WTF!? Why Is Your Picture Not Rezzed?

I have noticed something quite alarming on the feeds.  People are not waiting for skins and makeup to fully rez before taking a picture!!!  Most of the time it's not as drastic as the photo below but it can come quite close.  It's really sad because designers work hours, days, week, months to make a good product and then someone comes along and shows it like this, making it look horrific?  Not cool.  I don't usually post opinions, that's NOT what this blog is for,but it's borderline insulting to any creator when it happens.  I have been doing occasional tutorials on Free*Style and a lot of people are asking for help with simple things and I love to help out.  I assume that when issues like this happen it's a simple case of not knowing how to rebake a texture to make a photo look nice so a simple tutorial might be just what is needed.

First off, make sure your graphics preferences are up to par.  For any photo LOD should be at 4 or more and avatar should be up super high and so should flexi.  I'm doing a close up so everything else doesn't matter much to me.  Here is how my settings in Firestorm look:

Next, get your photo set up how you want it.  Make sure you have the Advanced menu available.  If not, select ctrl+alt+d to show it.  Select Rebake Textures.  The textures rebake pretty fast and often don't stay baked for long since there is a dumb bug so click your snapshot A.S.A.P. while the picture is still clear.

Now doesn't this look better than the first photo?

Before anyone gets all huffy, I know my pictures aren't the best.  I know some people are still newbs at photo taking.  We all had to learn these tricks somewhere if we didn't somehow find them out on our own.  I am just passing this info. along to anyone who might need it.  Obviously someone does or otherwise people wouldn't be taking unrezzed photos and then having the nerve to ask for review copies.  I just hope this helps someone and thanks for letting me get that out of my system! xD
*Note: I didn't wear much in this photo because I didn't want to show something unrezzed and make a designer look bad so I wore a skin from my own store and the hair is from Catwa (which looks lovely even though the hair base is unrezzed in the first shot, of course.)

Prim Eyelash Fitting Tutorial Redux

My first ever blog entry on BBPD - an eyelash fitting trick - has been getting some new attention lately. For some people, the "trick" I discovered and shared there is enough to help them finally fit their lashes, but others need more help. I found a pair of lashes in my inventory that I hadn't fitted yet, so I'll walk you through my process and hopefully it will help you wear those pesky (but necessary) prim eyelashes with confidence.*

If you haven't already, go into appearance mode. Click "shape" to edit your shape, then "eyes" and scroll to the bottom. Make sure your eyelash length is set to 0. We don't want those unsightly system eyelashes getting in the way!
If the lashes are copyable, I suggest you make a backup of them before you proceed. I usually add "BACKUP" on the end so I know which one is the original.

Once I pull them forward a bit, I make sure each prim on the right is the same size as its match on the left. In the beginning I had such trouble fitting the left side until I realized... nearly all of my left side eyelashes were different sizes than the right side lashes! (I have no idea why so many designers do this.) Now I resize each side to match the other (copy and paste are your friends.)
IMPORTANT: Make sure "edit linked parts" is checked, and that you have ONE prim selected before changing anything in the size fields. You don't want ALL of the prims to be exactly the same size; you want the top left to be equal to top right, and bottom left to be equal to bottom right. If you make a mistake, hit CTRL and Z to undo your last change.

For now, I'll ask that you forgive my poor photo editing skills. I promise you I'm much better at editing lashes than I am at post-processing pictures!

This is where the mannequin skin and eyes from Imagen come in very handy. There's no makeup to get in the way of the editing process. You could also use a bare system skin, but I think the stark contrast of white on black makes things a lot easier.

Pressing CTRL will bring up the compass so you can edit rotation. Hold down CTRL and drag the directionals with your mouse. Play around with them a bit. It will probably take a while and a considerable amount of adjusting on all 3 axes to make the lashes follow the curve of your eyes, and to ensure no part of your face pokes through.
If you feel you need to zoom in closer, hold down CTRL and hit 0 (zero) until you're at a comfortable zoom. (CTRL 9 will snap your camera back to its normal position.) You can also edit camera controls under Preferences > Input & Camera.

This is what my lashes look like after a good bit of editing (a few minutes per prim.)
And with a skin:

If you change your shape, you will likely need to re-fit your lashes. If you can, always use copyable eyelashes and put a set in with your shape if necessary. (I rarely change my face, so this isn't an issue for me.)

Credits:
Mannequin skin and eyes: Imagen (slurl updated August 2010 after store move)
Eyelashes: Staged Extend Lashes
Tattoo: Otaku Designs (now Lolapop) Azteca Tattoo
Skin: LionSkins CANA PALE 7
Eyes: Umedama Holic Frozen eye (gift 07)

* = Disclaimer: Due to the wide variety of shapes and textures used by designers, this basic/beginner level tutorial may not work with all lashes. There are lashes in my inventory that required intensive editing of not only the size, path cut, and hole size of the prims, but the texture repeats, rotation, and offsets as well. I believe all lashes can potentially be fitted to your shape, but you may need to have a certain level of comfort with building in order to do so.

Something so simple, yet so useful

I am completely handicapped when it comes to adjusting prim lashes. I have no idea why. I always think I have them adjusted properly, then I look at another angle and nope, I ain't got it. This usually leads to frustration and my walking around either eyelash-less or wearing a skin with eyelashes painted on (still on the fence on this one.)

However, before Miriel closed her doors I purchased her 3-pack of eyelashes (copy/no trans, 'cause I was sure I'd screw them up) and decided to give 'em a go. I still had trouble adjusting them until...

I found the mannequin skin from IMAGEN in my inventory and damn near messed myself. Once I donned the skin and eyes, I had the perfect blank palette for adjusting my eyelashes, and it didn't take long at all. And yes, they are perfect from all angles!

Thank you, Rack Brautigan, for de-tarding me (well, at least where eyelashes are concerned.)

Mannequin skin and eyes available at IMAGEN for 1L (and worth a lot more!)
(second skin is Tuli's Hope in natural. Eyes are from Shine.)