Question concerning BOM

[Brenda Liotta]

I have been MIA for a number of years and decided to come back and upgrade to all mesh.

I purchased an Maitreya body and a head from LAQ. Very happy with what will be a major overhaul. My question concerns BOM.

Is there a tutorial available to guide me in applying BOM, a "BOM for Dummies" thing? The head came with BOM appliers but at the bottom of the features, it included a standard skin color applier with scaled shades to use (1, 1.5. 2, 2.5...). I'm using that scale for now.

Apologies if this subject has come up before and I'm just rehashing a repetitive question. As I mentioned, been away for a few years and getting back on my feet, so to speak.

I thank you in advance.

[Lillith Hapmouche]

First of all, don't think of BOM as appliers...

It's basically what you have known before. Slap textures on something and that's it.

[Jenna Huntsman]

12 hours ago, Brenda Liotta said:

I have been MIA for a number of years and decided to come back and upgrade to all mesh.

I purchased an Maitreya body and a head from LAQ. Very happy with what will be a major overhaul. My question concerns BOM.

Is there a tutorial available to guide me in applying BOM, a "BOM for Dummies" thing? The head came with BOM appliers but at the bottom of the features, it included a standard skin color applier with scaled shades to use (1, 1.5. 2, 2.5...). I'm using that scale for now.

Apologies if this subject has come up before and I'm just rehashing a repetitive question. As I mentioned, been away for a few years and getting back on my feet, so to speak.

I thank you in advance.

If you're a member of the 7 Deadly Skins group, they often run classes on how BoM works & how to use it. I think they run daily, but I could be wrong on that.

[Nalates Urriah]

I am assuming you went MIA before mesh bodies were a thing. Yes?

BOM works just as the non-mesh body did. You use system layers for skin, tats, underwear, and clothes just like the pre-mesh days. In the mesh body's HUD you find the BOM button and enable BOM. All the system layers from the Classic avatar are than shown on the mesh body's skin layer.

The Classic avatar was the only thing in SL that allowed layers of textures. In the day Server Side Baking (SSB) composited all those layers into a single image. But that composite image could only be applied to the Classic avatar body.

Mesh bodies, which are prims, had no way to do layering. So designers worked around it by making bodies as a set of onion skin layers, sort of like Russian dolls, one copy of the body inside another. Appliers were just scripts that put textures on the correct layer of the body. So lots of polygons in an onion skin body and lots of textures and scripting to make it all work.

The Lindens added BOM, Bakes on Mesh, to allow the SSB engine to work with prims. Now the onions skins are not needed and designers can use fewer polygons and scripts. But some designers mix the onion skin prim layers and BOM composite system layering in there products. It can get confusing. So many now make Appliers that have BOM textures, often as tats.

How to know which to use with what? DEMO everything.

[Brenda Liotta]

10 hours ago, Nalates Urriah said:

I am assuming you went MIA before mesh bodies were a thing. Yes?

BOM works just as the non-mesh body did. You use system layers for skin, tats, underwear, and clothes just like the pre-mesh days. In the mesh body's HUD you find the BOM button and enable BOM. All the system layers from the Classic avatar are than shown on the mesh body's skin layer.

Yes. I took leave while BOM was being discussed and readied. In fact, my last post here is from 2016 (gotta love profiles).

The Maitreya body (5.3?) comes with a BOM hud. I suppose if I find a quiet area and just play with the different buttons, I'll figure this onion layer reference. Sometimes it's best to just jump in and get the feet wet to learn. I'll of course back up my Maitreya body before demoing.

Edited April 17, 2021 by Brenda Liotta

[Lillith Hapmouche]

Maitreya's BOM HUD is some kind of "filler" to be worn as an extra, so that clothes look more natural. It adds effects on the chest and lower body. So it's a "nice to have" add-on, but it has little to do with the main function of BOM and doesn't need to be worn.

On the main HUD, get to the skin tab and check that "Bakes on Mesh" button. That's how the magic begins...

The help section of the 5.3 is a nice read: https://sl-maitreya.blogspot.com/p/lara-mesh-body-v5.html

 

[Gabriele Graves]

It's not just a BoM HUD, you need to wear the "BoM Add-on Parts" object to get the benefits.  The HUD just changes the options.

[Nalates Urriah]

11 hours ago, Brenda Liotta said:

Yes. I took leave while BOM was being discussed and readied. In fact, my last post here is from 2016 (gotta love profiles).

The Maitreya body (5.3?) comes with a BOM hud. I suppose if I find a quiet area and just play with the different buttons, I'll figure this onion layer reference. Sometimes it's best to just jump in and get the feet wet to learn. I'll of course back up my Maitreya body before demoing.

Backups are good things.

I have what I refer to as starter outfits'. I have nude me" outfits using my Slink bodies including Classic (applier capable) and Redux (BOM). I also have one outfit for testing. It uses a copy of my body and head. Those copies are never used in any other outfit. I can experiment and demo as much as I want.

Because most of my outfits are based in a starter outfit they use the same copy of the body & head. I think it makes updating the body much easier.

[Lindal Kidd]

Here is what I've found to be the main "gotcha" with mesh bodies/heads and BOM.

The mesh items come with an alpha mask that hides your classic avatar body. This is great, but with BOM, you must NOT wear that alpha layer. The usual clue that you've done so is that your whole body looks tinted red.

REMOVE the alpha mask, click the BOM button in your body or head HUD, and then simply Add BOM skins, tattoos, makeups, etc. as you please.