Male skins for Omega heads/Classic bodies

[Garyll]

Can anyone recommend me any good male skins that have options for both Omega heads AND Classic bodies? I'm looking for a pale skin with blond or light brown brows. Not goth/vampire-pale, just kind of English-pale.

So far I have found two; Plastik and Lure, I'm looking to find out if these are my only available options or if there are any more I can try.  I love the Plastik one (Barrus) except it has NO FEET!! They are literally completely un-detailed, not even any toes. The Lure one is okay but I don't like the face as much. 

Right now I am using the Lightstar mesh head (which I really like) with the included skin (which I don't).  I'm not looking to upgrade to a mesh body just yet, unless you can recommend one with Omega that is L$1500 or under.

[Maitimo]

Try 7 Deadly Skins. All their face appliers are Omega and they have classic as well as applier bodies.  They won't break the bank either, you could get both for under L$1k.

[Chic Aeon]

25 minutes ago, Matty Luminos said:

Try 7 Deadly Skins. All their face appliers are Omega and they have classic as well as applier bodies.  They won't break the bank either, you could get both for under L$1k.

Note that the newer versions of 7DS skins no longer have classic layers so READ carefully and of course try demos.  It is REALLY difficult to find Omega skins for guys. I started a thread on this a couple of months ago and did a lot of investigating.  You might try VYC; unfortunately I couldn't get their Omega to work with the mesh that I have. Omega is "picky".  Also note that when Bakes On Mesh gets active on the grid, a lot of the rules will change. 

I didn't by the way, buy any skins after my several days of shopping :D.   

[MegaRose]

How much does it matter to have detailed feet?  If you plan to be barefoot or in sandals a lot there are male Slink feet, you can probably get a fairly good match from their default skins and some tinting.  I imagine you could get away with hiding the classic un-feet with boots most of the time, though.

[Ariel Vuissent]

There's a free male mesh body... somewhere. I'm sure you can find references to it in recent forum posts; I can't search at the moment, myself. It's limited in function, but nice. Barring that, if you're going without a mesh body for more than a month or two, Slink feet (and maybe hands, but certainly feet) may be a worthwhile investment. System feet, regardless of skin, are just plain ugly. Slink is reasonable - especially for men, since you needn't worry about different foot heights - and there are tons of shoes and skin appliers available for them. 

If you're just saving up for a mesh body, though, I'd just deal with the ugly feet for a while. Personally.

Skin-wise, I sadly have no advice, except that the skin you like may do appliers for Slink feet with actual toes and such.

Edited July 2, 2018 by Ariel Vuissent

[Skell Dagger]

2 hours ago, Ariel Vuissent said:

There's a free male mesh body... somewhere. I'm sure you can find references to it in recent forum posts; I can't search at the moment, myself. It's limited in function, but nice.

That would be 'Max' by Altamura, which is out at both the Ajuda Brasil and Unihispania Crea community gateways. I picked it up to check it out, and believe me it's... underwhelming. Here's a raw shot of the head and torso with the default included shape:

It's fine for a complete freebie Bento head and body if you don't want to alpha out your head to wear any other head (it's not possible on the HUD), don't mind one single very dark skintone that cannot be changed (which won't work for the OP, since he mentioned wanting a pale skin), and don't want to use any other kind of applier such as tattoos. The HUD is also a nightmare, with tiny and unpredictable increments of alphas that are damn near impossible to click on accurately without some squinting and a lot of trial and error.

I really dislike coming down hard on free gifts, especially ones by a store as generous as Altamura is, having already offered other free full Bento avatars as well as gift appliers to the L'Homme Magazine Readers group. Free Bento bodies and heads are difficult enough to come by for those that can't afford to pay for full-priced ones. But compare this to, say the L$1 Ebody mesh bodies for women, which include 12 skin tones and three foot heights compatible with Slink shoes (but, admittedly, a much less generous alpha HUD), and you'll see why - once again - the guys get shafted when it comes to good quality free and cheap mesh stuff (the occasional generous gift such as Akeruka's L$150 group-only heads, and Kauna's stock retirement L$0 clothing sale notwithstanding).

To the OP, I can't recommend a mesh body under L$1500 (there's only one, and that's the L$500 TMP body, which I wouldn't recommend to my worst enemy!) but the full Slink Physique male bundle (body, feet, and Bento hands) is the next cheapest option, at L$2,250, plus L$99 for the additional Omega installer:

[Garyll]

Thanks everyone.

I ended up checking out 7 Deadly Skins and found one that works really well with my mesh head, it looks great. And the old classic body skins do match the new applier skins so I got one of those too.  Slink feet, I already own so I upgraded them, picked up an omega applier for them too. (For some reason the Plastik appliers didn't work, neither on my slink feet nor on any of the mesh body demos I tried. They applied fine to the upper body and head but the lower body and feet just stayed grey. I dunno if they just disabled those parts because it was a demo, or if the appliers were just broken, but if it was on purpose, it's a dumb way to do a demo).

Here's the result:

I did try the Slink Physique demo too, but I think I will just get the hands and leave it at at that for now; I don't feel a need to go for a full mesh body yet. I think I'll wait and see what changes when Bakes on Mesh comes in.

Did I mention how much I love this head? 

Obligatory credits:

• Head: Lightstar, Zach L$1000 (bento but doesn't animate, except for blinking)
• Skin: 7Deadly Skins, Brent (Steam), with a random older one for the classic body, both together cost $1100
• Hair: No Match, No Hint (group gift, L$50 to join the group)
• Hoodie & Jeans: Hawker's House, I think these were an old group gift too but I've had it so long I don't even remember.

Edited July 2, 2018 by Garyll

[TheCelestialToymaker]

On 7/2/2018 at 4:33 PM, Skell Dagger said:

That would be 'Max' by Altamura, which is out at both the Ajuda Brasil and Unihispania Crea community gateways. I picked it up to check it out, and believe me it's... underwhelming. Here's a raw shot of the head and torso with the default included shape:

It's fine for a complete freebie Bento head and body if you don't want to alpha out your head to wear any other head (it's not possible on the HUD), don't mind one single very dark skintone that cannot be changed (which won't work for the OP, since he mentioned wanting a pale skin), and don't want to use any other kind of applier such as tattoos. The HUD is also a nightmare, with tiny and unpredictable increments of alphas that are damn near impossible to click on accurately without some squinting and a lot of trial and error.

I really dislike coming down hard on free gifts, especially ones by a store as generous as Altamura is, having already offered other free full Bento avatars as well as gift appliers to the L'Homme Magazine Readers group. Free Bento bodies and heads are difficult enough to come by for those that can't afford to pay for full-priced ones. But compare this to, say the L$1 Ebody mesh bodies for women, which include 12 skin tones and three foot heights compatible with Slink shoes (but, admittedly, a much less generous alpha HUD), and you'll see why - once again - the guys get shafted when it comes to good quality free and cheap mesh stuff (the occasional generous gift such as Akeruka's L$150 group-only heads, and Kauna's stock retirement L$0 clothing sale notwithstanding).

To the OP, I can't recommend a mesh body under L$1500 (there's only one, and that's the L$500 TMP body, which I wouldn't recommend to my worst enemy!) but the full Slink Physique male bundle (body, feet, and Bento hands) is the next cheapest option, at L$2,250, plus L$99 for the additional Omega installer:

Altamura has TWO versions of Max gift. The one is this dark skinned one at the Brasil Gateway, and the other is at Unihispana Gateway. They wanted to include people of light or dark skin to have free bento mesh available to them. They also have Robert available at the London Gateway, and Tommy at their main store as a group gift.

Not to mention the female avis...Valentina at Brasil, Jenny at London, Kim at Unihispana, and Emanuelle as a group gift at their main store

Being bento mesh, the shape is super easy to modify to your own taste, and there are shapes available free or to buy.

I'm not sure why you'd compare a free male bento avi to a female one. Females seem to be the predominant sex in SL, so the market for their avis is much larger IMHO.

On top of that, Altamura runs monthly promotions on different full version bento avis for as little as 300L$

[Skell Dagger]

52 minutes ago, TheCelestialToymaker said:

Altamura has TWO versions of Max gift. The one is this dark skinned one at the Brasil Gateway, and the other is at Unihispana Gateway. They wanted to include people of light or dark skin to have free bento mesh available to them. They also have Robert available at the London Gateway, and Tommy at their main store as a group gift.

Not to mention the female avis...Valentina at Brasil, Jenny at London, Kim at Unihispana, and Emanuelle as a group gift at their main store

Being bento mesh, the shape is super easy to modify to your own taste, and there are shapes available free or to buy.

I'm not sure why you'd compare a free male bento avi to a female one. Females seem to be the predominant sex in SL, so the market for their avis is much larger IMHO.

On top of that, Altamura runs monthly promotions on different full version bento avis for as little as 300L$

I've been blogging male fashion in SL for ten years. I know what the market is like for both men and women, and men get exceedingly short shrift, as per the part of my post that states: "the guys get shafted when it comes to good quality free and cheap mesh stuff".

I have tried the other free male Altamura avatars that you mention. As a CSR for a major mesh head brand I am very familiar with working with Bento shapes, and I have spent several hours trying to mould the Altamura freebies into something that I'm happy with. They just simply are not for me. The heads are not as responsive as I'd like (and I say that as an impartial observer) and the bodies do have some heavy limitations which I mentioned in my post. The original poster clearly stated that he wanted skins that were Omega, so - when the Altamura freebie was mentioned - I knew it wouldn't work for him, since it doesn't support Omega.

Anyone who knows me will know that I don't promote only the brand that I work for; instead I will always recommend that people go for what works for them, not what I say they should use). The HUD is absolutely enormous (takes up a lot of screen real estate and cannot be minimised) and contains hundreds of tiny cuts which - while fantastic for getting clothing to fit - are sometimes so tiny that it's difficult for someone with 20:20 vision to click on them, let alone anyone with a vision impairment.

You are skipping over the part in my post where I clearly stated the following:

On 7/2/2018 at 9:33 PM, Skell Dagger said:

I really dislike coming down hard on free gifts, especially ones by a store as generous as Altamura is, having already offered other free full Bento avatars as well as gift appliers to the L'Homme Magazine Readers group. Free Bento bodies and heads are difficult enough to come by for those that can't afford to pay for full-priced ones.

I gave my own personal, objective opinion on that body, which I found to be underwhelming. I did not knock the store or the creator in any way; I simply didn't think that particular body was something that I would recommend - unless it was to someone who didn't care about having only one pre-chosen skin to wear (depending on which version they picked up). I have promoted a previous Altamura freebie (the TeleportHub 'Aaron' body/head combination) on my Flickr, so I'm hardly trying to bash the brand as much as you appear to think that I am here. And I certainly did not post what I did as a 'dig' at a so-called 'rival brand' than the one I work for. I strive always to be impartial whenever I'm reviewing anything, no matter what it is.

1 hour ago, TheCelestialToymaker said:

I'm not sure why you'd compare a free male bento avi to a female one. Females seem to be the predominant sex in SL, so the market for their avis is much larger IMHO.

The comparison between male and female is a valid one. This particular male body comes with one unchangeable skintone (yes, dark available at one place and light available at another) whereas the free female body that I mentioned comes with multiple skin options and three different heel heights that fit shoes made for one of the two most popular mesh body brands. You seem to be saying that - because there are more female avatars than male avatars in Second Life - it's perfectly okay and understandable that free male items have much more severely limited options. As someone who has been in the male fashion industry for as long as I have and as someone who has campaigned for more choice and options in male fashion, my question is: Why is that okay?

Lastly, you're posting on an alt whose profile states that it's reserved exclusively for building. Out of your 6 posts on this forum so far, 5 are defending/promoting/talking exclusively about Altamura avatars. And the 6th post is in regard to outdated mesh body reviews on the Mesh Body Addicts site, so I'd lay money on you having visited there and seen that the entries for Altamura are not current. So please forgive me if I'm eyeing your response with a modicum of cynicism here.

In short: while I strive to be impartial when giving advice on this forum about male avatar creation using mesh heads and bodies (to the point of recommending - if I think that's what the poster needs - a rival mesh head brand than the one I work for) you appear only to be interested in one brand. Care to post using your main avatar next time, so that we know who stands behind those promotions and defensiveness regarding said brand?

[Love Zhaoying]

17 minutes ago, Skell Dagger said:

Why is that okay?

It’s not!

[Love Zhaoying]

Skell, without your advice, us noobmesh males on the forum would be totally lost!

Edited October 25, 2018 by Love Zhaoying

[Marianne Little]

On 10/26/2018 at 1:41 AM, Love Zhaoying said:

Skell, without your advice, us noobmesh males on the forum would be totally lost!

And as one who jumped the mesh body and head bandwagon early, I learnt a few things when he posted the mesh heads tutorials....

@Skell Daggeris a resource for help and support in SL.

 

Edited October 28, 2018 by Marianne Little

[TheCelestialToymaker]

On 10/25/2018 at 7:22 PM, Skell Dagger said:

The comparison between male and female is a valid one. This particular male body comes with one unchangeable skintone (yes, dark available at one place and light available at another) whereas the free female body that I mentioned comes with multiple skin options and three different heel heights that fit shoes made for one of the two most popular mesh body brands. You seem to be saying that - because there are more female avatars than male avatars in Second Life - it's perfectly okay and understandable that free male items have much more severely limited options. As someone who has been in the male fashion industry for as long as I have and as someone who has campaigned for more choice and options in male fashion, my question is: Why is that okay?

Lastly, you're posting on an alt whose profile states that it's reserved exclusively for building. Out of your 6 posts on this forum so far, 5 are defending/promoting/talking exclusively about Altamura avatars. And the 6th post is in regard to outdated mesh body reviews on the Mesh Body Addicts site, so I'd lay money on you having visited there and seen that the entries for Altamura are not current. So please forgive me if I'm eyeing your response with a modicum of cynicism here.

In short: while I strive to be impartial when giving advice on this forum about male avatar creation using mesh heads and bodies (to the point of recommending - if I think that's what the poster needs - a rival mesh head brand than the one I work for) you appear only to be interested in one brand. Care to post using your main avatar next time, so that we know who stands behind those promotions and defensiveness regarding said brand?

In answer to both paragraphs, as a fan of that brand I was simply trying to clear up what I saw as unfair comparisons, or incorrect ones. I'm unsure of why it matters this is an alt or not, I'm just adding my own two cents worth. None of their free avis can change skins, whether male or female. They both come with a body alpha HUD. I'd think female avis should be able to change their foot position for female shoes. Male shoes are all flat.

Again, I'm not sure why anything I have said should be viewed with any cynicism. I'm just clearing up misconceptions, etc. I have and do own other brands, but as I do like this brand most, I prefer not to bash or otherwise denigrate the hard work put into the brands I chose not to use on a daily basis.