Neck seam issue

[Aislyn Starlight]

I'm wearing the Maitreya body and system head, with a Lara Hurley skin + body applier.  When I demo a mesh head like Catwa or LAQ, there's not as much of a neck seam. I also tried demoing a DeeTalez system skin and the matching body applier - same thing happens. So, it doesn't seem to be an issue with a skin mismatch. I know that I could get a mesh head, but I'm not ready to spend money on one just yet plus I like my system head appearance.

Is there any fix for this besides covering it up with a choker?

Here's two pictures that show how it looks in different windlight settings. Sometimes, it's hardly noticeable and other times it's very apparent.

 

Edited June 12, 2019 by AislynDream

[Rhonda Huntress]

Unfortunately this is an effect of the game engine's differences in rendering system layers and objects.  This was an issue even years ago with prim skirts and system pants. Minimizing it with windlight settings is about all you can do.

[LittleMe Jewell]

I'm also still using a system head.  I have found that some skin & appliers seem to be less noticeable than others with this, so I'm guessing that some creators realize this issue and do a better job of blending and shadowing at the seam area, but nothing completely eliminates the issue under all windlight settings.  Since I can't control other people's windlight settings, I almost always wear some sort of choker.

[Sandra8675]

I also have a Lara body and I just got a CATWA  head yesterday.  The neck skin and body skin below the neck do blend better.  But, I did try other demos heads like AK BENTO heads and the color difference was too much for me to deal with.  The tones available on the head huds never match the body tone hud choices for me.  Some heads have 'tints' to match the body skin to the head but those were not working for me either.

I read over what you said a few times...  It was brought to my attention by a few people in 'head' chat rooms that I need to purchase a skin.  The skin will help blend the head skin and skin below the neck.  The trick is that u need to find a 'skin' that works with your head and body.  Make sure you demo it.  I myself had to bug a few people until a friend offered to go shopping with me to make sure I get the right skin for my head and body.  The skins have been a difficult learning curve for me.

 

[Zeta Vandyke]

17 hours ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

I have found that some skin & appliers seem to be less noticeable than others with this, so I'm guessing that some creators realize this issue and do a better job of blending and shadowing at the seam area

This is my experience too with mesh head/body. Some skin makers you hardly notice any seam (my favs so far are Session  and Glam Affair on the seam part) and on other its quite visible (Less good experience on that part with the Skinnery for example).

So best advise is like with everything you buy, try the demo's.

[Nagafusa Takeda]

You can always wear a choker/ collar to hide it.

[Morena Tully]

I haven't figgured out why the main option for hiding a neck seam is a choker. Back when I had a slink body, it came with a separate piece for around the neck that blended the seam. Yet last time I looked, there is absolutely nothing like this you can get separate on the marketplace. Hundreds, if not thousands of chokers and collars, but not one single neck ring with alpha fading, for a very, very common problem. If I was knowledgeable in making things like that, you bet I'd have something on the market! *hint hint* to anyone who can.... just a moddable skin  ring with upper and lower edges alpha faded.. is that too complex?

Setting windlight just so, is sorta going into denial, others will see the fail matching.

[Chic Aeon]

Even on a mesh head and mesh body there is often a line --- that is mostly the skin makers.  So demoing and demoing and demoing is pretty much the rule if you want those edges to match under various Windlight settings.  

That being said there is a "neck fix" on the Maitreya body that was made long ago and is still there. I used it before I got a mesh head and as I remember it worked fairly well, so if you haven't tried both "on" and "off" you might give that a try.

 

Also you might try demoing a Glam Affair skin with the default Maitreya skins. If my memory is correct those were made to match. That was five or six years ago now I guess, but it might be worth a try.

 

In general I have found that WoW skins typically have less line (this on various mesh heads and mesh bodies). My alts have frequently worn WoW.  I use amais which is very close to perfect but only made for Lelutka and may not even be available any longer.

 

Good luck. 

 

 

[suzyst]

What everyone else has said is true but sometimes you can just get lucky. After a couple of years trying to find a skin that hides the line in more than just "neutral" windlights , I found an  Egozy skin and a freebie system skin that blend well. With the aid of the maitreya neck fix the line is unoticeable in most windlights, though coloured club lights can mess it up horribly. Keep experimenting, some solutions are accidental.

[Marianne Little]

You are not using shine on the body?

And if you don't use shine on the body, (sliders found on the same page as the skin options) I think that since the default head has no materials, the difference between a mesh body with materials baked in can be very strong, as in your lower picture.

Just a guess. This could perhaps explain why some skins appliers for the body work better, if their creators haven't used materials, the head skin aren't so different from the mesh body-

[Nalates Urriah]

As pointed out, it is the SL system that makes this such a problem.

The avatar is rendered by one process and prims and mesh by another process. It is near impossible to have a perfect match. Thus the popularity of chokers in SL.

Many of us use the CalWL as the Windlight setting for skin color matching. The result is then pretty good for most lightning in SL.

Others swear by AnaLutetia - Avatar Opt, [AnaLu] AvatarOpt (Caliah) whiter - there are various spelling of this same WL set, and others think Strawberry Singh's WL settings are best.

It makes sense to me that which set you use is going to vary by the graphics capability of your computer. So, experiment and see which works best for you. LittleMe pointed out we can't control other people's settings and how we will appear to them. As long as it looks good on MY screen, I'm happy.