Mesh head

Hi! I know it has been a long time and to be honest, I did not really miss it. Taking a break is sometimes the best thing to do when you feel like you are running in circles.

Sometimes, I feel like Second Life is running in circle too and is not moving forward anymore. I guess the platform has reached its limits a long time ago and is not attractive anymore to new people. Unfortunately, I still have not heard about a valuable alternative so like a lot of old players, I am back or more exactly, I feel like playing with my avatar look, take snapshots and edit them.

This is not the first time I am taking a break, nor the first time I am coming back. One of the things I like is to see what is new.  This can cause a huge disappointment like the time when the big new thing was those huge boobs. This time though, something that was starting when I have left has known a satisfying degree of evolution: mesh heads.

Do not worry, I will not compare all of them. Though the fact there are a lot of them and also more skin appliers from different stores for sure makes it one of its asset. I feel like now, we have a wide enough choice to avoid the clone effect. So far, I only own one mesh head, the Logo Alex one. This might not be the most popular of them all but I like its long face. Less popular also means a smaller choice with appliers but I hope this will change. On the plus side, this will lead me to go out of my comfort zone and search for stores I was not previously thinking about or which were maybe less friendly to my SL shape. Paired with the Your Skin and Your Shape Noemi skin, the Logo Alex head still weirdly give me the feeling it is my avatar but better.

Speaking about the variety of skins, I was wondering if it were very difficult for designers to adapt some of their older skins to mesh heads. In the last two or three years, I do not have seen much improvement in skins. We have different lips, eyes, noses, shadings but basicly, the quality I see is the same. Of course, mesh heads allow for a higher detail of rendering. So, yeah, please, tell me if I am wrong or if it would be possible to enlarge easily the choice of appliers we have by applying old skins to omega system.

Finally, there are two reasons why I will go on using mesh heads:

A. No more troubles to fit eyelashes. Rez the ones in your folder and done, finished. The designer made it for you.

B. It makes pcitures editing so much easier. Mesh head + mesh body makes you win a lot of time as you have a lot less bad angles to smooth. The higher resolution of the skins also allows to use more filters without loosing too much details.

And now, the credits:

Mesh head: LOGO Infinity Alex Hybrid Mesh Avatar v3.0 – Master Folder
Eyes: IKON Triumph Eyes – Soldier (M)
Skin: *YS&YS* Noemi Tone02 Skin Applier For LOGO Mesh Head Alex but Picture 2: *YS&YS* Beatrix Tone02 Skin Applier LOGO ALEX Mesh Head @ My Attic
Mesh body: Maitreya Mesh Body – Lara

Picture 1:
Hair: +elua+ Daria_Blonde @ Kustom9
Fur: Orla – Cardigan earth @ Tres Chic

Picture 2:
Hair: .LeLutka.Cat hair.FIT.A.Swish
Sweater: erratic / ava – sweater / navy (maitreya)

Picture 3:
[elikatira] Becca – Blondes @ Shiny Shabby
Headpiece: LaGyo_Ribbon headpice with HUD @ Tannenbaum
Necklace: LaGyo_Sienna Crystal collier Silver @ Tannenbaum

Picture 4:
Hair: =DeLa*= Mesh Hair “Hayley” Orange Browns
Jacket and tank: Blueberry & Enfant Terrible – Suko Set – Midnight @ Uber

Spooky hand

I had some trouble taking this picture because of the shadows. Any Second Life photographer will tell you that what you see on your screen is not what will appear on the picture on your harddrive. Sometimes, it is not too bad, sometimes, no matter the angle or the windlight setting you are using, you will have a lot of postproccesing work to do. In this case, i have partly solutioned the problem by upping the gamma in Second Life to flood the shadows with light and then by darkening the whole picture, adding a lot of burn, in Photoshop.

Here below you can see one of the first pictures I have taken and some of its flaws.

Most obvious thing is the spooky hand. It is like my avatar is having a third arm and hand from hell only visible in the shadows. It is one of the issues with the alpha layers in Second Life. You may hide parts, it is still there and appears in the shadows. Using a different pose might have helped but I liked this one a lot so i have decided to be stubborn and to go on with it.

Secondly, you may see a smooth gradient of shadows in world but on your picture, it is a solid block and not always rightly placed. Here, you can mainly see the problem with the shadow from the hair on the face. There is a thin light line between the hair and its shadow. Also, what should be a smooth darker area under the breast appears like a stain.

Another reason I have titled this post “Spooky Hand” is what makes this outfit so particular. I really like the idea of having a hand in the pocket. I would have liked it better if the mesh pants had a pocket with more volume to fake the hand hidden by the alphas. But then, I guess it would have been more difficult to make the pants wearable separately from the jacket. As it is, I have to say I feel a bit like my avatar is missing a limb. But I am being picky, that outfit is really awesome.

Details:

Skin: DeeTaleZ Skin Kimber (Freckles) brown Mixedtype @ Uber
Eyes: IKON Hope Eyes – Silverleaf (S)
Hair: [LeLutka]-ALEX hair – StrawberryBlonde
Jacket and shirt: *COCO*_ShawlCollarCoat(Grey)_S
Pants: *COCO*_TailoredPants(Grey)_S
Pose: !bang

20140914

Details:

Skin: -Glam Affair – Artemis – Jamaica 07 C @ Collabor88
Lashes: Glam Affair – MIAMI Lashes Tiffany @ Collabor88
Hair: [LeLutka]-JERRY hair M – StrawberryBlonde
Dress: Tee*fy Gina Bodycon Dress S Prints A @ Collabor88
Eyes: IKON Hope Eyes – Silverleaf (M)
Bangles: LaGyo_Morgan bangle Aqua @ Collabor88
Earrings: (Yummy) Vice Hoop – Gold @ Collabor88
Tights: Schadenfreude Low Black Miami Fishnet Leggings @ Collabor88
Hands: Slink Mesh Hands (av) Elegant1
Pose: kokolores

Safari Chic

Details:

Skin: DeeTaleZ Skin A.T.W. Anouk Mixedtype
Eyes: IKON Ardent Eyes – Feldgrau (S)
Hair: Magika [Hair] Sudden
Jacket: The Secret Store – Noah Cropped Jacket – Sand Camo – M @ Collabor88
Top: Ingenue :: Leighty Top :: S :: Green Elephants @ Collabor88
Shorts: -tres blah- Khaki Shorts (M) – Sand @ Collabor88
Hat: [LeLutka]-SAFARI hat
Hands: Slink Mesh Hands (av) Elegant1 XS Right
Pose: Le Poppycock *Afterglow* A (Female) – Side of the road – @ The Chapter Four

Fashion Week

Credits:

Skin: –Belleza– Mya SK BBB R 3
Eyes: IKON Ardent Eyes – Feldgrau (S)
Hair: [LeLutka]-DEMETER hair – SummerTime
Dress: Ariskea// F l e u r s mesh dress //S// Sun at Fashion Week
Earrings: MIEL UVA EARRING (Subscibo gift)
Pose: Manifeste at Pose Fair

Postprocessed

I have been playing a bit in Photoshop tonight and tried new things. You can see the result above. It is heavily postprocessed. Do not rely on this picture for the colors though I have tried to keep the beautiful color of the IKON Ardent eyes as close to original as possible.

And if you want a before / after, here is the before:

The skin is one of this month best buys from Belleza so get it while it is only for 400 L$.

Credits:

Skin: –Belleza– Mya SK BBB R 1
Eyes: IKON Ardent Eyes – Feldgrau (S)
Hair: [LeLutka]-DEMETER hair – SummerTime

Tillie Posing Stand

For any Second Life Fashion blogger, there is one item you absolutely need and which makes your life so much easier, it is a posing stand. Basicly, you drop your poses in it and scroll through them to choose the one which will compliment your outfit the best. Poses are so important to make good pictures. I cannot imagine going on blogging without my dear [Tillie] Posing Stand. I have it for years and it has never failed me. For beginners, it is even delivered with poses from reknown poses shops, being Diesel Works and Glitterati.

Occasionnaly, Tillie Ariantho is adding new features to her creation and you automatically receive a new box full of wonders. The last 4.0 version is bringing a very neat option: “[new] light/huds: You can now click a button in the blue LIGHT menu and on the hud LIGHT page to make lights follow the nearest avatar: button FOLLOW. This will make the light always being directed towards the nearest avatar.” I just love that. For a long time I have been avoiding playing with spotlights in Second Life because I was finding it too long to set up. Nuw, you just click a button and it is set. I don’t see how to make it easier.

While snapshotting the picture in world was easier, I had a bit more trouble to rework the light and shadows (dodge and burn) in Photoshop as there are three sources of light. For the rest, I have kept the same postprocessing method I usualy do, that is cleaning the picture than playing with curves (a lot), adding contrast, vibrance and then lowering the saturation. Here below, you see the raw shot before working on it.

Details:

Skin: –Belleza– Ava Med Red 1
Eyes: IKON Ardent Eyes – Blossom (S)
Hairbase: [LeLutka]-HAIRBASE SummerTime
Hair: Magika [Hair L] Moment
Sweater: Emery – Mesh Sweater Carrie Agre – S
Shorts: (fashionably dead) Scallop Shorts – M Light Denim at Collabor88 until 7th of March 2013
Tights: Maitreya Tights * Xanadu S
Scarf: [Decoy] Izel Scarf – Mint (Rigged) at Collabor88 until 7th of March 2013
Earrings: {Cherry} Larissa Earrings – cyan at L’accesoires event
Necklace: (Yummy) Sea Trinkets Charm Necklace
Nails: Pixel Mode – Diamond Edt. Mesh Nails : Regular
Boots: Maitreya August Ankle Boots * Lion S-M
Posing Stand: [Tillie] Posing Stand 4.04
Pose: Glitterati

Spring Lilac

To celebrate the arrival of Spring, coldLogic has a huge release this week with several dresses, tops, skirts, rompers, and more. For this picture, i have chosen the moffet dress in purple. At first, the colors of the outfit were rather sweet, lilac and mint but then, I have used a windlight setting showing more contrast. It is a bit different from my usual photographies but I enjoy to experiment with filters and I was finding interesting the additional drama provided by the strong shadows.

Skin: -Belleza- Mya TLC Pale 0 at The Liaison Collaborative
Dress: coldLogic dress – moffet.violet (S)
Tights: erratic / patterned stockings – skulls (FLF)
Earrings: [MANDALA]CHaraChara earrings/caravan Blue
Nails: [PM]Pixel Mode – Diamond Edt. Mesh Nails : Regular
Bag: The Secret Store – Tiny Satchel – Mint Sparkle
Shoes: The Secret Store – Lovable Pumps [L] – Rhapsody
Pose: Glitterati

Black and White

Details:

Skin: –Belleza– Ava Med 3
Eyes: IKON Eternal Eyes – Pond
Hair: [LeLutka]-EFFECT hair – SummerTime
Dress: Maitreya Dakota Dress * Graphic Print
Tights: Maitreya Footless Tights * Coal
Shrug: [Cynful] Shruggable Set [Tdrf] – Shrug Suede Black at The Dressing Room Fusion
Necklace: MG – Necklace – Copacetic Tallulah at C88
Headpiece: LaGyo_Angelie headpiece POIS LACK at The Dressing Room Fusion
Pose: Glitterati

Skating

Here are some more goodies from the events which have started this week-end. These awesome vintage roller skates are the gacha from The Secret Store at The Arcade. There are 20 delicious colors of skates so be prepared to play the gacha machine a lot. To go perfectly with them, you will find those very small shorts from Emery at FaMESHed.

Details:

Skin: -Belleza- Ava Med 1
Hair: [LeLutka]-VIBRATO hair – BlondeFun
Eyes: IKON Eternal Eyes – Pond (S)
Top: Maitreya Cupio-Splatter top * M Deep
Shorts: Emery – Mesh High Waist Denim Short Hope Tie Dye Jalpur -S
Roller Skates: The Secret Store – Vintage Roller Skates – Blue Neon
Jewels: Izzie’s – 80’s Rainbow Bangles mesh
Poses: Glitterati