Friday 15 February 2013

Headmasters - Stream Rigged Mesh Hair

(I did warn you that now things have gotten sorted out, I would be releasing stuff pretty rapidly)

Stream is the second full on Rigged mesh hair to be released in headmasters. This is a little atypical of the usual rigged hairs you tend to see but with clean lines and a long smooth flowing back, its a little understated but elegant.


Headmasters - Hooligan Hair Release





Nuff said...

Thursday 14 February 2013

Headmasters - Sultry Hair Released

Following on from the last release is the "Sultry" hair release.
As I mentioned, while Rigged mesh may be limited in to what it can do, Mesh is more flexible and Sultry is a pure mesh hair.

Overall, even I have to admit, this is a very sleek bob style and I personally think it looks stunning.

Its in store now, all usual colours.


Headmasters - Simmer Rigged Mesh Hair Released

As you will have seen from my previous post, a great deal of the last year has been about cleaning up and learning for me, and finally, its about time to start putting the new Headmasters texture system and my new knowledge all to good use.

Simmer is the first Headmasters hair to feature the "Rigging" technology. What this means is as your avatar moves, the hair moves fluidly with it. You will need a Mesh capable viewer to use this properly, however with over 98% of users on SL now using Mesh capable viewers, this is a bit of a moot point.






Simmer is in store now, in all the usual Headmasters colours.

A little retrospective...
Having been working to rigging for hairs for some time now, I am pretty pleased with the results that have been coming out, however I am finding that there are some severe limitations to it as well.
A number of people in the past had previously said to me "Rigged mesh will kill traditional hair making in SL"
As with most things people have speculated with mesh, this was pretty much an incorrect statement and having worked with everything from short to long styles in testing rigged mesh, I can say with confidence that the only point where rigged mesh really comes in to its own is for the longer style that is featured on Simmer. And even then, there are some heavy limits to what you can do as the neck rotation means you get polygon buckling occurring if you "poof" out the hair alot (increase the width over the shoulder).
The second thing to consider is the detail levels you can put in, and I hate to say it, but again, they are very limited to what you can do. Trying to keep polygon costs down is almost impossible when dealing with hairs which is why Simmer has so few pieces.
While Rigged mesh is a handy new tool to use for hairs and does create some stunning work, I think I can say with all honesty, it wont be replacing traditional hair building techniques on Second Life.



Friday 8 February 2013

Evolution Make Ups - Xeno Pack Released

As the dust is now settling around the stores, I am please to say the first almost new make up pack is now in store. The Xeno pack gives a full up to date take on some of our classic demon make ups.
I have missed the old Extermina make ups - the lips on them were very intricate and detailed, but sorely needing work - which is now done with three make ups based around this.
Add in the Cracked & Unnatural make ups to that, you have Xeno
They are in both the Verotic and Demon Studios



Thursday 7 February 2013

Demon Studio - Evolution Make Ups

I think, if you read the previous two posts, you will already have an idea of what Evolution is, and how it works.

While this doesnt cover the massive task it has been doing this update, I am pleased to say Evolution's launch completes itself with the Demon Studio skins lines.

As always, you can get updated models by wearing the breast updater box that can be found with your original sales folder.

For Moritas and Abyss, you will get the full skin Blanker model, while for Veyra and Elyssian there are tattoo layer updates.
Torya has given me a headache though. If you would like the update, drop me a notecard in world and I will arrange with you to do an update.

In the Demon Studio Right now, you will find the Original Gothica and Lust Options, Gothica Moonstar, the Cyber line TekTok and Crystal Make ups and the Eleator Gothica Make up (all of which are available in Verotic as well as human options).
I am however working on two new demon studio specific make up packs (10 total) which will be released shortly.

Here is a teaser and they are all in store now



Tuesday 5 February 2013

Nosferatu Studio Evolution Make up Launched

Following on from yesterdays launch of the Verotic Evolution make up line, I am very pleased to say that the Nosferatu Female skins have now been converted over to the new Evolution system.

I wont go in to the extreme detail I did in my previous post - if you want to find out more, read that one.

With the Nosferatu Skins, there is a small note that wearing the breast applier updater will send you a full version of the Blanker skin, not a tattoo layer.

What this means for the Nosferatu Studio is not only are the original and unique Death and Eleator Make ups now converted over to the new system but you can now use ANY of the Verotic Evolution make ups on your skin.

Part of the original Nosferatu series, was the Gothica Original Make up...
The picture below, show the Verotic Gothica Original make up, on the Nosferatu skin, just proving the point, one make up fits all!

The updates in store now

Thanks for reading


Verotic Evolution Make Up System Launched

Second Life Skins
When I originally created Verotic, things on Second Life were rather more basic that they are today. Back then, if you wanted to do a skin, you had one basic option – The Skin layer. You could of course tweek those skin layers by adding “extra” layers over the top but there was one thing that couldn’t be changed – the face.
Over the last 3 years though things on Second Life have changed thanks to the Tattoo layer.
Now, I hear you say, but surely we have had tattoo layer for nearly 3 years now. Its true, we have. However there has been a rather sizeable but surrounding this. Which is of course, you could only wear one tattoo layer. In the last year or so that has changed, with the introduction of multi layers. What this means is you can wear and “stack” up to five tattoo layers at once. However... there was still a but over this.
It has only been within the last three or so months that the user percentages of people using multi layer capable viewers has got to a point where its become realistic to look in detail at doing complex stacked tattoo layers.

Verotic Dilemma
So... we have got the background which then brings us to Verotic and the nightmare that left me quaking. Most people will probably think that doing make ups isn’t a hard job really. You would be wrong. When I first started Verotic, it wasn’t exactly easy, and I only had the original Celeste skin. Since then I have introduced the Gia and Ori skins, not to mention my other specialist skins.

But whats the issue?
Each individual skin, comes with 8 skins that need editing for just one make up.

And there are 8 skin tones for example on Ava. Thats 64 Skins that need to be edited.
Of course, if I add it to Ava, I also have to do Gia and Ori. 64+64+32=160 Skins to Edit.
Oh... Cant forget I have Ava Muscle, Ava Pumped and Ori  Muscle – 160+160=320 Skins.

And finally – this is just 1 individual make up. Each pack I release has 5 different make ups...
So... For me to do one new make up pack means editing 1600 skins. And of course, don’t forget the 200 demos for those skins, and the 400 older make up layers.
Then I have to redo all the marketing, and press shots, board assembly etc etc. Not to mention, each of those files has to be quality controlled as the viewer does have an error ratio of about 1%...

Over all, doing the make ups takes a few days each.
Assembling them requires editing 2200 items, and roughly 2 weeks of solid, day in and out work.

Perhaps it make sense, that I am very reluctant and daunted by adding just one new make up pack to the Verotic skins line. The old method is quite flawed.... so there has to be a solution?




The Evolution Revolution
Evolution is a whole new way of looking at Make ups at Verotic. Ultilising the new multi layer system tattoo layers, and using the stacking idea, Evolution means things work a lot better for me, as each make up now only requires the creation of 19 Tattoo layers, and its better for you because regardless of if you buy Gia 08 or Ava 01, once you have bought the new make up, it can be used on any Verotic or Violet Studios skin.

Evolution has really brought up an interesting effect though.
The basic Verotic skin line, as it is at the moment, has 25 make ups per skin. This is where the real power behind the evolution model comes in to its own – there are now over 80 make ups in store, with new Natural, Gothica, City and Lust models. Not to mention the all new Cyber line. This has changed the Verotic equation in a massive way.

But, there is more... This new system means creating all new base model skins is not the epic job that I have had to deal with before.
The new Evolution skins are due to arrive soon. Basically buy one skin, then add the make up you want on top. I have technically had three all new skins sitting in inventory now for the last year, which I have been putting off releasing due to the sheer volume of time it would have taken to create them.

Finally, thanks to this system, it means that Verotic will be releasing new make ups in store probably every few weeks now!



Getting Set up for Evolution
Firstly if you buy any of our skins after the 3rd Feb 2012, you will find not only is the make up you bought in there, but there is also another “Blanker” skin. To use Evolution, all you do is wear the blanker, then the make up... simples!
The last thing I want to do though is have customers buying a whole new skin so I have had to change a few things.

With each Violet Studios skin, you will have received a breast implant appliers box – if you wear the updater that is in that box, you will find you will receive the new “Blanker” Tattoo – this is effective a plain make up with no eyebrows. When you unpack it, simply wear the model you want.

On top of that, you need to add the new make up of your choice. This is where things get rather neat. In the make up box, you will find there are 6 eyebrow models, in three Shade tones.
Obviously for 01 to 03 skins you will need the Light Tone. For 04 to 06 skins, wear the mid, and for 07 to 08 wear the Dark.

For the new make ups, I really did a number for you. There are 6 eyebrows. These are split in to White, Brown or Black. And, you can choose from those, thin or thicker models.

Also in the box you will find that you can also get the “no brow” model which can be used in combination with the separate eyebrow layers (which come with the Verotic Blanker Tattoo / Skin). Both of these are tintable, so you can, if you want, fiddle with the set up to your hearts content. For example wearing the white brows, you can tint them pink!

And that ... is why its called Evolution...