You guys know I love skins, but when I try one on and it’s full of seams or the nose is pixelated, it is the biggest let down! I tried on the much anticipated Stephanie skins from Exodi, and I noticed right away that the nose had pixelation on the nostrils, which was extremely distracting.
Usually I can overlook minor flaws if the face is “hot”, but the nose turned me off, and so did the random seams all over the body. It just seems sloppy to me to release skins with this many flaws, especially since Exodi is not a ‘new’ brand.
When I try on skin demos, I teleport to my skybox and strip down! I look ALL over. I look for seams, I check out the teeth, and the ‘gina! Do you guys normally look at these areas of the skins?
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pixelated bits and seams are def distracting…but that aside I love the boobs on this skin!
I look forward to seeing the v2 of this 🙂
No pixel bits examination for me. no siree bob. Half the time labia looks its on the pelvis anyway. But if it was that way in RL omg pelvic exams would be something we could actually observe while on the table, ha! Pixel bits in SL – EPIC Fail!
thank you for posting this…i bought the this skin without trying the demo.. assumed i could trust this brand..and then i saw the face and thought it was just my monitor but it wasnt…..i felt like i couldnt complain…theyll say its my fault but its disapointing. i basically have a unwerable skin..i saw the body seams too but could forgive….but the stuff on the nose reminds meof my kids dry bogeys..opps!
Yep, I always make sure I check it as much as possible. Why waste a decent amount of L$ without trying the demo first. Most skin designers – well designers in general – photoshop their ads so you can’t always trust what you see. After I tried on this demo earlier, I was kinda disappointed. Not only about the seams, but I think it’s missing some shading/highlight. But that could just be personal preference.
odd… i got one of her pre-release freebies from her group for this new skin line and it did not have all those seams nor the pixelated nostrils 🙁 i wonder what happened?
well nobody is perfect, she made a mistake but im sure she will fix it, i really like her skins, and i never look at these detalils, they are so small
How do you get pixelation on the nostrils like that? damn! Is that ringworm on the inside leg picture?
A friend of mine recently wanted a skin and risked the buy from a place with no demos. Error. The seams were so laughably bad. Except it was painful to know she had to buy it to find out. No demo no sale for me.
Then again a dear friend of mine makes the skins I wear so I don’t actually have to worry about it at all lmao.
BTW it takes skill and the right tools to use the resources off of 3DSK. Just sayin…
I’ve already said it on Plurk, I have no problem with repeating it here:
I think the seams are probably the result of using Photoshop CS4 extended for texturing, since it can’t do margins (extending the texture over the border of the mesh on the template). What you’re seeing there happens if you paint on 1024×1024 in CS4 Extended, then resize to 512×512.
The pixellated nose is another indicator for that kind of resizing combined with sharpening afterwards.
The hand seams however are probably just the result of being careless. Then again it’s pretty difficult to cam around the hands in CS4 extended if you have few practice.
The seams are the reason why I do totally love my DeepPaint3D. I can actually set the margins (from 0 to A LOT of pixels 😉 ). Of course, the margins that DP3D produces are pretty special – if some people could have a look at the image files instead of the skins their eyes would probably pop out since the DP3D seams have white and black and totally weird looking lines around them.
That, on the other hand, helps a lot to identify a skin image file that was made using DP3D – they’re pretty unique, since they look different each time you photosource.
There’s actually only ONE way to trick CS4 ext. out on the margins, and that is to first create at, say, 128×128; then resize to 1024 or 512 and then do the details. That way, you actually ‘produce’ false margins for photoshop.
Of course you should AVOID touching the seams after resizing.
The breasts are mirrored, which looks totally weird, IMHO. But then again I generally find all mirroring on skins that can be avoided totally weird.
Just my opinion,
Naergi
Funny you should say, I always look at the nose and private parts first. Call me sick. But especially the nose is a deal breaker for me. After all it’s right in the middle of your face. Perhaps the creator would exchange this skin for another better one? I design stuff myself and I feel like a beginner compared to most. I would hate that someone bought something and disliked it because of a design flaw that could probably be easily fixed. In the meantime remember everyone can make mistakes.
Hi Gogo!
After I saw your plurk entry I jumped at your blog post here – and I got scared what I have done yesterday night. I brought Stephanie last night. I tried the Group gifts version before – but I had clothers on and didnt checked the details. I trusted Exodi to improve and releasing a clean skin. Now I owning a Skin which I never will be wear and 1k is out of the window -.-
I am kinda that person who thinks, before an item will go in sale it will be checked for all faults and beauty-faults *sighs* Well, I learned it better now.
I created blog post (http://kurashi.tumblr.com/post/447496723/exodi-all-about-stephanie) myself too, linked back to you for screenshots details. I noticed that the version of STEPHANIE LONDON is much much much cleaner and prettier on some details > breats or hand inner for example as all further later verions. Did you notice?
For myself I cannot understand how this can be happened ..
Stephanie is def. not 1k lindens worth =/
Well, being a stripper, good body is top priority in skins to me 🙂 So I always check every little detail if I like it. I only wish tere were more skin brands that had both good face and good body in same time.
And about this skin… Intentionally or mistakenly did it happen, doesn’t matter.
Does the creator not even check once how that thing they made look before they start selling it? That’s what matters.
PCs and programmss bug and make errors all the time. Doing my own work for myself I always check did it not bug anywere as I saved it?
Being a creator and seller in SL gives them some responsibility. For the sake of their clients they should always check if everything is fine.
How could they just put stuff in world and start selling it not even looking at it once?
They did betray the trust of those customers who would just buy their stuff without looking, because they blindly trust the brand.
I agree, this skin is a disapointment. I never check the seams but the shading on it just looks dirty. I too bought one last night for $1000 and it looks like there is orange smearing on the whole body. Like a bad orange fake tan.
I will say that I do love Lily and Sienna but this one is just a disapointment.
The stomach bothers me. I don’t like that shading and she did not put any type of shine on it to off set the dark. Seems are pretty common so I think most people overlook them as I do but I have to say, I have never seen a nose on second life look like that before.
If it isn’t too much, will you please take a picture of the face so we all can see it also?
Honestly, I love this skin. I can’t see the seams when I look at it on myself, none of the shading bothers me and I think the breasts are absolutely gorgeous. The hands are ugly but all hands in SL are ugly and I’ve given up on that. =P
I did notice the nose, especially the difference between the Stephanie London and 2010 gift releases and the new. I almost didn’t buy one because of that – but – I loved the rest of it so much that I did, because from any distance where you aren’t staring right up the nose, its really not super noticeable. (imo) I blogged about the skin too.
So yes I was disappointed by that but now enough to write off the whole skin. And who knows, maybe she’ll notice and release an update. She’s always been generous and such in the past.
the seams are, of course, a disappointment, but the boobs bother the hell out of me. They are obviously sourced and simply mirrored, so they don’t ‘jive’ to the rest of the skin to me.
Before I purchase a skin, I look it over thoroughly. While there are some flaws I can live with; there are others that prevent me from forking over my hard-earned Ls. That said, I am extremely disappointed with Stephanie. I inspected the skin from head to toe and was appalled, not only at the many flaws, but that the designer didn’t notice or fix them before releasing them. I knew within 30 seconds of trying on a demo that I would not be buying any Stephanie skins.
Aside from the flaws you mention, the blending at the jawline is bad. It looks as if the face is a poorly pasted on mask. Also, the extremely dark shadow under the lip does the skin no favors. I don’t mind the larger areola, but that nose is absolutely inexcusable. What’s worse, everyone wearing the skin either looks sinister, or like a poorly made-up drag queen. It’s a bad skin all around, and I can’t figure out why. (Perhaps it’s because she changed her sources recently to poorer-quality legal ones?)
People often praise Ryker Beck for her growth as a designer, and I was amazed at how pretty Sienna was. She IS talented, and this work is so bad that I would never expect it to come from her.
Are people buying these skins out of blind loyalty to the Exodi brand, or based on the reputation she’s built with her other skins? The latter should be reason enough to never, ever release skins this shoddy. I have to wonder about her ethics, seeing as how she’s just fine with taking money for clearly substandard product.
I’m disappointed in the blogger (I mean Critic) for picking on Skins when they can easily pick on clothing from designers that sell their stuff for up to $5,000-$8,000.
Who sells clothing this much with the worst seams I’ve ever seen? Violator. You want to see bad seams? Go there! Then that will be something worth criticizing.
What I see from Exodi, is she is searching for improvements and seeing if people like it. Then in the future I already can see she will continue to make changes till she finds the right skin layout to make where the whole SL world is happy without any bashing on her. Clearly this should of JUST been a NC to the owner making suggestions and comments, Not a public Critic Hate Blast!
wow… ‘public critic hate blast’… That’s a pretty trippy concept for what was really just pointing out a few obvious flaws in a product… The one with the hate would be you…
Not that ugly 5k L clothes aren’t bad… But a fashionistas job of clothing (and skin) review is more about pointing out good and bad things from stores you’d actually buy something from… Most of us are not stupid enough to buy half assed products from bad designers for huge L… So it makes very little sense to focus on that…
“Public Critic Hate Blast”… oh please. Gogo review skins, she is always honest and her words is well choosen. Even the comments are moderate, no one wants to “take” Ryker Beck. It can’t be hidden that she sent out a skin with too many and noticeable faults. A Notecard… well of course could Gogo sent that. But her post here will stop the customers that might go there and demo in a hurry, maybe after wearing and loving previous skins. So, they might buy a new skin without looking at the demo well enough before it was too late. A NC wouldn’t help. Gogo has lots of readers, and it’s a reason for that. She deliver honest reviews.
I was curious after reading this review so I went to the Exodi Store and picked up the demos. I must say that Gogo’s review is accurate, other than the seams she shows there are even more, on the belly for instance. I would never pay 1000L for such a skin and I am really surprised that the skins are still up there for sale.
I think this is a balanced and fair review and I would much rather read this sort of honest (i.e. backed up with pictures) review than the vast majority of blog posts that all sound the same – “when I saw it i just had to have the fatpack”.
Thank you Gogo.
I’m wondering…is this her first skin?
I’d understand this more if it was, but it isn’t.
I agree that the review was honest and the skin did have seam issues, but I still think a private notecard to the owner before this post could have been more helpful than some of you might think. I once had someone complain about a certain aspect of one of my skins, and I agreed with them and replaced all the skins in my vendor with fixed versions in the next day or two. I’m not sure if Exodi would do the same, but it wouldn’t hurt to privately contact them.
I know it’s not the bloggers job to critique and send private feedback to shop owners out there, and sending lots of private notecards defeats the purpose of being a blogger. However it’d be doing creators a great favor if they did send private feedback before negatively reviewing their items on a public blog 🙂
agreed!
I disagree Rev. If a designer puts their wares out in a public forum (for monetary gain no less), then they also put themselves out there for praise/critcism…the two go hand in hand. It’d be different if Gogo was denouncing the skin range because she thought it was “hoochy” or “boring”, that wouldn’t really be constructive, but she simply stated the obvious here.
I actually thought most of the comments were going to be people bashing GoGo and I’m glad to see people appreciating honesty. A private message would have not done the readers any good. GoGo saved me from an agonizing trip to Exodi to try to get this skin, especially since I HATE photo sourced nipples. Anyway I remember somewhere somebody saying that Ryker has a lot going on rl right now so I do believe this skin was simply rushed. Hopefully she will re-release.
Browser I agree with you. I’m not saying bloggers aren’t allow to constructively review items. Gogos review was fair.
A lot of the commenters seemed to feel ripped off or deceived by Exodi, and that sending a notecard to the store owner wouldn’t have helped. I’m just saying a lot of designers are willing to fix a product/replace an item if you’d let them know. *shrug*
I have this skin. I almost didn’t get it, but I got it anyway because I’ve been wearing the last group gift almost non-stop despite the gift’s flaws and I can’t see myself going back to a different face -my nose is turned down so I didn’t see the pixelation. And I love the breasts. Larger nipples for the win, I think most women have larger areolae than what most skinmakers produce. I don’t mind the heavy shadow under the lips.
Yes, there were issues with this skin, and some things were pointed out to Ryker with the gift’s release. The hands, definitely. They look old, really old. She actually addressed the issue with the hands, but not quite enough. I agree with kurashi that the hands on the London Bound gift were better, but overall, I like the look of the final product better. If London Bound was the look of the final product, I wouldn’t have bought it.
The seams are disappointing but I normally am not looking that closely, and I’m not a stripper.
The texture between the face, torso, and trunk are different. The face is very smooth, the torso not quite as smooth, and the trunk is even less smooth. The shading at the knees … on the darkest tone, it’s like the knees are dirty.
The skin colors themselves… I don’t see much of a point between Watler and Panacek, and the folks who like light skins won’t think that Watler is light enough. I was going to get Beck, but then I saw it went back to being sunburned red and decided to stick with Harlow. Can’t please all the people all the time…
I do hope that she issues an update for the seam issues. I appreciate the honest review, because you looked at it more closely than I did and the people who depend on seamless skins (strippers, in particular) need to know before purchase.
Cristalle – I don’t know any SL strippers, but I assure you that *I* prefer a skin to be as seamless as possible! Many people just want to buy a GOOD product, that they can wear with short shorts, sleeveless tops, and lingerie without having to photoshop the flaws out of their snapshots.
The argument that since you are not a “STRIPPER” you dont mind an inferior product, is weak. Are you saying strippers have better tastes? Strippers prefer better skins? Where are these strippers cos they sound like MY kind of shoppers!
No, I am not saying that I don’t mind an inferior product – in fact, I’m still somewhat disappointed. I’m saying that it is not as crucial to me to have a perfect skin because my job doesn’t depend on it. That’s all.
cristalle ,
sometimes its not about the job lol…I mean some people just like high quality products and it doesnt mean they need it for a job. i can assure strippers do not have high quality skins! its the fashionista’s who are high quality..i love to dress nice i love great skins , hair, and i am not a stripper 🙂 the bottom line i love fashion!
I’ve waited to comment on this cause I feel terrible. I’ve known Ryker for a while through a group of friends and kinda think of her as a friend as well and to see her product be so attacked (Not by you though Gogo) made me wince alot.
That said I can’t argue with whats presented, I examined the demos myself and everything you point out is spot on. Curiously I looked back to the gift skin and it doesn’t seem as bad so makes me think *something* happened. I am pretty sure Ryker went through a overseas move during the creation of these skins and that can be a very disruptive process, but its not really an excuse. I do have faith in Ryker’s character though and believe if this is brought to her attention she will make it right, just will take some time.
I agree with the comment about criticism and praise whole heartedly.
If something sucks it is up to honest bloggers to let the rest of us know it. Thanks to Gogo for being honest.
Hopefully Miss Beck will revamp these skins to their full potential.
After looking at a proper more in depth review about this skin, I actually think it looks pretty nice. Sure, it has it flaws but there is no such thing as a PERFECT SKIN in SL. This skin has a nice natural feel about it and I am positive that after whatever fixes this needs, it will be absolutely gorgeous.
Remember that Gogo didn’t mention anything about the nipples. Others brought up that. I don’t see it as a “fault”. Big nipples, small nipples, photosourced or handdrawn… it’s just a matter of personal preferences.
I used the word especially…meaning on top of the other stuff the nipples are photosourced. So it’s a no for me.
hi again,
somebody wrote that the seams can be created cause of a photoshop version if the file will be rezised from 1024 to 512. the argument is okay, BUT if i were a designer and i would noticed it, i would not work with this photoshop version! the problem is, if you make a big mistake and costumers feeling a lot of disoppointed of a product you can get a lot of trouble with your image of your brand! in the worses case, you can lose costumers .. and yes, you have to life with the risk that some persons take a critical view on your items and blog about it. thats the business. and that is fair. so long reviews are based on facts.
that ryker is not a new skin designer makes it not easier to understand how this could happend – she has experience in workflow. even if she has a busy rl – than she had to take more time for it cause nobody would be angry to wait longer for a clean product. or?
the nose – i dont think that she thought that so many ppl will bring the nose into discussion cause ‘MY UGLYDOROTHY’ has since a long time of skins a hard sharpen nose too and ppl love this skin line.
I have seen a few well known skin makers (league being one) , who sell their skins with the lips unevenly drawn, one side noticably higher than the other, and find that much worse tbh. Why release a skin that is going to sell for 1k, and overlook something as blatantly obvious as that? I cannot imagine it was intentional, as it looks very unsymmetrical and not very attractive.
I am wondering if anyone ever brought their unhappy purchase to the attention of the designer and ask for their money to be returned. If you buy and you do not like what you bought, get a refund, and let them know why you did not like it (bad seams, nose, whatever) so they can fix it for the future and you can get your money back. Any designer who has unhappy customer will lose sales. Not a good plan, no matter if it’s from new PS or move or anything.
@ Graelwin: I believe the league skin youre referring to was their first skin release, whereas Exodi has released skins previously, so youd expect the quality to improve. Also, RubyS, this is why its so important to take a GOOD look at the demo before you buy.
Im just surprised that noones picked up on the nose from Exodis Lily being absolutely identical to the nose on Redgraves Leona. I havent shopped at Exodi since a friend pointed it out, but it might help to explain why this creators work isnt as consistent as youd expect a true experienced skin makers work to be.
Beautiful breasts, but the seams! Such a let-down 🙁