Image Designer Archive

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FAQ for Customers

by Kwee and n'Jessi

Q: What can an Image Designer do?

A: All facial/cosmetic/physical modifications available at character creation as well as:

• Additional ID-only hair/frill/lekku/horn/ridge styles (Bald now available!)
• Expanded color palettes (a Master has access to 256 colors in each palette). These include Eye color, hair color, spot color for aliens, and skin color
• Holo-Emotes

Q: How do I find an Image Designer?

A:

• Many entertainers are also image designers, and the best place to find an image designer is at your local cantina. Be sure to ask politely if anyone is an image designer, as image designers may hide from impolite requests. You could also try sending an entertainer a tell asking if he or she knows an image designer. He or she may well be an image designer or know one, but be overwhelmed by cantina spam and may not have heard your request in spatial.
• Tents are sometimes places to start (see below for tent locations). Tents are currently non-functional but some ID's still call them home.
• If you don't have any luck, a wise next step is to check out the thread always stickied at the top of the ID forum called "Looking for an Image Designer?? ID's listed by galaxy". Add the ID's in your galaxy to your friend's list and ask if they're available when you see them online but please give them a few minutes to load in.
• Ask your local entertainers for suggestions
• Many servers have an entertainer channel. Join the chat channel and politely ask for assistance. This post has a list of the entertainer channels.

Q: What's this I hear about timers?

A: Timers are no longer a part of the profession. You are free to accept the changes that the image designer makes as soon as the image designer accepts.

Q: What are the ID Tents for?

A: Nothing at the moment, but they may be a good place to find an ID, and they have nice ambient music.

Q: How do Holo-Emotes work?

A: There are 16 Holo-Emotes. An Expert Hairstylist has access to all of them. Whether you are given “one” or “all” there will be 20 charges, except if the image designer has received a dancer buff, in which case it will be 50 charges. Type “/holo help” in game for instructions on use. Holo-Emotes can be set off every 30 or 60 seconds, and were described by our dev as tiny generators implanted subdermally in the scalp or weaved into hair that need time to recharge between uses. An informative site on Holo-Emotes (which includes screenshots) can be found here.

Q: Where are the ID Salons (Tents) located?

A: You can type “/find salon” in one of the following five cities to have a waypoint created for you.- Theed -5130 4260 (next to the Cantina, visible from Starport area)- Moenia 4790 -4730 (visible from the Starport and Cantina)- Bestine -1440 -3700 (back behind the Cantina)- Coronet -360 -4690 (near the Cantina and Shuttleport B)- Vreni Island -5150 -6370 (next to the Cantina)

Q: Are the tents player city placeable/architect craftable?

A: Not at this time, but we are told they will be one day.

Q: Can you change my gender or species?

A: Not at this time. We have no information on whether this may be a future ability.

Q: Oo ooo, then can you make me superhumanly tall? What about an extremely large chest?

A: We can do everything available at character creation within regular character creation species limits. This means that if you’ve maxed out your height, we can’t make you taller.

Q: Can I have a body tattoo?

A: Body tattoos are not currently available, but they are very high on the image designer wish list.

Q: Can I have hair even though I’m a Twi’lek? Horns for my Human? Lekku for my Mon Cal?

A: That was an exploit that is no longer possible.

Q: I've seen a certain hairstyle on an NPC of my species. Can an image designer give it to me?

A: Not necessarily. Some NPC hairstyles are not available for players. In particular, zabrak female NPC's often have horn-and-hair hybrids that look like human hairstyles with horns added - most of these are unfortunately not available for players.

Q: What can Master ID’s do that non-Masters cannot?

A: Not much actually. Chances are good that a skilled Novice ID will be able to help you with what you need. What is found exclusively in the MID skill box: skin color, head size, torso (women), age, 32 extra colors in each palette.

Q: Where can I get more information about ID or find pictures of hairstyles, colors, holo-emotes, etc?

A: Links to catalogs are in the appendix at the end of this guide. It is definitely appreciated if you have a vague idea in mind of which changes you want, particularly if there is a line. If you have no idea what you want, you might want to make an appointment so that you will have the ID's undivided attention. Aesthetic image design can take place outside a tent, so perhaps for the appointment it might be best to leave the tent so you will not be disturbed.

Q: Can I see changes before I accept?

A: Yes, you will be able to see a Before and After image of yourself. The After image updates in real time as the ID shows you potential changes. You have an option to zoom in on your face. The new ID user interface allows for multiple changes to happen in one session (before only 1 change could be made at a time)

Q: Can an image designer "start over" if I'm not liking what he or she is doing?

A: During an image design session, an image designer can easily use the revert function to revert all changes. However, once you accept the changes, there is no memory saved of your former appearance, and if you want to reverse the changes after that point, you must work with your image designer to remember what you looked like before and essentially remake your character's features.

Q: If an ID changes me, and I accept, can he or she change it back if I don’t like it?

A: Yes, what an ID can do, an ID can undo (provided you can describe in sufficient detail what you want done), with two exceptions. ID’s without Expert Hairstylist (Hair IV) do not have access to all of the hairstyles, so if you think there’s a chance you might change your mind after accepting a new do, be sure to ask if your ID has your hairstyle as an option. Also, some colors are only available at higher skill boxes or Master.

Q: Why am I smiling? Can an image designer fix me?

A: It’s actually your mood – type /mood none. Either that or you're in the cantina listening to music/watching dancers. Do /stopwatch or /stoplisten and you'll get rid of the funny face (and will stop listening or watching).

Q: How does ID xp work?

A: A (non-Master) ID gains experience by making a change to your character or giving you a holo-emote(s). The amount of xp is based on whether the change is a body or a cosmetic change. The exp does not stack, so it would be kind to suggest an ID break up a long session into a few parts so that they can get exp for more than one change.

Q: What are the bugs?

Please see the current bug list

Q: Can someone practice ID on me without changing anything?

A: No. A change must be made for an ID to get experience. IDs like to practice using eye color however, which has minimal impact on your overall apearance and is easily restored.

Q: What should I expect to pay?

A: Some image designers set fixed prices, and others do not. It should be asked up front. Price systems might be set up based on complexity of the change (higher skill required = more expensive) or time spent on the ID session. If your ID works off of tips, consider this question: if someone spent a half hour doing a custom tailoring order for you, or made you a gun upon request, wouldn’t you tip him for the personalized effort? A Pricing Guide can be found on Pani’s Lightstrider Image Designs site, listed in the links below.

Q: Why am I being charged if ID doesn’t cost resources?

A: ID takes the valuable resource of time - think of it as on par with requesting a long and complicated custom order from a crafter. When crafters charge you for resources, even good resources are not particularly expensive to mine - they are charging you for the time it takes to find the resources, to gather them, and to craft the item. ID also takes the same number of skill points as a TKM or any other non-hybrid elite combat profession, and therefore should be as valuable as that profession.

Q: What if an ID is charging too much?

A: Sometimes ID's will purposely charge "too much", for whatever reason (i.e. masters, to encourage the use of novice ID's). Many times, however, players undervalue our time, or incorrectly think they are entitled to free service because ID doesn't cost resources.

• Ask if there is a novice ID around. Novice ID's will often charge less. Master ID's, in contrast, will raise prices to encourage customers to seek out novices who still need xp.
• If you are truly poor, you can plead poverty and politely ask for a reduced price (i.e. if entertainer is your primary profession, or you are a new player). However, if you are capable of making the money easily, there is no reason for a discount. Master elite combat professions, or those wearing full composite armor usually will not be given a discount.
• It is never appropriate to be rude to an image designer. If you do not like the price, you can seek out another image designer.

Q: I get ID’d all the time and don’t pay for it. Why should I start now?

A: That is really up to the image designer, who has the tools to require payment. We now have a secure payment window built into our user interface. The ID’er will enter the amount they wish to be paid, and if you do not match or exceed the amount you will not be able to accept the changes. Some ID’ers work for tips and may enter a minimum tip amount or leave it set to zero and give you the option to show your generosity. If they’re not happy with your tip (for example they work with you for 20 minutes and you tip them 10 credits) they have the option of canceling the session.

Q: An ID I've never met is refusing to help me out. What is going on?

A: ID's talk to each other. If you are rude or refuse to pay enough times, ID's may hear about your reputation and refuse to provide service to you. If that is the case, apologize for your naughty ways, and hopefully the image designer will take pity upon you - but you may have to pay before the session starts.

Alternatively, if you have always been polite to image designers, it may simply be that the image designer is off-duty, or is busy with something else. Politely ask if it would be better to come back at another time, and set up an appointment. If the image designer does not answer your tells, he or she may be busy, so it is most effective to use e-mail to request an appointment.

Q: Oops I just realized I left my money in the bank, now what?

A: The secure payment window will pull money from your bank if you do not have enough on hand.

Q: What is general etiquette for an image design session?

A: Ahhhh the do’s and don’ts.

• DO: be polite to your image designer
• DO: be prepared to wait if others are in front of you
• DO: make an appointment – that will ensure you don’t have to wait.
• DON’T: bombard your image designer with tells. Even better, use e-mail. He or she may be in the middle of a session.
• DON'T: send your ID a tell when you first see his/her name pop up on your friends list. Allow the ID to load into the world first, or he or she might miss your tell. Wait 2-3 minutes before contacting him/her.
• DON’T: criticize the design aspects – we didn't design them. Saying “eeew” is not nice.
• DON’T: expect the ID to come to you. We are actually pretty busy people. Would you expect a crafter to do home delivery?
• DO work on one change until you're happy with it
• DON'T jump around between changes before you're satisfied with the one in progress
• DO: ask for price up front
• DON'T complain about pricing. If the price is too high, you can find another image designer. If you have financial hardship you can also try to politely negotiate with the image designer.
• DO: say “thank you”
• DO: recommend your friends
• DON’T: recommend jerks.

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Appendix: Useful Websites

ID Websites: Screenshots & Makeover ideas: For customers and ID's

Lightstrider Image Designs: Screenshots of ID mods, color palettes, pricing guide, & style ideas by Pani of Flurry

Image Design Stylebook: Screenshots of all ID mods by Karis of Bria

ID Hairstyles at swg.warcry.com: Screenshots of ID hairstyles by Kwee of Starsider

Holo-Emotes: Screenshots & Info

Yen Yang Imageing Solutions: Screenies of all mods, palettes, etc.

Message Edited by NJ62 on 10-10-200511:36 AM

Message Edited by NJ62 on 10-10-2005 11:36 AM