Subject: So, not sure if anyone has noticed this yet
Author:
Posted on: 2015-03-24 23:45:00 UTC
But TekTek, the website we use for agent image creation, has been taken down. Arvee, the other one we use, doesn't seem to work either. Should we try to find new ones?
It seems very detailed.
http://mybluerobot.com/create-your-own-avatar/
"Hmm. Actually, that's pretty decent, as these things go."
Its main downside is that it only does faces, and doesn't have many options for non-humans. Also, if like me you're not very good with faces, it's a bit... generic.
(At one point I was planning to render Selene in all the dollmakers people have offered. Uh, not for this thread, I think)
hS
Then I recommend hero machine. That's what I used last time I needed images of the Cafeteria team - and it's versatile enough to make all three pretty close to their "actual" proportions, not easy given only one of them is human.
... 'official' sites we use for agent images. I was one of the first people to pick up Tektek for the Wiki (not the very first, though), and there's no denying it's become popular, but any dollmaker which shows full-body images, rather than just faces, is perfectly valid to use.
Darned shame, though, and a pain in the neck. Fortunately I don't think I had anything ongoing that used it, but still...
hS
Tektek's been around for years. It seems strange that Gaia would only now issue a cease and desist, instead of back when it came out or when it first got popular.
Perhaps Gaia wants to make its own "Dream Avatar" system? If so, it would be a possible replacement - but I wouldn't be surprised if it required a Gaia account to use.
Other avatar makers I use:
Chibi Maker
Mega Anime Avatar Creator
I was under the impression they were working with Gaia. Oh well.
As for new things, Doll Divine has a few good ones, especially for female agents and CAFs. They have some okay stuff for males too, though. I know I used one of their things to make Ecks and Zee what back when, but I lost those images so I should probably redo them at some point.
I found this thing on an ad from TekTek. Here is the link:
https://recolor.me/
I've only been on since the takedown, so I have no idea what TekTek was able to do, but I hope this thing will work for now.
It's great for faces and hair, though TekTek still had more options, but it is seriously lacking in the clothing department from what I'm seeing. It is a remarkably similar style though.
Apparently they do have plenty of clothes and items, you just have to earn them. So it's less like TekTek which was basically a doll maker using all of Gaia's items and body types, and more like Gaia itself.
It is a little wonky to access, but if you make an avatar, try to change it. When the menu to do so pops up, scroll all the way down. You should see something that looks like an ad, but it should say "what if I had all the items". If you click on it, you'll be taken to a different menu for customizing. And in this menu, you can make an avatar with all available parts, and it'll let you save it as an image.
Besides, if I am going to have my agents get avatars, it will likely be commissioned in some format by an artist, not generated like this.
And I found this:
http://www.dreamself.me/clothes.php?action=view&id=0
Maybe this could be our replacement?
http://kisekae3.web.fc2.com/s/selfy.html
I'm familiar with dreamself.me and this is just like it, but with more clothes options (selfy simulator and dreamself.me are based off atgames.jp and tinierme.com), here is the full archive of the items: http://ouroboros.xii.jp/selfy/gacha/holic/
I like the selection, but...
http://dreamself.me/d/lFiN
This is extremely cute. In a slightly annoying way. ^_^;
~Neshomeh
He looks so cute and grumpy!
Link Here
"Someone is going to pay for this. I'm not supposed to be adorable!"
General comments: their search function sucks. It's impossible to simultaneously search a colour and a keyword. They show far too few images per page, and the fact that you can't experiment like TekTek let you is a major downside.
I could probably pull of an excellent Agent Kaitlyn, though...
hS
But... I was on it just earlier today...
I knew Arvee's been down for at least a few months, but I can't check on TekTek since I'm using my phone. Plus it's kid of a big thing for Gaia Online, isn't it? Maybe it's just down for maintenance?
And I think it said something about getting a cease and desist from Gaia Online. I think its gone for good.
It's true. The site seems pretty dead. Here's the information, courtesy of Google Cache:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:XpIrG4JcfJkJ:tektek.org/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
... Drat. I really liked that thing. {= (
~Neshomeh
...good thing I have all my currently-planned future agents created. Holy cow. This is awful. :(