Hi friends!
Upgrading your avatar to mesh can be a bit of a hassle. Even when you got the basics down and know how to hide your system body and add in the bits and bobs, you need to decide on the right bits!
The woman in the photo above is entirely freeloading (Except the BOM for body), yet she has mesh everything, good quality hair, a nice outfit and - EvoX enabled head!
If what I just said have your eyes spinning (BOM? bum?! Evo X? ewoks?) then this post isn't for you. Or at least not for you alone. Grab a hold of your most veteran friend and have them read it too so they can help you out. If you already know everything about Mesh and have tried the demos of the bigger brands, then just continue here.
Going Mesh and Baked-on-Mesh
Basically what this means is that you will hide your system body and head with alpha layers so nothing is left and add in a head and a body that is made from mesh to replace it.
That mesh can either be applied with texture or in most cases with newer options be enabled to use textures just as the system body does, which is called Baked-on-mesh (or BOM for short). For the setup in this post we are using a body that is free but without BOM. You can also get free bodies that works differently but has BOM included.
So with a BOM enabled mesh you can add skins (like you probably already know from your system body) and shapes as well. The skins will be the same for the body part but things might shift a bit if you use a skin for a certain non-standard body, where-as skin for the head usually is made for a specific head but works interchangeably with the exception of LeLUTKA Evo X mapped head skins.
Evo X is interesting because it supported by nearly all major skin brands and have a high quality look, but it is "mapped" differently, which basically means that how the texture is stretched over the mesh is different from all other heads. You will notice this if you use the wrong skin with the wrong head, as you will look somewhat a werewolf because your eye brows are stretched over your jawline.
The shape however also changes a bit from body to body and head to head. So the exact same shape and skin will look different on a Maitreya body from a Legacy body.
What to get
There is a whole lot of webpages that specialises in listing all the possibilities of mesh, skin and so on. Best one is probably the one from FabFree and I am not going to dive into that, as this post is about one specific setup.
We need the following items to build a complete mesh avatar:
Mesh body, mesh head, skin prepped for that setup, and a shape that fits. And then some hair so we don't have to be bald, unless that is what you fancy. This also means we need to go to a few different stores to pick it all up.
You don't have to follow this guide strictly and pick up the exact same items, but keep in mind that the name of the objects you attach and how it all interacts might change unexpectedly.
The body
First thing we need is the body. This is only free from a Midnight Madness board (basically, click a board, when enough people have done, you receive the item for free) or you can get it right away for l$250 in the store. You might have to wait a day before receiving it, if a lot of people is still needed before it is released, so this is where we start,
As you arrive you will be in front of a huge wall with a lot of things. You are looking for the black area in the middle. The body is not BOM in the free version. For l$250 you can buy another HUD (just below the Midnight Madness board) that will add BOM. The benefit of the Lucybody Atenea is that it is compatible with all clothing made for Maitreya Lara.
They also have a petite body that is l$500 called Lucybody Vanya. It is however not 100% compatible with Maitreya Petite, and often will have a gap between a top and your breasts.
Now that you are signed up for the body, let us get a head.
The head
The Genus head "Strong" is probably considered the best all round head for free, however it has its limitations, mainly when it comes to skins, as most high quality skins now are made for LeLUTKA Evo X and isn't compatible with other maps, as we discussed earlier.
Rebirth is a store that creates both bodies and heads, and they have a free head available called Kyra that has the nifty little feature of supporting a number of different skin types, including System, Genus and LeLUTKA Evo X! So head over to
When you arrive, it is in the room on your left and in the middle. This item costs l$1 which is immediately returned to you.
The skin
Now we have the mesh articles we need, so the last thing we are going to pick up is a skin. You have an almost free choice of skins now, since you can use the Evo X map, but keep in mind that if you use the basic Lucybody your body will not apply the skin, so the head skin must match in colour to the preset colours of the body HUD, which can be a bit finicky.
There are several options though, and you can head over to either of these two
and probably a number of other stores, that has free skins for your head. Notice that Not Found skin will only be for face and not for body, while 7DS has full skins, and both for Genus and Evo X. For now we will use the Not Found one and colour match it as closely as we can to the Lucybody.
As you arrive in Not Found you will have to walk down the corridor and as you exit it, it will be a bit ahead and on your left. The item you want is the FAYE Skin.
The hair
Quite a few hair options are awailable in the freebie markets out there. However, the best you can get, is when the high quality stores have some gifts available. So for this, we are going to FAGA who makes very good hair and have some options to choose from.
When you arrive at the store you need to make your way to the left of the reception area and on the second panel on your right you will find a hair called Ellie.
To get it you have to click the box below all the others, and it will prompt you to subscribe. Accept that and then click again to receive the actual hair.
Now that we have all the items we need to make a pretty body, you should go somewhere private or where nudity is allowed, as you need to be stark naked for the next part. Putting everything together. For some of the items you will need rez rights. You can do that in Helping Haven Dressing room (Females only!).
Assembling the pieces
First you should remove anything you can from yourself. Easiest way is to do this from your inventory.
Open inventory (CTRL + I)
Go to WORN tab
Right click My Inventory
Remove From Current Outfit
Some items will still be there, that is shape, eyes, skin and maybe brows, which cannot be removed, only replaced. This will be our starting point.
First thing we will unpack is our body. Find the item called LucyBody Atenea. Drag it to the ground, then right-click and Open. Select Copy to inventory and delete the box. The content will also open a number of notecards, do not delete them but close them so you can see what you are doing.
Find the folder "LucyBody ATENEA" in your Inventory.
You need to add the following items:
BODY v29
HUD FULL v29.03
Don't fray that your head goes missing and you are tippy toed! In the HUD first click on the flat feet at the bottom and then click on the blue right button.
At the top select SKIN #6 (unless you bought the BOM enabled, then click BOM on the left).
You can change nipples, pubic hair and nails to your liking and then remove the HUD.
Next item we are going to unpack is the head. Find the object Rebirth Head ~ Kyra and add it. That will give you a HUD but ignore that and accept the item in the dialogue box instead. The HUD will then remove itself.
Find the folder "Rebirth Head ~ Kyra ~ V3.0"
Add the Rebirth Head ~ Lashes and again accept the contents.
Now add Rebirth Kyra Head (the last item)
Add the Rebirth Head HUD (first item)
The HUD will also open two pictures that you can close for now. They are also in the folder if you need to reference them later.
Open the folder Rebirth Head ~ Lashes ~ V2.0 and attach any one of the objects.
In the HUD on the left side of your screen, click the head icon and then the Head icon in the fold-out menu. Click where it says LE.X near the top.
You can now remove the HUD and we will move on to the skin.
Open the item Rebirth Head Kyra ~ Skins + Shapes + Neckfixers and accept its contents. Find the folder Rebirth Head Kyra ~ Skins + Shapes + Neckfixers V3.0 and attach:
REBIRTH Kyra head brows shape
REBIRTH Kyra head shape for other bodies
Now go back to your Objects folder. Attach the item Not Found - Faye Christmas - (Lelutka) and click the HUD to unpack. Then you have to detach the HUD manually. Add the following two items:
Not Found - Ears - Buff
Not Found - Faye Skin - Buff - Brows
Last thing to add is the hair, so attach the FAGA - HUD Unpack Ellie Hairstyle [EXCLUSIVE GIFT] and click the HUD to unpack.
Then remove the HUD and go to the folder FAGA - Ellie Hairstyle - [EXCLUSIVE GIFT]
Add the item FAGA - Ellie Hairstyle - [L] and get a celebratory beverage of your own choice!
You have just set up a body that supports EvoX skins and Maitreya clothing! Happy shopping for clothes.
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