Tag: Mesh Heads

Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: Altamura Akakor Male Bento Mesh Head and Delphinus Male Skin Applier

As promised, Altamura has given a free group gift of a fully-adjustable, Omega-compatible Bento mesh head for male avatars, called Akakor, which appears to be named after the mythological Amazonian ancient underground city. (See what you can learn from Second Life?)

It’s the 12th gift of their 12 Days of Christmas gifts, located under their Christmas tree to the left of the main entrance of the Altamura store (it’s crazy busy right now and will be throughout the holidays, so you might have some lag issues). Here’s a SLURL to guide you.

You do have to join the Altamura Design/Mesh Avatars group to pick up all the Advent gifts (the group join fee is L$25 during the Advent/Christmas season; usually, the fee to join is L$50). It’s worth it to join the group and stay subscribed, since Altamura often offers special deals to group members throughout the year. For example, Altamura offered Valentina, a fully-featured, fully-adjustable, Bento mesh avatar head and body package for women, for only L$300 during the 2018 Skin Fair!

Here is what the default head looks like, out of the box, with the with the included eyebrows shape, body shape, and head/body alpha:

Altamura Akakor Mesh Head 23 Dec 2018

This is a really great-looking male head!

Note that this head only comes with one HUD, for animating the eyes and mouth. There are no other included HUDs for different skintones. However, it is Omega-compatible, which means you can use any Omega skin and makeup appliers on it. You will have to buy and install the Omega System Kit for Altamura. A message recently posted to the Altamura group included a notecard (which you should get a copy of, for future reference), and it states:

Go to the Omega mainstore and buy the Omega System Kit for Altamura. It’s cheaper to get it there than on the Marketplace (MP). (It’s 99L at the Omega inworld store, but 199L on the MP.)

If you’re on a viewer that has Area Search, you can just search for Altamura when you get there. Please note that there is only ONE system kit for Altamura, so it doesn’t matter if you buy it from the Men’s or Women’s section.

Here’s the taxi: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Omega%20Solutions/224/129/24

And here’s what the vendor looks like at the Omega mainstore (the SLURL should place you right in front of it):

Omega Store19 Dec 2018.png

Note that there is a tattoo on this head on either side of the neck of this mesh head (which you can’t see in the picture I posted above). I hate wearing tattoos, so I removed it using one of the free Omega makeup-removal HUDs available on the SL Marketplace (such as this free NEFA Clear All Layers Omega HUD).

Now, one of the other gifts under the Altamura Christmas tree is the Delphinus male skin applier, which comes in both Altamura and Omega versions. The Altamura version of the applier doesn’t work on this head, but the Omega version does, and here’s what it looks like. BE CAREFUL though; once you apply it, you cannot revert back to the original skin unless you re-unpack it and re-install the Omega system installer and relay on the new head. Here’s what the Delphinus skin applier looks like:

Altamura Delphinus Applier 23 Dec 2018.png

It’s nice too, but I think I like the default skin better. In the following picture, I have paired the default Akakor mesh head with the Altamura Robert mesh body, which I picked up as the Men Only Hunt prize last year:

Altamura Akakor Robert 23 Dec 2018.png

Note that there is a slight mismatch between the skin tone of the head and the body, which I hid by adding the Nina unisex choker by RxK (free from the Ajuda SL Brasil freebie store; more details here). If you picked up the free Altamura Robert mesh body at the Freebie Megastore at the London City sim, you will not be able to remove the head to replace it with this one. I find this to be a rather irritating limitation to all the free mesh full-body avatars that Altamura has been giving away this year, but it is a freebie so I can’t really complain. If you really like this head, perhaps you will spend some money and buy a fully-featured male mesh body from Altamura (or wait until another special deal for group members comes along).

Happy shopping!

UPDATED! Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: Altamura Leila Bento Mesh Head and LAQ Joline Omega Skin

I’m not sure how I missed this, but one of the Advent gifts under the Christmas tree at the Altamura main store is a female Omega-compatible Bento mesh head, called Leila:

Leila Bento Head 2 19 Dec 2018.png

You do have to join the Altamura Design/Mesh Avatars group to pick up all the Advent gifts (the group join fee is L$25 during the Advent/Christmas season; usually, the fee to join is L$50). The Leila mesh Bento head is the gift for the 8th day (see the arrow in the picture above). The Christmas tree is located to the left of the main entrance as you walk in, you can’t miss it! Here’s a SLURL to guide you.

Now, this is an Omega-compatible head, but you will have to buy the Omega System Kit for Altamura. A message recently posted to the Altamura group about this gift head included a notecard (which you should get a copy of, for future reference), and it states:

Go to the Omega mainstore and buy the Omega System Kit for Altamura. It’s cheaper to get it there than on the Marketplace (MP). (It’s 99L at the Omega inworld store, but 199L on the MP.)

If you’re on a viewer that has Area Search, you can just search for Altamura when you get there. Please note that there is only ONE system kit for Altamura, so it doesn’t matter if you buy it from the Men’s or Women’s section.

Here’s the taxi: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Omega%20Solutions/224/129/24

And here’s what the vendor looks like at the Omega mainstore (the SLURL should place you right in front of it):

Omega Store19 Dec 2018.png

UPDATE Dec. 31st, 2020: The location of the Omega system kit for Altamura heads and bodies has moved; it is now located here.

Here’s what the default head looks like, with the included eyebrows shape, body shape, and head/body alpha. I also included the notecard that comes with the head:

Altamura Leila Head 19 Dec 2018.png

If you want to apply your own Omega makeup to this head, you will first need to remove the default makeup provided by Altamura using one of the free Omega makeup-removal HUDs available on the SL Marketplace (such as this free NEFA Clear All Layers Omega HUD).

Note that this head only comes with one HUD, for animating the eyes and mouth. There are no other HUDs for different skintones or makeups for the Leila head, which were (for example) included in last year’s Giselle Bento mesh head gift at the Christmas 2017 eBENTO event. In this picture, I am using the default system eyes, but Altamura recommends:

WEAR or ADD your mesh eyes. The Altamura Leila does not come with eyes, but there are plenty of lovely FREE eyes on the MP. Here’s one that you can try:

https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/NSS-VERMEER-mesh-eyes-demofree-sample-AMETHYST/9638616

NOTE! Don’t be afraid if it says DEMO on the link. It’s a WORKING demo, meaning it’s a fully working free sample that the creator generously provided so everyone could have a good pair of mesh eyes.

Now, it just so happens that LAQ is offering a very generous free gift throughout the month of December: the Joline Omega skin applier in all skintones, both with brows and browless, so you can apply your own brows! You do have to join the LAQ Updates group (which is free to join) in order to get this gift. Here’s the SLURL to pick that up.

LAQ Joline 19 Dec 2018.png

Isn’t it beautiful? So, let’s put the two together, along with the free mesh eyes recommended by Altamura, and see what we come up with, shall we?

Leila and Joline 19 Dec 2018.png

Looking good!

The total cost of this head (not including the mesh body and LAQ appliers for that mesh body to match the skintone of your head): only L$124 (L$25 for the Altamura group join fee, and L$99 for the Altamura Omega System Kit). I think the result compares very favourably with much pricier Bento mesh heads that cost L$5,000 or more!

Note that if you can’t afford an expensive mesh body like the L$2,750 Maitreya Lara, there are free and inexpensive options available. Try them out with your Leila head!

Here is what the Altamura Leila head looks like with all the default makeup removed, and a dollarbie Omega lipstick by Poema added, with a Maitreya Lara body (LAQ body appliers to match the LAQ skintones are L$300 per tone):

Leila Head 20 Dec 2018

Looking very good!

Since you can pick up all the previous days’ Advent gifts at Altamura, I would suggest you wait until all 12 gifts are under the tree, then make one trip on Dec. 24th or 25th to pick them all up! I plan to do this for several stores which allow you to pick up all the previous days’ gifts at one time. Happy shopping!

UPDATE Dec. 21st: The 10th Advent gift under the Christmas tree turns out to be an Altamura Omega full-body skin applier HUD, in all the Altamura skintones! You have a choice of with brows or browless (so you can apply your own Omega eyebrows):

Leila Head 21 Dec 2018

What this means is that you can now match your Leila Bento mesh head to literally any Altamura body! In the picture above, I am wearing the Leila head with all the default makeup removed, and with the third Baltic Sea skintone applied. I am wearing the head with the free Altamura Jenny mesh body I had picked up at the Women Only Hunt back in 2017 (not the free version you can pick up now at the Freebie Megastore at London City; that version, unfortunately, does not let you remove the head).

Frankly, I was a little surprised that this was not part of the Advent gift on the 8th day. But I now see they are spreading out the gifts over several days. So be sure to drop by and pick up gift #10 to use with your Leila head!

A 15-Minute Second Life Avatar Makeover: Mary Poppins!

Have you joined the RyanSchultz.com Discord yet? More details here. If you love to talk about Second Life and avatar fashion, please come over and join us! We’d love to have you. My Discord is a cross-worlds server, where we can talk about any and all aspects of social VR and virtual worlds, or just chat about virtual reality and augmented reality experiences in general.

Time for another of my 15-minute avatar makeovers! This time I am starting with an alt which I created to be Mary Poppins. Here’s the “Before” shot, a classic system avatar with flexiprim clothing, and a neat umbrella I got years ago from an AM Radio experience, that opens up when your avatar flies:

Mary Poppins

Well, as it turns out, Belle Epoque is having a 50% off sale on everything in her store, including items from her gacha machines! And one of those gacha machines was selling pieces of this Mary-Poppins-themed outfit:

Belle Epoque Mary Poppins 23 NOv 2018

So… after spending L$725 to get almost all of the pieces in this gacha, here is what my Mary Poppins avatar looks like now:

Mary Poppins 1 23 Nov 2018Mary Poppins 2 23 Nov 2018Mary Poppins 5 23 Nov 2018Mary Poppins 4 23 Nov 2018

This avatar is wearing:

Mesh Head and Body: Jenny Altamura body from the Freebie Warehouse at London City (free; more information is available here)

Hair: free Pulled Back Bun (brown) from the Library / Accessories / Hair Design Options / Pulled Back Bun folder in your SL inventory. Free, adjustable, tintable, uncomplicated.

Complete Mary Poppins Outfit (Everything Except Umbrella): Belle Poppins gacha at Belle Epoque (only L$25 per try during their 50%-off Black Friday sale, Nov. 23rd to 26th)

Black Umbrella: a free gift from an old AM Radio art experience, which sadly is no longer available in Second Life

TOTAL COST FOR THIS AVATAR: L$725 (but you might be lucky and get it for much cheaper!)

Note: I do not normally play gacha machines in Second Life, but because I already had a Mary Poppins avatar that I wanted to upgrade to mesh, I decided to break my rule. I consider gacha machines in SL to be a form of gambling, and I know that some people have problems with gambling and setting limits. Only you can decide whether or not to play gacha machines in Second Life, and play them responsibly. Take care.

Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: Free Altamura Estephania Mesh Full-Body Avatar for Women in the SL Frees and Offers Hunt!

*Checks his watch*

Damn it! This is all Altamura’s fault!! I was all set to take a vacation from the blog and then she issued yet another fabulous, free mesh female avatar as a hunt prize in the First Annual SL Frees and Offers Hunt, which runs from the 3rd to the 25th of November. You are looking for a beautiful golden autumn leaf in the store that looks like this:

HUNT item for SL F&O HUNT.png

When you find it, click on it, select Deliver from the blue pop-up menu that appears, and you get your hunt prize: the Estephania female mesh full-body avatar (head and body together in one package)! Estephania has a lovely darker skin tone, as you can see from these pictures:

Altamura New 1 3 Nov 2018.png

Altamura New 2 3 Nov 2018.png

In what now appears to be a trend for the company, this is another one of the Altamura freebies which does not allow you to remove the head (in order to replace it with another mesh head). This is rather disappointing, but it’s such a beautiful head that you can hardly complain (see picture above)!

Estephania is a fully-adjustable Bento body which comes with a HUD which allows you a complete set of alpha selections to make just about any clothing fit well. I have found that clothing designed for the Maitreya Lara mesh avatar body tends to fit the Altamura female bodies very well, with a minimum of fuss (and more and more designers are now creating clothing specifically designed for Altamura mesh bodies).

Please note that, like all the other free mesh bodies Altamura has put out, this body is not Omega-compatible (you have to buy a full-price version to get that feature). You get the one skin tone with this body, which is actually quite lovely. There are simply not enough free/inexpensive options for darker-skinned avatars in Second Life, and Estephania is a welcome addition!

Also, the Altamura female mesh bodies have Slink-compatible feet, so any shoe designed for Slink feet should work well (the female mesh body gift comes in three foot heights, selectable via the HUD: flat, medium, and high). The bodies have Bento hands, and (in a nice added touch) Altamura has included a hand AO which cycles through natural hand positions, which you can use with your regular (non-Bento) AO. There’s also a facial AO.

This avatar is wearing:

Mesh Head and Body: Estephania full-body mesh avatar (free hunt prize from Altamura in the SL Frees & Offers Hunt).

Hair: free Pulled Back Bun (brown) from the Library / Accessories / Hair Design Options / Pulled Back Bun folder in your SL inventory. Free, adjustable, tintable, uncomplicated.

Eyes: brown Dream eyes by YS&YS (free gift from a previous Second Life shopping event; no longer available).

Dress: Faith gold metallic minidress by Justice (free group gift if you join the SL Frees & Offers group for free); the Maitreya Lara version of this dress fits the Altamura Jenny body well. The dress comes in three colours—gold, copper, and rose gold.

Shoes: gold Olivia heels (free gift from Ello); the Altamura Estephania body has Slink-compatible feet.

TOTAL COST FOR THIS AVATAR: FREE!

There are dozens of other wonderful hunt gifts available in the hunt, mostly for women but some for men also; here is a complete list of locations. Have fun!