This FAQ was written and is maintained by a third-party entity, Scorpius (Aiorii Resident). This FAQ makes no claim of official accuracy, endorsement, nor condoning by Genesis Lab. Please direct all questions regarding this FAQ to Scorpius.
Appearance Window
You will first need to open the Editing Shape window:
- Open your Appearance Window.
- Avatar menu -> Appearance
- Mac Keyboard Shortcut: Command-o (o the letter, not 0 the number)
- Windows/Linux Keyboard Shortcut: Control-o (o the letter, not 0 the number)
- Click on the Wrench icon in the Appearance Window (top right).
- Click on the Body Parts tab (right side).
- Click on the Wrench icon to the right of the Shape in the list (may need to hover over the list item to see the wrench icon appear)
- If you don't know which item is the Shape in your list of Body Parts, move your mouse over the right hand side of each item in the list (skipping the ones that have icons on the left that look like eyes or hair).
- This will cause either a wrench icon or a lock icon to appear on the right hand side of the window,
- Move your mouse over the wrench or lock icon and pause for just a moment there to have a description pop up.
- When you see the words "Edit this Shape", click on the wrench icon that is under your mouse cursor (assuming the line doesn't have a hair icon on the left hand side!)
- If you see a lock icon instead of a wrench icon, it means that you cannot edit the Shape you are currently wearing and will need to wear a different one if you would like to make changes to your shape.
- If you don't know which item is the Shape in your list of Body Parts, move your mouse over the right hand side of each item in the list (skipping the ones that have icons on the left that look like eyes or hair).
Editing Shape Window
How the Editing Shape window works
- Once you have opened the editing mode for your Shape (it will say Editing Shape at the top of the window under Appearance), you will see nine (9) different sections listed in tabs/buttons down the left hand side of the window:
- Body
- Head
- Eyes
- Ears
- Nose
- Mouth
- Chin
- Torso
- Legs
- Clicking on one of those buttons/tabs on the left will show you all of the available options that can be changed about that particular area of your Avatar's body. Each option is named to the left of a slider (horizontal line with a button somewhere on the line, sitting below two pictures). For example, the Body section has the options of:
- Height
- Body Thickness
- Body Fat
- Hover
How to Edit your Shape Values
- Use the Slider Handle to edit the Shape Values:
- Click and hold your mouse button down on the "handle" that sits on the slider (possibly button looking, or a circle with a plus in the middle)
- Then move your mouse left or right (holding down the mouse button) to "drag" the handle to the left or the right on the slider.
- To stop dragging the handle, release your mouse button.
- The number box on the right side of the slider will show a new number if you have changed the handle position on the slider.
- Directly enter a Shape Value:
- The number box to the right of the slider accepts values from 0 to 100, with 0 being the left side and 100 being the right side.
- Click in the number box and delete the number that is already there, but don't press enter on your keyboard or click away from the box with your mouse until you type in a new number.
- When the box has been cleared, type in a new number that you'd like for the shape option and then press enter or click your mouse away from the box.
How the Shape Values will impact your Head/Body
- The two pictures above each slider give details about what the far left (left picture) and far right (right picture) ends of the slider will do, if you move the handle to the left or the right side, respectively. Whilst the pictures typically aren't informative when you are wearing a mesh head or mesh body for most of the sections, the word descriptions at the bottom of the pictures will tell you roughly what will happen. (The Body sliders actually show good pictures for what will happen, if you are wearing a fitmesh body or are using the standard SL body.)
- For example, in the Body section, the first option is the Avatar's Height. The picture on the left says "Short" and the picture on the right says "Tall".
- If you drag the handle to the farthest left side of the slider (or enter in a 0 in the number box), then your avatar will be the shortest it can be.
- Likewise, if you drag the handle to the farthest right side of the slider (or enter in a 100 in the number box) then your avatar will be the tallest it can be.
Slider Values can impact another Slider Option:
- For example, the Body Thickness option will change the relative starting size/position of your shoulders, which changes what the Narrow or Broad slider positions will look like when using the Shoulder slider in the Torso section.
How to SAVE your shape changes
- To REPLACE your current Shape Values PERMANENTLY (you can't undo your changes with this option):
- Click the button marked Save at the top of the window.
- To MAKE A NEW SHAPE that will have all of the changes you have made without replacing (writing over) the Shape Values you started with:
- Click on the Save As button at the bottom of the window
- Type in a DIFFERENT name for your new Shape (don't name it the same as your old shape name as this causes problems).
- Click OK.
Using the Shape Values from this FAQ
The Shape Values listed in this FAQ, either for the v2 Heads or the v3 Bento Heads are written in the following style:
To use these shape value numbers from one of the FAQ pages:
- Section Name (stated either at the top of the page if all of the options are from the same section or at the top of each list of options.)
- Slider Option Name: Number Value (there may be many different slider option name lines, depending on how many things need to be changed.)
To use these shape value numbers from one of the FAQ pages:
- Find the section from the button/tabs on the left side of your Editing Shape window
- Find the matching Slider Option Name (they are usually written in order of appearance in the window from top to bottom, but options that are not used by the Head or in a Bento Head are left out, so make sure you are editing the matching slider name!)
- Enter the numerical value into the box to the right of the slider.
- Save your changes using either Save or Save As.