Tattoos, mesh and BoM?

[Schatzi Timmerman]

Is there a way for one to apply tats over an area that currently has other tats and retain both the old and new?

I found a tat (a simple one) that I placed over my lower torso. However, when I apply to the area, I lose my tan line (set to tattoo layer). I would like to keep both on the tattoo layer. A work around involved placing the newer one on the underwear layer. Great in a pinch, but I think you know what I am asking.

Edited April 28, 2021 by Schatzi Timmerman

[Lindal Kidd]

Are you putting on the second tattoo with the ADD command? If you use WEAR, it will replace the current tattoo.

[Schatzi Timmerman]

3 hours ago, Lindal Kidd said:

Are you putting on the second tattoo with the ADD command? If you use WEAR, it will replace the current tattoo.

Yes.

I use ADD as a matter of convenience, knowing WEAR could knock something off if sharing the same attach point.

I guess I'm asking how to 'stack' a tattoo over another tattoo using the tattoo layer.

Edited April 28, 2021 by Schatzi Timmerman

[Lindal Kidd]

Hmm. Then I'm out of ideas. Stacking tattoos using ADD ought to work, at least if it's a system layer tatt.

[Skell Dagger]

What I think is happening here is indicated by the words I've highlighted below:

On 4/28/2021 at 9:27 AM, Schatzi Timmerman said:

Is there a way for one to apply tats over an area that currently has other tats and retain both the old and new?

I found a tat (a simple one) that I placed over my lower torso. However, when I apply to the area, I lose my tan line (set to tattoo layer). I would like to keep both on the tattoo layer. A work around involved placing the newer one on the underwear layer. Great in a pinch, but I think you know what I am asking.

On 4/28/2021 at 11:16 PM, Schatzi Timmerman said:

I guess I'm asking how to 'stack' a tattoo over another tattoo using the tattoo layer.

You appear to be either using an 'onion skin' mesh body with multiple layers (tattoo, underwear, and clothing) OR a body like Maitreya that has additional layers you can add, and you're then using appliers (because you've used the word 'apply' several times) which is why you're seeing this issue of one removing the other.

When you say that your workaround involves setting your tattoo and tanline on different layers, that indicates that you're not using BoM, as there is no way to assign BoM layers to a specific 'location level' like that (short of them being created as actual system tattoo/underwear/clothing layers originally, with the corresponding inventory icons of 'pink dragon' symbol, vest/singlet, shirt, and jacket). What BoM does, in essence, is it takes all of the stacked system layers on your underlying system avatar, composites them into a single texture, then sends that texture to your mesh body, which we call 'baking', hence the term 'Bakes on Mesh'.

The confusion comes because your post title mentions 'BoM', and I'm fairly certain youre not using BoM. What I think you might be doing is using appliers to send the tattoo and tanline textures to the different layers of your mesh body.

Lindal is correct, in that - if you're using system layer tattoos (inventory icon: pink dragon symbol), which is what BoM makes use of - then using ADD to put them on a BoM-enabled body will simply stack them on top of each other so they are all visible. So, for example, your layering would be as follows -

• Lowest layer: BoM (system) skin
• Middle layer: BoM (system tattoo) tan line
• Upper layer: BoM (system) tattoo #1
• Topmost layer: BoM (system) tatttoo #2

ETA: This video shows me stacking eight tattoo layers on top of each other.

If, however, you're trying to do the following -

• Lowest layer: BoM (system) OR applier skin
• Middle layer: applier tan line applied to the tattoo layer of your body
• Upper layer: applier tattoo #1 applied to the tattoo, clothing, or underwear layer of your body
• Topmost layer: applier tattoo #2 applied to the tattoo, clothing, or underwear layer of your body

- then that's what is causing your problem. Even that workaround of putting the tan line applier on the tattoo layer of your body and the tattoo applier on the clothing layer of your body can cause the familiar 'z-buffering' alpha clash/glitch issues that we're all familiar with, especially after a teleport. In your case, both tan line and tattoo(s) contain partial alphas and your viewer is trying to figure out which order to put them in (usually resulting in one or more appearing to vanish). This only happens with appliers, which is why BoM is so popular, as it fixes that longstanding issue.

The way to put your tattoos over the top of other tattoos and tanlines etc, is to go fully BoM. You can stack up to 60 BoM (system) layers on top of your skin that way, and you can also 'hybridise' by doing something like the following -

• Lowest layer: BoM (system) skin
• Middle layer: BoM (system tattoo) tan line
• Upper layer: BoM (system) tattoo #1
• Topmost layer: applier tattoo #2 applied to any of your body's layers

Edited May 3, 2021 by Skell Dagger

[Schatzi Timmerman]

On 5/3/2021 at 6:10 AM, Skell Dagger said:

OR a body like Maitreya that has additional layers you can add, and you're then using appliers (because you've used the word 'apply' several times) which is why you're seeing this issue of one removing the other.

YES!

I am using Maitreya. I was using the assigned layers and not the dragon shaped images, not fully understanding how BoM works. I thought SL had a learning curve but I'll save that for another time. I've found too that sometimes the underwear layer will cover the tattoo layer, especially after a TP. Have to take the layer off and reapply. It's getting old.

I will check the video out. I appreciate the answer, it's one of the clearest answers I've seen here.

Bless you Skell.

 

5/7/21 2:37pm UPDATE!!!!!

This turned into a 'no sh*t' or 'duh' moment. I am using Maitreya, but I was using the Maitreya body alpha feature (habit,  I guess). After stripping all off, I started from scratch, realizing what the alpha layer can do. Off it went and when I clicked on the BoM button, everything worked.

I reapplied my skin, tanline and tattoo. \o/ yay!!!

Special thanks to Skell and Lindal for helping.

Edited May 7, 2021 by Schatzi Timmerman
Found my problem.