Catwa HDPRO

[Marianne Little]

1 hour ago, FairreLilette said:

Sales are terrific.  I like it when my favorite clothing company puts the items on Marketplace for sale too because when there is a sale I can't get in.  The region is full.  I want a Lelutka head but I haven't even tried the demos or decided yet.  The thing is, I don't buy everything shiny, and now I've decided to buy what I really use.  And, for example, I really use my Deetalez skins and am wow-ed every time I put them on when I change a shape...it's always a Deetalez skin that wows me.  So, I've decided to buy Deetalez skins only because even though I went after shiny, I didn't use it.   And, Catya has been the best head I could have ever found.  It probably always will be my go-to.  So, even with a Lelutka sale, I think I'd like this MajorEdge head more because I know how much I've loved Catya.  Genus has a lazy eye and a bit of an eye problem I don't want to have to hassle with even though I like the heads, I hope the problem gets fixed on Genus, whatever it is.  

Wait, sale? Now? Or is it the 3990 price LeLutka has had for 4-5 months?

[Marianne Little]

Catwa becomes like Meshbody in that the price is something I have to think twice about. With Meshbody, I landed on "no", with Catwa? Still "maybe".

[FairreLilette]

1 hour ago, Marianne Little said:

Catwa becomes like Meshbody in that the price is something I have to think twice about. With Meshbody, I landed on "no", with Catwa? Still "maybe".

I paid 5k linden for both Strawberry and Catya.  I thought it was a good deal because it's the package and you get all the HUDs and animation HUDs.  I saw other companies where the HUDs for animations for example were not included and the prices would be similar to CATWA's 5K if you paid for head and HUD so it really wasn't any cheaper.  Also, Catwa on Marketplace has lower priced heads if you just want a static.  To tell you the truth, I don't use the animations very much at all because I am too busy, but I do think Catya does look "cute" animated when I have time.  

I love Catya.  It looks the new HDPRO "soft" one is based on Catya and Catya is a great head.  I am excited to try the demo on these this weekend.  

[Marianne Little]

10 minutes ago, FairreLilette said:

I paid 5k linden for both Strawberry and Catya.  I thought it was a good deal because it's the package and you get all the HUDs and animation HUDs.  I saw other companies where the HUDs for animations for example were not included and the prices would be similar to CATWA's 5K if you paid for head and HUD so it really wasn't any cheaper.  Also, Catwa on Marketplace has lower priced heads if you just want a static.  To tell you the truth, I don't use the animations very much at all because I am too busy, but I do think Catya does look "cute" animated when I have time.  

I love Catya.  It looks the new HDPRO "soft" one is based on Catya and Catya is a great head.  I am excited to try the demo on these this weekend.  

You noticed Catwa added 900 L to the price of 5000 L? I have bought 7 Catwa heads on my various avatars, but I am considering stopping now. Before, the safe male head was Catwa because there was not any competition. Creators made skin for Catwa, period. Now there are lots of great LeLutka Evo male skins to buy.

[FairreLilette]

30 minutes ago, Marianne Little said:

You noticed Catwa added 900 L to the price of 5000 L? I have bought 7 Catwa heads on my various avatars, but I am considering stopping now. Before, the safe male head was Catwa because there was not any competition. Creators made skin for Catwa, period. Now there are lots of great LeLutka Evo male skins to buy.

Yes I did notice the 900L price increase but I don't feel it would be too much for me to afford 'if' I end up loving it and try various shapes on it.  A 2k L increase or above would be a lot to me but 900 I could do because I only have two heads, Strawberry and Catya.  My first head was a Genesis which is a great head but you can only use Genesis skins on those and I don't like the shading on the Genesis skins.  So, then I got Strawberry and finally got Catya and Catya is the most versatile of all the Catwa heads.  Strawberry has a difficult lip to work with but Izzie Button's lipsticks fit good on Strawberry.  Since I'm not a big time head buyer, I will probably only get about 2-3 more heads in total in my SLifetime so it's do-able for me since if I like something I use it a lot and I'm not a 'i  have to the shiny' anymore because I did that a few times and then never got use out of it.  I seem to get a lot of use out of Catya, so it's worth it.  If there was a sale on CATWA, I doubt I would get into the sim though it would be so packed and then I would forget.  I'm really happy with Catya but I do think I will get a Lelutka and maybe one LAQ eventually plus perhaps one of these new HD ones from CATWA.  

The best thing is to follow your heart about it and sleep on it.  

 

[RitaCallisto]

4 hours ago, Marianne Little said:

Catwa becomes like Meshbody in that the price is something I have to think twice about. With Meshbody, I landed on "no", with Catwa? Still "maybe".

Glad I grabbed the Legacy body for half off on Black Friday last year.. like you, I surely would not pay 5k for it. I can safely say after using it and mostly still opting for my Maitreya, it's just not worth as much as they want imo.

After playing with the Catwa HDPRO demo some more, I am kind of leaning more toward no. The jaw and the strange chubby/chipmunk mouth that I can't seem to get rid of no matter what I do is just really bothering me.

Edit: Also the eyes have been an absolute nightmare for me. Don't know if the HUD isn't working right or what, but hooboy..

Edited September 19, 2020 by RitaCallisto

[xBaeBeex]

hard pass for me unfortunately... mostly due to the cost, and im not a cheap person when it comes to my av by any means, i have various bodies including maitreya + petite and  legacy + perky.. yes all 4.. and i have only my Genus Baby head.. but.. when a company says 5.9K..for a head.. I remember last year when so many made a big hoohaa about Legacy being 5K.. for a body.. and this is a head for 900L more? .. I'm sure for a years worth of time and effort that went into it would make that price seem reasonable.. and maybe to some catwa die hard fans it is reasonable.. but I guess.. for someone like me who only has 1 head..and all my makeup appliers are fit for genus, even all my eye colours.. yeah.. i cant part with what I already have.. 

on the plus side.. 

- the eye lashes are god damn stunning.. like wow

- hud is very easy to load.. no waiting time, least for me and my experience

- very streamline and i like how each part has its own little pop out box even for poses.. i thought that was neat

- the skin/cheeks i noticed was very high deatail.. very realistive with the Skinnery demo skin.. i was again impressed by it...

 

those are my favorite parts about it.. but i dont have a catwa applier .. so i couldnt demo my own skins.. yes, i know how to BOM.. but i dont really enjoy BOM anymore.. i like my appliers.. i walked all over catwa today but i couldnt find a demo cata applier ..- thats not a complaint.. i just didnt know where to go, and i looked on marketplace and couldnt see it either..

very very pretty head though... and i know the details will be stuck in my head for a long time i think.. and i also like the idea of a slimmer..feminine face as opposed to my "baby" genus face.. but im not ready to fork out the money for it.. not with black friday sales next month lol

 

[Tattooshop]

On 9/18/2020 at 1:05 AM, Skell Dagger said:

As I hope has been noted, I never 'shill' for Catwa on this forum while remaining a regular poster and helping out where I can with avatar customisation advice for any brands that I have familiarity with. However, I do want to note that - as a Catwa CSR - I'm happy to answer any questions in this thread that anyone has about this new range of heads, or offer advice if anyone needs it.

Hello! I have few questions. MajerSoft and MajerEdged - what is the difference between them except for external differences? And if i plan to use it with Maitreya built-in Glam Affair skins which version do you recommend or is it worth the wait and do you plan to release a official Glam Affair skin brand version?

 

[Skell Dagger]

48 minutes ago, Tattooshop said:

Hello! I have few questions. MajerSoft and MajerEdged - what is the difference between them except for external differences? And if i plan to use it with Maitreya built-in Glam Affair skins which version do you recommend or is it worth the wait and do you plan to release a official Glam Affair skin brand version?

MajerSoft has softer features around the eyes, nose and cheeks. MajerEdged has more defined cheekbones. The differences are purely visual with regard to the shape of the mesh. Functionality etc is completely the same.

With regard to Glam Affair skins, they do have the dev kit and we can hopefully expect to see some HDPRO specific skins from them soon. In the meantime you can try demos of any existing BoM skins from them, but be aware that Catwa has changed the way that her UV maps onto the HDPRO heads. This means that skins created on the old Catwa UV won't look the same on the new UV, especially around the eyes and mouth.

Because the old Catwa UV mapped specific vertices (basically this means how the UV is wrapped around and 'tied/pinned to' the different vertices of the mesh) in a certain way that was different to how the 'standard SL UV' was mapped that is why people who used BoM to try some really old system skins (which, obviously, use the SL UV) on Catwa Bento heads noticed certain oddities, such as white 'dragged down highlights' coming from their inner eyes, etc. Think of the UV mapping as being like a piece of paper: one creator makes an origami crane out of it and the other creator makes an origami stork out of it. It's one piece of paper; just folded differently. (I just realised that - if your username reflects a tattoo business in SL then you probably already know all of that, but for the benefit of anyone else I'm going to leave it in here )

The HDPRO UV mapping is much closer to the default SL UV, so - until Glam Affair releases HDPRO specific skins - you may actually have more success with demos of BoM skins for other existing brands that already map close to the standard SL UV. I've seen a couple of vloggers stating that some of their Genus BoM skins mapped reasonably well onto HDPRO. (I've also seen people describing this as "fishy" and "suspicious". Well... no, it's not. The HDPRO UV now maps like that of most other designers' - closer to the SL UV. We've even had feedback from several skin and makeup creators who are glad that it's changed! )

That said, the best UV mapping will still be one that is created exactly to the HDPRO, so I'd give Glam Affair a bit of time. If you have Discord then we're already seeing some lovely new releases of skins and makeup etc in the news channels there. (You can find the Discord link on the bottom tab of the HDPRO HUD. It's on the demo as well as the full version.)

[FairreLilette]

8 hours ago, xBaeBeex said:

those are my favorite parts about it.. but i dont have a catwa applier .. so i couldnt demo my own skins.. yes, i know how to BOM.. but i dont really enjoy BOM anymore.. i like my appliers.. i walked all over catwa today but i couldnt find a demo cata applier ..- thats not a complaint.. i just didnt know where to go, and i looked on marketplace and couldnt see it either..

Ack, xBaeBeex, regarding BOM.  I am not a fan of BOM either, not yet, but I have been very, very busy re-doing my whole store plus other things that I am busy at least until Christmas, so BOM is on hold for now.  I went back to appliers myself, but what I'm really writing this for is I don't need the CATWA RELAY to apply my Omega skins to my Catya CATWA head and I am so so busy I don't even know what the heck is going with that.  My Deetalez skins apply to my Catya head WITHOUT a relay like I said.  It's so weird and confusing and imagine all this 'change' with working 12 to 13 hour days.  BOM has me lost BUT did you TRY to apply the skin without the relay?  

Also regarding BOM, one store I really love and never got enough of her stuff is Nanika with her beautiful lace-like body tattoos, but all those beautiful body tattoos are gone from her store and not inworld either.  I wondered if she closed out her body tattoos because of BOM?  Well, some of us may not like BOM after all.  Right now, appliers are easier for me being so so busy until at least Christmas if not a bit longer I simply don't have time for BOM.  

Edited September 20, 2020 by FairreLilette

[Tattooshop]

2 hours ago, Skell Dagger said:

MajerSoft has softer features around the eyes, nose and cheeks. MajerEdged has more defined cheekbones. The differences are purely visual with regard to the shape of the mesh. Functionality etc is completely the same.

With regard to Glam Affair skins, they do have the dev kit and we can hopefully expect to see some HDPRO specific skins from them soon. In the meantime you can try demos of any existing BoM skins from them, but be aware that Catwa has changed the way that her UV maps onto the HDPRO heads. This means that skins created on the old Catwa UV won't look the same on the new UV, especially around the eyes and mouth.

Because the old Catwa UV mapped specific vertices (basically this means how the UV is wrapped around and 'tied/pinned to' the different vertices of the mesh) in a certain way that was different to how the 'standard SL UV' was mapped that is why people who used BoM to try some really old system skins (which, obviously, use the SL UV) on Catwa Bento heads noticed certain oddities, such as white 'dragged down highlights' coming from their inner eyes, etc. Think of the UV mapping as being like a piece of paper: one creator makes an origami crane out of it and the other creator makes an origami stork out of it. It's one piece of paper; just folded differently. (I just realised that - if your username reflects a tattoo business in SL then you probably already know all of that, but for the benefit of anyone else I'm going to leave it in here )

The HDPRO UV mapping is much closer to the default SL UV, so - until Glam Affair releases HDPRO specific skins - you may actually have more success with demos of BoM skins for other existing brands that already map close to the standard SL UV. I've seen a couple of vloggers stating that some of their Genus BoM skins mapped reasonably well onto HDPRO. (I've also seen people describing this as "fishy" and "suspicious". Well... no, it's not. The HDPRO UV now maps like that of most other designers' - closer to the SL UV. We've even had feedback from several skin and makeup creators who are glad that it's changed! )

That said, the best UV mapping will still be one that is created exactly to the HDPRO, so I'd give Glam Affair a bit of time. If you have Discord then we're already seeing some lovely new releases of skins and makeup etc in the news channels there. (You can find the Discord link on the bottom tab of the HDPRO HUD. It's on the demo as well as the full version.)

Thanks a lot!

By the way, I really liked that the eyes are now attached to the head, as well as new Shapes sliders on the HUD, the materials of the eyebrows and eyelashes are also very interesting!

 

 

 

 

Edited September 20, 2020 by Tattooshop

[Skell Dagger]

18 minutes ago, Tattooshop said:

I noticed such an effect around the eyes when trying to tint eyes mask, they told me in the group that this is a shine effect and it will always be if you tint and use materials. Can I do something about it?

You have the Strength slider up as far as it will go on the eye mask materials section, so try reducing that slider. I suggest reducing that slider and playing around with a combination of that and the Glossiness slider.

Also, go into the Skin tab and take a look at the Environment slider. That slider should always be used with caution, as it can add a metallic shine to your skin. Pull it all the way to the left if you have anything set on that one.

[xBaeBeex]

Hi fairre!

Yes I did try to apply the skin without a rely and it didnt work.. i tried several times and also tried to look in the catwa head for something other than BOM but i didnt find it.. so I gave up.

I was Bommed out for several monthes pretty much as soon as the craze started.. but I realised a few things why it didnt suit me anymore.

- being a outfit saver like myself, it saves the specific  skin tone and specific makeup layers.. and if u save several outfits in different skin tones then your forever changing the skin tones to something more current you bought

- I dont use that many layers.. my makeup is pretty minimal, and with the leaps and bounds in skin creators they are already nifty in making the skin look highlighted or have a tinge of lipgloss in it already.. so.. less work for me

 

The detail in the catwa head is the best out there now.. by far.. it really is.. but i dont already own anything skin related or makeup related for catwa.. except obviously what it comes with boxed up.... maybe one day i will get it.. who knows... never say never!

[Rowan Amore]

The one thing I'm disliking on this...the teeth.  Or am I missing some way to make them less "fake" looking.

[Jennifer Boyle]

On 9/17/2020 at 5:05 PM, Skell Dagger said:

As I hope has been noted, I never 'shill' for Catwa on this forum while remaining a regular poster and helping out where I can with avatar customisation advice for any brands that I have familiarity with. However, I do want to note that - as a Catwa CSR - I'm happy to answer any questions in this thread that anyone has about this new range of heads, or offer advice if anyone needs it.

I'll take that offer up! I've been waiting for these heads to upgrade mine. I decided some time ago that my next head would be Catwa because Skell is so knowledgeable and helpful, but I wanted to wait for the new generation before investing the money, time, and effort it would take to change heads.

It is VERY important to me to retain the same facial appearance; I want to look like the same person, just, hopefully, a better version. I am posting pictures of my system head because, while I  came close to having my current mesh head look like it, I didn't achieve as close a match as I wanted, and it is what I'm shooting for:

Which of the Catawa HDPRO heads should I buy?

Thanks.

[Skell Dagger]

Before I answer Jennifer's question, I'm going to come back to some previous things that were buried amid longer posts.

On 9/19/2020 at 7:51 PM, RitaCallisto said:

Also the eyes have been an absolute nightmare for me. Don't know if the HUD isn't working right or what, but hooboy..

What were you having trouble with when it came to the eyes? If you give me an idea of what you found difficult then I can create a video for you explaining how to use them, or how to fix any issues you were having. There are no currently known bugs or problems with the eyes (or the HUD scripting for the eyes) so - outside of lag - there is likely to be a fix or solution for whatever 'nightmare' you were experiencing

On 9/20/2020 at 8:36 AM, xBaeBeex said:

i walked all over catwa today but i couldnt find a demo cata applier

There is an entire wing of the store dedicated to demo female skin appliers (about 150 of them!) When you land, with the mainstore at your back and the big open area with the coffee shop in front of you, take an immediate right and you'll be walking toward the female skin demo wing. (For the male skin demo wing it's a left turn instead.) There's also a teleporter at the landing point:

Look for 'Head Skin Stores' on it. And take note of the coloured line around each section: blue for male, and pink for female. Hope that helps!

20 hours ago, FairreLilette said:

I don't need the CATWA RELAY to apply my Omega skins to my Catya CATWA head and I am so so busy I don't even know what the heck is going with that.  My Deetalez skins apply to my Catya head WITHOUT a relay like I said

It's not possible to apply Omega skins to Catwa without the relay. Initially I would have suggested that you might be wearing the Omega relay for Catwa and have it pushed offscreen (which is what I do with it) but then I read that you're using DeeTaleZ skins. DeeTaleZ does not sell head appliers in Omega format. They only have Omega body appliers.

15 hours ago, RowanMinx said:

The one thing I'm disliking on this...the teeth.  Or am I missing some way to make them less "fake" looking.

Have you textured them yet? On initial rez, the entire mouth area - teeth, inner mouth, and tongue - are monochrome, to allow you to customise them as you like. At the top of the mouth tab you'll see three icons for them, with three boxes between them:

(Note that the MED/SML boxes are to customise the size of the tongue, which is needed if you're using the vampire fangs option. The actual tongue texturing box is on the right of the three boxes.)

Click each box to customise each area (you can mix and match them; each teeth texture on the coloured 'mouth texturing' icons is different). I've just done a quick video trying to cram in as many of the mouth texturing options (as well as the tongue sizing options) as I could into the minute that Gyazo Pro gives me. Hopefully that'll help.

In addition, you can use third party teeth appliers on HDPRO. I've always used this 'Perfect Teeth' set for Catwa, by Glitter Litter. It applies nicely on HDPRO (video here).

Finally, if you're using the built-in facelight (or any facelight) and that's causing the teeth to reflect too much light, then a neat trick is to move the Environment slider for the teeth (ensure that the 'teeth' box is checked at the top first). That will reduce the shine. Do that, and then play with the Glossiness and Shine sliders a little, to get the perfect setting. Video example here.

Edited September 21, 2020 by Skell Dagger

[Skell Dagger]

OK, on to Jennifer's question, although I do have to mention first of all that...

15 hours ago, Jennifer Boyle said:

I decided some time ago that my next head would be Catwa because Skell is so knowledgeable and helpful

...is probably not the best way to choose a mesh head! Thank you for the kind words, but a mesh head should always be chosen because it feels right for you, not because of the CSR support

That said, if you have decided on HDPRO then out of the two options currently available I would suggest demoing MajerSoft. MajerSoft doesn't have the pronounced cheekbones that MajerEdged has, but please do try the demo first. Last night - with your image as a guide - I had a quick attempt at recreating your face. The eyes and nose shouldn't be problematic. I tested the chin sliders - as your chin is quite pointed - and I could get it pretty close by maxing out the chin shape slider towards the 'pointed' end (no other edits were made to the face for that image, as I was only testing how far the 'pointed' chin slider could go), but your lips will need some additional Beyond Shape slider help. I only used the standard SL shape sliders, and didn't touch the Beyond Shape sliders on the head's HUD (I didn't have time for more than just a quick check using the SL sliders), but it will be the Beyond Shape sliders that may help you to recreate your mouth shape a little more accurately. I can't promise that you'll recreate your mouth exactly, as your lip shape is very distinctive - especially at the outer corners - so if looking exactly like that is very important to you then all I can say is take your time to really play around with Beyond Shape in combination with the SL sliders and see what you can come up with.

When trying out the Beyond Shape sliders please ensure that you're not still in Edit Appearance mode (editing your SL shape sliders) at the same time, as that can cause the Beyond Shape sliders to either glitch out or not appear to move at all. Edit the Beyond Shape sliders, then reset skeleton (right-click your avatar > appearance > reset > skeleton), and then move into Edit Appearance (SL sliders) for more tweaks. Save that SL shape with a new name, come out of Edit Appearance, and then back into Beyond Shape sliders. Always remember to reset skeleton when using Beyond Shape; that's a critical point.

At any time, you can save your Beyond Shape settings using the save slots on the HUD, then you can reset them using the CLEAR button if you need to try a different combination. Clicking the saved sliders will allow you to load your saved settings (again, reset skeleton afterwards!)

A final point (because this one even caught me out!) is that if you've tried the Beyond Shape sliders on HDPRO - whether a full purchase of the head or just in the demo - and you then go back to any other head, be that Catwa or another brand, make sure you reset skeleton once you have the other head on, otherwise you're probably going to look a bit odd. (I was pouting for Britain when I put on my Skell head after using HDPRO Beyond Shape sliders, and while I do love a bit of 'blue steel' I don't love it to that extent!)

[FairreLilette]

2 hours ago, Skell Dagger said:

It's not possible to apply Omega skins to Catwa without the relay. Initially I would have suggested that you might be wearing the Omega relay for Catwa and have it pushed offscreen (which is what I do with it) but then I read that you're using DeeTaleZ skins. DeeTaleZ does not sell head appliers in Omega format. They only have Omega body appliers.

Ooooooooooo, I see.  Yes, I just switch my Deetalez skins back and forth without the relay on.  I used to always put my relay on when putting my Deetalez skins on and thought it was necessary.  I just assumed all skins were either Classic style or Omega or the Genesis which I don't use anymore but were my first mesh disaster.  Okies.  Thankies.  

[Maitimo]

56 minutes ago, FairreLilette said:

Ooooooooooo, I see.  Yes, I just switch my Deetalez skins back and forth without the relay on.  I used to always put my relay on when putting my Deetalez skins on and thought it was necessary.  I just assumed all skins were either Classic style or Omega or the Genesis which I don't use anymore but were my first mesh disaster.  Okies.  Thankies.  

It sounds like your Deetalez skin is a Catwa-specific applier, you don't need any other relay if the applier matches your brand of head.

[MrsSeren]

Work in progress as my best friend making shape for me, awaiting to see another friend can make my custom tats (as he did them originally) into bom then I can go fully bom so far so good I think.   I chose Majer Soft for myself if your wondering!  

Edited September 21, 2020 by MrsSeren

[Pussycat Catnap]

The 'custom rigging' appears to be script loaded deformers.

If you use the option to delete scripts, you can get as low as 256kbs of scripts still there. But among the scripts it will delete are the ones that keep those deformers loaded - so you lose all of that customization on your next login.

Before removing scripts it's a big more script intense than the old heads.

 

There are some good things, and some mixed things.

It appears to be higher complexity than the older Catwa - but only by a small amount.

It does remove some un-needed layers. It appears to be made presuming BOM - but oddly doesn't have BOM set by default.

No more hairbase or brows (I think no brows, I didn't find them and I forgot to examine it in wireframe and with transparencies to see more detail.

Only 2 heads out so far - and neither is as stylized as some of Catwa's older heads.

I use Catwa Kittia which has unusually large eyes - you cannot replicate this with the HDPro heads that are out so far. I have the eyes in Kittia set a bit overdone to emphasize that my avatar is not human.

They also need to update the teeth addon for it for me. I use a full row of all sharp teeth as a neko. It has vampire fangs, but not the fully sharp teeth I am using with their older teeth addon.

 

Demo it. It will be great for some but not yet there for others.

I'm on the fence, and wondering if a more stylized head will come in time for people that used Catwa heads like Kittia and Daria. Recognizing that we're the niche, and the existing choices were more mainline releases.

 

Edited September 21, 2020 by Pussycat Catnap

[Skell Dagger]

8 minutes ago, Pussycat Catnap said:

No more hairbase or brows (I think no brows, I didn't find them and I forgot to examine it in wireframe and with transparencies to see more detail.

For reference:

[Jennifer Boyle]

5 hours ago, Skell Dagger said:

OK, on to Jennifer's question...

Thank you!

[xBaeBeex]

Thankyou @Skell Dagger i might end up having another look at them tonight.. big major purchases is a weakness of mine .. and the more i sit here reading the comments..the more I wanna try the head again..  but i do have some questions.. and as much as I love my genus, it would be nice to have a head with eyes that work..normally..

1 - do normal non HD skins work on the HD head..? I have lots and lots and lots of skins from 7DS.. 

2 - do normal catwa male or female tattoo hair bases work .. or again, does everything have to be upgraded to HD ? 

 

[Skell Dagger]

12 hours ago, xBaeBeex said:

1 - do normal non HD skins work on the HD head..? I have lots and lots and lots of skins from 7DS.. 

Any BoM skin will go onto the HDPRO head, once you've enabled BoM on it. System layers are system layers, after all. However, whether they will actually look good once they're on entirely depends on the head that skin was originally made for. The UV mapping for the HDPRO heads is different from the UV mapping on Catwa's older heads, and that older head mapping is different from the mapping done by Genus or Lelutka, etc. Steffi Villota of DeeTaleZ did a great comparison of this on her Flickr some time ago. Start here and click the arrow on the right to go through them. There are four images in total. Make sure you read the descriptions beneath the images, too.

The best thing I can suggest is to simply try your old skins and see what they look like. If it's a very old system skin (created before mesh heads were a thing) then you may notice a strange 'tag glitch' in the texture below your earlobe. That's one of the best ways to check if a system skin is pre-mesh head (the other is to check around the fingers and toes). Here's an example from one of my Bakes on Mesh guides:

12 hours ago, xBaeBeex said:

2 - do normal catwa male or female tattoo hair bases work .. or again, does everything have to be upgraded to HD ?

That depends on the hairbase. I've noticed that with some of my tattoo hairbases that were created specifically for the older Catwa Bento heads (Stealthic's male BoM hairbase, for example) the texture 'kinks' a bit above the temples. I've had better luck with much older tattoo hairbases that were not created specifically for any particular head. Again, my advice would be to try what you already have and see what fits best.

Edited September 22, 2020 by Skell Dagger