best supported male bodies?

[umbrellamonk]

So I'm back in SL with a fresh account after five years and the whole mesh-everything changes have been a bit overwhelming.

I've already kitted out a pretty nice looking female alt (you know, for strictly private testing purposes ahem, please tell me I'm not the only one here), and am moving on to my main dude, and I'm finding it a lot harder to pick the right setup.  With females, you can close your eyes and grab a Maitreya or Slink and move on.  With dudes, I'm seeing a lot less choice.  I tried out Adam and liked it, but I'm not seeing a lot of clothing support.  Certainly doesn't help that unless I want to go for a full formal suit, meh polo, or spring casual collar-and-nipple-chains, it seems everything's got that half-buttoned down look that makes getting the right alpha nigh impossible.

There's always Slink, but is the male version well supported enough at this point to justify switching from a body I like more, not to mention having to get the extra hands and feet?  Am I missing another popular option here, or just looking in the wrong place for clothes?

 

...ps, if anyone can recommend a good head for making an asian looking face, I'm all ears.  I want to get my Triad on.

[Marianne Little]

Having male alts, I can say that I don't find mesh clothes that fit their bodies "like a glove" as I can with my Maitreya and Slink female body.

My boys have Slink male, TMP, Niramyth Aesthetic, Signature Gianni and NX Nardcotix.

Disclaimer: I have not used the Niramyth so much lately. I find him too extreme, and I am so tired of the limited skin options. But my impression is that the Niramyth is so special that creators are forced to design specifically for it. Therefore, he has some good fitting clothes.

The TMP started slow, but got a peak until Signature Gianni was released. I will not go into all the debate about TMP, just that it is a closed system, not possible to use Omega appliers with it. I think TMP look great, the HUD is too difficult and the business system an isolated island.

Signature Gianni is advertised much, sadly the fitting is not all that good. It is a popular body with its own event, monthly or bimonthly, I don't remember. Even the clothes at the Signature event have a poorly fit, but I can always use alpha cuts and save the most used slots.

Slink much the same as Gianni in clothing, but his build is close to the SL default shape and I can squeeze him into most. The new and improved HUD is the best for males IMHO. 

NX Nardcotix is clearly a work in progress, don't find much for it now. One pair of jeans that can be worn without clipping through. Alpha cuts that are terrible. The avatar rendering complexity is too high.

The Slink male has the lowest avatar rendering complexity out of the three bodies I used lately, Slink, Gianni, NX. Has also the best HUD as I like it. But I have Slink female body too, so that's maybe why I find the other HUDs so.... stupid lacking.

The best looking body may be Signature Gianni. if that body had a little better HUD and could use Slink feet, I would say the best body. The avatar rendering could be lower.

Tl. dr: Be prepared to learn how to use alpha cuts. There is nothing much that will fit over male bodies as well as with female bodies. There is no male body to "rule them all" as Maitreya is leading clearly in content made for it.

Edited April 5, 2017 by Marianne Little

[Marianne Little]

I make a new post just so I don't have to edit the long one.

Alphas that don't match with mesh clothes is my problem too. In the good terrible old days, we had prim skirts with glitch pants.

I have to admit that I used an Omega clothing kit and made my boy a 2017 version of glitch pants in the same color as the mesh pants. So the tiny clipping through was not noticeable. Boxer underwear in a solid color that is close to the pants color is the fast way of hiding small cuts where alpha cuts don't fit 100%. And a collection of belts help in many dressing situations.

[Phil Deakins]

I'll be watching this thread because I bought Adam a week or so back and I haven't really tried to get various outfits. All I've bought so far is a set of pullovers from the same store.

There is an Omega applier kit for Adam, so that may help clothing, but I'm so new to it that I really know. I got the kit at the same that I bought the body but I haven't tried it with clothes yet, or even looked for clothes that might work with Adam and the applier. I'm not even sure that appliers work for clothes.

[umbrellamonk]

Oh I remember the olden times.  First logged onto SL in 2004.  Dudes walking around in shiny clanking prim boots and cone-shaped prim trenchcoats clipping the seven katanas floating above their backs got all the upvotes.

I kind of actually miss that.  You could look at a something or someone and just go, "I can do something like that!" and head over to the sandbox to give it a shot.

But here and now, I noticed that PsiCorp has new human bodies for every gender that are supposedly built to match closely with the default avatar shape and have omega built in so there's not need to even get a kit.  For compatibility I can't see anything better than that.  Only thing is I never hear anything about  their particular body.  Seems like they do a lot of quality furry stuff.  Guess it's just really new?

Edited April 5, 2017 by umbrellamonk

[Alwin Alcott]

the best available at this moment is the Signature Gianni.

Forget the TMP it's a obsolete piece of .****.... has perhaps a lot stuff available, but thats the only positive to tell about it.

Forget also niramyth... clothes are a pain and you walk around like you did run from the rainforrest a week ago, your nephew the gorilla stayed lonely there... ánd you no chance to change even your skin on it.

 

Adam is a a good second. Followed by Slink, and NX as last, but this one is only released few weeks ago, is no great design yet, and nearly nothing from others available to wear.

 

The points of Marianne i don't agree ... slink feet aren't needed for Gianni because most slink shoes fit... and Gianni has foot alpha's so you won't notice anyhow.

Also the non fitting clothes is a matter of perception.. if you'r not used to use the alpha hud it is a pain, but you simply have to. Telling matreya is so good is no comparission, because it's a women's thing, not a male. There are no clothes for males that are wearable without using the alphahud.

Judge the bodies on their own merites, not on comparition to non relevant others.

As other point to add, there comes more and more available for Gianni, nearly all serious male clothes creators add 4 pairs of clothes in their sales... so most used male bodies have their design.

 

[Alwin Alcott]

37 minutes ago, Phil Deakins said:

There is an Omega applier kit for Adam, so that may help clothing,

you could make applier clothing with that, but you end as you started with SL... clothes directly painted on your body. It can be a help for partial camouflage, but the result is disapointing.

The applier is more usefull for skins and tattoos.

[Marianne Little]

13 hours ago, Alwin Alcott said:

the best available at this moment is the Signature Gianni.

Forget the TMP it's a obsolete piece of .****.... has perhaps a lot stuff available, but thats the only positive to tell about it.

1: Yes, I agree

The points of Marianne i don't agree ... slink feet aren't needed for Gianni because most slink shoes fit... and Gianni has foot alpha's so you won't notice anyhow.

2: Just because my avatars are old and I have Slink sandals/shoes, a new avatar who hasn't bought any shoes for Slink feet can happily forget that.

Also the non fitting clothes is a matter of perception.. if you'r not used to use the alpha hud it is a pain, but you simply have to. Telling matreya is so good is no comparission, because it's a women's thing, not a male. There are no clothes for males that are wearable without using the alphahud.

3: Yes, I agree. BUT the clothing makers should concentrate on make them fit around the waist, neck, wrists, and chest parts in buttoned down/open shirts, if they advertise it as made for (Insert avatar design here) I think the waist  fit is an absolute minimum demand, one can easy alpha out the back or large limbs like legs.

Judge the bodies on their own merites, not on comparition to non relevant others.

4: Always demo, and demo with clothes you are interested in. You will soon see how the waist and other alpha cuts work... New avatars don't have the "I am used to so-and so HUD so this feels different."

As other point to add, there comes more and more available for Gianni, nearly all serious male clothes creators add 4 pairs of clothes in their sales... so most used male bodies have their design.

5: Yes, I think Gianni is on the rise. The clothes I have so far, is not good enough to advertise as fitted for Gianni. See point 3. My opinion, and I hope it gets better.

 

 

[Alwin Alcott]

27 minutes ago, Marianne Little said:

 

think we agree more than disagree..   

[Phil Deakins]

This discussion is very interesting. One thing I've learned from it is that using the alpha hud to mask out body bits that show through a piece of clothing is a normal way of doing things. I've now put my body's alpha hud right at the top of the inventory, so that I don't have to drill into my inv for it when I need it. It's way too texture heavy to have on my HUD all the time.

So this morning I went out and got some demos from various stores at a men's clothing mall sort of place. And I've been playing around with stuff. None of the demos are designed for the Adam avatar right out of the box, but with a bit of alpha fiddling, some can be made to work.

My thinking is that I should be able to make copies of Adam's body alpha to suit various outfits, and use the My Outfits system to swap between them, but I have problems with that. Sometimes it works fine when I change outfits and sometimes it doesn't. An example is changing between nude and jeans. It always works when when going from nude (full body) to jeans (lower parts masked out), but sometimes changing the other way leaves the legs and lower torso alpha'd out, even though the avatar is wearing the correct alpha mask. I've learned to fix it quickly with the alpha HUD, but I would have that that shouldn't be necessary.

 

39 minutes ago, Marianne Little said:

3: Yes, I agree. BUT the clothing makers should concentrate on make them fit around the waist, neck, wrists, and chest parts in buttoned down/open shirts, if they advertise it as made for (Insert avatar design here) I think the waist  fit is an absolute minimum demand, one can easy alpha out the back or large limbs like legs.

One of the items I picked up today was a tuxedo demo (for an event this evening), which was complete with shirt, bow tie and cumerbund, and came in 5 sizes, from XS to XL. Unfortunately, the neck opening is always the same size, and is way too big for my neck. I could thicken my neck but that would look bad/silly in my eyes. I actually tried it.

So it seems to me that we males with mesh avs are quite limited in clothing. I've thoroughly absorbed the advice that everyone seems to give - demo!, demo!, demo!, and never without a demo! I haven't made any mistakes so far, but I haven't yet been tempted by an item that states that it's suitable for Adam but has no demo.

Edited April 6, 2017 by Phil Deakins

[Marianne Little]

10 minutes ago, Phil Deakins said:

This discussion is very interesting. One thing I've learned from it is that using the alpha hud to mask out body bits that show through a piece of clothing is a normal way of doing things. I've now put my body's alpha hud right at the top of the inventory, so that I don't have to drill into my inv for it when I need it. It's way too texture heavy to have on my HUD all the time.

So this morning I went out and got some demos from various stores at a men's clothing mall sort of place. And I've been playing around with stuff. None of the demos are designed for the Adam avatar right out of the box, but with a bit of alpha fiddling, some can be made to work.

My thinking is that I should be able to make copies of Adam's body alpha to suit various outfits, and use the My Outfits system to swap between them, but I have problems with that. Sometimes it works fine when I change outfits and sometimes it doesn't. An example is changing between nude and jeans. It always works when when going from nude (full body) to jeans (lower parts masked out), but sometimes changing the other way leaves the legs and lower torso alpha'd out, even though the avatar is wearing the correct alpha mask. I've learned to fix it quickly with the alpha HUD, but I would have that that shouldn't be necessary.

 

One of the items I picked up today was a tuxedo demo (for an event this evening), which was complete with shirt, bow tie and cumerbund, and came in 5 sizes, from XS to XL. Unfortunately, the neck opening is always the same size, and is way too big for my neck. I could thicken my neck but that would look bad/silly in my eyes. I actually tried it.

So it seems to me that we males with mesh avs are quite limited in clothing. I've thoroughly absorbed the advice that everyone seems to give - demo!, demo!, demo!, and never without a demo! I haven't made any mistakes so far, but I haven't yet been tempted by an item that states that it's suitable for Adam but has no demo.

I can tell you that mesh clothing for mesh female bodies was just like that 1-2 years ago. Advertised to fit for a certain body,  but not a good fit. So we can hope that male mesh bodies get better fitting clothes.

[Marianne Little]

I only need a A Thinly Veiled Excuse for posting Pictures.

So this shirt is advertised for Slink, and I happily agree. I don't need to complain about alpha out the back and arms, because the parts that matter, the chest, is a good fit. In fact, it is a better fit with Slink than dropping Slink and use the default body. The pants on the other hand, is only made for TMP and a fitted mesh size... neither work without a "hack" and applying a dark fabric under.

 

 

[Phil Deakins]

Perhaps they made the clothes to fit the mesh body when new, but didn't account for the user modifying the shape. If I've understood what I've read, fitted mesh handles that, which may be why it's better now. I may have misunderstood though.

[Marianne Little]

3 minutes ago, Phil Deakins said:

Perhaps they made the clothes to fit the mesh body when new, but didn't account for the user modifying the shape. If I've understood what I've read, fitted mesh handles that, which may be why it's better now. I may have misunderstood though.

I think it was several reasons, it was not so easy to get creator kits that show clothing designers how the body was rigged. So the designers did their best. But I feel, and this is my opinon, that some designers was sloppy and didn't try to make a fit that changed with different users modifying the shape, they just threw out some that fit their own shape.

[Thern Lorefield]

I can't say what body to go with now (they all have up and downsides.. seemingly much more so than the female bodies out there), but it could pay to wait for Belleza to release their male body (coming soon). Don't know when they'll be done with it. Of course clothing made for it specifically will at first be hard to find, but maybe it'll work quite well with standard rigged and fitted mesh: here's hoping.

[Nikolai Warden]

15 minutes ago, Thern Lorefield said:

 Of course clothing made for it specifically will at first be hard to find, but maybe it'll work quite well with standard rigged and fitted mesh: here's hoping.

Most standard rigged and fitted mesh will work with almost any mesh body, with proper application of the alpha slices. One reason not to get a mesh head, in my opinion, is that it is harder to wear standard sized mesh clothing with them ... I recall some fellows in the Deadwool group complaining that they could not wear those clothes due to their mesh heads. 

Also, Niramyth is coming out with a less muscle bound body this year.

[AntoineSavva12]

yes indeed

[Klytyna]

One of the reasons I usually recommend Adam if forced to make a suggestion for a male body, is that it's made by a vendor who makes and sells full permission template mesh clothing, so there will always be something for it to wear, even if you have top texture it your self.

The other is that it seems one of the closest to the older rigged mesh 'standard sizes' , and again offers more hope of finding clothing that can be made to work. Slink fits into this category too.

There has been a noticable trend towards making "Prison gym Addict 20 yr convict" bodies, with digital steroids abuse. Female bodies have their equivalents, those forgotten brands with matchstick shins and forearms connected to huge silicon boobs and butts by thighs like a prize bull, and pelvic floors that can straddle an 8 inch plank without chafing which are equally un-clothable.

If  makers are starting to slowly crawl away from the "Gonad the Boy-barian" look, then hopefully the clothing situation will improve for the guys.
 

[Annika Velde]

My suggestions are either SLink or Signature.

The SLink body has a TON of fitted mesh options. Try shopping events such as TMD (The Mens Department) for either items or new creators that you would like to see more of.

I suggest signature for someone who likes a more toned body as it has a more defined body. Also, there is an event monthly strictly dedicated to items for this body. 

Personally, I went with SLink for my male alt as I liked the setup they had for their alpha HUD. I plan on getting the Signature Gianni body soon

[Marianne Little]

2 hours ago, Nikolai Warden said:

Most standard rigged and fitted mesh will work with almost any mesh body, with proper application of the alpha slices. One reason not to get a mesh head, in my opinion, is that it is harder to wear standard sized mesh clothing with them ... I recall some fellows in the Deadwool group complaining that they could not wear those clothes due to their mesh heads. 

Also, Niramyth is coming out with a less muscle bound body this year.

Well, we don't agree there for Signature... the alpha cuts around the waist is all too often made so that it's either showing a thin invisible line or triangle over the pants. And making that top alpha slice solid, then it is a small piece of skin showing. Maybe I am too obsessed with mixing and matching outfits. The chest parts around open shirts is another place where alpha cuts seldom match the shirt opening, but it can very often be solved with taking down the pectorals. Slink is a bit better because it is a thinner body.

I don't have such issues with my male heads, and Deadwool is one of my fav stores? Maybe they could have tried another neck fit. Catwas latest head has five.

So Niramyth will probably continue to use their special UV template for textures, sigh.... One of the reason it is so many clones in the same skin. Some do sell face tattoos that change the face skin, but the body is the same. Plus that the neck fit with other heads is really not good.

Jusn now, I would like to see a more buff Slink body.

Edited April 6, 2017 by Marianne Little

[Marianne Little]

3 hours ago, Thern Lorefield said:

I can't say what body to go with now (they all have up and downsides.. seemingly much more so than the female bodies out there), but it could pay to wait for Belleza to release their male body (coming soon). Don't know when they'll be done with it. Of course clothing made for it specifically will at first be hard to find, but maybe it'll work quite well with standard rigged and fitted mesh: here's hoping.

Rumors about a male Belleza has been spinning in a year before that picture. Belleza said "soon" when they posted an image of their female body, months before it was released. We can hope the male is in sale before summer. *

 

*Summer 2017 or 2018?

Edited April 6, 2017 by Marianne Little

[Bobbie Faulds]

The male Belleza body is in beta and is in the hands of selected designers to make clothes for so it will be on the market very soon....smiles.

[Marianne Little]

9 hours ago, Bobbie Faulds said:

The male Belleza body is in beta and is in the hands of selected designers to make clothes for so it will be on the market very soon....smiles.

And that would make me happy! Belleza and I never got off well with their female body, but they made huge improvements. It was too late for my female avatars, I had moved on to other systems already. Maybe the male Belleza will sway me towards it and away from the other options.

[Callum Meriman]

Interesting question, and a lot will come down to your preferred musculature. Each of the 4 most popular male bodies has a quite unique muscle style, and in the Gay world at least it's own adherants in certain regions.

I am using a Slink with Vista Bento hands and catwa head for one of my many shapeshifting shapes because in my eyes it's the most realistic. For the Slink, I find clothing very easy to obtain - my preferred style being either casual-street, or asian-goth. 

Most decent clothing makers now seem to rig for the Slink and Signature, so outside of a few minor pieces rigged only to the obsolete TMP all the best clothes fit like a glove. The 2.04 Slink also has very nicely improved alpha slices that help a lot with shoulder mismatches on the 5 standard sizes.

I like the Slink a lot.

[Alwin Alcott]

10 hours ago, Bobbie Faulds said:

The male Belleza body is in beta and is in the hands of selected designers to make clothes for so it will be on the market very soon....smiles.

I think it has to be REALLY excellent, lot of men learned the hard way with the TMP debacle bodies are pretty expensive and changing whole garderobe too..

Belleza is promoting rumours for it for nearly two years now, same as Egoism/Evian and nothing showing up ...

As you see how slow TMP is fading out i think lot of men will not so easy skip the gianni or slink.