Are shapes for mesh heads created via "Edit Shape"?

[Porphyry Kimono]

Are the shapes we use for bodies with mesh heads made by the built-in shape editor? The one you get when you right-click your avatar and select "Edit Shape"?

I ask because when I've moved sliders around, they don't seem to have any effect, or minimal effect.

As examples, I saw the slider for head shape was at 50, so I moved it down to 0 and then up to 100, but I didn't see any change.

Then I tried to move up the corners of the mouth into a smile, but it looked so ghoulish that I quit.

Are these shapes created in some other way? Or do the heads nullify much of it?

Edited October 23, 2021 by Porphyry Kimono

[Mollymews]

it depends on the head. Some heads are better rigged to the Shape sliders than others. And some heads have additional sliders in their HUD

if you say the name of your head then somebody with the same head maybe will come by and give some advice

Edited October 23, 2021 by Mollymews
typss

[Lillith Hapmouche]

Are you absolutely sure that your head is Bento compatible? 

The head shape should definitely make a difference in terms of looks. If it doesn't, well...

 

7 hours ago, Mollymews said:

And some heads have additional sliders in their HUD

Huh, which ones?

[Mollymews]

Just now, Lillith Hapmouche said:

Huh, which ones?

the Catwa HDPRO Style F v1.4 HUD for the Catwa HDPRO Queen head. Is on the Gear wheel tab

altho to be fair it doesn't tweak the Linden body shape itself. I think it uses animations to move the skeleton bones, which can be saved into a slot on the head

[Mollymews]

1 hour ago, Lillith Hapmouche said:

Thanks.

That might explain why my clueless friend, "happily" wearing the Queen head, was so confused when I, happy LeLutka user, tried to explain to her how to personalize her shape with sliders.

the Catwa Queen does both.  Can use the shape sliders like normal to change eyes, nose, mouth, chin, etc. And then can tweak the face further with the Catwa HUD to  reach places that the shape sliders can't

so can tell your friend to use the shape sliders and then use the HUD to tweak if needed

ps. I said before that it was the Gear icon on the HUD. Is not, is the Shapes icon

 

[Lindal Kidd]

For those newcomers who might stumble across this thread...

Project Bento was a development effort by Linden Lab to add additional "bones" to the avatar skeleton. In animation, "bones" are tools/constructs used to distort a mesh and make it assume different shapes/poses. A "rigged character" consists of a mesh and a skeleton of bones linked to it. When the animator moves the bones into a new position, like a puppeteer with a marionette, the character moves into its new pose. These new bones allowed us to have avatars with animated tails, wings, or other limbs. They allowed us to have hands with individually animated fingers, and faces with animatable expressions. (Previously, we'd gotten by with a limited number of hand positions and facial expressions).

Avatars and body parts and attachments that are "Bento enabled" make use of these new bones.

[Lillith Hapmouche]

Thanks.

That might explain why my clueless friend, "happily" wearing the Queen head, was so confused when I, happy LeLutka user, tried to explain to her how to personalize her shape with sliders.

[Porphyry Kimono]

So, yeah -- I'll check for Bento compatibility. Honestly, I hadn't a clue what Bento meant until just now. That's probably the key.

I don't want to say which head I've got -- and if someone guesses, it will only prove my point -- but there's only a limited number of mesh heads available and I don't relish the idea of looking exactly like someone else.

Update: I just checked, and my head *is* Bento compatible, and the maker has a HUD that does Bento things... so it turns out everyone was right.

Thanks, all!

Edited October 23, 2021 by Porphyry Kimono

[Lillith Hapmouche]

37 minutes ago, Porphyry Kimono said:

but there's only a limited number of mesh heads available

Seems to be retro weekend, "welcome back to 2018" or something. 🤔