Mesh heads are Clones!

I hear that a lot, 'Mesh heads look like clones'. Granted, each one has its own look and some are more versatile than others. Still, even before bento, there were so many heads out there and so many skins and makeups for them that they didn't really look that much alike. Now, with bento, you can change the shape of your head almost the same as you can a system skin.

Here's the Catya mesh head from Catwa in it's default skin and shape:

Here it is after I changed the shape:

I made the mouth and eyes a little bigger, shaped the nose, tweaked it here and there. Here's that shape wearing 9 skins:

Everything is the same except for the skins. If I can look this many ways on one shape, so can everyone else who has the head. Change the shape, hair, clothes, makeup, and skin tones. How many looks are possible? How many looks are possible with a system head? It doesn't matter to me at all if you wear a mesh head or a system head. There's room for everything in our wonderful world of SL. All I ask is that you think before you tell me I'm a clone because I choose to wear a mesh head.

Landscape With Owl

It's cold and snowy for me both in Real Life and in Caledon Moors. Snow is still fun this early in the season, and this lovely setting made by Luna Bliss captures the mood well. Like most avatars, I'm collecting Advent gifts. This outfit is from !Go! I'm wearing Valentine pants from Day 2 and Dagna Frill Sweater from Day 12. Most of !Go!'s Advent offerings have been mix and match. The textures are lovely. Look at the sheen on the lace in photo below:

To complete the look, I added Xmas Owl Scarf, a gift from MoonAmore+Cureless. My beret was a gacha prize from offbeat called 'I Believe'. It has an eye in a triangle patch, which I love. :) My Jewelry is from PurpleMoon's Advent Calendar, Day 10. My hair is Mara from little bones. It's available at the current Winter Solstice Event. It comes with hairpins to hold the waves and an animation hud for taking them off or arranging the hair. My boots are from G Field.

These wonderful John Lennon glasses are an Advent gift from Yasum, Day 12. You get several versions with different metal and lens options. My nails are from Nailed It, and came from the KittyCats Advent. My eyebrow applier is Ice Queen from #adored. It came from the Winter Solstice event.

Credits:

Usual Catwa head with Maitreya Body and Vista Pro hands

Wind light: *Starley* Settings 2 and Torley Foggy Fogvari

Hacking Bento

OK, I confess, I'm not a hacker, but I feel like one after saving $4000L on a Bento HUD. I'm talking about the HUD one can buy separately for the Catya head. I understand that a huge amount of work went into the head, and I believe artists should be compensated. My problem is that I only use about 10 animations out of the 500+ that the head can do, so I really didn't want to spend $5000L for it. I was really excited when I heard that the animations in the HUD would be available separately. Unfortunately, you can't put those animations into the HUD that comes with the head. All you can do is click on them to play them. That's ok, but Catwa's HUD that plays the animations is what sets it apart from other Bento enabled heads.

So I tried something, and it actually worked. \o/  I bought the animations I wanted, and put them into an empty AO that I got at Oracul. (The one that came with the Oracul bento hands that I blogged about earlier) I put them into the stand section in the notecard. (I'm assuming you know how to add animations to an AO. It's just like that.) Then I loaded the modified notecard and wore it with my regular AO. One AO makes my body move and the other moves my face.

It won't play eye and lip animations at the same time like the Catwa HUD does, so it's not as nice, but if you don't have $5000L or only want to make a few expressions, this is a way to do it. And, wearing only my Maitreya body, Catya head, Vista pro hands, Maitrya HUD, Catwa main HUD, and two AO's, it's 33 scripts. That's with no hair or clothes.

So there you have it. If you want it. :D

Urban Goddess Deck

Gingko Dryad

Normally unseen, the Gingko Dryad can sometimes be glimpsed in a swirl of leaves. She can be found in city parks and yards, anywhere gingko trees grow. When visible, she often looks like a young woman, wearing natural materials such as snakeskin. Her jewelry, if any, generally has a natural theme as well. She could be anyone, on the edge of vision, an anonymous woman going to a club. Gingko Dryads love to dance.

Credits

Dress: Solaris from PurpleMoon (advent gift)

Gingko Accessories from *Naminoke* (now at We Love Role Play)

Hair: Gracia from Phoenix

Necklace: Maiklu from Plastik (from a recent hunt)

Catwa eyes with Euphoric Jade applier 

Hypnose eye reflector from FussyxFoxcity

The usual: Maitreya body, Catwa's Catya head

Skin applier: Atomic. Gacha Elf in sugar (at the Arcade now) 

Location: Zahra's Garden

Windlight: Phototools Lo Light 04

Bento!

Two Second Life companies have made Bento enabled hands. This means you can move your fingers.  I didn't think it would be a big deal until I tried it. As you can see from the video, it's pretty cool. Keep in mind, you can only see it on a Bento enabled viewer. Linden Labs has a release candidate and Firestorm has an alpha version out for testing. You must be a member of the Phoenix-Firestorm Preview Group to test the alpha.

Back to the hands, a free version is made by Kuso/Oracul. They come with a hud with which you can change the position of your fingers. This hud has 2 pages. Page 1 is static animations, and page 2 animates the hands. You can apply an animation to 1 hand or to both hands. The detail is not great, and they do not appear to be compatible with Omega. They also leave a gap on the Maitreya body.

The other option is Vista Pro hands. They look great, are compatible with Omega, and fit the Maitreya body quite well. The nails are also Omega compatible. They come with 4 stand animations that you can put into your AO, so that whenever they come up, you move your fingers automatically. They also come with a hud for static animations.

Here's the interesting part: The Oracul hud will work with the Vista hands. This means, you can use the animations on page 2, and have your hands do all kinds of things in combination with your AO. I used the Vista hands in the video above. Each one is playing a different animation from the Oracul hud. Granted, you may not want to look like the movie above all the time, but it is fun to have the option.

Credits

Oracle Hands

Vista Pro Hands

Dress is from Go!

Hair is from Bizarre Creations

Necklace is from Pixel Box

Hairbase is from Amacci

Caledon tartan omega nail applier is here

Wind light: Twilight on the Moors (Custom)

Godiva Ride

Reenacting Lady Godiva's famous ride started out as a fundraiser for Relay for Life. There's a Lady Godiva ride coming up on Nov. 2 in Caledon that's just for fun. Here's a photo from 2011, and I'm the one in the back with wings.

We didn't have a lot of choices back then: long flexi hair, high saddles, PG skins. We have more options now, thanks to mesh. Hair can be rigged to us, so it doesn't blow in the wind as we ride. So really, what does one wear? Well, here's a thought:

This hair doesn't show anything. Unfortunately, the way it's rigged interferes with the excellent horse from KOT. The mesh of the hair goes wonky. The AKK mesh riding horse is lovely, works well, and you can ride sidesaddle if you prefer. The only drawback is that the AKK horse is very high in complexity, which means lag. Without the horse, my complexity is 28K. I'm wearing hair, a Catwa basic mesh head, the Maitreya Lara body, and a couple of bracelets. Riding this horse brings my complexity up to nearly 300K. If everyone wears something similar, there's going to be mega lag.

A note on complexity: on older viewers, complexity is the same as ARC, which is avatar render cost. It's basically how hard your computer has to work to draw these avatars, hence lag if it's time consuming to draw very many.

Fortunately there are alternatives. There are many rideable animals out there.  To check your complexity, at least on the Firestorm viewer, go to the advanced menu, then performance tools, then avatar complexity. Lower is better. For any crowded event, I can usually be in the 30-40K range, and I try to be under 100K if I have a special costume or if the event requires fancy dress.

My inspiration for this blog however was a horse. This has got to be the best value out there. This horse costs 99L, and for that you get it in 3 colors. Its legs move when it walks, and it grows wings when it flies. It's not as pretty as some of the more expensive horses, but its complexity is under 30K! If walking with a minimum of lag in a crowd is important to you, I highly recommend getting one of these. Besides, it's a Godiva ride. Who's going to be looking at the horses?  :D  Here's a photo:

My total complexity here is about 55K. This leaves me plenty of room for accessories:

This is merely a suggestion. If you want to ride your high complexity horse, and you've got a new computer, ride it by all means. I pass no judgements. Besides, if lag is an issue, you can always lower the complexity that your computer renders. You can turn everyone off and have virtually no lag. The complexity slider is in the quick preferences menu in Firestorm.

I hope to see you all at the ride! Check the Caledon Events Calendar for details.

Credits:

Hair is from Caverna Obscura. There are other options, search for Godiva Hair on Marketplace.

Wearable horse from Tomato Park

My accessories came from outfits I already had, so I'm not going to link them. The flowers are in a gacha at LODE. Search for lode on MP and lots of gacha resell accessories come up.

Wind light: Trilby's Day (one I made with the editor)

Crying My Catwa Eyes Out

Catwa recently released an eye pack to go with their mesh heads. It comes with an elaborate hud that lets you resize the eyes, add glow, make them look at something, change the texture, and even cry. Catwa eyes will work with any head, but all the features may not work with other brands. They are great for photography, and for role play. Here I am, broken hearted, in a fairy forest, alone and desolate.

You may need to go into full screen on the video to get a good look at the tears.

Credits:

I'm wearing my usual Maitreya body and Catwa Amy mesh head

Mesh eyes pack from Catwa

Eftelya 1 eye applier from Euphoric

Gia lip applier from Lara Hurley

Vamp skin applier from YS&YS at WLRP

Fuchia Crown is from LODE, and in a gacha at Shiny Shabby

Boho Dress and Necklace are from Arisaris 

Yua hair is from Monso

Location: Enchanted Forest by Keira Blackthorne at Caledon Moors

Wind light: Phototools Moonlight 05

Another Event Another Outfit

My Grandmother collected teacups, and I have her collection now, displayed on a three tiered table in the parlor. I like to put teacups in the environments I make in Second Life. Sometimes they are up for awhile, sometimes I take them down quickly. Lately I've been working on a giant teacup installation. The teacups spin, of course. You can walk up a teacup/teaspoon trail and have tea at the top, at least you can until I have another idea. My teacup extravaganza is the setting of some of the following photos.

Here I am in the teacup garden. A giant teapot pours tea, and it flows down the hill until it becomes a waterfall of tea, and flows into the riverways of Caledon.

I never wanted to be modern. In my head I'm living in the 1890s. In my grandmother's day, it was the fashion to be pale. Even as a child when my friends were out getting tans, I stayed inside and read books. I went to We Love Roleplay today to try on the skin I'm wearing. It's a very pale gray. Can you tell I like to exaggerate? Another thing I like is birds. Trees too. I had to buy this dress, which has a skirt made of roots with birds flying around my head. I felt I needed a theatrical pose to go with it, something like a circus.

I made the bird tattoo on my head a few days ago. Here I'm trying to fly with the birds in my dress. Up! Up! Through the teacups! They circle me. Teacups spin, birds swoop, terns turn.

Credits:

Fuchsia Crown from Lode (gacha prize) @ Shiny Shabby

Yua hair from Monso

Abadon dress from Zibska @ WLRP

Yarrow shoes from Empire

*YS&YS* Warrior Skin Vamp Tone @ WLRP

Lara Hurley lipstick Gia

Circus Horses with pose from Strike a Pose

Amy head from Catwa

Maitreya body

Location: Trilby's Teacups

Windlight: several from the Torley SciFi series

It's Raining Gifts -- Hallelujah!

Sometimes I like to amuse myself by seeing what outfit I can make from what I buy at one event. The designers at SaNaRae are giving away gifts this round to celebrate SaNaRae's first anniversary. These are by no means all the gifts I acquired, just the ones I could squeeze into one outfit. Here it is:

The Tendril Kitty from *katat0nik* is not a gift, rather it's a gacha prize, and comes in different colors. You do get a tendril kitty with each pull. I'm also wearing Enfer Sombre's Aiko skin, which is from the event, but not free. The freckles that I'm wearing with it, are a gift from Enfer Sombre. Both are Catwa appliers. The pose is a gift from andika. It's nice because you can change the pose with a HUD. There's also a poseball and individual animations.

My hair is from Cheveaux. The Jackalope on my head is from ~silentsparrow~. The color change pom pom earrings are from Pink Hustler. My necklace is from [sYs], and the mini tattoo just under it is from IGOTIT. It comes as a tattoo layer, and as appliers for Slink, Maitreya, Belleza, and Omega. The blue mesh dress is from MSS (Me Sew Sexy Clothier). You can also get a better look at the Tendril Kitty here, mentioned earlier.

The pink umbrella has it's own holding pose, and is from AMITOMO. The tattoo on my back is from Nanika. The basket on my arm is from Belle Epoque. The bracelet in the inset is from Oxide and has a color change HUD. The beaded bracelet on the arm with the basket is from [ dynasty ]. 

These wonderful kawaii stockings are from Supernatural and have Omega and TMP appliers, but no regular tattoo layer. The shoes are from {Livalle}, and have a blue inset on the side.

Everything is available at SaNaRae. And there's loads more!

Windlight: Places Wiccan

Rain is Real Rain from Brazilian Surf.

Flapper Noir

AB Normal is a brain bot in a jar, capable of learning and speaking. He was a special guest at Mary Shelley's birthday party, and now resides in a steampunk cathedral, Mary of the Moors. He writes much better captions than I do. The one for this photo is, "Send me an icy fantasy, and that purple thing above Trilby." That purple thing is a portrait in Isobel DeSantis's fabulous art deco mansion from Hanging the Moon. It seemed the perfect place to take photos in 1920s attire, even though we didn't quite have permission. We crept inside, late at night, while the Duchess was away.

The headlights from her Isotta-Fraschini roadster lit up the night, and us, as we gossiped in front of the fireplace. "1816 was Sunday, thanks for a brain! The monsters are out of cake!" said AB Normal. We ran for the back door, giddy with gin and our adventure.

The next day, I returned to the scene of the crime. Thankfully we had not been discovered, and I spent the afternoon admiring the Duchess's lovely garden. "Trilby can be any flavor. In joy or sorrow she has the power to see. It's electrifying!" AB knows flattery will get him into my blog. 

Credits:

Special Guests: Skye McLeod (on the right)

Details of her costume are in her flickr

AB Normal

My costume:

Jewelry: TVC Flapper complete jewelry set

Dress: AlaFolie Solange bleue

Shoes: [Breathe] Mandy Heels

Hair: Vanity Hair Pixivor

Eyes: S0ng Nell

Poses from **taisaya**

Windlights: Phototools- Hufflepuff and July Light

Special thanks to Isobel DeSantis, Duchess of Mayfair

Kitsune look

The last few days I've been playing with a kitsune look. A kitsune is a fox spirit who can sometimes take human form. A magical forest seemed like a good setting for the first photo. If you look closely, you'll see I'm holding a baby unicorn. I put on a long goddess dress with a train that seemed to match the mood of the forest. Here's a closeup:

The unicorn is animated. My kitsune ears have jewelry and obsidian crystals. The dress comes with a webbed pearl necklace. I'm smiling wide to show off my fangs. I figured a kitsune would have them.

Here's a more modern rockabilly kitsune look in a lace up polka dotted dress. Kitsunes can have multiple tails, up to nine. Here I have three tails holding a big obsidian crystal. 

Credits:

Both photos

My usual Catwa head and Maitreya body
Skin applier with kitsune markings is Yuki #6 from Le Forme (gacha)
Extra face markings from Mad Mongol Make-up
Kitty.hair from [Nani] (gacha)
Catwa Vampire Teeth
Avaricious white kitsune ears and tail from Evermore (gacha)
(was at Whimsical--check main store, next link)
Scaredy Cat eyes from Evermore
Keeping Kraken manicure from Koffin Nails
(Maitreya version from Lovefest, link is a Slink version)

Forest photo

Finesmith sweetheart gown in cream (may be unavailable)
Baby Unicorn: Birdy Story Book Unicorn, pink (gacha only a few on Marketplace left)
Adult unicorn from Tin Teddy
Windlight: Phototools- dream book light 03

Shipyard photo

Bangles from Phoebe (similar to these)
Mary Jane heels from ROC
Cog & Fleur Rockadolly OTS pencil dress
Goth Lolita's collar from this set
Windlight: July light 01

Location for both photos: Caledon Moors

Deco Glam

I've been in a 1920s mood this week. Here I am lounging in an art deco mansion from Edward Ballinger. The sun is coming up and I've been up all night, again.

When you've had enough to drink, watching the light move across walls can be fascinating, and I have....

Credits:

Hair: Pixivor from Vanity Hair

Eyes: Nell from S0ng

Makeup: Vintage Makeup for Catwa Head by Arte

Jewelry: Art Deco Empire from Anachron

Dress: My Valentine from Paisley Daisy

Wind light: Places Pathfinder

Ruin

Many visitors come by Caledon Moors, and I'm always adding little things for them to discover. The mood at Moors is dark. There's a cemetery, a ruined castle, and the house from Dark Shadows. It's a place to come and brood after Madame Bovary has taken poison, or when you learn that Mr Rochester has a deranged wife locked in the attic, or that Jasper will never love Annabelle even though she brought him back to life. Now there are some new poses at the castle, one in the bell tower, and the other by the fountain.

Credits:

Dress: Pixicats - Thorn Dress at The Epiphany

Shoes: Breathe - Mandy Heels at The Forest

Hat: Zibska - Aiah at HairFair

Hair: No.Match - No Promise

Nails: Formanails - Ballerina

Ring: Project K - Antique Onix

Bracelet: KOSH - Multiplex

Pose: EvoLove Fallen

Windlight: Phototools Epi Vintage

Turning Japanese

Today I went to Origami, a Japanese Horror Event. I didn't figure out how to play the game, but there were lots of interesting things to look at and buy. I put together an outfit based on what I got there. I am not Japanese, so please forgive me if I misuse any terms.

The outfit comes in several versions and colors. I liked the red which was bare breasted. I tried it with a corset, which looked ok. Then I thought it might make a lovely beach cover up, with its airy netting.

One reason I got the outfit was so I could wear these high heeled geta's with it. They come with either a black sole or a light wooden one. Different colors are available for each. They are made for slink medium feet, but can be adjusted to move up, down, and sideways. I'm wearing them with Maitreya feet.

Other fun accessories include a very detailed pipe that attaches to the mouth. Instead of smoke, fireworks come out of it. There are several different firework configurations that play. The pipe comes in many colors.

The instrument is called a Sanshin, and is in a gacha. This one is #5. It comes in both male and female versions. It includes the animated playing pose that I'm using in the pictures.

Finally, I got lucky and won this watermelon backpack in a gacha. It's resizable and fits better than most backpacks I've tried.

I paired the outfit with a bikini that's currently free on Marketplace. The texture went with the kimono fabric. Everything else can be found in the credits.

Credits:

Origami: 

++Twilight++: Sanshin

*G-D*: Watermelon Backpack A

(CxC): Fireworks Kiseru

kecho(akago):kokorotayori (outfit)

(CxC): HeelGeta

Ikon: Charm Eyes

Maitreya Mesh Body

Catwa Head Amy

SilentSparrow: Foxlove tattoo (standard avi and Omega appliers)

~TD~ Karla swimsuit

KOSH: Jewelry

Besom: Kaleidoscope

Wind light: Torley SciFi Spiceflow

Seasons Story

Trilby's Tips

My favorite thing from this round of Seasons Story is the Fluffy Flutter Friend from Lovely Alien. It's in a gacha and comes in lots of colors. I got most of them. Their wings all have spots, and their eyes are shiny. Who wouldn't want a giant moth riding on their shoulder?

Credits:

Get your Fluffy Flutter Friend at Seasons Story before July 30th. They are in the middle section on the SW corner.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Seasons%20Story/137/130/28

Inga Wind

I've been thinking lately about how, in the pre mesh days, people really had to be creative to get certain effects. Sometimes the results were amazing. I still like a little movement in my clothes, though many designers have stopped using flexi attachments. So I was thinking about Inga Wind, who made clothes that moved on their own, as if fluttering in a breeze. To my delight, she's still around, and has been working in mesh.

This is one of her outfits, called Angel. It comes in several colors, and this is the gold version. The halo has sparkle particles. The dress comes with 3 sets of wings: sculpted, a static alpha texture on two prims, and an animated version of the second that flaps. There’s also a tiara and an optional flexiskirt. The skirt doesn’t move on its own, but it does move beautifully with the body.

My hair came from Alli&Ali, and there’s a free version on Marketplace, in blue.

Credits:

Costume: *IW* Angel in Gold

Jewelry: *MM* Feather Set

Bangles: Savoha gold bangles

Hair: A&A Bianca

Body: Eve Slim

Head: Catwa Amy

Ears: *COCO* Doll ears

Eyes: S0ng Nell eyes

Prop: Garden Sanctuary from Boudoir

Windlight: [TOR] SCIFI - 2012 and [TOR] SCIFI - Conciergist

Gothic Romance

Trilby lives in a Victorian area of the grid, on a wild, romantic moor. She's been sitting in the shadows by the overgrown fountain reading Jane Eyre, the part where we find out who it is in the attic. Then it starts to rain, and she runs for the house, inadvertently showing off her outfit. Women are always running in gothic romances, after all. (see below)

One can often make a dress look vaguely 19th Century by adding a shawl. This dress is very skimpy for the period, low cut with a bare back and spaghetti straps. This shawl is available in many colors and patterns. This one, in white lace, is full bright, and cannot be changed. 

Inspiration

Here's a detail of a photo of Victorian shawls from http://ellenbloom.blogspot.com/2011/10/steampunk-style.html

An amusing blog about gothic romances:

http://womenrunningfromhouses.blogspot.com/

Book cover art showing Jane Eyre running from a house:

Credits:

Dress: Goplana in vanilla, from !go!

Shawl: Mantones 1- encaje blanco, from **Ra**Creations**

Body: Eve Slim, from Eve

Head: Amy from Catwa

Hair: Petra, from Emo-tions

Eyes: Nell, from S0ng