So, how much do you need to bribe Maitreya to get a kit?

[CadenzaInVivace]

Before you start flaming, I want to get this message clear: I love the Maitreya body and it's the only mesh body I wear. But if there's one thing I can't stand, it's discouraging content creation. I know a couple of friends who are into making shoes, and none of them ever received a shoe kit from Maitreya (let alone the weighting kit for the body), despite waiting for weeks and even months. Despite not really liking the Slink body, if there's one thing that Slink does well, it's their customer service. Within days of applying for a kit, I got everything I needed, even got an IM making sure I received the stuff. Maitreya on the other hand? Absolutely no reply from creator, and just a "it takes a long time process applications, please be patient" from the CSR. It takes frickin 3 months to process a request that has less than 50 words on it? Bull.

So why does Maitreya refuse to hand out developer kits? To make sure several creators (*cough*Blueberry*cough*) remain as monopolies for some time for people using Maitreya bodies? I won't be surprised if that's the case cause that's a pretty common business tactic in the real world. Pay a hefty exclusive rights usage fee, and you get to be the only seller for X amount of time. Don't tell me the body kit is not available. I refuse to believe stores that has stuff rigged for Maitreya are not using the official kit. Unless you've got 10 people weighting your stuff on a trial/error basis, there's no way you can make something that perfectly fits Maitreya body without a weighting kit. As for the shoe kit, it's obviously available, so why are people rejected from getting it? For the same monopoly reasons?

[Lisette Seranno]

That's funny, I had the same experience with Slink a couple of years back and a nasty customer service person to boot. I haven't asked for a maitreya kit, but they're probably flooded with requests, just ask nicely in a notecard and cross your fingers.

[Pussycat Catnap]

Having recently reviewed two very different mesh body options (Belleza and Solarian) - I've noticed some radically different attitudes on this front.

At least you still have an application process. Belleza no longer takes any applications. They've gone closed system now.

By contrast, Solarian included a dropbox link in a notecard with the purchase of the body. Clicking that link, gave me a package of files - inside that was a blender template file for making things, and all of the photoshop files used to texture the body I had just bought. Very open system, highly friendly to new content.

I do not get the appeal to closed systems at all. You limit the ability of your product to grow. Look at Solarian for a second - it is a new full body (head to toe) fitmesh furry avatar. Now look at its viable competition: the Kemono, the Orange Nova, and the Blue Galaxian. Solarian is actually the replacement for Blue Galaxian (new body from that same store), so it has two competitors... and all of the competition is only rigged mesh, not fitted... so, you'd think Solarian has no reason to worry...

- But how do you gain ground against a competitor? You out supply them.

Furry makers have known this for over 10 years: you survive on the strength of your add-ons community.

Why do mesh body makers think they can be any exception?

 

The more stuff that is out there for your body, the more people will use it over competition. This is why TMP is "fading" down the popularity list...

And this is why Solarian launched with "all guns blazing" right out of the docks... a full on kit just there to grab, a mod/copy body, all the textures given as photoshop files, and the incuded clothing was even fullperms.

 

If one of these furry makers did a human body to the standards that they do for furries... all of these human mesh body makers would be out of business.

 

[Pirschjaeger Fassbinder]

I was thinking about getting the Maitreya body because it is the only body that I was somewhat satisfied with, but with a "furry"/"anthro" avatar getting the legs to work with the body would probably be a problem without a kit. I thought about waiting a while to request that. However,  I am mostly a hobbyist and who knows when I will ever have the time to finally create something to sell, so I do not think I would qualify to receive that particular kit. In spite of that, I do understand only giving the kit out to those interested in selling attachments for that specific avatar.

I also briefly looked at the Solarian avatar, but I did not see a demo for at least the body. I wanted to see if the avatar head I made would work with the body in place of the cat one. I suppose I will keep an eye on the reviews to see if other people were able to use different avatar heads. I guess I am stuck with the ugly old default avatar body for now.

As for the availability of even the shoe kit, I would agree that even more accessories for an avatar would ultimately make that avatar more appealing to potential buyers, even if several popular brands already make clothes and accessories for it.

[Bobbie Faulds]

One word....OMEGA. The vast majority of mesh bods, including SLink male and female, now work with Omega appliers. You can get the kit for free, no fuss no muss at the Omega Solutions store. Belleza has even bowed to the pressure and released Omega appliers for their skins, though they had said in the past they weren't going to. 

 

[CadenzaInVivace]

---

Bobbie Faulds wrote:

One word....OMEGA. The vast majority of mesh bods, including SLink male and female, now work with Omega appliers. You can get the kit for free, no fuss no muss at the Omega Solutions store. Belleza has even bowed to the pressure and released Omega appliers for their skins, though they had said in the past they weren't going to. 

 

---

I think you're having trouble distinguishing difference between appliers and mesh dev kits.

[Lex Macabre]

I totally hear you on this!! 

I've only been back to SL for a few months and had no clue about secondlife to much really but im a fast learner and was quick to see this as well.

I do not undertand why Maitreya would want to be that way, they are only holding back their own business like others have said.

I am sure slink is racking in the money a lot more than Maitreya.

I know that I did not want to purchase slink feet but because of the lack of shoe options out their for the Maitreya feet, I went and bought a pair....that says a lot.

[CadenzaInVivace]

Good thing at least Blueberry and Addams charge non-stupid prices for their stuff, unlike Erratic. Their stuff pretty much doubled in price ever since landing that kit. 649L for ONE COLOUR of a lingerie set? Lol. I remember the days when Erratic stuff were like what, 150-200L per colour?

[Tazzie Tuque]

---

CadenzaInVivace wrote:

Good thing at least Blueberry and Addams charge non-stupid prices for their stuff, unlike Erratic. Their stuff pretty much doubled in price ever since landing that kit. 649L for ONE COLOUR of a lingerie set? Lol. I remember the days when Erratic stuff were like what, 150-200L per colour?

 

Well by jacking up prices, in the end they are not doing themselves any favours.  I don't think I am alone in this, but I won't pay 600+ for any one colour item no matter how much I like it (unless it is something like a formal gown that it is obvous that the creator put a lot of time and effort into producing a superior item).. no need to as there is so much out there we have choices, so in the end it is just a loss of sales to them.. 

[Selena Daehlie]

There should be a devkit inworld already, definately at start of oktober even. Its a bit small though to find the free vendor that hands out those kits. Its a bit up on the maitreya body vendor. This post might be a bit late since its almost a month ago

[SKYlerCooper Levee]

i have signed up for a dev kit to make skins and even asked for shoes or rigging its going on now foryear half so nothing special

[Rhonda Huntress]

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SKYlerCooper Levee wrote:

i have signed up for a dev kit to make skins and even asked for shoes or rigging its going on now foryear half so nothing special

---

Skins kit along with clothing and tattoo kit, nails kit and auto-hiding kit are available for free right on the wall next to the body vendor.

Rigging and weight information require a high level of trust from the mesh owners.  Don't expect to get that easily.

[Bobbie Faulds]

Some of the bodies you can get the mesh developer kit fairly easily. Others with the more established bodies are more difficult. They chose to give the mesh kits to established shops rather than some just getting started. Belleza now has their weights for the updated bodies available

[Amethyst Jetaime]

One reason I decided against getting the Maitreya Mesh body was there weren't as many mesh clothes for it.  I got SLink since there were more clothes available for it and I was also able to wear most of the standard size mesh clothes I already owned with it.  So Maitreya lost a sale to me because they want to maintain such tight control.  Maybe they are afraid some of low quality clothing being made for it, but IMO the market will decide that.

They should take a lesson from PC vs. Mac.  The reason PC's are so much more prevalent is the ease that companies were able to get the info they needed to develop them and the software vs. Mac.

[Bobbie Faulds]

---

Amethyst Jetaime wrote:

One reason I decided against getting the Maitreya Mesh body was there weren't as many mesh clothes for it.  I got SLink since there were more clothes available for it and I was also able to wear most of the standard size mesh clothes I already owned with it.  So Maitreya lost a sale to me because they want to maintain such tight control.  Maybe they are afraid some of low quality clothing being made for it, but IMO the market will decide that.

They should take a lesson from PC vs. Mac.  The reason PC's are so much more prevalent is the ease that companies were able to get the info they needed to develop them and the software vs. Mac.

---

Exactly. TMP has fallen into that trap. They are so exclusive almost no one wants to design for them. 

[Sassy Romano]

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Bobbie Faulds wrote:

They chose to give the mesh kits to established shops rather than some just getting started.

---

Good point!  I've only been a merchant for about 8 years, that must make me a start up because they won't give me a kit.

[Corvid Macabre]

I do have one question: A youtuber called the mighty ginko created an experemental rig that reportadly works extreemly well and ive seen alot (ALOT) of creators use it... is it legal? she copy botted the original body to make the kit, but built the rigging from scratch, so its really in the darkish grey area for me and im fearful to use it. (i do respect what she did though, the creator of the lara body isnt very nice about her meshes at all.) i want to develop for that body because i love it so much, but i question wether its a smart idea... or if i should just sink in the time and make myself a human body as furry creators do, honestly if given more time id like to make a brand new body with better rigging and nicer breasts.

[Pixieplumb Flanagan]

---

xoXoxToxicTearsxoXox wrote:

I do have one question: A youtuber called the mighty ginko created an experemental rig that reportadly works extreemly well and ive seen alot (ALOT) of creators use it... is it legal? she copy botted the original body to make the kit, but built the rigging from scratch, so its really in the darkish grey area for me and im fearful to use it. (i do respect what she did though, the creator of the lara body isnt very nice about her meshes at all.) i want to develop for that body because i love it so much, but i question wether its a smart idea... or if i should just sink in the time and make myself a human body as furry creators do, honestly if given more time id like to make a brand new body with better rigging and nicer breasts.

---

Bless your heart, of course you would!

[Klytyna]

---

Sassy Romano wrote:

---

Bobbie Faulds wrote:

They chose to give the mesh kits to established shops rather than some just getting started.

---

Good point!  I've only been a merchant for about 8 years, that must make me a start up because they won't give me a kit.

---

From what I've seen and heard, getting the Maitreya Mesh makers kit, isn't about how LONG somebody has had a store in SL, it's about "has anyone heard of you, are you well known and popular, do you have loads of bloggers, and well followed social-media pages on Arsebook and Splatter", as they want to make sure you are not somebody who's run a "fashgion store in a box" reseller outfit from a zero traffic 512 for the last 8 years, before they give you what essentially amounts to a legal copybot of their mesh.

 

So, if you want that dae file, better start 'Splatting' about your daily activities in excrutiating micro-detail now...

[Chic Aeon]

---

xoXoxToxicTearsxoXox wrote:

I do have one question: A youtuber called the mighty ginko created an experemental rig that reportadly works extreemly well and ive seen alot (ALOT) of creators use it... is it legal?

she copy botted the original body to make the kit,

but built the rigging from scratch, so its really in the darkish grey area for me and im fearful to use it. (i do respect what she did though, the creator of the lara body isnt very nice about her meshes at all.) i want to develop for that body because i love it so much, but i question wether its a smart idea... or if i should just sink in the time and make myself a human body as furry creators do, honestly if given more time id like to make a brand new body with better rigging and nicer breasts.

---

You answered your own question. There is no gray area. It was illegal and likely a DMCA will be filed. 

[Tazzie Tuque]

---

Chic Aeon wrote:

---

xoXoxToxicTearsxoXox wrote:

I do have one question: A youtuber called the mighty ginko created an experemental rig that reportadly works extreemly well and ive seen alot (ALOT) of creators use it... is it legal?

she copy botted the original body to make the kit,

but built the rigging from scratch, so its really in the darkish grey area for me and im fearful to use it. (i do respect what she did though, the creator of the lara body isnt very nice about her meshes at all.) i want to develop for that body because i love it so much, but i question wether its a smart idea... or if i should just sink in the time and make myself a human body as furry creators do, honestly if given more time id like to make a brand new body with better rigging and nicer breasts.

---

You answered your own question. There is no gray area. It was illegal and likely a DMCA will be filed. 

---

I totally agree!  IF creators are using this, then it is at their risk..  personally would not be worth it to me.

[Sassy Romano]

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Klytyna wrote:

So, if you want that dae file, better start 'Splatting' about your daily activities in excrutiating micro-detail now...

---

I got the kit in the end and didn't have to splat all over Fartbook or any other social media but I accept your comment as probable for the norm.

[Sugarfairy2]

On 9/20/2015 at 0:48 AM, CadenzaInVivace said:

 

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Bobbie Faulds wrote:

 

 

 

One word....OMEGA. The vast majority of mesh bods, including SLink male and female, now work with Omega appliers. You can get the kit for free, no fuss no muss at the Omega Solutions store. Belleza has even bowed to the pressure and released Omega appliers for their skins, though they had said in the past they weren't going to. 

 

 

---

 

I think you're having trouble distinguishing difference between appliers and mesh dev kits.

Definitely, some just dont quite understand the difference between applier template paint jobs and actual original 3D mesh clothing and the work involved.

 

[Lisette Seranno]

It seems like this isn't much of a problem anymore since maitreya only clothing is everywhere.

[Chic Aeon]

On 8/5/2016 at 1:35 PM, Amethyst Jetaime said:

One reason I decided against getting the Maitreya Mesh body was there weren't as many mesh clothes for it.  I got SLink since there were more clothes available for it and I was also able to wear most of the standard size mesh clothes I already owned with it.  So Maitreya lost a sale to me because they want to maintain such tight control.  Maybe they are afraid some of low quality clothing being made for it, but IMO the market will decide that.

They should take a lesson from PC vs. Mac.  The reason PC's are so much more prevalent is the ease that companies were able to get the info they needed to develop them and the software vs. Mac.

I am a little surprised at your comment, not your choice but your comment. Maitreya last I hear had approximately 75% of the female mesh body audience. There are MANY MANY designers (I blog for a few of them) who ONLY make things for Maitreya. Belleza seems to be next (now) and Slink third. A few folks still make standard sizing or fitmesh for legacy avatars. A few do Tonic and TMP and a few that I really don't recognize but this is a very low percentage.

Meanwhile note that APPLIERS are for texture items, not mesh. For mesh to really fit you DO need a kit and many body makers do not give out those easily. You have to prove you know what you are doing in making your original mesh.  This (I believe) is to keep those that do NOT know what they are doing  from tackying up the wardrobe options *wink*.  There are plenty of clothes out there that are called "Maitreya" that obviously had no kit involved as they do NOT fit at all. So always of course TRY THE DEMO.  Other items from smart designers don't even need alpha layers on. 

Many differences.