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Looking to buy my first mesh body and head...and confused..


Luci Ohmai
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Hi

Im looking to buy my first mesh body and head.  I though the slink physique and a catwa head but i dont know anything abhout them or appliers or what to do, went few a few youtube tutorials from sl members but they go on about the make up and stuff i need the basic advice.  How to get a skin that goes on the head and body the same.  Do i need a applier if i buy a skin i lke does it need to have a catwa applier so that my head matches my body?? ty for reading and sorry for being a bit thick.  Any help appreciated.

 

Thanks :)

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Pretty much all the stores that sell head and appliers for those heads will have appliers for the most popular and best selling bodies, which would be Maitreya, Belleza and Slink.  Most also have Omega appliers,  which will work 'out of the box' on some bodies and some for which you will need to buy the Omega Relay specific to your body.

When you find a head  you like it's a good idea to investigate the availability of matching body appliers to make sure they are available.  As with everything else, demo like mad.  

There are now so many heads and so many skin makers making appliers for bodies and heads, you can be quite sure of achieving individuality in your lok.

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With Bento apparently so close to release TPVs are already including it in their releases, I'd just wait until it's officially here and pick up a Bento av and mesh head.

And in that case I'd shop around for the moddable ones. Too many bodies are sold no-mod and with very limited support in terms of skin/clothing releases.

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I am with Penny... wait for the new Bento mesh heads to come out. A few alpha/beta versions are already out. You can get them at discount for purchasing early. So... you might want to skip the wait and purchase early. But, that has its risks aand other maybe better heads will come out.

You also need a Bento capable viewer to use them. You'll find the viewer in Alternate Viewers.

You'll probably want to know what we are talking about and why Bento heads (and hands) are better, I suggest seeing video from these channels:

Mine: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB4WLXGM10aLOxbw01-e5LQ

Strawberry's: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCE6xvjkOu6wE-wJ-7-1x5bw

Catwa: https://www.youtube.com/user/caatwa

KaoZ Koba: https://www.youtube.com/user/kaozapple

You can jump to the blogs to get more information.

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Penny Patton wrote:

That site has a nice list of the mesh bodies out there, but it doesn't say whether they're mod or not.

So far as I am aware it is only Utilizator Avatar 2.0, Orange Nova's Nauha, Chip Midnight's MBody and Kitty's Lair's Lena bodies that are modifiable.

Despite being Mod none of them have been hugely popular. I haven't seen very much third party support in the way of mesh clothes being made for them, except the Avatar 2.0, but it is the Anime community that that body appeals to.

Whilst I can see value in having a Mod body, for most people the most important factor in chosing which to buy and use is how much quality third party mesh clothes there are for it. There is only so much you can do with modifiable mesh parts anyway. I can't for example edit the Nauha's neck to fit my neck properly.

For the popular bodies I would say this based on my experience...

Belleza recently rerigged their Freya body, maybe the others in their line too. Making alot of the clothes previously designed for them no longer fit properly. Slink has a lot of support from third party clothes makers, but, unless things have changed to use the body and change outfits it is quite complicated because you have one hud for your feet and hands another for your body and to change your foot shape, it is a matter of changing your feet

The Maitreya body has one hud to do everything including changing your feet to fit different shoes. It is pretty easy to use. Its downside would be that getting the developers kit would seem to be quite difficult, but even with that, it is well supported for clothes.... (Slink I think is marginally better supported largely because it came out earlier). Maitreya is by quite a long way the most popular mesh body and for good reasons. It would be my recommended body.

I have a few mesh heads but I don't use them. I am interested to see what Bento will mean for heads, if I need to use another hud for facial expressions I can't see me hurrying to get one. They seem to take ages to rezz even if their render weights don't show as being that high. Seeing a brain and partial bits of head for 5 minutes every time you meet someone with one or I wear one, isn't an image of myself I want to be displaying.

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Aethelwine wrote:


Penny Patton wrote:

That site has a nice list of the mesh bodies out there, but it doesn't say whether they're mod or not.

So far as I am aware it is only Utilizator Avatar 2.0, Orange Nova's Nauha, Chip Midnight's MBody and Kitty's Lair's Lena bodies that are modifiable.

Despite being Mod none of them have been hugely popular. I haven't seen very much third party support in the way of mesh clothes being made for them, except the Avatar 2.0, but it is the Anime community that that body appeals to.

It would be a huge mistake to conclude that mod perms aren't important because those bodies aren't popular. Instead, look at why those particular bodies aren't popular.

The Lena bodies from Kitty's Lair aren't popular for one simple reason: The creator never released a dev kit so the only person who can make clothes for those bodies are the original creator. And even if they were extremely prolific, no one person can produce the same amount of variety as dozens of other creators working in tandem. No single body is ever going to be popular if it does not have that third party support for clothing and accessories.

 Another factor is that much of the mesh clothing available for the Lena bodies are sold no-mod. And while I'm grateful that the creator is willing to sell moddable versions for a little extra, this means that no one can even produce texture mods for the existing clothing. You're stuck with what she sells and nothing else.

The Nauha body suffers the same problem. No dev kit for third parties to produce clothing, so you're extremely limited in your clothing options. All mesh bodies are limited in their clothing options, due to the limited number of clothing makers supporting each individual body, but when that's further constricted by no third party support at all, you've got a body with only a handful of outfits you'll ever be able to wear with it.

 

The MBody, Kemono and Avatar 2.0 bodies all eschew the SL texture UV and do not support clothing layers at all. This means you cannot buy from the vast assortment of skin, tattoo and clothing layer options available to most of the other body types out there. That's a huge hit against them for the broader SL market.

But speaking of those last two, it's important to note that they ARE popular. Sure, they appeal to certain groups because they're more cartoony than the typical SL bodies, but despite that they are broadly used and have a thriving economy around them due to a combination of a very prolific creator plus the support of third party content creators providing a steady stream of new clothing and accessories to support them.

 

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Aethelwine wrote:

Whilst I can see value in having a Mod body, for most people the most important factor in chosing which to buy and use is how much quality third party mesh clothes there are for it. There is only so much you can do with modifiable mesh parts anyway. I can't for example edit the Nauha's neck to fit my neck properly.

Regarding why being moddable is important, you can do a lot more than you think with a moddable body.

 For instance, none of the no-mod mesh bodies supported materials until at least months after materials became a feature for SL. Despite this, using the Lena Lush body, I had materials day one.

 I also made and applied my own skin for the Lena body. I did not need to apply to become a developer, waiting potentially months if ever to hear if I'd get a kit to develop for the body. The no-mod mesh bodies also did not support Omega appliers until long after they were a thing. Moddable mesh bodies supported them day one.

 One of the most common complaints I've heard about the no-mod mesh bodies are the limited alpha segments for clothing. There's simply no way to script up HUD based alpha masking to account for all possible clothing, but with a moddable body you can create your own custom alpha masks.

When LL introduced Jelly Dolls, many people found their mesh bodies ate up a huge amount of their draw weight. Those of us with moddable mesh bodies did not experience this issue because we can remove unused clothing/tattoo layers and wear them separately as needed.

If you don't mod, sure, a no-mod mesh body isn't going to be a big deal for you. But if you can mod, even a body like the Lena Lush, with its limited clothing support, can stretch further than you'd imagine. I have dozens of outfit combinations for my Lena Lush body because I'm able to mod it. I can squeeze into mesh clothing not designed for it because I can create my own alpha masks for my skin. I can even use custom body parts of my own making.

That's another reason why the Avatar 2.0 and Kemono bodies are so popular. The people attracted to those sorts of bodies tend to be modders already and so there's a huge amount of content produced to take advantage of that.

Such as clothing scripts which use RLV to combine multiple items (say a shirt, a bodyshapy for that shirt and a copy of your body with sections masked out so the shirt fits) into a single wearable. Wear the shirt and it switches out your shape and mesh body on the fly. Take the shirt off and it swaps back to your default body, topless shape, and even attaches nipples if you want it to. This is a feature I use with my moddable mesh body that is only possible because my body is moddable.

 And that's just one example of scripting a body. I could, if I wanted, script my mesh body to change specular maps if I hop in water, so I come out looking wet. I could animate my skin. Have my avatar fade in and out like a ghost. I could create layer clothing that uses emissive masks and scripted effects to look like some sort of magical creature or futuristic cyborg. Using effects not possible on any of the no-mod bodies.

 

 You used to see that sort of creativity frequently in SL, but the wave of "no-mod" has extinguished it from all but a few bright spots hidden on the grid.

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This website helps me out every time I want to know something about mesh bodies and heads:

http://meshbodyaddicts.com/mesh-body-reviews/

Plus check out the mesh body addicts sim. There are bodies there that already have the alpha built in. I love the Tonic ones.

I use Tonic, eBody, Belleza, and Maitreya. I use a Catwa head but frankly I am having loads of problems with the heads. I keep reading, watching videos, and ask loads of questions of people that I know in game.

Good luck,

Jynelle

 

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I am very close to releasing my own mesh avatar. it will be maitreya compatible, meaning you can wear all mesh clothing, shoes/boots and jewerly made for maitreya.

it uses SL UVs and will come with tattoo and clothing layers. as well as being copy/mod.

you have to have your own skin and tattoo textures to use the applier that comes with it.

Luci Ohmai and Penny Patton you both are welcome to be testers if you like. just IM me inworld.

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Thanks so much everyone.  

 

I got the demo for slink physique and some catwa heads.. the heads seemed way to big.

I got the free Emesh body, but unlike slink it wouldnt let me keep my avi head.

Slink let me keep my avi head, but stole my hands.. no option for using just the body i have the slink feet but would HAVE to buy the slink hands as well.

I downloaded from group gift skins that someone said work on the mesh body and your original head... but they didnt.

ITS BLOOMIN CONFUSING!! aghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh lol 

 

Basically if i can figure out how to match a skin for my head and body, keeping my avi head till the Bento ones come out and buy the physique slink an the hands.. can i adjust the height of the slink body? i dont want to be super tall.

 ps: if anyone is willing to talk me through it on voice when im inworld that would be really helpful as ima crap typer :) ty again.

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hiya

Ive brought the slink phys body and reg hands..

 

im now trying to work out how to match the skin on my head to the body.. none of the skins ive brought (3) are working even though one said it had a slink applier it ws only forthe hands and feet.. and my neck isnt matching either can anyone help? so frustrated..!  ty for replying everyone and helping x

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You have to buy a regular skin to cover the non-mesh parts, like your head. Then you get the applier for your mesh body/hands/feet. Check out Lumae or Alaskametro if you are looking for something that's good but inexpensive. Lumae has free group gifts and the group is less than 5L to join. She includes body appliers, the skin for the default body and head appliers for those that use mesh heads.

Good luck.

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This is driving me nuts... ive brought two more skins with slink body appliers and the skin for my sl head so a skin and slink physique appliers and still even using a neck blender and with the same skin on head and body using the applier my neckis still a different colour.

I brought the slink applierhud from mrktplace but theres no instructions.. ive a tattoo i love that has omega suppliers but ive no idea how to  get my tattoo to show up on my mesh body even wth the slink appler, the omega applier and the hud for the slink body..trying with and witiut TATTOO highlighted.

 

Ive been on sl 6yrs on and off... id spend a fortune getting my avi right... and embraced mesh clothing.. and slink feet.. and now ive spent another 10k on nothing that works.  Thinking of just giving up on sl now had enough :(

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no don't give up on SL because of that, especially since you have so much invested now.

not sure i can offer you much because i've never used slink anything other than seeing a friend's HUD.

but i can sympatize with you because i felt the same way, it is so confusing for someone just starting to transition to mesh.

i was complaining about that to someone once and they said "maitreya avatar and omega appliers, that's it".

it felt like they just cut to the chase so i took their advise and they were right. it was smooth and easy and then it was like a cloud of confusion just lifted and went away.

when i saw you went with slink i was like "uh oh" because when i went to look at them(before my friend advised me) i found them to be very confusing.

anyway there are a lot of people using slink so it's not like you bought crap, with a little paticence you'll get it sorted out somehow as others have. it'll work out in the end and then you'll have some stories to relate to others coming along.:)

you can think of it as just another SL adventure you're in the middle of.

 

 

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http://slpoweredbyomega.com/instructions/  All the kit instructions are there. http://slpoweredbyomega.com/instructions/instructions-for-slink/ for the Slink specific kit. You wear your Slink parts then the Slink installer. Touch the installer and you should see in your local chat an announcement that it's been installed on your Slink part. You now add your skin applier and apply it. Also wear the matching skin for your default avi that will take care of the parts not covered by your mesh body.

Now wear your Slink hud. On your hud, be sure your body fat for the neck on the body is the same as it is in your default avi, To get that edit shape and on the first tab, you'll see the body fat as the last number on that tab. That should take care of the neck problem.

Now, on your hud, go to the layer tab. Add the tat applier and apply to the tat layer. Be sure the tat layer is turned on on the hud. That should take care of the application.

On that hud, you'll also see the other layers for stockings, gloves, and clothing. 

Another tab on that hud is your alphas. You'll need that for your mesh clothing to hide the parts that show through.

If you have any other problems, go inworld to the Omega Appliers system group and you can get help there. You can also contat the Slink CS rep. You can see her name on Siddean Munro's profile.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Greetings everyone there,

I am facing exactly the same issue as you had Luci Ohmai.

May I ask how did you do in order to get it fixed? It's quite confusing and I believe I probably did things in a different way than it would be considered the right one. 

It's been a whole month and yet I am not being able to mach skins between defaul SL head and mesh body (Slink).

 

 

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Rather than try to match the body to the skin on the default SL head, get the Slink or Omega applier for the body that matches the skin tone. You can, if you're good at it, eventually match the skin tone but you aren't going to have the light reflection look. Most skin makers make the appliers for the bodies that match their skin tones. Usually, unless they release a new line of skin tones, once you get the applier you won't need to purchase that part again. Take a trip to Designer Circle or one of the other events going on right now. You can usually find a discounted set. You could also head over to Lumae and join her group, less than 5L btw. She has several free skins for group members that include all the appliers for the bodies and heads. You don't have to buy anything else.

To use the Omega appliers with your skin, you'll need to go to the Omega Solutions store. Join the Omega support group, it's free, and you can purchase the Omega kit for you Slink body for 50L or you can get in on the MP for 99L.

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Thank you for the answer Boobie Faulds.

I might need some more assistance as I am yet a newbie regarding to these matters.

I do have the omega kit but I am not using it. The skin of My body is being using through the Psysique Alpha HUD from Slink creators. 

By the slink applier do you mean this hud?

Thank you also for take the time answering.

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