What is the best mesh head for maitreya body?

[Halo Fatale]

i wanted THAT head. 😛

I already bought the maitreya body. I will look for a head. (btw is LOUSEKI - Gigi Skin) a head? i think im not sure how to search for each component. I need a skin, a shape and a head, yeah?

(Lelutka can only be found IN game? I tried to search in the marketplace and nothing really came up, just some skins)

 

There needs to be some kinda compatibility chart. sigh.

 

I appreciate everyone's help! I'm returning after 100 years, I can't even imagine how difficult all of this is to navigate, if one wer brand new to all of it.

Edited May 3, 2022 by Halo Fatale

[Ayashe Ninetails]

8 minutes ago, Halo Fatale said:

i wanted THAT head. 😛

I already bought the maitreya body. I will look for a head. (btw is LOUSEKI - Gigi Skin) a head? i think im not sure how to search for each component. I need a skin, a shape and a head, yeah?

(Lelutka can only be found IN game? I tried to search in the marketplace and nothing really came up, just some skins)

 

There needs to be some kinda compatibility chart. sigh.

 

I appreciate everyone's help! I'm returning after 100 years, I can't even imagine how difficult all of this is to navigate, if one wer brand new to all of it.

Implode - Gigi Evo X Skin is the skin itself. In your screenshot there, it's being worn on Lelutka Avalon. Lel's mainstore in-world can be found here - http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/LeLutka/128/128/25

You want to grab the demo for Lelutka Avalon at the store. When you teleport in, walk forward and to your left. Photo below. Put that demo on and wear the included HUD. Make sure the HUD is set to Evo X, and you can try the skin on with it. There will be a demo shape included with the head demo, or you can see if a shape was included with your skin package and put that on instead.

[Persephone Emerald]

Btw, 7 Deadly Skins is currently free join, has many free group skins, and their skins fit the Maitreya body and whichever head they say they're made for usually seamlessly. (Their Evo X skins can show a neck line, but have a free neck fade available.) Most skin makers currently require you to buy both a body skin and a head skin, but 7DS does not. Their newer group to join is  SEVEN. 

When you get a mesh head, be sure to use the Shape that comes with it and adjust it to your liking. Mesh heads can look really weird if they're worn with a Shape that's not made for that brand of head.

If you like Lelutka heads, but don't like their price, Akeruka heads are less expensive and now work with skins made for both Evolution and Evo X heads. (Personally I think Lelutka heads are best, but other Bento BOM heads can be good too.)

Edited May 3, 2022 by Persephone Emerald

[Ayashe Ninetails]

6 minutes ago, Persephone Emerald said:

If you like Lelutka heads, but don't like their price, Akeruka heads are less expensive and now work with skins made for both Evolution and Evo X heads. (Personally I think Lelutka heads are best, but other Bento BOM heads can be good too.)

Did AK finally start mapping to Evo X? I might have to run over there and try some demos if so. I love their heads for making more unique fantasy looks. They make the most perfect looking plastic dolls and mannequins and the eyes are super expressive.

Man I hope that's not an insult! 😂 Love you, AK!

[Anicha Heartsong]

10 hours ago, Ayashe Ninetails said:

There will be a demo shape included with the head demo, or you can see if a shape was included with your skin package and put that on instead.

Bear in mind that the demo shapes that come from mesh head and skin suppliers are invariably awful. You can't judge the head properly from their shapes (which is a major flaw in their marketing, if you ask me.) You'll need to buy a specialist shape - or better still make your own. Or get someone to help. In the meantime, some shape makers provide demos. West End certainly do.

[Ayashe Ninetails]

7 hours ago, Anicha Heartsong said:

Bear in mind that the demo shapes that come from mesh head and skin suppliers are invariably awful. You can't judge the head properly from their shapes (which is a major flaw in their marketing, if you ask me.) You'll need to buy a specialist shape - or better still make your own. Or get someone to help. In the meantime, some shape makers provide demos. West End certainly do.

I'd never personally purchase a shape or use included ones as-is as I find they're all kind of terrible to be honest. I am super super super picky and make all of mine myself.

But, the OP mentioned she wanted the exact look she found in that skin ad, and that would most likely be the easiest to achieve by starting with the skin's own included shape, IF they included one, and customizing from there.

[Rowan Amore]

12 minutes ago, Ayashe Ninetails said:

I'd never personally purchase a shape or use included ones as-is as I find they're all kind of terrible to be honest. I am super super super picky and make all of mine myself.

But, the OP mentioned she wanted the exact look she found in that skin ad, and that would most likely be the easiest to achieve by starting with the skin's own included shape, IF they included one, and customizing from there.

I normally start with the shape that comes with the skin rather than the head since I don't usually use skin made for a specific head aside from it being EvoX.  Of course, I then edit the heck out of it.  The skin I'm using now was a gift skin and was shown on another Lelutka head/Caucasian skin on the vendor.  

[Ayashe Ninetails]

1 minute ago, Rowan Amore said:

I normally start with the shape that comes with the skin rather than the head since I don't usually use skin made for a specific head aside from it being EvoX.  Of course, I then edit the heck out of it.  The skin I'm using now was a gift skin and was shown on another Lelutka head/Caucasian skin on the vendor.  

Yep, I do that too, sometimes. I even started making myself "brand templates" where I plugged in my body numbers and worked off a random head in that brand's line (Freya for Catwa, Lilly and Alain for Lel, the Strong gift for Genus, some random gift head I got ages back for AK), and then as I acquire more heads in that line, that gives me yet another easy starting point with my body already sorted. But it really, reallllyyy depends. Sometimes the skin's own shape is a better launch point (I've found this with Moccino definitely). Sometimes a head's included shape. It's never quite the same process for me!

[Psyche Starling]

Mine is currently a Deetalez skin on a 7 Deadly Skins shape. 😂 The shape came with a skin I bought, and I ended up liking the shape better than the skin, so I kept the shape and used it with the Deetalez skin I bought. Took some trial and error but I like it.

[Ayashe Ninetails]

9 minutes ago, BookishMelinoe said:

Mine is currently a Deetalez skin on a 7 Deadly Skins shape. 😂 The shape came with a skin I bought, and I ended up liking the shape better than the skin, so I kept the shape and used it with the Deetalez skin I bought. Took some trial and error but I like it.

Yup, I do a lot of mixing and matching sometimes. 7 Deadly used to be my absolute favorite for the all-in-one skin layout alone, but their darker tones don't work for me. I found myself sticking to the midtones, and eventually I gave in and bought a different skin from another store. But man do they give away a TON of free skins! I must have hundreds in that folder. 😂

[Psyche Starling]

4 minutes ago, Ayashe Ninetails said:

Yup, I do a lot of mixing and matching sometimes. 7 Deadly used to be my absolute favorite for the all-in-one skin layout alone, but their darker tones don't work for me. I found myself sticking to the midtones, and eventually I gave in and bought a different skin from another store. But man do they give away a TON of free skins! I must have hundreds in that folder. 😂

Yes! I really like their facial shapes--before I got my Lelutka head, I was using another of theirs on my Genus head, again with a skin from some other store--but the skins just have too much highlighting on them for my taste. Like I know the "illusion that a really bright light is shining on it" look is a thing, but not what I'm going for.

Edited May 4, 2022 by BookishMelinoe

[Persephone Emerald]

4 hours ago, BookishMelinoe said:

Yes! I really like their facial shapes--before I got my Lelutka head, I was using another of theirs on my Genus head, again with a skin from some other store--but the skins just have too much highlighting on them for my taste. Like I know the "illusion that a really bright light is shining on it" look is a thing, but not what I'm going for.

7DS definitely favors light to medium skin tones, but they also have tones that compensate for the too bright ones. A texture of their current skin tones will show how some tones are grayed down versions of others. Example: Apricot + gray = Pineapple.

Btw, Nuve has a free Tint tattoo layer set that's made to create fantasy tones, but you can copy and modify one of the tones to add a brown tan to skins.

Also don't rule out using a Genus or Catwa HDPRO skin on a Lelutka or Akeruka head (Evolution setting). These heads are all based on the SLUV map, so sometimes they can work interchangeably. Demo to check for yourself. 

Edited May 4, 2022 by Persephone Emerald

[Halo Fatale]

On 5/3/2022 at 11:47 AM, Ayashe Ninetails said:

Implode - Gigi Evo X Skin is the skin itself. In your screenshot there, it's being worn on Lelutka Avalon. Lel's mainstore in-world can be found here - http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/LeLutka/128/128/25

You want to grab the demo for Lelutka Avalon at the store. When you teleport in, walk forward and to your left. Photo below. Put that demo on and wear the included HUD. Make sure the HUD is set to Evo X, and you can try the skin on with it. There will be a demo shape included with the head demo, or you can see if a shape was included with your skin package and put that on instead.

welp. heres what i got. i dont see a HUD in the box. When I added the head, it got worse.

 

 

 

Edited May 5, 2022 by Halo Fatale

[Rowan Amore]

52 minutes ago, Halo Fatale said:

 

Looks.as.if you've filtered Inventory to show Avalon.  Collapse inventory and open the folder so it will show ALL 39 items inside.  The HUD isn't specifically called Avalon.

Also, turn on BOM on the HUD.

Edited May 5, 2022 by Rowan Amore

[Persephone Emerald]

^ She's not even wearing the head either. 

 🗳️ /HEAD/lel Evo X AVALON 3.1 Demo (no modify) (no transfer)

is not highlighted.

[Anicha Heartsong]

Halo, you need help in-world for this. Trying to do it via the forums will be slow and frustrating. Try asking for help from one of the welcome centers, or IM me if you wish. Or go to the Lelutka mainstore and see if there's anyone there who looks friendly, and ask them.

[Ceka Cianci]

It's always best to try your products in world group for help,mainly because there is usually a lot of members at the ready with all kinds of answers for most situations..

Plus you pretty much  are bound to run into more than a few with the same product..

[Cali Souther]

I have tried LeLutka, Catwa and Genus - and I still get the neck line.   I can get it to go away with some windlight/eep settings, but it shows up even worse with others.

I've taken everything off,  put things back on very carefully using BOM - and it goes away - only to come back at some point for reasons I don't understand.

I have given up.  I wear a lot of chokers now.

Best of luck!!!!!

 

[Halo Fatale]

getting somewhere!

[Halo Fatale]

however, when i try to add eyebrows.

 

[Ayashe Ninetails]

6 hours ago, Halo Fatale said:

however, when i try to add eyebrows.

 

Couple things.

Check your Lelutka HUD main tab near the top (the head icon) - Make sure you're still in Evo X mode. Remove any non-Evo X layers you might have on.

Hop over to the HD tab - Your eyebrows can be turned on/off in there, if the skin you're wearing does not have any. If you'd rather wear BOM eyebrows from another store, make sure they're also Evo X.

 

Brows and most other things can be tinted in the color selector area (the droplet on the main HUD). Click HD Brow and play with the color picker to tint.

 

And for the body, check your Lara HUD's Skin/Base tab - make sure you've got Bakes on Mesh/BOM enabled. You can also remove the additional Clothing Layer unless you've got some kind of applier clothing on.

[Anna Nova]

No one else seems to want to say it, so I will.  In buying mesh bodies and meth heads remember the RENDERING COST. 

Edited May 7, 2022 by Anna Nova
changed my mind about what I'd said.

[Halo Fatale]

I'm kind of surprised that no one has made a step by step tutorial on this, including which bodies go with what heads, etc. Or is there one somewhere?

 

I'm still working on figuring it out. Thanks for all your help.

[Persephone Emerald]

There are plenty of tutorials on YouTube.

Bodies and Heads made by the same creator go to together. If mesh bodies or heads have multiple settings for neck size, they can be worn with multiple bodies, heads, and body fat settings. The neck sizes don't say which bodies or heads they're supposed to fit with though, so you need to demo to be sure.

 

[Marianne Little]

It is a blogger who post detailed tutorials, in case you prefer reading. I dislike youtube videos myself. It is often too much talk. Or the person making the videos jump over what can be an important step.

https://virtualbloke.com/tutorials

He has not made any EvoX tutorials yet. It's sad, because guys have this EvoX option in their heads as well. But Catwa is using the standard UV head template, and as CSR for Catwa, he maybe do not want to post tutorials about the competition. His BOM tutorials is very good.

I strongly advise you to drop the Omega tutorial. Omega is outdated. Do not buy anything that is only Omega. You can skim this tutorial if you wish to read it, but it is not necessary.

Why did Lelutka introduce the EvoX skin template? The reason is that it is a larger canvas to draw on. This is why the ears has their own layer now. The ears was removed from the standard SL UV template, giving more room for facial details.

The EvoX became very popular when it was marketed as "better detail". Lelutka did what I call smart marketing, and updated every head in their newer lines to include both Evo and EvoX. So nobody had to spend money on a new head, and people are always curious to try new things. Creators noticed that more and more asked for EvoX, and found out that if they sell almost only that, why include more? That is why we have so many EvoX only products.

Now over to the important stuff: Evo and EvoX layers do not mix. Never. So if you love a skin made for EvoX, you can only use layer products for EvoX.

Are you familiar with stacking tattoo layers? Maybe you left SL before the tattoo layer was introduced. We can stack up to 64 layers, and most creators use only tattoo layers, because it is "one in all" instead of using others, like the clothing layers. So such a tattoo layer can have everything that's not a traditional tattoo. Here we come to the issue: If you use "wear" you replace the layer with a new one.

I suspect that is what happened with your brows. Many creators has started to use the tattoo layer for all facial products. The common thing is to use the default skin for the body, and use a tattoo layer for the face. Less work and cheap when they make a new face, they pay for only one upload.

So if you click "wear", you remove the first face layer made for EvoX. You have to use "add" religiously when you want to use several layers. And also stick to the EvoX products if you started with a EvoX skin.

Things like lipsticks and other makeup can come with a box symbol, and here you can use both Evo and EvoX. It is called a HD applier. I often use such a product for lipsticks, since we can use the slider for transparency and a dark lipstick becomes lighter and lighter the more transparent it becomes. Same goes for eyeshadows and in some cases brows, but I prefer layers for that.

So I hope this helps you understand the difference between Evo and EvoX. It is great that you demo. It saves you from spending money on products you can not use. ❤️

Edited May 8, 2022 by Marianne Little