Skin or Shape - where does your face come from?

[Alwin Alcott]

shape ánd skin... both change, or can change the look.

 

 

[Alwin Alcott]

shape ánd skin... both change, or can change the look.

 

 

[Amethyst Jetaime]

Mesh heads are have a set shape of the face.  Although skins will effect the overall look, not being able to change the shape of the face on a mesh head will very much limit the looks you can achieve.  If you gravitate to certain looks in skins, I'm afraid the look of the face will change very little. 

This is why so many people just use the mesh bodies but not the heads.  With the heads you are going to look very similar to everyone else with that head.

[Lindal Kidd]

A skin is a texture that is applied to your classic avatar body and head.  Skins provide flesh tones, makeup, and fine shading detail.

A shape is a set of positions of the Appearance sliders, and is applied to your classic avatar body.  Shape provides physical dimensions and quite a large number of adjustable facial features.

A skin and a shape work together to produce the overall look of your classic avatar.  Some skins don't work well with some shapes...you either need to find a skin that does go well with your shape, or "tweak" your shape to get the best look with a particular skin.

Your Maitreya mesh body replaces your classic avatar body with a mesh body.  You can think of it as a sort of rubber suit that you wear over your normal body.  It does not cover the head...you can either continue to use your own classic head, or add a separate mesh head to cover that part up, too.

Mesh body parts are not affected by what skin you are wearing.  For the skin to work with a mesh body or mesh head you need an "applier" for that skin.  Most major skin creators now sell appliers for their skins that will work with most popular mesh bodies.

So...that's a long way of answering your question.  The short answer is:  Use both the skin and the Appearance sliders to change the look of your face.