On a whim I picked up the Akeruka Advanced mesh head and I like it. That’s all. Bye for now. what? What? WHAT? How do you mean, “I need to write stuff about it.” (mutters: greedy sods) “All right, all right, all right”, he says in his worst McConaughey impression.
Advanced is the newest range of mesh heads from Akeruka and with it they have taken another strong step towards sophistication. The Advanced mesh head is very suitable to be used with BOM layers, but you can still use Omega appliers or dedicated Akeruka appliers, if you can find them. Keep in mind that if you want to use Omega appliers you will need the Omega System Kit, which you can pick up at the Akeruka store. I wont be going to deeply into the whole BOM thing here, because there’s plenty of tutorial material about it available if you search for it. A basic rule is, if you you’re using BOM don’t where an alpha that hides the system head because it will turn your head bright red, though I suppose that could be a look. If you want to use an omega applier, you do put on that alpha layer like you did in the pre-BOM days. If you want to go back to BOM, you remove the alpha layer again and click the “BAKES ON MESH” button in the head’s hud (it’s on the first tab) and hey presto, your system skin will be baked on your mesh head. Slack Girl, who supports the Akeruka brand, has several tutorials for the Advanced heads on her YouTube channel. She works with the female head, but the principle is the same.
The Akeruka Advanced head comes with:
- a skin made by Stray Dog in skin tones #1 to #4, matching up with Stray Dog body skins
- some cool options in the main hud to make the skin look older and/or wet
- HD beard with 8 optionsYou also get an HD beard ad-on with 8 options
- a pack of tattoo layers containing a hair base, freckles, blush and alternative eyebrows
- mesh eyes that can be changed using the main hud (9 options) or with a 3rd party omega applier
- an animation hud with 9 moods and 18 expressions
- a shape and brow shape (but I made my own)
- there’s more stuff in the box which probably won’t use (oh, how mysterious)
The neck seam on the combination of the Akeruka Advanced mesh head with the Belleza Jake mesh body is probably a little less polished than on the combination of the Lelutka Skyler head with the Legacy Meshbody. You will notice the neck seam from time to time depending on the windlight™ (I used the [Analu] AvatarOpt (Caliah) whiter windlight for these shots). The necksheath option that comes with the Belleza body only adds insult to your neck injury.
Upon publishing of this post, this head was priced at L$2000, which is a bloody good price. I think this eventually will go up, so if I have peaked your interest, don’t dilly dally too long and head over to Akeruka.
I think I’ll be playing with some more looks with this head in the days to come. Keep your eyes peeled.
Credits
- Akeruka Advanced mesh head, using the Stray Dog skin that comes with this head
- Belleza Jake mesh body
- Stray Dog body skin for Belleza Jake
- Billy Beaverhausen Akeruka Advanced and Belleza Jake Shape Rickard
- Modulus Sadik hair
- Noche nipples
- Avi Glam Solstice eye, applied to the rigged eyes that come with the head (you will need the Omega System Kit for Akeruka, which you can get at the Akeruka store.
Billy Beaverhausen 