The mesh minefield

[CapriVixen]

Having recently joined sl and through talking to a few others I am interested in upgrading to a mesh avatar but it seems like I am treading through a minefield. For those of you that have been here for some time what in your opinion are the best bodies and heads to go with and where is the best places to get them. My choice of look either lies with steampunk and punk/goth. Any help would be greatly appreciated, also what the real benefits of upgrading to premium.

Thank you in advance Capri..xx

[Rhonda Huntress]

8 minutes ago, CapriVixen said:

For those of you that have been here for some time what in your opinion are the best bodies and heads to go with and where is the best places to get them.

Best is too subjective to say.  However, to help tread the mine field, I'll tell you the popular choices that have lots of options for fitted clothes and skin maker support

Bodies:  Maitreya Lara is easily the most popular.  Search in world for "Maitreya main store" and you will find it.  Lara is the only body they make.  Belleza Freya is also a popular choice.  Belleza has two other bodies to choose from but Freya seems to garnered all the attention.  Legacy is a recent body by TMP that has gained some support recently.  It is also the most expensive of the bodies.  Finally, Slink Hourglass available from Slink is a well supported body but not as popular as the other big named bodies.

Heads: I would recommend LAQ heads for starting out for a few reasons.  The HUD controls are easy to use.  It is well supported even if not the most popular and it can be economical since the HUD is purchased separately from the head.  You can use the head alone without the HUD if you want to wait to buy the options later.  

Catwa heads are bar none the most popular heads (and has wold class customer service).  LeLutka heads are also easier to use and in my opinion have the best animations.  Finally, there is Genus to finish off the top 4 popular brands.  There are other good brands available like LOGO, Akaroki(I know I butchered that name) and altumara (I think I murdered that name too) all of which can use the popular Omega applier system so you should easily find skins for those heads as well.

I will also say that finding the right head also relies on finding the right skin.  Go skin shopping while you are looking for heads and make sure what you get goes together.  Yes, more demos.  Demo skins and their supported heads together. 

 

Note that for the most part I am only saying what is popular so you can easily find skins, makeup and clothes.  These will all give you a good look and really depend on what you want.  DEMO!!!!  And wear those demos for awhile.  Then decide which ones you like best.
Have fun!

 

[CapriVixen]

thank you for the help

[Lindal Kidd]

A lot of Steampunk fans still use the standard avatar body and head.

If you do choose to use a mesh body and/or head, liking a particular style of dress won't make a difference, other than in the availability of clothing for that body, or makeup for that head.  What I mean by that is, a naked body cannot be said to be a "steampunk" body; a head without makeup is just a head, there aren't any "goth" heads.  So pick your body and head based on what looks good to you, which HUD you find easiest to use, and how many creators in your particular style seem to be offering clothing and makeup for it.  I agree with Rhonda that Maitreya Lara and Catwa seem to have the largest followings.

[BelindaN]

10 hours ago, CapriVixen said:

thank you for the help

If you can catch me in world I'm happy to talk it through and show you some in world stores. SLT+8hours.

[Cinos Field]

One big thing in choosing a mesh body and head right now is that Project Arctan is in the works. Basically the lindens recalculating render costs, which will probably hit some of the unoptimized body parts rather hard.

Slink (for bodies and heads) and Maitreya (for bodies) should be future proof as they use relatively little geometry compared to the competition, and Maitreya has already stated that they'll be doing a proper Bakes on Mesh update, which should make it better still. They're also very well supported.

There are other options too, but many of them might have to do radical updates.

Edited November 7, 2019 by Cinos Field