The Joys and Frustrations of Mesh

The Joys and Frustrations of Mesh by Araerris Amat

Mesh has been a tool implemented into the world of second life and has a variety of uses – if you know either where to buy your mesh item or how to build mesh items via a third party program. Mesh has ranged from Buildings, Decorations, hair and more importantly – Clothes!

As member of the Pure Contagion group and an amateur blogger we get sent items from designers so that blogging regarding their objects may take place! So as my first official product review I will be looking at mesh products in general with a focus on two outfits by separate designers.

As mesh clothing goes you are almost always provided with a variety of size options so as to best fit your avatars ‘natural’ shape as closely as possible, and with the assistance of alpha layers the fit can either be perfect, or not so perfect.

The first item of business is a mesh dress created by fellow blogger Juliana Jonstone for the store Fab-Fae which can be found in world by clicking *here* Fab Fae is a store that normally advertises for petite mesh avatars however this particular outfit is specifically made for normal sized avatars.

 

As you can see the photo shows off the dress with frills at top and bottom with hour glass-shaped form. The textures along the front of the dress flow across the stomach and towards the back. The ribbed textures along the side provide a much desired realistic appearance as the fabric moves over your avatar body.

Of course I couldn’t resist trying on the outfit for myself and as mesh dresses go – this one fits both the joys and the frustrations of mesh clothing – At least for MY avatar shape it does!

The pros being the joy of mesh in general – the fabric follows your avatar movements beautifully and stays snug to your form. The ribbed textures are placed in the correct setting to add the ‘real feel’ factor and provide a style that is most attractive. The fabric texturing flows beautifully from front to the sides and to the back – until that is, it meets the spine.

 

 

Now for the cons revolving around most all mesh products: I genuinely cannot say I fully comprehend how texturing works in the world of mesh creations as I am not a mesh creator myself. However as you can see in the photo below, the wrap-around textures that cover the body of the dress are not fully wrap around and come to a very noticeable stop along the spine.

Now keep in mind most mesh creations are built to fit an avatars shape as closely as possible and are not a “one size fits all” type of product. This gives some frustration when purchasing mesh products as you always run the risk of your avatar shape not quite fitting into your new mesh look – But wait! What about the provided Alpha layer? Yes this is a savior of most mesh fittings! Simply put on the alpha layer and find the size that fits your avatar best. Perfect fix every time right? Wrong. Not all alpha textures and not all fittings will be a perfect match for your avatar shape especially when skin being shown is involved.

Even with this particular outfit one can see along the top line the clear gap from skin to dress caused by the alpha layer. On top of this – this particular dress does not match my avatars particular shape, giving it a bit thicker appearance then how it truly is.

In the instance of MY avatar shape, this dress is not for me, as you can see even with the alpha texturing and the correct size that fits me best there is still some empty invisible-ness going on that for me is not acceptable.

Despite this however, I would definitely recommend this product for the right avatar shape, the expertise in the ribbed texturing along the legs alone shows the quality of the product and if you can get past the non-meeting textures along the spine then you’re golden!

 

Here is another example of a product also sent out for Blog Review by the SL designer kokoscloset; this is another example of a mesh item that just doesn’t fit me quite well. However in this instance the alpha layer is just too extensive over the chest and does not allow my avatar to properly fill the outfit as it was designed – even with the smaller sizes.

For this particular outfit I would recommend a hair style that flows down over the front of the shoulders that will hide the alpha gap. Unfortunately I tried on another mesh outfit by this creator and still had the same issue with the extensive alpha layer. Ideally this is an issue with only my avatar form however as mesh products go, I find myself disspaointed that I am unable to wear these creations.

I hope you enjoy my unique blogging style of ‘Designer product review’ and ‘Generalized Product Overview’ if you have a product you would like me to specifically blog about please do not hesitate to contact me in-world or via e-mail.

<3 Arae

SL Screen Name: Araerris Amat

E-Mail: wintersrae@gmail.com