Customizing a classic style avatar

You can customize nearly any aspect of your avatar's appearance in creative ways, allowing for an infinite variety of styles and forms.

Wearing clothing and body parts from your inventory

The simplest way to change your avatar's appearance is to wear a new piece of clothing or body part from your inventory.

1. Click the Appearance button on the left side of the Viewer window. The APPEARANCE window opens.
2. Click the WEARING tab to see your current outfit.
3. Click the Edit Wrench button at the top of the window to enter the appearance editing mode.
4. Click the Add More... button to open a list of available clothing in your inventory.
5. You may use the Clothing dropdown menu to filter by clothing type, or the Search button to filter by clothing name.
6. Select a piece of clothing and click the Wear Item button to add it to your avatar. Any existing clothing of the same type is replaced.

Tip: One quick way to see everything you're wearing is to search in your Inventory for "(WORN". (The open bracket is important, because different things are attached to different places; this catches them all.) You can also right-click your avatar and select Edit My Outfit to see items you're wearing divided by category: Clothing, Attachments and Body Parts.

To remove a piece of clothing or an attachment, select it in the outfit editor and click the Close icon that appears next to it.

You may use these same procedures to change your avatar's body parts (eyes, hair, shape, and skin) or attachments; just expand the Attachments or Body Parts list instead of the Clothing list.

Note: Some body parts, such as your avatar's shape, can never be removed but may be replaced.

Wearing multiple layers of clothing

It is possible to wear multiple layers of the same type of clothing at the same time; for instance, you may wish to wear three different shirts or two pairs of gloves. To add a new layer over your existing piece of clothing,  click Add More..., right-click the new piece of clothing and choose Wear Item. The new piece of clothing is then overlaid onto the existing clothing without replacing it.

For information on how to wear multiple attachments at the same attachment point, see Avatar attachments.

Editing clothing and body parts

You may edit any currently-worn clothing or body part on your avatar, provided that you have appropriate permissions on the selected item. To edit a piece of clothing or body part:

1. Click the Appearance button on the left side of the Viewer window.The APPEARANCE window opens.
2. Click the WEARING tab to view your currently-worn outfit.
3. Click the Edit Wrench  at the top of the window to enter appearance editing mode.
4. Select a piece of Clothing or one of your Body Parts and click the corresponding Edit Wrench  to begin editing that item.
5. Use the sliders to adjust the item's physical parameters to your liking. If available, choose a Fabric texture from your inventory or a Color/Tint from the provided swatch. When editing your avatar's shape (listed under Body Parts), you may choose its gender from the radio buttons at the top of the window.

Tip: Only clothing and body parts can be edited with the appearance editor; to edit attachments you must use the Build Tools.

You can also create your own original clothing.

Controlling avatar physics

Set avatar physics properties to customize the way your avatar's breasts, belly, and butt bounce and sway in response to your avatar's movements. You can make the effect subtle and realistic, or wild and crazy -- whatever you want.  This feature is sometimes referred to as enhanced avatar physics.

The following video shows identical avatars all using Enhanced Avatar Physics, but at different levels -- low/mid (left), high (middle), and off (right):

If you don't want this feature to affect your avatar, don't worry -- you don't need to do anything to keep your avatar the same as it's always been. Your avatar won't move any differently unless you put on a physics wearable item, as described below.

How to set avatar physics properties

To add enhanced avatar physics to your avatar:

1. Open the My Appearance side panel tab.
2. Click the Gear icon  at the bottom.
3. Select New Clothes > New Physics.
4. Click the body part parameter you want to change. Note: If your avatar is male, you can only modify your belly and butt.
5. Move the sliders to change the parameters for the body part.
   Tip: Click the ? at the top right to learn what each slider does.
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 for each body part parameter you want to change.
7. At the top, enter a name for this set of physics parameters.
8. Click the Save button at the top when you've finished.

You are now wearing an enhanced avatar physics item. As you jump, crouch, dance, or move around, your avatar's breasts, belly, and butt bounce and sway the way you specified.

Tip: If you start your avatar dancing before you create or edit your physics item, your avatar will continue to dance, and you can see the effect of your changes as you make them.

You can wear, take off, edit, and create physics items like any other clothing item, except that you can only wear one physics item at a time. To learn more about using clothing items, see Editing your appearance.

Hiding or turning off avatar physics movement

If you don't want to see any avatar physics movement, including your own, you can disable it in your Viewer:

1. Open the Me > Preferences > Graphics tab.
2. Click Advanced.
3. Move the Avatar Physics slider to the lowest setting.

This only prevents your Viewer from showing you avatar physics movement. If you disable avatar physics in your Viewer but your avatar is using a physics item, others can still see your avatar physics movement in their Viewers.

If you don't want others to see your avatar physics movement:

• Don't wear a physics item, or
• Wear a physics item, but set the slider for every Max Effect setting to 0.

Frequently asked questions

Can other people make my body parts bounce?

No, absolutely not. That's one of the great things about this feature: you have complete control over how you appear to others.

If you don't want your body parts to bounce or sway, you don't need to do anything to turn the feature off -- unless you choose to wear a physics item, you'll look the same as you did before .

How do I make sure enhanced avatar physics doesn't slow down my computer?

If you think Enhanced Avatar Physics is causing lag, you can control the frequency of avatar physics-related updates:

1. Open the Me > Preferences > Graphics tab.
2. Click Advanced.
3. Move the Avatar Physics slider to the desired setting.
   A lower setting decreases the update frequency, so avatar physics movement will be jerkier. A higher setting makes movement smoother but may decrease performance. The lowest setting turns off Enhanced Avatar Physics.

I can't get my avatar to look the way I want. Are there suggested settings?

We don't have suggested settings, because avatar physics is all about customizing your avatar's appearance in the way you want. However, since Enhanced Avatar Physics is a wearable item, there is an opportunity for clothing designers to offer physics wearables with customized settings and behavior. Watch the Marketplace for Enhanced Avatar Physics wearables!

Why don't my attachments move with my breasts, belly, or butt?

This is a technical limitation. There is currently no way to create an attachment point that moves with your breasts, belly, or butt, so attachments can only move with your internal avatar skeleton.