Help with Shape

Hi there, I am very new to SL. I bought a skin last night "Celestial Studios" Noir. I am at work, so I may not have the name exactly right. Anyway, I want to buy a shape now that I will be able to modify if necessary, but I want to make sure that it goes with my newly purchased skin. I don't want to spend too much money, but I want the skin to be decent. I could really use some help. Any suggestions?

The Products Wanted forum.

Or here, we could help you make one yourself. No offense to the shape sellers, but--it's really not that difficult, and any shape you buy you'll end up spending a lot of time tweaking (and re-tweaking) anyway. Unless it's no-mod, in which case you'll just throw it away more or less immediately.

(Caveat: This all from somebody with a cartoonishly exaggerated avatar shape--but not by accident.)

That would apply to half the current threads Cristalle

Welcome to the forums Sinabunz!

Try playing with your free shape first. You can change pretty much everything in the 'Editing appearance' mode. Put on your new skin and starting playing with the shape sliders.

If you do buy a shape, make sure it modifiable. Oddly, more and more shape-makers are selling no-mod shapes.

Good luck.

I wouldn't say half, but probably a good 20%. Which is why that forum exists. And probably why Strife has gone on Sabbatical.

Hello Sinabunz and welcome to the forum

In addition to Cristalle´s suggestion, you could also try and modify your current shape in appearance mode to suit the skin.
It takes a while to get it right perhaps but it would be totally free and unique

Good luck

ALady do a good range of shapes at moderate prices, they arnt mod, but they give suhc a huge range of choice in each style...they do guys & gurls The last time I went there the guy section had a big big sale on- but yes as everyone else has said, you COULD make your own also. There is another store that does completely free skins, hair & shapes...might be worth a look just to try some on and see how they look/alter your body. It used to be called Sand Ranch...hmmm I'll look it up later and post the new name, cant recall off the cuff
Fai xx

found it, its called Body Basics...look it up in the search- worth a visit

Welcome to the forums Sinabunz! I echo the suggestions here. Unfortunately I have a shape that's non-mod, and while I'd like to do some tweaking, I don't think I could get the face the way it is now. So finding one you like that you can modify is very important.

Feel free to ask questions any time. We are here to help one another. We may get testy at times, and silly at other times, but you truly can learn a lot in this forum and it's fun!

I have a silly question. If I just use the sliders for my existing shape, will it make my current clothing not fit properly? Also, Any advice on best hair. Oh, and I noticed that a lot of the avatars have a nice walk. Mine walks kinda stupid lol

*bump*

Even if you're perfectly happy with the way a shape looks and don't want to mess with any of it, there are still cases where it will help if your shape is mod (preferably copy too):
* if a lot hair doesn't fit perfect or needs adjusting, it'll save time in the long run to just adjust your head a little bit
* same for prim skirts (and definitely mesh skirts). I have 4 or 5 copies of my shape with different "butt" sizes, usually there will be one that makes it fit, or at least gives a fit that requires the least amount of adjusting
* things like prim nails will be picky about having a specific hand size
etc

You can only make Prim clothing parts fit improperly with the sliders.

You can make the standard clothing parts look stretched out or too narrow or otherwise "wrong" but they are basically glued onto the mesh so will always *fit*.

Several places have some their hair selections for free. One that comes to mind is ETD. It's a huge store and if you go there look for the section marked "discount hair" Some are free and some are very inexpensive. This is "prim" hair. When you wear it, make sure you also wear the bald "cap" that comes with it.

As for the walk, we all walk that way. The penguin waddle. hehe You may be able to find an AO (animation override) walk at one of the freebie stores (such as Free Dove, Freebie Union, etc.). Most AOs are a HUD that you wear. Some shoe designers include in a walk in one of the shoes (for instance they may give you 2 right shoes - one with a walk and one without).

I found out the other day that Diversity also has under 30 day free hair. I wasn't under thirty days at the time, and I still do not have a hair from there, but I remember the sign.

And I know you started this thread mentioning having bought skin, but go ahead and get that free skin package from Sin Skin. Very nice. And it is also for only 30 day old people.

You guys are so helpful. I really appreciate it.

All my shapes are copy/modify.

I know its not hard for a lot of people to make shapes, but every day in sl you see many people who obviously cannot. I make shapes very easily and enjoy doing it.

I reccommend with a copy modify shape that you start off making a copy (keep the original safe) and play with it untill it becomes what you want... even if you mess up you can go back easily enough and start again. Save and make a new copy every time before you start tweaking again.

Good hunting!

Another thing that might help would be to take a class at NCI. Go to any NCI location and look at the class board, and you will find "Avatar Makeover." I found this class to be very useful in getting over the newbie look! Shape, skin, hair and automation override (ao) for your walk.

The only thing I would add is that it's a good idea to learn to modify your shape and learn to do some basic modifications on prim clothing. It often doesn't fit quite right for your shape because it will come at a set size and won't change on its own to match your shape. Not all prim clothing is modifiable, so you will have to modify your shape to make it look right. Take copies of everything before you mess with it.

Come to think of it, basic movement of attached prim stuff should be part of orientation, since most people eventually end up with prim hair at the very least, and that never fits quite right. It's so easy to adjust, but it's surprising how many people don't realize they can and end up with weird bald spots or lopsided heads.

Welcome to the forums!

In the old days I'd make some joke like "I think Colette's been around the forums for a while", but I'm not up to that any longer.

Hi, when you say "make shapes" are you referring to teeking your avatar with the sliders in "edit appearance"? If so, I am very good at that.

Ok, slightly confused

I second ALady and note that last time I was there they had a special buy 1 get 5 free (or four?) or something like that. I spent 795L (one of the more expensive ones there) and got a huge range of shapes for that 795L and then got 4 (or 5?) more shapes (and most if not all of those also had a huge range of shapes in the folder). I do not recall if those shapes are modifiable.

Body Politik has some nice shapes, but I can't recall the price.

I made and use my own shape, but I almost switched to my previous freebie shape after someone adversely commented on my shoulders and legs. <- Has nothing to do with anything, but needed to say that somewhere Some people are mean

And yes, welcome to the forums

Just to clarify. I started by getting a free skin at Adam and Eve. I then tweeked it with the sliders a bit. Last night, I bought a $1000 skin and I like it a lot, but I also keep going to "edit appearance" and tweeking things...lip size, nose, butt, etc., and then just hit save. Is that not the right way to adjust your avatar? I notice things as I go that I want to tweek a bit. I also need to adjust her weight etc.

Insolence has some very nice shapes that are mod, and not overly expensive. I tried for the longest time to create my own shape from scratch and make it look realistic, but I just could never get it the way I wanted I have tweaked this Insolence shape to my liking and really love it. I normally wear an Insolence skin as well, but I do have a CS Vogue skin with freckles that I wear from time to time, and it looks really good on the Insolence shape. Here is a pic or two from in-world.

That is the correct way to adjust your avatar. Most people spend a lot of time tweaking their shapes to get it where they like. I was set with my own shape for a very long time, but the other day tweaked it further. Remember to make copies of your shapes, though I now have three shapes that I've made that are very similar . . hehe.

Oh wow . . hehe. I just realized that I . . . never mind . . .

Calla also do a Jill in a Box, for under 30 day old residents - comes with a shape, skin, several hairstyles in different colours, plus some helpful notecards. They do a Jack in a Box for the boys too. Just look it up in search under places - it always comes up at the top.

I've also sent you a copy of the Lumeko New Resident Kit in world, which is full of useful stuff. There's a sexy walk AO, pose stand, flight feather, plus a couple of free hair vouchers! There is also a raft of how to notecards, plus a landmark for somewhere quiet you can go to open up your boxes.

Hope this helps!