assumed it was for any Lelutka Evolutiuon male head.

1415839119_SwaimVendor_001.thumb.png.befafe30e778cf1171d4d32e072d48ae.png

Ā 

You seem to be struggling with how your head looks and why it doesn't look like the ads.

I suspect your frustration comes from not understanding how all this works. Skin, head model, shape, camera settings, and lighting all contribute to how a head looks. If you do not have the exact same skin, shape, head, lighting, and camera settings it is going to look different.

Start with the camera. Designers will often change camera settings to remove camera distortion typical in the default settings. You can see what happens by changing your settings, Ctrl-8, 9, and 0. Ctrl-8 moves you toward a wide angle or fish-eye view. Great for panoramas. Press Ctrl-9 to return to the default settings. Ctrl-0 moves you toward a telephoto look. This is often used in SL to get close up portraits. Try it. Experiment.

Lighting... for the promo ads lighting will almost always be adjusted. A close approximation of what they use is Windlight/EEP setting CalWL or one of the [AnaLu] neutrals or optimal.

The head, shape, and skin HAVE TO BE EXACT MATCHES to what is used in the promo photo. One can change skin and retain the same head and shape and get a completely different look. The same is true if you try to keep the shape and skin but change the head.

The whole point of having all these differences is to allow people to make unique looks. For a time we had static heads. You could NOT adjust the look. Everyone that had that brand and model of head looked like a twin... the world was full of clones. Wasn't popular. The result is we now have variety.

Buy the head (model and brand), skin, and shape shown in the ad and it will be an exact match. Vary any component and it will look different.

As stated above use the included head shape and adjust your body back to what you were using.

If you want a simple game to play, try the Sims. SL is complex because we have nearly infinite possibilities. The viewer has over 3,000 settings so we can customize how our world looks. Windlight+EEP allows us to change sun, moon, and lighting. Avatar bodies and heads with our appearance settings allow us to look like anyone or thing. There have been lawsuits over people making and selling an Angelina or Halley look alike. But, you can look like Halley as long as you make the look yourself and don't sell it.

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Now that I look at the image, I remember that Skyler was a popular head and it was made many shapes for it. Then Lelutka added more facial bones and changed the rigging. Shapes suddenly looked awful with the 2.5 version of Skyler.Ā 

Many vendors still have the shapes based on the older Skyler head. That is another twist no one can be prepared for, unless they are a forum lurker. Joining groups to ask in group chat is also a way to get a quick answer. The Lelutka group and the Stray Dog group is usually friendly.

A new shape for Skyler should not look "that" terrible for Alain. But an older Skyler definitely will!

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All these suggestions that does not work for him, is enough to drive him away from updating his avatar.

Talking about "revert back to the old rig" is meaningless when he struggle so much.

Some do not want 1000 options. They want to look good without spending so much time on it.

Maybe we should stop it when people come here and signal that they do not want to work so much, and only point to the shapes with an includes stylecard they can follow. I have often hesitated lately to come with suggestions, because it is so clear that people are not the type to mix and match and try out all options.

Edited by Marianne Little
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Search Marketplace for Alain AND stylecard (all three words in the search together, AND is case sensitive).

This brings up a lot of hits, and not many are for Slink body. Slink is not so much used, but I believe the shape is easy enough to change from the neck down. That is less work than all this hunting for what fits together.

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4 hours ago, Marianne Little said:

Talking about "revert back to the old rig" is meaningless when he struggle so much.

All he has to do is open the other box and wear the other head. He should be aware there is another head that came with his purchase, not just that Lelutka added more facial bones. To me, that is less helpful than just wear the old rig.

He said he wanted to look like the ad. So why not just help him look like the ad so he can be on his way?


Ā 

Ā 

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