Scylla Rhiadra

I should have noted that the Session skin I used in the second pic is mapped for LeLutka Evo. The Genus one didn't look a lot different, though: same essential problems.

Experiment 2. Here I used a Session skin, and tried to find a dress rigged for a current body that would work. In terms of the dress, the rigging that worked best, oddly, was Legacy Perky (I also tried Maitreya, Reborn, Kupra, and Freya). But, again, the breasts were a particular problem, and I had to add alpha across the chest. Notice how even a relatively slim shape with a dress rigged for a relatively slim and small-breasted body rather . . . swells. The others were worse. But that's not surprising. Here's a closeup of the face with the Session skin: In this instance, I replaced the Jamie eyebrows with the brows on the skin layer itself. Again the mapping is not great around the nose and mouth. The eyebrows are weird: when the avi blinks (which she does constantly), it pulls and stretches the eyebrows downward. I'm assuming that's why the default eyebrows are set so high on the forehead, giving Jamie a perennially "surprised" look. Also, the blinking . . . I wasn't wearing the provided AO, but she blinked constantly. I have no idea how to turn that off, and at the same time, even using the LeLutka Axis head poser (which normally fixes everything in place), her eyes wandered and she blinked. There are, I guess, animations built into the head itself? (I forgot to look.) Conclusion: These avatars are really going to require dedicated resources created for them, i.e., skins and clothing that are specifically designed for them. Standard skins and clothing work, sort of, but only if you don't look too closely.

As some people have been asking about the skin mapping and rigging (esp. with regards to old "standard sized" clothing), I thought I'd try a quick couple of experiments. The results were, I thought . . . disheartening. I have modified both shape and brow shaper on these -- in general, although I didn't spend hours on it, I tried to get her looking as best I could. Doubtless there are others who could do better. First, I used a Pepe skin (head and body), Magika hair, and an old Powder Moon outfit I have in standard sizing (in this case, XXS) with the associated alpha layer. it was a difficult fit: I had to actually adjust the shape to make it work. Note the space above the shoulders. The breasts (which I have set pretty far down -- in the mid 30s) are also a problem, as was the upper back. Workable, but only with some difficulty. The one thing that DID fit perfectly were shoes rigged for Maitreya. Here's a closeup of the face, with the Pepe head tattoo skin layer. The mapping is close, but off a bit around the lips and the nose (i.e., the two places where it is likely to be most noticeable and matter the most). I used the Jamie eyebrows and a browless skin.

Yes, I have a Gyazo on the first page, I think, of a Sessions skin on Jaime. It seems to map fine.

Yeah. Not a chance.

They appeared briefly in inventories. And then, like the Man of Your Dreams, glimpsed magically, briefly, and distantly across a crowded room . . . they vanished. All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.

I'm pretty sure this is a feature, not a bug. Again, it's about finding that "sweet spot," providing something that will keep noobs happy long enough that they've decided they want to invest real money in their avatars. Has LL achieved that? I'm honestly not sure.

I totally agree. I'm not at all sure that, in terms of the economics of it, avatar customization is not even more important than sex in SL! (*ducks below the parapet*) Whether it's because you're used to the system used in common FPS games, or because you want to "play Barbies" (as the common expression is), avatar customization is vital. It's even really important to photographers like myself. Of course. I'm not at all in disagreement. What I'm suggesting, to be clear, is not that LL "take over" content creation. That would be a disaster. Rather, I'm arguing for a set of standards, established in consultation between LL and the larger community of content creators. Much as, I think, BOM was established. And again, that really needn't infringe on individual creativity. The W3C has established standards for HTML, CSS, and such, but I don't think it has stifled the creativity of web sites. Manufacturers of tools established set gauges for Allen keys, and it facilitated creativity. And clearly new standards should supplement rather than forcibly replace older practices, so that content isn't broken. I don't see why that shouldn't work -- at worst, it could hardly put us in a more difficult place than the current situation which has made it extremely difficult to find head skins, tattoos, and makeup that are not made for LeLu EvoX.

Oh, I do. LL's hands-off approach to innovation within the platform has produced a lot of really cool stuff, but overall it has produced an absolute mess. It is not impossible to enable a competitive and creative environment for individual innovation while still enforcing some basic standards. As you note, the new standard for neck sizes is one example (although not, I think, originating from LL? And certainly not universally enforced). But an even better example is BOM. LL created the standards by which this would be applied by individuals because, well, they had to for it to work at all. I see no reason why a series of standards fir things like mapping and HUDs could not be applied, although they might be difficult to enforce. Right now, it's a bit like the early days of railroads, where every individual railroad company was using its own gauge of track, and so travel across and between different rail networks was impossible. This is not an insoluble problem.

Whew. Crisis averted!! /me deletes the long and incredibly caustic OP for the thread she was about to create that castigated LL for stupidity, avarice, sloth, lust, etc. 😏

I agree in general with everything you say, and feel your pain, although of course the main issue is that avatar customization (and most innovations in that regard, the singular exception that I can think of being BOM) has been driven not by the platform (and LL) itself, but by individual creators, all creating their own standards and approaches. From what I understand, LL didn't even intend, initially, that mesh should be applied to avatar bodies and (eventually) heads, and were caught a little by surprise when that started to happen. There are two slightly conflicting goals here: the first is, as you say, to make customization as easy as possible for noobs within their first hour in SL. For that something like the centralized, well-organized, and intuitive "character creation screen" that you see at the beginning of so many games is obviously the route to go. I don't know how difficult that would be to add to the viewer code, but I'd imagine it wouldn't be easy. BUT you could produce a sort of cheat version using well-designed HUDs, I think. Think of the inventory and wardrobe organization system that's quite popular -- I've forgotten what it's called. Something like that, except simpler to use. The system would never become universal, because a well-designed HUD that allows you to change your appearance comprehensively likely wouldn't be adopted by creators who are making only one element in that appearance. LeLutka is not going to design a system that allows you to easily and intuitively change your hair, for instance. And the idea of creators here standardizing is frankly pretty laughable: they're too busy trying to one-up each other with sparkly new innovations. But the second goal, teaching noobs how to use the systems and mechanisms that are in practice already "standard" in SL requires an instructional approach that doesn't provide a single, simple, and intuitive system because, as you note, that's not how customization actually works in SL. A simple customization system at the beginning does nothing to prepare them for the grim realities of actually using commercially-available parts and elements. Maybe something like a two-level approach might work? Provide them with the option of using a simple system straight off, or of learning how customization works "in the wild" through a more complicated, but hopefully well-explained, approach?

Wow, really. When you say "other places in Belli," do you mean public spaces -- or the houses of friends, etc.? That's a bit disturbing if so, and stupid: surely they want to showcase Belli for non-Premium users? ETA: It's lovely to see you posting again, Kali. 🙂

I think, personally, that there are three clear aims for the Senra bodies. 1) Give noobs something that doesn't look too obviously "noobish" or awful out of the box, so that they can start exploring and finding things to do with some confidence that they aren't going to stand out like a sore thumb. Part of that is ensuring that they don't all need to look exactly the same (i.e., not part of a small army of lady with dog in bag) as other noobs. 2) Provide noobs with a body and clothing that are, functionally and mechanically speaking, close enough to current avatar customization practices that it is providing an early tutorial on how to use mesh bodies and heads, BOM, HUDs, etc. 3) Give them something serviceable enough that they can improve their looks through purchases (freebie or otherwise) in a gradual fashion, building on what the Senra bodies already provide. Instead of having to drop obscene amounts all at once just to get started on going mesh, they should be able to build a better looking avatar gradually, piece-by-piece: a few new clothes, then new hair, then skins, then maybe a new mesh head . . . etc. From what I've seen having tried it out, the Senra body moves in the right direction on all of these, but with only partial success. 1) Looking good and enabling customization out of the box: I'd give the Senra avis a grade of "B" on this. They look . . . ok. In fact, I've seen people with expensive LeLu EvoX heads that managed to make them look worse than the default shape for the Jaime. The fact that they have some styling choices immediately should ensure, in theory, that they needn't look like every other noob popping into a club (assuming they can find a club that will allow them in). 2) Provide a kind of a tutorial on mesh in SL: at most, I'd award them a "C" on this. As others have noted, there are some pretty non-standard elements to these avatars, and the single "HUD" provided is woefully inadequate as a sample and teaching guide. I had to struggle a bit working out how to use the hair and hair bases -- and I ain't a noob. This could be relatively easily improved, and they really need to add simple, well-written, and easily accessed instructional material on customizing and using these. I'd actually favour something built into the view, but at least an illustrated manual that could be attached unobtrusively to, say, the right side of the screen. 3) Provide a base upon which to gradually build future customization using commercial products. I think that this is a solid "A." The Jaime body, the feet issue notwithstanding, is really not terrible (it's the skins that are the biggest issue), and it will support commercial skins available now. A great deal will depend, obviously, on the provision of new clothing for these avis, but older, standard-sizing stuff will certainly work, as will skins mapped according to the old standards and hair. I can easily imagine slowly building a pretty nice looking avi using the foundation that this provides. For me, the big issue, then, is B) -- making these easily usable and understandable in a way that will serve noobs well when they start delving into commercially-available clothing, skins, heads, AOs, etc. And well-put together documentation and instruction is absolutely essential, or these will actually make things worse for noobs, because they'll be faced with an incredibly opaque and complicated customization system straight from the get-go.

True enough. I was trying to find mid-heels last week, in fact. It was not so easy.

I do think that the foot shape thing is going to be an issue, but LL is, I'm sure, walking a pretty precarious line between creating a body that is sufficiently nice to last a noob for, as you imply, at least a couple of months, and it being so nice that they feel no need to invest in something better. And LL will want people to eventually invest in something commercial: they want to keep the SL economy humming, and don't (in this instance anyway) want to compete with Maitreya, Ebody, Legacy, et al. And if there is anything like a reasonably good take-up of the creation of clothing rigged for these bodies, that's an issue. So, it's a question of being just good enough, but not too good. I do wonder, in the context of that, if the absence of feet for heels isn't a case of planned obsolescence? Because, really, the Jaime body (from what I saw of it, playing around with it) is otherwise really not too bad. You wouldn't want to wander around a nude beach wearing it, but under clothing? It's just fine.

No, you need different foot shapes built into the body. Most have flat, lot, mid, and high. Ballet (en pointe) is also now pretty common.

Because all women in SL be like . . , I actually do agree that this is a problem but . . . I mean, personally, I wear flats more often than heels. SOOOOO much more comfortable.

Kink shaming? HERE?

Yeah, just checked. The stuff I actually tried on and that got saved to my inventory is still there, but everything in my Senra library folders is now gone again. “Forward, the Light Brigade!” Was there a man dismayed? Not though the soldier knew Someone had blundered. Theirs not to make reply, Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die. Into the valley of Death Rode the six hundred. Oops.

This is a point that hadn't occurred to me. You're right. Maybe some enterprising soul will produce add-on feet, a la Slink.

A quickie edit of the shape (#2 I think), with library skins, hair, and clothing. https://gyazo.com/41bcde7a275ff7c90405b8c73df3689b Not great. Now, re-edited shape, but with Session skins and Magika hair https://gyazo.com/e9c9ae8e839b45bad95a7879b3c81209 These are not great out of the box, but as starters to which you can slowly add stuff, they're quite usable. I haven't checked out Blake, but Jaime's body is really not half bad.

Excellent choices! The Garden would be particularly interesting (for me, anyway). I am trying to think if I've ever explicitly referenced PJ in a photo. I don't think so, but "The Dress" was in the back of my mind for one pic I did ages ago. AND I know that I've had White Chalk on my wish list of themes I'd like to tackle: I love the relationship between landscape, memory, and self -- and I WANT THAT DRESS.

OMG, Polly Jean is just about my favourite artist of all time! And yeah, she is really complicated and challenging. What a perfect recreation of room 509! LOVE LOVE LOVE! (Now do Angelene, my favourite song on that album!)

I am not really "anti-AI" or "anti-bot." I used to amuse myself on occasion by having conversations with Google's old chatbot -- whatever that was called, I can't remember now. And I can certainly see contexts in which AI-run bots or NPCs in SL would be useful and an enhancement. An AI "helper" for instance, or an AI bartender. It could be a real boon for some forms of RP? But I want to know that I'm talking to a bot NPC. And if I find them proliferating in places or contexts where I expect and want to engage with real humans, I'm going to start getting very busy with my Block/Ignore function.

Yeah, this -- or these -- is/are exactly what I foresee happening. In a best case scenario, everything will become homogenized. Presumably the software engineers are on it . . . but they're going to need to find a way to detect AI-generated art and chatter.