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A new way to design a tulpa


Shui

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They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Since this guide was over two thousand words (and as I first wrote it, it was even longer) I think it's time for some good pictures in here.

 

This is a guide for creating a face for your tulpa. The face will look like a photograph, but will not resemble any specific person.

 

You might also be able to use this to make a picture of a pre-existing tulpa, but it'll be more work, and you'll have to be a little creative with the instructions.

 

First, an example:

 

-01-64_zpsbfa87c09.jpg

 

She was made of 236 images of 64 different models. It took a really long time. That's why I suggest you stick with 16 models. Fewer than that and you'll be able to recognize bits of the people the tulpa is made up, more than that and it takes a really long time.

 

Instructions:

 

800x600http://i1329.photobucket.com/albums/w541/hddndpunod/shui_zps76da7d35.jpg[/img]

 

ShutterStock is a good site for finding the images because it allows you to easily find other photos of the same model, for when you find a model that looks good but the photos aren't passport-style.

 

Don't worry about watermarks -- initially I tried removing them, but it takes hours, and if you just ignore them they'll disappear by the time you're done anyway.

 

Once you have a few models, you can start combining them. There are many ways of doing this, but I used a website called Morph Thing. (I won't describe how to use Morph Thing because there are instructions on the web site.)

 

(10/04/2013 Edit: I just found this site, but it doesn't work for me. Maybe it will work for you.)

 

When combining images, you might have some problems. The main problems you'll be running into are little swirly blur effects, and the end result not being shaped right.

 

For the swirl blurs, the best thing to do is to try different combinations of the source images of your model. Most of the time, the swirl blur is caused by one image not wanting to play nicely with the others. Sometimes when you figure out which image it is, you can solve the problem by re-preparing it. More often, you'll just have to work without that image. As long as your other images work, you can still use that model.

 

When the face isn't the right shape, this is caused by source images of the model with her face slightly to the side. You can sometimes fix this by mirroring (flipping left to right) the image and morphing the reflection with the original. If you can't fix it like this, it may be better to just not use that image.

 

If you're really attached to an image that doesn't work, and you're willing to spend some money, you can buy FaceShop Pro, which is a Windows program (sadly, I haven't gotten it working under Linux) which allows you to create a 3D model of a face from a photograph. Once you have the 3D model, just turn it to face forward, take a screenshot, and use the screenshot for the morph. The program is unintuitive, difficult to use, expensive, and time-intensive, so I suggest just giving up on images that don't work.

 

Actually, you might be able to get away with flawed images sometimes. If you look closely at my example below, you'll be able to see some swirl blur and deformed faces near the end that I left in just because I wanted the project to be over with. All the flaws disappeared by the final image. This is risky though, so don't count on it.

 

When you have a final morph that you're happy with, you can always stop here. You now have a face you can show people if they ask what your tulpa looks like, and you have something to visualize while you make the tulpa. If you want to make a body or hair, or make a 3D model (either on the computer, or an actual plastic model you can hold) look here.

 

Well, that's how it's done. If you've followed the instructions, you should have a "photograph" of your tulpa, either facial or full-body. And if you have any questions, feel free to ask.

 

This is how my example was made. The original models are the little pictures in the middle. Two of the little pictures were combined for each of the pictures the next size up, and so on until I had only the two big ones on the sides. Those two were combined to make the face at the top of this post.

 

bracket_zpsd33b6924.jpg

 

Personally, I finished the composite and made a model of her face with Vizago, but I never actually completed the body, because I realized 3/4ths of the way through that this girl was not what I wanted. So if anyone has any questions about the method up to that point, I can definitely answer them. Beyond that, I'll try to answer questions, but it's not coming from actual experience, just research I've done.

 

Enjoy!

"'Real isn't how you are made,' said the Skin Horse. 'It's a thing that happens to you.'"

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Well, I feel like doing this, but I'm not working on a tulpa at the moment. Does anyone want me to do a face for them?

"'Real isn't how you are made,' said the Skin Horse. 'It's a thing that happens to you.'"

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Lol um you can do Forseen for me? I dunno, this seems pretty interesting, but im kinda lazy and dont really wanna do it myself... but im not exactly sure what youd need to do it for me ^^;

[Forseen]

{Muse}

|Alix|

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Not sure how well this will work with someone you've already seen, but I want to try. :)

 

I've read the description from your progress report. This is sort of the impression I got. Let me know what's right, what's wrong, what I need to change and how. (Too old, isn't he? I kept trying to make him younger.)

 

Tell me everything you can. If you can find photos that look like him, like maybe one photo for his eyes, and another for his nose, and so on, that would help.

 

I really wanted to do his hair and ears, but I haven't figured out how to yet. If I can find a good way, I'll add it in.

"'Real isn't how you are made,' said the Skin Horse. 'It's a thing that happens to you.'"

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Wow, definitely fascinating. I've talked to quite a few people who struggled to create a realistic face that didn't look exactly like another person's face, this is a unique idea.

 

 

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Thanks. :)

 

I've heard that every face you see in a dream is a face you've really seen at some point in your life. I don't know if that's true, or even how they'd test such a thing, but I didn't want to take chances on visualization being the same way. That's why I came up with this.

 

At the time, I was working on this tulpa idea without a community. The sources I had were superstitious, and though I didn't believe what they were saying, I didn't want a trace of doubt in my mind, for fear it would affect the tulpa. I'm glad I found this place, because it cleared a lot of that up for me. :)


Well, Floree, your profile says you're about to reply to this topic, so you might not see this, and I'll probably be changing this face in a few minutes, but I wanted to show you my idea of him with hair and ears. Again, it's a little ugly, and I'm really hoping I find a better way to do hair and ears, but that's the best I have at the moment.

"'Real isn't how you are made,' said the Skin Horse. 'It's a thing that happens to you.'"

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That's pretty cool ^^ And kinda close. It is older lol, but sometimes he does look around that age. Like i said, he likes to change his appearance a lot ^^; (It kinda makes visualizing him a pain, he's not 100% clear like ever, but I can see most things okai). If it's easier we can just try to make him at that age. Usually he sits at around 14-16 looking, sometimes younger when he feels like it. I really dunno.

 

I remember a while ago I found this picture, which does lot a lot like him when he's older ('course, you can't use it cuz it's turned at a weird angle, but a good reference), the hair's pretty similar in style too (except it's kinda red instead of bleached). But the eyes which look more... feminine? Kinda hard to describe. Lemme go googling....

I found this but it's also turned at a weird angle e.e;

 

I'm not really sure how to go about finding pictures you can use either.


lol dude XD Look, if you're trying to follow that really crappy picture of him i posted, don't. It looks really bad and plus i was just drawing what he looked like at that time. He changed his hair's colours. Again. So yeah.

[Forseen]

{Muse}

|Alix|

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That eye picture you found was great. Actually I've had a whole lot more trouble with the color than the angle.

 

The other picture, I googled and I think this is the same guy. Unfortunately, he's still at a bad angle, so I have to kind of mimic his features with other stock photos, and I don't think I'm making a whole lot of progress. What do you think?

"'Real isn't how you are made,' said the Skin Horse. 'It's a thing that happens to you.'"

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Dude, that looks pretty awesome XD I edited the eyes a bit here cuz it wasnt the right colour and they're a bit bigger. Ha, now he looks younger too XD

 

I'm crappy at photo-editing btw, I don't even have photoshop. I have the lasso and blur tool on paint tool sai.

 

It looks pretty awesome ^^ The honest truth is I don't really know the specifics of what his nose or mouth really looks like ^^; I know they're there and I can kinda see them, but it's really unclear >.>; The only part of his face that I have somewhat down were the eyes XD I can usually look at an actual picture and say if it looks like him or not though, so it's kinda odd.

 

So as goes for that picture, everything looks almost right to me ^^ There's something off about the nose, but I'm not exactly sure what... if I figure it out I'll tell you ^^;

[Forseen]

{Muse}

|Alix|

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To tell you the truth, I don't have photoshop either. It would have made things a lot easier if I had. Pixlr Express is cool and all, but I could really use a match color tool.

"'Real isn't how you are made,' said the Skin Horse. 'It's a thing that happens to you.'"

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