What base do You use, & Why? Balancing identity, obsecurity, and customization.
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Following what was said above, something that really expanded making edits for me was swapping heads and bodies of different models. I am currently using Manuka's head on Moe's body as my main model, as I really like the look of Manuka's face but don't really enjoy how young she looks in regards to her body. By shrinking her head even further and adding it to the body of Moe, you can make the model look much less like a child/teenager which is what I see is often an issue for most people. People who post models on Twitter tend to do this to the extreme to exaggerate features.
The thing about Velle in particular that I've heard is that MisterPink (the creator) directly ripped off Kikyo's body when making it, so using Kikyo wouldn't be too dissimilar to Velle, though I know that Velle has more physics by default which is pretty nice there are way less assets for her and that is unfortunate. You also could very easily add Velle's head onto Kikyo's body if you like the look of her head in particular so that you could use all the Kikyo outfits. The only annoying part with this is that you would have to edit the body textures to match their skin tone, but this isn't super difficult using their PSDs if they are layered conveniently.xoxo
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@boofbug So It's definitely sounding like a body-swap thing might be the best choice.. Definitely would be nice if there are any tutorials You might have you could link or would be willing to write up.
I actually spent the entire day and half loading up around 50 models in unity and comparing them side by side...
I focused on the physical body mostly since That's the bit that really requires outfits to be fitted well for...I boiled down my selection to Velle, Sio, Manuka, and Lasyusha.
Velle has the highest quality body with very smooth curves far above the competition.
Sio is a close 2nd but loses points for height.
Manuka follows next who actually had some specific areas of her body smoother than Velle's and her asset count is 3K...
And Lasyusha got in the top because Dommy Mommy? realistically she bleeds a good half-way mix between the E-girl and booth crowd and It feels pretty easy to mix in with whoever. She was my OG avatar so might have some nostalgia there.Kikyo's body was very jagged and definitely shows Her age compared to the newer models we have available. The saving grace being I don't think outfits are made to match the exact verts and tris of models.. Just fitted. I hope.?
Actively archiving and hoarding Shinano assets...
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@Asira
I do my Body-Swaps completely in Unity, though it is more optimized to do it in Blender. This is the tutorial I used, it might seem kind of daunting but it's actually super duper simple. >> TUTORIAL VIDEOI don't know if the tutorial includes this, but my tip is to make sure that you anchor everything to the same part so that the shading is consistent. If you don't know what that means:
Click an object, and look at the display on the right and towards the bottom above where the materials are listed there will be something called "Anchor Override". Some models have a specific thing in there armature they use as the anchor, but not usually. If it doesn't have a specific anchor I would use the chest. Simply open your armature and grab and drag the "Chest" part of your armature into the box. You can also just use whatever the body part of your model is already using. I would to this for everything on your model, clothes, accessories, etc.You'll also need to edit the textures to match the skin tone like I mentioned above. You should make sure that both the materials are using the exact same "Shading" settings so that it is as seamless as possible. You don't need to be too precise since the hair will obscure the head and neck so if the colors don't match it isn't the end of the world, but it is nice to get the colors as close as possible.
xoxo
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Hope Im not too late to the party, But i can definitely agree that I also use Selestia as a body base nearly constantly, Though i spend a week or so in blender per avatar nowadays, So theyre mostly unrecognizable. Selestia just has alot of good assets !!! I use any head I like but I mostly go with Manuka or Kikyo's heads :3 ! Both of these are Manuka heads! its more obvious on some than others. (I don't have any pictures of my more recent ones unfortunately)
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omg they look so good!! You couldn't even tell this is using a base!
(´-`）.｡oO(
)Trades List: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Di7x2_fK7l8i9fESsHowmxuoXie7iU-a
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This post is deleted!
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Slightly off topic would anyone know how to make the body and head the same color after stitching together?
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@Forestaller
Are you asking about matching skin tones?
The way that I do this is by getting both models photoshop files because they normally have each layer separated and then selecting which color I want in particular with the dropper tool, and then coloring the base layer to match. (usually I decide to match the head to the body color since I find this to be way simpler)
You don't need the base of the face to be exact, but its important to make the 'shadow' part as close as possible so that the seem is less noticeable. You should also make sure both of the materials have the exact same properties so they look as close as possible.If this is something you need further help with I don't mind assisting to the best of my ability^
(You can see the gap if you're searching for it, but the hair will end up obscuring it anyways) -
I find this post in a good time. This, and your older posts about models, gave me some insight as I'm also getting my feet wet with editing an avatar rather than using one as is. So thanks for the post and archive threads.
Though, despite these threads and a guide I'm using, I'm still hesitant on how I should go at it. I have a few models in mind, but then getting outfits to fit on bodies they weren't meant to sounds awful. Already use Blender, but saying I have basic knowledge of it may be much, but I'm managed a bit. Your old post about having one avatar with multiple outfits or multiple avatars with multiple outfits is another thought I've had. Would make it easier than to deal with making more parameters for it to all play nicely...
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Honestly, Selestia's been my go-to simply because of the sheer amount of available outfits/extras for her, although I like Shinra's a bit more overall. Although I AM pretty new to all of this, still mostly experimenting so I've been avoiding anything that, for example, requires blender.
Dumb question though for anyone more "expert" than me, which base would you say has the breasts that end up looking "bigger"? Of course, cranking up the relative blendshape to maximum. Because I feel like it's still Shinra's, but it may just be me. Would like to hear what everyone else thinks.
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Whenever I happen to see a model with super exaggerated proportions it tends to be Selestia, though a great deal of them are further edited to make their proportions larger, I think compared to some of the more common models, her chest tends to look larger. When using Shinra for the brief amount that I have I never really made her chest any larger than what it was by default so I can't say too much on that front.
xoxo
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@boofbug Thanks for replying! Although I think for Selestia there's outright an asset that enlarges them waaay beyond their limit, so that's probably what you're talking about! No idea how well that plays with just about any outfit though ahahah. But thank you for the reply!~
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@bdawg Hey, if you wouldn't mind would you kindly assist me in matching skin tones? The body has a psd file, the head does not, not sure how difficult that makes things, but on what to do next after putting both the psd and png into PS. I have an idea of what may be next with color picker, brush, but if you could suffer writing what you normally do I'd really appreciate it. Just tried midway typing this and had some issues. If either here or a direct message would be better going forward, if so, as well.
