Orion Pastorelli
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Posts posted by Orion Pastorelli
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2 hours ago, Nalates Urriah said:
The SL system offers no simple way to combine shapes. Moira's technique to copy values is likely how most people combine shapes. If you are a bit braver and have multiple bodies or shapes you want to use the head with... then I think there is an easier way.
It is possible to combine shapes but it takes some effort outside SL. I use Firestorm to manage my shape mixing. Firestorm will let you export and import shapes. The exported shape has to be full perm, as most head shapes are. Purchased body shapes are usually no-mod. Shapes that come with a body or skin are often full perm. Wear the head shape you want. Body does not matter at this point. Export the shape. Use Developer (press Ctrl-Alt-Q to add/remove to the top menu)->Avatar->Character Tests->Appearance to XML. It exports as an XML file. It can be edited in a simple text editor. I suggest Notepad++ a free open-source editor. It has some XML editing features. You likely won’t need them. But they are nice if you want to do more than delete rows, like tweak the shape values.
XML files are human readable text files with a consistent format a machine can read.
To edit a shape file for the purpose of combining shapes one simply deletes an entire row/line of text to eliminate a setting. The name of the setting in a row is like the name in the viewer’s shape editing panel. For a head shape we remove all the settings-rows that are not head-shape settings. There are non-settings-rows that make up the file's structure. Those have to stay.
Once you have the edited head shape file saved, open Firestorm. Wear the body shape you want. Right-click your avatar and select Edit Shape. Notice the IMPORT button at the bottom. Click it to import the settings for the head from your edited file. Save and rename the shape.
Done.
Do you have to have Full Permissions to export to XML or can you do it with a No Transfer shape?
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8 hours ago, Malizzel said:
So I've been searching far and wide for a body oil for Slink HG very similar to the oil for Legacy mesh bodies.... could anyone point me in the right direction? I have Alessandra Body oil BUT it just looks like white splotches.
Do you mean static texture body oil that is uses the system body / BoM tattoo layer? Or do you mean dynamic Materials that use specular & normal maps?
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I know I am a bit late to this party, but just in case you haven't purchased a head yet... Skell Dagger just posted some very relevant info in another thread concerning a new Universal Neck standard.
You should check it out:
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On 12/22/2020 at 1:24 AM, Skell Dagger said:
You may also find that - once you've fixed the Shadows setting - you still don't have a perfect fit. That's because the Lelutka Evolution heads (of which Alain is one) feature a new neck fit that's been dubbed the 'Universal Neck'. Several major head and body creators agreed to move to a new standard neck fitting so that - going forward - neck seams like the one you're seeing with Alain/Jake would no longer happen. Legacy is one of the male bodies that has the new neck, and Signature has also updated (their folders include two bodies with different neck options: one for the new Universal Neck, and one for the SL neck that fits older heads). But Belleza - being as slow to update as it is - is not a perfect fit for the Universal Neck. (In fact, it still has fitting issues with some other head brands, although it's a good fit with the older Lelutka Origins heads.) And in all honesty I wouldn't hold your breath for an update to Jake any time soon.
Wow, I had no idea the "Universal Neck" was a thing. I guess I should really start reading the note cards that come with the heads. Thank you so much for talking about this!
Question though, is the "Universal Neck" just a new standard for male bodies and heads? Or is there a corresponding "Universal Neck" for female bodies and heads as well?
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On 12/26/2020 at 1:01 PM, Tarina Sewell said:
Why would you want one?
I cannot speak for the female bodies, but for male bodies, they are currently the best looking on SL, from multiple points of view.
They don't have any of the weird geometry issues that the Signature Gianni has, like the terminally flat ass OR the man-boobs when you make the chest to big OR the blocky quads when you make the legs to muscular. Nor do they have the neck issues that continue to plague the Belleza Jake (my current personal all-round favorite male body).
Both the regular Legacy male body and Legacy Athletic male body look great nude, even better than the Belleza Jake, but without the neck issues.
The only draw-backs are (1) "The Shops" *****ty reputation, (2) their relative lack of Third-Party Support compared to the other big two male bodies and (3) that they are over priced (normally 5K). Thus, this sale is the perfect time to pick them up. I purchased both for my main account and will probably pick up the Athletic for my super-secret sex alt.
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You should look into the Belleza Jake male mesh body. In my opinion, It has better geometry than the Signature Gianni (looks way better nekkid) and has almost as much 3rd party support.
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I once payed 300 L for a shape because I wanted the style card that came with it. I really liked the skin in the ad, but no one in the groups seemed recognizes it. The seller would not reply to my IMs. I was mildly annoyed, but I loved that skin and ended up using it for like 3 years.
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Either is fine, the only real difference is the shading around the nostrils.
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" Creating" a BoM skin is no different from creating an applier skin, you just have to make sure the end results looks good on the target mesh body or head you are designing for.
I guess the only real recommendation is offer your body skins on system skins and your head skins on tattoo layers to make it easier to mix and match and thus reducing the sheer number if individual items you would need in your inventory to accommodate all the possible combos.
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So the skin in the picture you provided is uniformly smooth, symmetrical and flawless. It almost does not match the body skin, which is detailed and sinewy.
I would say check out Tableau Vivant. They have smooth faces which can be paired with their athletic body applier.
I would use the "brow-less" version of their head appliers. You will need to look for Third-Party white eyebrows.
I think the "Eliah" head skin for Catwa heads is a good candidate. It's shown here on the Stanley head, but it also works well on the Daniel head:
Also check out Aii for the makeup:
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On 3/3/2020 at 3:57 PM, Rumancekk said:
I'm not sure, they get stuck sorta. I have this gesture I accidentally trigger all the time that is a thumbs up and once I do it the hand gets stuck that way and I gotta open the HUD and reset the hand shape.
They also apparently get stuck in fists if you play a hand animation? or at least with the one I used
and when I undeform my avatar after I've turned back from like, idk a dinosaur, and I'm all broken, my hands splay out like jazz hands. Thought this was just a common thing until nothing of the sort happened with Maitreya
So I had a similar issue with the hands of the Belleza Jake body and found only two solutions.
First, get a "fully" BENTO AO. By fully I mean make sure at least all the standing animations also animate the fingers of the hands. This will update the hands every time the animation changes and should prevent them from getting stuck.
Second, is get a BENTO hand animator to use along side your regular non-BENTO AO. I use the following one with great results:
If you implement either of these work-arounds, then you will no longer need to rely on the Belleza Jake Body HUD to reset the hands.
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NOT FOUND male body appliers come with like 8 options which include chubby and hairy chubby:
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20 hours ago, Matty Luminos said:
I use mesh ears because the built in ones look kind of ugly when stretced to a point.
However, I find two disadvantages to them; first, its impossible to get a perfect match - what may be perfect today wil not be perfect tomorrow, or even in ten minutes time, under different lighting conditions. Perfect matching won't happen until someone makes BoM or applier ears.
Second, they can add a lot to avatar complexity. My pair of Mandala ears is more than 5 times the complexity of my whole head. So I have another pair of much simpler ones for wearing in busy places.
I have had similar experiences with mesh ears and have gone through several brands; including Mandala and Swallow. I recommend the L'Etre ears because they address the two points you bring up.
First, because of the way they are textured, darker and shadowed at the base, they are by far the easiest ears to color match in my experience.
Second, while I don't remember the exact numbers off the top of my head, their complexity score was within reason.
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Another solution is to use 3rd Party Mesh ears. Most mesh heads give you the option to "Turn Off" the default ear so you can use others in their place. These 3rd party ears are usually better looking and their position can be adjusted to accommodate almost any rigged hair.
L'Etre has a great selection that are textured in such a way that makes them easy to color match.
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17 hours ago, Matty Luminos said:
That new Lelutka head looks yummy. Any idea on a release date?
Unfortunately, no. 😒 I tried asking in Discord, but never got a reply.
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5 hours ago, Marianne Little said:
We are in a period of change, where not enough skin creators offer BoM. Not Found is mentioned, but they have only 1 BoM skin for males (yet).
Skell could explain this better, but I will try: The part you need, is a BoM skin.. Because the BoM skin is the canvas, that you can layer both BoM and appliers over. If you use a skin applier, you create not a canvas, but a barrier that blocks BoM. You are then forced to use only appliers, and have that sorting of slots again.
Instead, if you had your BoM skin canvas, you could apply a hairbase, and then add a tattoolayer with ease. Giving you the possibility to utilize both appliers and layers, the best versatility mesh heads can offer. (As of February 2020).
I do not think the average SL user understand this yet, they think BoM is so difficult. But it is instead a big improvement, and makes heads easier to use, as soon as the BoM skin is in place.
While I don't disagree with any of the points you explicitly made in your post, I do have a question about a possible implied point.
Are you saying that we should ONLY recommend stores that offer BOM versions of their skins?
If so, then I would have to politely disagree.
As you stated in your post, we are in "period of change." At this point in time, I would argue BOM is just an alternate way of applying textures to Mesh Bodies; just another tool in our bag of tricks.
Perhaps in a year or so, when BOM has become more ubiquitous, I will probably agree.
NOT FOUND is a great store that has been killing it lately with its wide variety of male skins. It deserves to be recommended, regardless of its BOM status.
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I don't know if this has been mentioned already, but firestorm has an option that temporarily derenders anyone who is not your Friends List. I use this when ever I go to a crowded shopping event. Its called, "Show friends only". Its under the "World" menu at the very bottom.
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my two cents...
First, LeLutka is coming out with a third head that might be worth waiting for. The recently teased the following picture on their Discord Server :
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/670329693345546272/671461520927883292/skyler.png
Second, also check out a skin store called, "NOT FOUND," they have been doing great work lately. Mostly Catwa Appliers.
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On 2/12/2020 at 11:59 AM, Luxanna067 said:
Hi guys, im working on my male avi but i havent decide what mesh body i will go to. I was looking for more skinny looking body and they said slink physique is like that but Im affraid that There are few clothing store who make clothes for slink physique but now im looking for male mesh body that majority of clothing store make size for it like maitreya, almost all store have maitreya size. Please do help me hahaha thanks
From what you are telling me in this post, I think the Belleza Jake is your best fit. I have personally done attractive, slim shapes with it and it has a lot of 3rd party support.
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GRAVES is one of my favorite stores from back in the day. Its more of a fetish and cyberpunk store, but I am willing to bet their textures still look great on mesh bodies with BoM.
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2 minutes ago, Dean Haystack said:
Once you are finally satisfied with the look of your head, you can start working on the body shape, in comparison with the head this should be extremely easy.
Never the less, you should also use demos of bodies to create your shape.
Some of the most popular and well supported right now are Signature Gianni, Belleza Jake and TMP Legacy.I agree with you about the Signature Gianni and the Belleza Jake bodies, but would argue that the TMP Legacy male body is still to new to have competitive third-party support. Add the fact that it's price is 2K more than the other two, it's probably not the best choice at the moment. That said, it does seem to be gaining traction and is a very well modeled male mesh body.
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14 minutes ago, Orwar said:
For which I'd suggest using a BOM-compatible body and head with a system skin. I don't know about Jake, but Signature's bodies have had BOM for a while now.
Yes, the Belleza Jake body has a BoM HUD.
https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Belleza-BoM-HUD-V10/18091815
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So the "foundation" of an "up-to-date" avatar in 2020 is a Mesh Head, a Mesh Body and MATCHING head and body skins.
As @Marianne Little explained in her post, BoM is the lastest update to SL and hopefully the future of applying textures to mesh bodies. However, at the moment most stores are still using "appliers" which are HUDs. It usually takes two appliers to apply a complete skin; one for the head and one for the body.
Best practice, in my opinion, is to purchase both the head and the body appliers from the same store so that they MATCH AT THE NECK. Some stores only make head appliers, but make them so that they are compatible with body appliers from another store. When you get a DEMO, always make sure to read every note card it comes with.
As @Scylla Rhiadra suggested, @Skell Dagger 's blog is a fantastic resource: http://www.virtualbloke.com/
If you are comfortable with voice chat, feel free to contact me in world. Sometimes the best way to learn is to have someone talk you through it.
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ok wow, that's weird, I have never heard about this before.
My only advice would be to seek out in-world support groups. If you are using the Firestorm viewer, join and ask in the the Firestorm viewers support group.
Also look and see if there is a Genus head support group. I know that Catwa has one called, "Catwa Head Friends." I assume there might be one for Genus as well.
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Posted · Edited by Orion Pastorelli
This frustrates me. I have never cared for the geometry of the Signature Gianni; I think its just plain bad. Thus, I have always low-key resented its success.
But... its hard to counter the "no update" argument against the Belleza Jake. In addition, It looks like @Skell Dagger is no longer recommending it as well.
If they don't update soon, to the new "universal neck," I will have to stop recommending it to people as well. Which is a shame, because I have always found the Belleza Jake to have the best "over all" look; plus it scaled really well between slender and muscular shapes.