Is this a skin issue or shape issue?

I went to another favorite store and bought a few skin demos. I can see on the ones I'm wearing a highlighted "heart shape" on the chest that isn't on the demos from the other company. But I didn't like the makeup on the demos (the lip shapes created by the lipstick just aren't me.) I like the way the set I'm wearing works with my face...kind of cutsy.

It really is a bit of a weird concept, trying out faces and stuff, to find yourself. There's a small part of me that finds it disturbing. At the same time, when it works, or is almost right, you kind of feel that "click."

One more photo to share of the "finding myself" process. I think this one should become my forum avatar, don't you think?

LOL! Nice eyes!

Collette, I did the lighted Prim thing and WOW it is awesome. It's like I walk around with a flashlight all the time.

I just did the basic .5/.5/.5 box in transparent, with a white light (no fallout)...though I'm seeing other lighted concepts.

I'd be very curious to know what you think would be good numbers to use for this object, does shape matter, colors, etc?

I feel a little silly lighting the ground at midnight as I walk....but cool at the same time.

And my chest looks beautiful, thank you.

BTW, it took awhile to realize I had to select, "highlight transparencies" to get it to work.

I use a hollow cylinder cut out in a Parabolic shape, like a curve in front of me. I attach the body one to a central body location so it moves with me.

I have another one , shorter - for my face I attach that to a facial location so it moves when my head does.

I have the radius pretty small and no falloff, so I light up as little of the rest of the world as I can, but the best part of the light is right on my face and body.

I got tired of always forcing sunset and standing west. LOL. Plus the lights make you look good to everyone once you get them right.

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And that is Post 5000!

Hi there,
You might also try increasing musculature; I've noticed that if my musculature is too low I start looking like an anorexia victim. I would increase musculature and body fat a little bit.

Just like makeup, less is more!

If you increase the falloff of the light it won't illuminate the ground or wash out the shading on your body. My face light is subtle enough that it doesn't really show much at noon (just softens the bad shadowing) but is only really apparent as a pleasing glow at midnight.

A warmer tone is nice (think peach?) to give that sunset or candle light glow.

I get the same funky indentation on the chest, so it does seem to be just part of the regular avatar mesh that is more visible in certain lighting. Changing skin does nothing, and I can't fix it with shape without significantly changing my appearance.

See it:
http://ava.wavescrashing.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/ava-meditating.png

As for the "personal lighting", I do that too at times (for photography mainly) but I take it a little further. At least from what I've seen, a prim's light all comes from a single point source at the center, so the size and shape of the prim have no effect (as long as it's textured to be totally transparent). To get around the problem of the light itself causing face shadows, I use multiple lights with a lower intensity.

For my regular av (Ava) I just use three lights on the face, but I don't worry about the rest of the body. For my supermodel av I use six lights set in various places around the body -- she's bald, so it takes a lot to avoid weird shadows around the skull. Don't go higher than six, though... the viewer can only see six lights, plus the sun and moon light, so any more will cause some to "turn off". And of course with all six on, it means other viewers may or may not see them depending on other lights in the region (not a problem for me because I use them for photography, and what I see is all that matters).

I do tend to use a very pale yellow or peach to give the glow more warmth.

Intensity of the lights: I need to change this depending on the ambient light. Something strong enough to hide ugly noon-time face shadows will look garishly bright at mignight.

I have noticed a recent dent in my chest just below my breasts. Now I am NOT a Rhine Maiden figure, measuring my actual size and applying it to SL.I actually asked my SL partner to inspect my breasts carefully to see if he noticed any changes but he just went "mmmppphhh". I think there has been a shift in the avatar shape and it may tend to be where you actually are. In one of my houses I look like a robot with odd arm lines and in another I look somewhat normal. I thought it was some old clothes I put of that affected my avatar shape. I only use Bishwear and Temenos skins which suit my character - Neko/Night Stalker. BUT I hope shapes will improve with next download. (I am a sweet Night Stalker by the way.)

Behave, bilbo.....

Mandy C

It's a SL bug thingy,... spent ages messing around with a combination of shapes and skins to get try and get rid of that hollow diamond area shading in between female breasts. Moving breasts closer together helps a bit but does not eliminate it.

I make the majority of my shapes on my private beach under sunset conditions to see the shape/skin features at it's best. SL natural lighting is a pain!

Weird - I do not have this issue at all. Hence why I still think it's a shape plus skin issue.

Why? what's in it for me? *blink*




Pretty certain my girl doesn't either. Must try and see tonight providing BT has given me my internet back.

Hi Freckles! <wave>

*waves collar*

Mandy C

Hi Hobbit!

ooh! is that my phone ringing? .... <runs away>

maybe play with your clevage

If I understand the rendering of the avatars correctly, you have two things that affect the shape of your avatar. One is the actual geometry of the avatar. You can change the geometry (shape) with the sliders. Certain combinations can minimize the problem at the female avatar collar, but really won't make it go away.

The second thing that affects the rendering of the shape is what I know as "bump maps". These are two-dimensional images that are similar to textures. However, instead of being interpreted for color information, they are interpreted for shading and highlighting information. Shading and highlightling provide illusions of depth. The bump maps for the standard male and female avatars are in one of the Second Life directories, and are applied automatically. I think the bump map for the female avatar is what smooths out the indentation in the female collar.

Certain intensities and/or angles of light will probably overpower the effect of the bump map, so that the indentation is visible. I think the camera distance affects it as well (the closer the camera, the less likely the bump map will smooth out the indent). Finally, there is a graphics option for turning on or off bump-mapping for avatars. Bump-mapping for avatars can be turned off (turning it off speeds up rendering).

Skin textures / shape sliders could probably minimize the problem, if one were skilled, but in my experience, not a great deal. I had never thought of using a custom light for the chest to deal with it- it makes sense to the extent that it could eliminate shadows that would exaggerate the collar indent.