Something to read to understand hud, ao, appliers, mesh, heads, skins

[Fabuluz]

I know this is a terribly noobish question but I don't understand and you all seem to.  I have a mesh skin (I think so anyway), but what is shape?  Why would I need it if I have a skin already.  What is this Omega that is hogging part of my screen?  Is it really necessary.  I can never find anything in my inventory so I unpackage a lot.  I'm up to 9500 items in inventory.  Putting things in a safe place is just one more place to try and find.  If I could put it on my hard drive that would help.  

This is a start of my confusion.  What I need is Avatars 1010 class... Or something.  Sorry but I"m having a meltdown at the moment.  I managed to turn my head into a grey blob , face with no features.  Ugly American 

[LittleMe Jewell]

There are 4 basic parts to the avatar that must always exist - just cuz that is the rule:  shape, skin, eyes, hair base / eyebrows.  Mesh bodies and heads are objects that then attach to the basic avatar.  They will have a alpha that will take care of making the system body and/or head invisible underneath the mesh body/head.

Omega is an applier system that is used to apply textures to the mesh body and/or head.  While there is mesh clothing, which is an object that attaches to you, there is also applier clothing - like underwear or skin tight tops/pants.  Makeup for mesh heads must also be put on via an applier because it is really just a texture onto the head.

Go here for lots of infos and tutorials on mesh bodies and heads:  http://meshbodyaddicts.com/

 

[Skell Dagger]

Why do I never see this kind of post until I don't have time to answer it fully?

I've got to leave for work in about ten minutes, but this post on my blog* will hopefully help you to understand the basics of the SL avatar. Your avi may be an 'oldbie' in terms of how long ago you registered, @Fabuluz, but I see from your profile that your actual time inworld is approximately four months, so you're really a 'newbie' when it comes to this stuff.

You'll probably get a lot more help while I'm slogging away at the salary-paying coalface, but once I'm home again and with a mug of tea in-hand, I'll see what else I can add to it. In the meantime.. just step back and breathe. You'll be okay.

*I hate self-promoting anything other than credits for fashion, but hey; that's why I'm writing this bloody series: so I can help other people with it.

[Syo Emerald]

16 hours ago, Fabuluz said:

I have a mesh skin

That term doesn't get used. A skin is a texture that adds...well a skin to your avatar. Its one of the core essentials, which can never be put off, only replaced. You always have a skin.

16 hours ago, Fabuluz said:

what is shape?

A shape is another core essential that makes an avatar. It does what its named: It definies how your avatar is shaped (how tall you are, how wide your hips are...and so on).

16 hours ago, Fabuluz said:

Why would I need it if I have a skin already.

Because you always have it and its not the same thing.

16 hours ago, Fabuluz said:

What is this Omega that is hogging part of my screen?

You've probably attached one of their products or it wouldn't show up on your screen. Omega is a certain brand, famous for their widely used texture applier system, that enabled certain textures to be applied to certain mesh bodies.

16 hours ago, Fabuluz said:

I can never find anything in my inventory so I unpackage a lot.  I'm up to 9500 items in inventory.  Putting things in a safe place is just one more place to try and find.  If I could put it on my hard drive that would help.  

9500 is not even much. Most of that number comes from stuff that is by default part of your inventory. The best way to organize your inventory is by creating folders, that tell you whats in it. For example: I made a folder called "clothes". That folder contains several subfolders such as "beachwear" "formal dresses" and "pants". You can not put your inventory on your hard drive (that would neither be helpful for your experiance in SL, nor would it be exactly legal).

For more help it would be cool, if you could attach a screenshot of what you are currently dealing with and a description of what you are trying to do and struggle with.

[Fabuluz]

Thank you all.  I tried , like the directions at the bottom said, to drag a file ( a screen shot) but apparently I can't or it won't.  But to be honest it would take too many screenshots.  I think one of my problems is if I can't find something I unpack it again.  I have folders and folders with same name.  Finding stuff is a pain.  I have dance animations that I can never find.  I wish when unpacking things you could change the name of the folder and where it's put.

 Be that as it may mesh and alpha are starting to make sense.  I guess I'm used to layers.  You have a skin.  That includes your head and feet and hands.  If you want to change shape either buy a new skin or suck it up.  Your skin is your face / eyes / boobs / butt.   About the only thing to add besides clothes is the hair. That was then...

I still don't get appliers or why it makes a difference where things are attached.  They just are.  Put 'em on and go.  That's another puzzle.  But at least I have some answers so far.  Thank you one and all. 

F

[Marianne Little]

18 hours ago, Fabuluz said:

Thank you all.  I tried , like the directions at the bottom said, to drag a file ( a screen shot) but apparently I can't or it won't.  But to be honest it would take too many screenshots.  I think one of my problems is if I can't find something I unpack it again.  I have folders and folders with same name.  Finding stuff is a pain.  I have dance animations that I can never find.  I wish when unpacking things you could change the name of the folder and where it's put.

 Be that as it may mesh and alpha are starting to make sense.  I guess I'm used to layers.  You have a skin.  That includes your head and feet and hands.  If you want to change shape either buy a new skin or suck it up.  Your skin is your face / eyes / boobs / butt.   About the only thing to add besides clothes is the hair. That was then...

I still don't get appliers or why it makes a difference where things are attached.  They just are.  Put 'em on and go.  That's another puzzle.  But at least I have some answers so far.  Thank you one and all. 

F

Appliers work with mesh bodies. Some find out that the default starter avatars are too jagged in the edges, the breasts, and the butt and knees bend ugly and so on. And the feet, lol.

What I do then, is that I wear a full body alpha that cover all my body neck down. I am invisible. I wear my new expensive mesh body. This mesh body must have appliers that paint the skin on, paint on tattoos and other things made. It is nail polish, water drops, whipmarks, scars, tan lines and all sort of things you may want. This body listen to appliers, so you must have appliers who talk the same "language". Like, Maitreya mesh body will listen to appliers made for Maitreya, but appliers made for other brands will not work.

This was so time consuming for designers, so a system named "Omega" was made. Mesh body designers prepare their bodies to listen to the Omega appliers plus the default ones for the body. For designers, this make their job more easy. Some still make appliers only for the specific brand, and one brand of body refuse to work with Omega.

Lingerie and other close fitting clothes like leggings, can also use the applier system.

As a customer, you can either opt in to use Omega or don't. It is a small additional cost of 50  or 99 L. The most popular mesh bodies have many creators that make appliers just for them, but Omega gives you more to choose from. You do not need to think more about appliers and Omega unless you decide to buy a mesh body part.

Many buy a pair of mesh feet to get pretty toes in open sandals. The market for female shoes is totally dominated of shoes for mesh feet. I can't remember last time I saw heels made for default feet. Feet was the first body part made to replace he default body part.

After mesh bodies, designers started to make mesh heads. Now, all of the default avatar is hidden! And appliers for mesh heads work just like mesh bodies. You need the applier that is marked to work for your brand of mesh head, or Omega if the head is ready for it. My head here is an advanced mesh head with animations.

When you attach things, maybe you see that something is detached? This is because some designers use the same attachment point. Many use the right hand, because it is the default spot. To avoid things coming off, use "add" instead of "wear". "Add" let you attach more than one thing in the same spot. "Add" is best to use for all things on layers too. Like, if you have one alpha for jeans, and you "wear" an alpha for the top. That will replace the jeans alpha. "Add" will add the top alpha to the body, so you wear both the same time. You can wear at least 5 at the same time.

Edited September 25, 2017 by Marianne Little

[LittleMe Jewell]

1 hour ago, Fabuluz said:

Thank you all.  I tried , like the directions at the bottom said, to drag a file ( a screen shot) but apparently I can't or it won't.  But to be honest it would take too many screenshots.  I think one of my problems is if I can't find something I unpack it again.  I have folders and folders with same name.  Finding stuff is a pain.  I have dance animations that I can never find.  I wish when unpacking things you could change the name of the folder and where it's put.

  When you unpack something, switch your inventory to the Recent tab.  The folder created will often be the same name as whatever you just unpacked.  Immediately rename the folder to whatever name you wish.  If you aren't sure of the name of what you just unpacked, right click the item on the ground and select Edit - the General tab will give you the name of that object.

 Be that as it may mesh and alpha are starting to make sense.  I guess I'm used to layers.  You have a skin.  That includes your head and feet and hands.  If you want to change shape either buy a new skin or suck it up.  Your skin is your face / eyes / boobs / butt.   About the only thing to add besides clothes is the hair. That was then...

  I think you are confusing 2 basic parts of your Avatar - shape and skin.  Since you must alway have both, they can get confused sometimes. 
  You have a system shape and that is what primarily defines your face / eyes / boobs / butt.  You can usually modify this - right click your avatar and click Edit My Shape.  Use the sliders for the different parts to get a shape you like.  From your first post, it sounds like you may have a mesh body - that attaches to your avatar, going over the entire thing (excluding the head).  The mesh body will shift in accordance with your slider changes to the underlying shape.
  On top of your shape sits the skin.  The skin is a texture that is basically colorizing the shape - the basic system shape.  Some skins will appear to modify your face shape a bit because they can add shadowing that might make your cheeks or nose look different or sometimes the shape will have a painted on lipstick that might make the shape of your lips look a bit different.  Additionally, the skin (on a non-mesh body) could add shadowing to make breasts look larger or with more cleavage, etc... However, the skin is not changing the underlying shape.
  Complicating this a tad, is that if you do use a mesh body, the "skin" that covers your basic shape is really only seen on the head - because the mesh body is covering the rest of your basic shape.  This is where appliers come in.  You use an applier, in the same skin tone as the skin your are wearing (i.e. get it from the same creator), to texture the mesh body so that the body and head thus match.

I still don't get appliers or why it makes a difference where things are attached.  They just are.  Put 'em on and go.  That's another puzzle.  But at least I have some answers so far.

  In addition to the appliers for skin (mentioned above), some clothing will be 'applied' as opposed to attached.  This would be similar to a system top/pants that is basically painted onto the avatar, on top of the skin.  With a mesh body, those types of clothing are just more textures that are applied on top of the already applied skin.  This can be done because there are multiple layers on both the system body and a mesh body.  So some clothing gets attached to the body - an object that sits on top of it - and some basically paints the body using one of the available layers.

 

[Marianne Little]

It is so many blogposts and videos of inventory managing for SL, A google search bring up lots. I just link to one `set of videos here.

And a blog: http://blog.zoha-islands.com/the-master-plan-to-organize-your-sl-inventory-and-keep-it-clean/

[Morgan Rosenstar]

20 hours ago, Fabuluz said:

I still don't get appliers or why it makes a difference where things are attached.  They just are.  Put 'em on and go.  That's another puzzle.

Mesh heads/feet/bodies/hands/etc... are replacements over the default avatar. They are worn or added to an attachment point and therefore are not the default avatar. A meshbody is not a default avatar, so every clothing layer for the default avatar can not be worn on a meshbody.

However it is possible to apply -litterally hence it's called applier- clothing textures on a meshbody.

20 hours ago, Fabuluz said:

You have a skin.  That includes your head and feet and hands.  If you want to change shape either buy a new skin or suck it up.  Your skin is your face / eyes / boobs / butt.

Some skins are designed to look good with a designed look and sometimes editing your shape can change a lot the way a skin looks but there should be enough choices to find one you like.

20 hours ago, Fabuluz said:

About the only thing to add besides clothes is the hair. That was then...

It depends on each one's style. Personally I like to add earrings, rings, belt, even finned ears and headfins, etc...

[Syo Emerald]

20 hours ago, Fabuluz said:

 You have a skin.  That includes your head and feet and hands.  If you want to change shape either buy a new skin or suck it up.  Your skin is your face / eyes / boobs / butt.

Not exactly. The shape is a 3D sculpture and the skin the paint. Some skins go only well with a certain type of shape and you can archieve a wide varity of looks. From my experiance shape and skin have both a 50% influence in how you look like.

Both are also completely seperate from each other (and you can edit most shapes, especially if you made your own), so I don't get the second sentence and why you think you have to buy something or "suck it up".