Making new Avatars? How?

Hi there all. I'm new to SL but have been animating a long time. So from the start I have been able to make my own customer anims. However, I prefer creating and building. I would really like to make a custom avatar. Totally different than what anyone else has. I of course want to start simple but I have no idea how to change my avatar. I know how to change his clothes and stuff. I want to know how to change his very being. Like turn him into a robot or zombie or something. Adding wings and stuff would be cool too. Any advice would be welcomed.

I did search the internet but I keep getting crap for results.

Thanks

There are three ways you can customize your avatar...

1 - you can adjust your shape using the sliders in the appearance panel

2 - you can change your avatar's skin through use of textures in the skin tattoo slots in the appearance panel

3 - you can attach individual or linked sets of prims to your avatar at various attachment points.

I'd recommend attending an in-world class on avatar customizing to get a jump start on the basics

Hey Sqitso!

Good question - I'm fairly new too (only 3 weekish) and in a similar position (spent many years slaving away at 3D animation).

What's not obvious at first, because people are so very talented here in SL, is that all crazy avatars are actually based on humans. It took me a while to realize it too but the same way that you 'attach' sunglasses to your nose to customize a human, people use many different attachments all over their bodies to transform into completly different shapes!

The best way to get started is to learn basic building!

Yes, once you get an idea for where your human base joints are and how they animate (which it looks like you already know. n.n ) and have a feel for the prims, you can easily cheat your way around the basic human form to make other things.

I've seen some people using animations poses to change the human shape then build around that, too. That's something I don't know much about yet. c.c

Do you still use prims for things like Long Coats or Hoods on jackets??

Coats that don't extend much below the groin can be done creating a jacket in appearance. They use two different textures that correspond to the upper and lower body templates (available in the downloads section of the website, and also in the "free templates" thread in this forum).

For coats that you want to hang down below the groin like a trenchcoat you create a shirt and a skirt that work together, using the upper body and skirt templates.

For a hood that's up you'd need to use prims.

For a hood that's down you'd make it part of the upper body jacket texture.

Hope that helps.