Mesh bodyparts, is this even the way to go?

[VanillaSunsets]

Wow, how complicated can you make your virtual life these days. Seriously, I do love all the mesh stuff, I make some of it, but some days I wonder if body-wise, this is the way to go... I have some mesh bodies and I do agree, it looks amazing compared to my default avatar, I adore the hands and feet that are so much more detailed!

Now I went to check out some new Bento head that was just released and it's awesome but the time it takes to get it to look like you wish...pfff. Ohhh, the head even scared me till I saw that you had to start with some certain shape, that helped, but then I had to re-build my whole body shape. Looking good in SL by these day's standard is just way too much trouble. Once you get the body and head to look right you have to start looking for skins and you get lost once again, some merchants have appliers for your body but not for your head, some merchants have clothing appliers and some not, same goes for mesh clothing. You never know what will actually fit and this is limiting the choices I have. Alpha layers only go so far... When I find something adorable on some hot fashion blog, or even the MP, I have to hope it is not one of those Gatcha items that I can no longer get my hands on AND that the demo does as promised.Now the jelly avatars arrived and I realize a lot of ppl cannot even see me rendered the way I want them to see me. If I were a new resident I would cry... a lot... 

This is not a rant, I just love the way it all looks, but it seems the platform and what we all wear and want is going in two very separate directions. Is this the way to go? Looking awesome on your own screen but I need to ask friends if they would pls make a render exception for me? Is this Bento thing we are all going to focus on instead of realizing all those way too dense meshes are making us like that emperor from that fairytale... the one that everyone saw naked (jelly doll) and only he saw the beauty.

I know about the famous mesh body website that I can check but seriously, I miss the days that I just could go on a shopping spree without checking, checking and checking again. I miss that I could just buy any skin and maybe... just maybe had to adjust my shape just a lill bit!

I cannot be the only one that feels this way. Once again, I very much love the mesh bodies and heads, I respect all the work that went into them, nor do I wish to offend anyone but I wish I would wear them for more then just pics.

[Amethyst Jetaime]

It is all the result that LL built an avatar before 2004 to begin with and hasn't updated it since, until recently when they added more bones.  To my knowledge the avatar mesh itself has not been improved.  They were concerned if they did update it, it would break some of the content that people had in their inventories and alienate some users. LL preferred to leave it up to creators.  However I'm not sure this was valid, since so many users have been willing to spend good amounts of money on mesh bodies and parts and the clothes to go with them.   The result is what we have to deal with now.

I'm waiting on more content to come out for the Bento mesh before I'm going to be willing to spend any money on it.  I have a skin I love and makes me look unique with the shape I have made myself.  I've been in SL for over 10 years and have always been willing to spend money on my avatar as new and improved skins etc. have been offered.  But I'm not one to change my appearance at the drop of a hat.  Each time I've updated my avatar, I've always been careful to not change my basic look, just make it more realistic and improved.  Before investing anymore into mesh bodies or parts I want to be sure I can do the same.

I do have a mesh body that did not change my overall shape, just improved the problem areas, but never invested in a mesh head because you couldn't control the shape of it and mesh heads themselves are new enough that only a few skin designers offer skins for them and none of them offers a skin as of yet that wouldn't change my look too much.

It will probably mean shopping for a new skin, and as you say it is difficult to find a skin that you like that will texture the mesh body and head of your choice.  It's going to take a lot of time for me to find the right combination, so I'm just going to wait a while to give creators the chance to catch up and more content is available.

[VanillaSunsets]

I could not agree more, I think I will do as you do and follow developments before spending anymore on appearance. I am like you very pleased with my look the way it is and am pretty determinate to only upgrade it, not giving up parts of me in the process.

[Lacey Amore]

I've recently come back to sl after a few years away.

I never had a mesh body or head before and have spent the last week figuring it out. I guess they all work somewhat differently (I got maitreya and catwa) and it was very confusing to me. I think I even tossed some outfits because I couldn't figure out how to make the appliers work (they were free or cheap though so that's a blessing).

I kept wondering how the very new people to sl are dealing with it because the learning curve for sl itself is pretty steep. At least that's how I remembered it. Then with all the differences and research  and lindens you have to spend just to get dressed.

I know that I won't be giving up the mesh though. I love the way it looks when I get it right even if when I teleport now I mostly see brains and clothes and bodies all over the place before they finally rez to me. Kind of reminds me of the shoes or hair up your kazoo sometime back when teleporting or crossing sims.

I won't be trying Bento for awhile myself I've spent too much already. I don't want to switch viewers either so I'll give it awhile. Maybe my bank account will catch up.

[Bobbie Faulds]

The mesh body is easy enough, provided you get one that is Omega compatible. For most designers, once you get the body applier, you don't have to get it again unless they change their tones. 

As for the head, again, you want to go with Omega Compatible since it uses the same SLUV as the default avi and it's easy to make the applier. Then you just buy the head skin you like...If you're using a mesh body, you're buying the skin for the change in the head since most skin makers only change the skin from the neck up with each change. No need to change from the neck down. You can also find a head skin you like then just change the makeup, like you do in RL. It's just finding a head you like. 

As for Bento, I'll wait until they get it straightened out first. I got the demo for the Catwa and Altamera heads for Bento and I was...meh. I'll wait before I spent that much money. I currently go back and forth between the Catwa Annie (basic head) and the LOGO Sadie and they are both very close to what my default head looks like.

[Penny Patton]

When LL was still working on adding mesh-import, many Residents were begging LL to release an upgraded set of avatar bodies. LL replied that they would not, instead they were giving us rigged mesh and we would be able to upload our own avatar bodies.

Most of us saw the problem with that right away. If you introduce a bunch of competing mesh bodies to the market, with no updated standard body for most people to use, you're going to do two terrible things to Second Life.

First, you're going to make things a lot more complicated. You're either going to have to be good with modding to customize your avatar, or make-do with extremely limited scripted tools and HUDs provided by the creators of each mesh body. Of course, many creators release their bodies no-mod and this has left you with only relying on their HUDs and scripts and greatly reduced the variety in avatar appearances in SL.

Second, you're going to fracture the clothing market. With no standard to work from, mesh clothing typically only fits the body it was designed for. And very few content creators are going to support more than one or two options. This has shattered the clothing industry in SL and further reduced the amount of variety you can find among avatars these days.

 

 Up until LL broke SL in this way, you could release a piece of clothing and anyone in SL could purchase that clothing. You might need to resize something, but you could make it fit. 100% of the SL userbase was a potential customer for your clothing.

That is no longer true.

 

 Mesh bodyparts are great, I love them, but they should be serving a niche market of people who don't mind messing with the complications and limitations they impose. SL needed, and still needs, a new standard SL avatar.