… what you might not know is that there is another way of communicating by text with the people in your immediate area, just more ‘quietly’ – useful if you want to talk openly, but without disturbing other people in a busy space. ‘Whispering’ in this way reduces the radius in which your conversation can be heard, from the usual 20 metres down to 10 metres.

It’s easy to do: simply put a / in front of whatever you have to say, like this:

/ I am whispering, woo hoo!

Of course another way would be to use a Group IM, but that can be too much of a hassle if you’re typing quickly. This way is easier – but of course, it’s not as private!

You might also like to check out this article, which covers all the basics of interacting in SecondLife. It was written specifically for SecondFest newbies, but most of the info in there is still relevant/useful.

Clothing that has multiple components usually comes in a box, and sometimes clothing that has only one piece comes in a box, packaged with a landmark or notecard that gives instructions or information. If you don’t realise this, and you click on the item name and wear it, you could end up looking like this picture!

It’s easy to take the box off your head or other body part – simply right-click on the box, then select DETACH. It will automatically go back into your inventory.

Opening boxes is easy, provided you have permission to create or “res/rez” things on the land where you are standing. Most land in Second Life has restricted create rights, so you might have to go to a “sandbox” to open your box. A sandbox is a place in Second Life where anyone can create things, so you can do a lot more than just opening boxes there. But for now, that’s all you need to do.

Some shops allow you to rez and open your box/shopping bag right there in the store. You can tell by looking at the status bar at the top of your screen, almost in the middle (just to the left of the place name, which is in blue). If there is a cube with a red slash through it, you don’t have permission to create things. If the symbol isn’t there, you can go ahead and rez your box right there. Here’s what I mean:

If you can’t rez/open your box in the store, you need to find a sandbox. To do this, use the search (CTRL F) – click the PLACES tab, and type SANDBOX into the search box. You should end up with loads of results. A word of caution: you may see all sorts of things going on in a sandbox, as that’s where people go to make pretty much everything you see in Second Life. So don’t be alarmed if you teleport into a sandbox and find a giant penis in front of you! Some sandboxes also allow weapons, so you might find some crazy shooting happening when you get there. I always choose sandboxes that don’t allow this kind of thing, and you can, too. The description on the search results will tell you what to expect.

To open your box and get what’s inside:

1. Open your inventory (CTRL I) and find the item.
2. Click and drag the item onto the floor. It will make a sound kind of like a rattlesnake. After a second or two, it should appear.
3. Right-click on the box and select OPEN.
4. In the new window, select COPY TO INVENTORY. Sometimes the items cannot be copied, they will be moved. Click OK if a pop-up tells you this.That’s it – the items will show up in your inventory. But there is one final step: clean up after yourself! Please don’t forget and leave your box lying around like litter:
5. To clear away your box, right click on it and select TAKE. It will go back into your inventory. If you want to, you can always delete the box by dragging it to the trash in your inventory but always make sure you are deleting the box and not the contents! They might have the same name.

Eeek! You’ve just signed up to SecondLife, only to find that you are less-than-beautiful, and you might even be imagining the faint sound of virtual sniggering by some of the old timers as you sheepishly do your duck-walk… We’ve all been there, and I sometimes get approached by newbies asking for help, so I thought I’d write a summary of what you can do to stop looking like a newbie.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, if your last name is Linden), all these things cost money, so the first thing you’re gonna need to do is head over to www.secondlife.com and buy some Linden dollars. Once you’ve set up your account, you can buy more Linden dollars in-world by clicking on the little blue $ in the top right of your screen. Overall, based on my own experience, I’d estimate you’ll spend around $1000 – $2000* on all the stuff you need to start looking good… though there are bargains out there, so you may end up spending considerably less. That amount currently equates to roughly $4 USD – $9 USD, so you’re doing this for the price of a couple of drinks. Not too bad, if you’re going to spend a lot of time in-world. (see * below for my thoughts on free stuff)

This is a long article, but it’s chock full of newbie tips, so make yourself a cup of tea and read through the whole shebang before you go into Second Life. I promise it will not be too painful! There’s even a bonus secret at the end as a reward. I have broken the article up into several postings, to make it easier to read, and so you can do one step at a time if you’re time-poor.

In theory, you could do these steps out of sequence, but there is a method to my madness, and the steps are in this order for a reason: each step usually contains information that you will find useful in the following step(s). And sometimes it doesn’t make sense to do them in a different order: for example, you are usually better off buying hair to match your shape, so you’d want to get a shape first or else risk wasting money.

My recommendations on how to stop looking like a newbie in 5 easy steps:

1. Get a new shape
2. Get a new skin
3. Get a new walk
4. Get all dressed up
5. Get some new hair (plus a secret bonus tip!)

———————————————–

* A NOTE ON FREE STUFF (FREEBIES):

You could, in theory, wander around all the shops picking up every freebie you find, and create your look that way. But to be honest, all newbies do this, so all you will do is end up looking different, but still newbie. Most free stuff is rubbish. That’s why it’s free. I estimate for every 100 crap freebies, there is one decent one. So if you have the time & patience to sort through the chaff to find the one kernel of wheat, by all means do so – but that’s not the point of this article.

In all steps, I have included advice on how you can things in a cost-effective way, so while it is possible to look pretty good cheaply, you really do need to spend at least some money if you really want to stop looking like a newbie. If you think you will be spending much time in Second Life, it’s worth it, mainly because it’s fun & creative to make an avatar!

Step 5 of 5 in “How to stop looking like a newbie in Second Life”

Some people might recommend you get some new hair much earlier than now, but I have found that you will end up wasting money that way. It’s always best to buy hair to match your outfit and body shape, rather than get all excited and rush out to buy hair, only to find that it doesn’t look good on your chosen head/face shape, or that the colour clashes with that gorgeous dress you just spent $600 on. Plus, now that you know how to edit prims, you will find it much easier to get your hair to fit just perfectly. And as usual, I have some tips so your hair shopping will be hassle-free!

You find hair exactly like you searched for all the other items, using the search box (CTRL F and look for “hair”). Hair shopping is the one exception to my “boutique” rule of shopping: you tend to find that the major designers like ETD, Gurlywood and Panache are popular not because of camping, but because they make a wide range of well-fitting styles and colours, and the customers keep coming back for more.

Hair usually costs between $100 – $400. The lower end of the price range tends to be “static” prim hair, which doesn’t move when you do. While this is usually fine for short styles, it can look artificial on longer tresses (unless you are going for that “sprayed stiff with 2 whole cans of hairspray” look!). Look for ads/vendors that say “flexi” on them if you are going for a more natural look.

Having said that, a word about costs: I have personally found that you do not always have to pay a lot for good hair. The main factor in whether hair looks good or not is the individual designer’s skill in texturing & building. You want hair that has shine, but is not artificially shiny. You want the strands/chunks of hair to look natural, not like some sculpted clay on your head. If they are too large, the strands look like worms or snakes. If it moves, it should have natural movement. All of these factors are down to the person designing the hair, and it’s not always reflected in high costs. For example, I think Kin does great hair, and none of it costs more than $150 (yes, even flexi hair!).

As a rule, it’s always easier to find hair to match an outfit than vice versa. I always suggest wearing the clothes you want to match when you go to the hair shop. That way, you can stand/fly next to the colour swatches to see whether the colour will match. Nearly all hair shops will have demos available, and they are usually free or $1. I wouldn’t recommend buying any hair without trying the demo first. Let me repeat that: Never buy any hair without trying the demo first. If there’s no demo, don’t buy it unless you are prepared to throw that money away.

Just like in real life, not all haircuts suit all face/body shapes. So it’s important to try out your hairstyle before you commit. I wish you could do that in real life! Some demos are editable, so you can adjust the fit to see if it will look good on your avatar. Some demos are not editable, but even then, the real versions usually are. It is rare to find hair that isn’t editable – and if you do, it’s probably because you bought from someone who isn’t a “proper” hair designer.

Once you buy the hair, wear it and edit it to fit – remembering to make a copy first! You should now be looking pretty damn good – or at the very least, you won’t be looking like a waddling newbie. That’s the last step!

Well, that’s about it. You have a new shape, skin, hair and walk. You have by now purchased some snazzy new clothes and shoes. You probably look a lot better than you did before you read this article, and hopefully the 5 steps above weren’t too difficult. In fact, you are now equipped with most of the skills you need to become a shopaholic like me! But I have one last tip for you, as a prize for reading all the way through to the end. And it’s one you’ll use over and over:

6. Save your new look as an “Outfit”

This is a great time-saver, especially if (like me) you end up buying lots of different clothes, hair and/or skins for lots of unique looks. You can save each one of these looks as an outfit, which makes changing looks a single click away. It’s easy to do: simply right-click on your avatar or avatar name, and select APPEARANCE. At the bottom of the Appearance Editor window, you will see a button that says MAKE OUTFIT. Click that button, and you’ll get a new window where you can name your look.

A word of warning: Second Life will not automatically default to saving absolutely everything you are wearing, especially any prims that are attached (hair, jewellery, prim shoes, AO HUDs, etc). You need to manually click the boxes next to all the items if you want to save the entire collection of things you’re wearing as an “Outfit”. If you don’t tick the boxes, it won’t be saved as part of the outfit, and you’ll have to go digging in your inventory every time you want to wear it. I am lazy and I save copies of my AO with all my outfits, but some people don’t. It’s up to you whether you want the hassle of attaching the AO every time you change clothes, or whether you want to avoid clogging up your inventory with lots of copies of the same thing. It’s a trade-off.

Once you have named & saved your outfit, it will be saved into your Clothing folder. My top tip is to make a new folder called “Outfits” so you can find them all easily, and they don’t get mixed in with individual clothing items. The next time you want to wear the outfit, all you have to do is right-click on the FOLDER that contains the outfit, and select REPLACE OUTFIT. That single click will magically replace everything you are wearing with everything in the outfit folder. Pretty neat, eh?

<< previous step: Step 4 – Get all dressed up

Step 4 of 5 in “How to stop looking like a newbie in Second Life“

Now it’s time to get really creative and have some fun. It’s time for some clothes & accessory shopping, my favourite thing to do in Second Life. The range is huge, and you can create your own style, or buy a pre-packaged complete set of items for an easy & quick fix. All you need to do is type the name of the item you are looking for in the search box, and (in theory!) you should be able to find a range of shops that sell the item.

Finding clothes

A word of warning: the Second Life search function sucks. It really does. So unlike searching for something on internet search engines, when you might type “shoes green high heels”, you cannot do the same in Second Life. Instead, you have to type “shoes” and then go to each individual shop to see if they have green high heels. Shocking, but true. Aside from crashes, the crappy search function is the primary cause of my anger and frustration within Second Life. I have often thought about setting up a fund-raiser to invite people who have the same problem to donate to fund or build an upgrade to the search function on SecondLife. Yes, it’s that bad.

So let’s assume you managed to get over the search hurdle, and have found a shop to visit. A second word of caution: many shopkeepers do not make it easy for you to find what you are looking for. Badly designed and laid-out shops are another cause of lots of frustration for me in Second Life. Good shops have clear labels on the walls or floating signs that say which department you are in, and the best shops offer a map with teleport links on it at the entrance, so you can go straight to what you want. But a lot of shops have no indicators to tell you where you are, and the worst ones just throw everything all together. I guess they think that by forcing you to browse through every single item to find what you want, you will somehow be tempted to buy more. I think not. It just frustrates people.

Worst of all are malls. I hate malls in Second Life. The principle of “one stop shopping” is fine in the real world where everyone knows what Gap and Radio Shack sell, but in Second Life, you often have no idea what “Wonderland” or “Virtually Yours” sell. So you have to wander/fly around the place. And some malls disable flying (you will see a white down arrow in a red circle at the top of your screen), which makes it even more frustrating.

Finding good shops

So which shops are best, you might be thinking. Is it the ones that appear near the top of the search results? Not necessarily. Because the Second Life search results are sorted according to the amount of traffic a shop gets, a lot of malls/shops pay people to “camp” at the shop to artificially boost their traffic rating. It’s a lot like internet click fraud, keyword stuffing, or link farming, imo. You might see the word “camping” comes up a lot in the search results; well, that’s what it’s referring to, not actual camping with tents and such. You might also see people cleaning or painting shops. These people are doing a more active version of camping, but it’s all with the same aim: boosting the search ranking. People sometimes ask me how you can get paid for this kind of “job”, but I don’t know (so please don’t ask). I’m sure you can search Google or other SL blogs to find out. I usually start my shopping toward the middle of the search results, and I always bear in mind the fact that low traffic doesn’t always mean low quality/value/choice.

Another tip for you: sometimes shopkeepers do not categorise their shop in the Second Life search, and therefore not all shops will appear if you have selected the “Shopping” filter from the drop-down list of categories. The reason for this is that some places do things other than just sell stuff – for example, a place might have a bar, shop, and disco all in one. If you know the name of a shop, but can’t find it when you search, make sure you have “All categories” selected, as well as ensuring the mature content box is ticked.

What will I get for the money?

The price of clothing varies dramatically, as does the quality of the items. Just like in real life, cost is sometimes associated with quality, but sometimes you get an expensive dud. The best clothes are realistic and detailed, something you can usually tell by looking at the wall ads or “vendor”. A vendor looks like a wall ad, but has arrows at the bottom. Click the arrows to scroll through the items for sale at the vendor.

Clothing tends to cost on average $100 for a single casual item, and up to $1000 for a posh formal gown with flexi prims. “Prims” are objects in Second Life, and “flexi” means that they have movement built into them (like a flag that waves in the wind). Flexi prim clothing isn’t actually “clothing” at all, because in Second Life, clothing is assigned to various designated layers that envelop your avatar. In your inventory, you can see a little icon next to the name of the clothing item that shows what kind of layer it is (shoe, jacket, shirt, etc). A prim or flexi prim item of “clothing” will not sit in one of these layers, but instead it will be attached to a body part. You will see a little cube icon next to prim/flexi prim items in your inventory, instead of a clothing type icon. You still wear both kinds of clothes the same way: right-click the item and select WEAR.

Attention bargain-hunters: the costs above are average, but you can often find sales and bargain reductions on older stock, some as low as $1. Look out for Sale signs and “gift” boxes on the floor (often tucked away so you have to browse the new stuff first). You can also head over to the $1 Store at Enkythings if you want to see a collection of cheap stuff all in one place. Quality & stylishness varies, so be warned!

Getting the right fit

Because clothing in Second Life is a layer of colouring that is wrapped around your avatar, it will (in theory) always fit. Even if you adjust your breasts to be the size of giant bowling balls, your shirt will always “stretch” around them… but it may not look very good, as the pixels “stretch”. In any case, you cannot usually edit/adjust clothing layers. Sometimes a really nice designer will make an item that allows you to change the tint/colour (using the same method you used to edit your shape), but usually clothing says “No mod” which means what you see is what you get.

But because clothing prims are separate objects, and they do not stretch around your avatar, you might need to adjust/edit them to make them fit. Most good designers understand this, so they make prim and flexi prim clothing editable. You can stretch, rotate, and position the item so it fits you just right. To do this, just right-click on the item and select EDIT. A little toolbox will appear, and this will allow you to make the adjustments. Remember my advice about making a backup copy of your shape? Well the same is true of prim clothing – always make a copy BEFORE you edit anything.

However, some designers don’t allow edits – either because they are concerned that folks might copy their item, or because they are not experienced enough to know how/why editable = good for customers. I have seen this a lot with shoes. In this case, you might need to adjust your shape instead of the clothing, in order to get a good fit. That’s why it’s always good to have an editable shape. Shoes usually need size 0 feet, and skirts will almost always look best with a small butt (butt size = 0). Otherwise, with prim skirts, your ass might stick out through the prim. Not a good look, ladies!

Speaking of flexi prims… one of the main uses for flexi prims (for avatars) is creating realistic hair. Getting new hair is the next step in this series… and it’s the last step, so you are almost done!

Step 5: Get some new hair >>

<< previous step: Step 3 – Get a new walk

Step 3 of 5 in “How to stop looking like a newbie in Second Life”

You might be looking less like a lump of Linden clay now, but you need to stop walking like a duck if you want to look like a seasoned Second Lifer. To get a new walk, the best thing to do is to buy an ANIMATION OVERRIDE, or AO for short. An AO will usually override the default walk, sit, stand and fly animations that come pre-loaded with Second Life. Below, I also describe another way to get a new walk, but an AO is the best imo.

To find an AO, search in the same way you did for your shape & skin. You might need to look for “animation” instead of AO if you want the widest results. The quality and price of AOs ranges widely, from about $150 – $900. AOs at the cheaper end often only include a walk override, and maybe one or two standing poses. More expensive AOs can include a variety of different walks, jumps, animated standing poses that appear to shift their weight/fidget, as well as swimming animations, different stages of flying, hovering and more. You generally get what you pay for, but watch out: some AOs have been created by amateur developers, who haven’t coded things in the best way. This can result in strange body positions, or create “lag” both for yourself, and those around you. My advice is to buy an AO from a reputable animation developer, such as Abranimations or ANOmations. I’d advise against buying an AO from a shop that primarily sells other things & just has 1 AO randomly thrown in there. You might think you’re getting a bargain, but Vista Animations has a cheap & basic AO for $150 for the budget conscious.

Once you have purchased your AO, you simply wear it and turn it on to override all your default animations. The AO will usually display itself as a HUD (heads up display) on your screen, just like fighter pilots have. Note: only you can see the HUD, no one else can. You can click on the HUD or type special commands to (de)activate the various animations. You will usually get a notecard with instructions as part of the package when you buy your AO. Be sure to read these and save them for reference.

Now, as I mentioned, there are other ways to stop walking like a duck, especially if you are a female avatar. Many animation shops sell individual “walk” animations, that you can play (right-click, and choose “Play in world”) or load onto a blank HUD. You can pick up a free HUD at Vista Animations if you want to do this. But the cheapest and easiest way for a female avatar to get a new walk is to buy some shoes that have a walk animation built in. Of course, the shoes only include the walk animation, and an AO includes all kinds (standing, sitting,flying, etc), which is why I said an AO is best. However, there are times when you may not be able to use an AO, and some can take up a lot of processing power, so sometimes a simple shoe-walk will do. I recommend Sylfie’s Prim Seduction for a huge range of shoes that come with a sexy walk included. Sylfie also includes a version without the sexy walk, so you can wear the shoes & use your AO, too. Never wear the animated shoes and your AO at the same time, as it can cause unwanted conflicts.

Conveniently enough, shopping for shoes (& clothes) is next on the list of steps to stop looking like a newbie…

Step 4: Get all dressed up >>

<< previous step: Step 2 – Get a new skin

Step 2 of 5 in “How to stop looking like a newbie in Second Life”

I cannot stress enough the importance of a good skin in creating the perfect look for your avatar. All those things your mother told you about taking care of your skin are doubly true in Second Life. With a bad skin, you will never look great, no matter how much you spend on clothes and accessories. That’s because you can’t buy makeup to cover all your skin woes in Second Life; the makeup comes as part of your skin. It’s a real annoyance to those of us who would like to match your makeup to your outfit, as skins are expensive.

In fact, a good skin is the single most expensive accessory for your body that you are likely to ever buy. A good, detailed skin will cost around $1000 – $1400 (whew – pricey*). However, you can find pretty decent ones for less, maybe around $600 – $800. But as with all things in life, you get what you pay for, and the difference will be noticeable. Maybe not at first, but once you spend time in-world, you will see what I mean. Expensive skins have beautiful shading, highly detailed shoulder blades, stomach muscles, ears, knees, clavicles, belly buttons – and even pubic hair and genitals (for women). Don’t ask me why, but apparently men have to buy their penis. No time to delve into the psychology of that right now, though! Here’s a comparison showing the default avatar skin, next to a very nice skin… Note: the shape, and everything else is exactly the same; the only difference is the skin.

To find a skin, you do exactly as you did when shopping for your shape, with one exception: because skins are soooo expensive, the people who make skins will usually have demos available, so you can try before you buy. Look for DEMO next to the picture of the skin; they usually cost $1. Remember, the skin is just a layer of colouring that sits on top of your shape, so the chances are that you will not look like the picture – in the same way that if you buy some real life makeup or hair dye, you won’t look like the model on the box. Some skins will look great on an Asian-inspired shape, but dreadful on an African-inspired one, for example. So my advice is to buy a few demos and see how they “fit” your shape. You might even want to hold off on committing to a skin until you have shopped around for some clothes/hair. And remember what I said about buying a mod-able shape? Well, if you followed my advice, you can also tweak your shape to make it look even better with the skin you have chosen (just remember to either make a copy of the shape first, or ALWAYS use SAVE AS!).

Most skins come with a bald head. This is so you can choose whatever hair you want, and it will look fine when you put it on, without any wispy bits or other colours showing through. For this reason, I suggest wearing your crappy default Second Life skin until you get to the final step, step 5 (hair). You can then put on your amazing skin and bask in your own beauty. Of course, if you like the Sinead O’Connor / Britney Spears / Telly Sevales look, by all means feel free to wander around with a bald head!

* As skins are so pricey, you might be thinking, why can’t I make my own skin? You can – but it’s incredibly complicated. That’s why they are so expensive. It takes time, talent, and a lot of creativity to make a realistic skin. I have spent hours trying to learn, and I’m a Photoshop veteran. I’ve made clothes, jewellery & objects in Second Life, and skin is by far the most difficult thing I’ve ever tried to make. So my advice is to let the pros do it. After spending days trying myself, I have a new-found admiration for the artists who make Second Life skin, and I don’t begrudge paying a fair price for their work. I can personally recommend the beautiful skins from Celestial Studios, Naughty Island and Nomine – that’s where I got most of mine.

All supermodels have a supermodel sashay for that catwalk look, so the next step is to get a new walk…

Step 3 – Get a new walk >>

<< previous step: Step 1 – Get a new shape

Step 1 of 5 in “How to stop looking like a newbie in Second Life“

Why do you need/want a new shape? Your shape dictates the way everything that you put on will look. Second Life avatar shape determines everything from how tall you are, to how wide your hips are, how pointy your nose is – everything about your look. A good shape is the foundation for any avatar. Skin and clothing are simply coloured layers that wrap around your shape, so the first thing you should do is sort the shape out. Think of the skin & clothes like a tablecloth; the overall look will be determined by the shape of the table. Here’s an example of what the basic default “City Chic” Second Life avatar shape looks like, and next to it is the same skin, clothes, etc with a different shape:

There are a couple of ways to amend your shape. The DIY way, or the paid way. The results will be much the same as in real life: if you are good at DIY, you will get good results, but if you have the cash, you can get great results by paying a pro. My personal approach is to do a combination of the two: start off with a purchased “pre-fab” shape, then do my own tweaks to get it just the way I like it.

A. The DIY Way:

Right-click on your avatar (or your name floating above your avatar) and select “Appearance”. A new window will open, and here you can play around with all the different shape sliders to customise the shape of your avatar’s body. You can also adjust your eyes & skin here… but more about this in a moment. For now, just modify the shape. You can have laugh making a gigantic butt or hands! Once you are happy, click “Save as…” and give your new customised shape a name you can remember. I always use “Save as…” a new file, so the modifications don’t affect the original. This means you can go back to the original if you mess up, or if you want to make another shape based on the original. You can also make a backup copy of your shape.To make a copy, open your Inventory (click CTRL I) and find your shape. The shape icon looks like a line drawing of head & shoulders of a person in a square, and the shape you are wearing will appear in bold text. Right-click on the item, and select COPY. Then right-click on a folder name or anywhere in your Inventory, and select PASTE. Tip: I always rename the original with the word “original” in it, so I know which was the starting point. To rename, right-click and select RENAME.

B. The paid way:

Open up the SEARCH menu (click CTRL F). Click on PLACES, and then type “shape” (without the “”) into the search box. Use the drop-down menu to narrow the search to SHOPPING category only, and make sure you tick the box that includes Mature content, as it often brings up the most results. Shapes & skins are “naked” so it’s always a good idea to tick this box when shopping for stuff. Click the SEARCH button, and loads of results should appear. Select one that sounds appealing, click TELEPORT, and off you go.

Once you are in the shop, look for pictures of naked people – they are the shapes and/or skins. Sometimes you can find a shape that comes with a free skin, or vice versa, so look out for these bargains, as you’ll also need a new skin (see below for more). Also look out for shapes that are modifiable – they will usually show a check mark next to the word “Mod” or say “Mod: Yes” on the ad. Or, if you hover your mouse over the image, it might tell you in the text that pops up. I only ever buy modifiable shapes, because you will almost certainly need a little virtual plastic surgery to make a skirt, hair or shoes fit properly. Buying mod-able shapes is my top shape tip for newbies.

Once you find one you like, you can hover your mouse over the image to see how much it costs. Most shapes cost between $200 – $500, but if they come with skin, it might be more. To buy, right-click on the image and select PAY. When the blue box pops up, say OK to get the goods, and then look in your inventory (CTRL I) to find the new shape. To put it on, right-click on the shape name and select WEAR. Voila!

If it’s not quite what you were hoping for, you can make some DIY adjustments – but always make a copy first! Or use “Save As” as mentioned above. However, I would recommend waiting to make your adjustments until a little later…

You now have a new shape, but you may be wondering why you still don’t look like a supermodel. That’s because you need a new skin, the number one ingredient that either makes or breaks an avatar’s looks.

Step 2: Get a new skin >>