Bento

Vista Lia’s Animations

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Vista Animations released their bento head Lia last week. This post covers her animations and how she can make your avatar come to life. For more information about her appearance, cosmetic options, and to see her HUD check out my Lia announcement post.

Moods & Expressions

The Moods section is the first chunk right at the top of the animations tab. The four options allow you to choose the default mood your face will display. Each mood is a long and subtle set of animations. You can have one mood selected at a time. The mood serves as a nice baseline for your own unique personality to shine through. You’ll spice it up with your expressions.

Expressions are the flavor, so to speak. Each one selected adds a more obvious facial movement into the loop. You can select them all, none, or anything in between. With twenty four expressions to choose from you can build your very own personality how you see fit. The large pause button in this section will halt the expressions until you click it again. The stop button will clear all the selected expressions. I highly recommend you grab the demo and play with the moods and expressions because it’s really fun to make your own combinations!

It’s not just the movement that’s exciting, though. Using the smaller pause icons will freeze the face in an expression perfect for photos. You can see every one of the static facial expressions in the slideshow below.

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Sneak Peek: Lia The Vista Bento Head

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Featured image above showing off the Vista bento head Lia was made by Vista Animations.

Lia is here! Feel free to keep reading about the preview, but if you want to see more about the head check out Lia: The Vista Bento Head and Vista Lia’s Animations!

Yes, you read that right! Vista Animations is currently beta testing a bento head. Vista is arguably the largest, most popular Animation Overrider (AO) company in Second Life. Their bento hands enjoyed popularity when they were the first to be released on the grid. With plenty of bento heads on the market will Vista’s be as much of a hit? Read on to learn all we know and see the  head in action then let me know what you think!

7 Deadly s{K}ins created the Saga skin for the vista bento head
Promo Image by 7 Deadly s{K}ins

What We Know

Vista’s Facebook page opened the beta testing for the new head (named Lia) up to 30 lucky users on November 17, 2017. The first public version of Lia will be available Friday. The full price will be L$2500, however invited beta testers get it for half off.

7 Deadly s{K}ins is also a part of this release! Their skin Saga (shown here) is included in the Vista HUD. 7DS’s November group gift Chantal (skin & shape) came with the following information via notecard:

“This month’s group gifts come with a little story, A story to soon to tell.”

In addition the shape is called “7 Deadly s[K]ins – VISTA shape Chantal Group” leading me to believe that 7DS VIP members have a free skin/shape for Vista’s new head already! Not a group member? The group is currently L$225 to join and includes skins every month. Next month the group price is increasing as there is an advent event planned with tons of free skins for group members. If you want to join the time is now.

Additional HUD skins come from YS&YS and Avenge.

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Akeruka Bento Heads For L$150 Or Less!

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I don’t generally do posts on Mondays (and as such this is a super tiny post!), but I just had to make sure all my readers saw this great deal. Akeruka is celebrating their anniversary by giving their group members L$1 bento heads: Aron for the gentlemen and Lulu for the ladies. Not a member of the group? Membership costs L$150.

The group is called [AK] Heads News & Support and can be found by searching in game, by visiting the main store, or by clicking this link with your viewer open.

I know, I don’t have mesh eyes for the dude and it’s kinda creepy.

 

You CAN use standard eyes, but I really wasn’t a fan of how the ones I had looked. Sorry!

The heads will be at this special anniversary price until June 22 at 12AM SLT, so make sure to drop by ASAP!

Note: The heads can be copied but not modified or transferred. The shapes can be modified.

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Mesh Crash Course: Selecting A Head

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Note: While the images are from 2017 products, the content has been reviewed and is up to date as of July 2020.
Need more mesh help or info? Check out our full Mesh Crash Course.

Mesh heads are extremely popular due to their smooth, seamless look in comparison to system heads. Whether you’re looking for your first mesh head or your fifth there are a few basics that can help ensure you pick the perfect one for you.

Main Considerations

Of course what is right for others may not be right for you. It always comes down to your own needs and preferences. There are a few things to consider when demoing (yes, you should be using demos) and narrowing down the options for your personal taste.

Bento vs Static?

One of your biggest choices is if you’d like a bento or static head. I won’t get in too deep as we’ve already covered this, however it’s still important to touch on. The main difference between bento and static heads is the shape customization. Bento heads respond to the shape sliders so you can get various looks with the same head. Static heads don’t respond to the sliders and always have the same shape even if you alter sliders. Bento heads can work with bento animations, even from third party creators. Static heads are more limited and will not change with bento animations, but instead rely on the HUDs from their developer.

Alpha Options

Many people like to use different eyes, ears, or teeth instead of the standards that may come with a purchase. If you’re one of those people (or may be in the future) you’ll want to ensure your head will allow for it. If the head comes with those components you’ll want to make sure they are either equipped separately or can be hidden. Otherwise you will likely run into clipping issues and a weird mix of double features.

If you’re not sure why anyone would want to use something aside from the standards take a peek at this list. I’d hate for you to pick a head that didn’t let you hide ears than decide you wanted to be an elf in a few weeks!

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Bento Heads vs Standard Mesh – What’s Right For You?

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Note: While the images in this blog post are from 2017, the content has been reviewed and updated for 2020.
This post is currently in the process of being updated. Please bear in mind the info presented may be out of date. A more in depth version is coming soon!

While the standard system heads can look nice, many people opt for mesh heads instead. With mesh you have many options, not only based on creator and style, but also in what type of head to get. Both standard and bento mesh heads have their uses. Read on to learn which is more suited to your own personal needs.

Catwa: Vampire Annie (Standard Mesh)

Standard Mesh Heads

Standard mesh heads are a bit out of date now that bento has been out for a while. What you see is what you get in terms of shape. You can alter the appearance with different skins, but the base itself will not change. Think of using skins like painting a sculpture. The final product will look different depending on the colors and shapes you use but the sculpture itself remains unchanged under the paint. For more information about how much of an impact shapes and skins have on your look check out our informational post.

Standard doesn’t necessarily mean static. While some standard mesh heads don’t move at all, many have movement options. The movement ranges from basic blinking to more in depth expression HUDs allowing for smiling, sticking tongues out, and more. Standard mesh heads won’t move with bento AOs or poses, however. They’ll only move with whatever HUDs are made for that specific head.

Bento Heads

Catwa: Lona (Bento Mesh)

Bento mesh heads are a godsend for people who want to switch up their appearance on a regular basis. With bento mesh you can adjust your facial shape with the appearance sliders. This allows for an entirely different base shape as often as you’d like. Combined with the use of skins you can get many different looks with just one purchase. For more information about how much of an impact shapes and skins have on your look check out our informational post.

As with standard heads, bento heads do not have to remain static. Many have in depth animations so you can express your mood through your face. Different brands have different animations so make sure to look into them before purchasing. Now that bento has been out for a while, bento animations are widely available. Companies like Vista can animate your bento face as part of their AOs.

Making The Choice

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Fantasy Avatar: The Demoness

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Not all Second Life avatars have to be human. In fact, non human avatars are a common sight in Second Life. Today I’ll be showing you a beautiful demoness. The best part about making many fantasy humanoids is that they can build off the human base you may already be using!
Shoutout to hhhnnnnnggggggg for inspiring this post! The redditor commented on a post about Second Life Avatar Questions and mentioned he or she had purchased a set of bento demon wings. That in addition to a short conversation about fantasy avatars gave me the little push to start showing off some non human characters.

Get the Demoness Look

Since most players likely have the basics they enjoy using (such as a body, feet, hands, head) I haven’t included those in this section. I used mostly products that I already had, however a few new purchases were made. If you’d like to copy the style completely you can find full credits at the bottom of the post. Feel free to click any image for a larger version to check out the detail.

Wings and Tail- EVolved creatures

A second life demoness shows off her wings and tail by evolved creations

EVolved creatures creates bento fantasy enhancements for avatars. At the time of this posting the current selection is small, but each item is versatile, great quality, and beautiful. They currently offer the following products:

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