Same Numbers, Different Look

The owner of the SL sim where I have my part-time job mentioned that he planned to recreate part of his property on InWorldz, another virtual-world grid (and one I hadn't heard of until he mentioned it).  I got curious and wanted to see the similarities and differences between the two grids, so I registered for an InWorldz account and signed on.

First of all, even though the Dolphin viewer claims to be able to function with IW, "I" never rezzed past the point of being a little turquoise-edged cloud. I also got mildly scolded by one of the 'mentors' who hover around the rezz point for not using IW's own "house" viewer - which I will admit kind of put my back up, so I downloaded Imprudence instead. (o hai thar redhead's temper...)

I can't say I like Imprudence; it's missing quite a few of the features I've come to rely on in Firestorm. *  However, it did let me log in and actually see...
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...omigod, that poor strange-looking little avatar.  O_o;;;;  My "Ruthie" self looked - and moved - like a poorly animated golem of some kind. (And I thought my SL starter avi wasn't "me"?! I owe 'her' an apology.)  Thank the technological powers that be that one of the IW mentors took me straight to the rather comprehensive freebies shop that's been set up right beside N00b Central.  I quickly grabbed a basic AO, modifiable shape, starter skin, eyes & hair, and a few wardrobe items. That got me to at least looking human, if not quite the virtual self to which I've become accustomed.

Most of the items I rezzed and wore right on the spot, before roaming off to find my SL employer on this new grid. He didn't look quite like himself either, when I found him. After he'd logged out for the night **, I decided to do a little more customizing.  I copied down every last one of my avatar's numeric settings from SL, and started shape-tweaking. Then I did a virtual-money transfer from SL, bought a better hairstyle, and downloaded a skin template to play around with in Photoshop before uploading. ***

By the time I finished all that... well, IW Tarra still doesn't look like SL Tarra; I'm not sure how much of that is a function of the skin and makeup I wear in SL, or if there's actually a difference in the way the numbers render on a different grid.  Or if, possibly, the Imprudence viewer has some impact there as well. Comparison photos below:

The maker of my SL skin, [ROCKBERRY], has an IW update group but so far I haven't found a store for them there.  IW hair is by EMOtion rather than my SL D!va collection.

* The sim owner says he uses Phoenix for IW, and I may try that if I can figure out the right settings.


**  ...time zone difference FTW!

*** InWorldz does not charge for uploads. O,o  That right there should be luring more creators to try their hands on the IW grid, I would think. Hell, it makes me want to try building!