Getting Rid of the Neck Seam

[Jennifer Boyle]

I have been experimenting a lot recently with skins for Lelutka Simone and Maitreya Lara. The only way I have found to make the neck seam completely go away is to wear a single BOM skin, so I am looking hard at BOM skins that include both head and body. The head seems to be the part where it's most likely that something won't look right. I am confused about what kind of specifications or compatibility claims I need to look for, and if there's a better way to find good ones than just trying a lot of demos, which is time-consuming and tedious.

Advice on the best way to find skins that look good on both the head and body would be mush appreciated.

Am I correct to think that this is the only way to completely lose the seam?

Thanks for any help.

[Nalates Urriah]

This comes down to trying the demos. 

Some make skin for specific brands of heads. But, that has been more about the appliers than the UV Map, which gets things where they are supposed to go... like the nose skin on the nose part of the mesh.

All heads use a similar UV Map. The tweaks I have see are minor. But, my experience is limited. Catwa's CSR @Skell Dagger is more knowledgeable and while likely has some bias has been what I consider honest and objective in the answers I have seen him giving. I am saying I think you can trust him to give you an honest answer.

Because they are all similar I think we will find more and more skins for whatever brand are interchangeable. Head-brand is likely only an issue if you plan to use the Applier. So when you see a skin you like try the demo of it with your head and body.

[Clover Jinx]

Another thing to check is that your neck size for the head, mesh body and system shape are all the same size. If one is different it can lead to the neck seam being more visible.

[Keith Lordhunter]

Good luck.  I have the same issue. My configuration is:

• Catwa head  v3.2
• Belleza Jake  v2.1
• Belleza Daniel skin

I was advised by a Catwa Help group member that setting my windlight settings to Catwa (or something similar) will cause the seam to disappear and that I shouldn't worry about what other users see. 😵

Unfortunately all other users who I ask to look at my neck see the seam on my avatar.   I would hope that there is a way to blend the seam such that it works properly with any region's default environment settings - e.g., Noon - and that other users do not see a seam.

Perhaps not.

 

[Skell Dagger]

22 minutes ago, Keith Lordhunter said:

Good luck.  I have the same issue. My configuration is:

• Catwa head  v3.2
• Belleza Jake  v2.1
• Belleza Daniel skin

I was advised by a Catwa Help group member that setting my windlight settings to Catwa (or something similar) will cause the seam to disappear and that I shouldn't worry about what other users see. 😵

Unfortunately all other users who I ask to look at my neck see the seam on my avatar.   I would hope that there is a way to blend the seam such that it works properly with any region's default environment settings - e.g., Noon - and that other users do not see a seam.

Perhaps not.

I have already advised you on your post where you bumped another old 'neck seam' thread, here. Please do not cross-post the same question into multiple threads, as it makes responses difficult to track.

[Chic Aeon]

Clapping for Skell.   When there are numerous threads (likely at least twenty in the last couple of years) and they ALL give  you the same answer --- then it is fairly obvious that that IS the answer.  

 

All in one body and heads will be easier to find a perfect match but they have their problems --- mostly lack of clothing.

 

Even with the whole body made at the same time by the same creator -- the SKIN may not have been made at the same time (or I guess even by the same creator - who knows) and there will STILL be a seam because the person making was not picky enough.

 

When you find a skin that DOES work with both your head and body and looks good in all Windlight settings DO NOT LET IT GO.  

 

My new look from a couple months ago isn't perfect seam wise -- close but not perfect. So I am still looking at BOM skins in hopes of finding the perfect pairing.  My previous skin maker is now doing clothing and there was no system layer. Alas.   

 

[BelindaN]

Finding a fix for the neck seam really is the holy grail of SL.

Demo to death is the only way, and realistically this will never be 100% right.

A skin maker who gets it 100% right with every tone and every head and every body will make a lot of money......

That's the problem.

 

[Jennifer Boyle]

I can easily get rid of the neck seam by setting both head and body to BOM and wearing a total-body skin.

The problem is that I have not found such a skin that had no issues with my head. The problems are mostly around the inner corners of the eyes.

Edited August 12, 2020 by Jennifer Boyle

[Skell Dagger]

Keith's problem (as detailed in this thread) was fixed in this post. He had one graphics preference setting unchecked, so as soon as he checked that the severe neck issue he was seeing completely vanished.

2 hours ago, Jennifer Boyle said:

The problem is that I have not found such a skin that had no issues with my head. The problems are mostly around the inner corners of the eyes.

This issue can often be caused by using older system skins with BoM, or BoM-specific skins that are mapped to a different brand of head than the one you're using them on. @Maitimo has a free BoM fix for that in his Marketplace store, here. It's intended for Catwa heads, but since it's free it might be worth trying on other brands (since you don't specify which brand you're experiencing the issue on).

[Skell Dagger]

Regarding neck seams in general, I spent a few hours inworld yesterday running some tests. After fixing Keith's issue I finally grew curious enough to invest the time into comparing different male head and body neckline fits in both default midday and one of the 'mesh-friendly' Windlight settings.

I created a plain white, untextured skin (so that there were no visual distractions), and used Bakes on Mesh to check the necks of the following head and body combinations:

• Catwa Bento / Belleza Jake
• Catwa Bento / Signature Gianni
• Lelutka Bento / Belleza Jake
• Lelutka Bento / Signature Gianni
• Lelutka Evolution / Belleza Jake
• Lelutka Evolution / Signature Gianni

For the Catwa / Gianni comparisons the 'default neck' Gianni body was used, and for the Lelutka Evolution / Gianni comparisons the 'new neck' (aka 'SL neck') Gianni body was used, alongside the 'SL' version of the Lelutka Evolution head. (Note that Signature had - somewhat confusingly - issued an update to Gianni that had the same version number but simply changed the name of that body version from 'new neck' to 'SL neck'. My version is labelled 'new neck' so that is what's on my images. The 'new neck' is exactly the same as the 'SL neck'.)

The graphics settings that I checked against each head and body combination were:

• ALM disabled - Shadows N/A - Default Midday
• ALM enabled - Shadows None - Default Midday
• ALM enabled - Shadows Sun/Moon - Default Midday
• ALM enabled - Shadows Sun/Moon - [NB] Alpine Skinlight RGB

The results can be seen in this Gyazo album. I didn't check any other head/body combinations, as this series of tests took a couple of hours to pull together as it was, and I didn't want to spend an entire evening working on it. I may do the same set of tests against the Legacy body at some point in the future.

*Caveat: I was unaware at the time that - if pairing Lelutka Evolution with Belleza bodies - the non-SL neck version of the head needed to be used, together with the neck fit on the body's HUD being set to zero. So I will probably re-shoot all of those images again at some point soon for a more accurate depiction of that match. (That will be a few more hours of work...)