Gauged Sylph Ears and Updates

    I'm pleased with how the Sylph ears turned out, and how they've been received so far.  They're selling better than they ever have, and I'm so happy to see so many fairies and pixies living their best big eared lives.  I've been enjoying seeing the pictures shared on Primfeed of people rocking them.  Something I've noticed, though, is how popular gauged ears are, especially the ones by Luciayes Magic of Swallow.  So I decided to do some trial and error, and adapt the Sylph ears into a gauged version you can wear with plugs.

 

 

It only took me about thirty tries to get the ear lobes just right!  It actually wasn't so bad, just a lot of tiny little tweaks and peering at a side by side of Blender and my avi on Aditi.  The result is that I've tried about a dozen different ear plugs designed for the Swallow XL gauged ears from about seven different creators, and seem to have managed to get them to line up just right.  There are new bases, highlights and shading layers, but they still let you use your Evo X ear skins included with your skins. With the big hole in your ear, they now have a seam on the inside of the ear lobe, but I've added another BoM layer seam fix if your plugs/gauges happen to expose it.  Oh, and since I forgot to mention it last time, these DO include both the male and female fits for LeLUTKA mesh heads.

I'm also updating the non-gauged Sylph ears with a couple more tintable skin bases, due to some issues with color matching on darker skins. 

In my excitement to get the Sylph ears out, I forgot to mention I have been experimenting with open source PBR materials, so I updated the Agatha Witch's hat to try them out.  The felt looks very nice and much more realistic with lighting now.  However, since some people were having issues on viewers that aren't PBR compatible yet, I included the original hat as well.  There's also a free mask out right now at my Shop & Hop stall.  Don't forget to swing by before Nov 4th to grab your copy!

Illusions @ Halloween Shop & Hop 2024

Gauged XL Sylph Ears: 300L

Illusions @ SL Halloween Shop & Hop 2024

    The weather is getting cooler and the leaves are falling, which means it's spooky season again!  The Second Life 2024 Halloween Shop & Hop starts tomorrow, and I'm excited to share what I've been working on with you.

    Since July of last year I've been experimenting, tinkering, messing about and generally fiddling with some items I made that have aged rather poorly.  They were created in an age where the Second Life avatar default head was the only option.  Bakes on mesh wasn't even a glint in a Linden's eye, and rigging was a scary new technology.  I looked at them and thought "man, I should update these, how can I do that?"  also, "how can I make these better than they ever were?" 

 This path led me to finally giving rigging a go, learning all about bakes on mesh, spending far too much time messing with UV maps and becoming a content partner with LeLUTKA to bring you yet another iteration of my elf ears. 

 

     

    For something that looks almost the same as the originals, a lot of work has gone into them.  I refined the geometry to be more efficient and detailed, and since they don't need separate highlight and shadow geometry they are less than a tenth (!) the avatar complexity cost of the original Sylph ears. Thanks to LeLUTKA's content creator program, I was able to make them directly onto their Evo X heads for a seamless fit . These are rigged, so they will always be in the right position, and you can stretch and resize them using the Ear Size slider in the SL shape editor.  They will even react to ear position animations like those from the LeLUTKA head HUD that will let you make them stick out as much as you like, or lie sleekly against your head. 

    One of the most annoying things with any item that's supposed to match your avatar's skin is fiddling with color matching.  Even when you think you have a good match, different lighting conditions will sometimes show a seam.  Getting the right color is a pain!  So I think the most silly and downright obsessive feature I just had to do was to remap the UV's of my ear's mesh to match with Evo X ear skins.  That's right, instead of using my own damn textures like a sane person, I decided I just had to make them match the ear textures that come with your favorite skins.  So, if you are wearing an Evo X skin when you wear these ears, they will automatically match your skin.  Now, I won't pretend it's perfect, my mesh is dramatically different from a human ear and there is some wacky stretching and odd positioning of details and highlights on some skins.  That is why I made separate bakes on mesh tintable highlight and shadow layers that will help add definition in the right places.  They come in seven different intensities for a wide variety of skin tones, and you can mix and match them.  If that doesn't work out or if your skin didn't come with an ear skin layer, then no worries, there is also a tintable base layer included with them if you need to do a manual color match.  

     Another must have feature is of course, is being able to wear earrings!  I have made sure to position the ear lobes so that they are comparable with the default LeLUTKA human and elf add-on earrings.  Rigged earrings made for the LeL ears should work with these no problem.  Of course, I have plans to release my own but life is chaos, we'll see.

I've learned a lot from these, and spent far too much of the little time I have nowadays griping out loud asking "WHY is it doing THAT?.  With the help of some patient and friendly QA testers who helped me put them through their paces, I'm finally happy with the results.  I'm hoping to make more supporting content for these, and now that the hardest work has been done, convert more styles of ears over.  However, I don't want to be too ambitious, so I will not say they are definitely coming, but that's certainly what I'm hoping for right now.

These magnificent head appendages are available at the Sugarplum sim at the Halloween Shop & Hop for 20% off, or on the marketplace if you don't feel like teleporting.

*~*Illusions*~* Sylph Ears LeL EVO X: 300L

Illusions @ Fantasy Faire 2024

 

 I have to say it's nice to be back at the faire again. This year I actually made it.  Of course, I still didn't finish all of the things I wanted to, but I have one new thing!

 

Agatha is a whimsical yet refined witch's hat in sophisticated wool felt.  It's accessorized by a grosgrain ribbon bow that can be changed to white, grey or black, and tints beautifully.  I actually experimented with making this hat with the same BOM options I did with the Ladro mask, but found the grey and white texture options to tint so well there was no point.  The hat itself comes with my usual flight of rainbow colors, and is an excellent addition to any witch's wardrobe.

However, if that isn't enough colors for you, I put together this special rainbow coloration as my RFL gift.  100% of the proceeds for this item will go to Relay for Life.

Illusions can be found on the ethereal and beautiful Avalon sim, yet another stunning build by the talented Mr. Alia Baroque.

Illusions @ Fantasy Faire 2024

Illusions @ SL Halloween Shop & Hop 2023

It's time for this year's Halloween Shop & Hop!

 If you stopped by the SL20B Shop & Hop the offerings will be familiar, but there is a free gift out for people to enjoy.  I was rummaging in my file folders for abandoned projects and found this charming, unreleased Halloween Batty mask which was perfect for the season. 

    I honestly don't know if I've sent it out as a gift before, but if you're so hardcore that you actually have a copy of this mask already, it might still be worth grabbing as I made a couple of improvements and it will be a lot smoother with better LOD's.  

 

My big achievement this round, however, aside from releasing the Ladro Mask, is that I finally brought my stall design out of 2008 and into the mesh-tastic present.  I had some architectural elements I created when, once upon a time, I thought I would actually finish a new sim build (pour one out for broken dreams), and realized they could find a new life here.  I know I can do better with more time, but this will do for now.

 

The Shop & Hop runs from October 5th to November 5th, and my other items available are 20% off while the event runs.  Come grab your Batty mask, and lots of other goodies!

Illusions can be found on the Tinseled sim

Ladro Mask

It's a spooky season surprise!  I have another release, just in time for October, and for Fallen Gods' 16th anniversary celebration.  Unlike me, the distinguished Mr. Baroque never took a multi-year hiatus which makes his achievement certainly worth celebrating.  He and his partner were kind enough to invite me to have a spot in the marketplace on Selidor and that was good motivation for me to finish up a project I've been working on in drips and drabs.

Something that surprised me, once I started paying attention to my market listings again, is that of all the things that I sell in my store one of my old sculpted masks from 2011 (!!) was still selling pretty regularly.  While that's quite a compliment, I realized if that's still selling then it's about time people have a mesh option.

The Ladro mask is a classic rogue's style bandit mask, made of supple leather and tied behind the head with a knotted cloth.  Included is a version of the mask without the sash as well, and two different fits for masculine or feminine faces.  One has a pronounced brow and wide forehead, the other has softer features.  If that's not enough options for you, I also am trying out something fun with Bakes on Mesh.

While it's been out for a few years now, Bakes on Mesh is new to me, and after learning about it and seeing what it's all about I decided to experiment with it.  I figure everyone else is used to it by now but just in case you're out of touch like me or haven't been paying much attention, here's the basics:  When you wear an object, instead of using a texture from inventory, you can now assign it to read a texture from a wearable clothing layer.  If you wear both the object and the clothing at the same time, the item looks to the clothing layer for its color information and updates it along with your skin and other worn textures to show the viewer one, "baked on mesh" texture to download.  Now, the cool thing about this is that there's virtually no limit to how many clothing layers you can wear, which means that, without any scripts or extra geometry, you can have a tintable base layer underneath a shading and highlight layer, allowing you to infinitely customize the color as you wish.

 

    In the past I've considered doing this with actual geometry layers, in fact I did do this with my ears, but decided against it as a common practice because that much extra weight on your character was... well, quite gauche.  Now we can have the best of both worlds: any color you'd like, but without losing the fidelity of the texture details.  You'll notice, though, that I am also still selling this as a scripted mask with my usual texture choices.  I am still experimenting with BoM and not willing to completely swap over just yet.  Let me know how this works for you, if it was easy to use, and if you prefer it to the scripts.  I think some of my pre-made textures are still nicer than some of the similar colors I got with tinting, but if people really like this I'm willing to start implementing this with existing designs.

And, before you ask, yes I've been working on this for the elf ears!  It's still in progress.

The Ladro Mask can be exclusively found on Selidor for the next few days, in the beautiful marketplace there.  It will be released more generally on October 5th at my store and at the upcoming  2023 Halloween Hop and Shop.

Ladro Bandit Mask: 325L

Illusions @ the Second Life 20th Birthday Shop & Hop

Second Life is turning 20 this year. I remember a time in 2006 where I signed up for this odd not-a-game game, when people who had joined in 2003 seemed like they had been around for ages.  I marveled at the venerable last names like Thereian and Midnight.  I now get to be one of those dinosaurs I guess, figuratively and literally, as there are some really cool dinosaur avatars out there now.  There's actually only eight of us Suens left who show up in search (though I know there may be others with their profiles hidden).  It's pretty amazing to me that Second Life has grown and evolved so much in that time and not only stayed active but remained one of the largest virtual worlds out there.  I know I've put it aside for a long time but it's actually really cool that it's just been there still doing its thing, improving and advancing.

Since I missed out on Fantasy Faire, I felt like I should join in the celebration. Illusions is a part of the celebratory SL20B Shop and Hop, and everything at my stall is 20% off!  With my long term inactivity, I haven't exactly done any sales in a long time so enjoy it while it lasts!

 

 

You can find my stall on the Snowflake sim and I've put out a lot of great stuff.  I know my store's look is pretty dated but I'll get around to that eventually.   You can grab the new Curia masks for 20% off while Shop & Hop runs.  It goes until July 11th, so swing on by before then.

Illusions @ SL20B

Civetta and Farafallina Curia

I'm happy to say that I did get a chance to do as I hoped, and have another Curia mask to share with you all. Two, in fact!

The Civetta Curia was the original partner to the Columbina Curia, and had the same issues with its construction that bothered me.  Despite that, it's been the "mascot" mask of my brand for many years, so I'm happy to replace it with this newer version.  Again, the geometry is much smoother and more efficient, the shapes a bit more defined, and I got rid of a central element I had been waffling back and forth over.  After six or seven years my blog banner could use a refresh, huh?

Speaking of refreshes, the Farafallina was the first mesh mask I released, in fact it was the first mesh item I ever released, way back in 2011.  I was just learning how to do things, and while the geometry was really not that bad, I had sort of goofed on the UV seams.  I decided to give it a refresh, give it the "basic mask collection" treatment, and update its color selection to match the other basic masks I have out right now.  I ended up adding in those metal textures after all.  Of course, if it's going to be a basic mask, it needed a fancier version.

The Farafallina is slimmer and more delicate than the Civetta, but they were similar enough shapes that it made adapting the pieces pretty simple.  This one has become a favorite to wear around.  I don't know if it has the surface area for the Barocco details but I like how this one turned out.

These are available now at my store on the Twilight and on the marketplace.

 

Civetta Curia: 295L

Farafallina Curia: 295L

Curia... again

 When I first started getting comfortable with making mesh items one of the first masks I made was the Columbina Curia, a meditation on pretty, curly flourishes that I can't seem to get enough of.  I had fun designing and sculpting and tracing pretty swirls all over my new mesh masks.  Unfortunately, now that I am looking at all of my mesh items as a collection I realized it's a weak link.  As I took new pictures of my masks to update all of my vendors I just couldn't quite get myself to give the Civetta and Columbina Curia the same treatment.  At the time, I just didn't have the chops to do the concept justice, so I made some clumsy mistakes. 

With the new standardized basic shapes providing a potent platform for pretty permutations, I wanted to revisit the Curia.  I opened up some 10(!) year old files and threw my improved skill and experience at a new version to satisfy my insatiable perfectionism.

The new Columbina Curia uses the same base mask and color options as the basic Columbina, along with my six metal trim colors for the flourishes.  The geometry is smoother, the textures are silky smooth, and the mask is a single object now to make fitting much easier and more customizable to your avatar.

For comparison, here is the old version in the same color combo:

I won't pretend it's terrible, I can understand it still has some appeal.  Where I see the flaws, I know some people might see the charm.  The two versions are distinct enough from each other that the old version could be missed if I did away with it completely.  Because of this, I'm going to keep the old version for sale, but the vendors will not be updated to the new standard and the prices will be discounted.  

I think it's funny that in that original blog post I predicted that one day I would look back with the "facepalm of hindsight" at this mask.  Well, now that we have reached "one day" I will be more kind to myself, and recognize that it held up pretty well considering its age.  I just can't help but always want to strive for better.

Like the Barocco pieces, I plan on creating Curia versions of some of my other basic masks, starting with the Civetta and I'll see where I go from there.  

The new Columbina Curia is out now at my store on the Twilight and on the marketplace.

Columbina Curia: 295L

Civetta and Civetta Barocco

 I can't explain how or why but in the past month I've had a bug, an itch, to fiddle with things on Second Life.  This hasn't happened to me in a long time and I've seized upon it in order to get some things done around here.  

It was long overdue that I update my mesh items to my "new" vendor system (from 2017 oh my god how was that six years ago?) and took a good look at my store inventory.  I got rid of some things that were still up at the Twilight that I think were truly obsolete and reduced the price on many older sculpted items.  I am still in the process of going through those and plan on reducing more items to reflect their vintage.  I was happy to see some things still look pretty good in this day and age of fancy bento stuff and newfangled animesh but I still felt like making some tweaks where I could.  

I've added some new colors to the Bauta, Mezza, and Columbina masks, and their Barocco counterparts.  I decided to add orange and brown, but since I can't leave well enough alone I also added more metallic options than just the gold and silver so they now have all of my six metal options too.   It makes for a very luscious effect and... oh... right... yeah, I made another one. 

 

I know, I know, another release?  Has it been a year already?  No, I just stayed up late every night after the baby fell asleep because I realized that I had never just released a simple mesh version of the Civetta mask.  There was the Civetta Curia, the Civetta Musica, but where was just the Civetta?  Gotta have those simple options.

"Civetta", the Italian word for owl, is a nod to the shape of the mask and how it frames the eyes.  What once was too simple to be exciting to my novelty starved brain is now totally in my lane for my current limited time budget.  It too got the extra color treatment, and now my simple masks all have the same metal and color options.  If I get a chance I might even update the Farafallina to have metal options.  Are you getting sick of the barocco masks yet? Maybe I'll do a version for that one too....

In any case, it's nice to work on things again.

Civetta Mask: 125L

Civetta Barocco Mask: 325L

Columbina and Columbina Barocco

As you can imagine, this past year has gone by in a blur of diaper changes and sleepless nights as I adjust to motherhood, as well as settling in to our new home.  Yet things have calmed down enough in the past month or so, that, with some help, I was able to make some time to make a new thing.

It's been a while, I had to blow the dust off of my programs and remember all of the hot keys.  I decided to do something easy and quick that would still be very satisfying.  Ever since mesh was released I kept saying to myself I'd make a run of simple, flexible, infinitely versatile basic mesh masks, but I kept putting them off to do more ambitious projects.  Since saying I'm feeling unambitious lately is an understatement, this was a good opportunity to do just that. 

Columbina is one of the classic characters from commedia dell'arte, her name meaning "little dove".  She often poses as a love interest and the only functional intellect on the stage.  The mask is elegant and characterized by the smooth line from nose to cheek and upswept sides. 

 I did warn everyone though that when I released the Mezza Barocco mask that I'd be using those pieces again.

Along with the Bauta Barocco, the Columbina Barocco offered a sumptuous way for me to capitalize on previous work done to make something new.  It was something that I was able to put together in the time that I had, generously donated by my mother as she kept my rambunctious offspring at bay. Along with this, I realized I had another quick and easy project I could release with a bit of spit and polish.

Another basic mask was hiding all along underneath that Mezza Barocco.  I cleaned up the textures a bit and added a gold and silver version, to match the others, and put that together as a simple, clean alternative.  Can never have enough options, and of course the more basic mask shapes the better.  Different shapes will look good on different faces!  As always they are all modifiable, I still leave them unrigged so you can stretch and reposition them to fit your avatar's face, as long as it's vaguely anthropomorphic.

 

While I had originally hoped to have these done in time to participate in Fantasy Faire, I decided to take the win of finishing anything at all.  These masks are now for sale on the marketplace and in my in-world location at the Twilight. 

Columbina: 115L

Columbina Barocco 325L

Mezza: 115L