Tips On Avatar Resemblance To Real-Life

Hi Everyone!

I'm new to Second Life (but not to virtual reality), so first and foremost, a BIG HOWDY to everyone (especially those who have been helping me!) in this incredible World!

Advance apologies if this is the wrong forum, but I'm curious to know: any tips on making my Avatar resemble me as I am in real-life (vis-a-vis the "Omega" girl on SL's home page). The Avatar construction set is incredible and very versatile...but I haven't been able to make my Avatar really resemble me. I also tried rubbing my face against the monitor in Appearance mode and that didn't work.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

All My Best,

Zaxk Zugzwang

LOL! I hadn't tried that yet!!

My frist week in the game was spent in Appearance mode trying to make it look like me. I gave up and went with a short, fat, green ogre with huge nostrils out of frustration.

My wife said that avater was probably the closest I ever got.

I once saw Sarilla Dawn make an avatar using 2 RL profile pics of the face being sculpted.

Try giving her an IM She's extremely helpfull and talented but I can't guarantee her time

Briana Dawson

Figure out the basic proportions of your face; make sure you have a mirror next to the screen while making it so you can design by actually looking not by memory or feel (we tend to memorize or feel much different than things actually are). Many people make their eyes and mouths much too big than they actually are, for example.

Some basics you can keep in mind are:

Head shape
Chin size/jaw shape
Eye size/width/narrowness/corner slant
Nose width
Lip fullness/width

Other than that, I can't think of much else other than looking and tweaking. Reading some material on basic face proportions helps too if you're having a hard time eyeballing it.

That's a good first step. You won't get it exact, or anywhere close, though.

The second step is to download the templates at https://secondlife.com/download/textures/fashion.php

Before you do anything else, save the face as a TGA or BMP file and upload it. (don't pay the L$10 yet). Use the preview mode and put the texture on the male head.

Look at how the lines and contours fit the av's head.

Now take a photo of you and streatch it to fit that texture you downloaded. Upload that on your avatar.

I'll tell you what. Contact me in-game (Just IM Wraith Jensen). You will need a digital picture of your face, as straight on as possible. If you have a profile shot, that will help, too, but the clean head-on face shot is vital.

Also, do you wear glasses? Face jewelry? What's your haircut like? those things all contribute to our identification of another person.

I'll help you make as recognizable an av as I can. I used to do a pretty good job with The Sims. I will only ask for whatever I spend on upload fees (sometimes, even the preview window betrays me, and I end up wasting an upload trhing to get it "just right". To get your face and hair, we'll probably spend L$20-40 on the uploads. If you have a favorite outfit, we'll spend an extra L$20-30.

A universal tip for female AV's .. The pelvis in the default av is the same as a mans. Shorten the hip length, not width, length to 25 to 35 depending on taste.

Reduce the shoulder width to 25 to 40 depending on height.