Avatar inspiration focused posts are less in depth than most of my other content, but still credit everything used.
The Princess
Lelutka River: The Androgynous Head
For many people the mesh head is the most important part of their avatar. Which head you choose impacts not only the shape of your face, but also how smooth your animations are and what your facial poses look like. A huge amount of personality comes through in your face, so making sure your head works for you is very important. Of course by using shapes and skins you can change the appearance of a head, but most heads kept you looking either fairly masculine or fairly feminine. Lelutka River is a head that can very easily do both (or neither).
Maitreya Flat Chest & V-Tech Boi Chest: A Comparison
Prefer a feminine body and flat chest? You’re not alone! The V-Tech Boi Chest was created to fill this exact need, and has been a staple for many Second Life users for years now. Maitreya released their Flat Chest Add-on at The Itty Bitty Titty Committee event in September 2020. Both have a price point of L$499. This post is to go over each product and help you decide which is better for you.
V-Tech Boi Chest
V-Tech created the main flat chest mod for Maitreya back in 2016. Since then it’s gained quite the following and has the support of multiple skin and clothing designers. Their products have been featured at various events and their customers absolutely love it.
There are two versions included with your purchase: the regular version to use with appliers and the BOM version. The applier version has tattoo, underwear, and clothing layers that match up with Maitreya’s body and can be controlled via the V-Tech HUD. It’s Omega compatible and can also be modified with your own custom textures. The BOM version uses the system layers, so it cannot be used with appliers.
Overall it’s really rather straightforward and easy to use. When you put it on it will automatically hide the sections of the Maitreya body required. If you use the applier one you’ll have to apply your skin after putting the chest on so it matches your body. Please note you’ll need the Omega version of appliers since Maitreya appliers won’t work on the V-Tech. If you’re using the BOM version just pop it on and it’ll adjust to your BOM skin right away.
Genus is Back – Free Head Still Available!
As you may know, Genus heads have not been available for purchase on and off for a few months now. They’re officially back now with a 40% off discount, a free gift, and lots of excited customers bursting through the doors.
What Happened
Genus was the target of a DMCA complaint made earlier this year. Yesterday the owner of Genus announced an end to the situation and that the store would be back up today. I can confirm that the store is up and running in world, though the Marketplace (understandably) appears to still be empty at the time of this post.
The Group
Their group (which is free to join) has the free head and demo versions of all their heads conveniently in the group notices. If the group link in the last sentence doesn’t open your viewer automatically, just copy and paste the URL into your viewer’s URL box. The group will pop right up. I mention this before anything else because if you can avoid going to the store today, I highly recommend it. It’s been super busy so not only is it hard to get into, the average user will find it pretty laggy. The group is 100% the way to go if you want to chat about Genus, get the free gift, or try on demos.
Coming Soon: The Mesh Directory
So you want a new body or a new head but there are so many options to choose from. Narrowing the options down to find the perfect one can feel overwhelming. While I can’t choose what you buy, I can at least try to help make the process easier, faster, and less stressful.
Why Now?
When I first started updating my avatar to mesh I wanted to know everything about everything. At that time there were only a few mesh heads and bodies to choose from, but it was still a chore to find the details for each one without bouncing all over the place. Comparing them took a fair amount of research time and effort. That’s what drove me to create Regeneration in the first place. I wanted to provide an easy stop for all things to do with avatar creation and customization.
At the time there was one blog that handled mesh bodies and heads specifically: Mesh Body Addicts. It was an amazing resource and helpful to me and many others. As that part of things was covered by MBA, I took the focus of Regeneration elsewhere and worked on things like the Mesh Crash Course and The Newbie Hub. Unfortunately MBA is no longer active. It has recently come to my attention that many people are looking for a resource like they previously offered. I’ve decided to do what I can to help in that regard.
Draconic Possibilities With BOM
Avatar inspiration focused posts are less in depth than most of my other content, but still credit everything used.
BOM – Not Just For Heads & Bodies
Bakes on Mesh has become very popular for heads and bodies. It lets you use system layers instead of appliers for skins, tattoos, etc. But did you know it’s not only for those parts? This post uses three products that use BOM in ways you may not expect: horns, tail, and draconian legs.
All three products are from Aii and use the BOM layers you’re already wearing. If you change your BOM skin the colors on these products change too, as seen in this image using classic layers from Deadly Skins. The horns come with various tattoo layers that can be used (and layered). The legs come with tattoo layers as well, however they can be used over the full body, not just the legs. The tail uses a HUD to apply and adjust tattoos. There are many possibilities available with each product.
One other neat part of this avatar I want to mention is the shiny scales. These are not BOM tattoos, but actually the materials layer. They look extra awesome when you’re in motion since they react to light. They’re shiny just like mermaid scales. You can adjust them using the materials portion of your HUD. These are from This Is Wrong, and they have so many different types in different styles.
The Physics Cock: An In-Depth Look at “The P”
Note: This post is from the initial release of The Physics Cock. The cock is now on version 3.0 and has had a vast amount of additional animations and features added as well as a larger size. This post will be updated to reflect those changes, but for now just know that what you’re reading here just skims the surface of what The Physics Cock can do.
If you’ll be doing anything nude, you likely want a good set of genitals so you don’t look like a Ken doll with your clothes off. Second Life penises can be a lot more in depth than just looks though! Many have extra features such as animations, sounds, and even HUDs to let your partner control what’s going on down there. Today I’ll be showing you my personal favorite Second Life cock, ASA Animation Standards Alliance & Session Skins’ “The P”. To see a quick, easy, and up to date overview check out The Physics Cock’s entry in The Mesh Directory.
Note: While the images in this post show the cock modeled on a feminine avatar, it was designed for masculine bodies and works even better on them!
BOM (Bakes On Mesh): What It Is and Why You Want It
You’ve probably seen advertisements for BOM, or Bakes on Mesh, products. It’s becoming more and more popular with heads, bodies, and even some other avatar parts. This post will dig into what BOM actually is, how it impacts you, and why you want to give it a shot.
What is Bakes on Mesh?
BOM is Linden Lab’s newest avatar customization feature. Before digging too far in, let’s cover why it’s called Bakes on Mesh. “Baked” textures are multiple textures that have been combined into one. Previously this could only happen on system avatars (ones that weren’t using mesh). “Mesh” refers to imported 3D objects (ones that are not native to the grid). While mesh is used for all sorts of objects, we’re going to be talking about avatar parts here. Heads and bodies are the most popular mesh parts, but things like tails, ears, and even adult bits can be mesh too. Bakes on Mesh, at it’s most basic, means textures are combined into one and applied to mesh.
In this image you’ll notice that the visual quality doesn’t suffer between BOM and applier.
So what’s the difference?
Regeneration… Regenerated!
Yup, you read that right! I can’t very well tell y’all that anyone can regenerate without doing it myself, can I?
So… What Happened?
When I started the blog was found over at regenerationshapes.com. The site went by Regeneration back then, and shapes was just some blah addon because regeneration.com was already taken. I blogged multiple times a week for about a year – around 200 posts! Then life happened, like it does, and I had to stop for a while. A while turned into a while longer, and well, you get the drift. While I was away from blogging my domain expired, and I took that as an awesome sign to get a better one. So now I’m back with something that fits a bit better, Digital Regeneration! I’m cool with being referred to as Regeneration or Digital Regeneration, either is totally fine.
Changes Beyond The Name
Animesh: What It Is & How To Use It
Animesh has been live on the grid for a few months now. With Firestorm recently updating to support it more and more people are curious about how it works.
What Is It?
Animesh is SL’s way of letting objects use rigged mesh and animations just like our avatars can. This gives creators the ability to design objects that can move like avatars. A quick search of the Marketplace shows various animals, toys, and humanoids created with animesh support. Objects that look like avatars are becoming more and more common. These can be used to make sims feel more populated or even keep people company when their friends aren’t around.
Animesh and Avatars
So why am I telling you this when Regeneration is an avatar blog? Because it can impact our avatars as well! There is more freedom than ever before when it comes to animating objects. This includes objects we add to our avatars such as tails, ears, and naughty bits.
It doesn’t stop at body parts, though. Have you ever had a cute cuddly pet that you wanted to hold and snuggle? Now you can, and it can animate too!
Even though animesh came out late last year, it’s still fairly new. I’m sure we’ll start seeing even more animesh exploding into the market over the next few months.