Is Slink Dead?

[Gear]

neck seams are why my alts all wear chokers or collars.

They seem to be unavoidable >_<

The dirty secret of neck seams is that it's not a function of bad mesh design or an awkward texture, it's a function of the lighting engine itself. Not the ALM. The BASE lighting engine. You will always have a seam somewhere that two pieces of mesh that do not share the same UV intersect. I've learned to either completely ignore the seam or find ways to draw the eye away from it. But everyone has one.

 

[Spirits Rising]

The dirty secret of neck seams is that it's not a function of bad mesh design or an awkward texture, it's a function of the lighting engine itself. Not the ALM. The BASE lighting engine. You will always have a seam somewhere that two pieces of mesh that do not share the same UV intersect. I've learned to either completely ignore the seam or find ways to draw the eye away from it. But everyone has one.

Ah yep. As someone who uses a non-human avatar the majority of the time, this stands out even more for me.

 

[Aribeth Zelin]

The dirty secret of neck seams is that it's not a function of bad mesh design or an awkward texture, it's a function of the lighting engine itself. Not the ALM. The BASE lighting engine. You will always have a seam somewhere that two pieces of mesh that do not share the same UV intersect. I've learned to either completely ignore the seam or find ways to draw the eye away from it. But everyone has one.

Well, with slink, using a slink head seems to get rid of it - but then, its the same creator.

 

[Caete]

neck seams are why my alts all wear chokers or collars.

They seem to be unavoidable >_<

Light can make it better, or worse. I've noticed that even if I have no seam line, one can show up the moment I add a tattoo or a BOM layer. I suspect it is the edge of the layer/texture/tattoo showing up even if there is no texturing near that spot.
I also suspect part of the issue is the difference of the items. Hard to put in words atm so let me ramble.
Skinmaker A makes full skins.
Bodymaker A makes just bodies, no heads
Bodymaker B makes full bodies with heads attached
Bodymaker C makes full bodies but the heads are separate
Headmaker A makes only heads
Skins on BA body may have a seam, depending on how well they made the neck blend
Skins on BB body have no seam as it is all one piece
Skins on BC body probably do not have a seam as the parts were made by the same person under the same settings, maybe even as 1 piece then cut into two
Skins on HA head may have a seam depending on how they did their neck. It may hav a seam on one body but not one from another maker as it matches up better

In a way it is like the old days. Back when we had system clothes and prim/sculpt parts like sleeves/cuffs. You could use the exact same texture on the systm clothes, the prim/sculpt parts but more often than not, the prim/sculpt parts looked out of place/obvious as the textures did not blend togther as well as thy should since they all used the exact same texture.

 

[Romana]

I found the probable answer on the Slink website:

There are advantages to the bundles that weren’t included in the separate packs that are worth converting for! An all in one attachment for body, hands and feet as well as asymmetry harness.

I didn't notice the attachment thing, or if I did, didn't realize that was what it was for.

 

[Caete]

Besides butt size, pay attention to body fat and thickness sliders along with hip width. sometimes mesh bodies use them all in ways that aren't totally intuitive.

Also poses in your AO can make a bit of a difference as well. I hand picked my poss and most of them tend to accentuate my posterior. My current shape is for Maitreya Lara/Genus baby face w001 but if anyone wants, I can pass over my shape so you can try/tinker with it.

 

[Gear]

Well, with slink, using a slink head seems to get rid of it - but then, its the same creator.

That's the trick there, they have the neck of the body and the neck of the head sharing space on a common UV. And you're only going to get that on creators that make their own bodies and heads.

Ah yep. As someone who uses a non-human avatar the majority of the time, this stands out even more for me.

And then add onto that the pain of trying to match skins if you're a part of an outlier group that doesn't have a lot of people doing skin work...

 

[GoblinCampFollower]

Also poses in your AO can make a bit of a difference as well. I hand picked my poss and most of them tend to accentuate my posterior. My current shape is for Maitreya Lara/Genus baby face w001 but if anyone wants, I can pass over my shape so you can try/tinker with it.

Yep.... and it feels weird how I've been advising people on being less curvy, since I am often trying to appear big to appease lovers who want me to have ass for days! lol.

 

[Noodles]

I have both the male and female SLINK bodies and both have separate hands and feet from the body. I use the Redux BOM version in both cases as well.

 

[Clara D.]

What finally make me swap to Maitreya from Slink was the elbows played nicer with some AO stuff -- especially on Beez (skinny).

And for Winnie, there's more femboy stuff available

 

[Clara D.]

That's the trick there, they have the neck of the body and the neck of the head sharing space on a common UV. And you're only going to get that on creators that make their own bodies and heads.



And then add onto that the pain of trying to match skins if you're a part of an outlier group that doesn't have a lot of people doing skin work...

Since furry skins make some attempt at actually looking fuzzy instead of the three-color ones of '06, that makes seams worse.

 

[Clara D.]

And just remembered part of the "butt" thing with Maitreya isn't just the butt (though taking down the butt size slider helps) - Beez found out when wearing some old sculpt stuff that the upper torso muscle had to be upped as well to get her closer to "classic Beezle" shape, Maitreya was 10-15 thinner on the upper torso.

 

[Gear]

Since furry skins make some attempt at actually looking fuzzy instead of the three-color ones of '06, that makes seams worse.

Furry skin artists have been working through this issue for a long time. The more complicated patterns can help in an unexpected way: by creating other things for your eyes to be looking at besides the seam.

 

[Madi Perth]

Besides butt size, pay attention to body fat and thickness sliders along with hip width. sometimes mesh bodies use them all in ways that aren't totally intuitive.

Butt size was always a issue with my alt. She looked like she was trying to smuggle two hams out the A&P. I think i got her fixed.

 

[Aribeth Zelin]

I have both the male and female SLINK bodies and both have separate hands and feet from the body. I use the Redux BOM version in both cases as well.

I think you need to ask for the 'Body Bundle' which is what I'm wearing right now.

I don't have the male body on anyone, my malt is physique with 'Homme' chest, which works great for elves and stuff, imo.

But yeah, there really is not any clothes that are made for -that- yet [give me time, and more spoons, though, and that will change]