Before mesh bodies became popular in Second Life, we all had a system avatar (in fact we still do, we just got used to hiding it). This default avatar is the avatar you see when you remove the alpha layer that came with your mesh body. There is always a skin on this default avatar. The skin can not be removed, only replaced. Textures from system layers you wear get baked directly on your default avatar (the shirt, pants etc icons). The nice thing of this is that multiple tattoos and system clothing can be stacked (layered) upon each other, without alpha glitches occurring. The downside of this is the lack of 3D. Clothes look painted on your body, which doesn't always look very realistic.
With BoM, we get the best of both! What Bakes on Mesh technology allows for is that all textures (system layers) that are worn on your default avatar, will also be baked on to your mesh body.
For clothes, fitted mesh will often still be the nr. 1 choice for most people. But things like lingerie, tattoos and skin effects (moles, freckles etc) are perfect to wear in BoM mode. Because it allows you to wear multiple (system) layers on top of each other, without alpha glitches occurring. It is good to know that the order of wearing, or adding, these system layers, determines what is shown above what (although it's possible to change the order in the edit outfit window, by pressing the small wrench icon). For example, if you have one tattoo (system) layer with freckles, one with a tattoo texture and another one with lingerie, you want to wear the freckles first, then the tattoo and then the lingerie.
BoM add-on parts
If your mesh body is set to BoM (Bakes on Mesh) mode and you want to wear clothing (system) layers then this add-on will be a good way to add a bit of realism. On some parts of the body you don’t want clothes to look glued on, like the space in between the breasts, when wearing a t-shirt. The BoM add-on parts offer a solution for this.
On the BoM add-on parts HUD you can toggle the following parts:
* Breasts: spans the cleavage area so that your clothing looks more natural, not painted on your skin
* Nipples: hides the nipples and replaces them with a smooth surface.
* Bellybutton: smooths the contour to hide the navel indentation.
* Pelvis: hides the detail of the genitals to make clothing look more real. (a.k.a. Removes Camel-toe). This section also spans the gap between the butt cheeks. (Removes perma-wedgie)
* Toe-Caps: create a partial sock over the toes to allow BoM socks to work normally.
Socks (system) layers in BoM mode suffer from the fact that the mesh body has toes. If a sock texture is baked on your mesh body, it will be texturing your toes and you will see the toenails above the texture. To solve this we have made toe-caps that cover your toes the same way mesh socks do. We have made two versions:
* The normal toe-caps have the normal sl avatar uvs and are suggested to wear for opaque socks (system) layers. Semi-transparent stockings in BoM mode are however problematic, because if a mesh item is set to BoM mode, then ALL textures worn on your default avatar will be baked on this mesh. So toes details from your skin would also show on the toe-caps.
* The toe-caps alt will work better for semi-transparent stockings. The uvs on these toe-caps are altered, so that they no longer show the details of the textures. The toe-caps alt can be tinted a bit darker, with the tint panel on the BoM add-on parts HUD and can be edited to be a little transparent. Of course this is not perfect, but it is a workaround to make textures that were not intended for mesh toes, kind of work on them anyway.
Photo number 2 shows the toe-caps alt, with the same stockings. The toe-caps alt in pic 2 were tinted a little bit darker (the contrast line, called face two on the hud, was made even a bit darker) and the toe-caps were made a little bit transparent, by lowering the opacity on the hud slider.
It's important to understand that the mesh body can use skin textures from Maitreya appliers (including the ones on the Lara HUD), Omega appliers (Omega Maitreya Relay required) or by setting your body in BoM mode, but it can only use one at a time.
Note 2: BoM (Bakes on Mesh) only works on the skin layer. It does not impact your ability to use mesh clothing or the mesh Tattoo/Underwear/Clothing layers that come with the Lara mesh body. You can use your mesh layers even if your body is in BoM mode, if you choose.
Note 3: The thing that makes switching between BoM mode and applier mode a little confusing, is the fact that you need to wear the body (system) Alpha layer when you are in applier mode and you need to remove this (system) Alpha layer when you are in BoM mode. The reason for this is that in BoM mode (system) Alpha layers will hide the parts of the body, just like it hides the default body.
The alpha page on the Lara HUD can be used in both BoM and in applier mode.
Tip for Firestorm users: Drag a copy of your (system) Alpha layer into your Favorite Wearables folder so it's always easy to get to if you plan to switch between BoM and Applier modes often.
You can visit this page for more information on Bakes on Mesh
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