Skell Dagger

Adding to Klytyna's list one other item: The Basic female TMP body (cost L$2500) comes with an alpha HUD, but the Basic male TMP body doesn't. The guys have to cough up L$5000 - twice as much as the ladies do - for the Deluxe body just so they can have an alpha HUD. Couldn't possibly be because when they were released there were already other female mesh bodies (and body parts) on the market but TMP was the only male mesh body... now could it?

Well my first day at the RL new job went brilliantly. I think I've landed on my feet here. Already been invited to the company BBQ in an idyllic nearby picnic spot, and we get a massive fruit box delivery every week, so everyone gets free fruit whenever they feel like a snack. And then, Skell's trying out "Bad Romance" dances at the very moment he finds out he's landed his first official modelling gig. Kind of apt, for him

Got a light?

Don't get me wrong: I love my smartphone and I'm probably too attached to it for my own good. ("I'm now off to bed" usually means "I'm now off upstairs to stare at my phone for the next two hours", after all.) However, I'm a writer. I need a clicky mechanical keyboard (I'm not really even fond of quieter laptop-style keyboards; I need that weight under each keypress), and a mouse is pretty much an extension of my right hand by now. So it's not just age that defines our choice there; it's also what we love to do.

I suspect the bias you're referring to would be one of age, Rhonda. Personally, I would rather never be able to use a touchscheen, but someone twenty years younger than me would probably cringe in horror at my choice

I think my best self-made catastrophe happened several years ago now. I was testing out a couple of rugs as decor items for my store, and decided against a particular one I'd rezzed, so I deleted it. You guessed it: I'd not locked the store build, so I accidentally deleted the entire store instead. I was left standing on a rug with lots of ad boards swimming in mid-air around me. It wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't also been the first day of a big hunt I was in, so about 15 other avatars plummeted to their doom, and I was frantically trying to re-rez the store before more of them came in for an unwitting skydiving session

Jeny is correct. If you buy the animated mesh eyes you'll find a developer's kit inside. After unpacking that, the notecard inside will contain a link to the PSD download for the eye template.

Two good places to start your research are the mesh heads tag on Strawberry Singh's blog, where she posts video reviews of many mesh heads in SL, and the Mesh Body Addicts blog sections for Mesh Heads and Bento Mesh Heads. (The difference between the two types is that a Bento head allows you further customisation using your body's shape sliders, whereas non-Bento mesh heads don't. Bento is not a brand name; it's a relatively-recent update to the Second Life avatar skeleton that added more bones.) As Norchadens mentioned, there are a lot of mesh heads on the Marketplace, but I don't recommend buying any mesh heads that are listed as 'gacha' items from there. Very occasionally, scammers will sell empty boxes listed as rare gacha mesh heads, so - if at all possible - I'd recommend that you buy from a reputable store rather than from someone who is reselling gacha items. (Obviously there are genuine people selling their unwanted gacha mesh heads on there, too, but it really is a case of caveat emptor when it comes to buying things like that from Marketplace.) Do some research at the links I've given, and try on lots of demos. The following tips may also help you to choose: Ignore the included skins. They may look awful to you (or you might like them!) but you can change those at a later date if you want to. If the head is a Bento one, it might look truly awful when you put it on over your usual shape. (Usually, this will mean your eyes are squinted shut, and no amount of editing will open them.) Because of the way that Bento heads are rigged to the facial bones, the creator will offer a ‘starter shape’ that must be worn, and you then customise that shape. If the head is a Bento one, consider the kind of face shape that you want when you’re initially looking at the ad boards. While Bento heads are adjustable, they can only be adjusted so far, so begin with a head whose ‘base shape’ is similar to the shape you want to end up with. A head with a pointed chin will not be able to give you a heavy square jaw, for example. Is the head Omega-compatible? If it is, you’ll have a much greater choice of customisation options such as skins, makeup, brows, etc. to choose from. Search SL Marketplace. Is there a lot of stuff created for that mesh head? The more, the merrier! What kind of support does the head’s creator offer for it? Check out their profile picks to see whether they have a series of YouTube videos for common questions (such as how to tint your hairbase, or what to do to fix bulging eyes, etc.) or if they have an inworld support group where you can ask your questions. Believe me, you will probably have at least one or two problems with your eventual chosen mesh head, so having somewhere to find solutions is a great help. And, as before, DEMO.DEMO.DEMO.

Kurt, mate, buy that standard skin (demo it first, though!) that you most recently linked-to, and stick with it. You are, as Marianne first suggested, simply not ready for mesh bodies and heads. You're still referring to mesh bodies as 'skins', viz. - Jake is a mesh body, not a skin. I mentioned it here in my list of the main mesh bodies: And in Marianne's image you can clearly see on the ad itself that it states "Jake Mesh Body". I'm trying to say this kindly, but if you can't even get the terminology right for two completely different things then you would be in for a world of even greater confusion if you were to buy a mesh body and/or head and needed help with setting it up (or fixing any of the occasional little glitches that they can experience). The only way anyone would be able to help you with setting up a mesh head and/or body would be to use something like TeamViewer to set it all up for you, and tell you to leave it exactly as it is, which would mean one set of clothes for life and no touching the HUDs! That last skin you linked to (the one listed as 'for standard avatar') is the one you should buy. (Even then, I'm pretty annoyed at the designer for their copy/paste line at the top which states "This Full Skins Applier is made for the STANDARD AVATAR ONLY". Here we are, trying to help people by letting them know that - if you see the word "applier" it means "this will only work with a mesh avatar" - and they're using that word on a non-applier skin for standard avatars.) In short: buy that last skin you linked to, and forget about mesh bodies and heads. They look fantastic but they are a lot more work, and they're not a requirement for having fun in SL.

Avi-Glam, Beusame, and Doux for Men Only Monthly: Credits Skin: Avi-Glam - Vincent (Catwa: Ivory) Facial hair: Beusame - Beard V34 (Omega: tintable) Hair: Doux - Ethan Hairstyle (B&W) Brow appliers: Odeco - Catwa/Omega Mens Eyebrow (shaved) Eye appliers: Avi-Glam - Lucent Eyes (daylight) Shirt: David Heather - Ever Shirt (black) Earrings: RealEvil - Savage Ear Piercings Nail appliers: Odd Eyed Cat - Clawz Base Slink Nail Polish Head: Catwa - Shaheen Body: Slink - Physique Male Hands: Slink - Dynamic Male

Loving these eyes from Avi-Glam.

If it wasn't your shoe up your butt, it was your hair. Or your head. That completely folded-over, head-up-butt look was probably the best bug ever in SL...

Good point, Teagan. The ladies do have more options when it comes to mesh bodies, but only just; the gents are (at last!) catching up, but I know that Maitreya has pretty much cornered the market when it comes to which female mesh body designers create for the most often. For men, that same most created-for is currently split between two bodies: Slink and Signature. Belleza is rapidly coming up into their league (and also, Signature-fit clothing works well on the Belleza body) since designers have latched onto it very quickly. The Mens Dept already had Belleza-fit clothing the month after that body was released, and many big designers are updating their old mesh clothing to include Belleza fit.

My favourite author sums up "team-building" perfectly:

I'm beginning to wonder if "I'm incredibly clueless and I need people to spend hours explaining everything in great detail to me, over and over" is the new black when it comes to trolling. We've had a spate of them lately... I prefer to give them the benefit of the doubt, initially, because there are some people within SL for whom communication struggles are a very real thing. But there comes a point where "okay, clueless newb needs help" becomes "how in god's name do you even function in everyday life?".

It says "full skin" because that is this specific creator's way of saying "you get both the head applier and the body applier in this pack, and don't have to buy them separately". Sort of... I'm going to go full-on "For Dummies" guide here: You are familiar with the old type of SL avatar. The skin was a layer that - when worn - was kind of 'painted on' over the avatar's shape. The skin's icon looked like a human figure. This type of skin was only ever referred to as a "skin". Mesh body parts such as heads and bodies are OBJECTS that you wear, which cover entirely your original old SL avatar. You first need to wear an alpha layer to make your original avatar invisible. (If you left SL before alpha layers were introduced, they're not like the invisiprims that made your feet invisible while wearing shoes, but they do the same thing.) Then you wear the objects that are your mesh head and your mesh body. After this, you then wear the skin applier HUD for the skin that you want to apply (hence the name 'applier') to the body. You will have to wear a separate skin applier HUD for the head, since none of the main designers are making all-in-one head and body combinations yet. (Some stores sell both mesh heads and bodies, but they are attached/worn as separate items.) You then click the skin applier HUD to apply the skin that you want to wear on the head and body. These HUDs often have multiple options in a single HUD. For a face HUD you might have options for a plain skin, a skin with freckles, a skin with facial hair, etc. The same goes with the body skin applier HUDs: they may include versions for body hair or no body hair, more defined abdominal muscles, etc. Once you've applied the skin you want, you can remove the applier HUDs. So, in short, mesh bodies and heads are (in some way) like "the bones that the skin go over top of" as you said, but they work in a different way. It would be white with either. The skins mentioned there are ones for the old, original SL avatar (the "painted-on" layers). They are meant to be worn with ONLY a mesh head. The customer who has a mesh head but not a mesh body would buy that skin and then a mesh head skin applier. Since the entire head part of the "painted on" skin will be made invisible by an alpha layer (so that the mesh head can be worn) the designer hasn't bothered to include the details of the face, and has left it white. I'm going to pause here for a side note. You have been confused from the very beginning of this post by the word 'SKIN'. At the start you stated: Skins do not have prims. Two of the four main parts of an SL avatar (the very basic kind, without any mesh additions or clothing) are as follows: SHAPE - A set of measurements that define the overall and individual body part dimensions of the avatar SKIN - A layer that goes over the shape and gives it a visible form A skin cannot have prims. That would be like expecting to find actual paintbrushes in each brushstroke of a painting. I think the reason you are getting confused is because most major skin-makers these days work by default for mesh heads and bodies, thus some of them no longer differentiate between the terms "skin" and "skin applier". They use the terms interchangeably. Consider the word "phone". Twenty years ago it would have applied to a landline only. Ten years ago older people might have considered it as a landline and younger people a cellphone/mobile phone. Nowadays, most people consider it to mean a cellphone/mobile phone. Technology has moved on, and you are - within SL - effectively that "older person" who now has to re-learn the new meaning of a word, while we're in that middle "ten years ago" period when it could still mean the old thing or the new thing, but it's increasingly meaning the new thing. You now have to use the cues and visuals that designers offer you, to decide whether a skin is an older type one that you can use or the newer one that can only be used on a mesh head and/or body. Those cues include: Read the description (if you're shopping on Marketplace) Look for the 'classic avatars' icon (which I posted here earlier) on the ad image Look for other logos on the ad image, like a red and white one, a purple 'Omega' symbol, a blue 'S' on a white background - those are all signifiers of a mesh applier and not one that can be used on a classic avatar (UNLESS it also includes the classic avatar logo) Try a demo (skins have always - and still do - come with demos. If you get the demo and it contains nothing that you recognise as a classic skin - instead only having a box that, when worn, puts a HUD on your screen - then it's for a mesh head/body only If shopping in Marketplace, click to view the contents of the item. Assuming the creators hasn't boxed everything up, you'll often see a list of what's included. Here's an example of what I mean. This is an ad for an applier-only body and head. Note the use of icons to show which mesh bodies and head this would work with. There is NO indication that this will work on an old-style avatar. (Other skin brands are available! ) They all mean the same thing (which is why I've used the forward slash when I've mentioned them) - system/classic/standard avatars are all the original old SL avatars that you - as an almost six-year-old account in SL - will be fully familiar with. Nobody can agree on one word to use for it, so different people use different words. If you have not spent the money to specifically buy a mesh body and/or head then you have a system/classic/standard avatar. (Remember: they all mean the same thing.) The only exception to this is if you're still wearing one of the old Linden Lab Mesh Starter Avatars (see this image). These cannot be customised in any way, and have actually been removed from the starter avatar options now (although they are still accessible via the inventory library). You need to shop around, since many different designers sell mesh bodies and heads. Be warned: they are not cheap. A good quality mesh body with hands and feet will set you back around L$2000 and a good quality *Bento-enabled mesh head will set you back around L$5000. You can buy non-Bento heads much more cheaply (from around L$900) but they don't offer the same range of customisation options. (*If you need "Bento" explained then that will be a whole 'nother series of posts. In short: a Bento mesh head will respond to changes that you make to the shape of your face using the Edit Appearance sliders, and a non-Bento head will not.) I would strongly suggest that you NOT consider a mesh head just yet. They are much more complex to get to grips with than a mesh body (which can be explained fairly simply). LittleMe has already posted the link to the Mesh Body Addicts blog in this thread, so start by reading there to get an idea of the options you have. One other tip I will offer you: Do NOT choose the 'TMP' (The Mesh Project) body or head. While it's mentioned on that blog, it's now nearly obsolete, has not been updated in two years, runs on its own proprietary external server system, and is now not recommended by anyone who is even vaguely "in the know" about mesh bodies and heads. The design team is rumoured to have split up, they've not updated their social media accounts for almost two years, and once those external servers are switched off, all TMP bodies and heads will be rendered useless. NOT recommended. The main male mesh bodies right now are: Signature 'Gianni' Slink 'Physique' Absolut Creations 'Adam' Belleza 'Jake' Niramyth 'Aesthetic' NX-Nardcotix 'David' Some of the male mesh head designers include: Catwa GA.EG LOGO Akeruka Altamura Absolut Creations Samurai HQ No!Project Genesis Labs Most of those designers have multiple mesh head options (eg: Catwa, which probably has the edge on market share) currently has three male mesh heads: Daniel, Stanley, and Shaheen). Regardless of what you decide to go with, my last piece of advice (and the one that - if I must - I will hammer into your skull with a judiciously-wielded bit of 2x4 ) is DEMO EVERYTHING. Don't drop any large sums of money without trying on as many options as you can. And now, having typed a veritable novel in response to this thread, I'm off in search of a large mug of tea.

Throwback Thursday, to February 2014 Oufit (including some of my favourite boots in SL) by Schadenfreude. Full blog post here.

I think that's how it usually goes, primarily because mesh heads are pretty complex things when you're starting out with them. (Case in point: I'm no slouch after ten years when it comes to SL fashion trends, but it still took me a few days of constant fiddling until I felt comfortable that I knew and understood everything I could do with my mesh head's HUD, and I'm still learning stuff about it). By contrast, a mesh body is relatively simple: you have your three applier layers that are similar to the clothing layers we're all familiar with, your alpha HUD, and a few extras such as optional hands, feet, neck fixes, etc. However, I'm sure there are a few people who save on the expense of a mesh body and just wear a mesh head and hands. I guess their viewpoint is that - if they're usually covered up with mesh clothing - there's no reason to wear a mesh body when only your hands and neck are usually showing. They spend their money on a decent mesh head instead. (Also, of course, not wearing a mesh body saves on rendering cost. If you're all gussied up in a full suit, you've most likely got your entire body except the neck alpha'd out anyway.)

And I'm the one who is irritatingly un-hungover in the morning, but that means I'm also the one in a borrowed bathrobe with bird's-nest hair in the kitchen at 10am rustling up a greasy fried breakfast for everyone. Gotta soak up that remaining alcohol with something!

Adding to this: here is the full set of 'Hugo' system skins by GA.EG. You will see that the ad image has - in the top left - the 'classic avatars' logo, but before you consider buying them note one thing in the description: These are skins to be worn by people who have a mesh head (ie: they would buy the separate mesh head applier) worn on a system/classic avatar. If you were to purchase them, you would find they were perfectly detailed on the body... but had a completely white head. Always, always check the description. And always, always try a demo before considering a purchase.

What Bitsy said. Anything that contains the words 'applier' or 'Omega' will only work with a mesh head and/or body that you've purchased to wear over your classic/system avatar. In addition, many designers now use logos on their adverts to show which bodies their items will work with. While it's not something that's been adopted 100% across the board (ie: you should still read all descriptions and check any text on the ad image) this is the one that they use for system/classic avatars: This (and the other mesh body/head logos) won't be on older skin adverts that are solely for classic avatars, so you need to make sure that you read the descriptions. Also, see my post below for one caveat: just because you see that logo on a skin advert that doesn't mean it will work on your system/classic avatar. Also note: The skin applier that you linked there is what the creator calls a "full skin". Once you get into the realm of mesh heads and bodies, you usually end up having to buy two parts: the mesh head applier and a separate body applier. This is because people don't always buy their mesh heads and bodies from the same designer and thus often need (for example) a head applier for a Catwa brand head and a body applier for a Signature brand body. GA.EG sell both heads and bodies, thus their applier skins are sold in full packages.

Playing around with Windlight. I was at Zibska's store and my AO suddenly moved me into the shadows of a tree that looked amazing with the Windlight I had on (Torley's "Raylanta").

CONGRATS!

I value my brains too much to risk 'em with a Glasgow Kiss, but I'm pretty handy in other ways when circumstances call for it

Lana Del Rey blasting through headphones (pity my neighbours; I can't hear myself singing but they can ) and a new hair from Exile, out at Uber. Credits Hair: Exile - Shape of You* Tattoo: XAnSA - Geometrica Face Tattoo Face piercing: Cerberus Xing - Spiked Drill (silver:Catwa Daniel) Ear piercings: Cerberus Xing -Metal Quills (silver) Shirt: Cold Ash - Mens Mesh Jonas Muscle Tee (classic pack) Eye appliers: Avi-Glam - Elysian Eyes (charcoal) Collar: Stray Dog - Choker Brow appliers: Odeco - Catwa/Omega Mens Eyebrow Shaved Skin applier: Avenge - Matthew (peach) Makeup: Zibska - Efina Uomo Liner Head: Catwa - Shaheen *review copy