Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Kemono Kids


Alright, so 'Kemono' and 'kid' isn't something you usually hear in the same sentence together-- at least not on Second Life (I can't claim I know much f the usage of the word 'kemono' off Second Life, but I know there are Google results!). And just why is that? While Utilizator's Avatar 2.0 has a sweet, rounded face and body, Kemono bodies tend to be more slender (outside of the hips and thighs-- let's not ever talk about the hips and thighs there) and with the naturally small chest on the mesh body (easily changed for entirely flat chest), it should be a decent option for a childish mesh avatar from kid to young teen, right?

Well... there are plenty of child mesh bodies out there now. The most popular being, of course, being Toddleedoo followed closely by SMB. Unless you spend all your time on Adult sims doing... adult things, chances are you've seen quite a few kids on Second Life wandering around-- there's a thriving family community here, and plenty of spaces to reclaim your inner child. But despite my affinity for playing a kid, I waited quite a few years before I pushed into the mesh territory to try my hand at a boy avatar. I didn't like any of the kid mesh out there, and I already trusted Utilizator mesh, so... despite the Kemono being targeted more at the Furry community, I knew I had to try my hand with its human counter-part to see how well it could be adopted. It's such a beautiful avatar, after all, so why isn't it more commonly used?


Likely because of the above pictures. As adorable as my avatar turned out with Kemono, it would be rather foolish to keep it if none of the clothing could fit, right? The two biggest problems I ran into were: your normal SL mesh clothing seemed to lean just a few centimetres in front of your body, meaning unless the clothes were made specifically for the Kemono, nothing would fit at the collar and anywhere that the torso and even legs were revealed. The second issue, while not as prominent and alarming, was that for some reason the area around the ankles would be elongated greatly while wearing mesh. This meant that pants were suddenly too short (would show the ankles) and that shoes that touched the ankles were too high.

Luckily, the ankle problem can be fixed! It took me far too long to figure this out, but... when you get your Kemono avatar, there is an item in the folder called Bonus Items. Rez that, open it, and within there is something called Kemono Body (No leg deformations) along with the version number. Wear that instead, and it will turn you legs into... voilĂ , the third image shown above, with the really weird looking ankles. But that means you can wear jeans and boots, even if you can't really pair jeans with bare feet.

Because of this, I have two shapes I use with my Kemono: one shape for shorts (with the original Kemono avatar) and below the ankle sneakers, and the other shape for jeans and above ankle sneakers. Both are always paired with a scarf or something of the like... let's just say it's a quirk my boy avatar has, then.


Zerou is wearing:
Mesh Avatar: Kemono by Utilizator $900L
Mesh Head: M3 System Venus Head by Utilizator $500L
Skin: Tor Shade Skin Mod by =^HARO^= $300L
Hair: Unisex 32 from Dura in black $120L
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[VALE KOER] VASIFORMS [ group gift sneakers ] 
pictures taken at Chestnut Valley

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