If you weren't in Second Life before sculpts were introduced, let me tell you, it was the best kind of revolution. In 2007, it was still the early days and there were a lot of things that hadn't been made well yet. Elf ears was one of those things, and when I made mine they were one of the very first sculpted pairs. I was absolutely delighted and amazed when they became more popular than free pancakes on a college campus, and there was a time where if I saw
any elf ear on
anybody it was one of mine. Oh, those glorious days!
But, all good things come to an end, and as more people made their own pairs of ears, mine naturally fell into one of many choices. I thought of making new ones, but as I was making a new texture for all of the dozens of colors I supported, and even doing custom skin tone matching, it was frightfully inefficient and I simply couldn't and wouldn't put myself through that again.
However, mesh has made it irresistible to revisit them.
Mesh allows me to put geometry exactly where I need it, making neat tight squares in all of the right places. Sculpting in the delicate details and curves of a human ear, with an elven flare, was almost effortless compared to struggling with sculpts. Over the past four years I've had plenty of time to stew and think about what I would
like to do with my ears. If I made that new awesome mesh shape, what would make them perfect? How could I offer everyone a perfect, seamless match without putting myself through making dozens and dozens of unique textures again for each skin? The obvious answer was a color picking HUD.
As I was going to go with tinting for my new set of ears, I chose to customize and reskin the
Encogma Advanced Color Picking HUD, as it is intuitive and had all of the control I needed. But, the problem with items that use color picking is that with high quality textures you lose their depth when they get tinted. They never seem natural or look as good as an untinted version because the highlights and shadows get drowned out. This has made other people, who make tintable body matching items, have to carefully make their textures without strong highlights, making their items seem sometimes flat and dull. But, highlights are crucial for truly matching the look of the lustrous skins that are available. My solution? Making the highlights and shadows customizable layers.
So, finally, we come to my new generation of elf ears.
With precision color matching, soft lustrous highlights, and customizable shadows that can also be hand tinted, playing with matching new skins should no longer be an ordeal. Not only do you now have thorough control over your skin tone match, but you also have a little lee-way through a softly blended alpha fuzz edge around your ear.
The Seelie Ears in particular are a style that is both whimsical and wicked. They have a curve of mischief to them, and whether that mischief is for the good fairies or bad fairies is up to you. And speaking of fairies...
The smallest of the six different ear styles I'll be releasing in the next few days, the fairy ears are a subtle way to show others you're not just another human. With a cute and elegant curve, you can show them off with a short bob or let the little pointed tips speak for themselves under your hair.
If you're thinking of waiting on getting these until I make my inevitable awesomely decorated earring sets, don't worry! I plan on doing them as ear add-ons, allowing you to keep your ear and coloring without having to customize a new set for every look you might want. Any jewelry or other add-on I do with these will be sold separate from the ears, with the possible exception of occasional "deluxe" packs. So if you like the shape, go for it!
Another note, (because I'm so nice), is that if you purchase multiple pairs of ears, the same HUD will be able to control all of them. You will be able to effortlessly transfer your saved skin tones and settings to any new pair of ear your purchase with your old HUD.
So, what are you waiting for! Try them out, there are fully scripted demo versions in the store now!
Out now at the store: 300L
Seelie Ears
on the marketplace
Fairy Ears
on the marketplace
Pierrot, as a Commedia Dell'Arte character, was a sad clown. He was the lovelorn and naive innocent who pines with unrequited love. Traditionally dressed all in white with black, his was a human face with either white makeup or a human mask. His character was more human, he was an underdog and had more flexibility than others who had set roles. One day he would be a tragic patsy, the next a crucial catalyst of action. But, he was always in black and white.
This is a brandy new top hat, not just a re-texture of an old one so it is mesh, and one object. If you haven't upgraded your viewer to be able to see it, why not? Get to it, you fabulous fashion conscious luddite! 
The picture is a little homage to its ancestor. I think you'll notice though, that this one is a bit simpler, without tassels or chains like the first one. That's where it's earned the "Puro" in its name, this one is just the shape for those folks who like to keep things simple.
I have plans to make a more ornate version, but just for now I'm going to try and offer as many basic shapes of masks as I can. So the tassels and chains will come later! (wow, that sounds pretty raunchy...)
After so much tweaking, revisions and refinement and then finally another round of neurotic scrutiny, I am very proud to share this mask with you. The Volto Altezza is an ornate and elegant visage, with a proud crown of coque feathers. Altezza is Italian for "loftiness", and "sua altezza" is an equivalent expression to "your highness". With the refinement and detail of the delicate metal work, no one will doubt that you're worthy of the title.
The most notable difference aside from the features is that he doesn't have customizable lips. I found it just far too feminine on him, so I hope you'll find the feather crown enough color. Speaking of, I've made the mask and crown separate. If you like, you can wear just the crown or just the mask, and I've even included an option for just the crown with no feathers if you want to wear something in your hair.
Sonya Marmurek
Can't say I'm too surprised to be honest
Aceius and Sarah took home the debut of a mask that's been almost a year in the making. One of the first things I tried making when I was accepted into the closed mesh beta was a new Volto mask. It was almost the first thing I did after signing the NDA and I worked on it off and on until I could get a good base mesh, and then neat geometry, and then finally start playing with shape and form. But more on that later when I actually release them, I need to do the colors first!
Myself in an outfit by Surreal LeShelle of Deviance, I coerced her into doing a recolor
The Naso Scaramouche is another classical Commedia Dell'Arte style of mask in the same vein as the Naso Turco. Like many traditional carnivale masks it's based off of a character: in this case, Scaramuccia or Scaramouche. His character was a dashing lady's man who was clever and witty, and always ended up turning tricky situations into an advantage. Scaramouche was first and foremost a comedian and was always well received by audiences.
The differences between these two masks are subtle, the most noticeable of them being that one has a nose piece and the other doesn't. I simply couldn't decide if I liked it better with or without so I compromised. The other difference is in shape: the Civetta is always more "owl" shaped (Civetta actually means owl) with a pronounced pinch in at the nose. The Columbina is a more feminine line that goes straight across the face and curls up to a taper by the temples.
The Naso Turco is a traditional mask from Commedia Dell'Arte. There are a few different types of Naso masks (meaning "nose"), but this is one of the most iconic and popular. The Turco in the name might refer to the noble family of Verona, or perhaps to Cesare Turco, a renaissance artist. The Naso Turco has a very distinctive arching curve to the nose, as opposed to others which are perhaps shorter or more crooked.
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, spent with family and friends. I decided at the 11th hour to just let it go, and enjoy the holiday without stressing over releasing it. Unfortunately, that mesh project is not the only one I've run into trouble with since then, and right now I have multiple projects in varying states of completion. That's usually how things are, but even then I usually release something in the meantime.
