LaraX?

[AmeliaJ08]

2 hours ago, mehllama said:

Well, so much for Labor Day. But I defo hope before Black Friday. I make most of the uniforms for SLCS. I really don't want to invest on FP meshes that don't also include what someone referred to as "Lorax" earlier (still laughing), just for the sake of longevity. FP mesh tends to cost out the wazoo, especially the good stuff (as a rule). But to be honest, I just want to play with the new body and see what it and its HUD do. And also, it would be nice to save attachment points currently used by a shoulder deformer, an thigh deformer (maybe), the Petite add-on (which always attaches BEFORE the body, which means on me it de-petite's the body and I have to re-attach it). But of course, I'd rather Maitreya do it right than right away. 

I run so many add-ons/deformers of my own making that I actually ran out of attachment points yesterday! Will definitely be nice to maybe free some of those up, at least we know for certain that petite will be it's own body which is a much better solution imo.

 

[UnilWay SpiritWeaver]

2 hours ago, AmeliaJ08 said:

I run so many add-ons/deformers of my own making that I actually ran out of attachment points yesterday! Will definitely be nice to maybe free some of those up, at least we know for certain that petite will be it's own body which is a much better solution imo.

Didn't Maitreya go mod at some point?

For reBorn I just rez out the body and link all these things I use to it, and unlink and remove the parts I don't use.

 

[steeljane42]

6 minutes ago, UnilWay SpiritWeaver said:

Didn't Maitreya go mod at some point?

They did not.

[Ceka Cianci]

6 hours ago, mehllama said:

Well, so much for Labor Day. But I defo hope before Black Friday. I make most of the uniforms for SLCS. I really don't want to invest on FP meshes that don't also include what someone referred to as "Lorax" earlier (still laughing), just for the sake of longevity. FP mesh tends to cost out the wazoo, especially the good stuff (as a rule). But to be honest, I just want to play with the new body and see what it and its HUD do. And also, it would be nice to save attachment points currently used by a shoulder deformer, an thigh deformer (maybe), the Petite add-on (which always attaches BEFORE the body, which means on me it de-petite's the body and I have to re-attach it). But of course, I'd rather Maitreya do it right than right away. 

Try this out for deformers.. you won't need to use any attach points..

Someone showed me this a couple of months back  here in the forums and I've been using it ever since..

Once you have  your settings you like, you just click one of the save spots and  any time you need to use it just click the preset you chose for those settings.. then take the hud off and you are not using any attach points.

https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Raven-Deformer-Suite/23844317

Edited September 9, 2023 by Ceka Cianci

[Marianne Little]

I have not bought clothes since I heard about LaraX. I think it is about time that we get it now. I will wait and see how different the LaraX is from Lara, and buy the new releases.

I am not sure how fast Lara rigged clothes will be replaced with LaraX. Since so many say that Lara is so difficult to rig.

[Kathlen Onyx]

53 minutes ago, Marianne Little said:

I have not bought clothes since I heard about LaraX. I think it is about time that we get it now. I will wait and see how different the LaraX is from Lara, and buy the new releases.

I am not sure how fast Lara rigged clothes will be replaced with LaraX. Since so many say that Lara is so difficult to rig.

I hope we don't have to purchase a whole new wardrobe.  If so then I certainly won't be using it much. I will set it up in case there is an outfit I just have to have but I already have hundreds of dollars invested in my regular Maitreya clothing.  If I never bought another thing I could put together a new outfit every day for the next 2 years.

[Marianne Little]

57 minutes ago, Sam Bellisserian said:

I hope we don't have to purchase a whole new wardrobe.  If so then I certainly won't be using it much. I will set it up in case there is an outfit I just have to have but I already have hundreds of dollars invested in my regular Maitreya clothing.  If I never bought another thing I could put together a new outfit every day for the next 2 years.

I have lots of Lara clothes I haven't worn yet. I could wear them the rest of this year and not buy anything new. But it is tempting to buy something new. I will wear outfits for both Lara and LaraX.

If creators churn out so much LaraX as they did with EvoX, they will appear in weekend sales soon, for a low price. I never thought I should use the new EvoX UV. I had so much on SL UV.

Well, that was then. I have purged lots of makeup, skins and hairbases on SL UV. I have kept some drow and other fantasy skins, but now I have fantasy skins on EvoX UV, so I should delete the last skins I have saved.

I want to purge older clothes with textures that is not up to today's work. It is about time to delete all the old Scandalize gifts. I am disappointed every time I try on some of it. I do not even need to try them on, I know they are bad. Then I can go to Scandalize and pick up a few new gifts.

If I get new clothes with exellent rigging and textures for a low price in weekend sales, I do not care so much about older clothes. I have much with rigging that is not so good, and all template clothes based on Meli Imako from a few years back. They are just filling up my inventory. If I try them on, I do not wear them.

Maybe I wear LaraX most of the time next year, and use Lara only for the best clothes from 2020- 2023 and special items that are discontinued. Costumes and fantasy.

It will depend on the designers, and how different LaraX is. I really want to see the body so I can compare it to Lara.

[Ceka Cianci]

7 hours ago, Marianne Little said:

I have not bought clothes since I heard about LaraX. I think it is about time that we get it now. I will wait and see how different the LaraX is from Lara, and buy the new releases.

I am not sure how fast Lara rigged clothes will be replaced with LaraX. Since so many say that Lara is so difficult to rig.

I'm still shopping like I never heard about the update..Not crazy amount of shopping because a lot of the stuff  looks the same.. But still finding the diamonds in the rough.. hehehe

The main reason is, I always end up back on my Lara 5.3.. There hasn't really been a body that came out that had me looking at Lara and saying, I'll never wear that old thing again..

If the updated version is really that good and gets picked up, I still think that there is going to be a lot of people still rigging for the older body..  I mean if they are going to be really close to each other with only certain tweaks to the new version.. I'm wondering  how much more work it would be  to save the new version rigging and then just tweak the rigging for the older one as well while in the program..

I really feel we are going to see the newer version eased  in with the older version and sit in items packs together..  a big reason is, because a lot of people are still going to be hesitant about switching over.. A big reason is the wardrobe they have already accumulated over the years..

Also, I'm hoping for a lot of redelivers. hehehe  Although I'll never see redelivers on that stuff that kept me going back to Maitreya over the years.. Those really amazing accessories that you just can't find today with any other body because people pretty much stopped making those amazing things for bodies these days..

 

[Ceka Cianci]

6 hours ago, Sam Bellisserian said:

I hope we don't have to purchase a whole new wardrobe.  If so then I certainly won't be using it much. I will set it up in case there is an outfit I just have to have but I already have hundreds of dollars invested in my regular Maitreya clothing.  If I never bought another thing I could put together a new outfit every day for the next 2 years.

I was talking to one of the Mods in the group and they were saying, We may get some things that fit , but it's a good chance it's going to depend on our shapes we make and the sizes we put on the sliders..

It's pretty much a wait and see thing.. A lot of things aren't going to fit, but they aren't ruling out everything..

Shoes we know are going to fit and I'm hoping the boots wil too which I don't know why they wouldn't.. the legs were just fine on the 5.3..

The butt is rigged more with the legs now rather than independent, where the butt gets sucked into the legs when walking now, where it will be more  of a smooth transition to the legs..

Like when I wear shorts with the 5.3 body and then walk, the butt actually looks like it is riding on top of the legs like a hinge.. So wearing short and walking, the bottom of the shorts disappear into the leg.. The new body the butt and legs will be rigged together and work more together rather than two separate joints going in opposite directions.. like we been to the gym .. hehehe

[AmeliaJ08]

9 hours ago, Ceka Cianci said:

Try this out for deformers.. you won't need to use any attach points..

Someone showed me this a couple of months back  here in the forums and I've been using it ever since..

Once you have  your settings you like, you just click one of the save spots and  any time you need to use it just click the preset you chose for those settings.. then take the hud off and you are not using any attach points.

https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Raven-Deformer-Suite/23844317

"The Deformer Suite is built on top of exactly 10,423 deformation animations "

 

No bueno, I need armature deformers. Animations do work but they're a poor solution, you see your body going haywire since animations need to be constantly looped and they mess with physics etc. Your boobs jump all over the place!

Edited September 9, 2023 by AmeliaJ08

[Ceka Cianci]

32 minutes ago, AmeliaJ08 said:

"The Deformer Suite is built on top of exactly 10,423 deformation animations "

 

No bueno, I need armature deformers. Animations do work but they're a poor solution, you see your body going haywire since animations need to be constantly looped and they mess with physics etc.

 

I haven't had that problem with it.. I run my AO at the same time and it works fine with it..Also my physics that I use still work..

Nothing animated that I wear really has messed with my settings.. It really works like a charm for me so far..

The only time I really have to turn it on is when I log on.. Then take the hud off and don't have to worry about it anymore..

I scrolled through the contents of the hud and this is all it shows for it's contents.. two scripts and a pose stand pose,which  it puts you in a pose stand pose to set up your settings..

Script: [Raven] Deform Presets

Script: [Raven] Deformer Suite

pose: static

ETA: Looking at any of my other attachment deformers that I have, Like the reborm butt down for instance.. those are based on animations as well..

What deformers  do you use that are not using animations?

ETA: Also, looking at my other huds such as  Lelutka Axis or any thing where you want to tweak something and then save it.. it's all done with animations/poses.. hand poses  a cheek tweak and open mouth, a shoulder tweak pretty much any tweak outside the sliders..

Even in black dragon we are tweaking pieces of our avatars in poser..

If there is another way other than pose animations, I'm really curious now.. Unless you are meaning  rigged right from the program body tweaks.. I don't think there is a way around attach points then..

 

Edited September 9, 2023 by Ceka Cianci

[Ayashe Ninetails]

8 hours ago, Marianne Little said:

I have not bought clothes since I heard about LaraX.

 

1 hour ago, Ceka Cianci said:

I'm still shopping like I never heard about the update..

I'm with Ceka on this one. I still shop for Lara 5.3 regularly and I put the update out of mind for now. I even took my Lucybody alt out for a spin the other day and picked up an outfit for that. It's not going to impact me in any real way for a very long time, except possibly with photography where I'd be more likely to toss on the X version if I can't get arm poses to look right on the old 5.3. 

The changes are so subtle on the surface (I still think of it as more of a creator's update) that I can't really see myself needing to switch right off the bat. Only when there's enough X content to shop as effortlessly as I do now (without needing to read ads to see what bodies are included) will I think about switching to X full-time.

It also looks like the creator of my favorite mermaid tail left SL, so if that's indeed true, I'm not going to be seeing any new body adoption updates on that front. That's at least one thing I'll be needing 5.3 for going forward until I find another tail I like made for Lara X, which could take quite a bit. Assuming the rig/fit would even be different, that is. I've also got a bunch of very pretty fantasy gacha costumes and outfit pieces that will certainly never see updates, so yeah, I'll be in 5.3 for a looong time.

[AmeliaJ08]

1 hour ago, Ceka Cianci said:

I haven't had that problem with it.. I run my AO at the same time and it works fine with it..Also my physics that I use still work..

Nothing animated that I wear really has messed with my settings.. It really works like a charm for me so far..

The only time I really have to turn it on is when I log on.. Then take the hud off and don't have to worry about it anymore..

I scrolled through the contents of the hud and this is all it shows for it's contents.. two scripts and a pose stand pose,which  it puts you in a pose stand pose to set up your settings..

Script: [Raven] Deform Presets

Script: [Raven] Deformer Suite

pose: static

ETA: Looking at any of my other attachment deformers that I have, Like the reborm butt down for instance.. those are based on animations as well..

What deformers  do you use that are not using animations?

ETA: Also, looking at my other huds such as  Lelutka Axis or any thing where you want to tweak something and then save it.. it's all done with animations/poses.. hand poses  a cheek tweak and open mouth, a shoulder tweak pretty much any tweak outside the sliders..

Even in black dragon we are tweaking pieces of our avatars in poser..

If there is another way other than pose animations, I'm really curious now.. Unless you are meaning  rigged right from the program body tweaks.. I don't think there is a way around attach points then..

 

They do work but the way animation based deformers work is animations of course, the way SL works when it comes to animations is that clients are only aware of any animation when it is played. Say if you walked into a club or something, every other person in there only sees animations as you play them. If someone new walked in and hadn't seen you 'play' an animation they wouldn't be aware of it until you did play it.

Animation deformers approach this problem by running timer scripts, they'll just repeatedly 'play' an animation on a set timer, some deformer HUDs let you configure how often this is but it's usually only as low as 30seconds to try and avoid causing too much script load on the region. I don't know what it is in the case of this deformer pack since it doesn't say but 30s is about as low as you'd want it to be.

The effect of this would be that to some other views since they haven't seen your animation play then if they are looking at you they might notice when it does since your body would suddenly change, the effect of this is often quite jarring unfortunately since there could be 30s of you looking 'normal' before suddenly all the animations play and your body changes.

Also while physics are active playing an animation can cause jankiness, generally it is not a good idea to play any animation that is acting on breasts while physics is enabled there for example since the bounce may be interrupted (to some views) by the animation play timer kicking in. It might look okay to you the viewer since you've already 'seen' the animation start to play but to others it might not be timed like that.

The other way of doing deformations is to override your default SL armature bones with another one, as in the armature under your body. It offers less since you can only translate bones this way (move them), animations offer translation and rotation which is much better but with the above side effect and need for a script timer to repeatedly play the animation. It does however always display to everyone immediately, they physically move the bones in your body and you 'add' them as an attachment.

Deformers are a complicated topic and unfortunately no perfect solution exists, if they would just let us rotate armature bones using objects instead of just animations though that would really help.

 

 

 

Edited September 9, 2023 by AmeliaJ08

[Blush Bravin]

I have not nor will I buy a single article of clothing since I heard of the LaraX update. Not only am I not buying for Lara 5.3 but I've also stopped buying any of the Perky that Debi wears. I am anxious to get the Lara X for both of them and start a whole new wardrobe. Out with the old and in with the new for me!

[Claireschen Hesten]

2 hours ago, Ceka Cianci said:

I'm still shopping like I never heard about the update.

Same here, I might not be buying so much since plenty of places are either dropping or just not bothering with Maitreya on things that take my fancy. I'm confident that with the right alphas a lot of my existing wardrobe will work with X if not I can switch back to 5.3

[Ceka Cianci]

16 minutes ago, AmeliaJ08 said:

They do work but the way animation based deformers work is animations of course, the way SL works when it comes to animations is that clients are only aware of any animation when it is played. Say if you walked into a club or something, every other person in there only sees animations as you play them. If someone new walked in and hadn't seen you 'play' an animation they wouldn't be aware of it until you did play it.

Animation deformers approach this problem by running timer scripts, they'll just repeatedly 'play' an animation on a set timer, some deformer HUDs let you configure how often this is but it's usually only as low as 30seconds to try and avoid causing too much script load on the region. I don't know what it is in the case of this deformer pack since it doesn't say but 30s is about as low as you'd want it to be.

The effect of this would be that to some other views since they haven't seen your animation play then if they are looking at you they might notice when it does since your body would suddenly change, the effect of this is often quite jarring unfortunately since there could be 30s of you looking 'normal' before suddenly all the animations play and your body changes.

Also while physics are active playing an animation can cause jankiness, generally it is not a good idea to play any animation that is acting on breasts while physics is enabled there for example since the bounce may be interrupted (to some views) by the animation play timer kicking in. It might look okay to you the viewer since you've already 'seen' the animation start to play but to others it might not be timed like that.

The other way of doing deformations is to override your default SL armature bones with another one, as in the armature under your body. It offers less since you can only translate bones this way (move them), animations offer translation and rotation which is much better but with the above side effect and need for a script timer to repeatedly play the animation. It does however always display to everyone immediately, they physically move the bones in your body and you 'add' them as an attachment.

Deformers are a complicated topic and unfortunately no perfect solution exists, if they would just let us rotate armature bones using objects instead of just animations though that would really help.

 

 

 

I'm not sure of those problems really.. I always like to check things with logging in my alts to see if things work well or not..

I put 5 of them on and was checking to see if things went bonky or if they were  seeing the same thing at the same time..

I would think the frames used would have a lot to do with animations load times as well..Most static poses are two maybe three frames..

Everything pretty much loads at the same time in all the viewers I was  looking through at the time.. each of the setings I have saved for different bodies would show up right away in the other viewers.. I would also think that a deformer animation would load a lot faster than most AO animations would to the server as well as someones mesh body and clothes after landing..

I'm not really trying to talk anyone into using this thing.. I'm just saying it's an option if someone wants to save on attach points.. That and that it's worked really well for me so far..

I think there is a lot of give and take in SL for the many different things we want to use.. sometimes you have to give up something to get something else..

Either way, it's just another alternative I thought I would  pass along that was passed along to me..

 

 

[Ceka Cianci]

58 minutes ago, Claireschen Hesten said:

Same here, I might not be buying so much since plenty of places are either dropping or just not bothering with Maitreya on things that take my fancy. I'm confident that with the right alphas a lot of my existing wardrobe will work with X if not I can switch back to 5.3

My shopping itself had already slowed down well before  there ever was an announcement of a Lara update.. I still shop but much more picky than the impulse buyer I used to be.. hehehe

I think when the new Belleza body came out, that was the straw that broke the camels back.. I had just gotten the Prima right before that as well..

After hunting and hunting for the Erika body things and then getting those two other newer bodies and seeing the same pattern happening.. It was pretty much the same stuff.. Then seeing the body count grow on items and really seeing the differences in how some just looked like they were meant to cover those bodies but not really rigged for them to fit.. That was it.. It felt more like fast food rather than a home cooked meal.. hehehe

There just isn't that much originality in things these days and we are seeing a lot of rehashing of styles .. If a new body comes out it gets pounded with the same styles of skimpy things first or maybe just the rest of it's life..

The accessories alone that I have for my Maitreya is hardly seen anymore  these days and they still stand up better to many of the things I see made today..

I just hope that the new Lara doesn't turn into the new Belleza or prima and we get nothing but lingerie and swanky stuff for a long time.. I know we will at first because that's just the way things are.. But I do hope those really good creators that have been making those really great things for Lara all these years, keep doing that..

I'll shop my heart out for the new body then.. But until then, I'm sticking with the car that has been running like a charm all these years for me so far.. hehehe

Edited September 9, 2023 by Ceka Cianci

[Ayashe Ninetails]

9 minutes ago, Ceka Cianci said:

There just isn't that much originality in things these days and we are seeing a lot of rehashing of styles .. If a new body comes out it gets pounded with the same styles of skimpy things first or maybe just the rest of it's life..

There is a lot of originality out there, but you're not going to see it at the typical fashion events. I ignore almost everything on Seraphim that isn't either a discount event (weekend sales, FLF Birthday) or catering to a specific niche (Engine Room, Abnormality, We Love Roleplay, Cyber Fair). The main exception to that rule is with accessories and pets - if there's something super cute and cheap at one of the regular events (which I usually only find out about in Discord or Flickr), I'll grab that, but definitely not clothing.

I'm not sure what styles you're looking for in particular (lemme know and I can have a dig through my landmarks), but depending on the avatar I'm shopping for, I wear a lot of cyberpunk fashion, period/vintage (1940s-50s), steampunk, maxi dresses/rompers/beach/loungewear (think dresses and outfits you'd see on a cruise ship - that's mainly for my frog lol), themed fantasy (forest-inspired, sea/water themed, etc.), general fantasy, whimsical fantasy (Wonderland-themed stuff, over-the-top holiday gowns, movie-themed stuff, surrealist-style fashion), historical fashion, outfits with animated sparkles because GLITTER, sci-fi/futuristic fashion, relaxed boho, formal eveningwear, semi-formal eveningwear, Victorian vamp style for my male avies (I do need more of this, though), suits for men/women, sporty/athletic wear, on and on and onnnnnn.

I find all of this in-world (unless they're Meipons or whatever we're calling those now), sometimes at events, but many times not. I just crawl through themed Flickr groups and blogs looking for interesting unique items, and when I find them, I take a TP over to the shop (or hunt down the creator) and check out what else they've got for sale. It usually leads to a LOT of cool finds, and many of these places cater mostly to the Maitreya/Legacy combo. Some have started adding Reborn, as well, but not all. Occasionally, I'll find places that never dropped old bodies and still create new items for Freya, Isis, and Slink, too.

[AmeliaJ08]

1 hour ago, Ceka Cianci said:

I'm not sure of those problems really.. I always like to check things with logging in my alts to see if things work well or not..

I put 5 of them on and was checking to see if things went bonky or if they were  seeing the same thing at the same time..

I would think the frames used would have a lot to do with animations load times as well..Most static poses are two maybe three frames..

Everything pretty much loads at the same time in all the viewers I was  looking through at the time.. each of the setings I have saved for different bodies would show up right away in the other viewers.. I would also think that a deformer animation would load a lot faster than most AO animations would to the server as well as someones mesh body and clothes after landing..

I'm not really trying to talk anyone into using this thing.. I'm just saying it's an option if someone wants to save on attach points.. That and that it's worked really well for me so far..

I think there is a lot of give and take in SL for the many different things we want to use.. sometimes you have to give up something to get something else..

Either way, it's just another alternative I thought I would  pass along that was passed along to me..

 

 

Oh for sure I'm not saying animations don't work but I personally don't like their downsides, animation load time isn't really the issue - as you say these are single frame animations - but the timers and how the whole system works isn't for me, I've seen the visual glitches they cause and I can't tolerate it for bigger scale deformations but do use them for a little breast rotation, my bigger deformations in the shoulders, thighs, chest and back, breast lift, belly reduction (maitreya belly is terrible!) are all done using armature deformers I made though to avoid any of it.

They definitely work though and if well scripted they at most cause a little glitch for a few tens of seconds which I'm sure is perfectly tolerable for most, I'm just a little sensitive to stuff like that I think. They can do a whole lot more than simple bone translations though, on balance they're probably a better choice with a few caveats.

I'm definitely looking forward to seeing LaraX and how it looks 'stock' though, maybe I can retire some of my deformers or simplify them. I really should combine them all together already, I have a look that I've built over years but it comes in the form of three separate armature deformers currently and they all take an attachment point. Maitreya Petite in my opinion needs a whole lot of modification and I'd love if LaraX Petite looks better without deformers.

 

 

Edited September 9, 2023 by AmeliaJ08

[Persephone Emerald]

5 hours ago, Ceka Cianci said:

[snip]

If the updated version is really that good and gets picked up, I still think that there is going to be a lot of people still rigging for the older body..  I mean if they are going to be really close to each other with only certain tweaks to the new version.. I'm wondering  how much more work it would be  to save the new version rigging and then just tweak the rigging for the older one as well while in the program..

I really feel we are going to see the newer version eased  in with the older version and sit in items packs together..  a big reason is, because a lot of people are still going to be hesitant about switching over.. A big reason is the wardrobe they have already accumulated over the years..

[snip]

I think you make a good point here. Maybe rigging for both Lara and Lara X will be like rigging for both Lara and Lara Petite in some cases. The weighting will be different though, and creators have already complained that the old dev kit was hard to use, so they might not want to bother with it anymore.

New shoes coming out will probably fit both and be labeled Lara/Lara X. Gloves and necklaces would also be Lara/Lara X. 

Pants and skirts will need to be rigged for Lara X, because the shape and rigging for the butt and pelvis will be different. Most tops will also need to be rigged for Lara X. Old clothing might fit the new body, but not always. Coats and sweaters probably will, because the body under them can easily be alphaed out. Old mesh bikinis and lingerie will probably not fit on the new body. Those strapless mini dresses and tube tops that everyone gives out as gifts will probably fit both equally badly.

I hope creators update their more popular items to include Lara X, just as some have done by having updates include Reborn and Gen X sizes. Moving forward though, I think it may be wise for creators to sell clothing in separate packs for each body, but with mini HUDs for color or texture. This way they can easily track which bodies are more popular with their customers and drop those that are not popular. They might even see that some types of clothing are more or less popular for some bodies.

Edited September 9, 2023 by Persephone Emerald

[Ayashe Ninetails]

17 minutes ago, Persephone Emerald said:

Moving forward though, I think it may be wise for creators to sell clothing in separate packs for each body, but with mini HUDs for color or texture. This way they can easily track with bodies are more popular with their customers and drop those that are not popular. They might even see that some types of clothing are or less more popular for some bodies.

Oh no, maybe unpopular opinion, but I refuse to buy clothing or shoes broken down like this. I'd rather miss out on the outfit entirely than purchase it in a separate pack for a single body. 

I have weird reasons for that, but as someone who squeezes both Maitreya and Legacy Male into clothing that wasn't ever designed to fit them, I often need to play around with different body sizes to see what I can get the closest fit with.

Random examples, but female high-heeled boots in Slink or Freya or Legacy sizes may fit under my male Legacy pant legs better than the Maitreya version I typically wear on female avatars. Legacy Male or Gianni clothing sizes might fit Maitreya a bit better than Jake. I've experimented with stuffing CZ Slim into female clothing as well, when I was considering buying that. I forget which worked better - Legacy F or something Belleza, I think. Etc. I find ways to use all of my sizes, basically. I don't shop in any stores that sell clothing in body packs.

Edit: I just ran into this a few days ago, in fact. I broke my own rule for a pair of nails (because animated glitterrrrrrr) and I tried to find the Maitreya size and suddenly remembered I'd only purchased them in Legacy Male. Never agaaaaaaain!!!!

Edited September 9, 2023 by Ayashe Ninetails
Added stuffs

[Persephone Emerald]

6 minutes ago, Ayashe Ninetails said:

Oh no, maybe unpopular opinion, but I refuse to buy clothing or shoes broken down like this. I'd rather miss out on the outfit entirely than purchase it in a separate pack for a single body. 

I have weird reasons for that, but as someone who squeezes both Maitreya and Legacy Male into clothing that wasn't ever designed to fit them, I often need to play around with different body sizes to see what I can get the closest fit with.

Random examples, but female high-heeled boots in Slink or Freya or Legacy sizes may fit under my male Legacy pant legs better than the Maitreya version I typically wear on female avatars. Legacy Male or Gianni clothing sizes might fit Maitreya a bit better than Jake. I've experimented with stuffing CZ Slim into female clothing as well, when I was considering buying that. I forget which worked better - Legacy F or something Belleza, I think. Etc. I find ways to use all of my sizes, basically. I don't shop in any stores that sell clothing in body packs.

This is slightly OT, but I'm curious.

Which body and clothing size combinations do you find are easiest to work with? Do you use Maitreya Flat or just alpha out the breasts on the regular Maitreya? Have you tried working with the Erika or Erika Zero body?

I like a curvy, but proportional body on my main avatar. My body favorite is currently Freya, though I also like Erika Zero right now. I prefer more modest clothing most of the time, so I also alpha out much of the body when I can.

[Ceka Cianci]

1 hour ago, Ayashe Ninetails said:

There is a lot of originality out there, but you're not going to see it at the typical fashion events. I ignore almost everything on Seraphim that isn't either a discount event (weekend sales, FLF Birthday) or catering to a specific niche (Engine Room, Abnormality, We Love Roleplay, Cyber Fair). The main exception to that rule is with accessories and pets - if there's something super cute and cheap at one of the regular events (which I usually only find out about in Discord or Flickr), I'll grab that, but definitely not clothing.

I'm not sure what styles you're looking for in particular (lemme know and I can have a dig through my landmarks), but depending on the avatar I'm shopping for, I wear a lot of cyberpunk fashion, period/vintage (1940s-50s), steampunk, maxi dresses/rompers/beach/loungewear (think dresses and outfits you'd see on a cruise ship - that's mainly for my frog lol), themed fantasy (forest-inspired, sea/water themed, etc.), general fantasy, whimsical fantasy (Wonderland-themed stuff, over-the-top holiday gowns, movie-themed stuff, surrealist-style fashion), historical fashion, outfits with animated sparkles because GLITTER, sci-fi/futuristic fashion, relaxed boho, formal eveningwear, semi-formal eveningwear, Victorian vamp style for my male avies (I do need more of this, though), suits for men/women, sporty/athletic wear, on and on and onnnnnn.

I find all of this in-world (unless they're Meipons or whatever we're calling those now), sometimes at events, but many times not. I just crawl through themed Flickr groups and blogs looking for interesting unique items, and when I find them, I take a TP over to the shop (or hunt down the creator) and check out what else they've got for sale. It usually leads to a LOT of cool finds, and many of these places cater mostly to the Maitreya/Legacy combo. Some have started adding Reborn, as well, but not all. Occasionally, I'll find places that never dropped old bodies and still create new items for Freya, Isis, and Slink, too.

I can find all kinds of things  even today for Maitreya and even reborn.. But a lot of the other bodies that are newer, it's much harder, if at all to find things for them across the board..

 

Edited September 9, 2023 by Ceka Cianci

[Ayashe Ninetails]

2 minutes ago, Persephone Emerald said:

This is slightly OT, but I'm curious.

Which body and clothing size combinations do you find are easiest to work with?

Unfortunately, it can really be all over the place, because every shop takes a different approach to fits it seems, lol.

Maitreya body + Jake clothing (suits in particular) used to work well, but Jake's got dat booty and some pants just balloon way out there for her. When that happens, I can try playing with her shape, or just swap her to another size. I've had some recent success with Maitreya + Gianni clothing in the streetwear/urban realm. Maitreya + Legacy M is also an option for more slim fits. The obvious is full blown suits, where I can alpha the entire body and just leave my head sticking out, LOL. In that case, anything with a slender cut will work.

On the male side, I find Legacy M plays better with other sizes like Belleza (not Gen X) or Legacy F. I haven't played with this too much since my intention was to switch off Legacy and into Anatomy, but mannn, I'm still waiting for clothing on that front. There's plenty, but none in the style I usually dress my guys in. For now, I just try to find the most unisex/genderless Legacy Male clothing I can.

 

13 minutes ago, Persephone Emerald said:

Do you use Maitreya Flat or just alpha out the breasts on the regular Maitreya?

Both. Some outfits will fit better with Maitreya Flat or V-Tech underneath them (especially if any parts of the chest are showing), but if it's a complete coverup (sweatshirts, etc.), I can use alphas. This is one reason why I'm looking forward to Lara X, though. I'd love to have a whole complete flat chest body so I can stop playing with chest mods that use separate HUDs!

 

15 minutes ago, Persephone Emerald said:

Have you tried working with the Erika or Erika Zero body?

I played with Erika Zero the other night. I didn't try stuffing her into alternate sizes, though. I mostly tried on Erika-specific clothing. I came to the conclusion that I wouldn't spend much time working with it going forward due to not having a HUD for alpha cuts. Finding the exact alpha layers I'd need to make things work is a pain - even for clothing designed to fit it! So many things were poorly rigged and I had to dig way too hard to find the right type of alpha layers to fix problems. It only gets worse when you've got clothing with lots of transparencies or cutouts or rips or asymmetrical designs. Blah.

 

18 minutes ago, Persephone Emerald said:

I like a curvy, but proportional body on my main avatar. My body favorite is currently Freya, though I also like Erika Zero right now. I prefer more modest clothing most of the time, so I also alpha out much of the body when I can.

Maybe a weird suggestion, but I find Lucybody to be slightly more curvy in the hips and thighs than Maitreya. When I took her out shopping the other night, I was surprised at how absolutely cute dresses with high slits looked on her. No trouble fitting her in Maitreya clothes/nails/jewelry/shoes either.

Lucybody + all Maitreya clothing/shoes/accessories. She has on BOM undies I promise, lol.

[Ayashe Ninetails]

25 minutes ago, Ceka Cianci said:

I can find all kinds of things  even today for Maitreya and even reborn.. But a lot of the other bodies that are newer, it's much harder, if at all to find things for them across the board..

Yeah, Reborn's pretty well-represented in the fantasy, period clothing, sci-fi, and furry markets, too. Kupra's still around in some of those markets. Gen X, Khara, Prima, etc. - nope, not so much.

My biggest guess, seeing how some of the fantasy creators make some fairly elaborate creations that undoubtedly take tons of time and energy, is some designers don't like switching bodies too often and having to learn new rigs. I had a suspicion that might be true, but when I saw one of my favorite shops release 4+ brand new costumes that include fits for Slink, Freya, and Isis but nothing for Gen X or anything newer than Legacy, I realized that's probably the case.

Edited September 9, 2023 by Ayashe Ninetails
Fixing stuffs