Genus Pros & Cons?

[Armani223]

I have been an avid Catwa fan since I started SL 3 years ago, I like my avatars look, but am itching for a change. I am interested in the Genus Heads.  I would love some advice/feedback on the Pros & Cons of this Head and is the $5500 worth switching. 
thank you ☺️ 🤗

[Scylla Rhiadra]

I've only ever demo'ed Catwa, so I can't speak to it or provide a very useful comparison, but I personally think that Genus is one of the most realistic looking sets of heads on the market. (I used Classic as my main, and the Babyface occasionally: the "Strong" also looks good, but I haven't tried it.) It is also, in my admittedly relatively limited experience of mesh heads, one of the most versatile in terms of customization.

Pros:

• It's a very attractive head, and easy to shape using sliders
• It's increasingly very well supported in terms of appliers and skins
• I like the animations, which I find generally quite subtle (but YMMV on this)
• It's generally pretty well supported by its creators, and has a very active and helpful user group in-world
• Although, like any make of Bento head, Genus has a sort of generic "look" that characterizes all of its products, I personally think that there is also somewhat more differentiation between the individual models than I see between the products of other makers (but again, YMMV)

Cons:

• The HUDs are poorly designed and sometimes confusing to use (although that's gotten a bit better than it once was)
• Along with the above, the arrangement of, and ability to manipulate, the head layers are not really well-thought out -- although, with the move to BOM, this will be less of an issue
• Most older animations and animation HUDs do not work well with it
• Genus' eyes are wonky. They used to be much wonkier, and have gotten better, but they are still not sufficiently customizable, tend to be seated a bit too far back, and aren't quite large enough. (I also find that they sometimes go a teeny bit cross-eyed).
• Not all older hair fits well on Genus, and there are still a few makers who aren't creating with Genus in mind (Stealthic and Pr!tty particular don't work well, I have found)

I'm sure there are other things I've forgotten or haven't thought of, and that others may add.

In the final analysis, these are really detailed, good-looking heads, and there's nothing wrong with them that is insurmountable or that constitutes reason to avoid it.

I think, really, it comes down to whether or not you like the look. I do; some don't.

[missyrideout]

Well said on the pros and cons. I can only add one negative, which is that, imho, Genus has yet to prove they are capable of addressing known issues with robust, well-tested updates. Soon enough it will be a year since the last significant update and there are still issues with eyes, with simple blinking, with animations looping jerkily, or randomly stopping and so on. The same list of things to be addressed has been pinned on discord for far too long. I gave up. 

[Garnet Psaltery]

I bought a Genus head about a month ago.  At first I was impressed with it but I never felt it was really me, and I soon grew annoyed with the very high forehead.  It now looks completely wrong to me.

Edited January 9, 2020 by Garnet Psaltery

[Armani223]

Thanks @Scylla Rhiadra  @missyrideout And @Garnet Psaltery for your advice. Will take them all on board 👍

[Eggy UwU]

I think the one thing about Genus for me was trying to figure out the hud and the high forehead like someone above mentioned. But seriously, overall I like the head after I got used to it and such.

[steeljane42]

Good looking mesh, although less flexible when it comes to sliders than some other heads. Tons of skins, especially for classic and babyface. And millions of makeup, probably even more than for catwa now, for some reason. And that's probably all good I can say about it.

Animations are awful, like "turn them off completely" awful, probably even worse than on Catwa's v1 Bento release (those were quite bad, but got completely redone in 2.x update). There's a reason why most people with genus heads that you will see in world have completely static faces - it's because of this. 3rd part animations can help to mitigate it a bit, there's a face AO (or two now?) from Vista and some more, but can't say I was all impressed by any of them. Besides when it's a premium priced head, then you shouldn't need to buy 3rd party AOs to make it work. I personally would rate animations for mesh heads in that order: Lelutka>Catwa>LAQ>no animations>Genus. I didn't bothered to test Logo or GA.EG bento heads, since I don't like how they look at all, so can't say much about theirs. Eyes are very bad too, which was already mentioned.

HUD is clunky and most unintuitive one I've seen in a while, not just when it comes to mesh heads, but for all HUDs. You can still get used to it, it works, but doesn't makes it any better.

My personal opinion on them: if you love the way they look and either fine with having a static face or mostly intend to use it to take pictures (for blogs, flickr etc), then go for it. But if you are mostly after "everyday usage", then I would look for something else, at least until/if they update them. I personally decided against getting it even for half price during blackfriday sales, when I gave their demos another go.

Edited January 9, 2020 by steeljane42
typos

[Scylla Rhiadra]

This is very much what I meant by "YMMV" in my comments. I prefer the Genus animations, for instance, and turned off the facial animations on my Vista AO so that I could use them instead -- and I think the high forehead is probably also one of the things that attracted me to the head.

This is all a good thing. There is frankly not enough individuality and diversity in how we look in SL as it is . . . the more choice, and the more difference, the better!

[Alyona Su]

Catwa and Genus heads are both good heads.

• Genus HUD is no more confusing than the Catwa HUD, I'd venture to say even less so, it's more intuitive to a new user than the Catwa HUD is. It certainly isn't as resource-intensive as the Catwa HUD. Catwa included animations are better than the Genus animations for Facial AO and moods. (I use the Chrysanthemum or Vista facial AO because they are more subtle than both genus or Catwa animations.
• Catwa has a larger variety of faces, but all (except the Steffani head) have these really silly extruded lips (a.k.a. "Duck Lips") - cliche aside, it is what it is.
• Many Catwa heads are so similar that they can be difficult to distinguish between them without a skin or with the same skin applied. With the Genus, there is a very distinctive difference between them and all three will fit well with the same facial slider adjustments, meaning you can switch between them have have the same face with the different features in an uncanny-valley kind of way.
• The "technology" on the Genus is superior to the Catwa in may ways, one example being that there are many in-built textures (wrinkles, water droplets, pores, etc.) that other heads lack. Every aspect of the head, including makeup layers, like the Catwa, can be tinted to your liking and easier, more intuitive to do so over the Catwa method.
• Applier support for skin and makeup is, by now, nearly or fully just as available for Genus as for Catwa brands.
• Genus has released an official Genus-branded BOM applier to make the head BOM compatible, I have received no such updates from Catwa to date. This tells me either they  (Catwa) have not added BOM ability in any way yet, or their after-sales support is very lacking with regard to notifying purchasers of updates they may have already released.

As always, DEMO, DEMO, DEMO. 

Edited January 9, 2020 by Alyona Su

[Ceka Cianci]

I've used pretty much all the top heads out there and really love my genus heads..I've been using them since the second release of the beta head, since i missed the first release by one day..hehehe

The head has come a long way and is one of the youngest heads out there, but gaining more and more support all the time from other creators..From what I've seen from Genus in the short time it's been here, it's come a long way in a short amount of time..For it to be sitting up there with the other heads,say's a lot about it..

Took them this long to get where they are and Genus isn't that far behind if it is behind at all..

It has lots of freedom with the sliders.one of the reasons I went with it is because of how much more freedom it had than my other heads..

The hud can be overwhelming at first,but it doesn't take too long to get to know it,plus there are good tutorials on youtube for it as well as great group support..

Also,the animations do work, once you learn how they work and which ones work best for you..

My blink works as well as my animations on my face..I use the combination B animation and I'm good to go..

The onyl thing I use any vista animations for is stands which sit in my firestorm viewer hud..

The universal hud for makeup and others things like that is just a matter of getting to know it,like any of the other huds..If i can do it,anyone can.. hehehehe

 

It's a nice head,but everything comes down to what look you are wanting and what you are willing to deal with for that with any head..because they all aren't perfect and most are way older at the game.

I just want to add,I'm not trying to knock any other heads,because there are a lot of beautiful looks that can be made with most all of them..

Catwa heads I have seen people make some really amazing looks..

But for me I could not get their sliders to do what I wanted for my looks I was wanting..

 

Genus just works easier for me,where other heads may work for others in what they are wanting to achieve..

I just really feel there is more diversity with this head,I guess because of the different looks I have seen from the many genus users I've talked with in the group since beta..

 

This is my Genus Baby face after the Baby Face head just came out, in the Skinnery skin Nadine,which was the very first Genus Skinnery skins..

It's an Ebony skin,but the sim lighting i had turned way up for this shot..

 

This is Babyface with The Skinnery skin Madison Ebony

Edited January 9, 2020 by Ceka Cianci

[Marianne Little]

I can not like the Genus when I demo it. It just feels/looks wrong.

And that is not fun, because the #1 pro must be that all the gorgeous stuff is made for it. It makes me want to groan, every time I see a lovely set of lipstick or a new skin. Then my eyes drop to the Genus symbol and I think "Well, ain't that typical, Genus again". It used to be a Catwa market, not more. I feel it is a Genus market.

If I liked Genus, I would buy it for the beautiful content made for it. 😢

I have no idea how the lipsticks ads look so 100% perfect.

[Janet Voxel]

I like my genus head, in fact I own all three of them: classic, baby and strong. They’re good heads and I didn’t have a problem with the hud at all, I found it pretty intuitive to use. Then again, I was a fan of the genesis lab heads too. I just like the aesthetics of the head. I can’t wait for them to come out with the strange face too.

I will admit the animations are a little lacking and glitchy though, but vista has a whole animation  hud that is completely compatible with genus heads. You also have the chrysanthemum, happy dispatch and strangely enough lelutka’s axis huds all work just fine.

Strangely enough, I’m not a fan of the teeth either. They look too small for the head to me. People with little teeth creep me out. There’s a workaround for that too, I use catwa teeth! They are bigger and look nicer. Genus has a lot of workarounds.

Also not a fan of BoM relays. Which they came out with. So far only Slink and Lelutka have done BoM right, imo. It’s more of a quibble at this point because a lot of skin makers just haven’t converted to BoM, so I’m ok without it for now.

People get very tribal about their mesh parts, so there’s going to be some seriously strong feelings. I think all of the heads have really good pros and cons and you can’t go in expecting Genus to be like Catwa or Lelutka or vice versa.

Try them all out, don’t make a decision immediately, play around with different shapes and skins and you’ll come up with your own pros and cons and you can make a decision that is right for you.

[missyrideout]

2 hours ago, Alyona Su said:

Genus has released an official Genus-branded BOM applier to make the head BOM compatible, I have received no such updates from Catwa to date. This tells me either they  (Catwa) have not added BOM ability in any way yet, or their after-sales support is very lacking with regard to notifying purchasers of updates they may have already released.

I dunno, or it means you're not that into Catwa so you have no reason to keep track? I don't wear Genus anymore so I didn't know they had a branded BOM applier, not sure where I would have heard—maybe a missed redelivery, group I'm not in, discord?  BTW Catwa has had similar since BOM went live, and its now included on the HUD (among many enhancements starting with updates to 4.0 in August.)  Personallyt, I assume I will have to check myself for updates to any product I'm interested in. I don't think Catwa (or Genus) is particularly good or bad in that regard. 

Edited January 9, 2020 by missyrideout

[Alyona Su]

8 minutes ago, missyrideout said:

I dunno, or it means you're not that into Catwa so you have no reason to keep track? I don't wear Genus anymore so I didn't know they had a branded BOM applier, not sure where I would have heard—maybe a missed redelivery, group I'm not in, discord?  BTW Catwa has had similar since BOM went live, and its now included on the HUD (among many enhancements starting with updates to 4.0 in August.)  Personallyt, I assume I will have to check myself for updates to any product I'm interested in. I don't think Catwa (or Genus) is particularly good or bad in that regard. 

I have six Catwa heads. I also get and pay close attention to all notices off-line. So I suppose they're just not very good with their notification system. They aren't the only ones, so it's not an issue..

[missyrideout]

40 minutes ago, janetosilio said:

People get very tribal about their mesh parts, so there’s going to be some seriously strong feelings.

No doubt! I've said before it's only because I love the Genus heads that I can get so worked up about certain issues! I am still ready to go back at the drop of a hat / update. 

[Janet Voxel]

2 minutes ago, missyrideout said:

No doubt! I've said before it's only because I love the Genus heads that I can get so worked up about certain issues! I am still ready to go back at the drop of a hat / update. 

I understand completely. I had a genus head since the beginning, the first beta and their group was a hot mess for a loooooong time because people just didn’t understand how to use the head. Even in the beta, people were complaining about it not being complete....it was in beta. I never complained about the eyes when they were weird because well...that was the first thing I changed, I took them out and put different ones in. Since I was there from the beginning working around the problems just isn’t unusual to me. It didn’t have an animation hud at first, so I found a generic animation hud that worked with it.

I’d say it’s not a head for people that aren’t really familiar with some of the finer points of SL, like adjusting things, replacing things and working around things.

I can’t really say it’s a difficult head to use. It just has its own unique set of problems people aren’t used to. That’s why I was saying, you can’t get a genus head and expect it to be like a catwa or a Lelutka. A lot of things just work differently.

[Armani223]

8 hours ago, steeljane42 said:

Good looking mesh, although less flexible when it comes to sliders than some other heads. Tons of skins, especially for classic and babyface. And millions of makeup, probably even more than for catwa now, for some reason. And that's probably all good I can say about it.

Animations are awful, like "turn them off completely" awful, probably even worse than on Catwa's v1 Bento release (those were quite bad, but got completely redone in 2.x update). There's a reason why most people with genus heads that you will see in world have completely static faces - it's because of this. 3rd part animations can help to mitigate it a bit, there's a face AO (or two now?) from Vista and some more, but can't say I was all impressed by any of them. Besides when it's a premium priced head, then you shouldn't need to buy 3rd party AOs to make it work. I personally would rate animations for mesh heads in that order: Lelutka>Catwa>LAQ>no animations>Genus. I didn't bothered to test Logo or GA.EG bento heads, since I don't like how they look at all, so can't say much about theirs. Eyes are very bad too, which was already mentioned.

HUD is clunky and most unintuitive one I've seen in a while, not just when it comes to mesh heads, but for all HUDs. You can still get used to it, it works, but doesn't makes it any better.

My personal opinion on them: if you love the way they look and either fine with having a static face or mostly intend to use it to take pictures (for blogs, flickr etc), then go for it. But if you are mostly after "everyday usage", then I would look for something else, at least until/if they update them. I personally decided against getting it even for half price during blackfriday sales, when I gave their demos another go.

Yes! I think I will look at Lelutka instead of Genus now 👍

[Ceka Cianci]

17 minutes ago, janetosilio said:

I understand completely. I had a genus head since the beginning, the first beta and their group was a hot mess for a loooooong time because people just didn’t understand how to use the head. Even in the beta, people were complaining about it not being complete....it was in beta. I never complained about the eyes when they were weird because well...that was the first thing I changed, I took them out and put different ones in. Since I was there from the beginning working around the problems just isn’t unusual to me. It didn’t have an animation hud at first, so I found a generic animation hud that worked with it.

I’d say it’s not a head for people that aren’t really familiar with some of the finer points of SL, like adjusting things, replacing things and working around things.

I can’t really say it’s a difficult head to use. It just has its own unique set of problems people aren’t used to. That’s why I was saying, you can’t get a genus head and expect it to be like a catwa or a Lelutka. A lot of things just work differently.

Hehehehe,I remember being in that group and just missing the first beta and hanging around in there listening to all the people with heads looking for work arounds..

Some getting mad and me saying to myself,I sure wish I had her problems right now AND A HEAD!! hehehehe

Finally the second they opened beta back up i was in their first thing.. I grabbed everything I could click on just to make sure I didn't miss anything..hehehe

 

I remember when we didn't have any animations for the head and trying anything i could to get some sort of hud going..

The only kind of huds i could make were one of these in the video below..

I had a decent AO I made but couldn't get the animations I want ,in there to work.. Hours and days just working on that only to fail..hehehehe

Beta was an experience for sure..hehehe

ETA: Ignore the zombies..That was a whole other project and I was on top of my house at the time..I don't know why I even cam'd over there hehehehe

 

Edited January 9, 2020 by Ceka Cianci

[missyrideout]

Trends in SL must be driven on some level by bloggers, photo takers, influencers, whatever you want to call them.  And I think they are the exact demographic not likely to care about glitches and issues, to be comfortable with workarounds, because the shape of the mesh and how it looks in their photos trumps everything else. I'm sure a good number of early adopters were creators themselves, from which flowed a plethora of skin and makeup options admittedly too beautiful to be denied. Unfortunately I think it's also the root of a support culture / fandom where known issues are brushed aside with unsatisfying workarounds. It doesn't all come down to users not being savvy enough to make it work. 

Maybe that's too negative, I dunno what the forum policies are really. I'm really not trying to drag the brand, just my observations on the rise of Genus over the last year. 

[Janet Voxel]

15 minutes ago, Ceka Cianci said:

Beta was an experience for sure..hehehe

Yup, it literally went from people trying to figure it out to a slow motion train wreck like every day....nonstop.

[Annie Nova]

15 hours ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

I've only ever demo'ed Catwa, so I can't speak to it or provide a very useful comparison, but I personally think that Genus is one of the most realistic looking sets of heads on the market. (I used Classic as my main, and the Babyface occasionally: the "Strong" also looks good, but I haven't tried it.) It is also, in my admittedly relatively limited experience of mesh heads, one of the most versatile in terms of customization.

Pros:

• It's a very attractive head, and easy to shape using sliders
• It's increasingly very well supported in terms of appliers and skins
• I like the animations, which I find generally quite subtle (but YMMV on this)
• It's generally pretty well supported by its creators, and has a very active and helpful user group in-world
• Although, like any make of Bento head, Genus has a sort of generic "look" that characterizes all of its products, I personally think that there is also somewhat more differentiation between the individual models than I see between the products of other makers (but again, YMMV)

Cons:

• The HUDs are poorly designed and sometimes confusing to use (although that's gotten a bit better than it once was)
• Along with the above, the arrangement of, and ability to manipulate, the head layers are not really well-thought out -- although, with the move to BOM, this will be less of an issue
• Most older animations and animation HUDs do not work well with it
• Genus' eyes are wonky. They used to be much wonkier, and have gotten better, but they are still not sufficiently customizable, tend to be seated a bit too far back, and aren't quite large enough. (I also find that they sometimes go a teeny bit cross-eyed).
• Not all older hair fits well on Genus, and there are still a few makers who aren't creating with Genus in mind (Stealthic and Pr!tty particular don't work well, I have found)

I'm sure there are other things I've forgotten or haven't thought of, and that others may add.

In the final analysis, these are really detailed, good-looking heads, and there's nothing wrong with them that is insurmountable or that constitutes reason to avoid it.

I think, really, it comes down to whether or not you like the look. I do; some don't.

Bolded part mine: I honestly have never had my eyes look wonky and I wear the Genus Babyface. I also wear Stealthic hair and also have never encountered a problem with them not fitting right on me. It's odd that some people have these problems and others don't. I wonder why that is? 

[BelindaN]

@Armani223

I use Genus on my four avis. I have all three types. Its the only head which has the look I want. I've demoed the others, and used Lelutka, and LAQ for a while. I never found a Catwa I liked enough.

My only gripe is that the neck join isn't perfect. Its come on a very long way since early days, but in some lights annoys me. That aside, Genus for me.

 

[Night Rainfall]

Genus Classic:

 

Genus Baby:

 

Genus Strong:

 

Also Genus with Specular and Bump on:

 

Catwa:

 

 

 

Edited March 8, 2020 by Night Rainfall

[Janet Voxel]

When the hate comes Genus wearers be like....

 

 

Edited March 8, 2020 by janetosilio

[Lewis Luminos]

My girl alt recently bought a new head; I demoed a few Catwa, plus Genus (all three) and the two new Lelutka Evolutions.

I had no particular issues with any of the huds, the Genus hud is simpler than Catwa, though to be fair, the intention was for her to be BOM from the outset so I didn't even test makeup layers at all. That said, there are a lot of makeups and skins available for Genus; almost as much as there is for Catwa, so I'd say that Genus is the second-best for creator support.

In the end I decided on Lelutka, because it was the one that looked the nicest on her and because it has the best animations.