Tips for a noob?

[sinfulGurotesque]

I've been wanting to get into SL content creation for, like, actual years but it's so intimidating and a lot of the guides seem to be outdated. Do ya'll mind sharing tips and must-knows for creating content in SL and getting successful with it? And... wtf are appliers?

The attached image is, like, only 1 of 2 things I've ever completed for SL - I get that it's not the most unique, but is the rigging passable? I know the bump map sucks, and I probably should've used geometry to bring out the collar. Anyways...

[Bitsy Buccaneer]

This isn't something I have much hands on experience with, but since no one else has answered I'll do my best.

Appliers are the functional equivalent of system clothing (the 'painted on' clothing textures) and system skins for mesh bodies. They are textures which go on ('applied' via a scripted device) the mesh body.

There are some very helpful people in the creation forums, but not so much for clothing. Medhue Simoni has rigging tutorials posted on youtube and also answers a lot of questions in the Animation forum here. He might be able to help with specific problems. As far as I know, the real test for rigging is how it moves inworld. Have you tried it out there? Though sometimes it can be a matter of the AO or animation just doing weird things with the shoulders no matter what.

I understand texturing better than rigging, so I'm also wondering if you can scale the knit down. That might be a quick way to make it look more polished.

Good luck.

[Bitsy Buccaneer]

P.S. For tips and must-knows, read the Mesh section of the Creation forums. IMO making simple things is invaluable in the process, even if what you really want to do is more complicated, cause it lets you live with the results inworld and learn which compromises yield the better outcomes overall.

[sinfulGurotesque]

@Bitsy Buccaneer: Thanks so much for the answer! I'll definitely have to check those tutorials out.

I'm not actually planning on putting this particular piece on the market - it's a year old at this point, and you're right about the knit being wayyyy too big. I don't know why, but texture scale was my bane for the longest time.

[Bitsy Buccaneer]

What hours are you usually inworld? Send me a friend request if you want and I can try to help you get to grips with texture scale. There are some things I can suggest here too, but it would help to know what level you're at with it. But whatever you're doing, try it again with the knit at about 1/2 to 1/3rd what it is now (so scale 2 to 3 repeats).

My best advice is to experiment inworld. A lot. Not just with it rezzed on the ground, wear it while you're doing chores or whatever and compare it to things others have done. It's like teaching your eyes a new language. If you need inworld fabric textures to play with, try Timeless Textures and Texture Me True. Quality work, group gifts and really nice creators. Timeless has a set of knits out in the group gifts right now.

[sinfulGurotesque]

Ah, I don't really have reliable hours. I get on when I'm not working... and when I haven't exhausted my bandwidth.  I think a lot of the problem is that most of the time I forget about a project before I get to actually making the textures, so I don't have as much practice with it, ahahaha. Only moved onto texturing my meshes, like, a year ago lmao.

That's some really nice advice! <3 I mean, I have like $30L so I don't get much opportunity to actually wear my stuff, but I just heard about Aditi so I'm gonna try that out. I'll def check out those groups, though. 

[Bitsy Buccaneer]

That gives me a better idea.

Aditi is great for trying things out. You have to log in there once to tell it to sync your beta inventory with your main grid, and then wait for it to happen to get any new main grid stuff to show up. I think it's a set time each day. That's probably confusing, so just think in terms of two log-ins, some time apart. If you want to get textures over there more quickly, you can save them to your computer from Agni and then upload from your computer to beta grid.

If you want something on main grid to play with texture scale/repeats, try this: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Kcreations-V-neck-T-shirt-Developers-Kit/4906857

Have you learned about local textures yet? It's a way to try out textures in the main grid for free, but it's temporary and no one else can see them.

[sinfulGurotesque]

Ah, I was wondering why things weren't syncing the first time I loaded it up. Thanks for telling me - I was wondering if I'd somehow messed something up.

Hoooolyyyy crap, I didn't know about local textures! The wonders of Firestorm - I'm glad I already use it so I don't have to download another viewer. You just saved my life.

[Bitsy Buccaneer]

/me grins. glad to help.

for a while sync happened when you changed your password. that was good cause it was under individual control. then for a while we had to open a ticket and ask for it to be synced. now it's the double log in + time routine. since it's SL, it will probably change again.

[Rolig Loon]

1 hour ago, sinfulGurotesque said:

Hoooolyyyy crap, I didn't know about local textures! The wonders of Firestorm - I'm glad I already use it so I don't have to download another viewer. You just saved my life.

  Local textures isn't an exclusive Firestorm feature.  It's part of the standard LL viewer and therefore present in all viewers.  See http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/User:Rolig_Loon/Local_Textures