Explain all the new blitherblather name mesh avatars to me????

[blacktigerdragon]

Ok hear me out, I've taken a few breaks from SL and only used free crap from beginner areas until now so I'm behind on avis, let alone clothes. But now I see everyone using new wet looking 'mesh' avis or whatever with blithery names I can't follow and I don't even know where to start with upgrading.

What should I even get to start with????? And how do you dress it and what do you DO with it????

[Chic Aeon]

Try the free ones first to get an idea of what they are.

https://fabfree.wordpress.com/the-fabfree-mesh-body-and-head-listing/

 

The Linden Lab "new" mesh avatars are on the drawing board - road map but we don't know WHEN so you can keep that in mind.

WET is not the standard so far as I can tell :D. Personally I don't like that look at all and that is "skin" not "body". 

There is lots of info out there. Try Google and "mesh bodies second life". 

Don't hurry. Mesh bodies and heads can be very expensive in RL dollars.  

[Scylla Rhiadra]

2 hours ago, blacktigerdragon said:

Ok hear me out, I've taken a few breaks from SL and only used free crap from beginner areas until now so I'm behind on avis, let alone clothes. But now I see everyone using new wet looking 'mesh' avis or whatever with blithery names I can't follow and I don't even know where to start with upgrading.

What should I even get to start with????? And how do you dress it and what do you DO with it????

You'll find a lot of good information in the videos here, most of them by, or commissioned by, LL.

Are you looking to upgrade a male or female avatar?

[blacktigerdragon]

55 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

You'll find a lot of good information in the videos here, most of them by, or commissioned by, LL.

Are you looking to upgrade a male or female avatar?

I don't care which gender. I just need to know where to start

[Alwin Alcott]

2 minutes ago, blacktigerdragon said:

I don't care which gender. I just need to know where to start

ehm .. it can save you a lot of money when you know what you want.

Body, skins, hair, heads... a.s.o aren't cheap ( when you'r not in a hurry you can save thousends of Lindens)

Males and Females have their own items, not only gender.

[Persephone Emerald]

10 minutes ago, blacktigerdragon said:

I don't care which gender. I just need to know where to start

If you really don't care which gender, there are more options available for female avatars, including more free skins, clothes and hair.  It's not impossible to find good stuff for male avatars, though. Consider what gender you'd rather play. Nowadays there are even non-binary avatars.

[Stephanie Misfit]

15 minutes ago, blacktigerdragon said:

I don't care which gender. I just need to know where to start

Well, deciding on whether you want a male or female avatar is where you start. Let us know and we will help.

[Persephone Emerald]

4 minutes ago, Stephanie Misfit said:

Well, deciding on whether you want a male or female avatar is where you start. Let us know and we will help.

2nd is whether you want to be human, anthro-furry or something else? 3rd is how much do you want to spend? 4th is what kind of shape do you want - standard, curvy, slender or muscular ? 

Different mesh bodies have different parameters for which shapes they'll go to.

Once you pick a mesh body (and possibly a mesh head), then you'll need to find or adjust a shape. Then you'll need to get a skin that you like that's made for that body and that head.

After all this, you'll need clothes that fit your mesh body too.

[Dorientje Woller]

Another parameter to select a body is the availability of clothes for set body. Not all creators are creating stuff for all bodies.

 

[Rowan Amore]

SL videos.  Watch the ones about heads and bodies.

 

Edited July 8, 2023 by Rowan Amore

[blacktigerdragon]

6 hours ago, Persephone Emerald said:

2nd is whether you want to be human, anthro-furry or something else? 3rd is how much do you want to spend? 4th is what kind of shape do you want - standard, curvy, slender or muscular ? 

Different mesh bodies have different parameters for which shapes they'll go to.

Once you pick a mesh body (and possibly a mesh head), then you'll need to find or adjust a shape. Then you'll need to get a skin that you like that's made for that body and that head.

After all this, you'll need clothes that fit your mesh body too.

This is my problem with the blithery avatars. What's recommended to start with? Obvi I wouldn't start with a furry even though I want one. And do I really need to explain what the word 'start' means when it comes to budget?

[Persephone Emerald]

21 minutes ago, blacktigerdragon said:

This is my problem with the blithery avatars. What's recommended to start with? Obvi I wouldn't start with a furry even though I want one. And do I really need to explain what the word 'start' means when it comes to budget?

Ok. It's good to know that you want a furry, because some bodies will lend themselves to furry modifications easier than others will. Knowing that you want a furry avatar will also help direct the people on this forum who use furry avatars to your question. They know much more about those things than those of us who only use human avatars. 

Gender makes a big difference too, so just say whether you prefer a male or female avatar.

If it's female, I think the Maitreya Lara body lends itself to furry modification. If you like the Maitreya Lara shape, then I always recommend starting with the LucyBody Atenea body, which is free on their Midnight Madness board. It needs to be Bakes On Mesh compatible to be easier to use, so it's worth it to buy their BOM applier after you get the body. That applier is only $L 250 to $L 300, so it's not expensive. That body fits Maiitreya clothing, and because Maitreya Lara is the most popular body in SL, there are lots of free skins and clothing made for it. If you later decide to buy the real Maitreya body, you'll already have skin and clothes that fit it too.

You need to start with trying to use some free, $L 1 and Demo bodies, to see for yourself how they work and decide which ones you like or don't like.

YouTube videos and some web pages that tell how to use a mesh body will be more helpful than what we can tell you here. Naria Panthera has a good YouTube video called "Noob to Mesh". Boston Blaisedale has several good videos on using mesh bodies that have been featured in the Second Life University series. Both these YouTubers have videos for male and female avatars, but Naria focuses more on female avatars, while Boston focuses more on male avatars.

If your avatar is male, the "Virtual Bloke - Queer Eye for the Pixel Guy" website has some good pages that explain how to use mesh bodies and heads from the very basics. Start with this page:

https://virtualbloke.com/archives/3711

This information works for both male or female avatars, but he focuses on male avatars.

Ignore information on using appliers for the most part, because Bakes On Mesh has now largely replaced using appliers for skin and is almost the same as how we used system layers on our original system avatars. Applier HUDs are now mostly used to change colors or textures on mesh clothing and for some makeup on mesh heads.

Only focus on a mesh body to begin with. You don't need a mesh head right away.

If you want an easy to use free mesh body (male or female) that has a head already attached to it, I recommend the free bodies by Altamura. There are some free clothes made for these bodies on Marketplace and at various newbie areas. I personally don't like the shapes that come with their male mesh bodies, but you can always use a different shape or modify the ones that come with them. If you get an Altamura male mesh body, I have a box of alternate shapes I made for them that I can give you.

Most free bodies are either limited in how much they can be modified and/ or don't have many clothes available that fit them. They're good for getting comfortable with using a mesh body, but may feel frustrating when you try to find skin and clothes for them. The free LucyBody is one exception to this rule, because it can be easily used with skin, clothing and I assume furry mods made for Maitreya Lara.

[Ayashe Ninetails]

2 hours ago, blacktigerdragon said:

This is my problem with the blithery avatars. What's recommended to start with? Obvi I wouldn't start with a furry even though I want one. And do I really need to explain what the word 'start' means when it comes to budget?

Furry avatars are rather advanced, yes, and require some specialized knowledge. Let's skip that for now.

Easiest to start would be human. Gender is down to personal preference, how much you enjoy shopping (it's faster/easier to find budget/free clothing for female), and budget. Female avatars have a lot more items available as group gifts (free) and on discount (weekend sales), they've got some cheaper bodies, and cheaper head options are a bit easier to come by. Sometimes.

So, for argument's sake, let's say you choose female human.

Next choice would be your preferred body shape. We've got slender/thin/fit options, slight curves, and exaggerated curves. The breakdown of the major female bodies:

 

Thin/slender/athletic/fit:

Maitreya - older body, most popular option, tons of available clothing and most stores design for it. Optional paid body mods available for flat/petite chest. Can do curves, but other bodies do it better. Price is about 2750L.

Legacy Female - good clothing availability, perky chest & pregnancy options require a separate body purchase. Can do natural curves like Maitreya, if not better. Very pricey at 5000L.

Belleza Gen X Classic - pretty new, still catching up on the clothing side. There are Flickr galleries, but no one store I can name that provides a reliable shopping experience. Gotta bounce around a lot to shop it. Constant 50% off sales. Full price is about 3099L for their cheapest option. There are two new paid mods for chest options - a dainty chest and a "squeezy" chest designed to be worn only with clothes.

Inithium Khara - very new, not many clothes available. I'd skip this for now.

 

Slight curves to exaggerated:

eBody Reborn - can do slightly curvy to very curvy. Great clothing availability. Tons of optional paid body mods for bigger chests, rolls, squishy thighs, etc. It's 3500L. 

Belleza Gen X Curvy - pretty new, still catching up on the clothing side. Not a ton available just yet (same issue as Gen X Classic). Same chest mods as Classic above. Still catching up. Same price as Classic.

Inithium Kupra - more exaggerated curves, decent shopping experience, however, it's being overtaken by eBody Reborn. The wardrobe is also a bit one note (clubwear and lingerie, mostly). 3999L.

Kalhene Erika - this one is super versatile and has a free option that has a few limitations (Erika Zero Plus) if you join the Erika group (50L). Clothing availability is not great, however, so if you don't like to shop around a lot, I'd skip. Full priced version is 2995L.

 

Start by grabbing some demos of those and get a feel for the bodies, how they work, and what their differences are. If you want a budget no fuss no muss shopping experience (group gifts and clothing/items galore), I'd personally recommend going with Maitreya for now. eBody Reborn would be my second choice, if you want something curvier.

 

Heads are an entirely separate thing - but right now, Lelutka's Evo X heads have the absolute easiest shopping experience. However, they cost 3990L (brand new heads get 25% off upon release). Lelutka DOES give away free heads during Christmas (one male and one female, usually), but to buy now, yeah, 3990L. Akeruka provides some cheaper heads with fairly regular discounts (usually brings them down to 1900L-ish) and they are Evo X compatible, as well.

Skins, hair, makeup, nails, shoes, accessories, and clothes can all be bought at discount - 50L to 100L, in weekend sales.

 

For a general overview of how all this stuff works and how to upgrade from a classic avatar, check here:

 

This is for Maitreya and eBody, but other videos exist for Legacy and Kupra:

 

 

Lelutka Heads:

 

Hope this helps a bit!

Edited July 8, 2023 by Ayashe Ninetails
Fixing stuffs