I have heard about the free mesh body available for women at
eBODY and was curious to see it for myself. I currently own Belleza (all three), Altamura, Maitreya, Slink(H), and Tonic all in the full form, so I knew that the "free" body would not be as functional as they are.
So, I teleported myself over to eBODY, and discovered that the "free" body is not free, actually. It costs 1L. So, if you are new and have no Lindens, you will be sorely disapointed unless you can get someone to give you 1L or you purchase some. You can also gift the body to someone, so if you have a friend who wants to do that, then there's that option.
I took both the curvy and the classic bodies to compare as I wanted to see how different they were and which one I might like more.
I was pleasantly surprised when I opend it, as the first thing that stood out to me is that they come with all three options of feet: flat, mid, and high. They are also Slink shoe compatible! Therefore, if you are already the proud owner of 14,567 shoes like me, then you will not really have to go looking for shoes specific to this body. Unless you want to, of course, because who doesn't want new shoes? :)
I will show you the classic and the curvy side by side so you can compare. One thing to note, while the skins that are included with the body are lovely, they are not listed as being from as specific maker; they are stand alone for the body, so you will have to manually try to find a skin that matches them. The dollarbie body HUD does not allow you to tint or change RBG values; that is only in the full body HUD. So, you will notice that my mesh head and the body do not quite match, though I tried my best to find as close to matching skins as possible.
The eBODY "free" version comes with preset skins, flat, mid and tall feet that are slink fitted for shoes, hands that are non-Bento, and a HUD that will give you access to switch between the feet styles, the body skin tones, and the neck fix.
The Classic body is slimmer, and more suited for standard fit clothing if you use a slimmer to average body shape. The Curvy body is very much curvier. I'd say they are comparable to the Maitreya vs the Freya in the curviness potential. I had to reduce the breast and leg size and the body fat on the curvy to bring it down to a more moderate curvy size.
The lines of the body are pretty and remind me alot of the Tonic Mesh body actually. The skins included with the body are very pretty and good quality, though with the dollarbie body, you will have to really try to find skins to match them with either your default head or a mesh head. I changed the skin to a PUMEC skin on the curvy body and found a tone that worked well enough so that the line between the neck and the body was not as visible.
The bodies come with a pair of mesh panties and bra which is a nice touch. Finding clothing for it can be a bit limiting, but the good news is that more and more creators are making clothes for it.
The classic body seems to have more available for now but I did find a few things for the curvy body as well on MP. My favorite creators such as Blueberry, Addams, and the like still are limited to the Big 3, Maitreya, Slink and Belleza though.
I did find some cute clothes for cheap on the marketplace, and a cute belly piercing that was only 1L, that was rigged to the Curvy, but I made it work using the unrigged version on the Classic body too.. yay! So, it is possible to use this body for an alt where you don't want to spend alot of Linden but still want the funcionality of a basic and pretty mesh body. Because the body's hands are non-bento, you will not be able to use Bento animated poses with them, as the hands will not animate.
Also, you cannot change the nail style or nail color, nor did I find that any of my Slink fitted mesh nails to work with the hands (
they do on the Tonic body--you can see my review of it here).
You can also see a post on the updates done for the Tonic Body here
The body comes with a notecard explaining what you do get, and how it comepares to the full eBODY, so you can decide if you want to go back an purchase it.
As for the alpha slices, there are only large areas you can alpha, and not the small slices seen in the fully functional body, so if you do purchase clothing that is NOT for the eBODY, you might not be able to get it to fit right due to this, or you might have to change your shape quite a bit to make it work.
The feet available for both bodies included.
The lines onthe Curvy body using a shape I created for it and the Catwa Candy non Bento mesh head with PUMEC skin appliers on the head and the included skin on the body.
Final comparison between the Classic body on the left and the curvy body on the Right
Below, using clothing from AdN for the Curvy body.
The body is pretty, with elegant lines, and pretty decent functionality for just 1L. I think its a steal really when you think about what you DO get with them.. just the ability to wear my Slink shoes is a bonus! I think more advanced users using this for an alt might not be so bothered with the skin matching issue, but not sure how a newbie might feel about it. I certainly think its worth getting to see how mesh bodies work, etc if you don't already have one. A couple of things to note: the HUD started tweaking on me just a few days after I got the body. Skins would not apply, it would not detach, etc. I tried it in various different locations, so it was not lag in an area. I had to detach everything and then log off and then re-open a new body and use that. Then, it happened again. So, not sure if its an SL thing, or if its just how it is. Since it is an almost free body there are no updates or anything for it, so that's one thing to keep in mind.
I would reccomend this to anyone who doesn't want to spend much on a mesh body but wants a functional body to start out with. Great for alts or newbies, or maybe for folks that are not on SL alot and don't want to spend alot of money creating their avi...as long as you are willing to work to find a skin that matches the tones that are preset, this is definitely a GREAT body, despite the glitchiness these past few days.
It is nice to see that there are more and more options out there for people to have access to a nice looking body (and heads too.. see my post on the
UTILIZATOR- Normie Bento head) for very few Linden. If you are still not on the mesh path, or you are new to SL and considering a mesh body, do try this 1L eBODY and see how it feels for you. I'd reccoment getting demos for as many mesh bodies (and heads) to see the range of shapes, sizes, and funcitonality that is available and then figuring out what is the best value for the money for YOU.
Things to consider include things like :
- are there alot of options for skins and clothing for the body?
- Do I get good support from the creator?
- Do we get free updates?
- Is the creator allowing for feedback and improvements?
- Is it OMEGA ready, or do I need to purchse the OMEGA hud?
- Does it include the feet and Bento hands with various hand animations, or do we need to purchase those seperately?
- Are there enough alpha slices to allow to fit clothes that are not specific to the body?
- How much Linden am I looking to spend?
- Is the body versatile enough to make it slim or very curvy?
I hope you got some useful info out of this post. Plase share it with newbies as well as others who might be considering getting a mesh body.
xoxo
Tessy
