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A question for catwa head users.


AnneBardot
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46 minutes ago, AnneBardot said:

Um...what are a pros and cons of having a catwa head?

I just want to know.

For me, it's solely because there are about a hundred times more skins and makeups available for Catwa compared to other heads. The skin I wanted is only available in Catwa.

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I have the Catya Catwa head and I find that lots of skins look good on it and there is lots of variety for it.  I also love the animations on this head.    Cons would be the cost and the alpha cuts on the demos.  I just hate that, I want to see the whole face.

The important thing really is to demo demo demo.

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4 hours ago, karynmaria said:

the alpha cuts on the demos.  I just hate that, I want to see the whole face.

The alpha cuts are minimal at best (a thin stripe cut out on both the forehead and the chin) and they are present on the demos to prevent copybotting/theft.

As an aside: the cost is comparable with that of most other Bento mesh heads (unless the other heads are being discounted in a limited-time sale), and actually cheaper than the other 'big name' brand that's currently popular. Catwa also offers non-Bento heads that start at L$900.

Edited by Skell Dagger
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I have 2 Catwa heads (not worn concurrently, though *g*). I tried a Genus demo head, the other day, but the HUD, let's just say it's rather confusing. :)

And of the Catwa heads, Catya is, by far, the most supported by creators around SL.

Edited by kiramanell
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I had finally just taken the leap into mesh heads last Christmas thinking they were modifiable like the Maitreya mesh body is.  

I bought Strawberry from Catwa and she is rather difficult to shape around the lips.

If you take a look on MP, there are hardly any shapes for the Catwa Strawberry head.  

It is not a head I would recommend, although I have been working on shapes for Strawberry as best I could.

What I really want is a lipstick that will give my Strawberry head a defined upper lip instead of a unilip.  

The Catwa lipsticks it comes with just give Strawberry a unilip.  I found Izzie Button's lipsticks give my Strawberry head a bit of a lip bow, so I am happy for that but still would like it better.

I wish I had known more about mesh heads before buying.

Still though I think I would have chosen Catwa because I like the look the best as well as I liked the options BUT I wish I had bought Catya.     

Edited by FairreLilette
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2 hours ago, Skell Dagger said:

The alpha cuts are minimal at best (a thin stripe cut out on both the forehead and the chin) and they are present on the demos to prevent copybotting/theft.

As an aside: the cost is comparable with that of most other Bento mesh heads (unless the other heads are being discounted in a limited-time sale), and actually cheaper than the other 'big name' brand that's currently popular. Catwa also offers non-Bento heads that start at L$900.

I agree that the cuts on the demo are minimal and yes most heads are around the same price, however some creators now have it where you can buy the head and hud separately and if you want more heads they are cheaper cause you only have to buy the hud once.    At the end of the day those were really the only things that I would consider a con (or in my case maybe nitpicking) , because the head is just lovely and there are way more pros about the head.   I bought the Catya head anyways despite these two things and it really is one of my favorite heads :).

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9 hours ago, FairreLilette said:

I had finally just taken the leap into mesh heads last Christmas thinking they were modifiable like the Maitreya mesh body is.  

I bought Strawberry from Catwa and she is rather difficult to shape around the lips.

If you take a look on MP, there are hardly any shapes for the Catwa Strawberry head.  

It is not a head I would recommend, although I have been working on shapes for Strawberry as best I could.

What I really want is a lipstick that will give my Strawberry head a defined upper lip instead of a unilip.  

The Catwa lipsticks it comes with just give Strawberry a unilip.  I found Izzie Button's lipsticks give my Strawberry head a bit of a lip bow, so I am happy for that but still would like it better.

I wish I had known more about mesh heads before buying.

Still though I think I would have chosen Catwa because I like the look the best as well as I liked the options BUT I wish I had bought Catya.     

 

I had the same issue, buying the Lee Catwa head. There's almost nothing out there for Lee: it's all Catya. So, I got a Catya head too.  But I bought Lee because I like the way she looks. And that's perhaps what counts most, really. Even though there's considerably more out there for Catya, I'm just sticking with Lee for the moment.

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11 hours ago, kiramanell said:

 

I had the same issue, buying the Lee Catwa head. There's almost nothing out there for Lee: it's all Catya. So, I got a Catya head too.  But I bought Lee because I like the way she looks. And that's perhaps what counts most, really. Even though there's considerably more out there for Catya, I'm just sticking with Lee for the moment.

Great, yeah...perhaps I'd call the other Catwa heads "exotic" heads.  I will eventually buy Catya too because the lip can be shaped so many different ways whereas Strawberry cannot.

I just thought Strawberry came with newer teeth as the photo shows a lot of teeth BUT the teeth are hard to fit too if you want a more original shape that you make.  

I just thought that all the heads were fully modifiable like the Maitreya mesh body BUT each had a few little extras like I thought Strawberry had different teeth.  Since my classic was all modifiable and my mesh body all modifiable...I just thought all the heads were too. 

So, the thing to remember is the heads are partially modifiable.  Catya seems to be able to modified for the most variety.   

Edited by FairreLilette
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3 hours ago, Atosuria Daviau said:

Catwa has one big downside complexity other than that its a nice head.

Little warning when you first get it it is extremely animated and you will have to spend some time with the animation HUD to make it so you don't have Rodger rabbit like facial ticks.

I think complexity is over-rated.  

I've had no change in computer performance going from a classic avatar to a mesh avatar with mesh hair and mesh everything.

My computer is still lagging exactly the same.  The only places I do not lag are the places where I pay to be quite frank.  Where I pay, I rez all stuff fine.  Otherwise, it's like a salmon swimming upstream and I can't hardly even move, let alone rez anything.  It takes about an hour to rez a large store or sim.  Whereas, when I pay and rent, all rezzes great and almost immediately and I'm on a large sim now with a club, 3 stores and an art exhibit going on now.  How do you explain this?  And, I've had these three months, so why would I pay again if I couldn't rez?  It's true when I pay, I rez and do fine.  Otherwise, no..it's near impossible to rez stuff.  

Edited by FairreLilette
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I think the pros and cons can be subjective, but I also think that in general, because it is considered a "popular" head, it has a great deal of skins, appliers, etc made specifically for it. 

The HUD is neither here nor there for me. I prefer the elegance and ease of use of Lelutka, to be honest.  If you are new to mesh heads, and are going to invest in one, I would say to get a Catwa head, because you will immediately find thousands of skins, appliers, eyes, etc for it.  You will not have to hunt around for skins, and often find many very low priced and high quality creations for it right away, thus reducing your overall expense and time spent finding things for it. 

My personal favorite is Catya, since it is the most "generic" shape that can be modded quite well for various looks. But, that is only personal preference. I own Genus, Lelutka, Utilizator Normie, Catwa (Lona and Catya), and LOGO, as well as [AK] and Vista. Vista is my favorite as far as animations to be frank, next to Lelutka and Catwa. Unfortunately, there are very few skins made for Vista, so you will be limited in your choices. That being said, if you don't change skins or looks often, I would say Vista is a great head for the cost, beating out all the others due to the ease of use, animations and simple HUD. 

As for other pros/cons, I would say that eyes and appliers simply  look better on Catwa. I make eyes, and they just look much better on Catwa. Same with skins and makeup overall. The eyes on Catwa are just my favorite, and I think, as a creator and artist, the best in overall shape, etc. That is not to say that other heads are not lovely too, but if I had to rate it, yes, Catwa would be number 1 on that front.  I will switch out my looks and wear other heads, but I keep going back to Catwa for the most universal availability of skins, etc. 

In the end, it all depends on YOU, your needs, etc. I'd ask yourself: how much time am I willing to spend looking for skins, makeup, etc for my head? How much Linden am I willing to spend? How much modifying am I willing to do? etc. Good luck and have fun!

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On 8/18/2019 at 3:33 PM, Skell Dagger said:
On 8/18/2019 at 3:17 PM, Jeny Howlett said:

i like Catwa but theres no HD layer on it

There's a big update in the works, together with something that will address part of that. I can't divulge too much yet, but keep an eye out ;)

I can now reveal this, since Catwa has posted it on her Flickr. There are new free gifts at the Catwa store, including a gorgeous HD lips addon for all of her female Bento heads up to and including Nour. And all female Bento heads are currently being updated to v4.0. More info here.

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2 hours ago, Skell Dagger said:

I can now reveal this, since Catwa has posted it on her Flickr. There are new free gifts at the Catwa store, including a gorgeous HD lips addon for all of her female Bento heads up to and including Nour. And all female Bento heads are currently being updated to v4.0. More info here.

 

Thx. :) Will the update require a renewed tweaking of the head? Or how does an upgrade like that really work?

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20 minutes ago, kiramanell said:

Thx. :) Will the update require a renewed tweaking of the head? Or how does an upgrade like that really work?

No tweaking should be necessary, Kira. The upgrade contains a lot of new features, including:

  • full face AO time increased from 30 seconds to 60 seconds
  • new skins
  • new environment slider
  • new materials save slots (includes smooth and wrinkled skin presets)
  • new hairbases
  • new lashes

The heads also include a new eye HUD, shown below. This now lets you move and stretch eye appliers on the eyes (as well as remove any materials that can cause issues in some lighting) without having to pay for the full Eyes & Tears HUD. Some appliers sit higher on the eyes than others (making you look like you're permanently 9_9) so this HUD allows you to move the textures down. (Use the black single and double arrows at the top and bottom of the control section. Single moves in small increments, double in larger increments.)

16aada4609bf7a325d7022398761f6c6.png

The updated heads also now include the new HD lips.

To update, just go to the store and click the redelivery terminal. Find your original purchase and redeliver it. When you unpack it, the update will be inside. To date, only Catya and Kimberly have been updated, but Catwa is working her way through all 27 female heads at a rate of roughly two per day.

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1 minute ago, Skell Dagger said:

No tweaking should be necessary, Kira. The upgrade contains a lot of new features, including:

  • full face AO time increased from 30 seconds to 60 seconds
  • new skins
  • new environment slider
  • new materials save slots (includes smooth and wrinkled skin presets)
  • new hairbases
  • new lashes

The heads also include a new eye HUD, shown below. This now lets you move and stretch eye appliers on the eyes (as well as remove any materials that can cause issues in some lighting) without having to pay for the full Eyes & Tears HUD. Some appliers sit higher on the eyes than others (making you look like you're permanently 9_9) so this HUD allows you to move the textures down. (Use the black single and double arrows at the top and bottom of the control section. Single moves in small increments, double in larger increments.)

16aada4609bf7a325d7022398761f6c6.png

The updated heads also now include the new HD lips.

To update, just go to the store and click the redelivery terminal. Find your original purchase and redeliver it. When you unpack it, the update will be inside. To date, only Catya and Kimberly have been updated, but Catwa is working her way through all 27 female heads at a rate of roughly two per day.

 

Thank you for this great info. :)

I will try this out with my Catya first. I have a Lee too (actually my main), but she hasn't been updated yet, so I will do that later.

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If you need any help, let me know. The main HUD for the head has a completely new look, so it might take a while to get used to the changes. I know I'm having to overwrite a bit of muscle memory, but the changes are for the better. A small example is the upper and lower layers on the tinting section are now shown that way on the icons. So, instead of remembering to click the left side of the icon to tint the lower and the right side to tint the upper, you now click the upper or lower part of the icon.

And this means I now need to re-do ALL of my tutorials. Yeesh! xD

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[Sorry for the intrusion, I'm not Catwa user.]

I tried many Catwa demos deciding if I should invest hard earned money on it. Looking from outside, they look "different", more natural than others like LAQ with those fat duck lips 🙄. The only comparable (or superior) in my view is Genus. The variety is amazing, and it's a shame when I want a skin and it was made only for Catwa; with luck, maybe for LAQ and Lelutka.

Even not having a Catwa head, I recommended and guided some friends to buy one. And despite thinking 5K heads - 5.5K if Genus 😐 - are kind of expensive ("creator set the price none of your business", I know), I was itching to buy one. Until Akeruka put  ALL STORE in promo, 500L. Got Rachel, that I was eyeing for a time.

I still think Catwa looks more "real-world" and maybe I eventually buy one, but the urge to spend is gone. I would love to see them doing promo prices. But since it's the more popular brand, they don't care about it.

(Oh God, a 500L promo, and I would buy half the store... :D)

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