Ariel Vuissent

It may be more lucrative to continue teaching via Skype, and convert that money to $L. "$15 an hour" sounds a lot better than "$4,000L an hour," even if they're more or less the same. SL doesn't have a video chat, so you'd also be asking customers to switch from one platform to another, which may not be appealing to all. That's not to say it couldn't work, simply that your options OUTSIDE of SL for the skills you're offering are likely better than your options inside SL. Still, you can look for places and groups inworld geared toward your skills, and make the offer there. Have a general idea of your prices and availability first, and perhaps advertise your rates in your profile.

It was winter-cold through most of April with a few days of reasonably pleasant; then rainy; then hot; then winter-cold/rainy...Now we're back to hot. WHERE ARE MY 65 DEGREE FAHRENHEIT DAYS, SPRING? WHERE? (Also, kind of proud of myself for spelling "Fahrenheit" correctly on the first try, to be honest.)

Baking in this heat...Might as well head to the beach! (It's not even THAT hot, where I am, really, but it's MAY - I want my Spring weather, not this fake summer nonsense!) Playing with filters was fun, though.

As far as WHY the bento animations aren't working, I'd ask inworld - Mesh Body Addicts or the AK support group can probably give you more specialized help. "Adult" wise, I personally use separate animations. If you have other animations playing, you may have to turn them off or they can interfere with one another. I found a HUD I like well enough for adult facial animations, and tend to use that, along with a few in my head's HUD that work reasonably well. I haven't yet found any furniture that my head works with for animation the face, but I haven't really sought out adult furniture with bento face animations. I wouldn't count on any head working with furniture animations at this stage, especially with many adult sims having older furniture still, and would anticipate either putting together your own, or purchasing them separately. Demo everything. Always. A free or cheap animations HUD, or the one you already have, should be sufficient to test animations in any bento head, just to see if they work. Also be aware that while all bento face animations should animate all bento heads, not all will work well with all heads. I have the new Vista AO, for instance, which animates the face as well as the hands and body, and while generally the animations play quite nicely with my Catwa head, there are a couple of smiles that, on my shape with my head, give me a "joker-esque" grin. The animations are amazing; the head is amazing - they just aren't made for one another, so a couple animations are just that little bit off. Demo, demo, demo.

So, two stores out of...a frankly ridiculous number of stores. Are you sure you're willing to pay custom rates? Because they could run you upwards of $100 USD - not $L, actual USD. And that's minimum, so for a really talented creator, you could be looking at a fair bit more. Creating, especially a skin - which requires significant detail work - takes a lot of time and energy, and they don't come cheap. There's so much available "off the rack" that it doesn't really, fully make sense to pay custom rates for a fairly run-of-the-mill skin, unless you have something a LOT more specific in mind than "Asian." Check out Pink Fuel, for starters - she has at least one specifically Asian-based skin and all of her skins come with a monolid option, monolids being predominant in many Asian countries. She has skins for both Catwa and Lelutka. I know that Catwa has at least one Asian-inspired head; I don't know for certain about LeLutka. Pairing a head with more Asian features by default with a skin designed with that look in mind would probably work best. Honestly, when I go skin shopping, I often see at least one "Asian" skin in any shop I go to, though they may not specialize in that look. Check out Deetalez and Glam Affair, as well; they both have tons of options, at least one may suit the look you're aiming for. Also Pumec, Insol, Lara Hurley, 7 Deadly Skins...Honestly, so many. There are SO MANY skin creators out there making skins for mesh bodies and heads now, there's no need to pay for custom work for something so non-specific. You just need to be willing to shop around; and remember to edit your shape, because bento heads are awesome that way. You can customize to suit your look and your skin.

Lots of people still don't use bento. You're certainly not obligated. Or you can buy blind and skip the demo phase, which saves you work but can cost you money. I don't recommend it. I would really like to see Vista release their hand animator separately. It's included if you buy their bento hands, and it works very well alongside non-bento AOs. I'll have to run by sometime soon and see if there's a version in their demo pack and if it can be used without buying the full pack...

MP links: Vista: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/9681 Body Language: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/26489 Oracul: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/19619 Look in those stores for "bento," and then make sure you demo inworld before you buy! I don't have the SLURLs on hand.

Bones are bones, so anything that animates the fingers will animate anything rigged to the fingers. There HAS been an update rigging the hands (and tail) of the kemono for bento, so technically, any bento animations may work for the kemono. Some may deform, however, if the kemono hands are too drastically different from default. Still worth trying any normal bento animations, so give Vista, Oracul, Body Language, and tuty's a try, for starters. I know all of those have bento AO's now; there are others, the names of which I don't remember right this second.

Poorly. Seriously, I have great intentions and horrible followthrough. However, the intentions go like this: Make a bunch of folders. I use the default folders, and make subfolders in there, so my default Clothing folder has subfolders labelled Bottoms, Tops, Dresses, etc.; and then THOSE subfolders have subfolders, so for Bottoms I'll have Pants, Skirts, Shorts, Capris, and then in those I might have something like Jeans, Trousers, Leather. Or, for Skirts, Short, Long, Medium. Then I go through each clothing item folder, delete anything extraneous like unnecessary landmarks and notecards, and move to the appropriate folder and subfolder. For items that have more than one category that applies (I have a couple dresses that also include a shirt version), I'll make a copy of the folder, if possible, and save the item in both applicable locations. THEN, as I sort through, I take pictures. Snapshots saved to folders on my computer that have names to match the folders in my inventory work well. Alternatively, there's a nifty wardrobe device that lets you save and tag pictures, which performs more or less the same function as saving photos to your computer, but with the added bonus of tags. (Actually, with the wardrobe device, you can do both at once - save the pictures to your computer, then upload from there to the wardrobe.)

The Catwa Friends group in world is, I believe, free to join, and full of wonderful, helpful people who would be happy to and capable of answering any and all of your questions. I strongly recommend that you join and ask there. Also check out the mesh body addicts blog for some very helpful video tutorials on how to use Catwa heads and the master HUD they come with. It will help immensely to familiarize yourself with the functions of the HUD.

One of those blogs above mentioned SelinA, and I remembered - SelinA has a flatchested body. I haven't played with it, but you could go by her store and grab a demo, and mess with sliders to see how the chest reacts, as well as if you can the rest of the body into a shape that works for your transition at different stages.

Real Evil has great rigged ring sets. Earthstones has started doing some, as well. Actually, Earthstones is a personal favorite for jewelry in general. Erratic makes clothes exclusively for Maitreya now, and they're stunning, and incredibly well fitted. Foxy makes some nice stuff. Dead Dollz. Check out some events. They're a great place to discover new-to-you designers - Maitreya is the top body in SL right now, so most things at events will at least have a version made for it. I've found several designers I like that way, like Tee*fy (or something like that, can't quite remember the spelling just now). SeraphimSL is a great resource blog for keeping track of events and viewing what's on offer.

Yeah, sounds like a graphics issue. If you have problems running above low graphics, try turning up your graphics until the issue stops (in a low- lag area), then start toggling options on and off. Lower draw distance if it increases with higher graphics, as well. When the issue comes back, you know which option you need to keep enabled for things to work properly, at the bare minimum. But no, mesh bodies generally don't do well on low graphics.

Very. Check out the mainstore for that brand and you'll find a series of archways. There's an area for classic skins, an area for Catwa head skin and makeup appliers, one for lelutka, etc.; one of those rooms contains body and body part appliers. You'll find Slink in there, along with numerous others; and she has several options for Logo heads in another room.

If the creator gave you the actual texture in additional to the wearable tattoo layers, you should be able to make an applier for it yourself, or hire someone to do so for you. If not, you'll need to contact that person and ask if they can/will make you an applier (omega is probably your best bet) or give you the texture so that you or someone else can do so.

I posted earlier over in the Vanity Thread, and this seemed like the natural extension of the photo shoot that resulted in that photo...I was going for sad, but I think I landed on completely hammered, which...also works, actually. (P.S. This photo shoot was COMPLETELY in fun and a hoot to make...Not 100% satisfied with the photos, but I'm certainly not crying into my wine!)

Neither did I, before I discovered the sweet stuff. Moscato's, especially sparkling, are delish.

Free pity champagne is sad, but tasty.

Kind of a fun photo shoot here: That moment when you know your date isn't going to show.

Also, you may or may not know this, but the transaction history page defaults to show only purchases for that day. You can choose to show more dates using the boxes at the top of the page; it goes back 32 days.

SL isn't really a standard game - there's no main plot or storyline, no definitive end goal or objectives to achieve. It's a virtual world, and the learning curve is steep. Have patience, and don't be afraid to ask for help when you need it. The more specific you can be, the easier it will be for others to help you. You have to shop to create a look, but you don't have to spend money - there are lots of free items, of varying quality. Check the marketplace, reachable through the main website (dashboard), and look up the Fab Free blog for some help. The pickier you are with your desired appearance, the harder it'll be to find free items that suit you, but it's more than possible to create an attractive avatar for free. Only spend money if you want to. As for locations, depends what you're into. There are lots of places in SL, but its true that some are more heavily populated than others. Inworld search can tell you what sims get lots of traffic, but it's not always accurate. Exploring can be part of the fun, though! Overall, remember that while it can be frustrating, it's meant to be fun, so don't let it stress you out. ETA: On the topic of free stuff, LL is hosting the Shop Your Heart Out event, which started February 8th and runs until February 26th. There's loads of discounted items from amazing designers there, along with high quality free gifts. Definitely worth a look, although it's been extremely crowded and hard to get in (filled to capacity), so it may benefit you to wait a few more days before you try.

You must scare him to death, Skell! Too much fabulous for some people, I suppose.

You opened the topic; we're just posting pictures of our avatars in peace. You're the one who chose to march into a picture-based forum with no picture, just your entirely unsolicited opinion. Welcome to public forums, where you don't get to control how people respond to your posts!

You can easily create a new account and either abandon your current, or use both. Any inventory you have acquired that is non-transferable, however, will have to stay with your current account. Also keep in mind that, unless I'm mistaken, legacy names are gone - you can no longer have a first and last name separated by a space, as you have now. So your name "The Doctor" would have to be written as "TheDoctor," "The_Doctor," "The.Doctor," etc. And that's assuming no one else already has any of those usernames. You could end up with something pretty weird, just to make it work.