Tag: Bakes on Mesh

Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: The Limited Akeruka Bakes on Mesh Bento Mesh Head

Akeruka posted the following message to their group, called [AK] Heads News & Support:

Hi ladies, since we all are in this incredible hard time because of coronavirus, we thought about giving to you all ladies a bit of happiness doing this amazing GROUP GIFT; [it] is a LIMITED head, this head will NEVER be sold after it.

We don’t know until how much time it will be as gift, we will just wait [for] the things to get better in our life.

Guys, I know you want a gift as well but we are still working on [a] beta male Advanced head. Soon more news for you guys!!!

If you are not already a member of the [AK] Heads News & Support group, it will cost you L$150 to join it. Then visit the Akeruka store (here’s the SLURL) and click on either the big poster up top, or the three smaller ones underneath it. Pay the vendor L$1, and you will receive the Akeruka Limited head package.

As you can imagine, the store is quite busy, and it might take you a little while to be able to teleport in. In a second message to the group, the owner of Akeruka added:

Ladies, the gift will stay DAYS so [you] don’t need to rush, and do not click multiple times on vendor, it will not make difference, [the] vendor is processing all deliveries, so [you] need to be patient!!

So, if you can’t get into the packed sim, use a tool like the handy free Teleport Hammer, or be patient and wait a few days. But please, don’t wait forever!

Also, and this is a very important point: Limited is the name of the head, but this does NOT mean this is a head with limited features. This head is Bento and fully-adjustable. The package comes with many extras and nice additions.

Instead, Limited only refers to the fact that this is a limited-time offer, and after it is over, this head will no longer be available for purchase, unlike the past group gifts of Akeruka Bento heads, which would then be placed for sale at the regular price. Once this head is gone, it’s gone.

One more very important thing about the Limited head is that it is 100% Bales on Mesh. There are no skin appliers for this head, unlike previous group gifts; there’s just a folder of system skins in eight skin tones (in versions with and without eyebrows), and a folder of tintable eyebrow, blush, and hair base tattoos.

The Akeruka skin tones have quite a range. Here is the darkest skin tone of the eight (the eyes are mesh, they are included in the package and their colour can be changed on the HUD):

And here is the lightest, which would work well for goth girls and vampires! The alien version of the eyes is also included as an option in the Limited head HUD. Included in the Limited head package is a separate teeth HUD, which gives you the options of monster or vampire teeth—a nice touch, and something to keep in mind if you do vampire roleplay in Second Life.

I must confess that I spent a quarter of an hour tearing my hear out, trying to pull a look together using this new Limited head! No matter what I did, the Limited head remained a stubborn red colour. I was obviously doing something wrong, but what?

You see, I had paired it with the Altamura Juliet mesh body I had picked up as a group gift on Valentine’s Day in 2019, adding the Altamura Omega system kit (available for L$99 at this exact SLURL) to it, so that I could apply matching body skin. (The Limited head package contains a separate box to unpack, which contains body skin appliers in all eight Akeruka skin tones for Maitreya, Belleza, Slink, and Omega-compatible mesh bodies, so you should be all set to go without having to purchase anything else, something I have always liked about the Akeruka group gifts. Other stores sometimes offer a free head, but then you have to shell out for matching body skin.)

What I did wrong was, without thinking, I automatically added the default body-and-head alpha from the Altamura Juliet package like I usually do in setting up a new head and body from scratch, completely forgetting that you need to remove all alphas for Bakes on Mesh to work! Once I took off the Altamura body-and-head alpha, and put on a body-only alpha which was part of a freebie version of the eBody Curvy mesh body which I had in my inventory, I was then able to see the skin properly on the Limited head. It just took me a while to figure out.

So, let’s take a look at our finished avatar!

This avatar is wearing:

  • Mesh Head: Limited head (L$1 group gift from Akeruka; it costs L$150 to join their group)
  • Mesh Body: Juliet by Altamura (a limited-time group gift from Valentine’s Day 2019; at the time I joined the Altamura group it was only L$50, but it now costs L$100 to join their group; this Juliet body is now for sale at the full price)
  • Head and Body Skin: Akeruka skin tone 4 (part of the Limited head package; I bought an Omega System kit for Altamura for L$99 and used the matching Omega body skin applier that was also part of the Limited head package)
  • Hair: Iris by D!va (free group gift located on the other side of the wall behind the front counter; the group is free to join)
  • Dress: Kattie by Arcane Spellcaster (purchased using a free group gift card last year; at that time the group was free to join)
  • Shoes: Sonnet pumps by Hilly Haalan (free group gift; group is free to join)
  • Animation Override: Chubby Girl AO by [ImpEle] (unfortunately, this free product is no longer on the SL Marketplace). This is a nice, simple, calm, free AO with no crazy movements. The Limited head includes a complete facial animation HUD in the package. The Altamura Juliet mesh body comes with natural Bento hand animations built in.

TOTAL COST FOR THIS AVATAR: L$300 (L$151 for the Akeruka head, L$50 for the Altamura group fee at the time I joined it, and L$99 for the Altamura Omega system kit)

Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: Dollarbie Bakes on Mesh Avatars by Rule of Rose

I found out today, via the Dancing in the Square freebie fashion blog, that there is a vendor on the SL Marketplace called Rule of Rose, who is selling various custom mesh fairy avatars for only one Linden dollar each! These avatars are Bakes on Mesh only, which means you can use any system skin or BoM skin, as well as system-layer eyebrows, hairbases, tattoos, etc. The Dancing in the Square blogger used just the mesh head for her pictures, and I think it turned out well!

Picture taken from the Dancing in the Square freebie fashion blog,
showing the mesh head from the Marlot Bakes on Mesh avatar
on a different mesh avatar body

Here’s what the Marlot mesh avatar looks like, right out the box, with the loincloth and wings as a single rigged attachment. The head and the body are two separate pieces, and you can wear each separately. The included HUD allows you to you to recolour each individual fingernail and toenail, as well as adjust the glow and shine on each individual nail!

Here’s a closeup look at the head, wearing the Daydream – Cameo – Violet Love system skin from CUPCAKES (remember them?):

You can wear any combination of system skins, eyebrows, and hairbase layers on this body, but you are strongly advised by the creator not to try and adjust the body or the head using the sliders! The creator notes:

This is a character avatar, which means…although you can adjust the sliders, you really shouldn’t, Weird things happen, I made this [avatar to] really have a certain look and the fit mesh was just there for the jiggle. I hope you guys enjoy this small bust, Asian fairy inspired avatar, I had a lot of fun making her and I really hope you guys continue to send me pictures on how you jazzed her up. The dev kit is included so you can make clothes and mods and all that jazz for her.

And here’s another dollarbie Bakes on Mesh avatar from Rule of Rose, the Great Fairy-Rosé mesh avatar, which comes with exactly the same nail options as Marlot. As you can see, she is a big, bold, beautiful woman! This is what she looks like right out of the box, there’s no default skin included but I used the same CUPCAKES system skin as before. The included outfit and accessories are all one single rigged mesh attachment:

The creator states:

The head can be removed and replaced with one of your choosing. However, it is worth noting that her neck is thick and many heads [probably] wont fit on that neck, I don’t know anything about mesh heads…But don’t let that [get] you down! This body is Bento and fitmesh so you can adjust the sliders and change the face up if [you prefer]. Please keep in mind that because of the way her body is rigged, you can change the shape, but if you change it too much it’ll start looking weird.

I did play around with the sliders on Rosé, and she does seem to respond well to most adjustments. Although you can alpha out parts of the body using the alphas that come with your outfits, finding clothing to fit this wonderfully body-positive shape is still going to be somewhat of a problem! You will likely have to resort to using older, system-layers-and-prims clothing, such as this Nim fairy outfit by !Boaz!, a store that is no longer on the grid. (This is a problem common to all custom mesh avatars.)

Also, you are going to have to find an animation override suitable for plus-size women, because with most standard AOs, the arms will disappear inside the body. There are plus-size animation overrides, such as the (Almost) Still AO for Fat Girls by Voir (L$350 from the SL Marketplace). You could also try using a regular AO with the Shoulder Overrider from Ethik Nacon (L$299 on the SL Marketplace), which adjusts the shoulder joints so that the arms come away from the body.

So even though Rosé’s price is right (how can you beat one Linden dollar for a complete mesh body?), you might still decide to opt for the Piggu June mesh avatar, which has lots of clothing designed specifically for it, from a variety of different vendors (well over 600 items at last count).

There are a few other freebie and dollarbie mesh avatars available on the Rule of Rose store, so be sure to check them out! I will be adding this as an option to my ever-growing list of free and inexpensive mesh heads and bodies for female avatars.

Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: Free Multicolour Skins for Male and Female System and Mesh Avatars!

Dressed in my zombie outfit from yesterday, I decided to explore a few monster haunts by searching on “monster” under Places, and I discovered a great place to get skin appliers for your mesh avatar body, in a wide variety of otherworldly hues, at the spawn point for a roleplay community called The Old Road. (The packages include system skins for older, classic avatars.)

Two warnings: First, this is an adult-rated sim, but if you stay in the welcome area, you should be fine. Second, The Old Road sim is dimly lit by default, so you might need to adjust the lighting setting to something a little brighter (see Tip 3 in this blogpost for instructions on how to do that in Firestorm).

Just teleport in, and turn to the right, where you will see several rows of vendor panels, by a store called NM or Nephilim, which I had never encountered before:

You must join The Old Road roleplay group to use these vendors (the group is free to join). Just click the panel and select Deliver from the blue pop-up menu. You can also pay the vendor L$1, and your Linden dollar is automatically refunded.

Please read the symbols on each vendor panel carefully before you buy, as they indicate which mesh bodies and heads each package of skin appliers will work with. For example, some of the men’s skin appliers will only work with ADAM and Slink mesh bodies (and there is no Omega applier). All of the women’s skins do seem to have Maitreya, Belleza, and Slink appliers in the package, and about half of them have Omega appliers as well. Some of both the men’s and women’s skins have appliers for Catwa heads, Akeruka heads, Signature bodies, and Altamura bodies (but, strangely, not Altamura heads). The packages include system skins, so you can also use them with Bakes on Mesh-enabled mesh heads and bodies.

Here’s a zoom-in on a few of the male and female skins, to show you the subtle colour variations, something you can’t get just by using the skin tint HUD on your mesh body. The packages also include system skins for older, non-mesh avatars.

Here’s the male Drink Me system skin, shown here on an Altamura Romeo mesh body and head, which does require a couple of additions to support Bakes on Mesh:

  • A Bakes on Mesh relay for Altamura mesh bodies (which is available for free to Altamura group members at this exact SLURL in the store; please note that this relay only works with full versions of Altamura bodies, including the Romeo body which was a Valentine’s Day group gift earlier this year)
  • You do have to buy and install the Omega system kit on the body before you can use the Altamura Bakes on Mesh relay (it’s for sale for L$99 at this exact SLURL)

The skin comes in three versions of body hairiness (waxed, limbs, and hairy) and in versions with or without eyebrows and a beard. Lots of options! I tinted the mesh fingernails and toenails blue in the Altamura Romeo HUD to match the skin, and wore a pair of blue eyes as well.

The skin maker, Nephilim, does have an in-world store at this SLURL. They appear to have the same skins as those available at The Old Road in a special dollarbie (L$1) skin vendor in their store, as shown here on the right:

The other vendors in the Nephilim store appear to be newer skins, for sale for L$500 each.

So, if you are looking for a special skin colour for your Halloween outfit, or for roleplay purposes, drop by The Old Road or the Nephilim store!

Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: A Free Zombie Outfit!

Time for another men’s Halloween outfit! And the best part is, the entire outfit, including the skin, is completely free! The mesh avatar I am using is the Altamura Romeo full-body mesh avatar, which requires a couple of additions to support Bakes on Mesh:

  • A Bakes on Mesh relay for Altamura mesh bodies (which is available for free to Altamura group members at this exact SLURL in the store; please note that this relay only works with full versions of Altamura bodies, including the Romeo body which was a Valentine’s Day group gift earlier this year)
  • You do have to buy and install the Omega system kit on the body before you can use the Altamura Bakes on Mesh relay (it’s for sale for L$99 at this exact SLURL)

Both the entire zombie outfit (including the bloody socks and brogue shoes) and the zombie skin are available for free from the Kauna menswear store (SLURL). Their Designer Zombie suit is just one of many free outfits you get when you click on this vendor panel in their store (be sure to click on the other panels too; everything is free here and there are literally dozens and dozens of menswear items, mostly formal wear and suits, but other men’s clothing, too):

This avatar is wearing:

  • Mesh Head and Body: Romeo mesh body by Altamura (a former Valentine’s Day group gift; Omega-compatible; more details here; the Altamura group costs L$50 to join and the Omega system kit for Altamura mesh bodies is L$99, which is required in order to be able wear a system skin on it)
  • System Skin: Zombie skin by Kauna (part of the Designer Zombie Suit package; I turned off the mesh fingernails on the Altamura Romeo body using the included HUD)
  • Hair: Zombie Ian hair from your existing Second Life inventory, under Library / Initial Outfits / Zombie Ian (Mesh)
  • Eyes: Zombie eyes by Insufferable Dastard (an old hunt gift; this store is no longer on the grid)
  • Outfit: Designer Zombie Suit from Kauna (the suit comes in navy or grey, with a blue or white shirt, plus socks and shoes, and there’s even a bloody handkerchief for your jacket pocket!)
  • Animation Override: Zombie AO by -RC- Cluster (also available for L$100 on the SL Marketplace; it even includes some guts for you to carry!)

TOTAL COST FOR THIS AVATAR: Only L$249!

Pictures taken at the ZOMBIE LAND (R) U.S. sim and the Kauna store.

P.S. If you have a male avatar and you haven’t visited the Kauna store yet, what are you waiting for? All the menswear is high quality and it’s all free! It’s easily one of the best deals in Second Life for men’s clothing.