Table of Contents

The Bakes on Mesh seems to still be a pain for several people, but it’s a fantastic system to simplify your Second Life.

First, it’s useful to explore the definition that we find in the knowledge section about Bakes On Mesh (BOM).

Bakes on Mesh is a feature to allow system avatar baked textures to be shown on mesh attachments.

Second Life Community: https://community.secondlife.com/knowledgebase/english/bakes-on-mesh-r1512/

So, which is the benefit in using the BOM?

If you use a standard system avatar, you can wear several texture layers to customize your skin and add tattoos and clothing layers. To save processing time and provide everyone on any system the same view of your appearance, those textures are “baked” by a server into a single combined texture. Previously if you wanted to use a custom mesh body part and do the same kind of customization,  the body part would need its own texturing system. In addition, you would usually need to apply an “alpha” wearable to the underlying standard avatar body part to hide it so that it doesn’t interfere with your mesh part. With bakes on mesh, you can apply any system skins and other layers to your avatar (you don’t need or want the alpha layer), and then tell the viewer to apply the resulting baked texture to your mesh body part. The underlying system avatar part is hidden for you automatically so the alpha wearable is not required.

Second Life Community: https://community.secondlife.com/knowledgebase/english/bakes-on-mesh-r1512/

Okay, but how can I use BOM? Easy, please!

Well, I don’t know why several tutorials make it so sophisticated, because it’s easy to use. Follow this simple step-by-step tutorial:

  1. First, find a skin, a tattoo, a make-up, and so on that you like, that is BOM. You can recognize if it’s BOM observing with attention the image on the vendor: if you read, there’s also the BOM version of the item you’re on the way.
  2. Second, detach your alpha mask. Let’s say you want to wear a new BOM skin: be sure the skin is just for the head or for all body (head and body). If you have a complete skin, you need to detach the alpha for the head and the body. Instead, if you have the skin just for your head, you need to detach the alpha for your head and keep the alpha for your body.
  3. Third, wear your skin.
  4. Fourth, activate the BOM of your head/body (it depends if you have a full skin or just a head skin).
Maitreya BOM
Lelutka BOM

That’s all.

It’s obvious that if you have bought a head skin (like, for example, Glam Affair’s ones), you need to use the applier for your mesh body and also to use the alpha mask for your body.

Glam Affair fits perfectly with the default Maitreya skin tone, so if you have Maitreya mesh body, you’re on the way.

⚠️ Warning! If you are distracted by my Italian accent, try to be familiar with the instruction above before watching the video. The video adds some critical information, but the teaching above is enough to correctly use the BOM system.

My Youtube Video

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Oema
360gradi.sl@gmail.com
I love communication in all its aspects. I like to share my experiences, explorations, and knowledge with the Second Life community. I created the VIRTUALITY blog and 360 GRADI Magazine with this goal in mind.
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