Proportion and Second Life models

A while ago I got very, very tired of looking at my own avatar on all the vendors for my designs. So, I did what I encourage every Second Life designer with a wee bit of disposable L$ to do: hire models.

Unlike First Life, where becoming a sucessful fashion model depends mostly on your genetics, any Second Lifer can be a model. You only need a "pretty" avatar, and that only requires the patience to put one together (or the L$ to buy a nice one.) The basis for an attractive av is a well-proportioned shape. Though a skin can greatly change the look of your avatar, the nicest skins will still look odd on a distorted body. At first I believed the sliders simply couldn't do a shape that was realistic. It took me almost a year to get my current shape where it is now and for me to be happy with it. Now I know it just takes patience and a little basic knowledge of body proportion (thank you, Life Drawing class!)

Last night I created a new shape as an example of how close Second Life can come in mimicking a First Life supermodel's proportions. I just had to put her in a runway-appropriate pose, since I'd found the perfect one at Reel Movement (by the way - those are the best fashion poses I've found in Second Life yet.)

So what makes this avatar shape realistically, if idealistically, proportioned? I'll take you through what I know of basic human proportions (I'm using a female as example because Second Life is kinder to them.) These are things you're taught as a professional illustrator.

The photo to the right shows a breakdown of the body proportions.

OVERALL HEIGHT: The head measurement, from the chin to the top of the skull (here I've taken into account the upward angle of the in-game camera, and shown it by blue lines) can be use to determine what the overall height should be. Your total body height should only be about 6-8 times the height of your head, with 6 times being more natural/realistically proportioned and 8 times being closer to fashion model/Greek goddess proportions (here, this shape is 7.5 times the head height.) Also remember to check your height against one of the freebie avatar rulers; unrealistically tall avatars tend to be unrealistically proportioned as well. The sliders allow for some rather silly looking human avs if the height is up to 8 feet tall.

TORSO TO LEG RATIO: The distance from the top of the avatar's head to their crotch, and from the crotch to their feet should be about the same. You can allow for a little bit of give in the leg length, but not too much, because the shoes most SL designers make add a good half foot to your height. The red box surrounding the avatar in the image shows how this is applied to the shape.

SHOULDER TO HIP WIDTH: Assuming you have a frontal view of the shape, the width of the shoulders should be about the same as the width of the hips on a female human. (On a male, the shoulders can be up to 2 times as wide before the male starts looking like he'd fall over in First Life.) You might want to make two copies of your shape: one with the shape as normal, and another taking into account the system skirt, which can add a great deal to your hips and booty (Arrrr...)

WAISTLINE: The "true" waistline is the smallest part of your torso. Most skirts and jeans, in First Life and Second, hit below that line (as does the belly button) otherwise they risk becoming "Mom jeans." However, the "true" waistline should be halfway between the shoulders and the crotch.

ARM LENGTH: If a First Life person stood with their arms straight by their sides, the tips of their fingers may reach to mid-thigh. However, in Second Life, this makes your avatar look like an ape. A good rule of thumb is to extend the arms beyond the crotch, but not too far down the thigh. Also watch your hand size; larger hands sometimes work better in terms of proportion compared to itty bitty ones.

Hopefully this has given the reader some ideas in terms of overall body proportion. Now let's look at facial proportion.

FACE: The face is an oval, think egg-shaped rather than spherical.

EYES: The eyes should be halfway down the face (assuming it is viewed from the front.) Second Life more or less takes care of this for you.

NOSE: If you divide the space between the eyes and bottom of the chin, the nose will fall halfway between. As well, the width of the nose should be the same as the space between the eyes - no more, or less.

MOUTH: In the remaining area between the bottom of the nose and the chin, the mouth will fall halfway. It should also be no wider than the distance between the pupils of the eyes (though this may vary, depending on ethnicity.)

These are the basic proportions that work for me, and that I generally look for in Second Life models. Typically, I use models that have a nice proportion and a "pretty" face. I recommend that other designers use Second Life models because it a) allows for diversity in vendor ads, so that a potential customer can identify with at least one of the shapes showing off your clothes b) it's a source of employment for new SL'ers that doesn't require escorting or stripping (unless you make lingerie, hee) and c) it's a chance to meet new players!

I hope my guidelines have helped you in creating your avatar proportions. The shape is available in the OPIUM Updates group for free (just join, it's open enrollment!) and is called "Model Base - High Fashion Female."