New Second Life Mesh Eyelids from SLink are a Must-Have for Photographers (Though They Aren't Yet Perfect)

Iris Ophelia's ongoing review of virtual world and MMO fashion

Soulful and emotive virtual photography often requires a level of control we don't readily have over Second Life avatars, especially when it comes to the eyes. If you want to catch your avatar with their eyes closed it usually takes exceptional timing, remarkable patience, or the exploitation of very specific glitches. The latest release from Siddean Munro's brand SLink aims to take a lot of fuss out of these kinds of snapshots. Her new mesh eyelids are a clean, simple, and a fairly cost effective solution to the problem.

But, as much as I like these straightforward lids, they're not without some shortcomings...

First of all, I'll admit to being a little underwhelmed. Siddean's other releases of this nature (prim feet and hands, for example) usually come with a HUD and a bevy of options. These lids are unrigged mesh, so you can resize and tint them using SL's own editing tools. There's nothing wrong with this, but it feels like something of a missed opportunity. I would have liked to see some different effects bof in terms of decoration (eyeliners, more natural or more dramatic lash options, etc.) and the actual shape and position of the lids themselves. How about a sultry half-lidded look, or even an open 'monolid' look (which is hard to achieve in SL without particular skins)? Some of these effects could be achieved through careful editing, but it would be even better if they came built in.

Additionally, these eyelids were a little awkward to fit. They still feel too large on my avatar, but they had to be to cover up my particular eye sockets properly. I also had an issue with my eyeliner showing just slightly through the transparent blending area of the lid. The bolder your skin's eye makeup is, the bigger these lids may have to be to ensure everything is covered. I have a fix for this which would be easy enough to do yourself, but even easier if it came in the package: An opaque tattoo layer and a set of eyes to cover up any eye details or eyeliner (which almost all skins have) that may show through, both adjusted to match your skin tone as closely as possible. This would also make blending with the color and texture of the eyelids much easier.

I'll reinterate that I do like this set a lot, and I'm sure I'll be using it again in the near future, but I really think that there's still a lot of room for development and growth. Don't be disheartened by my criticism, though. SLink updates their products fairly frequently, so I doubt this is the last we'll here of these pretty lids!

[Click here to teleport to SLink in SANCTUM]

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Iris Ophelia (Janine Hawkins IRL) has been featured in the New York Times and has spoken about SL-based design at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan and with pop culture/fashion maven Johanna Blakley.

Comments

[Adeon Writer]

I'm always forgetting that the base avatar mesh can't do something as simple as close their eyes. (In my defense my only human avie wears a mask anyhow.)

It's kind of a downer when I remember it. After all, the secret to what made the (SnowCrash) so successful and Mainstream was the expressive, emotive faces. Considered an aftertpught to the egghead programmers, who came up with all these complex hysics simulations and protocols but were blind to the simple details of how humans interact.

Great to see resident strides in this direction, but I only feel it's a patch to something LL should really be focusing on.

Ah well.

[Luci Koenkamp]

Why hasn´t LL done anything to improve our avatars? I´ve been a member since 2004 and NOTHING has changed since then. Don´t you think it´s time for some improvements? I really would like some toes on my avatars´ feet and the shoulders are a far cry from reality ... not to mention the view when some one bends over :)

[Jamie]

Just thought I'd mention that closing your avatar's eyes is simple enough. Just use something like the anypose expression hud or any of the other facial control huds out there. The downside is that you cannot control your mouth and eyes seperatly, so if you use the distain facial pose which closes your eyes you are stuck with an odd sort of mouth, however this has always been easy for me to hide with just a clever angle or a mouth accessory that hides it. To me that was far better then sitting and fighting to try and catch my avatar blinking.