Skell Dagger

Of all the major brand male bodies, Legacy is the newest. Yes, it has been out for over a year now, but Gianni has been out for four and a half years, and Jake for over three years, so they have had much longer to build up rigging support among creators. In addition, Legacy first had to try and overcome its association with TMP (which - for some - it never will) but it's catching up rapidly, while a few stores are beginning to drop Gianni in favour of rigging for Jake and Legacy. You didn't state how the head was a problem, so I want to check that you started by wearing the included Catwa Starter Shape for Dude, and not any shape that you had been wearing/had customised for your Lelutka head. Each mesh head brand rigs differently, so a shape that works correctly for one brand will look vastly different (and usually absolutely bloody terrible) on another brand. Carrying across your body settings from one shape to another is easy. I suggest first disabling the preview images in Edit Shape, so that all you see are the numbers (which will save some scrolling). Write down the body slider numbers from your Lelutka shape for the Body, Legs, and Torso tabs. Then, put on the Dude head, with the Catwa Starter Shape for Dude, edit it, and change the slider settings in Body, Legs, and Torso to the ones you wrote down. Save As and give it a different name, and you will then have your preferred body shape on the starter settings for the head. You can then start tweaking the head sliders. The 'fuzz' that is on the Catwa head will not translate across to your Lelutka head, unless you both activated BoM on the Catwa head and then added a tattoo layer hairbase. The default hairbase on male Catwa Bento heads is an applier on the upper layer of the head itself until you clear it using the Master HUD, so when you take the head off the hairbase detaches with it. Did you, by any chance, pick up and use anything from the free BoM pack in the gift room at the Catwa store? If you added one of the tattoo layer hairbases from that pack then that will be why it's 'transferred' across to your Lelutka head. If you're happy with that one, then why do you want to change? I note that you have a neck seam in your image. Is that why? If so, then check that you're wearing the 'SL Neck' version of your Gianni body (it may also be called 'New Neck') and not the 'Default Neck' version. SL Neck/New Neck is for the new Universal Neck that is used by Lelutka Evolution heads, and Default Neck is used for older heads that don't have the new Universal Neck. Lastly, to explain the 'links' thing more thoroughly, I'll point you to this, which I posted in response to a similar question elsewhere on the forum: BoM complicates this a little. Note that I mention 'BoM status' in that quote. If BoM has been activated on the mesh body part then it's your underlying system layers that will carry over and show on any mesh body part that also has BoM activated on them, until you change the system layers. BoM is currently in a phase where some creators are switching over to 'BoM always on' rather than 'BoM must be activated'. So your Lelutka Evolution head is 'BoM always on' (there is no option to wear an applier skin on Evolution heads), whereas your Catwa Dude head is 'BoM must be activated'. Older Lelutka heads need to have BoM activated, and all major male bodies on the market also need to have BoM activated, etc. (The more that I help people through the minefield of avatar customisation, the more I don't envy them, and the more my list of Blog Tutorials I Need to Write makes me realise that I don't have enough hours in the day...) I see, too, that you've once again hit the max daily limit for posting. While I appreciate that being put in place (mostly because of a recent persistent spammer that we had) it has to be irritating for you when you need help! I'm not sure if forum PMs also count in that max daily limit, but feel free to send me a PM and we can continue the conversation there if needs be. Just hover your cursor over my forum icon, and click 'Message' when it shows up.

That's a great start, Horus. You'll end up with a 200,000+ inventory like mine in no time

Welcome to auto-hide, which can be a pain in the proverbial, especially when combined with lag Some clothing items feature scripts that will automatically hide sections of your body, to save you from having to manually do it on the body's HUD. However, sometimes they don't quite re-show the body when you take the clothing off, and if you add multiple clothing items each with auto-hide it can get confusing. While it's a useful tool to have, it can often be annoying. And - while Legacy is a gorgeous looking body - in my experience it's one of the slowest to respond to things like that. If you're using Legacy you can try out the alpha export option that it has. I haven't used it in a long time, but from memory: get your alpha cuts all set up, then click ‘export’ on the HUD. You’ll get a popup asking you to enter a name for the export, so do that (I named mine after the outfit I was wearing). Click OK and a second later a box will rez in front of you (named whatever you just called it). Take it into inventory, and add it to your outfit folder. Next time you wear that outfit the alpha cuts will be automatically set. Gianni works differently with alpha saving. It has several save slots on the bottom of its HUD that allows you to save and re-load different alpha cut combinations.

For the Picture of the Day? From what I've seen and experienced so far, I don't think you get notified when you're featured, so the only way to find out is to follow their social media or check it regularly. I've seen several people comment in surprise on the Second Life Facebook page about having their pictures selected, and on the occasions when I've had a blog feature on both there and the Second Life Twitter account I was not notified; I found out by checking it (or by other people telling me I'd been featured).

Which head and version are you demoing in that image? Is that what you're seeing inworld, with the BAKED_HEAD text, or is the head just red all over without text? The only other reason why you might be seeing BAKED_HEAD text on it - since you're using a current viewer - is because you're either: wearing a head that hasn't had the BAKE textures updated (LL changed the textures quite some time ago) OR using the old Omega BoM relay (there are two in the store; one of them has those older BAKE textures that no longer work)

@Horus Salubrius If your newly-uploaded profile pic on the forum represents the 'bright red head' that you're seeing inworld, then you have a different problem to contend with. If the bright red head is - as per your image - showing with BAKED_HEAD text on it then you're using an out-of-date viewer to access Second Life; one that does not have Bakes on Mesh support. Whichever viewer you're using, I suggest going to their download page and getting the latest version for your operating system, then installing that one.

Peeve of the day: Those who send notecards or IMs asking the same question to all five of us CSRs, but who then never follow up with a quick "My issue has been resolved by [CSR name]" follow-up IM or notecard once the first of us to respond has fixed their issue or answered their question. The number of times I've woken up, checked my emails, and seen two or three offline IMs or notecard offers that end up this way is getting ridiculous now. Every single time we've realised that we all got the same notecard, we have never received a follow-up. And quite frequently we've all drafted up a response (sometimes the issue can be complicated, and thus the response takes us a while to type up; I've spent 30 minutes on detailed notecard responses to some of these people), and sent it, only to be greeted with "Oh, X fixed it. Thanks anyway." No, thank you for wasting two cumulative hours of our time.

Slink Redux only works with system layer tattoos (inventory icon is a 'pink dragon tattoo'). Slink Classic requires Omega to be installed before Omega tattoos will work. There are two types of Omega: relay and installer. Relay needs to be worn every time you want to apply an Omega applier, installer needs to be worn once and clicked to install Omega capability into the body. Slink needs the Omega installer. You then also need to toggle the correct layer, as detailed by Eddy, above.

You can drag images into the bottom of the reply box here on the forum, where it says 'drag files here to attach'. No need for a Flickr. As long as the files are less than 4MB in total (per post) you can upload them directly from your computer. Since you're demoing heads and bodies (and may, therefore, possibly be naked right now) please ensure the images are PG in nature, so as not to get them deleted by the moderators. Mind you, having said that, you did mention being a Ken doll, so possibly that's less of a concern at the moment With regard to the heads and bodies: each one works slightly differently, so they all need separate and specific advice. You mention that you've kept your "old head" but you also mention that you have Lelutka eyes. Do you mean you're using a system head with Lelutka eyes, or that you're still wearing your original system shape with a Lelutka head and eyes? Clarification is key here. If you let us know which body and head combination you're currently trying, we can give specific advice to get that combination up and running so you can check it over more thoroughly.

Bright red means that either you have activated BoM (Bakes on Mesh) on them, or that they have BoM enabled by default. BoM is a means by which your underlying system layers will 'bake' or appear onto any mesh items such as body parts that you're wearing. To fix the redness, look in the Worn tab of your inventory and detach any alpha layers (inventory icon is a white t-shirt with a pale grey grid on it) that you're wearing. Be aware that - depending on which system skin you have on underneath your mesh - you might look a bit (or a lot!) weird. The best way to tell if you're wearing a very old system skin is to look at your mesh toes. If the textures on them look terrible - distorted toenails smeared halfway up your toes - then it's an old system skin. You're old enough to remember that the old system feet were like paddles, so the textures that worked on those are not going to work on mesh toes.

You've got a great sense of humour, so that's half the battle when it comes to this stuff. Add in a large pinch of patience and maybe a stiff drink or two and you'll be golden Keep coming back to this thread if you need any more help. I'll make a point to keep an eye on it.

This is the part of the HUD you need to focus on: The icon on the left represents the Iris (the coloured texture layer of the eye) and the icon on the right represents the Sclera (the transparent materials overlay of the eye), as per these images of the actual meshes: To move/resize the eye texture you need to check the box on the left, and to move/resize the materials overlay you need to check the box on the right. Video here to show you how. (It may look as if I'm moving the materials when I have the iris checked, but that's because I'm wearing BoM eyes that have an additional reflection on the texture. You can see the iris texture moving down.)

I wish the vast majority of male shape creators agreed with you, but sadly they don't. With the amount of shopping that I do, it still comes as a pleasant surprise when I encounter the (now very rare) male shape store that offers demos. Most of them simply don't anymore.

I've just noticed one new addition to the forum: when you use the "insert image from URL" option the forum will refuse to accept it if the link begins with http instead of https:

Any BoM skin will go onto the HDPRO head, once you've enabled BoM on it. System layers are system layers, after all. However, whether they will actually look good once they're on entirely depends on the head that skin was originally made for. The UV mapping for the HDPRO heads is different from the UV mapping on Catwa's older heads, and that older head mapping is different from the mapping done by Genus or Lelutka, etc. Steffi Villota of DeeTaleZ did a great comparison of this on her Flickr some time ago. Start here and click the arrow on the right to go through them. There are four images in total. Make sure you read the descriptions beneath the images, too. The best thing I can suggest is to simply try your old skins and see what they look like. If it's a very old system skin (created before mesh heads were a thing) then you may notice a strange 'tag glitch' in the texture below your earlobe. That's one of the best ways to check if a system skin is pre-mesh head (the other is to check around the fingers and toes). Here's an example from one of my Bakes on Mesh guides: That depends on the hairbase. I've noticed that with some of my tattoo hairbases that were created specifically for the older Catwa Bento heads (Stealthic's male BoM hairbase, for example) the texture 'kinks' a bit above the temples. I've had better luck with much older tattoo hairbases that were not created specifically for any particular head. Again, my advice would be to try what you already have and see what fits best.

For reference:

OK, on to Jennifer's question, although I do have to mention first of all that... ...is probably not the best way to choose a mesh head! Thank you for the kind words, but a mesh head should always be chosen because it feels right for you, not because of the CSR support That said, if you have decided on HDPRO then out of the two options currently available I would suggest demoing MajerSoft. MajerSoft doesn't have the pronounced cheekbones that MajerEdged has, but please do try the demo first. Last night - with your image as a guide - I had a quick attempt at recreating your face. The eyes and nose shouldn't be problematic. I tested the chin sliders - as your chin is quite pointed - and I could get it pretty close by maxing out the chin shape slider towards the 'pointed' end (no other edits were made to the face for that image, as I was only testing how far the 'pointed' chin slider could go), but your lips will need some additional Beyond Shape slider help. I only used the standard SL shape sliders, and didn't touch the Beyond Shape sliders on the head's HUD (I didn't have time for more than just a quick check using the SL sliders), but it will be the Beyond Shape sliders that may help you to recreate your mouth shape a little more accurately. I can't promise that you'll recreate your mouth exactly, as your lip shape is very distinctive - especially at the outer corners - so if looking exactly like that is very important to you then all I can say is take your time to really play around with Beyond Shape in combination with the SL sliders and see what you can come up with. When trying out the Beyond Shape sliders please ensure that you're not still in Edit Appearance mode (editing your SL shape sliders) at the same time, as that can cause the Beyond Shape sliders to either glitch out or not appear to move at all. Edit the Beyond Shape sliders, then reset skeleton (right-click your avatar > appearance > reset > skeleton), and then move into Edit Appearance (SL sliders) for more tweaks. Save that SL shape with a new name, come out of Edit Appearance, and then back into Beyond Shape sliders. Always remember to reset skeleton when using Beyond Shape; that's a critical point. At any time, you can save your Beyond Shape settings using the save slots on the HUD, then you can reset them using the CLEAR button if you need to try a different combination. Clicking the saved sliders will allow you to load your saved settings (again, reset skeleton afterwards!) A final point (because this one even caught me out!) is that if you've tried the Beyond Shape sliders on HDPRO - whether a full purchase of the head or just in the demo - and you then go back to any other head, be that Catwa or another brand, make sure you reset skeleton once you have the other head on, otherwise you're probably going to look a bit odd. (I was pouting for Britain when I put on my Skell head after using HDPRO Beyond Shape sliders, and while I do love a bit of 'blue steel' I don't love it to that extent!)

Yes. Freya was released as v4.5 so you'll find the BoM button on the top right of the Skins tab on the master HUD If you mean the unrigged eyes from the Catwa Eyes and Tears HUD, those already work for BoM. You can use either the BoM button on the v4.5 Master HUD, or the BoM relay from the gift room at the store.

Before I answer Jennifer's question, I'm going to come back to some previous things that were buried amid longer posts. What were you having trouble with when it came to the eyes? If you give me an idea of what you found difficult then I can create a video for you explaining how to use them, or how to fix any issues you were having. There are no currently known bugs or problems with the eyes (or the HUD scripting for the eyes) so - outside of lag - there is likely to be a fix or solution for whatever 'nightmare' you were experiencing There is an entire wing of the store dedicated to demo female skin appliers (about 150 of them!) When you land, with the mainstore at your back and the big open area with the coffee shop in front of you, take an immediate right and you'll be walking toward the female skin demo wing. (For the male skin demo wing it's a left turn instead.) There's also a teleporter at the landing point: Look for 'Head Skin Stores' on it. And take note of the coloured line around each section: blue for male, and pink for female. Hope that helps! It's not possible to apply Omega skins to Catwa without the relay. Initially I would have suggested that you might be wearing the Omega relay for Catwa and have it pushed offscreen (which is what I do with it) but then I read that you're using DeeTaleZ skins. DeeTaleZ does not sell head appliers in Omega format. They only have Omega body appliers. Have you textured them yet? On initial rez, the entire mouth area - teeth, inner mouth, and tongue - are monochrome, to allow you to customise them as you like. At the top of the mouth tab you'll see three icons for them, with three boxes between them: (Note that the MED/SML boxes are to customise the size of the tongue, which is needed if you're using the vampire fangs option. The actual tongue texturing box is on the right of the three boxes.) Click each box to customise each area (you can mix and match them; each teeth texture on the coloured 'mouth texturing' icons is different). I've just done a quick video trying to cram in as many of the mouth texturing options (as well as the tongue sizing options) as I could into the minute that Gyazo Pro gives me. Hopefully that'll help. In addition, you can use third party teeth appliers on HDPRO. I've always used this 'Perfect Teeth' set for Catwa, by Glitter Litter. It applies nicely on HDPRO (video here). Finally, if you're using the built-in facelight (or any facelight) and that's causing the teeth to reflect too much light, then a neat trick is to move the Environment slider for the teeth (ensure that the 'teeth' box is checked at the top first). That will reduce the shine. Do that, and then play with the Glossiness and Shine sliders a little, to get the perfect setting. Video example here.

Again, assuming that your head is v4.5 (and of course is a Bento head) then a second click of the BoM button on the Skins tab of the Master HUD will also set the eyes to BoM. Don't forget to remove any eye alpha that you're using, so it doesn't turn your eyes red!

Catwa CSR here If you're using the included rigged eyes with your Catwa head (and assuming it's a Bento head and that it's updated to v4.5) then you can use the included eye HUD to move the textures down. It works for both applier textures and BoM textures. Here's a video explaining how.

You have the Strength slider up as far as it will go on the eye mask materials section, so try reducing that slider. I suggest reducing that slider and playing around with a combination of that and the Glossiness slider. Also, go into the Skin tab and take a look at the Environment slider. That slider should always be used with caution, as it can add a metallic shine to your skin. Pull it all the way to the left if you have anything set on that one.

I might miss something!