“Pies, para que los necesito si tengo alas para volar?” ~ Frida Kahlo
Although the holiday season might seem like an odd time to be talking about bare feet, the opportunity is simply too tasty to ignore.
Recently, Slink came out with their rigged mesh bare feet and mesh static feet which are a direct competitor to Maitreya‘s sculpted feet. Of all the things I have been awaiting since the launch of mesh, bare feet are near the top. J’s started the prim foot revolution and several other worthy lines have taken that innovation to the next level (it’s worth noting that J’s still has their own offerings). In my opinion the front runners of sculpted feet /shoes have been Maitreya, Slink and Pixel Mode. I’m sure there are others who feel passionate about other brands, but I consider those three to be the ones currently worth watching. I hope that GOS, Ennui, and Zaara will be making open-toe offerings into this arena soon and the oldbie in me is always hoping Fally throws her buckles back into the basket. So far, however, when it comes to prim toes and open-toe mules, the big three I mentioned still hold. (In the interests of fairness, I suppose I should mention, Stiletto Moody‘s store is still out there with those heart-vandalized stripper shoes, so if that’s your thing, don’t forget those).
Amusingly, when I went to get the Slink feet I discovered I had been banned from the SIM. Me. Banned. How hilarious is that?
I assume this is due to bruised ego hijinks that started with this post and ended for me with this one. I have never, to the best of my knowledge, been banned from anywhere, so it took me a few teleports to understand what was happening. Then it took me a little bit of head-scratching to IM a friend and ask them to go purchase the product for me as a gift. The purpose of making me spend 20 extra minutes of someone else’s time to get a product that is available to the open market is anyone’s guess. But it was a unique experience.
I feel that to evaluate the Slink Rigged Mesh vs Maitreya Sculpts, we must explore a couple of factors. First I’ll compare rigged vs static attach points, then I’ll talk about the texture differences and blending methods of the various products before presenting the benefits and downfalls of sculpt vs mesh for feet.
Rigged Mesh Feet vs Sculpted Feet
Rigged mesh, for those who are fuzzy on the term, attaches mesh objects to a fluid skeleton point, enabling more natural posing and positioning that may not be viable with static attachments (including mesh objects that have static attach points).
Take the above examples. The left two show how the feet are positioned with rigged mesh. The center is Maitreya‘s static tip toes and the right is Maitreya‘s static flat feet. All of these use the same poses, but, as you can see, the feet behave very differently. With rigged, the pose decides if the feet are flat or pointed. With static attachments, the attachment is not flexible and holds its shape, regardless of the intentions (and natural flow) of the pose.
Look carefully at the far left pose and compare it with the center tip toes. With rigged, the feet are flat as they should be, but tip toes static positioning overrides the intention of the animation. The same is true with the second image from the left and the pose on the far right. With the rigged mesh, the toes are pointed as they should be. But with the static flat feet attachment, the shape of the feet takes the place of the pose intent.
If all of that has only served to confuse you more – let me make it easy. Rigged attachments will position and move your feet the way they would be if you weren’t wearing prim feet at all. They will conform to the same behavior of your system feet. Static attachment prim feet will stubbornly keep to their own shape which will often go against the intentions of animations and can frequently end up in unnatural positions.
When it comes to wearables — especially hands, feet, and other body-based objects — rigged really has the advantage over static attachment points and the more you move through the virtual world, the more obvious this will be.
Slink Mesh vs Maitreya Sculpt
Okay, now let’s talk about texturing. It will confuse you when I say that the above photo shows the two competing products using the same light settings and both blending into the same skin. They so clearly have different shades, so how can that be?
Well, the processes for blending these products are completely different. Maitreya‘s feet blend directly into the leg, so the RBG value of the bottom of my calf is the same as the one I enter into the foot. For the Slink product, the creator has added an extra step, providing a tattoo blending layer. For the Slink, I used the “light” blending layer and entered the RGB of my calf into the tint of the blending layer which created a slightly more red-based RGB for me to enter into the foot.
Overall, I found the Slink feet, blending layers, etc to be more red-based. This is excellent for people who wear skins from Redgrave and/or Curio et all where the flesh tones have a pinker base. If, however, like me, you prefer LAQ with the more yellow/beige base, you’re going to find your results to be a bit more rosy. It’s unlikely you will notice unless you have them side by side like I do above, and I suspect the results would be more similar if I’d used the white/gray blending layer instead of the light (but I haven’t tried that yet). If you follow the instructions step-by-step, you will be happy with the outcome, and I have it on good authority that the creator does offer help to those who have difficulty with the product (assuming you aren’t banned from her store).
What should be noted, however, is that the texturing on the Slink feet is more airbrush style than Maitreya‘s photo-realistic lean. That is purely a preference. I prefer the Maitreya texturing with the tone variations and highlights. But the smoother airbrushed look of the Slink product is well in keeping with the products preferred by many others I know. I find airbrushed skins and products to appear…rubbery, whereas some people think the more realistic products I prefer are creepy in an uncanny valley sort of way.
That said, there is no comparison to the “physical” benefits of mesh vs sculpts for this kind of product. You may not see the differences in the lighting above, but we do not exist in an SL with only bright studio lighting. Once we introduce shadows, the benefits of mesh become obvious (and, let’s face it — what’s the point of having cute bare feet if you’re not planning on taking a moonlit walk on the beach with someone).
Lighting Used For Examples
I used three different lighting settings to demonstrate the differences of mesh vs sculpts when it comes to SL lighting. The above photo shows the overall effects of these settings which are, from left to right:
AnaLu *studio* 5 | AnaLu – outdoor city | Midday 4
I recommend using AnaLu *studio* 5 or a similar light setting when going through the process of blending your feet tones to your skin. Using a brightly lit setting that mimics natural light will give you a far more dependable outcome. This will provide more consistent results no matter what kind of atmosphere you find your avatar in.
Now that we’ve established control with the light settings, let’s see what shadows do to these different offerings.
Slink Mesh Feet - Various Light Settings
Above are the Slink rigged mesh feet. As you can see, if you follow the directions, the seam is near-invisible in the studio lighting, and even with shadow play, the seams are only visible if you are zoomed in and looking for them. But the important thing is that the seams only exist where the product combines with the calf. There are no seams where the toes meet the foot because they are part of a solid, fluid single prim.
And if you’re really worried about the seams on the calves, just go anklet shopping. Earthstones has their darling little Christmas bell anklets out, so that’ll cover you for December.
Maitreya Sculpted Feet - Various Light Settings
As you can see in the above photo, this is why sculpted feet are doomed to die a horrible death in the wake of mesh. If we skipped through a fantasy world that only consisted of bright studio lighting, sculpts might still be competitive. But shadows are unforgiving things. Not only do they highlight with hideous intensity the areas where the prim ankles meet the system leg, but also where the toe sculpts tuck into the foot sculpts. Yee-ouch. They also betray the places where the sculpts warp at their vertices, creating the unnatural blurring and twisting that textures do across sculpted objects in areas where the shape has been abused into the desired mold like so much silly putty.
This is a killer for me. I prefer Maitreya‘s style of texturing. I prefer their square toe nails to the round ones so often found in prim feet. But sculpts are the past where wearables are concerned and my toes will currently be all Slinky. A good mesh product that I mostly like has full advantage over an outstanding sculpted object I would otherwise love.
There really isn’t any contest here. If you’re looking for the best prim foot, Slink‘s rigged mesh are the high mark to beat for all competitors to come.
As far as other considerations, they’re about even. You can’t resize meshes yet, so you may have to slightly alter your leg muscle settings for the Slink‘s, but they come in five sizes, so you’re likely to be very close to one of them (I seem to be a small/medium in most mesh products). The nail-tinting options are pretty even. The Slink nail tinting is a two part process and as such might seem a little more complicated to newbies.
Neither of these have a good stocking feet option. Hopefully with mesh someone is working on that.
Stellar Mesh Schoolgirl Skirt & Boho Baku Blouse
Oh, and if you’re at all interested in the outfit I’m wearing, the tartan skirt is from Stellar and is the Schoolgirl mesh skirt in red (dear designers: it’s the holidays, will you get your butts in gear on the red tartan offerings, please?). This mesh skirt comes in two sizes (which basically means how big do you want your ass to be) and provides the necessary alpha layer. It is partnered with a forgettable top and a nice shrug. The shrug has a sculpted turtleneck collar and sleeves and even a cute little sculpted necktie if you’re looking for that sort of outfit.
I opted for a sweet little texture-only blouse from Boho Baku called the lil lace boho crop top. In this day and age its lack of prim collar, sleeves, ties, etc make it a bit of a throwback, but the texturing is delicate, feminine and charming. I recommend it highly for something to wear under a prim sweater or jacket.
Where Does She Get Those Wonderful Toys:
Womens Natural Barefeet (Mesh Rigged) – L$675
Slink
Creator: Siddean Munro
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sanctum/84/94/503
Maitreya Gold Bare Feet (Flat or Tip Toes) – L$675 each
Maitreya
Creator: Onyx LeShelle
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Maitreya%20Isle/207/165/26
Schoolgirl – Mesh skirt – L$299
Stellar
Creator: Lexi Morgan
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Rigby/163/211/24
Lil lace boho crop top – L$124
Boho Baku
Creator: Twill Tymets
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Kierman/215/219/21
