What Makes Bento Mesh Heads Different? – Camury Reporting...

As a result of Second Life viewers being updated for Bento, it seems that the Second Life community is in a tail spin over Bento mesh heads.

For those who still do not know about it, Bento is the newest and greatest improvement from Linden Lab for Second Life.  It allows more realism for avatars by adding ‘bones’ and attachment points to the avatar skeleton.

As the Bento Project makes changes to the Second Life avatar skeleton, avatars (specifically those who use the new joints, bones and animations allowed by the Bento Project) have the opportunity to have a much wider range of avatar body types, facial expressions and animations. New mesh avatars and mesh attachments make full benefit of new joints and attachment points.

A summary of the new bones and attachment points:

·         New limb bones: for extra wings, arms, or legs.

·         Tail bones: Include your tail in the avatar animations.

·         New hand bones: for finer control over hand animations.

·         New facial bones: for complex facial expressions, ears and animated antennas.

·         New attachment points - Associated with the new bones.

Bento does not affect any content in Second Life. What has changed, for the average user, is that older graphics cards and controllers may be finding it hard to process the increase in the number of joins. This has forced Second Life users to upgrade their operating systems or drivers to the latest version to be able to get on board with the Bento era. And now, after a long wait, we are starting to see a variety of avatars with additional Bento options.

The curiosity for Bento has been increasing exponentially.  What people want to know is what the main advantages of the additional options are.

Let’s compare the standard mesh head versus the Bento head. Basically, the advantage of the Bento head is the uncountable customization options for which it allows and the facial expressions tend to be much more realistic. This means that Bento heads allow adjustments and modifications to suit our characteristics. We can make use of the facial sliders to create our own face shapes.

Here are some Bento Mesh head options available inworld:

CREATOR	HEAD	PRICE
Absolut Creation	Male Female	850L 825L
Altamura	Female	3.499L
Catwa	Male Female	5.000L 5.000L
Genesis Lab	Female	4.000L
Lelutka	Female	5.000L
Niramyth	Male	2.766L

Although the delightful additional options of Bento heads are appealing, the cost is somewhat restrictive.  But don’t worry, you can keep the mesh head you are currently using, if you use one that is, for some time to come. Mesh bodies won’t be changing for the foreseeable future.  Although Bento hands and feet are now being released to add to the already complicated mix.

The "classic" avatar of Second Life will continue to function as planned and will not have to be updated. You do not have to change anything if you do not want to.

The adoption of the Bento head as de rigueur will initially be slow.   In my opinion many people will keep the mesh heads that they are currently wearing and will keep their mesh bodies as they are for now as well.  Obviously there are always those are early adopters who will want to use the characteristics of the Bento head, wings ears and tails, to make Second Life more realistic that it already is.

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Linden Lab launches their line of new mesh avatars - Lacy Muircastle reporting ....

On Thursday 15th May  Linden Lab updated Second Life's default avatar options with 24 new mesh avatars.

A sample from the new selection of Linden Lab mesh avatars

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The SL Experience through My Friend's Eyes - Shon Charisma reporting...

Every resident of Second Life experiences it differently. It's the beauty of the sluniverse, a vast place full of wonderful, engaging, unique goings on. AND the ability to create the life and space and places you might want to be a part of. My experience has been a fully-lived one that has brought me closer to my faith, that has expanded my family (even into first life), that has helped me recapture my love of video and storytelling, that has educated me on research interests of mine (race, online spaces, and identity), and that has brought me my wonderfully-awesome SL mate (love you, Earth!).

Recently, I snagged a dear friend of mine, Sweetz Fierenza [check her out on Facebook], and talked to her about her experiences in-world. She's been in-world a year longer than me, 4.5 years, and that time has shown that many of the experiences found in-world mirror what's experienced in first life.

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Real-life pictures in Second Life © – Stareyes Galaxy reporting ….

In Second life ©, there is a bifurcation of the attitude to sharing one’s own real-life (RL) pictures. Many avatars are dead against such a practice, saying that SL and RL are two separate entities. Then there are others who freely share their real-life pictures, right on their profile. Furthermore, many design their avatar appearance to match their real-life looks. I interviewed some avatars to get behind the reasoning behind the different views of sharing real-life images.

The question of the day is “Does sharing real-life pictures enhance the fantasy, or kill it?” I met Anastasia at MIAMAI main store, where she works as a model. “It depends,” she answered.

SLE: How, and on what does it “depend"?

Anastasia: First and foremost, it would depend on how well and for how long I have known the person. I am not going to give out RL info or images to just anyone I come across.

SLE: Would you, at a certain point, insist on seeing that other person's RL picture, and would you be willing to share yours?

Anastasia: I don't know that I would insist on sharing RL pictures.  I have known many people in my SL for a year or more and we have never seen a RL pic of each other... With others whom I consider close friends or family I have shared a RL image, and they with me.

SLE: Does seeing someone's RL picture change your perception of that avatar?

Anastasia: I can't say for me personally it has. I get to know the person first and foremost, and I try not to judge a book by its cover.  If in a SL relationship of a romantic nature, it may alter perceptions, as you do get used to someone looking a certain way as an avatar which may differ greatly from their RL person, but the underlying person is still the same either way.

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