What advantages do prim clothes have over mesh?

[Maradyne Andel]

Other than resizing, what does sculpy/normal prim clothes and items have over Mesh? Or is there no other advantages?

[Aeromia]

Depends on which t ype of mesh you're talking about. But, in general, you have the ability to resize/reposition/edit linked parts. You can also reposition on different parts of your body that you can't do with rigged mesh (you can however with unrigged mesh), say that headband makes a really cool belt, or those bracelets work on the ankles as well, or necklace. All depends on your creative viewpoint. If the quality of the prim part is really good, it can stand up with and surpass most mesh. I have many sculpt clothing pieces that I still get compliments on and I'll normally be wearing one of my full mesh bodies as well. 

With mesh has come the advent of restriction again in the way of rigged and fitted. It seems that with some rigged  mesh your outfits are painted on again (Body parts) It needs augmentation with unrigged pieces or really good sculpts, which in my opinion are just as viable if well done. Its rare that I am in just mesh, Usually I've got some concoction of mesh/sculpt/layer going on that creates a whole new look that initially began as 3-5(and as many as 10 sometimes) different boxed outfits.

So yeah, I see quite a few advantages to some of those sculpt and twisted prims that I just can't get sometimes with mesh.

[Rolig Loon]

None of the options we have for making clothing is perfect.  Mesh has some great advantages, but here are a few things you can only do with prim (or flexi prim) clothes:

• Dance or walk without your invisible thighs showing. You don't need an alpha layer for prim clothes, so you never have unnatural gaping holes around thighs, bodies, and armholes, where your body should be.
• Wear a skirt that swishes when you walk.  Mesh follows your body well, but that's not what a real skirt does.  A well-made flexi prim skirt flows gracefully.
• Adjust the hem or waistline to fit your body and your style. We're all different shapes and sizes, so a hem that's just right for you may be too low for me, and you may prefer to have your skirt sit differently on your hips than I do. With a prim skirt, you can adjust every part to fit your own body.
• Mix and match your favorite blouse with different attachments and different skirts.  Because you can adjust prim clothes to fit, you can tweak them into different positions and sizes to make items from different designers work in the same outfit.  Especially with fitted mesh, you don't have that option.

Prim clothes have their own disadvantages too.  It's just as hard to look good sitting down in a prim skirt as it is in many mesh skirts, for example. Long prim skirts have a tendency to fly away, looking like ribbons on a May pole.  Legs and hips can poke through prim dresses, so you have to compensate by wearing odd-looking glitch pants.  As I said, no style is perfect.  Good designers can use the best features of mesh, prim, and system clothes, however, to create ensembles that play on the advantages that each style offers.

[Perrie Juran]

 

You can texture the "inside" of a prim but not a mesh.  This is a boot but the same happens with dresses, jackets, etc, etc, etc, resulting in being able to see thru to ten Sims over. 

[Theresa Tennyson]

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Perrie Juran wrote:

 

You can texture the "inside" of a prim but not a mesh.  This is a boot but the same happens with dresses, jackets, etc, etc, etc, resulting in being able to see thru to ten Sims over. 

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Actually you can't texture the inside of a prim - try looking inside one - and you can make a mesh so that it has a texturable face inside it - yes, a lot of mesh clothing makers don't and it looks like crap from certain angles, but it's entirely possible.

[seabird7]

To me, mesh clothing often looks thick and rubbery, even with great textures, and commonly I find them finished with poor textures.  I don't mind wearing paint, as long as it is well-textured paint. Still, mesh can stand out in good ways. Mesh can be funky where a flexi prim couldn't hope. Mesh can look natural and soft too, I've seen that, but it is not common.

No artifice (of prims or mesh) make good clothing. Only a studied and very deliberate designer can hope to make these fake somethings beautiful and wearable. Practically then, I think those designs of Coco Chanel would more easily play in mesh then those drapes of Halston's.

[Bobbie Faulds]

Mesh, sculpts, prims and system clothes all have their place and can work well together...just depends on what you are wanting.

I've see gorgeous gowns that use an under layer with a mesh skirt then have the flowing flexiprims on top. Some designers, however, have the flexi too flexi and not enough gravity so the pieces fly around rather than flow.

Mesh is great for a straight/pencil skirt. The longer "boho" look has the same problem the old system skirts have in that the textures stretch when you move. However, with the mesh, you no longer have to have a "skirt shape" like you did in days gone by because the system skirt made your hips look huge.

System clothes are making a comeback with the advent of the mesh bodies and body parts like Slink, Wowmeh, Phat Azz and the various mesh boobs since the parts require appliers that are usually made from system clothes templates. They are enhanced, however, with the use of mesh sleeves or flared pants leg bottoms.

Bottom line, each has it's pluses and minuses...just depends on what you are trying to do.

[Perrie Juran]

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Theresa Tennyson wrote:

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Perrie Juran wrote:

 

You can texture the "inside" of a prim but not a mesh.  This is a boot but the same happens with dresses, jackets, etc, etc, etc, resulting in being able to see thru to ten Sims over. 

---

Actually you

can't

texture the inside of a prim - try looking inside one - and you

can

make a mesh so that it has a texturable face inside it - yes, a lot of mesh clothing makers don't and it looks like crap from certain angles, but it's entirely possible.

---

You are right, I'm not being technically acurate.  When you hollow a prim you can texture inside the hollow.  But not the "inside" of the prim.

But I had brought up this boot in another thread, and this was the answer/explanation I was given:

"The insides that have been textured are actual geometry added in. So theres no point in making geometry for a boot that will be worn when no one can see the insides.. Mesh is all made up of one sided planes. One side visible, the other see through. So it increases impact when you have doublesided. So most just extrude something really basic and collapse it on the edge of the geometry or dip it in a bit so that you don't see through it."

However at the time MistahMoose was new to SL so I will disagree with him as far as SL is concerned when he said, "Most," even as you said, "Yes, a lot of mesh clothing makers don't and it looks like crap from certain angles."

I prefer clothes that are properly textured "inside and out" so you dont look like crap.

 

[Rolig Loon]

If you look at that boot, Perrie, you'll see that the top edge of it is textured on the inside of the boot.  Just not as far as it probably should be.  MistahMoose's comment about not duplicating faces/vertices on the insides of items where they won't be seen is right on target.  Each designer has to decide, however, exactly how much of a clothing item won't normally be seen.  A model with too many tri and verts won't rez well, so putting too many on its insides is risky - and it takes extra time and skill to do it properly.  On the other hand, not rolling a hem or collar far enough inside may lead to unsightly gaps.  It's not always an easy call. Some less experienced designers, or those who are not accustomed to wearing women's clothes and knowing where they gap, may make the wrong call. It's not a generic problem with mesh; it's a design issue.

As you know from my comments in other threads, I am often disappointed by how poorly-conceived some mesh clothing in SL is.  I have also been dismayed over the years by how poorly-made some prim and system clothing is.  However, I'm optimistic enough to believe that we will always have some truly skilled creators, and that their work will inspire less skilled creators to learn new tricks. 

[Perrie Juran]

---

Rolig Loon wrote:

If you look at that boot, Perrie, you'll see that the top edge of it

is

textured on the inside of the boot.  Just not as far as it probably should be.  MistahMoose's comment about not duplicating faces/vertices on the insides of items where they won't be seen is right on target.  Each designer has to decide, however, exactly how much of a clothing item won't normally be seen.  A model with too many tri and verts won't rez well, so putting too many on its insides is risky - and it takes extra time and skill to do it properly.  On the other hand, not rolling a hem or collar far enough inside may lead to unsightly gaps.  It's not always an easy call. Some less experienced designers, or those who are not accustomed to wearing women's clothes and knowing where they gap, may make the wrong call. It's not a generic problem with mesh; it's a design issue.

As you know from my comments in other threads, I am often disappointed by how poorly-conceived some mesh clothing in SL is.  I have also been dismayed over the years by how poorly-made some prim and system clothing is.  However, I'm optimistic enough to believe that we will always have some truly skilled creators, and that their work will inspire less skilled creators to learn new tricks. 

---

You're right about the "poorly made."  Maybe I focus on it a bit because I've been disapointed with Mesh clothing overall.  It's like we have exchanged one set of warts for another.

Maybe it's just me but I find being able to "see through" much more annoying than the problems with prim based and mosy system clothes.

[Theresa Tennyson]

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Perrie Juran wrote:

---

Rolig Loon wrote:

If you look at that boot, Perrie, you'll see that the top edge of it

is

textured on the inside of the boot.  Just not as far as it probably should be.  MistahMoose's comment about not duplicating faces/vertices on the insides of items where they won't be seen is right on target.  Each designer has to decide, however, exactly how much of a clothing item won't normally be seen.  A model with too many tri and verts won't rez well, so putting too many on its insides is risky - and it takes extra time and skill to do it properly.  On the other hand, not rolling a hem or collar far enough inside may lead to unsightly gaps.  It's not always an easy call. Some less experienced designers, or those who are not accustomed to wearing women's clothes and knowing where they gap, may make the wrong call. It's not a generic problem with mesh; it's a design issue.

As you know from my comments in other threads, I am often disappointed by how poorly-conceived some mesh clothing in SL is.  I have also been dismayed over the years by how poorly-made some prim and system clothing is.  However, I'm optimistic enough to believe that we will always have some truly skilled creators, and that their work will inspire less skilled creators to learn new tricks. 

---

You're right about the "poorly made."  Maybe I focus on it a bit because I've been disapointed with Mesh clothing overall.  It's like we have exchanged one set of warts for another.

Maybe it's just me but I find being able to "see through" much more annoying than the problems with prim based and mosy system clothes.

---

It's a natural reaction to judge something new more harshly than something we've grown used to, especially if we didn't have a choice about what we've grown used to. When I'm testing a demo of a mesh skirt or dress one of the things I do is watch myself walking forward and see if my thigh pops through the skirt at all - if it does, it probably won't get bought.

Now if I'd applied the same test to prim-based skirts and dresses? I'd have moved to a nude beach a long time ago.

[Alienbear Gupte]

Apart from agreeing other residents answers about the advantage of Prims clothing over Mesh one. I also found that on my computer, prims one load faster than the mesh one. Mesh on body sometimes rez forever. 

[Amethyst Jetaime]

Mesh is just another tool in the box for creators to use.  Personally, I like mesh over sculpted clothes pieces but I do like flexi prims added to mesh for skirts that should move. 

As for the interior invisibility, most of the time it makes no difference if the mesh fits well.  I demo products to see if this is the case.  The exception is skirts which I prefer double sided because its a bit disconcerting with some animationsw to see nothing there!