Any mesh freebies for mesh noobs to practice with before dropping $ ?

[Chris Cash]

16 minutes ago, Ayashe Ninetails said:

We can get that look! Might cost a slight bit between the body, body skin (if it turns out you don't already have one) and hair. The clothes...not too expensive whatsoever.

My quick breakdown just looking at that - Jake for the body (cheapest right now at 1500L) or Legacy (about 5000L). Dura for hair (380L-ish). Duk for clothes (maybe around 50L for the top, 50L for shorts - can get it down to about 47L each if you join their free group). Sneakers...I know I've seen those somewhere - possibly a weekend sale. We can find something close. Skin - could get that look with Not Found or Stray Dog (you've got the head skins already, so you're looking at about 400L-ish for the body skin). Shape - we'll make it ourselves. No need to buy that. I'll show you how or I'll make one for you once we get your body all set up. 

And yup, Stray Dog and Not Found will be absolutely packed for a bit. Duk is empty, Dura's empty, Belleza's empty, Legacy probably not too busy - so you could go run and grab demos from those stores that you like and start playing around with those. In the meantime, you can friend me in SL whenever you're ready and I can help you put things together. Today, tomorrow, next week, no rush! Just poke me whenever and I'll help you out.

No no no, I was saying I like the shape..  that's what I'm going for.  Not the clothes or anything else.

 

I've heard Gianni is better than Jake or there is just slightly more things for Gianni so I don't mind splurging on Gianni in the future when I have the funds if that's true. Hopefully a sale happens too and then it won't be so bad.

 

But I'm always on literally. So anytime is fine with me.  I'm EST (SLT+3)   I can go ahead and friend you and you can let me know.

 

Thanks

 

 

 

 

Edited December 14, 2021 by Chris Cash

[Ayashe Ninetails]

2 minutes ago, Chris Cash said:

No no no, I was saying I like the shape..  that's what I'm going for.  Not the clothes or anything else.

 

I've heard Gianni is better than Jake or there is just slightly more things for Gianni so I don't mind splurging on Gianni in the future when I have the funds if that's true. Hopefully a sale happens too and then it won't be so bad.

 

But I'm always on literally. So anytime is fine with me.  I'm EST (SLT+3)   I can go ahead and friend you and you can let me know.

 

Thanks

 

 

Even easier. That shape is more doable with Jake or Legacy. Gianni's got some arms on em, LOL. You could demo all three bodies, though, and play around with the body shape sliders. See which one you like best. And grab clothing demos to see how it all looks put together.

As for clothing availability, Gianni and Jake are about equal, from what I've seen. Legacy lags behind a teensy tiny bit in some stores. I wear Legacy and have very little trouble (some, but not much). But for a slimmer shape, Jake is probably the best option.

I'm EST, too! I'm on quite a bit, myself. Usually decorating (or shopping, lol).

[Stephanie Misfit]

16 minutes ago, Chris Cash said:

I've heard Gianni is better than Jake or there is just slightly more things for Gianni so I don't mind splurging on Gianni in the future when I have the funds if that's true. Hopefully a sale happens too and then it won't be so bad.

 

Unfortunately, a lot of designers seem to be dropping support for Gianni now. Jake is probably the way to go.

[Chris Cash]

34 minutes ago, Stephanie Misfit said:

Unfortunately, a lot of designers seem to be dropping support for Gianni now. Jake is probably the way to go.

Leaning more towards Jake now after talking to a couple of people.

 

Do you know why that is though? Why is Gianni not getting the support now?

[Alwin Alcott]

50 minutes ago, Stephanie Misfit said:

Unfortunately, a lot of designers seem to be dropping support for Gianni now. Jake is probably the way to go.

however there are less new releases, there are loáds of other designs still for sale ... and lets be honest.. 99% of "new" releases/designs add only more sneakers, jeans and t shirts...

[Echelon Alcott]

1 hour ago, Marianne Little said:

If Belleza Jake is still on sale for 1500 L , I would say you should go for it. Other male mesh bodies cost from 3000 - 5000 and we can't know when Belleza ends the sale. I have not seen any date.

And it is a body it is easy to shop for. With a freebie body, you have to be active and search the Marketplace and blogs to find stuff for it. As I already pointed out, Jake makes it possible to shop in all the weekend sales. I have problems finding male clothes that do not include the Jake size.

I prefer to saunter into an event and pick an outfit, any outfit. Saving time and headache is worth the money I paid for a popular body. 

I don't understand the resistance of noobs to get Belleza Jake. I've recommended Jake to so many noobs, and invariably they end up buying Gianni or Legacy. Jake is a first class body, at an unbeatable price, with outstanding clothing support. Do they think we have ulterior motives to recommend Jake, that we are somehow receiving commission from Belleza? <shakes head in frustration>

[Marianne Little]

3 hours ago, Chris Cash said:

Leaning more towards Jake now after talking to a couple of people.

 

Do you know why that is though? Why is Gianni not getting the support now?

I have not seen much difference. It is the three Gianni, Belleza and Legacy. I look at mens clothes, and I can't see anyone dropping Gianni in the ordinary clothing stores. I am sure some stores does not have Gianni, but rumors about support dropping is exaggerated, I think. Legacy is rising, but I am not sure it will be #1. It was Legacy that was 50% off during Black Friday. Maybe the low price on Belleza's bodies will lead to an upturn in sales for it, and creators will continue creating as long as people buy.

Belleza has had a problem with their neck. Unless the people who saw you, both yourself and others, had on Advanced Lightning and Shadows, it was a very, very ugly fit.

And there was no updates for 2 years +++. The lack of updating has hurt the brand. Well known bloggers has said they do not review or recommend Belleza Jake. 

BUT late August Belleza updated all their bodies, including Jake, so the problems are gone. But many may not know it.

The picture you posted is very nice, but the overarms is too big compared to the rest. (In my eyes) I am sure it is Gianni. The Gianni legs are thin and not so muscular. You can do things with the sliders, but it is limited how much one can do. I think many men want huge overarms. This is why they pick Gianni. They do not see they are "top heavy". But I can't say what you should buy. Demo all three bodies. Play with torso muscle and leg muscle, and the other sliders. Then buy what you like.

Edited December 14, 2021 by Marianne Little

[Janet Voxel]

3 hours ago, Echelon Alcott said:

I don't understand the resistance of noobs to get Belleza Jake. I've recommended Jake to so many noobs, and invariably they end up buying Gianni or Legacy. Jake is a first class body, at an unbeatable price, with outstanding clothing support. Do they think we have ulterior motives to recommend Jake, that we are somehow receiving commission from Belleza? <shakes head in frustration>

People tend to have an aversion to Belleza, some will say its the slow to update thing, some will just nitpick it to obilivion.

As far as male bodies it's pretty up there in terms of quality.

[Persephone Emerald]

7 hours ago, Chris Cash said:

Ohh see I thought the skin I got from Stray Dog was a body skin lol.   How do you know the difference between body and face skins??

 

Now I might as well pick those other 2 up because I thought the skin from stray dog was a body skin

 

/me sighs and bangs head on wall

Unlike normal video games, Second Life content is 99% created by other users. Over time Linden Lab has also brought in new ways of making and using content, so SL can be a confusing mish-mash of options that continue to change over time. (Think of this as part of the history and culture of this virtual world.) Some skins cover both body & head. Some work on either the body or head, so you need to get both from the same store or figure out how to match skins that didn't come from the same creator. 

First, you've picked up the free mesh head from LeLutka. That's great because gifts like this come very rarely.  Now you need a mesh body. I suggest getting the free male body from Legacy (which should fit old TMP male clothes) because it's free or only $L 1, so it's worth trying.  I also strongly suggest getting the Belleza Jake body before Christmas because it's a great deal now. (Belleza fell behind on their updates for 2 years, which led some to think their bodies were not worth buying, but since they've been 1/2 price, I'm sure their sales have been great, which means designers will continue to make clothes for their most popular bodies.)  The $L 1500 price for Belleza Jake is about $ 6 in US currency. With Belleza Jake ($L 1500) , Signature Gianni ($L 4000) or Legacy Male ($L 5000) you can find plenty of free or discounted skin and clothing. The current Jake v 3.1 fits LeLutka heads fine, but still needs an update to fit other mesh heads well.  

In my opinion the best deal for male hair is to join the "Not.Found" hair store group for $L 50 (20 cents), then pick up all their group gift hair that you like. There are pictures up in their group gift section for most of their gift hair, but don't overlook the gift packages on the ground that have a bunch of older hair styles in them. A few of their gifts are system layer beards or mesh beards. 

One necessary part new players sometimes forget is a good AO (Animation Overrider). There are several free ones available on Marketplace and inworld, but most of those will not be Bento, which means they don't move your fingers and face, so may look less natural than Bento animations. Getting one AO set of normal standing, walking, sitting, flying & etc. animations is the easiest way to animate your avatar so it looks less generic and seems to have a personality. With more experience you could make up your own animation set from various animations, but that's more work than you'd want to do now. For now, you should probably get a free AO, but if you wanted to spend money on it, Body Language has 4 sets of male AOs for $L 900 each in their shop in the Shop & Hop mall event. Also in my opinion, Bento animations are more important in situations where other people will be looking at your avatar such as when you're standing, sitting or hovering. I doubt people will look at your hands and face when you're running or flying. 

I have little experience in where to get the best male skins for the best price, but I can offer a little advice. 7 Deadly Skins is currently free to join their SEVEN group. I'm not sure if that group tag will let you get the pack of old male skins they have upstairs in their male skin section, but it's worth a try. While their male skins are not the best on mesh bodies, they look good on LeLutka mesh heads and don't usually show a neck seam between the Belleza Jake body and a LeLutka head. If their skin says it's BOM, it will look fine on your fingers too, though I can't vouch for whether the skin on your toes might be off a bit.

Finding clothes you like can be challenging or fun, depending on where you look. For free stuff, I recommend joining "SL Frees and Offers" and "Fabulously Free" inworld. For a GQ look, join "L' Homme Magazine", since they have free gifts in many of the high quality men's stores. Gabriel is a clothing store that has some free jackets and shoes for anyone, a great $L 1 section of older clothes (including sizes for TMP men's bodies), and a nice 50% off section. The styles at Gabriel are Cyberpunk, Japanese influence, young & hip, roleplay, and some classic and casual clothing. Also join other groups for men's clothing & stuff and go to events that focus on stuff for male avatars. Once you find stores with content you like, join their groups and get their free group gifts. Join and drop as many free groups as you like to grab their group gifts, but be careful of dropping groups that could cost money to rejoin later.

Finally, depending on what you want to do in SL, you may want to buy a "male attachment", otherwise known as a p.e.n.i.s.  If you want a free one, the only one worth getting is the Huggsie on Marketplace. If you want to actually look good naked, you'll have to buy one and tint it to match your skin. These items come with interactive HUDs for added realism and fun.  These items should not be worn while dressed, as they can show through clothing and add to your script lag even when made invisible.

[Chris Cash]

Thanks everyone for the help!!  You have no idea!             

 

Been out getting demos and it's already nearing 1 AM for me. But just wanted you all to know before I passed out that I appreciate every single one of you.

[Chris Cash]

Been busy with the Holidays and all and been struggling getting the skins and shape and all that to work as I had no clue what I was doing so many thanks to Ayashe answering a million of my questions and everyone else in here commenting and guiding me on.

 

Here's what I have so far. It's not much but I think it will probably turn out ok

 

I want to see what it looks like with some light facial hair/stubbles.  And I need a hair base for this hair so I'm not bald on the back and around the sides

 

The clothing I found completely free on the MP.  Really liking the flip flops and the shorts aren't too bad. Not a fan of the shirt (sorry creator) but hey it's a start so I can cover up in public while I shop lol.

[Eddy Vortex]

@Chris Cash You can pick up some more free clothes at the Man Cave event with free group join: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Match/171/128/47

[Echelon Alcott]

4 hours ago, Chris Cash said:

And I need a hair base for this hair so I'm not bald on the back and around the sides

Assuming that you got the free Lelutka Logan head, it includes hairbases for both Evo and EvoX. They are named "Unpack - HAIRBASES - lel EvoX BOM" and "Unpack - HAIRBASES - LeLUTKA Classic BOM". 

[Echelon Alcott]

4 hours ago, Chris Cash said:

The clothing I found completely free on the MP.  Really liking the flip flops and the shorts aren't too bad. Not a fan of the shirt (sorry creator) but hey it's a start so I can cover up in public while I shop lol.

4 hours ago, Eddy Vortex said:

@Chris Cash You can pick up some more free clothes at the Man Cave event with free group join: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Match/171/128/47

As per Eddy's suggestion, the best gifts at the Man Cave event in my opinion are: GUTCHI (casual shoes), Millo (flip flops), DUK (shorts), Invictus (shorts), Kalback (boxers), Totally Wicked (shorts), VUK (pants), GST (sweater), and KLOV (shirt).

[Chris Cash]

Good lookin out on the Man Cave event. And the tip about the hairbases.  Unfortunately none of them match up well with the hair I'm going for but I did manage to find some facial hair in there that I can live with so there's one more thing down!   I did have one issue.. I tried some facial hair from Stray Dog where I got some skin demos and I couldn't get them to work with my EvoX.  So maybe they aren't X compatible yet?   Anyone have any facial hair recommendations? 

 

I totally forgot about AOs.   I am familiar with them from years ago.  Adding my animations to them manually via notecard and what not but since I am using an old AV that I never used I don't have a good AO or any animations other than what you start with and since everything is all mocap and bento and mesh now I'm sure animations have changed?   What would be a good free updated AO? And what about a good paid one for when I get things rolling on SL again?

 

Many thanks for putting up with all my questions🤪

[Marianne Little]

It's good enough for 1 L. https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/VISTA-ANIMATIONS-MALE-BASIC-MOCAP-AO-2013/298450?page=2

Vista's full priced AO's is what many recommend. They do solid work.

I usually go for Body Language Sweet Lovely Cute. The name sound like a Japanese kawaii store, but they have very good male AO's too. https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Bon Voyage/128/93/1253 The Shop and Hop event has some of their AO's for 50% off. They are 900 L until the event closes Jan 2. And the full priced ones cost 1800 L. https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Hollyhock/88/164/53

Oracul has many AO's. They are affordable. Most of them are fidgeting and has very exaggerated movements. https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Kuso/229/229/250 Oracul have very old AO's that cost 150 L, but they do not animate the fingers. For that' you need Bento, and I think they cost 500-600 L.

[Marianne Little]

I use the built-in AO in Firestorm Viewer. I saw you have mixed your own AO's by adding them to ZHAO and editing notecards. Firestorms AO is really easy to use, open it and drag animations over from the inventory. I have bought many single animations instead of full animation overrides. I have also edited AO's I already had and copied the animations to the inventory, to use in the Firestorm AO.

https://wiki.firestormviewer.org/animation_overrider

It is possible to make custom built AO's cheap if you do not need a lot of special animations like crouch, crouch walk, turn left, turn right, prejump and all that. 3-4 good quality stands set to random playing and a walk is enough to start with, fly and run is also good to have. I never need sits, I always sit in furniture with animations built in.

Edited December 27, 2021 by Marianne Little
added link

[Echelon Alcott]

10 hours ago, Chris Cash said:

I did have one issue.. I tried some facial hair from Stray Dog where I got some skin demos and I couldn't get them to work with my EvoX.  So maybe they aren't X compatible yet?   Anyone have any facial hair recommendations? 

It seems likely that the Stray Dog beards you tried are not EvoX ready. Regarding facial hair recommendations, take a look at Magnificent [SLurl].

[Echelon Alcott]

10 hours ago, Chris Cash said:

I totally forgot about AOs.   I am familiar with them from years ago.  Adding my animations to them manually via notecard and what not but since I am using an old AV that I never used I don't have a good AO or any animations other than what you start with and since everything is all mocap and bento and mesh now I'm sure animations have changed?   What would be a good free updated AO? And what about a good paid one for when I get things rolling on SL again?

You are correct, updated AOs now support bento. I personally use Vista [SLurl]. When I was shopping for updated AOs, I also looked into Body Language [SLurl].

For a free bento AO, in addition to the free Vista one, you might also want to consider Eat Me [SLurl]; AO Roy and AO Anthony are available for group members.