Advice for full mesh avatar

[Ulla Dismantled]

Hello Second Lifers,

I am coming back to SL after nearly 4 years off and I'm astonished to see the progress that's been made notably with mesh bodies and heads. 

As I've been exploring the worlds and seeing these gorgeous avatars, some look so impressively realistic, I become excited at the idea of creating my own.

But most players I've asked seem vague and hesitant to share their sources and secrets, for fear that I copy their looks or disdain of the "noob" trying to steal their beauty secrets.

So here I am asking you all.

I've been shopping around and so far I am leaning toward Slink Physique or Maitreya. But I was told that certain mesh bodys had much better support from clothes creators.

And about mesh heads, which ones would you recommend for both beauty and realism?

Money is not an object, I'm willing to invest to get the best quality but seeing how expensive these are I would obviously to get it right the firt time rather than wasting thousands of L$.

So, which bodies and heads would you recommend for a mix of beauty and realism?

Thank you for taking time to read and answer. It's exciting to be back! 

[rasterscan]

Welcome Back !. As a guy who likes to watch the girls go by, I have to warn you so many ladies heads look the same these days its becoming monotonous. I cannot tell you which mesh head it is, cos' I dont know, but its everywhere inworld lol.  Anyway, welcome back, have a ball, and take a look at this thread ... that link to a  utilizator head is definately well priced and interesting !

 

Edited December 1, 2017 by rasterscan

[Rhonda Huntress]

Maitreya body has the most content available for it.  Slink is a close second and Belleza is third.  They are all close enough to top that it does not matter much.  I wear Maitreya so of course I will say get it for the most exclusives and never worry about finding something you want and can't wear ... but that's like less than 1%.  So in reality, pick the body you like best for looks and HUD controls.

Heads: I love my LeLutka heads.  Catwa is the top seller, tho.  However I prefer the LeLutka HUD miles above Catwa and the LeLutka heads are (slightly) more the look I want to achieve.  Again, these are subjective differences as best.  Pick the one you want to look like and don't settle on close enough just because it is LeLutka or Catwa.  There are many other heads out there (LAQ, LOGO, Akeruka, Altumar, GA:EG, and more I am surely forgetting) so shopping can take a bit of time but you have enough options to get your best look.

 

Do you have a skin already picked out or are you wanting the mesh parts first? 
And don't forget the eyes.  Some heads come with eyes which makes positioning them a snap.  Others don't..

 

 

[Rhonda Huntress]

2 minutes ago, rasterscan said:

I cannot tell you which mesh head it is, cos' I dont know, but its everywhere inworld

*cough, cough* Catya *cough*

[rasterscan]

And girls - stop sticking your tongues out just cos you bento can now. Laughs !  It's not really a great look. 

[Rhonda Huntress]

1 minute ago, rasterscan said:

stop sticking your tongues out just cos you bento can now

>.>

<.<

 

[rasterscan]

lolz   

[Ulla Dismantled]

4 minutes ago, Rhonda Huntress said:

Maitreya body has the most content available for it.  Slink is a close second and Belleza is third.  They are all close enough to top that it does not matter much.  I wear Maitreya so of course I will say get it for the most exclusives and never worry about finding something you want and can't wear ... but that's like less than 1%.  So in reality, pick the body you like best for looks and HUD controls.

Heads: I love my LeLutka heads.  Catwa is the top seller, tho.  However I prefer the LeLutka HUD miles above Catwa and the LeLutka heads are (slightly) more the look I want to achieve.  Again, these are subjective differences as best.  Pick the one you want to look like and don't settle on close enough just because it is LeLutka or Catwa.  There are many other heads out there (LAQ, LOGO, Akeruka, Altumar, GA:EG, and more I am surely forgetting) so shopping can take a bit of time but you have enough options to get your best look.

 

Do you have a skin already picked out or are you wanting the mesh parts first? 
And don't forget the eyes.  Some heads come with eyes which makes positioning them a snap.  Others don't..

Thank you so much for your answer Rhonda.

I don't know anything about eyes and which skins to wear on these bodies and heads. When I left the game in early 2014 there was none of all these options available. I'm a bit lost and don't know where to start. I guess specific bodies/heads need matching skins? And same with heads and eyes?

And what is Bento exactly? A brand of head or another new animation technology?

Sorry for sounding so noobish.

 

 

 

[Absinthe Rumrunner]

I personally would stick with a Maitreya body and then with a mesh head I'd definitely use one by Catwa as they seem to have the most features and support, I'm fairly sure even with catwa demos you can also apply demo skins to them to see how they would look before purchasing! Also with mesh heads if you get one that is "bento" compatible it means you can use the shape sliders to change the shape of your mesh head to your liking.

I know you didn't ask for skins but two skin creators who make really realistic skins for females with appliers for catwa and Maitreya are INSOL and L'etre. 

Definitely check those out too! Hope I could help  

[Morgan Rosenstar]

For a good review on mesh bodies and heads, I would suggest to have a look on Mesh Body Addicts and StrawberrySingh.com. You'll find all sort of useful details and informations there.

 

25 minutes ago, UllaVonFrapp said:

But most players I've asked seem vague and hesitant to share their sources and secrets, for fear that I copy their looks or disdain of the "noob" trying to steal their beauty secrets.

Not always, I would do that because it's not my place to tell you what is the best looking body for your own preferences. I started with Tonic Curvy and I loved it until the very shape of the mesh had been changed by the creator. Now I'm using Belleza Venus which is not that much supported by creators. Lots of Maitreya users are going to throw rocks at your face if you dare to point how many flaws this meshbody has and there are legions so that's going to be a lot of rocks thrown at you. Etc etc...

 

32 minutes ago, UllaVonFrapp said:

And about mesh heads, which ones would you recommend for both beauty and realism?

Personally I love the LaQ heads even if I've not yet found one that fits with what I'm looking for.

 

12 minutes ago, rasterscan said:

many ladies heads look the same these days its becoming monotonous. I cannot tell you which mesh head it is

It's not a matter of mesh head but tastes. Many ladies were looking the same before meshes. Now they still look the same but meshed.

[Ulla Dismantled]

2 minutes ago, tomfrostt said:

I personally would stick with a Maitreya body and then with a mesh head I'd definitely use one by Catwa as they seem to have the most features and support, I'm fairly sure even with catwa demos you can also apply demo skins to them to see how they would look before purchasing! Also with mesh heads if you get one that is "bento" compatible it means you can use the shape sliders to change the shape of your mesh head to your liking.

I know you didn't ask for skins but two skin creators who make really realistic skins for females with appliers for catwa and Maitreya are INSOL and L'etre. 

Definitely check those out too! Hope I could help  

Very helpful advice from handsome looking male, your profile picture is so, so hot! 

Thanks handsome! 

[Ulla Dismantled]

5 minutes ago, Morgan Rosenstar said:

For a good review on mesh bodies and heads, I would suggest to have a look on Mesh Body Addicts and StrawberrySingh.com. You'll find all sort of useful details and informations there.

 

Not always, I would do that because it's not my place to tell you what is the best looking body for your own preferences. I started with Tonic Curvy and I loved it until the very shape of the mesh had been changed by the creator. Now I'm using Belleza Venus which is not that much supported by creators. Lots of Maitreya users are going to throw rocks at your face if you dare to point how many flaws this meshbody has and there are legions so that's going to be a lot of rocks thrown at you. Etc etc...

 

Personally I love the LaQ heads even if I've not yet found one that fits with what I'm looking for.

 

It's not a matter of mesh head but tastes. Many ladies were looking the same before meshes. Now they still look the same but meshed.

Thank you Morgan, I'm saving these links.

A lot of different options and advices already..

Takes a deep breath, I'll get there...

[rasterscan]

"And what is Bento exactly? "

You can wiggle your fingers, flick V's, wink, poke your tongue out, allsorts now   ... If your mesh is bento enabled. Its done from a hud i believe.

Edited December 1, 2017 by rasterscan

[Ulla Dismantled]

1 minute ago, rasterscan said:

"And what is Bento exactly? "

You can wiggle your fingers, flick V's, wink, poke your tongue out, allsorts now

Oh cute, I want that!

So it has to be a mesh head with Bento option?

[rasterscan]

3 minutes ago, UllaVonFrapp said:

So it has to be a mesh head with Bento option?

I guess. I'm a non expert guy, the ladies will put you right for sure

[LittleMe Jewell]

If I understand correctly, Bento is the name of the project that added more bone points to the avatar skeleton.  If the head has more bone points, then the mesh heads can adapt to the sliders in more ways and animations can use those additional points also.  Likewise, with Bento enabled hands, the fingers can now do all sorts of new poses whereas before there was very little detailed hand movements that could be done.  A bit of searching the forums or googling can give you tons of specifics.

And yes, the head must be Bento enabled to be able to do those extra animations.

Edited December 1, 2017 by LittleMe Jewell

[Ulla Dismantled]

Just now, LittleMe Jewell said:

If I understand correctly, Bento is the name of the project that added more bone points to the avatar skeleton.  If the head has more bone points, then the mesh heads can adapt to the sliders in more ways and animations can use those additional points also.  Likewise, with Bento enabled hands, the fingers can now do all sorts of new poses whereas before there was very little detailed hand movements that could be done.  A bit of searching the forums or googling can give you tons of specifics.

Thank you LittleMe, cute name too 

[MaggiJin]

I'm a new user so i can't give you absolutely every detail on every mesh body out there, but a bit of advice for the long run would be to get something because the shape is really "you", not just because of "well its got alot of clothes" or "well its cheaper". Buyers remorse hurts worse if you find out you like something else way better later on down the line. also i saw a few non- bento heads that where animated, but bento heads might be better supported now. the utilizator normie head looks really cool, but if you don't mind dropping the lindens, i couldn't recommend lelutka more. i demo'd lelutka before the other 2 brands and ended up loving the other 2 less for it.

 

 

edited for miss-spell :'(

Edited December 1, 2017 by MaggiJin

[Anna Nova]

There is a certain flow to this...  Body -> Head -> Skin -> AO....  and it's the combo that actually makes the 'you'.

If you say Maitreya Lara then that's so much, then the Head, say LeLutka or Catwa at 5000, but take care - a good skin can be 1000 for the head plus another 300 for the body, and if you want Omega, then you have at least 2 Omega relays at 100 each.  And all your pre-mesh outfits are just a dead weight in your inventory.  Most mesh outfits will be wareable, but none of them will look as good a new clothes rigged for the body you choose.

So it's worth taking a lot of time to get all the demos - not just the body, but also the head and skin - and making sure you can make the naked you look like it oughta.

 

[Vin Soulstar]

1 hour ago, UllaVonFrapp said:

Oh cute, I want that!

So it has to be a mesh head with Bento option?

I know my male body came with bento hands as part of the package for the body but with heads you will need to make sure you buy a bento head if you want facial animations.

As I said in another post facial animations are a nice addition and full credits to the creators for the amazing work they do but for me I couldn't justify the $4000L difference between a bento and non bento head.

One final thing and probably the most important, demo, demo, demo.

If you want to get the right look the first time without wasting lindens then you just have to try every demo head, body, shape, skin combination there is until you find the right look.

My ex got me into mesh when I got back into SL and basically dragged me to certain spots and said this is what you want, now I wish I had tried  ALOT more demos.

 

 

Edited December 1, 2017 by Vin Soulstar

[OnlyMon]

12 minutes ago, Vin Soulstar said:

I know my male body came with bento hands as part of the package for the body but with heads you will need to make sure you buy a bento head if you want facial animations.

As I said in another post facial animations are a nice addition and full credits to the creators for the amazing work they do but for me I couldn't justify the $4000L difference between a bento and non bento head.

One final thing and probably the most important, demo, demo, demo.

If you want to get the right look the first time without wasting lindens then you just have to try every demo head, body, shape, skin combination there is until you find the right look.

My ex got me into mesh when I got back into SL and basically dragged me to certain spots and said this is what you want, now I wish I had tried  ALOT more demos.

 

 

Completely second this. I currently have a non-bento Catwa head and as much as I want to go bento I havent found something I liked yet so dont buy something if youre not 100% in love with it

If youre wanting to sample lots of skins, id think about joining groups like 7 deadly, where theres alot of group gifts, MMMs constantly (they currently have their advent calender up, but the group fee has been raised atm). 

This goes more for clothing (but you can do this for your head, body and skins), but I find it quite helpful to get all the demos of an outfit I want first. Then id put it together and see if I like the end result before purchasing each piece. It saves me from just buying random things here and there and afterwards not being able to put a cohesive look together lol. 

[Bobbie Faulds]

Demo, demo, demo. Grab the demos and find the body that YOU like, not necessarily the most popular. One thing you do want is to be sure that what you get is Omega compatible. It will save you headaches when you go looking for skins.

Maitreya is common but the Tonic Fine is very close to the same size. The Tonic is a bit more curved and the breast are more rounded. I own Maitreya, all 3 Belleza, both Slink, both Tonic, uLukie, GInc, and Violet Studios. My preferred is the Tonic FIne...demo and find the one you like. Each has strengths and weaknesses. They each have different alpha cuts. You have to find the one that suits you. Belleza doesn't have the Bento hands yet in the female but they are coming. Slink you buy the feet and hands separately.

As for heads, again Demo, Demo, Demo. I have Bento  Catwa, Lelutka, LOGO, AK, Vista, LAQ, Jenna and Mayreal. They also have pros and cons. Find the one that fits your budget with the features you want. Some are broader at the cheekbones, others are slimmer. Some have a more square chin that you won't be able to make it more pointed. Some have thicker, bee-stung, looks that you can't make smaller. Others have smaller lips. Find what you like.

As for what Bento is, It's a new skeleton that SL developed in Sansar and moved to SL. Where the original hands had just knobs at the end of the arms, the new skeleton has individual fingers. The original head just had knobs at the top that allowed size and stretch. The sliders for the head weren't rigged to anything so that when the first mesh heads came out, you could only change the size and stretch. The Bento skeleton now has "bones" ie attachment point for the mesh to be attached to, that allow you to personalize your face, just about like the default head. You also got bones for wings, ears/antennae, a tail and an extra set of legs that can be used for avis like Centaurs. These bones allow animations to be made that can work with an AO.

Hope that helps. Just remember...DEMO. Demos are your friend. 

[Ulla Dismantled]

Thank you so much everybody for all these very helpful tips.

I'm starting to get a feeling for what I need to do now, I will try demos and combine them to see how they match until I feel that I've found the new me!

 

[Rhonda Huntress]

3 hours ago, UllaVonFrapp said:

I don't know anything about eyes and which skins to wear on these bodies and heads.

/me dons her flame gear.

I'm going to hate myself for this ...

OK, just like the old classic avatars, you need a good skin and shape match.  Only know we have mesh body parts instead of the system body.  Skins are now basically two parts, one that applies to the body and one that applies to the head.

Do you remember LAQ?  They have been making high quality skins for years.  What we do now is go buy the one skin we like for our body and wear it all the time, then look at all the different heads with that same skin tone and mix and match as you want.

Another skin place is Pink Fuel.  They have several body options like smooth tummy or athletic abs and boobs shades that enhance the curves,, minimize the curves or just a normal look.  You pick out the body you want and then add the faces with matching skin tones.  It's a little more of a chore but if you get your body and head skins from the same place they should match perfectly.  I say should because there are a lot of o-so skins around as well.

So here comes the flame bait ..... If you get the Maitreya body it comes with Glam Affair skins included.  These are high quality skins right out of the box.  Plus Maitreya is 100% hands down the most supported body and in my honest opinion the best looking and most realistic.  LeLutka heads also come with Glam Affair skins already installed.  Both Maitreya and LeLutka include all the normal (human) skin tones and match perfectly together.  LeLutka also has the easiest HUD for customizing, applying makeup, running animations, etc.  LeLutka also comes with several eye colors.  Like Catwa and others, you can always go shopping other places for eyes you can change with a HUD.

Anyway, whether or not you update at a later time, you can't go wrong starting out with Maitreya body and LeLutka head. 

/me slips away from the forums for the weekend to avoid the feedback, counters and flames.

 

[LittleMe Jewell]

3 minutes ago, Rhonda Huntress said:

/me dons her flame gear.

<snip>

So here comes the flame bait .....

<snip>

 

Didn't want you to get all dressed up for nothin

 

Edited December 1, 2017 by LittleMe Jewell