Strange 'seam' appearing only with male shapes

(I already posted this on the SLX forum here: http://www.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=66994 and am just posting it here, too, to get some more opinions.)

Heya everyone,
I just discovered some kind of weird problem.
When I was photographing a skin in SL which was definitely seamless *before* I imported it into SL, I suddenly saw this...:



As you can probably see, there's something that looks like a seam, right at the waist. It can only be seen from the back, not from the front.

First I thought that something had gone wrong.
Imagine my surprise when I put that skin on a female shape - my 'usual' shape which I wear when running around SL - and saw this:



...as you can, again, probably see - absolutely NO trace of the 'seam'. Instead we can now see a strange, dark shadow 'ring' around the hips - which definitely isn't there on the male avatar (and also not on the actual textures, that much I can assure you!).

Now - the funny thing is - I created the skin in DP3D on the MALE avatar, not the female one - and it was seamless then.

However, I don't consider it funny if I have seams with a male shape and no seams with a female shape, so I decided to elaborate the subject further - and discovered that male and female avatar are, basically, shaped different.

Yes, yes, I know - no, actually, that was not what I meant... see for yourselves - the first picture shows the male avatar with a template skin, the second is for the female avatar with the very same template skin:






As you can (...again...) probably see, the 'male' avatar's waist is exactly where upper- and lower body texture meet. However, for the female avatar, the upper- and body texture meet slightly lower - at a 'low rise jeans level', as I have decided to call it. No indication, however, where the seam on the male shape comes from.

But it perhaps explains where the weird 'dark shadow' around the hips of the female avatar comes from (about which I have wondered greatly for a *very* long time now!) - this seems to be the remains of the texture baking of SL, which seems to be for the male avatar (and therefore draws a shadow at the 'waist' - just of course that said waist isn't at the waist level for the female avatar, but below it since the mesh obviously differs from the male avatar...).

I've tried to eliminate that 'seam' on the male shape by trying any possible slider combination of the 'shape' sliders, but without success.

Now, what do I want from you...?

a) opinions about this - would a photorealistic resource pack with *this* problem (which actually, or so it at least seems to me, isn't a problem of the skin but of the male avatar mesh!) be desireable? Which leads me to...
b) I bet some of you have good, otherwise seamless skins in their inventory - male or female ones. If you feel like it - pull them out, try them on both male and female avatar shapes and report back if the same 'seam' happens to you.
c) ...perhaps someone has a solution for the problem which just hasn't dawned me yet...?

Looking for an interesting discussion,
Naergi

in response to that dark ring around the hips on the female, it's a lighting thing in sl, something lovely brought about by windlight. those still using clients from before don't see it, an at certain times of the day, it will disappear completely.

I have found though, at noon on light things, you get that ring regardless just above the bum, most depressing

If you really want to see what it looks like in SL without the mesh butchering your lighting, place a light on the land and raise it up to where the seam is, it'll disappear. Again another wonderful thing with these wonky meshes. Also has a lot to do with windlight.