Far be it for me to tell anyone what to do, as I am 100% for an individual’s choice of self-expression, BUT. Mesh is awesome. Second Life avatars have come a long way since it was first launched. To me, the way everything looks has made Second Life… Livable. It’s just nice now.
To be fair, what you look like on Second Life is nobody’s concern if you’re simply there looking around. However, it may make a great difference to sim owners who wish the visitors would take some time to look nice, too. If you mainly woosh around alone where nobody sees you – who cares, right? But having a mesh avatar is a bit like getting dressed to appear on a Zoom call. (Nobody actually goes to work anymore, do they?)
Regardless of whether you’ve been on Second Life for some weeks now or for years, you should totally update your classic avatar to mesh if you care about other people’s opinions at all. Mesh has a lot of benefits, and with the Bakes On Mesh -layers, you can even wear the old classic avatar stuff you may love to this day… But just looking a lot better doing it! With a Bakes on Mesh avatar, you can actually just ADD the mesh objects into your current avatar and be done. (The detail may be a little off like finger and toenails might not match, and your lipline might be off, but still, in theory, that’s possible. You can also buy additional fixers for nails and mouth corners.)
This is my old avatar sitting next to my new avatar
To be honest, the BEST argument I know in terms of sticking to classic avatar past the newbie phase is the nostalgia factor. THAT I understand. I am a very nostalgic person myself, and can get wrapped up in nostalgia easily, but… There are limits, people! It’s time to lovingly and carefully document, screencap, OBS record, and save the current classic avatar, and to update it!
While you can’t argue there’s a certain nostalgia to my old avatar, I even found that awesome familiar diamond sweater that I wore a lot, there’s really no competition, is there? It’s difficult to believe they belong into the same game!
Just 6 months after taking this snapshot I actually feel quite nostalgic already looking at my NEW avatar, that hasn’t changed at all since then… Except for clothes, even though those garter belt shorts are still one of my favorite pieces. You’ll quickly get attached to your new, awesome look the same as the old!
2024 edit: I often revisit my old avatar for the nostalgia factor, but I don’t have to LIVE with her all the time to enjoy nostalgia, and mesh, indeed, creates nostalgia the same way as system does… But looks better while doing it. ;p
Mesh doesn’t have to be expensive
I don’t play my old character for reasons known only to myself, haha, but I still wanted to update her to look somewhat reasonable. I haven’t spent more than 100 Lindens on her look if that. She’s wearing a Ruth body and a free LeLutka head, the hair, I might have paid some Lindens for but I can’t recall. The point being that mesh doesn’t have to be expensive. She still has her issues, but only because I haven’t spent money on upgrades or much time looking for good pieces. She’s a pretty cute avatar, tho. I’d be happy to play her if I didn’t have my main avatar kitted out with all the bells and whistles my heart has desired. :p
Your old avatar uses the same skeleton as all avatars. This means, that under the hood, your avatar is exactly the same as the newest ones, meaning to say that you don’t need to start a new account in order to update your avatar – in case you were wondering.
Just to fight the nostalgia
With bakes on mesh, you can now wear the same skin that you wear with the classic avatar. You can also create your own skins with a relative ease now, even if you were a beginner with some decent Photoshop skills. This makes the transition a little less painful I’d imagine.
Your favorite old outfits will work with Bakes On Mesh -avatars. Still, flexi hair ads a major load on the Second Life servers as it adds a TON to the complexity of your avatar compared to mesh hair, so you might want to update your flexi hair to mesh just to be nice. There are some awesome hairstyles available for a small or no price tag, of course, so there’s no real excuse, there.
Is it difficult?
Figuring out mesh avatars is a little bit of a learning curve, I won’t lie. It can be daunting to update your classic avatar to mesh. That’s why it’s so impressive when people do it to perfection. It’s a rite of passage of sorts. Wearing mesh makes you a full-fledged resident, not really to demonstrate wealth or conformity, but to prove intelligence and love for the platform. But yes, mesh has its complications, but once you figure it out, you won’t want to go back.
To make it as simple as possible, simply stick to the most popular avatar parts on the grid. Things are popular for a reason, and when something is popular, people able to help you when you’re facing a problem are always available. I’ll write another post on HOW to upgrade to mesh, this is more of a should you -post.
Save your old self as an outfit before you update your classic avatar to mesh
Even if you want to just play around with avatar parts while you make your final decision, save your old avatar as an outfit. This way, you can return to the way things are at any time you like. Ideally, also save all your avatar parts in one folder maybe with your most “you” clothes. This way, even if you bulk-update your outfit links later, you can still easily recover your old avatar.
Look for the T-shirt button and save your current outfit before you even do anything else. Remember the toolbars can look different to yours, if you haven’t customized your viewer buttons, the T-shirt icon is probably on the bottom of your screen. I am, of course, using the Firestorm Viewer, but the icon should look similar on Second Life Viewer.
If you want detail, you must update your classic avatar to mesh
Nostalgia is one thing. If you don’t create content for yourself, but you still want a full range of self-expression, mesh is the second best thing to creating your own avatar parts. With multiple tattoo layers available with Bakes On Mesh avatars, different body shapes available, an array of different hairstyles, beautiful skins to choose from, you can’t blame your options if your avatar doesn’t look exactly as you want it… As long as you settle for being a human, at least.
I personally like making my own cameo appearance on Second Life and have picked parts that “look like me” the most. Of course, I can’t make myself exactly identical lest I create my own parts, but mesh allows you to get very, very close. I do wish to recognize myself from my avatar, and I want that my RL friends would recognize me from my avatar. With mesh, it’s actually possible. Even my old avatar was created out of a photograph as a custom order. At the time, it was great, and to be honest, it’s not that bad, but different angles would make me look like a balloon rather than myself.
This is built by mesh parts I’ve spent some time choosing to get as close to my favorite photo of myself as possible. I may have to, one day, spend some time to get my eyebrows sorted, but I am not great at making photorealistic images, so… I’m hesitating.
Mesh fans are mesh fans
Now… Here’s the thing. If you are dating on Second Life and like the look of mesh avatars, it pays to update your classic avatar to mesh yourself. At least be eager to upgrade with some help from a person you’d like an excuse to hang out with a bit more. I mean, figuring out the whole thing from heads, bento, bom, skins, applicators, rigged, unrigged, different body types, head creators, and the lot, it’s a lot. It’s easy to understand why you would be confused and frustrated when you try on a new state-of-the-art avatar and your skin turns bright red and you have no idea why.
Still, mesh shows a level of dedication to your character. It shows love toward the platform. It shows you’re into it and willing to play for reals. Classic avatars look a bit touristy. You’re not there to live, right, you’ve logged in for the first time in months, and the next time I’ll see you will be a year from now, right?
Mesh fans also LOVE the realism, the detail, the feeling of being with an actual human being rather than a crude resemblance of one like a toddlers’ drawing… Although SOME classic avatars are actually really nicely made, it’s so much easier to just go mesh and look great relatively easily compared to looking awesome in a classic avatar.
I updated my old avatar to mesh.
So I took my old avatar and added BOM-enabled Maitreya Lara and LeLutka Zora on it. Now look at her! I’ve got new shoes because, you know, the prim shoes are just not even remotely cool anymore, but here:
Remember this skin is the same custom skin that was created for me in 2006 or something. Look how awesome it looks on mesh! (My RL makeup certainly leaves something to be desired for, but it’s an accurate representation for sure…)
Anyway. If you ask me… Go mesh go mesh go mesh.