Male Mesh Bodies

[Garrett Laramide]

Coming back from a very long hiatus, all these mesh bodies and attachments are new to me. So I'm trying to learn and navigate my way back into SL with as little pain as possible. What I was wondering, are there any popular male mesh bodies with somewhat realistic proportions and has a good assortment of mesh clothing options available? I have no desire for my avatar to run around looking like he spent the last 20 years overdosing on steroids. 

Edited August 18, 2022 by Garrett Laramide

[Marianne Little]

It is not as many mesh bodies for men as it is for women. I suggest you try Jake by Belleza. It has some muscle, but not so extreme.

The only really slim male body is Slink for men, but support for that body is dropped so much. It is practically zero for new releases.

Maybe the most popular male body is Signature Gianni, but that one is more bulky. Much harder to get a thinner looking build.

And Legacy is a popular body, but has a higher complexity than it need, is very expensive and has a HUD that operates outside SL.

When you shop today, you see the most supported bodies is Jake, Gianni and Legacy. It is not a very big difference between them. They are all easy to shop for.

Since Belleza Jake is on a sale now, that is both the economical and well supported alternative.

Disclaimer: It was on sale a week ago. I have not heard when the sale ends.

https://secondlife.com/destination/belleza

When you enter the store, walk left and you should see the vendor. Buy the demo for 0 linden, take it home or to a sandbox and try it on. It responds to the sliders under appearance, so you can increase/decrease muscle mass, shoulders and other sliders like body thickness, to see if you like it.

 

 

Edited August 18, 2022 by Marianne Little

[Garrett Laramide]

Thank you very much for the information, and especially for taking the time to go into detail. I really do appreciate it. 

[Marianne Little]

You are very welcome. ❤️

Here is a video tutorial. I have not found many new tutorials for Belleza Jake version 3. All videos older than 2021 does not show the Bakes on Mesh feature. You can start watching from 1:50 to see the HUD.

Later in the video he shows an optimizer script to remove layers we really don't need. This reduces the complexity of the body. This is possible because Belleza includes a modifiable version! No other human body does that, I think. Furries have always had mod rights on their bodies.

 

[Garrett Laramide]

3 minutes ago, Marianne Little said:

You are very welcome. ❤️

Here is a video tutorial. I have not found many new tutorials for Belleza Jake version 3. All videos older than 2021 does not show the Bakes on Mesh feature. You can start watching from 1:50 to see the HUD.

Later in the video he shows an optimizer script to remove layers we really don't need. This reduces the complexity of the body. This is possible because Belleza includes a modifiable version! No other human body does that, I think. Furries have always had mod rights on their bodies.

 

Fantastic info! Again, thanks so much, you've been a tremendous help!

[Lewis Luminos]

On 8/18/2022 at 7:56 PM, Marianne Little said:

It is not as many mesh bodies for men as it is for women. I suggest you try Jake by Belleza. It has some muscle, but not so extreme.

The only really slim male body is Slink for men, but support for that body is dropped so much. It is practically zero for new releases.

Maybe the most popular male body is Signature Gianni, but that one is more bulky. Much harder to get a thinner looking build.

And Legacy is a popular body, but has a higher complexity than it need, is very expensive and has a HUD that operates outside SL.

When you shop today, you see the most supported bodies is Jake, Gianni and Legacy. It is not a very big difference between them. They are all easy to shop for.

Since Belleza Jake is on a sale now, that is both the economical and well supported alternative.

Disclaimer: It was on sale a week ago. I have not heard when the sale ends.

https://secondlife.com/destination/belleza

When you enter the store, walk left and you should see the vendor. Buy the demo for 0 linden, take it home or to a sandbox and try it on. It responds to the sliders under appearance, so you can increase/decrease muscle mass, shoulders and other sliders like body thickness, to see if you like it.

 

I agree with everything that Marianne says here. There are really only 3 bodies to choose from and that's these three, and I would rule out Legacy, certainly for someone new to mesh, because of the cost, the lag-inducing complexity of the mesh, and the awful hud that can turn your body into a useless brick without warning if the company that makes them ever goes offline for any reason.

So that really leaves you with a choice of two; Jake or Gianni. Gianni is more muscular but you can slim it down to some extent. But... Gianni is more than twice the cost of Jake, and I think at this point there is more clothing available for Jake than there is for Gianni. It used to be the other way round but since Belleza updated their bodies, Jake has picked up a lot.

There are differences between the bodies that can't quite be fully overcome by the sliders. Gianni is top-heavy, with thick shoulders and biceps. Jake is bottom-heavy, with thicker thighs and butt. Neither of them will go really thin/skinny - if thats the look you're after then you should look at Maitreya with a flat chest mod. 

All of that said... men have an advantage over women, in that it's easier to wear outfits that don't really fit well, so you can still use outfits made for other bodies, provided they have long sleeves and long pants. A suit, jeans and leather jacket, stuff like that,  you can usually get away with wearing something made for a different body. I have some old outfits that are rigged only for Standard sizes plus Slink, and I can still wear the Slink size on Gianni with use of the alpha hud and some shape adjustment. I have an alt with the Signature Geralt body, one of those that never took off and doesn't really have anything made for it - but stuff made for Jake usually fits close enough, as long as it's not swimwear or vests. So if there's a body you REALY like that has very little clothing available, don't let that put you off.  Demo it anyway, and most importantly, demo it with some clothing that you like or that you want to buy (get demos of those too) and see how well it all fits together.

I would never give this advice to anyone with a female avatar. You really can't get away with wearing other body sizes on a female body.

The final option is to wait a couple more months.  Linden Lab is launching NUX - a new mesh body as a starter avatar (which, like all starters, will be made available to all existing users through the Library section of your inventory). NUX may be just what you're looking for, and it will be free.

[Jenna Huntsman]

I wouldn't write off the Slink Male body either - it is the least muscular body (as compared to Jake and Gianni), and generally has a pretty good shape and robust support from clothing creators (or, at least fairly robust by the standards of the male clothing market... which aren't as high as the female market, but hey, it is what it is.)

25 minutes ago, Lewis Luminos said:

The final option is to wait a couple more months.  Linden Lab is launching NUX - a new mesh body as a starter avatar (which, like all starters, will be made available to all existing users through the Library section of your inventory). NUX may be just what you're looking for, and it will be free.

LL haven't given a date for release for NUX, so you might be waiting a while. (Besides, we're all hoping that LL will give us some prototype versions to play around with and give feedback to fix issues!)

[Claireschen Hesten]

If you'd prefer to go rotund over skinny there is the Piggu Jonathan avatar https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/piggu-Jonathan-Avatar-21/11447858 it's not near as well supported as the more popular buffer bodies so your wardrobe choices will be very limited

[Marianne Little]

8 hours ago, Jenna Huntsman said:

I wouldn't write off the Slink Male body either - it is the least muscular body (as compared to Jake and Gianni), and generally has a pretty good shape and robust support from clothing creators (or, at least fairly robust by the standards of the male clothing market... which aren't as high as the female market, but hey, it is what it is.)

LL haven't given a date for release for NUX, so you might be waiting a while. (Besides, we're all hoping that LL will give us some prototype versions to play around with and give feedback to fix issues!)

I disagree here about Slink. I have one of those on an alt, and stores that include that size has dropped like a stone. Unless I go back 3-4 years. Things made then was often good. But they improve, and are much better textured and rigged now. I have a lot of Gabriel gacha clothes for Slink, and Gabriel gets better. Their old clothes that was only Slink, will probably be trashed next time I sort his inventory.

The sale at Cold Ash was the last time I could get some clothes for him that I am happy with. Cold Ash has dropped Slink in the last year(s), but going back a few years does not matter, since they were great quality already then. What they made in 2017, is still better than much of what's made in 2022.

And now that weekend sales are a big thing, it is difficult to find Slink sizes. So that is one factor too. Speaking of: A new weekend sale event for men: https://www.seraphimsl.com/2022/08/19/tempting-sales-at-tmd-weekend-sale/

I found that Lapointe & Bastchild has leather pants in the Weekend Sale I linked to over, and they have kept a Slink size. So I am not saying it is impossible to shop for Slink... but hard.

 

Edited August 20, 2022 by Marianne Little

[HeathcliffMontague]

Just go for the most that are supported right now. Visit the Marketplace and you'll get at hint.

I sport the Aesthetic, kinda think it's the best out there bar none, but I'd recommend not. My friend got the Adam. Just don't. Just go for the ones that seem best supported.

[Marianne Little]

Hehe, when Linden lab speaks about releasing NUX body soon.... I'd say we are lucky to see it late 2022.

2023 is more likely. 🤭

With the price on Belleza Jake set so low as it is, it is affordable to use until LL get the NUX out. And we have no idea if LL will deliver a good product and creators will jump on. It can flop.

Belleza Jake can be quite thin, if one takes in body thickness too, not just shoulders and muscle. The body will always have strong calf's. They simply can't be slimmed away by reducing leg muscle. It will be toothpick legs with the calf muscle as a glued on bump. It is better to go for a little bit muscle and pretend your avatar play football instead of lifting weights.

[Modulated]

The Jake body is an excellent choice, its very well supported and its decently made. I do prefer the Male Physique body from Slink because it is more slender.  Support for the body isn't what it used to be, but there's still many creators who include sizes for it, so it's not a total gamble IMO.

Edited to include photo of Slink Physique legs.

Edited August 20, 2022 by Modulated

[HeathcliffMontague]

Demoed the Gianni. A bit of a wtf moment. No thanks, not stepping back in time. I'll stick to my Aesthetic at zero to ten percent muscle, already got a full wardrobe from L&B and others that will last me a while... So no rush. Need a suit though.   AEC is amazing in terms of textures, but in terms of shape they just be weird

Just go with the most supported. They are all nice and will save you some headache. For now at least.

[Katherine Heartsong]

Was there any fix to Gianni's weird hand animations? Some of the major AOs stores don't seem to include decent hand animations for him.

[Sissi Slacker]

On 8/21/2022 at 1:59 AM, HeathcliffMontague said:

No thanks, not stepping back in time

I'd argue that Aesthetic is more outdated than Gianni - but to each their own, I guess.

[Rowan Amore]

The fact you can't use any other skin on the Aesthetic body makes it a no go for using anything new at all.  I believe the mapping is even different so no matching your head to your body at all.  It seems to have been abandoned.

[Blaise Glendevon]

On 8/20/2022 at 5:59 PM, HeathcliffMontague said:

Demoed the Gianni. A bit of a wtf moment. No thanks, not stepping back in time. I'll stick to my Aesthetic at zero to ten percent muscle, already got a full wardrobe from L&B and others that will last me a while... So no rush. Need a suit though.   AEC is amazing in terms of textures, but in terms of shape they just be weird

Just go with the most supported. They are all nice and will save you some headache. For now at least.

If you like Aesthetic, you should try Inithium Kario.

[HeathcliffMontague]

On 8/24/2022 at 7:24 PM, Sissi Slacker said:

I'd argue that Aesthetic is more outdated than Gianni - but to each their own, I guess.

Support wise I'd most certainly agree. But I'd argue that the AES is the most advanced male body in SL thus far. It does attract all kinds, true - none mentioned, none left out

But most just wanna have a nice beach body, and it kinda shines there 

[HeathcliffMontague]

On 8/25/2022 at 1:22 AM, Blaise Glendevon said:

If you like Aesthetic, you should try Inithium Kario.

Go to a less supported? I think you're sorta missing the point. Going from the super detailed AES to one of the popular bodies just looks, visually, like I might just go for Slink. Hence back in time.

I still love my pre mesh vehicles. Some of the look darned good to this day. But you can tell the difference

Edited August 31, 2022 by HeathcliffMontague

[wedge Falta]

O P  get a jake easy to find clothes.  slim and that hud that makes your innards disappear is easy. cheaper too 

[Persephone Emerald]

On 8/24/2022 at 4:22 PM, Blaise Glendevon said:

If you like Aesthetic, you should try Inithium Kario.

Aesthetic has more realistic muscles than Kario. Neither is well supported in terms of clothing. If you care about clothing, go for Signature Gianni, Belleza Jake or Legacy Male. If you don't care about clothes, then pick whichever body looks good to you and has a HUD you like.

Edited August 31, 2022 by Persephone Emerald

[Blaise Glendevon]

1 minute ago, Persephone Emerald said:

Aesthetic has more realistic muscles than Kario. Neither is well supported in terms of clothing. If one cares about clothing, go for Signature Gianni,  Belleza Jake or Legacy Male. If one doesn't care about clothes, then pick whichever body looks good to you and has a HUD you like.

The skin's the thing. Aesthetic still requires you to use that ashy, on-board skin. Kario is supported by Velour, which opens up a whole world of head skin matching possibilities. 

Agreed. If you're interested in expanding your wardrobe, Belleza Jake's still your man. But if you want that roid*****er look but don't want to look pasty, no matter your skin tone, you have to swap to a body with skin support.

[Persephone Emerald]

My friend has Aesthetic and I think his skin looks fine. He's had a time finding clothes, but did find some. He likes that body because he used to be bodybuilder in RL.

Edited August 31, 2022 by Persephone Emerald

[HeathcliffMontague]

Thanks all. Settled for me. I'll stick yith my AES at zero to ten percent muscle. Some say it looks kinda "ashen".  Hm. I suppose in a way. My guess would be it seems that way bc folks just give up to adjust it w heads. 

Anywho, the price of a new body is the same as two leaderboard motorcycles.  Always open to alterantive bodies. But like I said there are no darned suits for AES. Other than that I have a full wardrobe.

[Persephone Emerald]

I saw some suits. I think there's a men's clothing store on the same sim as Blueberry that had some sport jackets & slacks. (Not Boyberry.  I doubt that's your style.)

Have you searched on "Aesthetic" for clothing stores? It takes work to find clothing, but there is some out there. On MP search on "Aesthetic AND suit".

Edited September 1, 2022 by Persephone Emerald