Avatar inspiration can come from anywhere
Posted on: July 27, 2008In Second Life, I’ll usually take on a specific avatar appearance and keep that for a few days or even weeks, then switch to something else. I never forget my past looks, as I save each one in its own folder with a date. If you don’t know how, see this video tutorial:
Then in turn, they’re all inside My Inventory > Body Parts > :: AVATARS :: (I gave it a fancy name to stand out). For example, 4 recent transformations on my alt, Torley Olmstead, are:
- (2008-05-31) Iron Melon
- (2008-06-18) Indiana Torley
- (2008-07-01) Torley's gone Loco Poco
- (2008-07-20) Wuxia (my present look)
There’s also been some others in-between that were easy to setup and were more-or-less in a folder of their own, such as this watermelon by mistercrom Cortes:
The Meandering Melon by Flea Bussy of Grendel’s Children (yus, I doth love ‘em melons):
And my doggirl from MiaSnow Myriam:
I use the same principles on my Torley Linden account.
Since inventory folders in SL have no properties, they can’t show you when they’re created. I like to keep track so I can accurately pinpoint when a certain appearance came together; there’s fun and insightful stories behind each one.
For example, my latest “Wuxia” look was derived from watching martial arts cinema with my wife. Titles like Forbidden Kingdom, Jet Li’s Hero, and to a lesser degree, Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon have certain mystical overtones which connect to my job focus of “Enlightenment”. I thought it’d be fitting to have such an avatar, and my wife has also created a sky island (skyland?) suitable for meditation on my island of Here. (More stories about how that all came to be soon, I promise!)
My wife and I were reading up on Sun Wukong, the famed trickster monkey king who’s apparently promoting the Olympics, and while I didn’t want to be hirsute, I definitely wanted to have a playful appearance. I can relate to his hardiness, adaptive ability, and while I certainly wouldn’t defecate on Buddha’s palm, I’m not above being vomited on…
My avatar appearances usually come together in a day. On occasion, I’ll find an odd accessory that so compellingly becomes part of the overall outfit that it must be included. But usually, I’ll be shopping and ideas will congeal and stick very rapidly. Like with my Wuxia look, my wife and I were browsing Perefim Cao’s shop and I saw this “[OMFG] Epic Ruins Broken Edge”. It looked like just the kind of elaborate, ornamental sword I could easily modify and serve as counterbalance to my relatively plain, Asian-styled outfit, which is by Yokihi Vella.
Whenever I substantially modify an item and make it my own, I tend to add “(TORLEY MOD)” after it so I can easily recognize it at a glance (as opposed to the original item), and search for it later.
Don’t forget to search your inventory for “(WORN” to see what you’re wearing; Tid Kidd’s wiki page has an excellent picture at the top.
Another thought: I wish it was easier to create a text list of what’s in my inventory and who it was made by. It’s inconvenient to have to login if I wasn’t already inworld, and the more I see people listing their great outfits along with creators of each part, the more I believe this elementary and welcome process should be automated. Its great value is in encouraging Resis to seek out awesome stuff instead of leaving a dead end at the worst, or additional friction of “Where did you buy that?”. (‘Course, I’m also aware such a question can lead to further conversation about good taste and friendships.) I haven’t found a tool to autocreate inv. lists yet, but I suspect it’s a silent and major market need to fulfill, simply because it satisfies such a basic function for fashionistas and beyond.
And sans doubt, just about all my avatars contain some green + pink. This is key to maintaining visual identity across a multitude of shapes, and facilitates being me. 
Consider what you bring across different forms.
Questions about how I do avatar looks? Lemme know, I’m happy to indulge your curiosities!
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July 28th, 2008 at 7:59 AM PDT
I've been in and out of SL world the last couple years and have had up to 25 different looks… that's what I love about avatars… the magic of being a witch one moment and the next a super model and then a dragon and then a fairy all in one day… amazing!!! Love your style Torley… go avis!!!
July 28th, 2008 at 9:23 AM PDT
I tend to not save the outfits I come up with to separate folders simply because it seems like I always have at least one item that turns out to be no-copy and I'm afraid I'll lose track of something by saving it in a different folder. I mix and match a lot from different outfits, using the same elements over and over in some. There are some I probably ought to have saved, because they were really cool. Of course, if I do that then my inventory will end up being well over the 25k it already is.
Oh, there are a couple tools that read and store inventory offline, you might look at them, they might facilitate making the kind of list that you're looking for.
July 28th, 2008 at 7:12 PM PDT
@Torley: You stole my idea! *giggle* I don't use the "Make Outfit" button. I prefer to set up folders by hand. One thing I do when I'm completing an outfit is that I have a folder called "Base" which has a lot of Copy perm accessories like shapes (regular and "skirt"), hair, shoes, undies, etc. Whatever is missing from the outfit I can usually get from this folder. Since I switch between wearing a skirt and wearing tights or jeans I need to have the appropriate version of my shape in each of my outfit folders.
Another thing I do is that I give the outfit folder a tag which I then use in the inventory search bar. This will usually be based on the name of the outfit, and many times an abbreviation for the designer in front. If I (hypothetically) bought "Hawaiianesque" from you, I might name the folder "!TLHAWAIIANESQUE." I type "!TLH" in the search bar, then I right-click and select "Replace Outfit." Or if I was in a colorful mood, I might just type "!TL" and then browse the results.
Although I always include shape and hair, I usually don't include skin or eyes. But since I do have a few avatars from Luskwood and Grendel's, two of my favorite outfits do have skin and eyes for a quick change back to being human.
One last thing. I don't store outfits directly in the Clothing folder since SL will dump a lot of stuff there. Instead I use the path My Inventory/Clothing/Closet/*Outfits. It helps separate what I've organized from what I need to work on next.
@Sougent: That's an important point. When I buy the main part of an outfit, I don't care. For accessories, which is anything I need to add to complete an outfit like hair, undies, shoes, or a necklace, I insist they have Copy perms, or I shop elsewhere. Only once did I like a dress so much that I bought a pair of No Copy heels to go with it.
Although this is usually not a problem with hair, it can be a problem with shoes, and is a big problem with jewelry. One of the biggest reasons that Cailyn Miller is my favorite jewelry designer is that she will give you a Copy/No Transfer version of something you bought from her if you ask her nicely.
July 28th, 2008 at 8:19 PM PDT
P.S. The folder structure for an outfit can get complicated. For me, at least.
Usually when you buy an outfit will come with stuff you don't want included with them, like notecards, landmarks, or just pieces you don't like. I would put them in a folder named "Other Items" to get them out of my way. Also, the tagged folder will be inside the main folder for the outfit. Or maybe there is something you want to wear some times but not automatically. I'd put them in a separate tagged folder
For Hawaiianesque, I might have a folder structure like this.
Hawaiianesque
Hawaiianesque/!TLHAWAIIANESQUE
Hawaiianesque/!TLHAWAIIANESQUE Parasol
Hawaiianesque/Other Items
So when I type "!TLH" in my Inventory search bar, I'll find two folders. One has the main part of the outfit, and the other has the parasol, which maybe I want to use sometimes but not all the time.
Yes, this is extra work, but it's only done once, and your outfit will be fast and easy to put on when you're done.