May 22, 2018

Profile Peeker the Pervy HUD - FREEBIE

OK just kidding. But I do love alliteration and with a name like Profile Peeker, how could I resist? Stepping out of my usual role as a reviewer of fashion and commentator on the silly things Linden Lab often does, I'm going to talk about a strange HUD for Second Life. It's called Profile Peeker and it's made by Patser Albatros. Full disclosure, he's a friend of mine and also the maker of the inworld HUD game, Pirates.

So what does it do? First, it displays thumbnail photos from the profiles of up to 10 people you are closest to. The screen cap to the right shows how it looks in Firestorm viewer and as you can see, it takes up a bit of visual real estate. The left-hand thumbnail is the main profile picture while the right is the First Life picture (if any).

The magic comes when you click on a photo (peek at the profile). You get a popup window with three choices:

You can (obviously), look at a profile. You can also see what attachments an avatar is wearing (want to find out what dress she's wearing?). The interesting thing is "History".

It takes you to a third party server that shows you a grid of "history" changes to the text on the SL & RL parts of the avatar's profile and partner changes. I have no idea about the magic behind this but it looks like it's getting info from public Second Life web profiles. I even see data going back to 2016. Creepy? Maybe. The Internet never forgets!

So Profile Peeker works and does exactly what it says it does -- if you're inclined to use such a thing. One small thing that could use improvement is how the profile pics are presented. I'd almost prefer the avatar name instead of the thumbnail of the profile. An avatar's look doesn't always match their profile photo and it can be a bit tough to match someone up if there are lots of avatars near you. Maybe as a floater? Mouseover? Anyway, it's not an issue when you are only around say 5 people but more than that, a name reference would be easier.

Profile Peeker is available for free on the Second Life Marketplace here:

https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Profile-Peeker/8067750


May 20, 2018

Normie Mesh Head by Utlizator

As some of you know from reading my past posts, I have steadfastly hung onto my system head for one simple reason. It looks best with my favorite Lumae skin, Eirtae T7. Every mesh head I've tried seems to have a fatal flaw with Eirtae -- whether it's lips that are too small or cheeks that are too hollow or whatever. It seems most mesh heads tend towards the runway model anorexic look or the doe-eyed little girl partial-anime look. Admittedly, I haven't tried a ton of heads (maybe 8 total) but each time I'd go back to my system head.

My last adventure with Bento head demos led me to Lelutka Bianca and LAQ Bree. Bianca was gorgeous around the eyes but I couldn't get the lips to look anything but overly cutesy pouty-puffy. Bree was simply awful with my skin, had limited slider response and the face simply looked puffy in general. Sigh.
Normie Bento Head by Utilizator

So I happened to be lurking the Mesh Body Addicts group in SL one afternoon when someone mentioned a Bento Omega-compatible head, Normie by Utilizator, that worked well as a sort of upgrade replacement for the system head. My virtual ears perked up and when they said it was only $500L I was like, OK must try!

I was actually blown away. Not only did my skin look great, I barely had to touch the sliders to get my "look" which is sort of sexy nerd girl next door. Definitely not runway model, pouty princess or femme fatale. One look at the freckles and well, you know what I mean.

Anyway, see for yourself (click on the piccy for a full-sized shot). No Photoshop on this -- just a straight Gyazo with normal graphics settings. Lip gloss is Delizio Hot Pink, eyes are Amicci mesh and eye makeup is Izzie's "Gloom" in copper all applied via Omega.

A few notes. The HUD is simplistic but still takes a bit getting used to since turning off/on the makeup tattoo and Omega eyelashes makes a big difference in how you look. Animations are limited as well but since it's full Bento, third party animations should work just fine. Normie also supports voice chat mouth movement through three supplied gestures. Oh yeah, Normie is also full MOD! Now what other Bento head gives you that at ANY price?

Normie is available in SL Marketplace here: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/UTILIZATOR-Normie-Head/13071631,

There is a DEMO version available as well and as with anything mesh, I strongly urge you to play with it first.