Sims for Visual Concepts

I've used Second Life before to visually 'sketch' out ideas. I know loads of people have abandoned it but it can still really work as a kind of virtual dress-up doll for me and experimenting with lighting and poses.

 

Ohhhh, this is something I never even considered! I've used sims for making oc's from my stories/art etc but never for actually planning out a new doll. Its a really clever idea though so I might use it in the future!

 

I think it's worth it if you check out some guides on how best to use it (especially for obtaining free or cheap quality items to help customize your character) depending on what you're looking for in it, otherwise it just kind of throws you into it without much explanation. I think it's a lot more exciting as a photo / creativity tool at this time rather than connecting with other people, but there are still some subcultures that are really active on there.

 

I actually use Sims more to recreate dolls I already have than planning characters.

 

A few suggestions I would make would be:
- Downloading Firestorm Viewer after setting up an account instead of using Second Life's software - in my experience, Firestorm crashes less and functions more smoothly over Wi-Fi especially.

- Getting familiar with camera tools and how to change lighting and environment conditions

- Finding places that match the scenery you'd like to position your avatar in (there's a Destination Guide)

- Finding free items (clothing, body shapes and skin, poses, etc; also in the Destination Guide)

- It's also a good idea to save outfit combinations as outfits (which include whole body types and parts!) that you can just drop onto your character as a folder when you want to change your complete appearance. You can change from male to female body types easily this way, or into non-human animals, robots, whatever this way; you don't have to have separate 'characters'. Nothing is set in appearance from the beginning, which is great!

- If you really enjoy Second Life, you can also pay a small fee per month to get an allowance of Lindens (SL currency) to spend on items in the marketplace - there are a lot of photo tools, poses, clothing, bodies, etc. available that are of much higher quality than what you can get for free. I didn't do this until much later after starting an account and really understanding how it all works, however.

 

I haven't used sims 4 for doll concepts, but I am using the build mode to plan my dollhouse!