My avatar appears as a white misty shape when I login and doesn't render.

[Sherry321 Allen]

After logging in my avatar displays only as a milky cloud and never resolves. I get the message that "clothing is still downloading"  but that's all. Have had the problem for about 2 weeks, never had it before. I use Phoenix  viewer and the official SL viewer. 

Thx

Sherry

[Rolig Loon]

That's a communication problem between your computer and SL's servers. Information about your appearance has to be "baked" onto your avatar on your own computer, saved there, and then uploaded to SL before it's fully visible there. If the necessary information is messed up in transmission, you may end up with a borked file on your computer, or SL's servers may end up with a borked image. Either way, your av's appearance defaults to a fluffy cloud. What works to repair the damage for one person won't necessarily work for the next person, and it may not be the same thing that works for you tomorrow. See the full list of possibilitites here >>> http://wiki.phoenixviewer.com/doku.php?id=fs_bake_fail . Start with the simple things at the top of the list and work down until you find what works for you today.

You may find that the bake fail problem comes back repeatedly, even after you fix it with one of the suggestions on that wiki page. If so, you have a chronically weak Internet connection. There are many steps to take for repairing it. Perhaps the simplest ones -- ones that work best for most people -- are: (1) Don't Use WIRELESS. Wireless connections are inherently less stable than direct cable connections and are more vulnerable to interference. Then, (2) Reboot your router. Unplug it from the power for a few minutes to let it clear its RAM. The plug it back in and let it get a fresh hold on an IP address.

[Nalates Urriah]

Rendering the avatar is a special case. It is a more complex process than the rest of Second Life. The idea is to save CPU cycles on your computer and the server. The idea requires your viewer to download all the textures that make up your avatar and its clothes; a skin, top, pants, hair, and shoes textures. The viewer ‘bakes’ those into a single composite texture. You see your avatar render nice and sharp. Then your viewer uploads that composite texture for all to see. That saves others downloading all the individual textures and baking them. Your avatar goes blurry as it downloads the composite texture and becomes sharp when that process finishes. You are the only one that sees the double blurry for your avatar.

If that process hangs or fails there is a problem. Where it fails affects what you or others see.

You can try the old standby quick fixes for avatar rez problems:

1. Change your active group or group tag.
2. Press rebake (Ctrl-Alt-R) once a minute for 3 minutes.
3. Change your bald 
4. Change your shape
5. Move to another region and try 1 to 4 again.

When those fail, check your connection as it is the likely problem: Troubleshoot Your #SL Connection