Tag: Second Life Mesh Heads

Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: The Free Bento, Bakes on Mesh Kalhene Ariadna Female Mesh Head and Body Just Keep Getting Better and Better!

Please note that I am taking a vacation from the blog for the next two to three weeks, except for sponsored blogposts (and the occasional review such as this).

UPDATE June 25th, 2020: The free Kalhene Ariadna female mesh body has been removed from the SL Marketplace, after Linden Lab received a DMCA complaint. More information is available here.

The creator of the Ariadna Kalhene mesh head and body (which I first wrote about here) has been very nimbly providing regular updates! The current version is 2.3 (which you can get for free on the SL Marketplace here, where it has racked up nearly 100 glowing reviews in an incredibly short space of time). Please note that, although the product description on the SL Marketplace item still says version 2.2, you do receive the latest version, 2.3, when you purchase it. Here’s a look at the HUDs for the body mesh and the included starter wardrobe for the latest version:

The Bodymesh and Clothing HUDs on the Kalhene Ariadna mesh body version 2.3

Among the newest features are blinking eyes (a separate attachment), and four styles of eyelashes. Version 2.3 of this body also has a new script system compatible with appliers for nails, eyelashes, pubic hair and stockings.

My former go-to mesh body for wearing fashion designed for Maitreya Lara was one of the free or paid-for versions of the Altamura mesh bodies, where I found that tops tended to fit very well, but bottoms (especially bikini bottoms) sometimes had problems. Often, I would have to alpha out the entire pelvic area on the Altamura bodies to get Maitreya Lara clothing to look right. (I have noticed that designer support for Altamura mesh bodies has been increasing lately, though.)

But over the past two weeks, I have been testing out the Kalhene Ariadna mesh body with various clothes and shoes designed for Maitreya Lara, and I have found that most such apparel fits it like a dream! Now, it’s not 100% perfect. Please keep in mind that for some clothing, the included alpha sections on the HUD might not be fine enough, and also that this body does not support medium-height shoes, just flats and high heels designed for Maitreya feet. But for a freebie body, this is very good news!

In fact, I am going to say that this body is the winner when it comes to Maitreya Lara compatibility, compared to every other free or inexpensive mesh body I have tried! Dagger Faulkwing, who is similarly impressed with the Ariadna body, said on the Freebie Queens SL Discord:

Ariadna is now the only body I wear unless I want to wear Slink shoes, then I wear the free body being given by out by the MM Board at LucyBody, Atenea*.

Below, I have an avatar who is wearing the Kalhene Ariadna mesh body and head, sporting a Maitreya Lara dress and shoes she picked up as freebies from the Second Life 17th Birthday Gifts Boardwalk, which fit perfectly:

The dress shown is the Vibsy minidress by Pulse, and the shoes are the Yuna heels from Sheba. The hair is also a SL17B gift; this long hairstyle is from Love and is called Lovely (it also serves to cover up the breast areola area on this daringly low-cat dress!). The skin is the Elvira skin from 7 Deadly S[k]ins in the fudge skin tone, part of a fatpack of Elvira skins I got for free from one of their camping chairs during their recent 7th anniversary celebrations! I simply love this look, and the best part is, it is completely free, from head to toe!

I think that the Ariadna Bento mesh head is absolutely gorgeous, straight out of the box, without having to adjust any of the head sliders! But one of the best features of this body is that the head is a separate attachment, and you can replace it with any other Bakes on Mesh-compatible head.

The following look comes from combining the Kalhene Ariadna body with the recent free group gift of the Strong Face Bento mesh head from the Genus Project (I decided to play with the many makeup options on the included HUD, and I went full glam!):

The dress is one of my favourite fashion freebies from Coco Designs, the Stretch Tube bodycon dress in berry red. (I blogged about this dress before here.) The red pumps are included in the Kalhene Ariadna package, and come in five different colours.

The hairstyle is a free group gift from Sintiklia, called Raphael; I learned from the Freebie Queens SL Discord that the Sintiklia group was free to join, so I took advantage of it. You’ll have to check yourself to see if the Sintiklia group is still free to join by the time I publish this blogpost, but if it is, join! You’ll pick up many different hairstyles for free. Even if Sintiklia has reimposed their group join fee and you’re flat broke, there’s still a free gift wall in the store with some hairstyles and makeup.

Once again, this entire look from head to toe is free!

Below, I have paired the Kalhene Ariadna body with the recent free group gift of the Freya Bento mesh head from Catwa, wearing the Elvira skin from 7 Deadly S[k]ins in the pineapple skin tone (an Advent calendar gift from last Christmas):

Her dress, pumps—even the bikini/panties under the dress!—were all included in the Kalhene Ariadna package:

And the best part is, once again, I was able to assemble this avatar look for zero Linden dollars! (This hair was a free group gift from Sintiklia, Called Minaj.)

There is a rapidly-growing market for shapes for this body (just do a search for “Kalhene” on the SL Markerplace). I tested out several freebie and dollarbie shapes for Ariadna, and my favourite starter shapes are those from a package of four sold for free by a store called D’Lea Lee by Pleyades Halsey, called Ideal (here’s the link).

Here is what one of the Ideal athletic shapes looks like:

And here to compare is one of the Ideal curvy shapes:

Of course, all these shapes are just starting points, which you can adjust as you desire to get “your” look. I find that this body responds very well to most of the head and body sliders.

In summary, the Kalhene Ariadna Bento, Bakes on Mesh body is an excellent product that just keeps getting better and better! I am seriously impressed with this product.

If you want to stay in the loop about this body, given how often it is being updated by the creator, there is now a free Second Life group you can join for news and updates. Just copy and paste the following link into the chat box of your SL client:

secondlife:///app/group/bd0eb745-549d-a04d-0b0c-28ffb08e88a0/about

To get the developer’s kit for appliers or to create mesh clothes, shoes and accessories, please send a notecard to the creator, Claudia Urdaneta, with your request. Claudia has also been very responsive to user feedback and bug reports!

Thank you for making this fabulous free mesh body, Claudia!

*If you are curious about the Atenea mesh body from LucyBody, I blogged about it here.

UPDATED! Taking a Second Look at the Viva Full-Mesh Avatar: Why the Mesh Head and Body Wars Are Just Getting Started in Second Life

A month ago, I first wrote about the Viva Full Featured Mesh Avatar (Level 3), available for free on the SL Marketplace. After playing around with the Kalhene Ariadna full-body mesh avatar, and documenting its strengths and weaknesses (notably, a lack of alpha sections on the HUD and support for clothing alphas), I came back to the Viva mesh body with a renewed appreciation for all the work the creator had put into it. The HUD truly is amazing, allowing you to combine both alpha sections and clothing alphas to make just about any outfit fit!

For example, here is one of my alts, who wears an Akeruka Lulu Bento mesh head (one of their early group gifts), which I have grown attached to and wanted to keep. I originally wore it with a classic, SL system body; Akeruka had provided system skins to match the entire range of the Lulu head’s available skin tones. And for a long time I was happy with that.

But today, I decided to upgrade this avatar to a full mesh body, and while I was thinking about how best to do that for an inexpensively as possible, I remembered the free Viva Bento, Bakes-on-Mesh compatible mesh body and decided to try that again. (I wasn’t too crazy about the head that came included with the Viva mesh body, but that is a separate attachment, and you can use literally any head with it.)

Here is what she looks like now:

The only problem I encountered was that the system skins that came with the Akeruka Lulu head were older, and as a result there were white spots at the nail bases of the mesh fingers. To fix this, I used the free set of Bakes on Mesh feet and finger fixes available at League (exact SLURL):

This avatar is wearing:

Mesh Head: Lulu by Akeruka (L$1 group gift, no longer available; the Akeruka group costs L$150 to join).

Mesh Body: the Viva Full Featured Mesh Avatar (Level 3) from the SL Marketplace.

Skin: I used one of the system skins that came with the Lulu head in a matching skin tone, adding the League Bakes on Mesh finger fix in the pale colour, which was the closest match.

Hair: Chella by Analog Dog (I picked this hairstyle with scarf as a free gift at previous gacha event)

Necklace: Metamorpheses Temple Necklace (a gift from the 2019 BURN2 celebration of Burning Man in Second Life)

Top: Cream embroidered peasant blouse by Petite Mort (this is one of my favourite freebies, available from the excellent freebie store at Ajuda SL Brasil).

Jeans: Skinny jeans from Mara’s Mysteries (a free hunt gift, no longer available).

Flats: Amy flats by Hilly Haalan (free group gift from their freebie store; the group is free to join; I found that the Viva mesh body’s flat feet are compatible with both Maitreya and Belleza flat shoes, but the Belleza ones fit a bit better so I used those)

Bag: Boho Bliss fringe bag (with hold pose) from a previous Witchwood hunt (Witchwood is the sim where the Petite Mort and Oubliette stores are located, and they regularly hold small hunts; I believe I paid only L$10 for this delightful bag!)

TOTAL COST FOR THIS AVATAR: Only L$161! (L$150 to join the Akeruka group, L$1 for the Lulu Bento mesh head, and L$10 for the bag)

I am very pleased with the result of this makeover! After my experiences working with both the Viva and the Ariadna mesh bodies, I can say this: with the advent of competition from free or inexpensive Bakes-on-Mesh compatible, Bento bodies, we are getting closer and closer to the time when stores charging (and users paying) thousands of Linden dollars for a mesh head and/or body is going to become harder and harder to justify. Yes, I know it’s a bold statement; hear me out.

The Viva and Ariadna mesh bodies are just the first shots fired in a war for marketshare between the established, big-name brands (Catwa, LeLutka, Maitreya, Belleza, Signature, Slink, etc.) and the smaller, nimbler upstarts. For now, the big-name brands have better designer support and offer more options, but, as we see with the fully-featured HUD that the Viva mesh body offers, that gap is starting to narrow!

I’d strongly encourage you to take a look at the Viva and Ariadna mesh bodies on the SL Marketplace, and give them both a test run. Although they are not perfect, they do give an indication of the direction the market is moving. The days of paying L$10,000 or more for a full-body mesh avatar may be numbered!

UPDATE June 11th, 2020: The Kalhene Ariadna mesh body has just updated to version 2.0, with alpha layer support (SL Marketplace link). It now has a HUD with alpha cuts and skin shininess levels, addressing some of my most serious concerns about the product.

In these final two pictures, I have combined the beautiful head from the Kalhene Ariadna mesh body with the Viva mesh body, using one of the Bakes on Mesh skins that came with the recent Limited Advanced head group gift from Akeruka:

Looking fabulous for zero Lindens! The Viva mesh body offers many more features on their included superHUD (such as a better selection of alpha sections to choose from, five different fingernail lengths, and three foot height options), which the Kalhene Ariadna body does not have. Here I just picked the shortest nails, in a natural nail colour, to go with this makeup-free look.

One particularly nice feature is the option to alpha out the wrists but not the hands, as I did for this long-sleeved minidress (a gift from Little Fox at the recent Cosmopolitan shopping event anniversary round). Surprisingly few HUDs that come with mesh bodies allow this—even the expensive brand names!

UPDATED! Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: The Free Full-Body Bento Bakes-on-Mesh Compatible Kalhene Ariadna Female Mesh Body

UPDATE June 11th, 2020: The Kalhene Ariadna mesh body has just updated to version 2.0, with alpha layer support (SL Marketplace link). It now has a HUD with alpha cuts and skin shininess levels, addressing many of my most serious concerns about the product as outlined in my original blogpost below.

UPDATE June 14th, 2020: There’s a new version 2.1 of the Kalhene Ariadna mesh body! More details can be found at the very end of this blogpost.

UPDATE June 21st, 2020: The Kalhene Ariadna mesh body has been updated to version 2.3! Here’s a link to a new blogpost with all the details, including some pictures of the Ariadna mesh body paired with a couple of recent group gifts of Bento mesh heads from The Genus Project and Catwa.

UPDATE June 25th, 2020: The free Kalhene Ariadna female mesh body has been removed from the SL Marketplace, after Linden Lab received a DMCA complaint. More information is available here.

UPDATE Oct. 4th, 2020: The Kalhene Ariadna body has been replaced by the Kalhene Anya female mesh body, which sells for L$1,695. More details here.

Somebody on the Freebie Queens SL Discord posted about a new Bakes-on-Mesh compatible, Bento full-body (i.e. head and body) female mesh avatar called Ariadna, from a company called Kalhene, which is available for free on the SL Marketplace.

Here is what the Kalhene Ariadna avatar looks like right out of the box, with the default body slider settings (the shape is included, as is the hair and the bathing suit). As you can see, the HUD is very basic and does not include alpha sections, but it does allow you change the colour of the nails (two lengths, long and short), the hairstyle (you can turn the bangs off or on), and the basic wardrobe that comes with this body: dress, swimsuit, bikini, shirt and leggings (there are options for stockings and pantyhose, too).

After a fair bit of tweaking with the body sliders (I left the default face slider settings alone, they were good as they were), here are the results. The body comes in two versions, flat-footed and high-heeled, and this is the latter, wearing one of the included Bakes on Mesh skins and included system eyes in a honey colour. The high-heeled shoes and strapless minidress are part of the basic starter wardrobe included in the package.

This body comes with a female AO which does not animate the hands, plus a separate facial animator, plus a separate animator for the Bento hands. Instead of the latter, I just used the hands AO that came with the freebie Altamura mesh bodies, my standard go-to hand animator. (The Altamura one gives me three different cycles of animations to choose from, and they work flawlessly with this body. The one that comes with Ariadna basically just clenches and unclenches her fists.)

The Ariadna body comes with four Bakes-on-Mesh skins in pale (as shown above), medium, sunkissed, and dark skin tones, but of course this body takes any BoM skin. I tested out a skin that I already had in my inventory, called Elvira in the maple skin tone (a free Advent gift from last Christmas at 7 Deadly S[k]ins), and swapped out the included system eyes for the brown ones from the Bitsy starter Second Life avatar, and let me tell you, she looks gorgeous! This is by far the most pleasing result I have gotten out of all the freebie Bakes-on-Mesh full-body avatars I have test driven so far.

According to the SL Marketplace listing, the Kalhene Ariadna body is “compatible with most Maitreya clothes and shoes”, so I decided to test that out, too. And yes, I have found that she can wear shoes intended for Maitreya Lara mesh feet (both flat and high heels, but not mid-height heels). I find it a little weird to have to swap out the entire avatar just to change the feet height, instead of just clicking a setting on the HUD, but hey, it works. Your shoe options are limitless with this body.

But clothing is going to be a problem area. There are no alpha sections on the included HUD, and even worse, I found that the alphas that come included with many outfits simply did not work on this mesh avatar! Here’s an example of a Maitreya Lara dress that pretty much fits the Kalhene Ariadna body perfectly, the Novalee dress and scarf group gift from Hilly Haalan. Even on that, there are areas that poke through at the elbow and the underarm:

I did find one Maitreya Lara group gift from Hilly Haalan that fit without any problems: this Pam Valentine’s dress (no elbow or underarm problems here!). I have a feeling that the skimpier the Maitreya Lara outfit, the better it will probably work on the Ariadna body.

It’s a good thing that this body comes with a starter wardrobe, because it looks like you’ll be trying on and discarding Maitreya Lara-compatible outfits for a while until you find one or two that work. It’s such a shame, because this is a beautiful mesh head and body.

So, I can wholehearted recommend Ariadna if you are flat broke, because this free package includes absolutely everything you would need to get started, even the skin, eyes, hair, the animation overrides, and a basic capsule wardrobe! I mean, you don’t have to spend a single Linden dollar here, folks! She’s all ready to hit the beaches and the nightclubs, as is, right out of the box! But your clothing options may be limited.

Oh, and the packaging it comes in is rather cute, too, if that matters to you:

UPDATE June 8th, 2020: I forgot to mention one important thing about the Ariadna body: the head and the body can be worn separately! So if you find the Ariadna mesh body problematic, just replace it with any other Bakes-on-Mesh compatible body. In the following picture, I used the group gift of the Classic Meshbody with the Ariadna mesh head, wearing a Classic/TMP-compatible dress and high heels from my inventory:

Perfection! And the best part is, you can use the included Classic Mehbody HUD to select alpha sections, to wear just about any clothing with it! More information on this dollarbie group gift from Meshbody can be found here.

In fact, I am going to go out of my way to say that this is such a beautiful mesh head, that you should go get the Alhene Ariadna package, just for that! Seriously, with the advent of so many high-quality, Bento, Bakes on Mesh heads like this, shelling out L$5,000 or more for one of the pricier store brands of heads is starting to look like a much less attractive option!

A close-up of the Kalhene Ariadna Bento mesh head, wearing the Bitsy starter Second Life avatar eyes and wearing the Elvira skin in the maple skin tone from 7 Deadly S[k]ins.

UPDATE June 11th, 2020: As I mentioned in the red alert box up top, Kalhene has just released version 2.0 of the Ariadna body (SL Marketplace link). Here is a look at the two HUDs that are included, the original Clothes HUD and the new Bodymesh HUD:

Among the many new features on the Bodymesh HUD are:

  • A selection of “thick” alpha cuts, plus the ability to alpha out the back, the entire upper body, and the entire lower body;
  • Eight levels of skin glossiness (a definite improvement over the default glossy skin of version 1.0 of this body!);
  • The ability to hide or show both the short and long fingernail options and the toenails, plus an expanded selection of 36 different nail colours and patterns;
  • Three colours of pubic hair in three styles each (or you can turn it off completely);
  • The stockings and tights options now come in black or white, and have an opacity setting (you can also remove them completely).

Also, I have tested and I can confirm that the alphas that come with clothing do now indeed work on this body!

So, a truly beautiful mesh Bento, Bakes-on-Mesh compatible head-and-body combination, at a price that can’t be beat—FREE!—has just gotten even better. You owe it to yourself to pick this fabulous freebie up as soon as possible! Remember the head and the body are two separate parts, so you can mix and match with other mesh bodies and heads you already own!

You can also expect an add-on market for shapes for this body (just keyword search for “Kalhene”). SL vlogger Naria Panthar has already released one for free, and has posted a video:

Cat Pink SL has also released a video about the Kalhene Ariadna body:

UPDATE June 14th, 2020: The creators of the Kalhene Ariadna body have updated it yet again, to version 2.1! Dagger Faulkwing posted the following message to the Freebie Queens SL Discord channel:

Ryan and all, Ariadna has updated again! I got v.2 and, when I tried setting up Maitreya footwear, found that you couldn’t adjust height off the ground using foot shapes. Sent creator a note and by the end of yesterday she’d sent me a Beta copy to test. Problem solved with that body and this morning I got v.2.1. from MarketPlace. This not only solves the foot shape problem, but adds a number of Show / Hide buttons to the Body HUD, including my favourite, Show / Hide Ears. This replaces ears with a smooth almost invisible patch and means I can wear my Elf ears with Ariadna!

Here’s a look at the new, updated HUDs:

The Clothing and Bodymesh HUDs in Version 2,1 of the Kalhene Ariadna Body

Here is an avatar look I was able to pull together using the Ariadna body with the recent free gift of the Strong Face Bento head from the Genus Project (which is unfortunately no longer available):

This avatar is wearing:

Mesh Head, Mesh Eyes and Lipstick: Strong Face by the Genus Project (a free former group gift; the store is currently closed because of a DMCA filing)

Mesh Body, Dress, Thong, and Shoes: Ariadna by Kalhene (free from the SL Marketplace; this body comes with a complete starter wardrobe!)

Skin Applier: Mabeline in caramel from 7 Deadly S[k]ins (this is the current monthly free group gift, an Omega and Bakes on Mesh skin which comes in six different skin tones, and was designed for the Genus Strong series of heads). I joined the 7 Deadly S[k]ins store group during gone of their occasional free group join periods in the past. But I have good news! The store group now costs only L$7 to join over 7 days as part of their 7th Anniversary celebrations, so be sure to join now!

Hair: Rhea by Sintiklia (free gift through The Stay at Home Club). The long, wavy Rhea hair by Sintiklia comes in a full fatpack of colours, and includes a styling HUD to wear each side forward or back as you desire. The Rhea hairstyle package also includes two styles of bangs, which are separate attachments.

Animation Override: Lessie gift AO from GoldSquare (this was a free group gift; at the time I picked this up, it was free to join the GoldSquare group, but now it costs L$19 to join)

TOTAL COST FOR THIS ENTIRE AVATAR LOOK: FREE!

In summary, the Kalhene Ariadna full-body package is a truly beautiful Bento, Bakes on Mesh, Maitreya Lara-compatible mesh body with pretty much everything you need to get started, right out of the box! Go get this and try it out for yourself! I think you will also be impressed.

UPDATED! Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: The Cat Calm Bento Mesh Head from Genesis Lab

Genesis Lab is offering yet another steep discount on a Bento mesh head for female avatars. This one is called Cat Calm, and if you join the GenesisLab group for free, you can pick one up for only L$55, a 99% discount!

As you can see, this head has a striking, angular, chiseled appearance, with a sharp, defined jawline and high cheekbones:

The package includes Bakes on Mesh skin in six different skin tones with brown brows, light brows, and no brows options, but I decided to use a recent group gift Bakes on Mesh skin I picked up from Wow Skins instead, called Elora Bronze. Here is what the Cat Calm head looks like without any adjustments to the head or body sliders:

The cellphone HUD on the right is the Material Editor, which allows you to change various aspects of different parts of the head: tint, full bright, transparency/blend, glossiness, etc. The default head comes with an absolutely hideous white, diamond-shaped tattoo under one eye (?!??), which I immediately removed by clicking on the Tattoo button, then the reset arrow icon in the upper right-hand corner of the phone.

To the left are five of the mini-HUDs that control eyeshadows, eye colours (the mesh eyes are included in the package), hairbases, eyelashes, and lipsticks. (You can also tint and adjust all of these features using the Material Editor HUD.)

Here’s what the head looks after I made some slider adjustments to the mouth area, and with some hair (a free gift I picked up at last year’s Hair Fair called Lara Winks):

One of the things that drives me crazy is when stores do not include adequate documentation in their mesh head or body packages. There is a single notecard in the Cat Calm package that mentions a few new features, and nothing else at all! Even worse, unlike some more popular heads, I could not find a brand website with any online documentation, either, which many brands offer. It’s basically trial and error here, folks.

In particular, the included facial animation override is absurdly tiny, with lettering that is impossible to decipher, and I had to make guesses at what the various buttons did. Not impressed, Genesis Lab.

Here’s a full-length shot, after I played around with the body sliders to my satisfaction (I paired this head with the Classic mesh body group gift from Meshbody):

This is a strikingly beautiful head, and at L$55 it is a real bargain.

UPDATE June 3rd, 2020: Here’s another look, once again pairing the Cat Calm head by Genesis Lab with the Classic Meshbody group gift, and using the included Bakes-on-Mesh skin tone number 5 with brown eyebrows:

I have a little test I perform to judge how attractive a female avatar is: I plunk her down next to the dancefloor at Frank’s Jazz Club (as I have in the picture below), and I wait to see how long it takes before some male avatar hits on her. This one? I broke my old record! Less than 15 seconds! And there were two of them! (Yes, I am evil. But I don’t catfish. I just ignore their instant messages.)

I think this avatar look compares quite favourably with a Maitreya Lara mesh body/Catwa Bento mesh head combination which would set you back at least L$7,750 (and that’s before you spend any money on skin appliers, hair, clothing, shoes, etc.).

The hair, gown, gold choker, shoes, and AO were all freebies I picked up somewhere along the way. So the total cost for this entire avatar was only L$56 (just L$55 for the head, and L$1 for the body)…truly an outstanding bargain for a beautiful avatar!

Now, I do not know how long this promotion will last, so you might want to pop down to the Genesis Lab store soon (here’s the exact SLURL of the vendor panel in the store).