Maitimo

Great now I have this stuck in my head... Kinda apt, now that I think about it.

A little bit of vintage glamour.

I look miserable in that pic. Must have been because I was hungry.

Oh. My. God. I collect; I buy SO MUCH HAIR. Because I do a lot of fantasy costumes and suchlike, I almost exclusively buy only fatpacks (I need ALL THE COLOURS!) but the only hair-maker I regularly pay full price for is Magika because they are so cheap, and the hair is wonderful. I think I have about half of their newer ones already, and a few older ones too, and I probably won't stop until I have them all. I also love Truth and I pick up all their group gifts, but I have purchased maybe two or three other fatpacks from there, a couple from Exile, and one from Stealthic because I needed a very curly style. I used to like No Match a lot too and I still have loads from there, but since moving over to Magika and Truth, I've fallen out of love with the textures and now I rarely wear them. I have a ton of "one off" styles from other creators too, mostly those have been gifts or discounts from events like Hair Fair etc. Very few of those have inspired me to check out their mainstore and buy more. I would never toss any hair unless it looks absolutely so bad that I cannot imagine myself wearing it under any circumstances, and I have tossed those out already. But that said, I do have a handful of favourites that I wear very regularly; Surrender by Truth, Autumn and Sage by Magika, Somber by Stealthic, Selene by Exile. When I'm looking for new hair, there are a few things I look for; vibrant textures with a realistic, natural look (which is why I don't buy from places like Lamb; they always look "washed-out" to me), and wherever possible, a built-in mesh hairbase giving a wispy look around the hairline. And if it's long, it absolutely MUST work well with a flat chest. Too many of them, even on the smallest size, stick out in front over boobs I don't have. Sorry though, this is probably not helping you one little bit...

This. Well to be fair, no-one in their right mind expects that there are actual demons, lycans or anthro animals wandering around in RL. But still... no-one has ever been concerned that my avatar is very tall and slim, yet I am short and slightly overweight in RL. No-one has ever complained when I wear a skin that's different from my RL ethnicity. No-one is ever bothered that my hair in RL is neither blonde nor red. It's only ever gender that people care about.

Biker chick.

This is the RuthToo head. There's something about it that I don't like, I can't seem to get the eyes and mouth looking right, no matter what I do with the sliders. But, at least the ears are in the right place...

If those two were both mine, I'd probably go with the first one. The sloped land is more interesting and it gives you a bit more privacy, whereas the other is very flat.

As an experiment, I've temporarily removed references to my RL gender from my profile. I'm curious to see what changes.

You're right, but I get @Kweopi's point though. In my experience, most women are more interested than men in two things. Does the avatar demonstrate that care and interest has gone into decisions about how it looks? The positive reactions from women here, earned by men such as @Orwar and @Conall DeCuir who post regularly on "How does your avatar look today" are evidence of that. Women are on the whole not so interested in avatars that look like they are fresh out of Newbie Island and collected their wardrobe at Freebie Galaxy. Men are less likely to care, as long as she looks female. What's the person's personality like? The catch with this one is that you don't learn a person's personality immediately, you have to get to know them first. And which guy are they going to try harder to learn their personality (all other information being initially absent)? A guy who looks like Noobie McNoobface? Or a guy who looks like Conall? The thing with SL, is that a person's avatar really does demonstrate a lot about a person, just by the way they choose to make it look. I don't mean how much money has been spent on it or whether it's fully mesh or whatever. In SL we choose exactly how we look, down to the tiniest detail, and that says a lot about the personality of the person driving the avatar. Cookie-cutter or something different? Business-professional or rebel? Sexual or modest? Whatever your SL style is, there's a RL reason somewhere in your personality for that choice and regardless of how much (or how little) money you can spend), your personality shines through in every aspect of your avatar's appearance.

Generally speaking the only people who get upset by it are those who are in RL, male, straight, and looking for a SL/RL relationship. I have gradually shifted my avatar since last year to being almost entirely female (more of a very femme femboy) and I don't hide the fact that I am male in RL (it's in my profile at least twice). The only people who have thought I'm a freak are guys who didn't read my profile and were trying to get into my panties. Voice isn't nearly as common as you might think and a lot of people, particularly those of us who have been on SL a long time, don't use it. So it won't be seen as unusual if you don't either. Do what makes you happy, and if being female makes you happy, go for it. Anyone else who doesn't like it probably wasn't worth knowing anyway. One decision you will have to make is whether to be up-front and disclose your RL gender or not. In your case it's not really a major decision because you're not seeking a romantic or sexual relationship, but the reactions are different when people know you're a guy in RL. Not worse, just different. In particular, other women are sometimes less likely to open up to you about personal things when they know you're a guy, although in my experience that effect is lessened if you're a gay guy. I guess it's a trust thing. Gay guys are "safe" because they won't be sexually interested.

Thank you. I turned it into a story on my blog (link in signature below). The dress is from TBO.

That's why I use Paintshop Pro. 😁

Well, sorry but they aren't Friesians any more; I took off the leg feathering, changed their colour and now they're Andalusians. The grey stallion is Telperion, and the palomino mare is Laurelin. They are named after the Two Trees of silver and gold in the Silmarillion.

Yes. You need to pay for Premium, and instead of claiming the Linden Home you will need to purchase (pay extra for) a 1024m parcel of mainland. If you purchase more than 1024m, you will also have to pay an additional monthly fee, depending on how much more. I think up to 2048m is $5 (US dollars) per month. Up to 1024m there is no additional monthly fee.

I love the movement in this. Can't do that with a mesh skirt.

So @Meredith8888's request for a cheap mesh head for her challenge to put together an avatar for less than 75L$ made me want to try this myself. So I set myself a few rules. Must include mesh body, head and hair. Must include at least one set of makeup. Must include at least one casual outfit, one formal outfit, plus lingerie and swimwear. Group gifts allowed if the group is free to join. Hunt gifts and other temporary gifts not allowed - Item must be at its permanent price. And here's what I ended up with: Here's the deets: Skin - LAQ Natasha (BoM) - Group gift in mainstore - Free Sahara Head 2 (BoM) - L$29 Body - RuthToo - plus the extras pack for the high feet (BoM) - Free Shape - Included with the Sahara head, with my own modifications. There was a big gap between the head and neck, which I fixed by using a neck extender intended for furry avatars. In this case it's not extending the neck, just filling the gaps. This is from Apricot Paws (BoM) - Free Eyes - Library starter avatar, Monty - Free Lashes - Oceane - Free Hair - Truth Kyoko and Truth Astra, Gift in mainstore, both Free Hair (Formal outfit) - Exile Instant Crush - L$1 Eyeshadow - Xena Style (BoM) - L$1 Lipstick - Ottilie (BoM) - L$1 Lingerie - Sharodie's (BoM) - Free Bikini - Seren's (BoM) - Free Casual outfit, Jeans - Jellyroll (Best fit - Belleza Venus) - L$1 Casual outfit, T-shirt - Jellyroll (Best fit - Standard) - L$1 Casual outfit, Sneakers - Furtacor (Maitreya fit) - L$5 (I am totally in love with these) Formal outfit, Dress - Free Dove store (Best fit - Fitmesh M) - Free but I have had this a while and it may not be still available Formal outfit, Shoes - Shey (Maitreya fit)- L$5 Formal outfit, Jewelry - Lazuri - L$1 Total spend - L$45 - so I still have another L$30 to spare for a few more outfits. I'd probably want to add a sexy clubwear outfit, a fantasy outfit and a winter casual outfit, but by this stage I was all worn out. So what can YOU do with L$75?

Are there any full Avatars that include both body, skin, head etc? They all include built-in skins. Heads and bodies are almost always sold separately, though Signature does include a (very basic and really awful) head along with their body. You'll get much better results if you shop for the body and head separately. Ex Machina does have head and body together, and they look really nice, but you'll struggle to find clothes that fit well. What body has the most support in terms of clothing and accessories? Signature Gianni is #1, with Belleza Jake close behind in #2. The others are much less well supported. Signature Geralt (the slimmer version of Gianni) may be on the rise, Slink is declining. ExMachina never even got out of the starting gates. Can I wear any skin over any body? Mostly. If the skin is Omega compatible, or if it includes system (bakes on mesh) layers, then yes, you can wear it with any of the main commercial bodies (some of the free bodies cannot use third party skins at all, but I don't even know if there are any free ones for men). This is where choice of head is the most important thing; many skin makers will support only one head or maybe two (Catwa and Lelutka being the two most commonly supported for men). So what you really ought to do is find a skin that you like first, then look at the heads and bodies which that skin will work with. I like beards, is there a particular body/skin/head brand that are made for beards? Again this is the same as skins; omega and bakes-on-mesh beards will work with any head, some others are specific to a particular head brand. But most male heads and skins come with at least a few beard options included. I would like a body that is toned but average build. Belleza Jake, without hesitation. Signature Gianni is more of a muscle-jock (though not to the extreme of Niramyth Aesthetic). Jake is leaner especially in the upper body. Signature Geralt is similar, even leaner than Jake, but here you run into the same problem; lack of available clothing. Slink is the slimmest of the main brands but not many creators are making new clothing for Slink any more, though older clothing is still available. Skin has a big impact here; you'll want to look for one without strong muscle definition. Egozy is one of my favourite skin brands in this regard; it suits a slimmer build, but as far as I know they support only Catwa heads, so that will limit your choices. Above all, demo, demo, demo. Get demos of skin, body and head, and try them all together. A skin that works well on one body and head may look less good on another combination.

I'm only a part-time furry, but the IYC often plays rock, not always but certainly more often than any other furry club I've been to. Though I couldn't say whether the age demographic is any different, I suspect not (I am closer to your age than theirs, I think). My go-to general rock clubs are Ohana and The River, as far as I know, furries are welcome in both of those. But for friendly chat I like the Shelter best (I have seen you there so you know about that one already) and also the events that happen in Bellisseria. You don't have to be a Bellisseria resident to go to those, just join the Bellisseria Events group to find them.

That's good to know, though I suspect that for people who want that kind of look, "breaking the mesh" is the least of their concerns. The head that Berryroll linked to will give me nightmares for weeks. I hope this boyfriend is paying for all these extra bits.

You will never in a million years get that body shape with Maitreya, it's just too slim to achieve such...voluptuousness. Even Belleza Freya will struggle without add-on boobs and butt. You can probably achieve the face look with one of the older Catwa heads such as Catya, they were famous in the early days of mesh heads for "duck lips". Just edit your shape and turn Lips Fullness and Lips Thickness up to 100. Same for Breast Size, Butt Size and Saddlebags. I really think it will be much cheaper for you to find a new boyfriend. I'm just boggled that anyone can find that sort of look attractive.

You are correct. If she is seeing this, she does NOT have the latest viewer. There is nothing to click or toggle to "turn it on". You either have the latest version installed, or you don't. As far as I know, there's no additional external hardware requirement. The version installed is also displayed in the viewer's top bar, no need to go into Help/About

There is a tickybox in the Snapshot window, "Autoscale rendering". It's off by default, but tick that and it will keep your depth of field and ambient occlusion in your saved snapshot. I discovered this feature while taking this pic.

Only if you have a free account. If you have purchased Pro, then it's fine, you can post or link to anything commercial.

Thanks. Will make do with the sculpty ones for Saturday but still interested for the future.