Been Out of SL for Almost 2 Years

[MoxZ Mokeev]

So much has changed!  I have a massive inventory but so much of it is outdated.  Most specifically the avatars.  When I rezzed in today I found everything wonky.  So I scrapped it and put on one of the new Linden all in one avatars which surprised me!  They're certainly not those ugly little starter things from back in the day.  Also they're much less laggy and complicated.  I'm looking for something similar but I have a lot of questions.  Can these be customized?  Clothing/hair/shoes/huds/etc?  I want something with less complexity but I also want it all.  Can anyone recommend a shop that sells low complexity avatars and clothing? 

[Bree Giffen]

The Linden all-in-one avatars aren't really supported by the marketplace. The best option is to get a widely supported mesh body and a widely supported mesh head. These will give you all the options you want and maximum joy. It's really not that complex once you get used to it. You can always ask questions here and most stores have a group you can join to get support.

[Rowan Amore]

Not THAT much has changed in just 2 years.  The biggest thing as far as avatars has been BOM.  Mesh bodies and head have been around much longer than 2 years.

As @Bree Giffenmentioned, your best choice would be separate head and body.  You won't find much to wear otherwise.

[Echelon Alcott]

Welcome back from your 2 year break, Moxz.

To add to the information shared by Bree and Rowan, in this thread [link] you can see a list of the most popular mesh bodies available at the moment.

In this thread [link] you can see the most popular mesh bodies (I know there is a more recent set of statistics, but I cannot find it at the moment). The more popular the mesh body, the most likely you'll be able to find clothing for it.

Hope this helps.

 

[Marianne Little]

Linden starter avatars is not all the same. You have the mesh starter avatars. You will see that their faces look like "flesh-colored plastic". Those caused massive complaints since they could not be customized. You can not buy other skins, shoes and clothes for them.

Then it is the classic starter avatars that work same as the avatars you are familiar with. They have clothes you can take on and off, prettier skin that can be changed and they fit all that is labeled "classic".

I am not sure what you are wearing since you don't tell the name.

For 2 years ago, almost all mesh brands of heads and bodies was well established and known. So you were maybe not interested back then.

Complexity is not only the mesh body and head. The accessories from old has insanely high complexity. It is not uncommon to find hairs that increase the complexity with 100 000. Or sunglasses and watches.

An example where my total complexity is 87 394. And that is not particular high. My mesh body is only 5450 and my head+eyes+teeth is 6122 together. But only one bracelet (bought 2013) has higher complexity than all the rest together.

Remove the bracelet with complexity 51 364 and my total is 36 030. I can also replace it with a new, modern bracelet with lower complexity and be around 40 000.

Edited October 8, 2021 by Marianne Little

[MoxZ Mokeev]

6 hours ago, Marianne Little said:

Complexity is not only the mesh body and head. The accessories from old has insanely high complexity. It is not uncommon to find hairs that increase the complexity with 100 000. Or sunglasses and watches.

An example where my total complexity is 87 394. And that is not particular high. My mesh body is only 5450 and my head+eyes+teeth is 6122 together. But only one bracelet (bought 2013) has higher complexity than all the rest together.

Remove the bracelet with complexity 51 364 and my total is 36 030. I can also replace it with a new, modern bracelet with lower complexity and be around 40 000.

 

THIS!  I know that I have some great body and skins in my inventory!  I also know that I have some wild hair and jewelry, and even outfits and shoes that would jack up the complexity of my avatar!   I think that what was confusing me the most was the actual talk about complexity and jellyrolls haha...etc?  I can't even remember the names of the body/skins that I have in my inventory.   Maltreya was the last tag I was wearing and I recall purchasing something there. 

So I think what I really need to do is to rez a big box in the sky and sort through what I have so then I'll know best where I need to spend the $L.   Thanks so much for the refresher.  And I must find that screen that you have pulled up.  That would prove priceless while reinventing my av.  

 

6 hours ago, Marianne Little said:

 

 

[MoxZ Mokeev]

8 hours ago, Echelon Alcott said:

Thank you for this!  These links are WONDERFUL!  I appreciate you sharing them with me. 

 

 

[Marianne Little]

If you remember "Maitreya", maybe you already have the mesh body - Maitreya Lara. If so, you should get an update. A lot has changed and been improved.

If you do not use a mesh body, you will have problems with shoes. Everything of newer design is made for mesh body feet. It is really a dominant market for mesh bodies now, I am not sure if I see clothes for avatars without a mesh body.

It is easy to replace old inventory with a new one, because of the Weekend sales. It is a lot to get, especially for women. Both the suit and hair I am wearing is from last weekend. The hair cost me 60 L in "Happy Weekend" and the suit came in different colors, but I bought a fatpack since it was 50% off in the "Saturday Sale". (Seraphimsl.com list all the sales, but if you are in Europe, they are listed very late. We can shop Monday morning also, because the SL weekend is still on)

Men does not get so many offers, but it is almost always sneakers, jackets, shorts and pants in casual clothing style.

I use Firestorm viewer, I am not even sure where to find things in the Default viewer. The list over "wearing" is found by clicking a button with a t-shirt symbol.

[Porphyry Kimono]

I'd like to echo what Marianne said -- and add that SHOES are so much easier now, if you have a mesh body. Gone are the awful days of trying to manually match skin tones for your feet. I could never get that to work.

In fact, clothes in general are much easier. With the mesh bodies, if you get clothes from a decent designer, they just fit. Some of them even have the alphas built in, so you don't have to futz with the parts of the your body that might otherwise show through your clothes.

Mesh heads are a blessing and a curse. I have avatars with and without. After spending literal years working on shapes, and particularly on faces, I'm pretty opinionated. I think the attached is pretty good -- from all angles.  I do have a mesh head in my main account (this one) and I like the look, so that's the blessing. But the curse is that the success of mesh heads has made it difficult to buy skins if you don't have one of those heads.

That's life, of course. If you don't keep up, you have to deal with the consequences. Being able to stick out your tongue is not really a great benefit, IMHO.

All in all, though, I think it's a great time to be in SL if you like clothes and hair and shoes. Everything is better. But you need a mesh body, or you'll struggle.

 

[Nalates Urriah]

In 2019 BOM gained support in most viewers. If you were paying attention in 2019 you would have been hearing about BOM and seen the explanations of how it works. If you are one that doesn't care about the SL Tech then may be not. Whatever, if you have missed out on BOM tech and how it works, head over to YouTube and search for the BOM tutorials.

One of the changes with BOM is the lower render cost. Much of the lowering comes from switching back too the original system alpha layers which we used with the basic avatar. Now labeled the Classic Avatar. The change removes the need for multi-layer mesh bodies and HUDs with static alpha cuts. The HUDs severely limited what we could wear. Going back to the system layer alphas allows us to make our own, again.

The current avatar bodies and heads are less proprietary and there are more creatives designing them and for them. With your own custom avatar made with your choice of body and head you'll find you have considerable flexibility.

Also, if you have older clothes, like pre-mesh, you'll find you can use them with a BOM enabled body.

 

 

[MoxZ Mokeev]

On 10/7/2021 at 9:35 PM, Rowan Amore said:

Not THAT much has changed in just 2 years.  The biggest thing as far as avatars has been BOM.  Mesh bodies and head have been around much longer than 2 years.

As @Bree Giffenmentioned, your best choice would be separate head and body.  You won't find much to wear otherwise.

Well according to my last purchases, it was actually June 2018.  This whole BOM thing has sent me into a tailspin!  I'm actually resigning myself to youtube videos to try to figure that one out. 

[MoxZ Mokeev]

On 10/8/2021 at 10:39 AM, Nalates Urriah said:

In 2019 BOM gained support in most viewers. If you were paying attention in 2019 you would have been hearing about BOM and seen the explanations of how it works. If you are one that doesn't care about the SL Tech then may be not. Whatever, if you have missed out on BOM tech and how it works, head over to YouTube and search for the BOM tutorials.

One of the changes with BOM is the lower render cost. Much of the lowering comes from switching back too the original system alpha layers which we used with the basic avatar. Now labeled the Classic Avatar. The change removes the need for multi-layer mesh bodies and HUDs with static alpha cuts. The HUDs severely limited what we could wear. Going back to the system layer alphas allows us to make our own, again.

The current avatar bodies and heads are less proprietary and there are more creatives designing them and for them. With your own custom avatar made with your choice of body and head you'll find you have considerable flexibility.

Also, if you have older clothes, like pre-mesh, you'll find you can use them with a BOM enabled body.

 

 

Oh my oh my oh MY!  So it was actually June, 2018 when I last logged in.  Bakes on Mesh....I'm not spending that money just yet!  I opted to play with the free eBody classic and the free Genus head until I can at least figure this BOM thing out.  It's a challenge for sure.  Youtube has been a lot of help to me.  

[Mollymews]

6 minutes ago, MoxZ Mokeev said:

This whole BOM thing has sent me into a tailspin!  I'm actually resigning myself to youtube videos to try to figure that one out. 

if you used to have a standard/classic Linden avatar then think of BOM as layers for mesh bodies. BOM works the same way as layers. We wear the BOM layers on our standard avatar body. And the BOM automagically paints the layers onto our mesh body, just the same as it does for our standard/classic linden body

Edited October 10, 2021 by Mollymews

[Lillith Hapmouche]

24 minutes ago, MoxZ Mokeev said:

I opted to play with the free eBody classic and the free Genus head until I can at least figure this BOM thing out.

Is that stuff even BOM enabled out of the box?

[Porphyry Kimono]

1 hour ago, Lillith Hapmouche said:

Is that stuff even BOM enabled out of the box?

The free eBody bodies don't have BOM enabled -- you have to get the paid version for that.

Edited October 10, 2021 by Porphyry Kimono

[Claireschen Hesten]

3 hours ago, MoxZ Mokeev said:

I opted to play with the free eBody classic and the free Genus head until I can at least figure this BOM thing out.

2 hours ago, Lillith Hapmouche said:

Is that stuff even BOM enabled out of the box?

1 hour ago, Porphyry Kimono said:

The free eBody bodies don't have BOM enabled -- you have to get the paid version for that.

 

The last time one of my accounts ventured over to the eBody store (this year) you needed to get the Free relay HUD that was available at the time to make the body BoM. It worked on both the free and paid versions

 

[MoxZ Mokeev]

On 10/10/2021 at 6:35 AM, Lillith Hapmouche said:

Is that stuff even BOM enabled out of the box?

Yes it is with the HUD.  This is the reason that I picked up the freebie.  So that I could learn how BOM works.  So many things to wear, take on and off and it can be damn confusing!  So I've been taking it all off and starting from scratch, watching videos over and over until I figure this out.  Also, can BOM be utilized with just a whole mesh body?  I'm not sure that I much like this whole separate body, hands, head and feet. 

[Lillith Hapmouche]

I really don't get what's so hard about "do not wear body or head alphas, stack up on system layers, enjoy". 😶

[Marianne Little]

12 hours ago, Lillith Hapmouche said:

I really don't get what's so hard about "do not wear body or head alphas, stack up on system layers, enjoy". 😶

I think those who did not start before 2013 or when the first bodies came out, has never tried to stack system layers. They only know appliers and have always hidden the system body. For those who has used the classic default body, Bom is like going back to my old familiar style and I remembered stacking so well. Piling on freckles, tattoos, pubic hair, modesty patches, skintight underwear and tights. And now also Halloween effects like blood, gore and cracked skin on top. Great.☺️ 62 layers or whatever the number is. I have never managed to use all.

[Nalates Urriah]

On 10/11/2021 at 7:04 AM, MoxZ Mokeev said:

Yes it is with the HUD.  This is the reason that I picked up the freebie.  So that I could learn how BOM works.  So many things to wear, take on and off and it can be damn confusing!  So I've been taking it all off and starting from scratch, watching videos over and over until I figure this out.  Also, can BOM be utilized with just a whole mesh body?  I'm not sure that I much like this whole separate body, hands, head and feet. 

When mesh bodies/heads became popular we had to learn to use appliers. Only Mod-OK prims and our avatar allow us to add textures. With a prim it is direct in the Build Panel. Pick a prim, the whole thing or a face then select a texture, scale and position it, done. With mesh-prims we have to have a texture that works with that mesh's UV Map. But still, only one texture. To emulate avatar layers onion skin bodies and heads were made, sort of a Russian Dolls thing. For each layer in the body or head we used a copy of the body/head that was tiny, tiny bit larger than the body inside it. Presto, we had a mesh-prim that seems to behave like a layered avatar.

Getting all the textures on the correct layer of a mesh body was a complex thing. Appliers were the easy way to handle that "put a texture on a special mesh", body or head. But I also use an applier to paint helicopters. I am putting textures on mesh things. More people are into wearing a body than painting helicopters. So appliers are mostly now thought of as being for skin and makeup.

Avatars are an exception to how we apply textures (aka skin, teats, etc.) We make a skin LAYER by putting textures in a skin item (aka layer). Before mesh bodies all skins used the exact same UVMap. So we did not have to deal with UVMaps. We used TEMPLATES, like Robin Woods' templates. There are Head, Upper, and Lower textures for skin. All three went in a Skin Item and we wore a skin item. Very simple to use. All the complex tech was left to Skin Makers.

But prims do not do layers like avatars do. They have materials as Diffuse (aka the texture), Normal (aka bump mapping), and Specular (aka shiny) layers. Avatars only use the Diffuse layer, but we can have several of those composited together. In your day Server Side Baking (SSB) was added to improve performance by reducing download traffic and viewer side compositing. Big improvement.

With the addition and popularity of mesh bodies/heads we were re-creating the download and viewer side rendering problems of the pre-SSB days. Bakes On Mesh is an update to the SSB system. It extended the compositing service to work with prims, generally mesh attached to avatars. For BOM to work we use the old system layers we used with the system avatar. The BOM service does the bake as SSB did. The difference being it hands us back a UUID that links to the baked texture so we can put the composite texture on a mesh-body/prim.

The only things you need to consider is whether a body/head is BOM compatible and which brand of body you are using. BOM doesn't know about UVMaps. You have to handle it textures (aka system layers), done by wearing a skin, clothing, etc. layers designed for your body's UVMap.

If you are TRYING to do BOM you'll be lost. There is nothing to do once you enable BOM on the head body. Dress like you did pre-2017.

PS: there is no reason to have separate parts. My Slink bodies have body, hands, and feet in  one attachment. And I have 5 types of foot in that single body. Generally we use a head and body. People like to mix heads and bodies. Doing a head and body in a single attachment is not proving popular. But you can find a few.

[Persephone Emerald]

If you're already using the free Genus Project mesh head, I recommend also picking up the free LucyBody mesh body from their Midnight Madness board (if it's still available). The free LucyBody fits Maitreya clothes and SLink feet, so it's pretty easy to outfit. I also recommend buying their inexpensive BOM applier for the LucyBody, since using Bakes On Mesh will let you use system layer skin, tattoo layers and clothing layers. 

If you want a curvier body than Matreya, demo Belleza Freya, Legacy, Kupra and the new eBody.  Most mesh bodies have the hands and feet attached now. I think maybe only Slink and eBody have them as separate attachments? 

Once you get a mesh body or head, remember to look for skins and mesh clothing that are intended for the mesh body and head which you use. I've found that skins made for Maitreya can work on Belleza Isis or Freya and skins made for Genus heads can work on Lelutka heads, but skins made for Lelutka heads do not look good on the free Genus mesh head. - Always Demo mesh or layers made for mesh before buying. -  Also join the free Lelutka group and maybe join the Akeruka group, since both shops give out free or $L 1 group gift heads around Christmas and maybe for their store anniversary. The newer Lelutka heads work with either Lelutka Evo or Lelutka EvoX skins. The newer Akeruka heads work with both Akeruka skins (which are not commonly sold) and Lelutka Evo skins, but won't work with Lelutka EvoX skins. (EvoX uses a very different UV map than the default SL avatar head.)

Edited October 12, 2021 by Persephone Emerald
Edit to add info

[MoxZ Mokeev]

I am actually wearing the Lucy Body and free Genus head right now and sitting in the Athena store hovering my slhand over the BOM applier.  I came here first because I needed to know if BOM is the way I need to go.  I'm wearing a Maitreya dress and I don't seem to have any underwear.  This limits my sitting poses and going to rated G places such as sand boxes because my bits are showing.  I enjoy building and creating more than anything.   I started out with the eBody but didn't appreciate the fact that I couldn't hide smallish alphas without the full purchase.  Also it was hard to find clothes that fit.  I'm totally free at the moment because I'm still learning this new world.  I have plenty of $L though. I found a really good video that walked me through the free body meshes and where to find clothing for it.   I viewed my photos from when I played before and had to hit the ROFLMAO gesture at those!  I spent so much $L on that funny little AV! 

So now I'm at the point of learning all about BOM.  I've watched a few videos, but I supposed I'll just have to do it to learn it.  Thank you very much for your input! I appreciate everyone's knowledge.  Once I get the BOM applier, I can then decide what to toss out of my massive inventory. 

ETA:  Well that wasn't so hard!!  I'm all bommed up in my old Tart ripped jeans!

[SpiritSparrow Skydancer]

On 10/7/2021 at 5:32 PM, MoxZ Mokeev said:

So much has changed!  I have a massive inventory but so much of it is outdated.  Most specifically the avatars.  When I rezzed in today I found everything wonky.  So I scrapped it and put on one of the new Linden all in one avatars which surprised me!  They're certainly not those ugly little starter things from back in the day.  Also they're much less laggy and complicated.  I'm looking for something similar but I have a lot of questions.  Can these be customized?  Clothing/hair/shoes/huds/etc?  I want something with less complexity but I also want it all.  Can anyone recommend a shop that sells low complexity avatars and clothing? 

Nvm

Edited October 18, 2021 by Tarina Sewell

[Marianne Little]

3 hours ago, MoxZ Mokeev said:

.....

ETA:  Well that wasn't so hard!!  I'm all bommed up in my old Tart ripped jeans!

Well done! I like BoM so much because all underwear fits. I also have "modesty patches" that's skin colored. Good to use under a lace top or tops that's cut really low - and tops that give you a good look at the "side boob". ☺️

 

Edited October 18, 2021 by Marianne Little

[Persephone Emerald]

4 hours ago, MoxZ Mokeev said:

I am actually wearing the Lucy Body and free Genus head right now and sitting in the Athena store hovering my slhand over the BOM applier.  I came here first because I needed to know if BOM is the way I need to go.  I'm wearing a Maitreya dress and I don't seem to have any underwear.  This limits my sitting poses and going to rated G places such as sand boxes because my bits are showing.  I enjoy building and creating more than anything.   I started out with the eBody but didn't appreciate the fact that I couldn't hide smallish alphas without the full purchase.  Also it was hard to find clothes that fit.  I'm totally free at the moment because I'm still learning this new world.  I have plenty of $L though. I found a really good video that walked me through the free body meshes and where to find clothing for it.   I viewed my photos from when I played before and had to hit the ROFLMAO gesture at those!  I spent so much $L on that funny little AV! 

So now I'm at the point of learning all about BOM.  I've watched a few videos, but I supposed I'll just have to do it to learn it.  Thank you very much for your input! I appreciate everyone's knowledge.  Once I get the BOM applier, I can then decide what to toss out of my massive inventory. 

ETA:  Well that wasn't so hard!!  I'm all bommed up in my old Tart ripped jeans!

Yes! Get the BOM applier. BOM and Bento Mesh are must haves now in SL. You can hide your naughty bits using your mesh body HUD, by wearing system undies, by wearing an alpha layer for hiding your panty area, or by wearing mesh clothes that cover those bits. Since people tend to rez in without their mesh attachments showing at first, it's a good idea to routinely wear system undies or alpha out those areas. I went for about a year with my wolf-girl alt wearing the free LucyBody and Genus Strong Face head and she looked gorgeous in all the free clothes and almost free hair I found for her. If you join Blueberry's VIP group, you can now get $L 500 worth of store credit from their notices to spend on some of the best mesh clothes that are also on sale. No Match also has a bunch of good group gift hair (for female and male avatars) if you join their group for $L 50. Then head over to the Shop and Hop mall and all the Anniversary events for more free clothes, skin, hair & etc. Remember that with the LucyBody you'll usually need shoes made for SLink feet, but sometimes other shoes will fit too. 

Edited October 18, 2021 by Persephone Emerald