Second Life: Avatar Shape Files

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Keep Your Shape When You Switch Heads and Bodies

How to avoid shape disasters and simplify your Second Life® avatar customization.

This problem shows up in the Second Life (SL) forums all the time: someone buys a new mesh head, wears the shape that comes with it, and instantly destroys the body shape they spent hours dialing in.

Their perfect peach butt goes flat, or their tight athletic shape inflates into something like two blimps colliding..

Second Life Shapes

Whatever your style, having to rebuild your look after buying a new head or body is annoying and tedious, so let us simplify that.

To get you there quickly, this guide contains the simple, one-time “do this and you are done” approach and deeper technical detail if you enjoy tweaking under the hood.

I use the Firestorm Viewer, as most SL residents do (~75%), and this tutorial assumes you are using Firestorm too.

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Second Life: Project Arousal v1.0683 – 2026

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Project Arousal is a wild, fun concept for Second Life® (SL): sex anywhere. Want spontaneous, ravishing lust that sweeps you off your feet (and onto the floor) without hunting for a private spot? In real life, that kind of abandon would probably get you arrested. In SL, it’s at worst a ban. So, Project Arousal takes things to a whole new level of passion… or trouble, depending on your luck.

What are we talking about?

There is a summary of this article at the end. If you are in a hurry or only a little curious, jump to the last page and scroll down.

Back in 2020, I wrote an article called Second Life: What is Project Arousal? (Review-Tutorial) when I was just figuring it out. The TL;DR: it’s basically a sex toy system. It lets you have sex anywhere scripts are allowed—ideally in places that also permit object rezzing.

Those interested in spontaneous sex
Fun Times in Second Life

Project Arousal 2 (PA2) is a full sex system with tons of add-on toys. The base “engine” supports a huge ecosystem of extras. As of February 2026, the core costs L$2,150 (up from L$1,000 in 2020—not cheap, but you get a lot). By itself, it’s enough to get started, but you’ll probably want more. The creator (Caeil) offers around 78 official add-ons, and searching “Project Arousal” on the Marketplace turns up over 500 related items. Plenty to explore.

A key incentive for its use as a partner can initiate sex by simply clicking the avatar. HUDs are not required once the system is learned. Similar to clicking an RLV collar. Simple.

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Nalates’ Stuff Update 2026

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For some time—years, actually—I’ve been ignoring the tech side of my blog. Work-wise, I’m doing less and less WordPress (WP) coding. I find I’m forgetting how the inner workings of WP function and how the pieces fit together. Fixing the custom pages on the site has been a major pain in the ass (PITA), so I kept putting it off.

As I’ve been using AI more and more, I decided to try Claude.ai for the update. I’ve used Grok on some other projects, but the more complex the project and the pickier I am about appearance, the worse Grok performs. So, I’m really pleased with how well Claude handled this.

I’d heard that Claude is exceptional at coding. Some people working with Second Life™ (SL) code are using it too. I had Claude revise my Concurrent User Tracking script in SL, and it went very nicely. I like the result a lot.

Revising the blog was easy with Claude. I’m happy with how it turned out.

What this means for you:

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Second Life Technology Summary for January 2026

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We are starting a new year. I am learning more about using A.I. for these reports.

Official SL Platform Updates

  • January 16: WebRTC Voice Open Beta expanded significantly. This update improved voice quality and clarity using WebRTC technology. Key additions included parcel-level voice moderation in the Alpha Viewer, enabling muting of individual avatars and delegation of moderation powers to parcel owners or group roles. This enhances community governance and reduces griefing in voice-enabled regions.
  • January 8: Second Life University session introduced .glTF workflows for PBR assets. Covered importing mesh, textures, materials, and rigs in a single process using tools like Blender and Substance Painter, with emphasis on PBR materials, ORM maps, level of detail (LOD) management, and land impact optimization. This supports creators in adopting modern physically based rendering standards more efficiently.

No major new platform features beyond ongoing WebRTC testing were rolled out. Focus remained on refining voice infrastructure and asset pipelines.

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Second Life Technology Updates: December 2025

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I’ve explained, I use A.I. to gather and summarize Second Life™ (SL) news for the month. I am interested in the tech updates and other news affecting SL. I’ve been using Grok. It is failing worse and worse each month. Researching and querying Grok to find out why…

It seems A.I. is more forgetful than I am. Grok gave me a ~300 word explanation of what is happening. Of course, since I am a skeptic and have my own ideas about what it is saying. Basically, my take is A.I., specifically Grok, is prioritizing efficiency and memory conservancy on its side. Accuracy and thoroughness are much lower priorities. For me and this report, that SUCKS.

I’ve spent some time today getting around Grok’s bad habits and poor logic. That gives us the information below. I am now looking at other A.I.s to try the task.

Report

December 2025 featured ongoing advancements in mobile performance and reliability, a major new scripting language beta, project viewer releases for specialized features, and a third-party beta incorporating upstream maintenance fixes. Routine grid maintenance ensured stability, with no widespread disruptions reported.

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Site Redesign

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You’ve probably noticed the site is changing—again. I’m experimenting with using AI to help with design, and this site has turned into my testing ground. It’s been both fascinating and occasionally frustrating (sometimes very frustrating).

Some pages are still broken—I just haven’t made it to them yet. The biggest challenge right now is mobile. The site does include mobile support, but what I’m discovering is that AI only knows what you explicitly tell it… and I don’t always know what to tell it. My design process evolves as I go, and that makes things a bit messy when the AI doesn’t quite keep up.

So if you’re visiting on a phone, thanks for bearing with me. The desktop version is my first focus, and mobile improvements (like a working nav menu) will follow once the main structure is solid.

Appreciate your patience while I figure this out.
– Nal