Experimenting with mesh and I have some questions

[rawumber]

Hi all, 

I'm rawumber, sl name "Caroline Walker". You can call me Caroline. 

I just thought I would introduce myself on the forums as I've been on here a lot reading posts from you lovely folks/ladies/men on how to make a beautiful mesh body. 

So far I have just been experimenting with the free mesh bodies on offer (mostly Altamura). However, I wanted to know- what mesh bodies and heads do you recommend as being the "best". I realize this is subjective but... I enjoy hunting/finding designer freebies and wonder which body is best for this. Most mesh clothes fit my Altamura body but it really depends and I would like the clothes I find to fit nicely... and also be able to experiment and customize my body. I currently have Valentina free mesh body, but cannot do things like add makeup and skin tones which I would like to do. 

I am willing to pay money to get a nice and fun body/head to play with. 

 

~Caroline

[Kia Kiyori]

First of all, welcome to SL and the forums!

Ok 'beautiful' and 'best' are - you're quite right - subjective. To avoid emotional landmines, I'm just going to stick with what seems to have the most creators making clothes, shoes and whatnot for which bodies.

Maitreya, Belleza, Freya, Isis, Hourglass, TMP and SLink seem to be the best catered for in terms of clothing, with Maitreya arguably at the top of that list. I really can't comment on Altamura since I know less than next-to-nothing about them, but I'm sure there are many here who would be able to be far more informative regarding them.

Meanwhile, Mesh Body Addicts has a list of bodies and prices on their blog site: http://meshbodyaddicts.com/mesh-body-reviews/

Most mesh body shapes can be edited quite easily - at least, I'm not aware of any that can't - unless it's one of those all-in-one heads & bodies - not sure they can be edited, but again, someone else will hopefully be able to pipe in with more knowledge about those.

Mesh heads - I'm going to give you another link to Mesh Body Addicts: http://meshbodyaddicts.com/mesh-head-reviews/bento-mesh-heads/  That lists most of the mesh heads on the market, although there might be one or two new ones since that list was compiled.

I found that site to be so helpful to me before I even entered SL but if there's anything else you need help with, there's almost always helpful souls here on the forums willing to help.

[AyelaNewLife]

9 hours ago, rawumber said:

Hi all, 

I'm rawumber, sl name "Caroline Walker". You can call me Caroline. 

I just thought I would introduce myself on the forums as I've been on here a lot reading posts from you lovely folks/ladies/men on how to make a beautiful mesh body. 

So far I have just been experimenting with the free mesh bodies on offer (mostly Altamura). However, I wanted to know- what mesh bodies and heads do you recommend as being the "best". I realize this is subjective but... I enjoy hunting/finding designer freebies and wonder which body is best for this. Most mesh clothes fit my Altamura body but it really depends and I would like the clothes I find to fit nicely... and also be able to experiment and customize my body. I currently have Valentina free mesh body, but cannot do things like add makeup and skin tones which I would like to do. 

I am willing to pay money to get a nice and fun body/head to play with. 

 

~Caroline

Maitreya Lara, the two Slink bodies, and the three Belleza bodies have the widest range of clothing available for them, by a pretty large margin. Out of those, Maitreya is almost universal, you can almost guarantee that an active mesh clothing creator will be rigging for at least that one body. The other five I mentioned will run into the "Maitreya-exclusive" problem that plagues the fashion world, sadly. Out of the Bellezas, Freya has more options than Isis or Venus, and Slink Hourglass has more options than Slink Physique. The Kemono body is also popular, but that tends to be used by a more niche market, such as furries and people after a more "anime" look. Avoid TMP at all costs.

So my advice depends on what your priorities are. If clothing availability is your big concern, go with Maitreya. If you prefer the more distinct shape you can get from Hourglass or any of the thicker Belleza bodies, then go for that. My personal experience is that Slink Physique and Maitreya Lara can produce exceptionally similar shapes with only a small amount of shape tweaking - Maitreya looks a touch more perky in the T&A, but aside from that is very similar. Have a look at the default shapes to get an idea, demo your shortlist, and try and make your preferred shape with the demo to make sure you're happy with it before buying.

In terms of heads; most major head creators have a wide range of different heads for sale. I'd suggest checking out some creators and looking through their range of heads, and pick a head that's as close as possible to what you want to look like. The same shape on a different head by the same creator will look totally different. I'd recommend using the shape that comes with the head as your starting point, and rebuild the body the way you like. What I did was manually copy the slider settings for the head from that shape to my old one, thus keeping my old body shape with the new head shape. Save that, make a copy, then tweak and customise from there.

In terms of creators: I am totally biased here, but I adore Laq heads, I think they are the most gorgeous out there. Others will disagree. Catwa is the Maitreya of the head world, the big cheese, and most makeup/tat/etc creators will make a Catwa version. However thanks to Omega appliers (that work with any compatible body/head - ie all of them that matter) that's less of an issue. Lelutka is another big name, similar size to Laq. There's a few other names I've heard good things about, such as Akeruka and Logo, which could be worth checking out. I've heard people talk about a free Genus head recently, not sure if that's still a thing, but could be worth a look. Make sure the head is Bento. Also demo.

(Quick note about Laq heads: most heads come with a HUD that controls expressions as well as alpha control and some basic makeups etc etc, they include that in with the price. Laq charges for the HUD separately. You will need this HUD, even though it's technically optional.)

I'd ignore the reviews section of the websites @AnyaJurelle gave you entirely. Most of them are half a decade old, and the vast majority of the review content is misleading and wrong because of that. The tutorials section of that website is excellent, well worth a read - just avoid the reviews. They do more harm than good.

[Kia Kiyori]

@AyelaNewLife I knew the info was old when I read it, but it was still helpful to me before I entered SL, so I'm not quite as quick to be dismissive over some kinds of info, old or new. The reason I gave the links was for at least some kind of list of bodies and heads more than pricing.

[AyelaNewLife]

21 minutes ago, AnyaJurelle said:

@AyelaNewLife I knew the info was old when I read it, but it was still helpful to me before I entered SL, so I'm not quite as quick to be dismissive over some kinds of info, old or new. The reason I gave the links was for at least some kind of list of bodies and heads more than pricing.

The problem is, it's not even good for that. It has reviews for 15 female mesh body creators; of that list, only 3 are supported by the creator community at large, possibly 5 if you include Tonic and eBody. The heads list has 6 Catwa heads and 2 Laq heads; right now there's over 30 female Catwa heads, let alone their range of male heads, and Laq have even more options. Old info is fine if it's still accurate; but it's better to be told nothing than to base a decision on falsehoods, and those reviews contain more out-of-date points than actual facts.

I'm speaking from experience here, as someone who started 6 months ago. I nearly fell into the TMP trap because I got given that list without context. Luckily I made a friend who could tell me what things are currently like, rather than what the clothing market was like in 2015, and I could make an actually educated decision rather than one built on dust.

The tutorials are still amazing though, I would have been lost without them.

Edited November 5, 2018 by AyelaNewLife
I did typo

[Fionalein]

Slink, Bellezza and Maitraya also have Slink hand and feet compatibility - not neccesarily important, but if you want to use 3rd party hands/feet/paws like Slink/Vista/Apricotpaws/Catseye you will have to have those wrist and ankle connection compatibilies ... something to keep in mind.

Edited November 5, 2018 by Fionalein

[Blush Bravin]

I agree with the previous posts about the big three bodies: Maitreya, Belleza, and Slink. Also agree completely that Maitreya is the most supported; however, that's not nearly as pervasive as it once was, so if you prefer the shape of either the Belleza Freya or Slink Hourglass don't worry about clothing so much as creators that were once Maitreya only are now adding those two body sizes to their clothing lines.

The one thing I'd like to add to the list in regards to mesh heads is to carefully demo the animations that come with the head. If you buy a head that is gorgeous unanimated but the then face distorts in ways you aren't fond of during animation it can make you regret your purchase. Also, pay close attention to the main HUDs. Do you like how the HUD works? This should be a priority when selecting a head IMO.

I find the video tutorials made by Strawberry Singh to be a very helpful resource when looking into mesh heads and bodies. This is a link to her YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCE6xvjkOu6wE-wJ-7-1x5bw. Scroll down until you see the heading: Second Life Content. You will find playlists for mesh bodies, female mesh heads, and male mesh heads. She has done a video on all the major brands heads and bodies. She goes over how the huds work and shows various skins on the heads. 

[rawumber]

I just wanted to thank all of you! This was very helpful.

I did end up demoing a bunch and I settled on Belleza Freya. I just felt she was more "me", as many of your recommended to choose what I like. I haven't picked a head yet- just using one of Altamura's free heads for the time being. I may look for a CATWA soon.

I am posting a picture of what my avatar looks like now. What are your thoughts?

 

[Rhonda Huntress]

2 hours ago, rawumber said:

What are your thoughts?

 

2 hours ago, rawumber said:

I settled on Belleza Freya

No Maitreya? Burn the heretic!
Just kidding.

Belleza does curvy very well and that looks like what you are going for.  The arms seem a little thin compared to the rest of the body so maybe consider increasing the torso muscles a little bit? 

You look nice.  When you start shopping for a head ... how to put this ... look at as many heads as you can and find the one that looks as close to what you want as you can get.  They all respond to sliders differently and the more you want to change it's default the worse your experience will be.  LAQ, Catwa or LeLutka all have well supported heads.  I have personal experience with these brands so feel sure about recommending any of them.  There are other brands, of course, (and other brands I have tried) but these three are ones I have bought and found easy to use.

[rawumber]

Hi all, 

 

Just another update. Thanks for your feedback

 

This is my head/ shape now. The Body:Freya, Head: GA.EG Barbara. Dress: Kaithleen's, Hair: Truth 

 

[Lindal Kidd]

While Mesh Body Addicts seems to have stopped updating, one excellent resource for mesh lovers are the reviews done by Strawberry Singh.  See her blog, and her YouTube channel.