So naturally I was so taken with this new alternative that I slapped together a melodramatic little clip of them in action. See the video (and read more about these beautiful tears) after the cut!

Nyagos Kidd of ++NODe++ [ Teleport to NODe in SLOW ] recently released a set of stunningly animated attachable mesh tears that stream down an avatar's cheeks when worn, and understandably, they have fashionistas all aflutter. I'm no stranger to tears in Second Life-- at least, trying to find a good set as an accessory for a photo-- and these are easily the best ones I've ever tried. Tattoo layer tears never look as crisp as they should, and many sculpted tears look goopy and cartoonish.

They flow a little more smoothly when my computer isn't struggling to render shadows and depth of field at the same time, so I included shots with and without shadows enabled to do them more justice. While these tears are mesh, they aren't rigged, so they can be moved and resized to fit however you like. Better still for photographers, the animation lets you snap when the tears are streaming or when the eyes are only just watering.

The one shortcoming of these tears (as you probably noticed in my video) is that it looks rather unnerving and unnatural when a human eye is overflowing with tears but not blinking or moving at all. As far as I know, avatar blinks are one of the few things that can't be bent to the will of a clever scripter, so we may have to make due without a feature that would add to the realism and overall affect of these pretty streaming tears. Nevertheless, they're a beautifully realistic add-on for photographers, machinimators, and even avatars who're just feeling a bit blue.

And if you're looking for eyes to do these tears justice, check out this post I did last week about finding the perfect pair of eyes for your avatar.

Iris Ophelia (Janine Hawkins IRL) has been featured in the New York Times and has spoken about SL-based design at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan and with pop culture/fashion maven Johanna Blakley.