how to get my deus ex machina?

Hello there, i'm fairly new to SL, but not so new to forums so i read the guidlines and did a search of this, which i assume is the relevant forum first.

My question is this. Is it possible in second life to get your avatar to look like you? I have seen a few real world examples of SL avatars looking almost identical to their creators, are these people just lucky enough to look like the type used in SL?

I am incredibly narcissitic you see, and think that, im many ways, my face is one of the most beautiful in the whole world! Unfortunately i'm not really grasping the "appearance system" very well, so am currently unable to share this beautiful creation with the world of SL!

If anyone has any tips please share them, i really am aching to get my natural beauty born into digital divinity. Please help me if you can, your SL world will be so much better then!

Thanks xx

There are two parts to the avatar appearance: Shape and Skin. Shape determines nose size, muscularity, height, cheekbones, etc. Skin determines tone, shading, and makeup. You can edit or buy both skins and shapes. To get a skin that looks exactly like your RL self, there are a few places inworld that will use pictures (side, front, back) of yourself and edit them in a graphics program to become Second Life skins. I've heard varying results from these places but if you're serious about putting your RL face onto your SL self, you might consider looking into it. Good luck and welcome to Second Life and the forums!

Um... All Popeye needed for a deus ex machina was a simple can of spinach.

avatar island will pt your rl pic on the ski

well worth it, at a very competitive price too

Interesting! Have you seen any of the results? Do they look good?

(I've seen some efforts in SL in the past, and some have sent me running for the next sim and an eye-wash bottle filled with bleach)

I've seen some very good RL likenesses placed on SL avatars. The best ones were basically well modeled shapes. A good skin helps, but (in my opinion) skillful use of the sliders is much more important.

Wowsers, pretty pricey. USD 395!

I have done a couple through them (I work there as customer service helping folks understand how it works)

the higher quality the pic, the higher quality the outcome (of course)
I think it is the only fully automatied system in SL that you can have your face put on the skin
you do not get a skin from them
you get the actual textures, sent to you via email, that you will upload and make the skin yourself

so you can tweak it in photoshop, add tattoos etc

I will log in and take a couple snapshots, one of a skin straight from avatar island, and the after I redid it in photoshop hehe
(it was not a high quality photo)

Yes, but if someone really REALLY wants their av to look like their typist, that's probably the way to go. I don't personally like photoreal skins, but there's no denying the inherent artistry of her work.

remember this was done with a low quality photo, the better the photo, the better the end results

here is the before (note the eyelashes on the before, I did not retouch the file for anything, not even the eyelashes hehe)



and here is the after (I retouched it just a little bit in photoshop )

Raorth - wow!!

I am so not getting this.... You want an unconvincing character to resolve your plot?

de·us ex ma·chi·na [ dày əss eks mkinə ]


1. unconvincing character who resolves plot: an improbable character or unconvincing event used to resolve a plot


2. god who resolves plot: in ancient Greek and Roman theater, a god introduced to resolve a complicated plot

I have to side with Ricardo here. How did we let this slip by?

Well if you are incredibly beautiful in real life - and some people are, although most try to pretend to be modest about it, but that could be disingenuous when asking this this question - it would be kind of a come down to have a less lovely av.

And...

"a person or thing (as in fiction or drama) that appears or is introduced suddenly and unexpectedly and provides a contrived solution to an apparently insoluble difficulty"

Like I said before, a can of spinach will do.

I like this, I was begining to get bored.

Yeah - honestly, OP. We need to see pictures if you expect us to believe that you are one of the most beautiful women in the world. Otherwise we're probably going to start guessing about what you look like. I'm not going to guess yet, but I'll tell you right now, I'll probably led out with "moustache".

Tom Selleck is in SL?

I was thinking more along the lines of Wilford Brimley