Neck Fix: Body Maitreya Lara V5.3, Head leLutka Evo Erin V2.5

[RainConner]

Hi everyone. I am trying to fix an issue with my neck. I have tried the neck fixes in the Lara Hud already and no go. The problem is, the area this "fix" fixes is not the problem area. I have this odd shadow/line at the point under my chin where the neck and head meet. It is not normally seen unless you are turning in a certain angle or in a certain pose but either way it drives me nuts and I can not for the life of me figure out why it is there or how to fix it. It almost looks as if something is not fitting right or seaming together properly but I can not figure out WHAT. Any ideas?

[Maitimo]

2 hours ago, RainConner said:

Hi everyone. I am trying to fix an issue with my neck. I have tried the neck fixes in the Lara Hud already and no go. The problem is, the area this "fix" fixes is not the problem area. I have this odd shadow/line at the point under my chin where the neck and head meet. It is not normally seen unless you are turning in a certain angle or in a certain pose but either way it drives me nuts and I can not for the life of me figure out why it is there or how to fix it. It almost looks as if something is not fitting right or seaming together properly but I can not figure out WHAT. Any ideas?

If it's where the chin meets the neck, that's well within the mesh that was made by Lelutka, so no change of neck fix can alter it. The join between neck and body is halfway down the neck, not right at the top.

It's very unlikely that the mesh is faulty in any way. Lelutka is among the best head-makers in SL and their heads are very good quality. It's most likely an effect of your windlight/EEP making shadows. Using an environment setting with high ambient light (such as Nam's Optimal Skin & Prim) should help, as will a low-powered facelight positioned lower (level with your neck). 

Also check your "Jaw Angle" slider in your shape. If it's too high or too low, it's going to look wrong. And in particular, if you've switched to Lelutka from a different brand of head but you're still using the previous shape, it will need some adjustment to look right because all heads are rigged slightly differently from each other.

Lastly, try Undeforming your avatar or resetting skeleton, just in case it's been affected by something that has altered your jaw or head shape. In Firestorm there's an option in the menu under "Avatar". In the official viewer, right-click yourself and choose Reset Skeleton.

If none of those things help, the only solution is to avoid using those particular poses and camera angles.

ETA: I thought of another one; a skin which has too much shading in the under-chin area, and not enough on the upper neck. I just looked at mine and it kind of looks similar. Tried switching to a different skin and the effect was reduced but not eliminated (with default Mid-day lighting). 

 

Edited May 9, 2021 by Maitimo

[Skell Dagger]

A screenshot of what you're seeing would be very helpful in diagnosing the issue.

Assuming that you're using one of the Type 1 neck options in the Maitreya HUD (as those are the ones intended to be used with heads like Evolution, which use the Universal Neck setting) then you might also want to check the materials settings on both your head and body. Look on both HUDs for anything labelled as either materials/gloss/shine/environment, etc. Having non-identical materials settings on the head and body can lead to a discrepancy like that, which tends only to be visible when lighting hits the neck area from certain angles.

Edited May 9, 2021 by Skell Dagger

[RainConner]

So here is the screenshot asked for. It is faint and like I said right at the connection between head and neck, not in the middle of the neck like the neck fix would help with. I have tried the jaw angle slide but the issue is only seen when not in edit mode. I have always use Nam's Optimal Skin and Prim except in this picture I am using Nam's Optimal Skin 2. Undeforming did not help.  I have even tried changing skins. 

[Marianne Little]

I am trying to see a line, but I can not....👓 Maybe it's my old eyes.

I can only see the shading.

My guess, it has nothing to do with the head. It is how the skin maker has drawn the skin. Deliberately, as a part of the chin shade, or accidentally.

How does this area under the chin look with other skins?

[Lewis Luminos]

I agree with Marianne, that's normal for any mesh head, it's just shading on the skin and all skins will have it because that's how they are made to look realistic

You may be able to find very, very old skins in freebie stores that have little or no shading, but they will just look completely flat all over, and poor quality.

[Skell Dagger]

As others have said, that's simply the shading on the skin.

If you're using BoM (Bakes on Mesh, AKA system layers) for your skin, you can try Izzie's BoM Chin Shadow Concealer (demo link here) to see if that fixes the issue for you.