I Need A New Mesh Body… Part 2

I recently posted my thoughts on SLink’s new Physique Mesh body and came to the conclusion that I would wait until I could finally get the exact mesh body I have yearned for….

Quite a few people got in touch saying maybe the critique would be a bit fairer if I’d actually bought a ‘Physique’ body and tried one out. So that’s what I’ve done. I bought one, tested it out and will probably do another post on the ‘Mesh Project’ avatar body and the ‘Wowmeh’ mesh avatar if that ever comes back from its DCMA.

My thoughts on the pros and cons of this particular mesh body follow the video which I created to better show and test Physique. However, I am no machina maker and although the dance routine looks super HD, crisp and glossy on my Mac, sadly it looks a bit grainy, fuzzy and low frame-ratey on youtube. So, apologies in advance about the quality. I now realise that a career as a video maker does not beckon but set the video to HD on youtube and watch the subtle body physics plus the super taut thighs and buttocks 🙂

These are simply my personal thoughts and opinions as I know that there are already a million diehard Physique devotees. I always feel reluctant/naturally wary of jumping onto the latest fashion band wagon so my thoughts are based on what I would ultimately like to see from a mesh body.

The Good

The biggest surprise and the thing that I love best is that for the most part mesh clothes fit really well. In fact they fit way better than on the standard default avatar. Physique comes with a body hud which allows you to easily hide different parts of the body if they happen to show through clothes and for the majority of clothes I tried out this worked really well. It wasn’t perfect though but I could live with small amount of poke through if needs be…

The body is smooth, much smoother than the default but at the same time essentially very similar and probably not a 1000L$ better than a standard body with top end skin, hair etc

The huds are very well made and thought out, including a hud for skins and one for body alpha selection

I love the way the body moves in the video with a real sense of body density and feminine muscle tone. Plus it has none of the unattractive stretching and distortion in the crotch area that is normally found

I whacked the boob setting to maximum and I have to say they looked good….so time to ditch the Lolas??

The Bad

I still cannot reconcile myself to the way that mesh bodies in general fly in at a jaunty angle whenever I log in or teleport anywhere. I know that this is because the mesh body is treated just as another object in my inventory but it is really awful. Mesh bodies, clothes, body parts and hair should (IMHO) rez before anything else. I’ve lost count of the amount of times I have been standing somewhere blissfully unaware I am 100% naked, my torso twisted in an unfeminine way, my tits poking out of my head. It’s too much

Physique is also built from several individual body components; the arms, torso and legs are separate which has created some gappy seams which I was surprised to see. The majority of these seam gaps are under the arm pits but I did notice a few gaps on the back. I’m sure that these will be resolved with the next release

I would still prefer a mesh body that came with mesh feet and hands attached. The horrible seams and gaps just look unsightly. I read some interesting comments on the NWN blog about the way other games deal with clothing (see the link later) and what happens is that the body stays the way you’ve set it and it’s the clothes that change to meet your body shape or some parts of the body are easily shaped to fit clothing. I really like the sound of that. For example, shoes have some of mesh deformer where your foot is easily reshaped to fit any heel height….sounds like nirvana

The whole thing is really fiddly. I think that this must just be me as I really just want to wear a mesh body and not have to attach hands blend my neck in, use a hud for skins…maybe this is just how I think but things seem more complex and since I’ve tried it out it still seems more fiddly. Having said that the Slink website has tons of info to help you out if you are a determined user

The number of appliers is increasing but my fave LAQ is still not ready and although the Slink skin is ok, it lacks the luminosity and glowiness of the LAQ skin

Some of the shaping of the arms and legs were lost in certain positions, looking a bit flat and deformed but again this could have been the skin or simply an extreme body angle

My Final Thoughts

Having now bought the thing I have to say that my views overall have not changed. It is a nicely made product from a quality SL designer but for me it is simply a good occasional, alternative body, not vastly different to the default model (although smoother and less angular). It is not a game changer in so far as everyone will ditch the default avatar ( I won’t) but it will definitely help to usher in further improvements.

I will wait patiently for those further improvements and honestly, I will be so thrilled when it finally does show up!

SLink mesh body Physique

See nwn for some more interesting comments on Physique