How to make a mesh head look like a classic head

[Traci Wylie]

This is an old topic, but I haven't been able to find a recent answer.

You have a mesh body with a classic head and you want to buy a mesh head for it.  But you want your face to look exactly the same.  The standard answer is:

1. Wear the shape that came with the head.
2. Note the slider values for the head
3. Wear your old shape and tweak the sliders to match the saved values
4. Now, while looking at a picture of your old face, tweak the sliders to get the new head to resemble the old head as best possible.

Step 4 is frequently difficult if not impossible.

1. Is there a better way?
2. Is there a mesh head with sliders which match the classic head? (laughter heard in the background)
3. How do you decide which mesh head to buy to make it easiest to match your old head?

[Nalates Urriah]

Your steps won't work. The settings for a classic head never work for a mesh head. The image shows what happens when you try that.

I very much wanted to keep the look of my classic head/face. But, I wanted the features of a mesh head for makeup. So, I spent a lot of time looking for a mesh head that was close to my classic look. I found that adjusting shape cannot necessarily make the face look the way you want. Each mesh head has a limited look, which is why we have so many heads.

Another problem in duplicating a classic look is your camera settings. Adjusting the focal length is way important. Otherwise the camera is contributing to the look. So as the camera movement changes the look making way difficult for you to know how the head actually looks. For instance the size of the nose is often distorted by the camera.

At a minimum the camera needs to be pushed toward the telephoto settings, pressing Ctrl-0 at least 5 times. The Ctrl-8, 9 (reset), and 0 are the quick adjust keys for the camera.

Use the narrow camera angle to get a picture of your classic look. Then put that on a cube and attach the cube to your head and position it to the side. Then will a the camera set on a narrow angle (Ctrl-0) you can actually see if the adjustments you make match the picture.

 

There is no easy way to duplicate a classic look and put it on a mesh head. It is a tedious process of demoing heads and seeing if you can adjust the head to look something like the classic look you had. After 3 months I got close, ran out of patience, and called it "good enough". The result is in the image. I have since done lots of tweaks to move my face toward the idealized idea of beauty. If you are into idealized looks, you can see the "beauty" guides in my marketplace store. Once you see what they look like, you can make your own guides for free.

There is no mesh head that can use classic shape settings for the head and look good. Classic and mesh head use completely different tech. The classic head uses morphing and the sliders control the percentage of the various morphs that make the face. Mesh heads use the Bento Bones to move the face parts and adjust the plumpness. You can play with the movement in Black Dragon using its Poser to see how the bones affect a face.

[Jennifer Boyle]

I wish I knew the answer to your third question. I'd happily pay for it. The best answer I know is to pick the one that looks most like you want to look. In addition, if you know which of your features is hardest to match, pick the one that's the best match for that feature.

When I got a mesh head, it was EXTREMELY important to me to keep my same face. What I did was logon an alt that was wearing my shape. I put each of us on identical posing stands that I placed at exactly the same coordinates. Then I spent many hours tweaking shape sliders. When doing this it helps if the two avatars' skins are different shades.

[Madelaine McMasters]

10 minutes ago, Nalates Urriah said:

Another problem in duplicating a classic look is your camera settings. Adjusting the focal length is way important. Otherwise the camera is contributing to the look. So as the camera movement changes the look making way difficult for you to know how the head actually looks. For instance the size of the nose is often distorted by the camera.

At a minimum the camera needs to be pushed toward the telephoto settings, pressing Ctrl-0 at least 5 times. The Ctrl-8, 9 (reset), and 0 are the quick adjust keys for the camera.

Use the narrow camera angle to get a picture of your classic look. Then put that on a cube and attach the cube to your head and position it to the side. Then will a the camera set on a narrow angle (Ctrl-0) you can actually see if the adjustments you make match the picture.

Spot on. Here's an example of the effect of camera view angle on facial perspective...

The left side is the maximum telephoto view (angle = 0.08), the right side is the standard view (angle = 1.048). Nothing else has changed.

[Rowan Amore]

Why bother with a mesh head?  If you're happy with your face the way it is and have no desire to look the slightest bit different, there's no reason to change, IMO.  

 

[Claireschen Hesten]

1 hour ago, Traci Wylie said:

Step 4 is frequently difficult if not impossible.

1. Is there a better way?
2.  
3. How do you decide which mesh head to buy to make it easiest to match your old head?

The way i bought my mesh head was to go to a bunch of mesh head stores grab demos of all heads try them on at home not changing my shape and i then settled for the head that looked closest to 'me'. In the time i've had my head i've tweaked it here and there added or changed cosmetic elements. I found taking a head shot with 4-5x ctrl +0  i could refer to was the best way of deciding what to choose when demoing