making avatars

i dont know where to find info on making my own avatars. my search queiries turn up too many results. where can i learn to build my own avatars? like say if i wanted too build a godzilla avatar where can i learn how?

That would involve texturing, use of prims or sculpties that you attach to yourself, so I would suggest starting at basic building classes, and learn using sculpties.

I would recommend going to the Lost Creatures or Furnation sandboxes, or the Luskwood social platform, and ask there.

This. You will need to learn to walk before you can fly.

A good place to learn building basics is the Ivory Tower of Primitives. Once you have a good grasp of the basics, then the next step would be to move on to texturing and sculpted prims.

thank you for the good info.. it's hard too find the right information in second life without having too wade through 120 pages of stuff.

Pardon me for riding on your thread to ask some questions of mine, kreechur.
I will like to ask this, if I want to model a realistic teenager, can I just use the prims in Second Life modeling tools?

Has anyone attempted using just the prims alone to model a decent realistic human? If yes, can you show me a snap shot of your model?

I'm new around here and I'm working on building some educational materials for my current company. When I post this question to my supervisor, he didn't really answer my question. He said everything has to be done in Second Life. I need some proof to show that it's not really possible to model a decent human using the prims alone in Second Life. Even if using the prims to model a human it will look choppy and blocky?

I wanted to use 3D Max and later on port it in. I'm quite frustrated with the prims in Second LIfe. T_T

Can anyone suggest where can I start to know how the modeling and texturing in Second Life works? Sigh... I'm quite lost. Thanks in advance!

I am confused.

Why can you not use the regular avatar editing tools .also known as "Appearance Mode"?

It sounds like he wants to make a mannequin, like the prim noob you see parked around here and there.

etd026, first you will need to learn the in world building basics, as the OP was advised above.

There are many building tutorials, groups and classes in world, including the Ivory Tower of Primitives.

Textures are applied to prims using the in world building tools. However, the textures themselves must be created using an outside graphics program and uploaded to SL.

Modeling, by which I am guessing you mean sculpted prims (prims that are not a geometric shape that can be made with the in world tools), is also done in an outside 3D modeling program and the UV maps are uploaded to SL and applied to a prim.

You can also use the 3D modeling program to make a custom texture for that sculpted object and upload it to SL.

Oh sorry, how about i phrase my question like this, I need to model an avatar and also a mannequin, can i just solely use the prims tools in Second Life to do it?

Briana, that's what I asked my supervisor. Can I just "create" the mannequin/avatar using the appearance function in Second Life but he gave me an ambiguous answer. Follow by saying that I need to model the mannequin/avatar using only prims.
I am confused.

Malia, say if I wanted to model an human/avatar, other than using the appearance function, is it possible to just used the prims in Second Life world? Or do I need to use an external 3D modeling tool like 3D Max?

I realise the modeling tool in Second Life, there isn't any function like "Edit Poly" to let me pull the vertices/edges etc. It is very difficult to use Second Life to model something organic and have alot of curves. I feel that it is good for modeling buildings and inorganic stuff.

I will try to read on the basics of modeling in Second Life.

There is no reason to build an avatar, because you can use the Appearance mode and add a nice skin and hair. As to building a mannequin, you will have to build this using prims, but you will need some other tools as well, see below.

You need to use an external program. You will also need to create the skin/clothing textures in an external program. Then you will upload the UV maps, also called sculpt maps, and textures as TGA files to SL and apply them to prims using the building tools there.

Exactly right. The tools in SL can create geometric shapes and slice and dice them a million ways, but to create organic or irregular shapes you will need to use sculpted prims. (A sculpted prim refers to a prim with a UV map applied to it. There are some examples in the Library section of your inventory, I believe.)

Also, do a little searching on XStreet SL, as there are some people who have created sculpted mannequins and other body parts already, looking at what they have done might give you some idea how to construct yours.

Good luck!

Malia, thank you so much for your help! =)

You are very welcome.

There is this:

https://www.xstreetsl.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=1435865

Depending on what one wants to do with the mannequin, one might use a bot (robot). There are programs that have various levels of artificial intelligence that run an AV in SL. The Lindens now have a way to 'legitimately' use bots. You will often see them as mannequins in stores.

Some can even chat and answer basic questions. They won't fool anyone for long but seem to work well enough for most shop owners.

The bots with AI usually require an external program.

One can test the idea using a 3rd party viewer with low bandwidth requirements and an alternate account log in.