Resizing flounce skirts

[paratracker]

The multi-face pleated attachments used as skirts pose an editing challenge for the initiated.  I'm discovering that my avi's hips often don't quite fit the elipse around which skirt faces are arranged.  In a perfect world, I could just resize that ellipse, but I suspect that there's nothing in there to select.  Is there some high-level means of editing the ellipse around with skirt faces are arranged or maybe a resizer script that gives you that capability?  I'd also like to be able to stretch the entire skirt downward (since so many of them are designed around microminis).  Are linked prims like skirts resizable as a group?

[Amethyst Jetaime]

Flex prim skirts can be changed..  Many come with resize scripts which as you have learned only resize the garment as a whole , not on individual planes.  To do this the skirt must be modifiable and you must use the traditional building tools.

Make a copy of the skirt before trying this.  Then wear it and stand on a pose stand.  Right click the skirt and select Edit.  Check the 'Edit Linked Parts" box in the dialog bow that opens,  Make sure "stretch Textures is also checked".  Then click a prim you wish to resize. Only the one piece should highlight.  Check the 'stretch' box in the dialog and you will see colored boxes that you can use to grab and pullto make the prim smaller or larger on that axis.  The white boxes in the corners will size the piece as a whole.  You can control the direction of the stretch, whether it goes one way on that axis or stretches equally on both sides of that axis, by checking and unchecking "stretch both sides" in the dialog box. 

Once stretched, you may have to move the piece some to adjust it.  Check Move in the dialog box and arrow will appear that you use to move it.  To Rotate it, check Rotate in the dialog box and you'll see wheels on each axis that you can use to rotate it. 

Once you have that prim adjusted, move to another in the same manner.  Once you have adjusted all the prims you may have to move and/or rotate other prims to align them properly too.

If you mess up along the way, there is an undo under Build at the top of your screen.  If you mess up a lot, that is what the copy is for. :smileywink:

This takes some patience and practice but is a skill worth acquiring.

[paratracker]

The problem isn't resizing an individual face, it'is that there are at least two dozen of them.  The odds of getting having them map to an elipse by alering individual prims one at a time are vanishingly small.  I was hoping that there would be some way to resize a multi-face skirt as a whole, one dimsnsion at a time (rather than eyeballing each face), while maintaining the elliptical arrangement.  If that capability is not available in SL, it should be high on the wish list.

[Coby Foden]

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paratracker wrote:

The problem isn't resizing an individual face, it'is that there are at least two dozen of them.  The odds of getting having them map to an elipse by alering individual prims one at a time are vanishingly small.  I was hoping that there would be some way to resize a multi-face skirt as a whole, one dimsnsion at a time (rather than eyeballing each face), while maintaining the elliptical arrangement.  If that capability is not available in SL, it should be high on the wish list.

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It's a bit confusing as you talk about multi-face skirt, and resizing individual face.  The skirt is not made of multiple faces.  It is made of multiple prims linked together.  The individual prims have faces which are used for texturing.

As you have already noticed when you resize the whole skirt, it will resize in all directions (x, y, z).  It is impossible to resize the linked prims as a whole only in one direction.  Such function does not exist.  Individual prims can be resized both in all directions at once and, also to any direction alone.

So, the only way to adjust the skirt to fit perfectly on your avatar is to do it prim by prim.  If the skirt has tens of prims it can be very time consuming.  But as said, that is the only way to do.  There is no short cut method available.

 

[Drake1 Nightfire]

it could be a mesh or sculpted skirt... cant resize a mesh one..

a pic from the OP would help immensely.

[Amethyst Jetaime]

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paratracker wrote:

The problem isn't resizing an individual face, it'is that there are at least two dozen of them.  The odds of getting having them map to an elipse by alering individual prims one at a time are vanishingly small.  I was hoping that there would be some way to resize a multi-face skirt as a whole, one dimsnsion at a time (rather than eyeballing each face), while maintaining the elliptical arrangement.  If that capability is not available in SL, it should be high on the wish list.

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The only way to do it is as I described.  Yes, if you have never done it  before it can be a daunting challenge, however with practice you will find it less so.  I have an avatar shape that requires me to alter every prim skirt I buy pretty much, as I am very picky.  If it doesn't fit my avatar exactly, I won't wear it.  At first it took a long time to alter one and since there were no resize scripts when i started SL, it was the ONLY way you could have clothes that even fit you halfway decent, let alone perfectly..  However the more you do it the more proficient you become.  It now takes me about five minutes to alter one, sometimes less.

The skills you learn by doing this also come in handy for altering all prim clothing as well as other modifiable objects you buy.  It is well worth your time to acquire the skill.  It may be helpful to have a friend who is able to do it well help you the first time or two you do it. 

Alternatively, if your shape is copy/transfer you can hire someone to take care of it all for you. The designer may even do it if you are willing to pay them for the extra service.

As far as adding an easier way to do it to a wish list, I am not sure how they could do that.  If they gave you a way to stretch an entire object in say the length alone, parts of the item would be distorted that you didn't want to distort.  For instance if you pulled a skirt longer over all, the waistband would also grow longer resulting in an awkward appearance.  The only way to avoid that is to choose the prims individually when doing the alteration.

[Ariel Vuissent]

Nope. Linked prims have to be individually edited to resize. Some designers do use scripts that allow you to resize "this prim," being just the prim you clicked on, or "all prims," meaning the entire object. It's not particularly common, but I do have items that contain this script. And even then, the prim will generally only resize as a whole - it will get bigger or smaller, but won't stretch on just one axis at a time.

You'll need to edit linked parts and edit each individual prim. It's daunting, and kind of a pain because it can take a while. I usually only do this with copyable objects, so I can just delete and start over if I mess it up. Also, you can rename objects in various stages of resizing to help you keep track of which one you were working on, so that if you mess one part up you don't have to start over completely.

One thing that I find helps me is keeping track of the numbers. You can enter numbers for the different axes of each piece. That way, instead of having to manually stretch each piece, you can stretch one piece to the length you like, remember the number for the pertinent axis, and enter that number for all of the other prims. It probably won't work quite as well for readjusting the prims around the hips, though; you may have to do that manually. Again, making new copies helps.

As far as "faces," it sounds like what you mean is "prims." You can, of course, edit individual faces of prims, but that's for texture applying. You can't, at least as far as I know, stretch or resize individual faces because they're all part of the same prim.

[paratracker]

I went face by face on something with just five faces and it took a long time to achieve acceptability.  Way too much involved in pleated / flounce skirts with a couple dozen faces.  Not even thinking about going down that road. Any chance that's in the SL enhancement queue?

[Drake1 Nightfire]

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paratracker wrote:

I went face by face on something with just five faces and it took a long time to achieve acceptability.  Way too much involved in pleated / flounce skirts with a couple dozen faces.  Not even thinking about going down that road. Any chance that's in the SL enhancement queue?

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ok.. are you talking about a prim skirt, sculpted skirt, or a mesh skirt?  You can not resize a prim skirt face by face.. i dont even think you can do that with sculpted or mesh clothing.. in world. you can mod mesh face by face in blender or daz. i think the wordage you are looking for is "prim by prim"

[Coby Foden]

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Drake1 Nightfire wrote:

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paratracker wrote:

I went face by face on something with just five faces and it took a long time to achieve acceptability.  Way too much involved in pleated / flounce skirts with a couple dozen faces.  Not even thinking about going down that road. Any chance that's in the SL enhancement queue?

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ok.. are you talking about a prim skirt, sculpted skirt, or a mesh skirt?  You can not resize a prim skirt face by face.. i dont even think you can do that with sculpted or mesh clothing.. in world. you can mod mesh face by face in blender or daz. i think the wordage you are looking for is "prim by prim"

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That's what she actually means "prim by prim" (maybe she does not know what is the difference between a prim and prim's face?).

@paratracker:  You're saying "Not even thinking about going down that road."  Well, if you are not going to edit the skirt prim by prim then you are out of luck, you will never get the skirt fitting exactly on your shape.

 

Editing each invidual prim is the only way to do it.  Surely it's slow work, but as already said earlier there are no shortcuts.  I'm pretty confident there never will be.

(Like mapping the skirt prims on ellipse on ready skirt.  It's possible to define a path for the prims with scripts while making the skirt, but when the skirt is ready the prims don't have any more any knowledge on what path they were mapped onto.  The path information is not saved in the skirt prims.  For the prims to remember the ellipse or path where they were mapped onto when the skirt was created would require totally  new feature for prims, the path would need to be saved too, and the path would need to be editable.  That kind of new feature might be very difficult to implement).

[Drake1 Nightfire]

i will be inworld later today and tonight.. from about 9am SLT till 11 and from 5 pm till 8ish.. hit me up and i can see if i can help you.