Second Life Christmas Sims Worth Seeing - Part 2- A review of Dark Dharma’s North Pole and Santa’s Work Shop - Dean Lawson reporting

 

 

Listed in the Second Life search engine as "Christmas at North Pole Village & Santa's Workshop” this is a very creative sim that offers a surreal experience with larger than life toy soldiers guarding the entrance to what can best be described as Santa’s answer to to the cold war.

 

While upholding many of the traditional conventions of Santa’s workshop there are some modern improvisations, such as a state of the art runway from where you can watch Santa depart on his Christmas mission.

 

Then there is Elf Comm Central which gives one the impression that the elves are the true brains behind this militaristic theatre of operations.

 

Although I found the militant nature of the sim a little uncomfortable, there is a lot to explore and the ginger bread cookies are tasty.

 

This is a family friendly sim that rates 4 out of 5 stars

 

 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Porvoo/217/133/128

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Second Life Christmas Sims Worth Seeing - Part 1- A review of Winter Holiday Village - Dean Lawson reporting

 

 

As a reporter for the SL Enquirer and as a Second Life Resident who enjoys exploring the virtual world I thought I’d share some of my favourite Christmas getaways.

  

The first on my list is "Winter Holiday Village”, a picturesque and vast sim with plenty of activities and mountain top chalets that double as stores where you can buy Christmas decorations that range from Christmas trees and snowmen, to fully decorated diner and romantic Christmas chimney sets.

 

 

Described in it’s search profile as a "Country winter wonderland. Skiing, sledding skating, polar bears & penguins, too!  Santa & Mrs. Claus in residence LIVE!  Come spend your winter holidays with us. Romantic & family oriented.  Our 9th year bringing you this Holiday sim. Merry Christmas”, this sim does not disappoint.

 

 

In addition to the mountain top chalet shopping is a horse drawn carriage that provides a tour of the sim and a frozen river where Second Life residents can skate to their hearts content.

 

 

And when your done with exploring there are plenty of gazebos and little hideaways were you can curl up with a steaming cup of chocolate while relaxing to music that fits the seasonal theme with Christmas classics sung by crooners that include Dean Martin, Bruce Springsteen, Seal and Whitney Houston.

 

 

 

This is a classy family friendly sim that rates five out of five stars.

 

Christmas @ Winter Holiday Village Ice Skating Santa Claus, Mazur (141, 166, 32) - General

 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Mazur/149/214/40

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Second Life Portraits: An in depth interview with Cameron Cove - Dean Lawson reporting

 

 

Cameron Cove is a Second Life artist and explorer who finds inspiration in the dark and murky shadows of the virtual world. I had the good fortune to chat with Cameron and learn more about his attempts to "capture the horrific atrocity of imagination.”

 

 

Dean : Could you tell me a bit about yourself?

 

Cameron Cove : I'm a real life photographer and graphic artist. I joined Second Life out of curiosity. At first I thought it was an RP game but with no clear objective I was about to quit when I discovered the snapshot application. After taking snapshots in Second Life I began to look for work as a Second Life photographer which was very difficult because there are a lot of SL Photographers and most of them have a lot more experience with Second Life photography than I.

 

 

 

Dean : Your blog is titled “Second Life Portraits by Cameron Cove” but most of your images are landscapes with your avatar appearing almost inconspicuously as part of the background. Is this intended to be ironic?

 

Cameron Cove : It wasn't my intention to be ironic. The reason why I refer to my collection of Second Life images as "Portraits" is because the places I explore and find interesting enough to photograph is more an expression of who I am than the appearance of my avatar. I include my avatar in the snapshots to provide a subject or, in some cases, to provide context for the scale of other objects in the frame but the true subject of the image is the moment or memory that is captured by the snapshot. In this sense, the word "Portrait" is a portrayal of my spiritual self more so than my physical which, of course, doesn't exist in Second Life.

 

 

Dean : Most of your images are engulfed in shadow with your avatar’s back to the viewer, is this intended to create an enigmatic impression? 

 

Cameron Cove : I use one of the generic avatars that people can choose when they first register with Second Life. I added spectacles and, in some snapshots, the avatar is carrying a flashlight but, because the focus of my images are the different locations I visit as opposed to my avatar, I frequently face the avatar away from the viewer to create a sense of anonymity, as if to say, the individual is less important than the environment. I consider my images to be a collaboration between myself, the people who create the sim and the people who create the objects within the sim.

 

 

Dean :  The depth of shadows in your images reminds me of the paintings of Carravagio, what are some of your artistic influences?

 

Cameron Cove : Thanks for the compliment. Michelangelo da Carravagio is definitely an influence. I think he is a master of creating shadows within shadows. The Spanish painter Francisco Goya is another big influence when it comes to the way I try to capture details within the shadows. Another influence is the French Iranian cinematographer Darius Khondji who worked on the films Delicatessen, The City of Lost Children,  Alien Resurrection, In Dreams, The Beach and Panic Room. His work on the movie "Seven" is probably the most influential as this is visually a dark and moody film that spends a lot of time in the shadows.

 

 

Dean : Some of your work has been featured in MAGE Magazine. How did you get involved with this group?

 

Cameron Cove : I posted an announcement in the SL Creation Forum asking if there were any Second Life photography groups I could join that would help me learn about the different techniques used to create great images. I had visited some art galleries and seen some images that were truly incredible and realized I had a lot to learn but the only person who responded to my questions was Othella, who is the editor of MAGE Magazine. After becoming friends with Othella I joined the MAGE Magazine group and found the creative team was very helpful. Andressa, Sizzelle and Ozymandius were surprisingly generous with advice and would even give me things like a green screen studio, props, accessories and different lighting equipment to help improve the quality of my work. Out of gratitude for their help and support I've contributed some of my images to MAGE Magazine which can be seen in the SL Perspectives section.

 

 

 

http://secondlifeportraitsbycameroncove.blogspot.ca

 

https://plus.google.com/collection/c1oukB

 

http://0zymandius.wixsite.com/magemagazine

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwNM1DppSMQ&list=PLThpLfGotClLbUtMa2Os3Ddo2_KpdiDDL

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An in depth interview with Nikolas Actor - Dean Lawson reporting

 

 

Onlinker.com is a social network website created by Second Life resident Nikolas Actor for other Second Life residents. I had the good fortune to speak with Nikolas about this new project.

 

Dean Lawson : Could you describe what onlinker.com is?

 

 

Nikolas Actor : OnLinker.com is a social network for second life’s users. It is unbelievably flexible and easy to use. With OnLinker.com you can advertise your products, create groups, organize events, write blogs and so much more…

 

 

Dean Lawson : What was your inspiration for Onlinker.com?

 

 

Nikolas Actor : Good question, i find a lot of difficulties trying to get in touch with my friends, when i'm using someone else's laptop, more over when you make an account in facebook for your second life account, it only takes one single report to lose your facebook account ... so i had this idea of making a social network ... it helps also the seller ... they can stay in touch with their customers they can check their messages easily and offer support them support … and of course there is a "Newsfeed"which allow anyone to publish photo/video/status or whatever, and it goes live everyone using onlinker can see it … so it makes it easier for advertising and other things.

 

 

Dean Lawson : Before inviting me to your office you sent me a message stating you wanted to verify my account for OnLinker.com Is this a standard practice?

 

 

Nikolas Actor : It's our policy, we are trying to keep everyone using their own avatar's name … because someone may use someone else name and cause him/her problem here in world ... so people with the tag "Verified" are using their own names to keep things safe

 

 

Dean Lawson : If people do not verify their identity with you are their accounts deleted?

 

 

Nikolas Actor : Yes, after a certain time … we have a good team, always someone is online, however if none is online users can leave a message saying that they are the owners of the account in our website

 

 

Dean Lawson : On your profile it says you have been a Second Life Resident for 7 years 8 months. Is this the first time you've created this type of project?

 

Nikolas Actor : Yes this is the first time, i'm just back to sl a month ago and i started OnLinker.com … there will be more one or two more project related to it soon …  I'm working on some Networked Adboards which will be controlled from a single server and the ads can be showed in several adboards around the second life grid the adboards locations will be displayed on OnLinker.com as well

 

 

Dean Lawson : If someone wanted to join your team how would they do this? Is this a paid position or volunteer?

 

Nikolas Actor : For now there is only volunteer positions, because we are a free social network we don't ask users to pay to use our services, however in the future the team will paid for sure

 

 

Dean Lawson : Onlinker.com is currently holding a logo contest, did you want to explain what this is for our readers?

 

Nikolas Actor: Sure … in our community everything is done, by the vote of users … so right now the contest, which was an idea of our sponsors ... we are asking people to make a Logo for OnLinker.com and the winning logo will be set as the official one and the winner get L$10,000 donated by our sponsors

 

 

http://onlinker.com

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OD DESIGNS -An in depth interview with Ortho Vargas - Dean Lawson reporting

Rocking in the virtual world

 

Are you looking for rock and roll or any contemporary musical instruments or paraphernalia? With a wide range of instruments and stage accessories there’s a good chance that OD Designs has what you’re looking for. I had a chance to discuss the inspiration behind the craftsmanship of OD Designs with owner Ortho Vargas.

 

Dean : Could you tell me about the origins of OD Designs?

 

Ortho Vargas : Almost 11 years ago I came to SL on the recommendation of a hacker friend of mine to "check out the VR".  I poked around off and on for a few months, then discovered that it was possible to build and script objects.  I built a guitar just to see if I could.  I still have that first model, its pretty rough :)   I get it out once in a while for a chuckle.  RL I am a programmer, craftsman, and musician.  Building musical instruments in SL was a natural melding of everything I enjoyed.  Its been a great ride so far.

 

 

Dean :  I visited the store and saw that some of the instruments are very realistic. Does your store sell RL brands and models such as Gibson Les Paul or Fender Stratocaster guitars?

 

Ortho Vargas : OD has endorsements from RL companies to reproduce a copy of their guitars to name .... BC Rich guitars, Dean Guitars, Turner Guitars, Washburn Guitars, Schecter Guitars & Basses, Traben Basses,  Breedlove Guitars

 

 

Dean : Do the instruments come with animations? If so could you elaborate on the different type of animations?

 

Ortho Vargas : All instruments come with a hud so you can play then straight from the box so to speak.  OD also has 3 'add-on' guitar huds with a lot more animations than the standard (approx 70+ mocap animations) hud to allow for a more professional look when playing.  Also OD has a vocal hud which again has 50+ Mocap animations to mix and match for that professional singing look.

 

 

Dean : What is the extent of the inventory at OD Designs?

 

Ortho Vargas : OD produces a range of instruments, mainly guitars ranging from your hard rock electrics to the more classical acoustics with a few 'specials thrown in to keep things exciting'.  Other products include horns, keyboards, and many more.  OD also has the only harmonica driven by hud animations in SL.

 

OD has no less than 11 different D4 fully mesh Drum Sets one of which is the special 'cow bell' for those moments when you just need a bit extra cow.

 

At the back of the store is a full stage set up so people can view the optional extras for stage equipment, Lights, Pyro's, Lasers (not just for Dr Evil) along with a Particle Lab that allows people to create their own added effects.  Plus some speakers of which there are exploding ones

 

 

Dean :  Is there anything else you would like our readers to know about OD Designs?

 

Ortho Vargas : OD has 3 stage area's so we can hold full festival set ups if needed along with allowing people to come play whether they are just starting out or a fully established group.  There is a LIVE stage area where we invite live artists to sing or play instruments.

 

For every new release we have a party (in 2 time zones) which allows people to view and get the new release at a discount along with the possibility of actually winning one.

 

There is a monthly 'OD ROCKER' or 'OD ROCKER BABE' who if they are lucky enough to be chosen they get some gifts, a page on the OD calendar and invited to select events around SL.

 

 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/OD%20Designs/64/86/22

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Best places to shop for the perfect Halloween costume - Dean Lawson Reporting

 

 

Halloween is soon approaching and with all the Second Life Hunts, Haunted Sims and Costume Parties you’ll be attending, I’ve compiled a list of the best places to shop for the perfect Halloween costumes.

 

Halloween Costumes, Bedarra Island offers brand new holiday outfits from Tara Tight! Sexy Fall Looks for Halloween. Unique and Original oufits including sexy leather pumkin orange pumpkin faces spooky eyes cute looks cute spooky nurse couples mens womens fancy dress up 

 

 

 

Then there is the Coffin shape haunted house full of halloween costumes @ Designs

 

 

 

At Costume Creations you’ll find costumes uniforms and fashion for all. HALLOWEEN GHOST VAMPIRE, EVIL, DEMON, SKELETON  holidays, Halloween, Christmas, horror, superhero, WITCH, oriental, romantic, sexy, medical, nurse, doctor, vampire, gothic goth, lingerie animations mens women

 

 

 

For those of you working with a limited budget, There is GQ Village,  freebie store: "we give away what others sell, , halloween costumes, New Player, Newbie, Beginner, Basics, Information, Info, cheap house rentals for newbies, clothes, hair, BOOTS!” 

 

 

 

Finally, for the men, there’s Crazy White Boy - Signature, slink, Aesthetic, Adam, skin, omega, clothing, complete looks, mesh head, heads, men, male, appliers, mesh apparel, male fashion, cowboy, hair, tattoo,  shapes, skin, Omega, gifts

 

 

 

Hopefully you’ll find what your looking for at one of these stores so, whether you’re a trick or a treat, I’m certain Second Life has the right outfit for you.

 

 Check out these Halloween Costume Locations!

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Bedarra%20Island/145/187/23

 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/DESIGN/160/251/23

 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Mall/180/83/38

 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Saint%20Lucia/135/26/22

 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Starry%20Isles/223/52/1098

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An in depth interview with Elite Management - Dean Lawson reporting

*Elite Equestrian*, the leading purveyer of all things equine and equestrian, is an enterprise that offers shopping and role play for Second Life horses and riders. I had the good fortune to chat with Elite Management to learn more about their original sim and their new Elite Riding Academy. 

Dean :  Could you give me a brief overview of the history Elite Equestrian?

Elite Management : Elite Equestrian was formed this year as a spin-off to my parent brand, ~Ladies' Pleasure~, which was founded in November 2012. EE is a maker of the RealHorse horse breed avatars, tack and accessories for our 12 breeds of horses.  We have two regions, one is our main store location at Cherry Island, where we do most of our work and have our stores laid out conveniently for horses to shop.  Our original sim is where all of our demo models may be seen in action, and in some cases, even ridden!  Our second region is our roleplay sim in Tamarillo Island. We launched our roleplay sim, the Elite Riding Academy, in August of this year.  Other than being horse-centric, the two regions are very different. Cherry Island is our display sim; ERA is open to the public and to registered roleplayers, and while there is a small mall at our landing point, that is not the point of the region,

ERA was inspired by one of our customers, who said that she was unable to find a sim where she could RP with her RealHorse. We thought that was an opportunity for our team and so we asked our customers for input about what they'd like to see in an equine roleplay.  After talking to them for a week and collating their responses, we put the sim together in about 3 days and opened it that same week. One of my business partners, Cherry Lastchance, is responsible for the design and the decoration of our sims, and she has done a beautiful job.  

Dean : How would you describe the roleplay at Elite Equestrian?

Elite Management : I think it's important to make clear we have two different sims. Our store sim is not a roleplay sim. Horses talk, shop, run around, do their thing, but it's totally not a RP place.  the Elite Riding Academy, however, is a full on RP sim, with horses and humans expect to engage in roleplay.  Our sim differs from other animal sims in several ways. First of all, we are focused on having an experience as close to a RL equine industry trainin facility as we can. Many of our RPers currently own/train/ride horses and quite a few have been horse owners/riders/trainers in the past, so there is a strong body of knowledge about the horse in our roleplay community.  We offer narrative roleplay, where roleplay is storyline driven, and again, in a way that would be logical in a high-end, American-based horse training facility.  Thirdly, we require all horses who are roleplaying at ERA to have an open RLV relay set to our group, so that the human RPers can bring them out, ride them, and otherwise RP with them as if they were RL horses.  That's another thing that makes our RP move more smoothly.  Human RPers aren't left dangling about 'how do I RP with this barn full of hostile horse avatars?' They know that if a horse is at the ERA, and in a stall or the turnout paddock, they are up for RP and they will respond to the human like a horse would.

We have formal RP times, when horses are introduced into the RP narrative through something we call 'Barn Walk'. Barn Walk takes 1 1/2-2 hours and we try to RP with as many horses as show up.

We also have competitions, clinic and other events, including performances off the sim.

Dean : Are the horse avatars in your stores created exclusively for Elite Equestrian?

Elite Management : Elite Equestrian is the spin-off company from ~Ladies' Pleasure~.  We are the maker of the *E* RealHorse, which we made because we wanted a horse avatar that was as close to RL as we could get. We now have 12 breeds, each in 2 genders, so a total of 24 horse avatars, with more breeds coming soon.  We spend much of our time working on our horses and the tack, hair, skins and accessories they wear.

Dean : Are all the horses avatars or can riders "wear" the horse they ride?

Elite Management : All of our horses are avatars. Some of our customers get the best of both worlds, by purchasing a horse to put on an alt that they register as a bot.

Dean :  With Halloween approaching are there any events that you will be hosting or that involve equestrian events?

Elite Management : yes, many in fact! We currently have a leaf chase going on, with random leaves appearing in the sim for the horses to chase to win 1 of 48 prizes. We have an upcoming Cross Country competition at Equine Island, which is currently decorated in their best Halloween spookiness.  We will also be participating in [ Free Bird ]'s 'Live Trick or Treat' at the end of the month, where our Percherons will be providing hay rides to our visitors.  (Our 'treat' will be a very cute limited edition 'Tiny Tails' horse avatar, in 6 different halloween patterns).  We've been invited to provide horses for hayrides at several events and of course, we have our special Costume Show on the 30th, with both ridden and driven dressage in costume.

Dean : Do you have any advice for anyone who is interested in roleplay but is new to SL RP?

Elite Management : Well, gosh. I myself am not what I'd call an epic RPer.  There are tons of places to go learn about RP, but I guess my best advice is to rememebr that IC actions usually bring IC responses, and if you don't like the IC response, maybe you need to stop your IC actions that generated it! Also, IC is not the same as OOC, and if you visit RP sims be respectful of the owners and mods, many of whom are doing what they do as a passion, not a job.  Respect their rules if you visit; usually it's not that hard to do and most places do list their rules pretty prominently.  There are tons of groups you can join to help connect you to a good community, as well. Search is a great tool, just type in 'Roleplay' into the groups tab and a lot of options will pop up.

Dean : Is there anything else you would like our readers to know about Elite Equestrian?

Elite Management : We have built what we feel is the best horse avatar in SL, and we encourage anyone with an interest in going equine or riding to come try them out at our Cherry Island store or visit the Elite Riding Academy.  Horsing around in SL has been a lot of fun and I still find riding my personal horses a total blast, whether we're jumping, driving, or riding dressage.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Cherry%20Island/153/31/25

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TO MESH OR NOT TO MESH Part 2 -MESH HEADS - Dean Lawson Reporting

If, in your journey through Second Life, you encounter a severed head floating through the air it may be poor Yorick, or at least his ghost, but more likely, it is a mesh head whose body has yet to rez. In a previous article I asked Second Life Residents to discuss the pros and cons of using a mesh body, this time we discussed the heads.

In an interview with Ilsa Hesse-Heron (ilsa.hesse), Ilsa replied : “for some reason, and I can’t really tell you why, I love mesh bodies, feet, hands, etc, but mesh heads kind of creep me out O.O. … maybe its that to begin with they all kind of looked the same … that, and they were all kind of emotionless...

Barry Smithson replied : LOL it’s funny you came up with this because me and my better half was at a venue and all we saw were mesh heads and no bodies.

When asked why she purchased a mesh head ღƧραиƘʏღ (bigcupofstfu) responded : my friends pressured me into it lol … I was not use to using a whole alpha system so that was confusing. Also the mesh takes longer to rez but it looks much better quality wise … the only downside I notice is the rezzing. It takes a while for me to see my own head and sometimes I have to relog so other people can see it. Other than that I have no problems.

Blogger and Second Life photographer Barbara Mali had this to say on the subject : “pros, i think avies look much better and realistic, more proportioned, some of the animations are nice, also the blinking ... it is good to take pics … cons: you have to use another hud, some are complicated, i think we are losing our “identity” we all look in the same way now … i think they are working in new projects so you can modify them so they can be personalized, now there are many options and models, trying demos is a nightmare, there are appliers and so many add ons, it is insane … another con, they are expensive

https://freebieaddiction.wordpress.com/

Mesh Builder Lakota Valkai had many insightful comments on the subject :  I am a fan of mesh, but i will also say it can be a pain in the ass for the new and inexperienced to work and deal with … inexperienced users have trouble with mesh sometimes due to whats known as “rigging” ... rigging either will, or will not permit you to modify an objects size and proportions ... With clothing, modification is almost always necessary … and if its "Rigged" then you cant alter its size … the realism with mesh is more easily attained … But mesh is expensive because of the time involved in creating it

SL Artist and Machinima producer Ozymandius King replied : Mesh is great for photography and machinima but I think the next step is to start creating mesh heads that the user can customize, not just the color of the skin and the hair, but the cheek bones, the nose, the brow the lips etc. As of the moment I prefer to use older system human heads over mesh because I can change the expression and manipulate the facial features to create a unique avatar which is important for visually telling a story.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwNM1DppSMQ&list=PLThpLfGotClLbUtMa2Os3Ddo2_KpdiDDL

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TO MESH OR NOT TO MESH- Dean Lawson Reporting...

Maitreya Mesh Lanai  vs. Standard Primmed Lanai

 

The pros and cons of getting a mesh avatar 

 

As someone who enjoys the virtual world with a basic shape and skin avatar (also known as a primmed avatar ) I’ve always wondered why my fellow Second Life Residents would spend their lindens on expensive mesh avatars. Are there benefits to using mesh that I don’t know about? Is the choice to go mesh purely aesthetic? To mesh or not to mesh? That is the question, here are some of the answers I received from the good people at Builder’s Brewery.

 

Ryo Ichikawa (bartimaeus.brandenburg) wrote: “I love using mesh ava… they look very elegant, but customizability can be a bit of a pain… and most are expressionless... "

 

Trixie Seomun replied : "i personally think it is a waste of everyones time. . . they take longer to load . . you have to purchase specific clothing that works with THAT spefic mesh body,  and i just dont see the upside to  them."

 

Evie Moriguchi concurred : "In Trixie's defense, some of the bodies are kind of "bloated" there have been a few where it takes a few minutes for the full body to rez … I'm more of a fan of hybridding.  I really wish there was a system that broke the body into limbs or fitted attachments when huge parts of the body are going to be invisible anyway"

 

Ryo Ichikawa (bartimaeus.brandenburg) added : "Well, some of the issues with mesh is blatant IP violation. Some people upload my little pony or Halo avas. Beyond that, I don't care how heavy my vanity ava can be to anyone's computer. I'll flaunt it 'cuz I've gots it."

 

Josie Edwardstone (tess.edwardstone) asserted : "i like the mesh  its more detailed … i see some for for as high 6 k and up"

 

Kyrese Okami (kkay1991) explained : "the pricing to mesh is high becuz it takes longer and more time to create"

 

Eressëa (eressea.karsin) stated : "Until Bento releases, an avatar's head is not animatable. It's a ball on the end of a stick. After Bento, we'll see…"

 

Trixie Seomun added : "oh another reason i didnt want to git a mesh body was because of all of the clothing i already had that i would not be able to use"

 

Sex Goddess Daisy Jolie

 

In a private conversation with SEX GODDESS DAISY JOLIE (daisy.stoneshield), Daisy replied : "I was sceptical about using a mesh avi because when you first purchase one sometimes they are confusing ... but they are more life like than the primmed ones that makes me like them … on the primed avi's the feet are hideous then when you purchase slink feet which are cute you get this line that never goes away so spend way to many lindens on trying to buy jewelry to cover the lines up but with the mesh avi I have it comes with feet and hands so those lines no longer exist"

 

 

Issabella

In another private conversation Issabella (issabellabeauclerc) stated : "i have the maitreya and the slink … the slink is cheaper but for a first time mesh body not the easiest … i also know a little about the tmp … maitreya is the easiest to use ... i spent over 10k for my slink i dont use ... the slink hud is a nightmare for a beginner … what i suggest to my friends is the maitreya with a sl cat skin cause it has appliers for alot of the mesh bodies"

 

Sizzelle

In a conversation with Sizzelle, the SL Artist replied : “ I’ve grown attached to my avatar’s appearance and with mesh clothes the body doesn’t really matter. However for images that feature "nude" subjects I use the mesh project body." 

 

 

Mage

Othella the Editor of MAGE Magazine elaborated : "We use both mesh and system avatars for our magazine images and machinima videos. Mesh is very good for close ups while basic avatars tend to distort as you zoom in to the face. For non human avatars such as Aldo the Alien, Yayo the Minotaur and Mez the Werewolf, we use mesh. For human avatars we create mesh hybrids. The down side is that there are seams around body parts where the mesh connects like the wrists and ankles but we cover this up with bracelets, anklets, collars or I “airbrush" out the seams in the editing process ... I also found full permission hands and feet which are used by the MAGE models. The hands cost 50 lindens and the feet were free… Based on my own experience mesh furniture, props and clothes create less lag than objects made with prims."

 

Mage

 

So it seems the choice to adopt a MESH lifestyle is a debate over aesthetics, affordability and performance that remains undecided. But why not decide for yourself? The Mesh Project offers a free mesh body and both Maitreya and Slink offer demos at their main stores. For those of you who have experience with mesh, I invite you to leave your comments.

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