Struggling with BOM Layering [Beginner]

[Raia Aurelia]

Hey all! Thanks for taking the time to read/help out.

I have a Maitreya Lara body and a Lelutka Nova Evolution head. I also have skin for the body and head by the Skinnery (in Peach shade, if it matters). I've spent a few hours trying to get things layered correctly so my body skin matches my face skin, etc., but I'm really struggling. After searching the forums, and reading through the documentation by the creators, I'm still lost. Would anyone be willing to help me figure out how to apply things, in what order to put them all on, etc., etc., so it all looks good?

Thanks again!

[Maitimo]

I tried demos of some Skinnery skins and I honestly had dreadful problems trying to find body and head skins that matched. It seems like they may have two sets of tones that are not compatible with each other. Whatever the reason, I gave up trying and opted for Pink Fuel instead.

[Marianne Little]

It is a BOM neck blender on the Marketplace that got many glowing reviews. Just type BOM neck blender in search. The store also have a free demo so you can try it first.

[Waiomao]

Me too Veronique! BOM has a learning curve. I still find it confusing but keep on experimenting. Like anything else, after enough practice the clouds will clear :-)

[Raia Aurelia]

Thank you for the great replies, everyone! I'm looking at the neck blender now, as well as some other face/body skins that may match better (fingers crossed!). And, as you said Waiomao, experimenting is a good option. 

[Skell Dagger]

The Skinnery includes neck blend tattoos to be used. With those you should be able to get a seamless blend between head and body.

[Lillith Hapmouche]

More shops with possibly no need for neck blenders are listed as https://bom-skin.blogspot.com/ - FlickR and Discord, too.

There's a sign up at the mainstore:

... but even with BOM body and head choices, there is still a line. Line? Heck, worlds between those two shades.

Sad to see, I used to love that brand, but others can get it right, even with a lot less experience. Why can't she?

Edited June 8, 2020 by Lillith Hapmouche

[Raia Aurelia]

9 minutes ago, Skell Dagger said:

The Skinnery includes neck blend tattoos to be used. With those you should be able to get a seamless blend between head and body.

Thank you! Unfortunately, I've already tried using that (several different times, in different orders). 

[Skell Dagger]

It is surprising, Lillith. When Vendetta updated all of his body skintones he also started updating the necks of all his heads as well (and he's still working his way through them all).

Interesting that Skinnery are telling people to disable Advanced Lighting, because that's the cause of a lot of problems, although it's not the answer. Gac Akina of Stray Dog gave an excellent example of what ALM can do if you're not using a 'mesh-friendly' Windlight such as CalWL:

He used a flat colour texture so you're not distracted by skin details. It really does show how default ALM  can cause the problems we often see. Note, particularly, that weird streak of light above the join of neck and head.

[Skell Dagger]

30 minutes ago, VeroniqueValiquette said:

Thank you! Unfortunately, I've already tried using that (several different times, in different orders). 

You've probably tried it in this combination, but just to be certain the neck blend tattoo should be the top layer, so add that one last. I'll ask my fellow Catwa CSRs for the video that one of them made showing that it does offer a good blend, since I don't think I saved that one to my Gyazo account.

ETA: Here is the video. Note that she starts with the BoM neck blend on, then removes it to show what the skin match is like underneath it. (The rebake after detaching the neck blend does take a while, so stick with the video until it happens; she must have been in a laggy area).

Quick image comparison. L = before, R = after:

Edited June 8, 2020 by Skell Dagger

[Raia Aurelia]

45 minutes ago, Skell Dagger said:

You've probably tried it in this combination, but just to be certain the neck blend tattoo should be the top layer, so add that one last. I'll ask my fellow Catwa CSRs for the video that one of them made showing that it does offer a good blend, since I don't think I saved that one to my Gyazo account.

ETA: Here is the video. Note that she starts with the BoM neck blend on, then removes it to show what the skin match is like underneath it. (The rebake after detaching the neck blend does take a while, so stick with the video until it happens; she must have been in a laggy area).

Quick image comparison. L = before, R = after:

Thank you again! Yeah, I made sure to put it on last, but for some reason I just can't get it to blend in any way. It's possible I'm applying the other things in the wrong order, because I have a MUCH bigger difference in skin colors than even the "before" pic you posted. Oh well - I'll keep experimenting, and if all else fails, I may just get a different set of head/body skins. 

[Skell Dagger]

Some other things to check:

• You're using the same skintone for all three: head, body, neck fade (in the example above, the 'honey' tone is being used)
• You definitely have BoM fully enabled. I'm not sure about the Evo heads - I believe they're BoM by default? - but check that you also have it enabled on your Maitreya body
• You haven't tinted either head or body at any point. Go into the HUDs and look for tinting options. Make sure you have white (RGB: 255,255,255 or HSL: 0 - 0.0 - 100.0) on both head and body
• You have no shine/gloss/environment/materials enabled on either head or body (you should find the options to disable/remove these in the HUDs)

[Lillith Hapmouche]

1 hour ago, Skell Dagger said:

I'm not sure about the Evo heads - I believe they're BoM by default?

Yes, that's correct. While you can activate Omega on them for material effects, as far as I've heard, they are meant to work as BOM only solution.

[Raia Aurelia]

2 hours ago, Skell Dagger said:

Some other things to check:

• You're using the same skintone for all three: head, body, neck fade (in the example above, the 'honey' tone is being used)
• You definitely have BoM fully enabled. I'm not sure about the Evo heads - I believe they're BoM by default? - but check that you also have it enabled on your Maitreya body
• You haven't tinted either head or body at any point. Go into the HUDs and look for tinting options. Make sure you have white (RGB: 255,255,255 or HSL: 0 - 0.0 - 100.0) on both head and body
• You have no shine/gloss/environment/materials enabled on either head or body (you should find the options to disable/remove these in the HUDs)

This helped a TON! I think I had something funny going on with tints and shine/gloss, because now it's not quite as drastic of a difference. There's still a seam, but it's less noticeable now. Thank you (again)!

[Skell Dagger]

17 minutes ago, VeroniqueValiquette said:

This helped a TON! I think I had something funny going on with tints and shine/gloss, because now it's not quite as drastic of a difference. There's still a seam, but it's less noticeable now. Thank you (again)!

That's great to hear!