Thank you, Tenyene

Today I had the pleasure of visiting EPIC and chatting with its owner, Tenyene Beaumont. She's doing some wonderful things for prim breast users, though I think the office she's set up for consultations with those who express interest in adjusting their bosom is the most wonderful.

(Simulblogging again... sigh. Got to avoid that in the future.)

A new blog for prim breast users

Don't miss Big Booby Girls in Second Life, a very new (as I type) blog for prim breast users. Cindy Melgund intends for it to become "a place for all sorts of how-tos, news, pictures, tips, and gossip about our gang".

Thanks to Minka Pearl for posting about it!

Lining up

Sigh. Prim breast textures intended to work with matching tops have the same problem as texture "clothing" in general: they're tied to the specific configuration the designer used when creating the textures.

This is a problem, because one of the wonderful features of prim breasts is that you can resize them. (And these days, it's often via a HUD rather than by editing.) Go far enough from the size the designer used when creating the texture that goes with the top, and it doesn't go with the top any more. This happened to me today with a lovely top I bought. I adjusted to the size I wanted... and noticed a jump discontinuity in the collar. Oops.

What can be done about this? To have any chance of working, one would have to be able to modify the texture to suit the size and position of the prim breasts. Not an easy task, but I've made a similar proposal in the past on the SL JIRA, VWR-10839, and it would have to be something of that sort.

AvPainter

I recently saw mention of a program, AvPainter, that looks like it would be extremely useful. Too bad it's Windows-only, at least at the moment--and by "Windows-only" in this case we mean "XP SP 3 or Vista", so if you use Windows 7 you'll need the version that lets you run XP on a virtual machine. (If anyone's found a way to make it run under Mono, please let me know!)

It started out in life, as you might guess from the name, as a way to let you create clothing by painting directly on the avatar figure in 3D, rather than having to figure out how the shapes you intend have to be distorted to go on the flat texture so that when they're wrapped around the avatar shape they look the way you intend. (The computer graphics term for it is "UV mapping"; think of it as if you're Mercator trying to come up with a way to draw a map of the spherical earth on a rectangular piece of paper.)

That's all well and good, and I'm sure that clothiers find it a highly useful program, but why do I mention it here? Because the current version supports painting sculpted prims, and hence should be extremely useful for making tops for use with prim breasts, especially if they could be positioned on the avatar shape so one could easily deal with the places where they join.

I'd be very interested in hearing of peoples' experiences with AvPainter.

On Modesty

In the past I've joked about being modest by virtue of incompetence, i.e. I didn't know enough about UV mapping or was too lazy to experiment with texturing to create a texture for a top with prim breasts and decolletage. (Or both.)

Now that there are clothiers who cater to (most!) prim breast users, though, I'm modest by choice. Part of it's the theory that when the meter is a reasonable unit for measuring one's cleavage, one needn't call attention to one's bosom. Better to distract with something low cut in back, or to favor one's legs. But another part is self-respect; I don't care to wear a T-shirt announcing myself to be a slut or the like. (I have to admit I've been tempted to commission a T-shirt that says "Gee, your breasts are small", but I've not succumbed.)

Low cut can be lovely, but I don't wish to expose my nipples or areolae, and whenever I see those shirts that display the lower portion of one's breasts, they just look like they weren't laundered properly and shrank. The above is about as daring as I would ever be (aside from visits to nude beaches or the Minoan Empire)... but it seems that many clothiers who cater to prim breast users concentrate on very immodest clothing. (I'm very grateful for those who also sell items for the more modest.)

What do you think? I am certainly not privy to the sales figures for any business, but I'd love to know whether I'm unusual in my preferences.

Goodbye, Busty Dream Girls Mall

I am sorry to say that the Busty Dream Girls Mall is no more. However, there is a collection of vendors for prim breast related items in the back of Double D's Strip & Escort Club at ZI Tropical Paradise 97, 162, 22. I will update this message with the vendors there as soon as possible.

collaboration

So far I've seen a couple of items for prim breasts made to go with a particular mainstream outfit. I desperately need to take better notes, because I can't remember the maker of one of them; the other is a Foxbean Laboratories product designed to work with a particular business suit.

I hope that happens more often. (There is a company, Sharp Dressed Tits, that does custom adaptations to third-party outfits of your choice.) My dream is to be able to walk into someplace like Nicky Ree, RFyre, or the Crystal Queendom and be able to buy anything I please, knowing I can use it with my prim breasts.

Who makes clothes for what

The following is a list of clothiers and whose prim breasts they support. I will do my best to keep it complete and accurate, and invite additions and corrections.

At least initially, I won't include the prim breast makers themselves, who all make at least some tops for their products. I include Smashing Prims and Titillation because their emphasis is on the clothing; each outfit of interest to us includes prim breasts textured appropriately for the outfit.

Also, again recall that where we refer to support for Implant Nation, we mean the "multiclothing" and "universal" prim breasts.

[13]SINS: eCorp
Amazon Designs: eCorp, iBoob, Icon, Implant Nation, Sensations
Big Breast Sluts: Implant Nation
BL Design: Implant Nation, Sensations
Boobie Tops: eBoobs, Implant Nation
Busty Goddess: Implant Nation
Clothes by Ricy Babii: Implant Nation
Epic Proportions: eCorp, Implant Nation
MinkaMade: eCorp, Implant Nation
Nanami: eCorp, iBoob, Implant Nation
Princess Tops: Implant Nation
P.S. Design: Implant Nation
Ravishing Racks: eCorp, Icon, Implant Nation, Lolas, Sensations
Schuffel+Schism: eCorp, Implant Nation
Simply Orgasmic: Implant Nation
Smashing Prims: Smashing Prims
Titillation: Titillation
XXL Top Design: Implant Nation

Asian dress from Princess Tops

Shoes (Aphrodite Creations Vintish gold) and leggings not included.

Not just clothing... jewelry issues

Earlier this evening I decided to wear some emerald jewelry. I bought a pretty and not-too-expensive set, and put it on...

...and saw that I'd forgotten that it's not just tops that are problematic for prim breast users.

Necklaces typically attach to the chest, where prim breasts obviously attach. So the first thing you have to do is change the attachment point to the spine (no wings for you!) and then edit so that it has spine-relative coordinates and orientation putting it in the same position as the old chest-relative coordinates and orientation.

We're good then, right? Um, maybe.

Think of the surface that has the necklace as its boundary. Typically its highest point will be where it rests behind your neck, and it will descend, gently at first, and then more sharply--on most people, at least.

On some of us who use prim breasts, that will put the most decorated portion of the necklace inside our bosom. We, therefore, have to edit some necklaces piece by piece so that they lie properly on the bosom, rather than looking as though they drilled into us. Good luck making sure it's symmetric!

Is it any wonder that we constrain ourselves to necklaces that are at most a few steps from being chokers?

So, please, jewelers: when you script your necklaces, please give some thought to making that curve describing the way the necklace falls on the torso easily adjustable.

UPDATE: The Emerald SL client does something that essentially doubles the number of attachment points, but they only behave as advertised if observed using Emerald; attachments at the new points won't look right to people using other clients. Darn it.

UPDATE: There are some prim breasts that come in chest-attaching and spine-attaching versions; the latter are necklace friendly, but OTOH you're still out of luck for being a well-endowed fairy with a necklace.

"These are the good old days..."

By the way, did you notice just how many vendors we listed in the previous post? As of the time I type this, I think it comes to thirty-one, and again as of the time I type this, you'll note that Implant Nation and Smashing Prims aren't there.

So, to all of you vendors (and to those I've missed; I promise I will rectify that mistake), thank you! I am more grateful to you than I can possibly say. Big hugs to you all.

Malls with shops and/or vendors of interest

Here we list malls we know of that include shops and/or vendors that sell:

• prim breasts (with or without tops)
• tops that work with prim breasts
• avatars that include prim breasts
  
• outfits that either include prim breasts or are made to work with prim breasts

As we learn of more, we'll edit this post to include them, so there's one post to find them all (I'm so sorry, Professor Tolkien!). We'll also list the vendors selling the above items that one can find there as we explore and find them (or are told of them--hint, hint, vendors and mall owners! mel_yeuxdoux@yahoo.com...) Right now, just to get this going, I'll put them in the order I wrote things down while exploring; later, alphabetical order throughout, to be consistent and avoid issues of favoritism.

Busty Village Shopping Mall: Deaths Head 72, 113, 23

• Foxbean Laboratories
• Busty's
• P.S. Design
• Clothing by Ricy Babii
• Icon
• Violet Studios
• Lolas!
• Bad Kitty
• Amazon Designs
• iBoobs
• Boobie Tops
• [13]SINS
  

Mammatus Mall: (Mammatus 211, 150, 27)

• Circus Creations
• Nightmare Inc.
• Foxbean Laboratories
• Icon
• Violet Studios
• Exterminatus Labs
• Schuffel+Schism
• Titillation
• G&S Team
• P.S. Designs
• XXL Top Design
• Maxie Inc.
• Boobie Tops
• eCorp
• Udder Extacy [sic]
  
• Ravishing Racks
• Busty Goddess
• Amazon Designs
• Kaze Creation
• Nanami
• [13]SINS
• iBoobs
• Vanilla Inc.
• Epic Proportions
• Clothes by Ricy Babii
• Busty's
• Lolas!

NOTE: Teleporting to Mammatus will take you to a telehub whence you can teleport to various features of the island, among which is the mall.

NorthStar Mall: NorthStar 77, 72, 30

• Ittindi Gavaskar
• Rhenworks

Titty Bar Mall: (XTREAM 57, 62, 21)

• Busty's
• Amazon Designs
• Lolas!
• P.S. Designs
• Boobie Tops
• iBoobs
• G&S Team
• Big Breast Sluts
• Icon
• Princess Tops
• Simply Orgasmic
• Violet Studios
• Busty Goddess
• BL Design
• Foxbean Laboratories
• Clothes by Ricy Babii
• MinkaMade

Latex suits from Eclectic Randomness

I've owned Eclectic Randomness's prim breasts w/latex top for some time, but I've always wanted a latex suit made to work well with it. (Until SL really supports proper emulation of the way light reflects off surfaces, creators have to paint on highlights and the like, and different creators do so enough differently to make the mismatch stick out.)

They've finally done it. Alas, while the prim breasts and top change colors, the latex suits don't--you'll have to buy one of each color that appeals to you. I like the results. (Oh, yes... the stiletto heels in the photo don't come with the suit; they're the wonderful 11" stilettos from VvB.)

UPDATE: Lest I give the wrong impression: the latex suits do not come with a prim breast top.

ADDENDUM: If you look at the full-sized version, you'll see that some of the details near the collar aren't visible. That is purely my doing, given the size I have the prim breasts set to.

MinkaMade limited editions

While trying to find something else, I had the good fortune to come upon MinkaMade.

One of the stereotypical uncomfortable situations is meeting someone wearing the same outfit. Minka Pearl therefore only makes three of any given outfit. Her work is adaptable to (sufficiently recent) Implant Nation prim breasts and eCorp prim breasts. The link above is to her blog; check it out.

"The street finds its own use for things..."

So, the question: how to wrangle a blog into doing a web site's job?

I will create some entries that will have links to them. They'll be listings of vendors, FAQs, and such, updated as needed. (And if there's need, please let me know!) The rest will be news of the sort that one finds in blogs.

I'll start seriously tagging, or in Blogger speak, labeling, posts to make searching easier.

We'll see how it works out.

Disclosure

OK. Because it's the right thing to do, as SL fashion bloggers knew and have done long before the FTC got involved, here are some things you should know.

Shortly after I first found out about Smashing Prims and started blogging about it and outfits I bought there, Raven Ivanova kindly gave me a "Christmas present" with some of her outfits. (I continue to be a customer there.)

Foxbean Liebknecht has generously given me some of the prim breasts and tops she makes. I've also bought her products. The current "Nadine" breasts are my personal favorites, and I really really hope that third party clothiers start making versions of their tops for them.

Dresses from Nanami

I was on the grid at the same time as beautiful Mesha Sewell, and she showed me a lovely Nanami dress that she bought, "Lady Mae", and gave me permission to post a photo here.


Also, I succumbed to temptation and bought the "Miss Jane" dress from Nanami, as I said I would do someday. Here's a photo.


The sharp-eyed will notice my ineptitude with the Implant Nation prim breasts. I bought some long ago, but have never used them until now, and I was too impatient to get a photo and put it up to match skin tones. Also, there but barely visible are stockings from another outfit that I had on.

Embarrassing bug with shadows enabled

I've been using (various; lately I've leaned towards Emerald and Snowglobe) SL clients with shadows enabled. Shadows don't quite work, but when they do they're wonderful. Two bugs stand out:

• shadows wreck snapshots; they're saved as all black
• shadows cause textures with alpha to seemingly randomly flicker into and out of view

What does this have to do with prim breasts? Well... the recent wonderful efflorescence of tops that work with prim breasts are based on having a "clothing layer" that surrounds the prim breasts. For anything but the most demure and modest outfit, it will have to have alpha enabled to show whatever amount of skin... which means that for those who have shadows enabled, they will occasionally disappear. For modesty's sake, let's hope LL fixes this one quickly...

Nanami

So, I was going to be all organized and tour the Mammatus Mall and Northstar Mall and the other malls where one can find prim breasts and clothes for prim breasts, gathering data... and then talented and drop-dead gorgeous Mesha Sewell IMed me about Nanami.

Nanami makes clothing that works with Implant Nation, eCorp, and iBoob prim breasts. (I should mention that earlier Implant Nation prim breasts don't support third-party clothing; here and henceforth, when I say a top works with Implant Nation prim breasts, I mean the later versions.) The styles vary from a demure white Victorian dress with matching hat to more modern and more daring outfits. They're beautifully made. I'm sure I will buy that Victorian gown someday.

There's clothing for guys there, too.

The main store is at Saphir 59, 180, 22. Since it's called the main store, I have to think there are other branch stores, but I have yet to find one. I'll give pointers as I find them.

UPDATE: Nanami does indeed have various branch stores; one is at the Mammatus Mall, up at the northeast corner of the third floor. (Teleports into Mammatus always take you to a spot from which you can teleport to one of several areas on the island; choose the Mall, and once you're teleported there, you can get to the store.))

Here We Go...

Hello, and welcome.

I hope to keep track of all the makers of prim breasts and clothing for use with prim breasts in Second Life. (And who knows--if other virtual worlds either develop something analogous, or, even better, make avatar shapes sufficiently versatile that they can accommodate figures that in Second Life require prim breasts, I will cheerfully report on it.)

I will also either post or give links to discussions of prim breasts, what one should look for when choosing them, and the like. I'm happy to say that some of the things I've written in the past have been made obsolete by positive developments, so better I should rewrite.

I will go exploring, signing up for update notifications, and so forth... but you can help me. If you create prim breasts or clothing for them, please email me with information on your products, store locations, and the like. The address: mel_yeuxdoux@yahoo.com. If you are a prim breast user (and if you are, or if you are thinking of becoming one, or would if so doing didn't limit your clothing choices, please consider joining my group "Prim Breast Users"), tell me of your experiences and things you like and don't like. Thanks.