Project Mesh Revolution, and Paper Elves

    Through March, some designers were coyly teasing something on social media called "Project Mesh Revolution".  It promised a free mesh body and head, with skins, clothing, and even developer kits available for creators on launch day.  The promotional material said it was "lightweight, flexible, and ultra optimized", which had a lot of people buzzing.  With the average price of a modern looking avatar in the multiple thousands of Lindens, people were hopeful that they might have access to that for free, and a lot of excitement built up.

    On April 1st, PROJECT MESH REVOLUTION launched.  It turns out, those free mesh avatars were in fact... paper dolls. Rigged mesh, but flat and completely two dimensional.  A lot of people were disappointed, and there were some angry posts on the forums, complaints about misrepresentation, and dashed hopes.

    With 2k BOM, physical based rendering, animesh, new environmental shaders, and high definition and rigged mesh, Second Life has come extremely far from its launch in 2003 on its march towards realism.  It's been behind the curve of higher end games that have coordinated art teams, but over the years it's been steadily getting more polished in its presentation and capabilities.  Some sims are truly stunning, beautiful user generated immersive experiences.  However, creating in Second Life has only gotten harder and more complex, and every new advance makes it even more daunting to learn.  Paths to creation, like modifying or customizing attached items, have been blocked by rigged mesh or no modify permissions.  Some of us have managed to grow and adapt, but there was some charm in the openness of prims and sculpties.  I remember enjoying fully two dimensional clothing and skins that had been lovingly "hand drawn" by hobbyist artists, who did them the hard way, old school, starting with nothing but a blank white canvas.  The artists who still do things this way are few and far between, and I've heard multiple times from other creators that there's "no market" for hand drawn things, that stylized things "don't sell", and that "everyone wants realism".

In spite of this, for the past few weeks since April 1st, the paper doll avatars (called Cardy and Cardo) have found a foothold.  People have been embracing the charm and fun of both creating for and wearing something so raw and quirky.  Cardy and Cardo have found a community who loves them, who recognize them as meaningful and more unique than just another realistic high definition mesh body or head.  Plus, they really are light weight and well optimized (who knew losing a dimension would be so efficient). 

 

 

    Second Life used to be a place where you could join as a total noob to 3D, and grow to start a successful and well known store with content beloved by thousands of people.  I know this, because I joined in 2006 and fell in love with creating by goofing off with primitives in a sandbox.  When sculpts were introduced, I taught myself Zbrush so I could keep up, and then when mesh was introduced I taught myself that too.  I had stepping stones to follow, a gradual increase in difficulty and complexity, but would I have ever started creating if I had had to start right at rigged mesh and PBR materials? I'm sure it's still possible to start from zero these days, but I'm also sure many more have been discouraged or would never imagine it now.  We may not be able to, or want to, go back to the ancient days of sculpts and prims but Project Mesh Revolution has given new users an easier path to be a part of content creation again.  It has reset the barrier of entry, back to the days where if you had some time, an image editing software, and an idea, you could make fun and satisfying content for yourself, your friends, and maybe even some customers.  You can make your own content for Cardy and Cardo regardless of your skill, and there will be a bunch of flat funky folks eager to embrace you.  With this style of content, the imperfection is the point.  The flaws are its charm.  

 Salt and Pepper's April Fools "prank" has ended up proving itself true to its name.  There really has been a mesh revolution.  People who might never have dreamt of attempting to make things in SL in 2025 are now looking at an open door with a welcome mat.  Even us oldbies who've been around since the ancient magic of the prim was written are remembering the fun and playfulness of making low stakes goofy stuff.  All of this is to say that I have happily become a part of it.

 I've joined in the fun, with special sets of my elf ears rigged especially for Cardy and Cardo as my gifts for RFL this year at Fantasy Faire.

They are available at my store on Gwath through May 4th, for just 30L each, all of which is donated to Relay for Life.  They include compatibility for a bunch of the available skins for Cardy and Cardo, and in the spirit of the open creativity surrounding these avatars they come with UV guides and BOM layers to allow you to not only match your own skins, but to make your own tattoos, earrings, or whatever else your heart desires.  I am planning on creating more, and anything else I release for PMR will also include UV's and customization options so no matter who you are, you can start playing with making it yours.

The door is open, won't you come in?

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Gwath/187/205/62

Illusions @ Fantasy Faire 2025

The weather's getting warmer, the snow is gone, and birdsong is in the air, which means Fantasy Faire is finally here.  One of the biggest user run events on Second Life, it's full of exquisitely crafted sims and gorgeous works of user created art, and I'm excited to once again be a part of it. 

    This year it was very satisfying to put a year's worth of releases up on the walls of my little shop.  I have more recent work now to show than I have for almost a decade, but I set an additional goal for myself.  I wanted earrings or something to wear with the elf ears that was PBR enabled, rigged, and HUD scripted.  Real life has been very demanding this past month, so I ended up running out of time to be ambitious.  Instead, I was able to whip together something out of some old favorite pieces.

 

    The Barocco ear accessories are rigged to my new generation of EvoX ears, and are made out of the same pieces that adorn my Barocco masks.  It's so they match!  Yeah!  Not because using pre-existing pieces was easier or faster or anything...  So far they are only fit for the Elfin style of ears, but I will be working on them to support more of my current ear styles.  They are indeed HUD scripted, and I was able to convert the existing textures I had to something I was happy with.  You can still use the existing textures if you're one of the 20% or so of users still on a pre-PBR viewer, but I think they do look very nice with the new metal effects.

This year Illusions can be found on the Gwath sim, though I have decided I'm moving into the Galerie Gaillard and declaring squatter's rights if anyone tries to tell me it's time to go.  I'm not surprised I wasn't able to get a spot there, as Walton's sims are incredible and it wouldn't have surprised me if everyone put it as their first choice.  It would have been painfully perfect for my store's aesthetic but I am trying not to be too sore about it.  I did make myself cozy where I ended up though, and am quite pleased with how my stall turned out. There are many incredibly sims to see, so do visit it and the other Fantasy Faire sims from now until May 4th.  

 

Gauged Elfin Ears

 Took me a little bit because RL has been a bit crazy, but I managed to get the gauged versions of the Elfin ears done.  You can now get the Elfin shape with gauges that fit plugs that are sized for the gauged ears by Swallow. 

 Skin by Alt3, Gauges by A*S, Face makeups by Aerth, Lunam, Eyes by Gloom, Hair by Doux

    You can wear any plugs or tunnels that say "Swallow S" or "Swallow XL", and although they're made for the LeLUTKA mesh heads, they might fit others, just make sure you try a demo!  The thing I'm most proud of with my ears is that you can wear your own HD ear skin layers that come included with all EvoX skins for automatic, effortless, skin tone matching.  No messing around with HUD's!  Just wear the included BoM shading layers in the strength/opacity of your choice.

Skin by Gloom, Gauges by Opalite, Facepaint by Effervescence, Eye makeup by Ivy, Eyes by Ikon, Hair by Kuni

        In other news, I will be in Fantasy Faire this year, which is coming up fast.  I will be working towards being ready for that and so you won't hear much from me until then.  I have some things I want to work towards and so many projects buzzing around in my head, but only so much time.  We'll see what I can get done!  

In the meantime, these are available now at the store or on the marketplace

*~*Illusions*~* "Elfin" Long Elf Ears Gauged S for Lelutka Evo X Heads

*~*Illusions*~* "Elfin" Pointed Elf Ears Gauged XL for Lelutka Evo X Heads

Elfin Ears 3.0 @ We ♥ Roleplay

     Last night there was a last minute call for merchants to fill an empty spot at We ♥ Roleplay, and you know what?  I had something that was like 90% done.  So, amazingly, I'm in another round of a shopping event this year. Wow, I feel like I should call my mom or something (I should do that anyway though).

I've been chugging away converting more of my old shapes, and I have been wearing my latest project around for a week or so just to make absolutely sure I liked it from all angles because these next ones are Kind of a Big Deal.  

It's the elfin ears, back in glorious rigged, bakes on mesh beauty.  The original ones were one of my most popular sets, going all the way back to the 2007 versions, so I knew I had to do these right.  I think I found a really happy balance of honoring the old shapes while refining and adapting them to what I'm capable of now.  The ear size slider gives them a lot of range but however you wear them, they're classic.

I was honestly going to chill for a little bit in order to get ready for Fantasy Faire, as merchant applications finally opened (woo!) and I'm excited to finally be properly prepared for once.  However, sometimes life slaps you in the face with an opportunity and you'd just be silly not to take it, you know?  Don't get used to this though, haha.

The Elfin ears are on sale for a special promotional price of 20% off through the month of March, only at We ♥ Roleplay! 

Also wait, what's this an about an anime?  I don't know what you're talking about, and even if I did, you can't prove anything.  Any resemblance in my vendor image to any particular fictional people alive or dead is purely because I was binge watching Frieren while working on these.

 

Mardi Gras Sale!

Mardi Gras is March 4th, so for the next week I've set a bunch of my masks on sale for 40% off!  From today until March 5th, you can come by the store on the Twilight and or visit the marketplace store to find a masquerade mask for the upcoming festivities at an unprecedented discount.

 The sale doesn't include my super old stuff like the sculptie masks, or anything in the older vendor design.  I really don't do sales like this often, so come take a look!

 

Gauged Drow Ears @ We ♥ Roleplay

For a long time, the only events I've been in have been Fantasy Faire, and the SL Shop & Hop.  Events usually require new items, gifts, donations and other demands.  Even just doing an event in April and another in October was making me feel unable to keep up, but that's starting to change.

 Every month I've been watching We ♥ Roleplay pop up on my SL feeds, a shopping event focused on fantasy and historical fashion.  I eagerly go visit and grab demos, but I was feeling a bit like the sad Squidward meme, trapped inside watching others doing something I wanted to do.  The last time I participated was in 2014, could I actually manage to make something new for another event?  

I'm happy to say that yes, Illusions is in the February round of We ♥ Roleplay!

     Skin by Reshade, Hair by No Match, Earrings by Sigma, Facepaint by Effervescence

 

 

     I was able to finish the gauged versions of the Drow ears, which like my other ear shapes come in two sizes that correspond to the gauged ears by Swallow.  You can wear any plugs or tunnels that say "Swallow S" or "Swallow XL" with them.  They're made for the LeLUTKA mesh heads, but they might fit others, so just make sure you try a demo if you're using another brand.  The thing I'm most proud of with my ears is that you can wear your own HD ear skin layers that come included with all EvoX mapped face skins for automatic, effortless, perfect skin tone matching for any skin.  No messing around with HUD's!

 

Skin by Tutti Belli, Tattoo by RiotzInk, Earrings by Faetal, Facepaint by Loa

Now that I've had a chance to shop around and see what other people are doing, I realized my brand could use a little zhuzhing up, and so I have made some tweaks to my vendor design.  The last time I updated it was 2017, so needless to say I was past due to join this decade.  There were plenty of elements that I liked about it, so it's not radically different, but hopefully it looks a bit cleaner and a tad more modern.

You can find all of the Drow ears on sale for 25% off at We ♥ Roleplay until the 28th. 

Third time's the charm: Drow Ears

       In 2007, I was just starting out making content full time and learning how to sculpt in programs outside of Second Life. I was figuring out a work flow and doing my best, teaching myself as I went and making plenty of silly mistakes. Back in those ancient days of sculpties and bling jewelry, I made a bunch of elf ears and one of them was the Drow shape. I had in mind a long angled ear inspired by the Blood Elves in WoW, or famous dark elves such as Drizzt Do'Urden. Of course, since I was new to sculpting and sculpties themselves were not exactly the most refined method of artistic expression, my first attempt was pretty primitive. I also didn't know any better and scripted them with dozens of different skin tones corresponding to various skin designers that were popular at the time in a laughable attempt at comprehensive skin matching. 

    In 2012, when I was starting to get my feel for sculpting in mesh, I did another run of ears that used a color change HUD and customizable shading that I'm still pretty proud of.  I still sell them, but they are made for the SL default head and use multiple layers of geometry to create the shading and highlight layers.  In the era of mesh heads being the norm and complexity scores being a thing of concern, they're showing their age. So we come to now, where I've really reached my stride working with mesh, and Bakes on Mesh has allowed me to make those shading and highlight layers a part of the texture and not the geometry.  My ears can be a mere 1500 to 2000 complexity score and be more detailed than ever, and offer the feature I'm most proud of, automatic skin tone matching.

    This is the fun part of coming back to the same ideas over the years, and seeing how my skills have evolved along with Second Life's features.  I can see how I was doing my best at each stage of both my and SL's evolution, and now I can offer up a new form for you all to enjoy.

 

Shown with Lavu B's Xanda skin, Hair is No Remote by No Match 

To me, the Drow ears have always been the tall and high angled shape of the most aloof and insular elf.  Since they're rigged, you also can use your shape's ear size slider to shrink them to modestly poke above your hair, or stretch them to go full blood elf and nearly rival the Sylph ears in size  I've been having a lot of fun wearing these around.  The picture in the vendor is unmodified, but some adjustments to your environment settings or lighting will probably be needed to get that truly seamless look.  These come with the same seven sets of shading and highlight layers meant to be worn with your Evo X HD ear skin layers, but also include three tintable bases if you don't have an Evo X skin.  

 They can be found at my store on the Twilight and on the marketplace

Drow Ears for Lelutka Evo X Heads: 300L

If you're one of the OG's who remember my old pair of sculptie ears, feel free to IM me, send me a picture, and pat yourself on the back for sticking with something (anything) this long.  And for sticking with me ♥ Much love