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.
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.
We are in the holiday season which is synonymous with ‘no-change-window’. There are no user group meetings this week. So, news is limited and mostly non-existent. No Deploys post. Last main channel restart appears to be 12/4. But, one was reported to have happened 12/11… my detector didn’t notice it. And none since.
Server and viewer versions are also unchanged this week.
Mesh Bodies – Kitsune Shan (URL FB) has a mesh body coming out that is designed to do a good job of portraying thin to chubby with good proportions.
Kitsune also makes tutorials. See Skinning Session (URL FB). While the clicks and keys in this video are not universal, the weighting process is. Kitsume also has 2 YouTube channels; Big Channel and Small Channel.
Scandalize – If you are into fashion you likely know the brand name. Seems they tried to do a gift card thing for Christmas. It went sideways and didn’t work as planned. They published an apology and a sort of workaround.
You can join the |Scandalize| (SLURL) group and get the details from their notices. And you have to be part of the group to get/use the gift cards so… Get it done. Limited time to use the fix.
Windows 7 Freezing – Seems Win7 systems with Malwarebytes are freezing up. Reportedly from Malwarebytes support 12/27±, “This is an issue we are aware of. For some reason, our latest update (Malwarebytes v2.6.1.2711) is causing Windows 7 64bit machines to freeze. Please toggle off the Real-Time Web Protection module for now.”
Have you seen? Erratic, a Maitreya exclusive merchant, is thinking about making clothes for other bodies!
Strawberry Singh has the story in an article titled I’m feeling so Erratic. Plus, she made a video.
In the $L50 Friday event an Erratic L$50 top (Fat Pack) is on sale for multiple body styles including Hourglass and Original. I am interested in Erratic clothes for the Slink bodies. So, I ran down and bought a copy for the Original body.
The sales of this top will be the deciding factor in which bodies Erratic Rain plans to make clothes for in the future. So… if you want more Slink, visit and buy… the free market voting with its dollars… http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/LE%20LOOK/131/139/2001
The explanation she gives of the existing onion-skin animations used before Bento is not wrong, but most of the techies will disagree with it. If you are not into the tech, it is good enough to get you by. Besides, Animesh and Bakes-On are coming and likely to change much of this anyway.
The word in the video is there is a Bento Full Body AO coming. As it is now I have an AO for my body, the stands, sits, walks, etc. I have another for my new mesh head. And another for my hands. I am assuming VA is combining body, hands, and head into one AO. Jump to time mark 18:00± to get an idea of what the coming AO will look like in operation. Continue reading →
I’ve been looking for a mesh head for a long time. When it comes to my avatar’s appearance I get picky. My first skin was free and came from a strip club. I then spent months finding the just right skin. I finally decided on a Nomine WL Mocha skin by Munchflower Zaius, an artist that gave up creating because of copyboting (still in Marketplace). It was my first ever big purchase. Paid for from dancing-stripping, camping, and money trees in 2008.
Classic to Bento – Distant
I tend to spend months playing with demos and talking with people when I buy my first body anything. So, feet then hands, then body and now head. Also, I had hoped Slink would come out with a Bento head. But…
I like my classic head. So, I wanted a head that would allow me to have a very similar face. That was harder than I thought. I went through a lot of heads and spent days making shapes. I decided I would never get the look I wanted with some popular heads.
I decided on GA.EG’s Jennifer head. Very quickly I got near the shape/look I wanted. Plus, an included skin matched my favorite YS&YS’ Viola skin. That greatly simplified the addition. I had been planning on having to buy a new skin. My YS&YS to too old to have appliers for Omega and does not have any head applier. Still, I may get a skin with an applier for this new head. Continue reading →
I like Slink and I’m playing with making clothes for my Slink Body, attached mesh and applier type clothes. So, I’ve been hoping this update would provide a bit better help for the applier clothes. Nope.
There are things I had for my classic avatar that I can’t find for my mesh avatar. There are some classic stockings that had great lacy tops and topped out at just the right place on my legs for my mini and mid-thigh skirts. I’ve not found similar stockings for my mesh body. So, I am making them.
There is a lot to learn. The Appliers are simple enough, but one does have to figure them out. See my tutorial for making Slink Hand’s nails. It isn’t difficult. But, it is different.
Next is the challenge of using Photoshop to make the textures. I once used Multi-Chan Hax to handle the SL Avatar UV Map Seams… But, that is 2011 tech and I haven’t tried it in PS CC 2017.
I have PS CC 2017 with a 3D capability. It can paint across the UV Seams in 3D mode. Easy… sure…
However, PS 3D is NOT intuitive. I am tempted to say Blender is more intuitive than Photoshop’s 3D. So, I’ve been going through tutorials and watching videos. They never seem to answer the questions I have or solve the problems I am running into.
But, I did find one that I think is way helpful. So, here it is.
Mesh Body Addicts is a fun and informative site. The recent article AC and Jellydolls: Tutorial and Popular Bodies list took some effort. The list gives the ACI for each of the mesh bodies being marketed in Second Life™. There are some brands I was unaware of. So, that is a plus too.
JellyDoll and Fully Rendered Avatar.
The list at Mesh Body Addict’s site is alphabetical. Handy for finding your body. I wanted the list arranged in order of ACI so I could see the best, lowest ACI, and worst, highest ACI, for lag. So, I resorted the list: Continue reading →
