As Shakespeare’s Hamlet most definitely did not say: “To EvoX or not to EvoX? That is the question.”
But what is EvoX? Well…
*sigh*
Oh boy. Buckle up, kids. This needs a little bit of background info, so let’s talk about UV maps.
Note: You don’t need to have an understanding of UV maps in order to put together an avatar in Second Life, but the info I’m about to give you is the absolute ‘boiled down to the basics’ stuff, and it is helpful to know, so that you understand which skins will and won’t work on whatever mesh head you eventually choose. It’ll also help you to troubleshoot any issues you might experience.
I promise: this is simple, and it’ll help you out immensely if you can stick with it.
What is a UV map?
Think of your avatar’s skin as a 2D paint-by-numbers kit. Each section of the canvas corresponds to a particular colour, and if you paint brown onto these exact pixels over here then you’ll get brown eyebrows. Paint green onto those same pixels and you’ll get green eyebrows, etc. That’s a gross oversimplification of things, but it’ll get you started.
In addition to being like a paint-by-numbers kit, your avatar’s skin is also like a map projection. Ever see one of those weirdly stretched-out ‘this is what a globe of the earth looks like when it’s laid flat’ images? Yeah, one of those.
So, if you put together those two things you get something like this, which is the SLUV (Second Life UV) as depicted by the late Robin Wood back in 2005. This is the ‘paint by numbers’ kit for the original system avatar, which we all still have beneath our mesh heads and bodies. It’s a texture template that tells a creator which parts of a head are the lips, which parts are the eye surround, etc. Each of the small segments on the flat UV map corresponds to a specific polygon on the 3D of the head.
Let’s take a look at what’s going on here. The top half of the UV map is taken up by the front of the head. The bottom left side shows the left side of the head and the left ear, the bottom right side shows the right side of the head and the right ear, the bottom middle section shows the inner mouth textures, and that odd comb-like thing in the top right is the system eyelashes. Each of the small grey-outlined shapes on the UV map is a single polygon on the avatar, and each point where those polygons join is known as a vertex (vertices in the plural). In general, for all mesh items in SL, the more polygons and vertices, the more detail you can include on the UV map.
Important to know: Most older mesh heads use the SLUV map, or a tweaked variant of it. If you don’t see ‘EvoX’ or ‘Genus 4K’ on an advert for either a mesh head or any customisation item (skin, facial hair, etc) then it’s likely to be for the SLUV.
So how is the EvoX UV map different?
Now let’s look at the EvoX UV map. EvoX was created by mesh head designer LeLUTKA, and it’s now pretty much the standard UV map for almost all new releases of avatar head customisation items in Second Life. Even the new Welcome Pack avatars that all new SL residents begin with contain ‘lite’ (no HUD) versions of six of LeLUTKA’s EvoX heads: three male and three female. We’ll get to that Welcome Pack option later in this series.
You’ll spot something right away: where on earth’s all that stuff that was at the bottom of the other UV map? Where are the ears?! Well, the sides of the head have been moved up to the top of the map, the teeth are not needed anyway (because the head has a separate mesh object for the teeth), and – crucially – the ears have been moved to their own separate UV map. We’ll get to that last bit when we come to actually wearing skins, because that’s when it becomes relevant.
Getting rid of all that extra stuff on the UV map means that EvoX-mapped heads have a lot more space for textures, which is what allows for higher definition. You can also see how much smoother the polygons are, especially around the eyes, where the lines of vertices resemble concentric circles as opposed to jagged ‘spider webs’.
But just think back to what I said about these UV maps being a template for what goes where on a head. Then, look at the position of the eyes on the SLUV map, compared to where they are on the EvoX UV map. Let me put them both side-by-side for you:
Have you ever arrived somewhere in Second Life that’s really busy, and before everything has rezzed fully you saw people with a dark blob on the tops of their heads? (It looks a bit like half of a butthole, and you’re welcome for that analogy. You won’t be able to unsee it now!)
That UV map comparison will show you why. In those “I’m surrounded by butthole Cyclops!” moments, the EvoX-mapped skin texture (shown on the right, above) is rendering onto the default system avatar (which uses the SLUV map, shown on the left) because the mesh head with its EvoX UV hasn’t yet rendered for you. What you’re seeing is the dark shading of the EvoX skin’s inner mouth texture, which is in the same place as the top of the head on the SLUV, but it’s split across both sides of the SLUV. Once the mesh head does render, the textures will ‘correct’ themselves, because they’re now accurate to the 3D mesh topology and UV map that they’re ‘painted’ onto.
Important to know: Most newer mesh heads use the EvoX UV map. Some brands add their own name (for example: Catwa EVOX) or tweak the name to suit their branding (for example: Akeruka’s AK ADVX), but in general most new head customisation items (skin, facial hair, etc) will use the EvoX UV map. You may occasionally also see it referred to as Evolution X, Evo X, or Lel EvoX. Some creators capitalise it (EVOX, or EVO X) but because it originated as Evolution X some people (like me) write it as EvoX. It’s all the same thing.
However, there’s one other UV map in Second Life, and that’s…
The Genus 4K UV map
Genus Project’s newer 4K mesh heads have a different UV map, which is proprietary to them: the Genus 4K map. This one is very different to both the SLUV and the EvoX UV, in that it uses four separate 2048px (hence the ‘4K’) textures ‘stitched together’ to cover the head:
The lower right texture corresponds to the full ‘head’ texture as used by the SLUV and the EvoX UV. The other three textures use three of the AUX* texture slots on the Second Life avatar to render in the rest of the face. This works to create a high-definition skin texture, but it can cause issues if you’re wearing anything else that makes use of those AUX slots, such as add-on tails, ears, genitalia, etc. So, if you decide to opt for Genus 4K, demo more thoroughly and check your bits and, well… your bits. You really don’t want to be whipping out your crown jewels for a spot of fun between the sheets, only to see an ear painted onto your dick. (Or maybe you do. I ain’t gonna police your kinks…)
Important to know: You may also see customisation items (skins, facial hair, etc) for the Genus Project 4K heads listed as ‘Genus 4K Morph’.
*EvoX also uses two of the AUX slots (AUX1 and AUX2) for its ear textures, so – again – if you wear add-ons such as animal tails and ears etc, check them for stray ear textures! Most creators of those add-ons will check for EvoX ‘crossover’ because that UV map is so ubiquitous across the SL grid, but they might not check against Genus 4K.
And, as if all that wasn’t enough, we also have…
Evo Mode and Genus 2K SLUV Mode
Yeeeeaaaaaah. Now you know why I heaved a big sigh at the start of this. I promise, this is the last bit about UV maps!
Evo Mode is an option to use SLUV-mapped skins on an EvoX-mapped head, with one caveat: it’s available as a toggle switch on LeLUTKA’s EvoX heads, but it may or may not be available on any other brands of head that use the EvoX UV map. It will work reasonably well enough to make an older SLUV-mapped skin work on a new EvoX mesh head, but it probably won’t look perfect. There may be a little bit of odd texture stretching, or unexpected shading and/or highlights here and there. Using this mode will depend on two things: 1) your tolerance for such imperfections, and 2) how attached you are to that SLUV-mapped skin.
You also cannot mix and match Evo or SLUV and EvoX BoM (Bakes on Mesh) items. Everything needs to be one UV map or the other. Appliers for things like brows, makeup, eyes etc are the one exception to this rule. We’ll get to that in more detail once we look at customising an EvoX head.
Important: If your favourite old skin is an applier one, it will not work on a LeLUTKA EvoX head, although – depending on the brand – it might work (and it’s a vanishingly slim chance, in all honesty) on other EvoX-mapped heads. Always try a demo, regardless.
Appliers are no longer created for skins, because creators have moved over to the far more versatile BoM (Bakes on Mesh) system for most things (exceptions: some makeup, brows, and materials etc). And, if you do find an EvoX-mapped head that takes skin appliers, you won’t be able to add BoM items such as brows, facial hair etc, because appliers block BoM.
Genus 2K SLUV Mode does pretty much the same thing, allowing you to use SLUV-mapped skins on a Genus 4K head.
And that ‘good stuff’ boils down to the answer to that question I asked at the start: To EvoX or not to EvoX?
The points you should consider when deciding
EvoX is the way to go if:
- You want a high level of customisation with the latest, most detailed skins and other items such as facial hair etc
- You want things to be easy to find and easy to use
- You like changing your look now and then, and want a large range of options to choose from
The vast majority of items you’ll find for sale in Second Life – in special menswear events, in the weekend sale events, and in stores – will be UV-mapped to EvoX.
Genus 4K is the way to go if:
- You like a specific style of head that they offer, OR
- You like the modular customisability of their Morph head range, where you can choose different head, nose, eye, lip, and ear shapes and put them all together, AND
- You don’t mind working a little harder to source customisation options
While there are Genus 4K items out there – and Genus themselves offer a great range of skins for their 4K heads – there are nowhere near as many options for that UV map as there are for EvoX. You’ll need to put in a bit more legwork to search for the skin stores, hairbase add-ons, etc that work with Genus 4K, whereas you’ll be whacked in the face with a bazillion EvoX options wherever you look. I strongly suggest that, if you decide you like the look of Genus 4K heads, you join their Discord server (link at the end of this post) and have a look through the various channels there. The News channel lists items created by Genus – heads, skins, accessories and the like – and the Creator Releases channel lists customisation items made by third party creators.
But what about SLUV heads?
SLUV heads are usually much older, and while most of them were updated to work with BoM (Bakes on Mesh) some of them still only make use of applier HUDs for skins. Many of them also don’t have the ‘universal neck’ that means they will fit perfectly onto today’s mesh bodies without causing unsightly neck seams.
Skins and other customisation options for SLUV heads can usually be found in discount sections of stores, and by sorting old-to-new on SL Marketplace for them. But be aware that they won’t match well with modern day body skins, such as those for Legacy, Jake, GianniX, Kario, etc. Body skins these days are much more detailed and higher resolution. And your old system body skins are probably not going to look good on those modern bodies, either.
Since you’re probably reading this post because you want to update your avatar with more modern options, then you’ll want to look at either EvoX-mapped heads or Genus 4K-mapped heads. So now we’ll move on to demoing and making your choice of head.
Choosing your mesh head
EvoX
First of all, you don’t have to pick a head by LeLUTKA. Their EvoX UV map is now used – with their permission – by a lot of creators. As per the current list (June 2026) on their Discord server, those creators are:
- Akeruka
- Belleza
- Bespoke
- CATWA
- Cryptid
- DollFace
- GA.EG
- [HEADSPACE]
- Laq
- LeLUTKA (obviously!)
- Logo
- LucyBody
- LV Designs
- SculptMH
- SnowRabbit
- Toodledoo
That’s a lot of choices. As of the writing of this post (June 2026) LeLUTKA alone have 55 mesh heads (21 of which are male and 2 of which are unisex) in their EvoX range. Where to even begin?!
1. Don’t take the ad image at face value
What the ad image looks like isn’t necessarily the only way a mesh head can look. By all means use it as an overall guide to the basic face shape that you’re looking for, but be aware that you can edit that shape considerably. The main thing to look at is the jaw shape, because you can only push a mesh head’s sliders so far, and it’s often not possible to make a very square jaw pointed, or a very pointed jaw square. If you want a square jaw, don’t bother with demos of heads whose ad images feature very pointed jaws.
2. Always pick up a free demo
PLEASE don’t immediately buy the full-priced version of the head that you think looks good in the ad! I’ve helped far too many guys who have spent tens of thousands of L$ on different mesh heads and bodies without demoing them first, and who are in a state of sheer frustration and annoyance by the time they ask for help. Mesh head and body creators offer free demos so you can try on their items and see how they feel to you. So, pick up demos of the heads you want to try on and shove them into a new inventory folder called something like ‘mesh head demos’ for trying on when you’ve got some spare time (and a few stiff drinks).
3. Know that you can change a lot about a mesh head
You can change so much about a mesh head, to the point where it’s difficult to tell which head someone is wearing just by looking at them. You can do this by means of:
- Skin
- Facial Hair
- Freckles
- Scars
- Wrinkles/age lines
- Hairbases
- Deformers for parts of the face (e.g., the nose)
- Makeup (e.g., guyliner)
- Contours (chiselled cheekbones or cleft chin, anyone?)
And many more. So, as mentioned in no.1 up there, don’t take the ad image at face value. Love the chin, but the head has a ski slope nose and you want a more prominent aquiline nose? Nose deformers will give you the nose of your dreams, as I can attest from experience!
4. Try different skin demos
A demo mesh head will sometimes come with a demo skin to try it with, but that’s not guaranteed. As with the heads, always pick up demos of skins and never just buy the first one you like the look of in the weekend sales. Skin ads will usually indicate which mesh head was used on the model, and most skins will come with a shape that – as long as you’re using the same head as shown on the ad – will get you looking something close to the ad itself… with one warning:
A warning about ad images: Many creators now use Generative AI to enhance their ad images. Most often this is used on the hair, but you may see the body or hands etc also edited. This means that even if you use the exact tone of skin shown in the ad, with the included shape, and on the same mesh head, you’re not guaranteed to look like the model in the ad. Instead, use it as a guideline; an approximation of how you’ll look.
We’ll cover choosing a skin in Part 4 of this guide, after we’ve looked at choosing a mesh body in Part 3. But here’s a demonstration of the changes you can make to a single mesh head, with the original ad image (green background) in the middle. Hopefully, this will hammer home that bit about not taking the ad image at face value. These are all the same head, and I’ve not even really gone overboard with the customisation. Most of my changes are just skin, facial hair, makeup, brows, and the occasional contour.
You may also notice that in some of the images, my nose looks different. It’s the same head, but I’m using a set of nose deformers (small invisible objects that manipulate the mesh of the head while you’re wearing them) to give me a different nose. Below is a profile view, with the original nose shape on the left, and the shape using deformers on the right.
Genus 4K
The same four considerations listed under the EvoX section apply to the Genus 4K heads. The Genus Morph 4K heads offer a high level of customisability, because you can either buy a ‘preset’ that offers a particular combination of head shape, nose shape, eye shape, and lips shape (all of which need to be added together) or you can make like it’s your favourite candy store and ‘Pick-n-Mix’ whichever ones you like.
At the time of writing this post (June 2026) there are four male Genus 4K Morph ‘presets’ and two male Genus 4K Morph Toon (Anime style) presets. Here are the non-Morph Toon ones:
You might not think that’s very many heads, but that’s because they’re specific premade combinations of Genus Morph sections. Look at the ‘Daimon’ preset. It has the rectangular head shape, almond eyes, Roman nose, and sensual lips. That’s the premade set for that particular head. If you like it, you can try a demo of that whole preset.
But then there are the Pick-n-Mix options:
That’s a composite image of all the non-Morph Toon options currently available to mix and match from as of June 2026. You can choose any combination of those, and a Genus 4K skin will work on them. Currently, in the Skins section of the Genus store, there are 26 skins of varying ethnicities and looks, so you have a good start with those. Here’s a quick screenshot of all the current (June 2026) skin options for these heads, available at the Genus store:
The Genus Morph Toon selection offers a more stylised, cartoon/Anime look. Here’s an example of the Morph Toon head ‘Basic’ preset with some of the skins created for it by Genus (other skins are available from other stores, but you must look for skins marked as ‘Genus Morph Toon’ for these heads) as well as another of the preset options:
And that about wraps it up for this post. In the next one (and I promise that one won’t take as long to get out as this one did!) we’ll look at choosing a mesh body.
Links
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Coming next in this series: Choosing a Mesh Body – How your decision may affect the clothing options available to you
The above will be a link once that post is online, so you’ll be able to click through and read each one in turn.