Category Archives: Fashion

What’s with THAT face?

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In Second Life™ lots of people are all about looks. Few of those people know much about making a beautiful avatar. They just shape their avatar by eye. Those that are better at making shapes may end up selling shapes to the rest of us. The next step up from making shapes is sculpting heads and bodies.

I keep looking at people’s avatars and notice how some are just gorgeous. Some with incredible faces. What makes their face so pleasing?

One part of the beauty equation is proportions. Some time ago I made a tool for getting body shapes proportional. Mostly getting height and arm lengths right. Now I’ve made a guide for getting facial proportions correct. The video is the quick answer to what it is and how it works. About 3 minutes.

Demo and Tutorial – Face Shape Guide

Before you run off to buy this tool and fix that ugly face of yours… well… you’re not that bad… you need to know this tool is just a guide to assist you in creating a face shape. It doesn’t make a shape. Also, it isn’t easy to use CORRECTLY.  Read on or watch the video before you decide.

Be warned. The Guide is Copy-OK so there are NO REFUNDS.

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Maitreya v5 Update

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The Maitreya body just updated from v4 to v5. This version is for the Bakes On Mesh (BoM) era. NovataSecondLife (YouTube URL) has made a video to explain how the new version works.

Another Maitreya v5 Update video. 30 min

Until this release, Maitreya used an applier to upgrade their bodies to use BoM. It worked with my version 3.0 demo copy. Nice. Now the body is redesigned and switches to the BoM style via a click in the HUD.

Here are the things I found interesting in this release.

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Getting Ready for “Bakes on Mesh” Bodies

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The end of March Linden Lab released the latest version of the Bakes on Mesh (BoM) Viewer. It is in RC so we could see BoM coming out in final version soon. The recent Disconnects Problem has likely delayed BoM and other projects. That problem seems solved or at least greatly reduced. Other projects will move ahead now and BoM is probably just a couple of weeks from final release… say soon…

The questions I have all deal with how well will my clothes will work with the new BoM Mesh Bodies? Siddean the designer for Slink has provided information on what we can expect. Siddean’s Slink body is built… um… that doesn’t sound quite right, rephrase… ready for release or at least down to the final tweaks.

Whatever you look outside, the real value is what you have inside

Whatever you look outside, the real value is what you have inside

April 3rd,2019 Siddean answered questions about what she is doing with the Slink bodies. You can find this information in Siddean’s Discord channel.

The new bodies are a re-thought new design. So, we are going to be re-learning how to manage bodies, clothes, and tattoos.

The new body will work with clothes made for the previous body. Said in tech-speak, the body size and weighting remain the same. Also, the previous versions of the body will continue to work. BoM will only work with the new bodies. Continue reading →

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Who is having SL Photo fun?

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Fun Photography – Every so often I mention the SL Forum thread ‘How does your avatar look today?’ (page 665 – Looks for short) In it, someone (name withheld to protect the guilty) posted a picture with their avatar in bunny custom… not the furry kind, the Playboy kind. So sexy.

The picture started a thing… my tail is cuter than your tail… no… not competitive just fun… people curious to see how they looked as bunnies and some probably were influenced by a bit of exhibitionism and took the opportunity to show off. I suspect some measure of that fun and look-at-me stuff runs through those all peeps posting in the thread. My hand is up.

The Bunny Pictures

However, there is a thing in the group about getting together for group photos. Probably one of the more fun things people in the thread do. I think of it as girls behaving badly… I’ll leave the interpretation of the term ‘badly’ up to you. Those older and younger than I seem to have different meanings for it. I intend this as the fun type ‘badly’.

Whatever, that ‘get together thing’ got Saravendi thinking (post). Seems things weren’t working out for people to get together in their bunny outfits. So, she very nicely PUT them together from the photos they posted. That was a hit. The idea grew, lots of Me-Too-Please posters followed. So, lots of additions and a growing picture which Saravendi was neat enough to keep editing. Continue reading →

Second Life Bits and Bites… 2019 w11

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Yes… bites.

Skin Fair 2019 is here.

Skin Fair runs to Marth 24. Visit here: Visit the North Sim and Visit the South Sim.

Word is it is busy and hard to get into. Yeah, expected. Remember. Peak SL usage is between 2 and 3 PM SLT (PDT). Minimum use is 12 hours later… 2 to 3 AM. I didn’t have a problem getting in. I did get disconnected trying to walk across the region boundary. My second day visiting the regions were working better. But I was chicken to walk across.

The regions are laggy, 35+ avatars in each of the two regions. The sim performance is decent stats-wise, but walking is a pain. I land, move out of the way and then flycam through the event. Continue reading →

Second Life and Mesh Body Lag

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Revised 1/3/2019 – Hamlet has an interesting article Well-Optimized Alternatives To Resource-Heavy Mesh Bodies For SL touching on the contentious debate going in Second Life as to how much lag mesh bodies are causing. The high polygon count in mesh bodies is the suggested cause of the lag.

Tachinni - Bonnie Dress - @ACCESS Exclusive

Tachinni – Bonnie Dress – @ACCESS Exclusive

We don’t have an obvious resolution to the argument. Nothing the non-techies can grasp. The techies stay out of the argument having learned one cannot argue with the ignorant as it is all opinion for the uneducated.

Recent technology changes have complicated the information on polygon counts and how they may affect your viewer’s performance. One complication is the shift from video card manufacturers bragging about polygons-per-second rendered to frames-per-second and now giga-rays-per-second… Part of the reason for changing metrics is the marketing hype card makers introduce to sell more cards.

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Second Life: Photo Backlighting

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If you have a Flickr account, you know how popular photography is in Second Life. So, photo-how-to’s are popular too. Then there are the peeps with a bit of exhibitionist in their blood posting in, How does your avatar look today?

Hamlet just posted an article with a couple of video tutorials on backlighting in Second Life. See Cassie’s Clips: How To Use Backlighting & Projectors.

Hamlet is featuring videos by Cassie Middles (Flickr URL). The video shows how to use Cynefin’s Projection Lighting Kit (L$650) (Video below). Mixed in is how to use your Windlight settings and adjust the sun to get the lighting you want.

Cassie also made a video showing how to use the resulting image and improve it. Below. Continue reading →

Second Life: Avatar Makeovers

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Strawberry Singh has and article about new ‘makeover’ businesses appearing in SL, The Makeover Agency in Second Life. Hamlet Au has an article on how bad it is (in the classical sense of ‘bad’) that there are ‘makeover’ businesses in SL, Second Life Avatar Fashion So Confusing & Complicated There Are Professional Makeover Agencies.

*Jamilly*

*Jamilly*

iRL there are makeover businesses, promotions, and parties. iRL young people are taught how to dress and groom. With all the new tech there are possibilities our parents never thought of. My mom never wove lights into her hair… She never bought Halloween ‘cosmetics’, stage makeup, yes. Zombie cosmetics, no.

iRL part of the fun of being female is all the choices available in clothes and makeup. Choices to a bewildering level. And the rules of what actually works with what while often totally arbitrary are sacred and in some circles and must be broken in other circles with either likely to bring ridicule if improperly broken or followed. Continue reading →