Why are so many BOM skins sold as tattoo layer instead of skin layers?

[DeepBlueJoy]

I currently use a system skin.  I recoloured the fingertips with the freebie fingertip colour fixes.  There's very little difference between my head and my body (neck join issue) and the colour is the same. I don't see a major need for two different skins (body/head)  I've been doing this since bom happened. i just went back to system skin and contrary to popular belief there are some lovely ones out there.  I run only in ultra with materials turned on... so I see all the detail.  Thing is, there are better textures out there now and I'd like to avail myself of them. I know that there's a few people who have made 'full bom' skins and they work fine. I have a few of those as well. . Therefore, i know it doesn't require a rocket science crazy making multi layers of imperfection application.  When I see an all in one, I grab it.  Sadly, it seems to be getting harder and harder. I wish there were more

I don't buy multipart skin.  I hated applier skin.  I have no need to go back to that mess. (I would like to get rid of the fingertip layers too)

Every year I get 3-4 new fantasy skins from Fallen Gods.  They are all in one BOM.  They work well.  They look amazing. For some reason, they don't seem to need six million versions to fit lots of different heads and bodies, even though people wear them. 

I wish more non-fantasy skin were available in this 'dirt simple' functionality

The only exception seems to be the evox - and it seems all in one skin can simply be made that fits that or use the little button to disable that if you have skin you already use and like. i CAN see the utility of making a skin aimed at a particular head, but very little for special bodies if one is looking for a remotely normal body look.  TBH, there are so many bodies out there that most skin makers only make 3-6 body types and there's many, many more bodies out there.  Truthfully, there's more heads out there than makers making head skin for them too. 

I wonder if makers/customers are doing BOM 'applier' layers because they got into the habit of splitting themselves into bits.  There's no longer any special code that means different tattoo layers won't fit on all bodies. HUDS had compatibility issues that tattoos don't have.  Most well made skin looks decent on most faces.  Yes, some look better on some heads than on others and that will always be the case even if your skin is 'purpose built' for your head, it may not look like you want to look.  So choose the one that you like best... I don't want a package with 15 bits to choose from, or to be 'restricted' to buying 'one combo' that will then not work if i get a new head or body. Once you've separated things into layers, you will start to have compatibility/matching issues as you change heads and or bodies because every tattoo will end or be finished differently from every 'body skin'.

Maybe one day if i ever get bored enough, I will try my hand at making skins. I have better things to do with my time than spend time matching stuff. I have the one body. I know i don't look like the uber-clone. (funny how many people are walking around looking exactly like their neighbor).  I don't change skin often (other than the fantasy skin), but I would like to update textures every time they improve and viewers get better and resolutions improve.  Other than that, I'm not a fashion plate.  I get a lot of compliments for my look. 

[Maitimo]

I ended up making my own skins. It took me about a year, starting with a purchased template of a male skin, some freebies (including Eloh Eliot), and the rest I adapted from photographs and my own drawing.  It's not good enough to be sellable (there are visible seams under the arms that I have totally failed to get rid of) and in any case I think it's quite nice to have a skin in SL that I can be certain is 100% unique to me (well, me and my alt).

What I like best about having a skin I made myself is that now it's done, it's so easy to make adaptations of it. If I want a different tone, or a fantasy colour, or change the lips to fit a different head, or change the navel to fit a different body, I can now do that in less than half an hour, and it will only cost me an extra L$30 (at most) for the new uploads.

I swear though, I am never again making a whole new face. Never. 

[Wulfie Reanimator]

15 hours ago, DeepBlueJoy said:

Every year I get 3-4 new fantasy skins from Fallen Gods.  They are all in one BOM.  They work well.  They look amazing. For some reason, they don't seem to need six million versions to fit lots of different heads and bodies, even though people wear them.

The only exception seems to be the evox - and it seems all in one skin can simply be made that fits that or use the little button to disable that if you have skin you already use and like. i CAN see the utility of making a skin aimed at a particular head, but very little for special bodies if one is looking for a remotely normal body look.  TBH, there are so many bodies out there that most skin makers only make 3-6 body types and there's many, many more bodies out there.  Truthfully, there's more heads out there than makers making head skin for them too.

I understand your preference for simpler outfit folders. I'm the same. Just like you said though, different heads have different texture requirements, and the same goes for mesh bodies. Textures made for Maitreya will not be perfect on Belleza. Especially the feet will not work. Nipple placement is also different between some regular human bodies.

But are you using ["normal" head] or EvoX with Maitreya or Belleza? That's at least four head-body combinations already. Four all-in-one ("AIO") skins. Let's say a creator made textures for 3 bodies and 5 heads. Instead of including just 8 separate layers, they'd have to make 15 AIO skins.

And what if someone wants to use just the body or just the head texture with textures they already have or aren't covered by the creator? If everybody was only making AIO skins, they couldn't.

In the end it's more work for marginal benefit.

Edited February 1, 2022 by Wulfie Reanimator

[Jennifer Boyle]

7 hours ago, Wulfie Reanimator said:

In the end it's more work for marginal benefit.

It seems to me that, while it would take more work, the amount of extra work would be very small. Isn't nearly all of the work in the making of the textures? Once the head, lower body, and upper body textures are uploaded, it takes only a minute to make a skin from them. They would have to be made and uploaded in any case.

What am I missing?

[Maitimo]

5 hours ago, Jennifer Boyle said:

It seems to me that, while it would take more work, the amount of extra work would be very small. Isn't nearly all of the work in the making of the textures? Once the head, lower body, and upper body textures are uploaded, it takes only a minute to make a skin from them. They would have to be made and uploaded in any case.

What am I missing?

Setting up vendors and marketplace listings. You'd need a separate listing or vendor slot for each head and body combination. That could be dozens.

[Setsuki Takeda]

On 12/14/2021 at 12:26 AM, Anna Nova said:

I don't have the skill to make a skin for myself.  But I want a unique skin, so I use the layering technique.  The base body and face skin is a skin usually, but I have also used a matching pair of body and face BoM-tattoos over any old skin.  Then I build up the look I want with tattoo layers, currently my main avatar has 6 or 7 layers on the face and 3 on the body.  So things like spots, freckles, veins, wrinkles, blush, stretch-marks, eye-fold-adjusters etc.,  as well as body-art, are all added in sequence.

For me BoM (aka Tattoo layer) has enhanced SL amazingly.  I am not attracted to the new skins advertised in such profusion, but I do check out the body-tones, and then the add-ons from my go-to Izzie's.

^ This

I have eighteen layers (if I don't have tattoos) from izzie's on top of each other for shadows (the skins are almost all made for Lara, so if you use Petite there are shadows for larger breasts that don't match your body and you need to have a layer to replace those skin shadows with ones that are sized for the body you are wearing) and freckles and scars and muscle definition and...

And freckles come in a Maitreya layer for the body, and an ExoX layer for the head, plus a neck layer since they don't quite connect properly.

[Wulfie Reanimator]

14 hours ago, Jennifer Boyle said:

It seems to me that, while it would take more work, the amount of extra work would be very small. Isn't nearly all of the work in the making of the textures? Once the head, lower body, and upper body textures are uploaded, it takes only a minute to make a skin from them. They would have to be made and uploaded in any case.

What am I missing?

You're right that creating the AIO skins is a fraction of total amount of work. I didn't mean to imply that it's an unreasonable amount of work.

My main point was that it's objectively a *less flexible* way to do the same thing, and the benefit is subjective.

There's going to be clutter somewhere, either in your outfit folder because you have to wear skin and 1-2 layers, or in your inventory because a creator would put every possible combination in there, and/or in Marketplace because a creator would list every combination as its own listing.

Edited February 2, 2022 by Wulfie Reanimator

[DeepBlueJoy]

I probably don't care about nipples b/c I've never been interested in being naked in SL.  My nails work just fine and my face lines up correctly.

You're right, there should be an infinite set of combinations and pixel perfection is possible Gigglesnort.

And SL will reach the uncanny valley sometime in the next 20 years.  (and I've got a big bridge to sell and ocean front property in Arizona)

I've decided I don't give a fig and I will update my skin the next time the textures get so close to human everyone thinks I'm a Ruth.  In the mean time, I'mma do my life and muddle thru with just the one (apparently inadequate) piece.  Thanks for explaining the reasons. I now have a bit more understanding of the minutia and I've decided I still don't want to mess with it, but to each his/her/their own. I look around at all the bodies with non-possible non-human proportions (I'm talking the accidental ones, not the intentional ones) and all the faces that look like clones and I am happy with my me. 

I will not complain again OR go skin hunting anymore.  I'm a bit frustrated with the complexification, but a lot clearer on the 'reasons' and moving on now.

When the tech requires it, I will take the next level, until then, I'm gonna go write stories and make clothing.

'preciate the perspective, however.  Seriously. 

 

signed,

Losing the Internet on hourly basis (at least) 😋