Okay im new to this but i wanted to ask how this was done ...im a memeber of sl and came across this pic on flickr...i asked the lady who did this and she says it is indeed a 2d using action software..now question how is this exactly done and if there is software out there can you please tell me which one i should purchase to get the similar look ...i hear this is a vargas style type and also alot of them are done in poser 7...but is it possible to take a 2d pic from sl and import it into poser 7 to come up with this http://www.flickr.com/photos/20504983@N04/3091156895/

try daz studio over at daz3d first, its free. before you spend any money

You mean the pinups in Playboy back in the day? It could probably be done, though I suspect you'd need to do some postwork. Try the Gimp, it's free too (does a lot of what Photoshop would do)

Gimp or photoshop come to mind, NOT poser or Daz Studio at all.

Unless your intent is to completely recreate the sl image in a 3d application for some reason.

...i hear this is a vargas style type and also alot of them are done in poser 7...but is it possible to take a 2d pic from sl and import it into poser 7 to come up with this http://www.flickr.com/photos/20504983@N04/3091156895/ 

The answer to your question:  No, you cannot transform a 2D picture into 3D.  You can place a 2D image on a cube, or alpha plane in a 3D software program, but its still 2D.  on a cube you have the same image on all six sides.  Think a glass cube on one's coffee table where you have six photograph cutouts pasted on it.

  Saying that Poser whatever has pre-made character meshes with plenty of dials that you can use to change body and face shapes-eg face:  you can make the nose smaller, larger, fatter, longer, twist it plus many other nose adjustments, eyes, smaller, larger, narrower, wider, up, down, slanted etc. 

After a few hours of dial flipping, coffee, Excedrin, you can get a very attractive face completely different that the preset one-same with the body.  Some folks get the V4 mesh for DAZ along with the body and face morphs, import them into Poser 7 and create their Jessica Alba's.

What I suggest you do is go to DAZ.com, locate their face and body morphs, check out what they can do--for the face, they have several hundred dials same for the body.  No I didn't buy the face and body morphs.  However, I did get a free V3 with some morphs VIA 3D World Magazine and searched Rendo's freebie section for at least a dozen face and body part morphs (lovely ones done in Zbrush and don't require the darn DAZ head and body morphs).  Jan  
    

These are free pin up poses on my site based on the pinup styles of the 50;s which is Vargas era.

Im sorry to all who have responded so far not what i was looking for ..let me try an re explain...im wanting to get that effect she used in her pics ...i thought i was told she used photoshop to make her pics look so lifelike ..but im guessing that isnt true...so then in photoshop what process and how would i get that in photoshop to make it look so lifelike ...            

This should be posted in the Photoshop forum.  I would recommend that you become much more familiar with Vargas' technique of painting attractive women.  His was a unique style and he was very selective of his female models.  I believe the very last model he depicted was the actress Bernadette Peters.

Bagginsbill made a vargas skin shader: there's a discussion about this on runtimedna:

www.runtimedna.com/mod/forum/messages.php

Best regards,

Bopper.

Quote - This should be posted in the Photoshop forum.  I would recommend that you become much more familiar with Vargas' technique of painting attractive women.  His was a unique style and he was very selective of his female models.  I believe the very last model he depicted was the actress Bernadette Peters.

Googled that JUST so I could see. and yep, I found one!

Joaquin Alberto Vargus (1916-1986) did all his works using either watercolor or an airbrush or a combination of both.  A lot of his works were favorites during WW2-- painted on bombers etc.
He was considered a master using the airbrush -

In Photoshop or PaintShop Pro, you trace out a picture with the black pen, in your next layer, you paint a basic skin color, next layer, skin tones, third layer black shadows (you can adjust the transparency), next several  layers, your light areas, save it and merge everything, then use the smudge tool and blend the areas together, do the same for the eyes and lips and teeth.  Put high light areas in and blend them too.  Is it easy, heck no and it takes several hours or days to get it right.

Jan

@jenstar, I had a look at the image and I'm not sure what you mean by it being 2D. I'd say by the look of some of the wrinkles and deformations that that is 3D character laid out in Poser (or something similar)  and the render is run thru Photoshop to produce the Vargus effect.  If you look closely at the left knee where the strap for the shoe comes around it looks like it is coming out of her leg, typical Poser type of issue that is usually fixed in postwork.  That basic image can be done in Poser and postworked to get the look or as bopperthijs suggests have a look at the Vargas skin shader and try to do the whole thing in Poser.

If memory serves me correctly, that skin shader was originally created for the Jessi model.

gini explained how to do this in their photoshop forum here, in response to jen's question
last month.

Quote - If memory serves me correctly, that skin shader was originally created for the Jessi model.

Well no - a shader is not for any particular model. I just happened to demonstrate it on Jessi. If you change the color map to whatever, for your figure of choice, it works.

It also works on hair, clothing, etc. Vargas style rendering of anything.

Thanks BB.  I suspected that.  I do have that shader in my collection, haven't had the opportunity to give it my devoted attention.