In the #SecondLife communities, content creation is a big deal, and some brands are no doubt jumping on the chance to get the devkit (developer’s creation kit) for the new Senra mesh bodies. These have been teased and rumored by Linden Lab for years; today their spokesperson Patch Linden finally made the big announcement.

Attention all talented content creators of Second Life! We have some thrilling news to share with you today.

As you may have seen in past discussions, Linden Lab is nearing completion of the first phase of one of our New User Experience projects – new mesh starter avatars. Under the “Senra” brand, these two mesh bodies and heads will be named Blake and Jamie. Blake and Jamie will be replacing the previous iterations of starter avatars to give new users a better beginner experience, with the ability to customize their avatar and create their own unique look.

In preparation for the initial rollout, we are opening applications for the developer kit to content creators. This is an incredible opportunity for content creators to take their artistic ventures to our newest users. Whether you specialize in fashion, accessories, animations, or any other form of virtual content, by incorporating the Senra brand into your creative arsenal, you can explore new horizons, introduce innovative products, and cater to a growing market of new Second Life users who are embracing their new mesh bodies.

Woot! Embracing bodies! Hugging! Dogs and cats living together! Furries feeling left out and neglected, boo! but perhaps there is something for them in the package, I don’t know yet.

Meanwhile, I’ve been tinkering with Blender slowly and have actually applied for a couple of the “big maker” devkits, and already have at least one (the up-and-coming Star Mesh Body, more on that later). Dhughan is getting ready to fuss and tut-tut his way through making some new mesh walking sticks, and I added him to the application for this SDK Senra kit as well as the applications for Maitreya Classic (the old body devkit that’s easier to get).

All we plan to do thus far is unrigged stuff, but I have a mesh apron kit from the Meli Imako brand that I may have to do custom textures on so I can sell it in the Marketplace.

There are folders in my library following the naming conventions that Patch Linden sets out in the devkit application, which I never noticed before – but according to this post on Reddit, it was believed to be an accidental or test release that may still be visible if logged in to the test grid instead of the main grid (the test grid has snapshots of your inventory but is often of older content and out of synch, depending on when you last changed your password).

Now Imma gonna have to log out of the main grid and waste time trying to get into the test grid and waste precious futzing around time. I should be making new stuff or at least getting ready to sell off old DFS cooking ingredient inventory, but no, there’s a SHINY OBJECT.

oh.

oh, my God.

No wonder they pulled these, but given the standard Linden attention to detail, I bet the horrible stretching I see on the 2 bodies is a problem.

That’s pretty badly textured but…

The stretchmarks over the bazooms would make a lingerie fitter weep.

Pleasantly surprised at how clean the topology is, and it’s quite light, only 28LI. I guess the legacy UV maps for BOM need to be cleaned up better (probably by pinning all the seams).

Then it was time to put the body (but not yet the head) on, first with my normal shape, then with the provides shapes. I stuck to the female one.

It’s supposed to say “Ceeling Cat Sees Whut You Did Thar,” but the crevasse on the chest is so deep that the second line looks like it says “Whut Thar.”

Which is as good a comment as any one could make on the quality of the UV map, and the shape that I chose for this one, Shape 6.

The shapes were all very poorly done – the arms look like sticks, they don’t look well-proportioned, and what were they thinking letting this past QC?

Or this:

I took more pictures, but you get the idea. I didn’t try on any of the clothes, I figure they’re competent and hide the worst features, but there is a very large number of Second Life users who require bodies that look good for fashion shoots, or look delicious unclothed. I’m not one of them, I just require a body that looks well-formed and doesn’t look like a Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade character gone walkabout. And I see people like that ALL the time – looking like a collection of helium balloons on a windy day – but their physics settings or something are set to antigravity. These shapes that new people are going to be given look like that feeling you get on an express elevator going up 60 floors, very draggy.

Anyway I did manage to get an idea while messing around on the test grid and threw together a photo backdrop that worked well enough that I’m going to rebuild it for my main account. If I actually Make Something New with Blender (probably tomorrow) the backdrop will be nice to have. And I did download the Meshbody Classic devkit, and had received the link for the Star Mesh Body devkit so I downloaded all of that, too. After some thought I decided to renew my Avastar license, along with their “devkit manager” bit, since I now have 2 and will possibly have 3 soon.

If I actually manage to get through the requirements of the Meshbody Classic kit to receive the more advanced kit, it’ll be a miracle. I have to create a full outfit, post pictures of it in a special Flickr group, and post it for sale on my Marketplace store. So… I’m thinking “cycling jersey and shorts,” something which I actually made long ago but forgot about.

I’ve watched way, way too many “how to do Blender” videos, too. But as the Creator once said,

“it all starts with a cube.”