Curious on GENUS head popularity

[Tarani Tempest]

1 hour ago, Maitimo said:

I guess at least part of the reason is that the developer kit is free and doesn't require an application. Some other makers charge a not-insignificant sum of money for their dev kits, and others have an application process and they will only approve you if you have a large, well-established business and meet certain criteria. So making content for Genus is more accessible to more people.

I make make cosmetic appliers/system layers for Mesh heads.  I have made some for all the top selling heads.  I have never had to pay for a Dev kit or really had to apply for one.  Most of them come with them or offer the kit instore.  In fact , the only one I ever had to actually apply for , was the Genus kit..but that was over a year ago.

I know as a creator, I find working with the Genus heads very satisfying.  The kit is fairly extensive and easy to use. The head does have very limiting onion skins for make ups, but now with BOM implemented you can now do a lot more with them.  You can actually use both system and the onion skin layers together. No longer need to choose between using eyebrows or eyeshadows lol.

As well as being nice to work with, I also really love the look of them.   Simple as that

[BelindaN]

What Ceka @Ceka Ciancisaid above Plus intelligent marketing.

It was Ceka's look which drew me in to the beta Classic. Early adopters were then given Baby Face at no extra cost.

Genus gives me the look I want which is all that matters.  My whole family of alts use Genus. For me, so far, no other head gets close in my look.

The rest of Genus, ... hud and anims I can live with. They are plenty good enough for me.

Edited July 7, 2020 by BelindaN

[floryandreea12]

Genus is clearly the best mesh head out there. I got the free head when they reopened and I can say that I'm in love with the look I tried to accomplish for a long time. Nice animations (some of them are buggy but that's fine), pretty easy hud to use and they respond well to sliders

Before Genus I used a Lelutka evolution head because I felt that they were a little bit similar (even tho I wanted a Genus head so bad, but sadly they were closed down when I wanted to buy a head from them and I had to buy a Lelutka one). And no, I'm not saying that Lelutka is bad, they are both high quality heads and I love them both, but with Genus.....you can accomplish very many looks.

I like that many many creators are supporting Genus, I think there's no store that doesn't have a Genus only skin, or makeup. Since Genus is ''dominating'' the marketplace for skins and makeups, I couldn't find something for my Lelutka and that was frustrating because every gorgeous skin I ever seen was for Genus only

[Syo Emerald]

23 minutes ago, floryandreea12 said:

I like that many many creators are supporting Genus, I think there's no store that doesn't have a Genus only skin, or makeup. Since Genus is ''dominating'' the marketplace for skins and makeups, I couldn't find something for my Lelutka and that was frustrating because every gorgeous skin I ever seen was for Genus only

I always wondered, if Genus is forcing this extermination of diversity. Even during the reign of Catwa it hasn't been that bad.

[floryandreea12]

16 minutes ago, Syo Emerald said:

I always wondered, if Genus is forcing this extermination of diversity. Even during the reign of Catwa it hasn't been that bad.

No, I don't think they are forcing that. My guess is that the creators liked the heads that they are offering, and they have a free dev kit in their mainstore for 1L, so I think it's easy for everyone to grab it and start creating for Genus

Edited July 7, 2020 by floryandreea12

[Lillith Hapmouche]

As said elsewhere, the dev kits for pretty much all mesh heads are easily available for free and without application.

Anyway, thanks to BoM, I also happily pick up Genus make-up demos for my LeLutka head. Works like 99% of the time. No idea why creators choose to be so limiting in their advertising, but well, not my problem.

[Janet Voxel]

3 hours ago, Syo Emerald said:

I always wondered, if Genus is forcing this extermination of diversity. Even during the reign of Catwa it hasn't been that bad.

I wouldn't say its exterminating diversity. Legacy is doing that j/k j/k!!!

Lelutka managed to take a good chunk of the market back during Genus' time off and I'm seeing a lot of Lelutka products again. It looks like when the dust settles we're going to be at a big three situation like we were with the bodies. Lelutka Evo is a great head, very easy to use and it looks nice and the animations are amaaazing! I think there's just a lot of hoopla because Genus is back and that DMCA only helped them by creating a huge buzz, the free head only helped them out more. When it dies down though, there's going to be a big three: Catwa, Genus and Lelutka.

[Tarani Tempest]

1 hour ago, Janet Voxel said:

I wouldn't say its exterminating diversity. Legacy is doing that j/k j/k!!!

Lelutka managed to take a good chunk of the market back during Genus' time off and I'm seeing a lot of Lelutka products again. It looks like when the dust settles we're going to be at a big three situation like we were with the bodies. Lelutka Evo is a great head, very easy to use and it looks nice and the animations are amaaazing! I think there's just a lot of hoopla because Genus is back and that DMCA only helped them by creating a huge buzz, the free head only helped them out more. When it dies down though, there's going to be a big three: Catwa, Genus and Lelutka.

Agreed, and it has been the big 3: Catwa Genus and Lelutka for quite awhile now.  I know for me, those three products sell the best. With Lelutka doing better than ever since the Evolution heads were released. My Genus product sales never once slowed down after the DMCA either,  so the Genus brand has pretty much solidified itself.

Between the 3, we are getting quite a diverse variety of looks.  They are all great products, each one has something to offer.  A bit of something for everyone.  I think the lesser known heads still have a fighting chance as well, there is room there for more.

Edited July 7, 2020 by Tarani Tempest
clarity

[Madeline Mysterious]

I wish the genus cheeks were more scalable, the  jaw line too (jaw angle does nothing)  and noses were better, zero personality other than strong which is the exact opposite of what I want. I do like the heads (own all of them) but those things bother me the most as I can’t get the exact look I want or even remotely close.  At the moment catwa seems dead and leltuka’s features aren’t delicate enough for me... actually neither are genus. It’s depressing though to see just new releases  for those heads at events, it’s cut my time in SL down by almost 90% and the friends I had gave up on me I think because I just don’t feel myself enough to even log in. Hopefully genus does some different features with their next heads and more scaling with the sliders so I can make something that I like, catwa does a whole new line or someone new makes heads that become incredibly popular!

and by delicate features I didn’t mean the baby heads, those are the opposite of what I want too. I meant more fine/small noses But perfectly straight for example with no bumps or extended nose tips , normal cheeks and a soupçon of Barbie.

Edited July 8, 2020 by BloodDoll Lulu

[Fritigern Gothly]

1 hour ago, BloodDoll Lulu said:

and by delicate features I didn’t mean the baby heads, those are the opposite of what I want too. I meant more fine/small noses But perfectly straight for example with no bumps or extended nose tips , normal cheeks and a soupçon of Barbie.

Perhaps you should have a look at Akeruka, they have a wide variety of (BoM enabled) heads. Hop on over and grab a bunch of demos. This is what I did with my Akeruka heads:

My forum profile pic

 

An older head, same head on me and my alt, different shapes:

 

A recently taken pic...

Edited July 8, 2020 by Fritigern Gothly

[MaxMare]

With mesh heads and bodies it really comes down to 3rd party support, if creators offer enough content for some brand, that brand is likely to be more popular...unfortunately that does not always mean the best meshes are also the most supported. Personally I do not find Genus best, my current top choice is LeLutka Evolution line, the only true BoM mesh head/s on the market

Speaking of dev kits, not sure where you got the idea that some charge for dev kits? That is 100% incorrect. You can literally pick up dev kits for free in store or web site, depending on brand, I believe only Catwa has their dev kit with the purchase and you couldn`t get it separately, but that may have changed since I got mine years ago...Even mesh kits are not sold, you are supposed to apply for it and  anyone who has a store with enough original stuff on display is likely to get it...

Edit: LeLutka Evo heads got released before Genus released new heads and they took off instantly, so it is unfair to say the only reason for their popularity is Genus being off the market for a month. Evo line is as I said the only true BoM head, they also introduced HD lipstick and eyeshadow and listened to our suggestions we sent some time ago.  They also recognized materials are finally getting proper attention and understanding and you get about 8x2 different effects with the default HUD.. LeLutka set the standard when it comes to what a good HUD looks like and kept innovating with each next release. LeLutka Evo heads are the first to have a seamless Legacy fit. Oh and their appliers and dev kits are fantastic and easy to work with....it`s only fair to give credit where credit is due...

I don`t take many pics, but here is my bare face challenge photo: LeLutka Evolution Erin

Edited July 8, 2020 by MaxMare

[Pussycat Catnap]

8 hours ago, MaxMare said:

Edit: LeLutka Evo heads got released before Genus released new heads and they took off instantly, so it is unfair to say the only reason for their popularity is Genus being off the market for a month. Evo line is as I said the only true BoM head, they also introduced HD lipstick and eyeshadow and listened to our suggestions we sent some time ago.  They also recognized materials are finally getting proper attention and understanding and you get about 8x2 different effects with the default HUD..

Lelutka seems have made a big jump there. Before the Evo set their heads looked like extreme clones. The Evo set has some notable variety. Not as much as Catwa's current heads but not clones anymore.

I want to saw many brans have good variety, but I'm finding a couple of them are also clone armies. Genus and Slink both have heads that all look like clones of each other with tiny differences (for Genus this might be a reflection of them being displayed without texture, but even putting them on they all seem like clones).

It seems like good 'variety inside the brand' is only really present with Catwa, LAQ, slightly with Mayreal, and now Lelutka's (formerly the most extreme case of clones) new Evo set.

 

Almost none of these brands meet my needs - so many of them punch a hole in the head if you hide the ears. That's really the main thing that has me on Catwa - which also seems to be "mostly immune" to getting deformed by bento ears. But it's not a lightweight head by any stretch, more layers than paleontologist's sediment exhibition...

 

8 hours ago, MaxMare said:

Oh and their appliers and dev kits are fantastic and easy to work with....it`s only fair to give credit where credit is due..

If it was truly BOM appliers wouldn't matter much. You'd have 'materials on/off' and be done with it.