Inventory panel and outfits ... an organizational question

[Katherine Heartsong]

Okay, so I recently read a post about creating "outfits" that are simply base/naked bodies, along with "outfits" that are simply clothes, accessories etc as two distinct types of "outfit" folders in your Inventory panel, so that you use the Inventory panel to simply "Add to current outfit" one of the clothing outfits onto a body, or "Remove from current outfit" from an avatar leaving them base/naked again.

Basically, clothing as separate sets that simply get put on or removed from your body. Those clothing outfits might even contain the various HUDS for the pieces of clothing that have customization options. This kind of appeals to me as a former HTML/CSS lecturer where CSS was designed to separate structure (body shape) from content (clothing). Cool. Though this means I have 60+ outfits over two genders to fix ... sigh

My question is about the actual folder structure in the Inventory > Outfits panel. Is it safe to create generic folders in the official Outfits folder to hold distinct types of outfits? I do this with the Clothing folder without issue, to organize that mess. For example: A handful of top level generic folders called, say, Male, Female, Fantasy, and Shapes that would hold, respectively, all my male (clothing) outfits, my female outfits, my fantasy outfits, and the base/naked body outfits I was speaking to above. Does adding these folder make any difference to the game engine? It won't break anything, will it?

I know the generic top level folders don't show up in the Appearance panel, but using the method I've described in my first paragraphs, I'd be using Inventory > Outfits to wear and change outfits anyway.

Thanks for any technical help! Don't want to break anything.

Edited December 4, 2020 by Katherine Heartsong
clarification

[Maitimo]

I just tested this, and you can make subfolders in Outfits in your inventory. It does not break anything, but they are not subdivided in the actual Outfits panel, they just continue to be shown as a single flat list.

So, you can use it if you typically wear and unwear outfits from the Inventory view rather than the Outfits view (which is perfectly possible). But if you use the Outfits view, there's no point bothering.

I organise mine by prefixes. The base naked bodies get prefixed with * to keep them at the top. Clothing outfits get a letter; C for Casual, F for Formal, S for Swimwear & Sexy. My special fantasy costumes get a Z (to keep them at the bottom) followed by the year and month I made them, because I make so many, and I don't keep those longer than 12 months. My Casual section is also getting pretty large now so I may start dating those too.

[Katherine Heartsong]

I do something similar in my naming conventions, and alpha save "codes" as well ... along with some demo/test folders I have to try things in case I screw up. I go so far as to put the name down and where I bought it often. 

Agreed that using the Appearance panel this will make no difference ... but still may do the separation of bodies and clothing. Still working on cleaning it up, never perfect.

Edited December 5, 2020 by Katherine Heartsong

[Nalates Urriah]

The folder idea doesn't really work. I started out that way. But, the Outfits panel only sorts by name ignoring subfolders. There is a JIRA feature request to add folder awareness.

Some people have run into problems with additional folders in the Outfits folder. But, it seems to be very rare.

Now I use prefixes to get things to sort correctly. My nude outfits start with !!Nude - ?????????. Since I have different bodies my clothes and body have to match. Can't be putting Slink clothes on a Maitreya body. My bodes then are !!Nude - Slink HG v4.2 Jennifer w/eyes. 

I use the !!Nude as a starting point for my outfits. I'll add everything I want to wear. I do may makeup. For the head I make a copy of the final head and make up. Then take off the head that is part of the !!Nude outfit and wear the copy. The final step is to Save As the outfit with an appropriate name. I use !Dress Mini - 2020-12 [details of outfit]  or !Pants & Top - 2020-12 [details]. 

I have a number of dress sections; Mini, micro, short, medium, long, evening, gown, sexy, etc.

Without the ! the outfits can mix in with Library outfits. Two ! sort ahead of one ! so my !!Nude comes out at the top ahead of !Dress. 

[Katherine Heartsong]

Thank you for all the advice.

I'm removing the "generic" folders idea and going with a lettering system as the prefix. Male stuff with "X-", and * for the base avatars. Still going to try the whole body "outfits" and "clothes only" outfits idea because it just makes sense to me. Then my main HUDS (Maitreya, AO, and Hugs & Kisses) go in the body outfit folders, and special HUDs for clothes where applicable will be in the clothing outfits. Plus I'll make four base female versions of me for the four different hairs I wear (OMG I love me my TRUTH hairs), and one for the cat eyes I sport sometimes.

I don't have enough dresses to sub-category atm ... but given my shopping habits ....

[Jennifer Boyle]

I use both methods. Depending on what I'm doing, it can be better to use the Outfits panel or to use the Inventory view. One important reason for me to use subfolders in Outfits is that I have many seasonal outfits organized into folders named for the seasons and one named ALLYR. I move the off-season ones out of the Outfits folder, so that they do not appear in the Outfits panel at all.

 

[Nalates Urriah]

It has occurred to me that the add & remove capability of outfits is somewhat ignored so far. I don't use the capability for my basic outfits, clothes. I use the add/remove ability for things I am likely to want to change quickly and across all outfits. 

I don't make a lot of add/remove items because I find it tedious to make them. May be I just missed something and I do it wrong. But I make an outfit with my !!Nude (see above) then add all the things I want the outfit to add/remove. Once I save that outfit I go into inventory and find the MY OUTFITS system folder then find the outfit's folder. I delete all the items from that folder that are NOT the add/remove items. This seems awkward but it works.

The changing feet items in the image are from the pre-BOM Slink days. Actually looking at the list, I can delete most of those shown. I have others but they are more of an adult nature. I think those adult ones are important quick changes that allow me to keep my script load lite most of the time. When needed I can click one outfit and add all the needed parts and HUDs.

Inventory & Outfits - I want to correct the inventory information I posted early. It could have been more accurate.

Looking in Black Dragon I find that the Outfits and Inventory panels handle the sorting of outfits differently. Inventory is aware of folder significance and will sort subfolders into the right order, meaning within the parent folder. That works in the Outfits folder. The Outfits panel does not sort the same. 

I've chosen how I handle outfits because I want to do all the outfit stuff in a single panel. Using the Inventory panel for outfits seems to require an awkward, to me, requiring of additional steps or a combination use of both panels.

[NiranV Dean]

On 12/5/2020 at 5:22 PM, Nalates Urriah said:

It has occurred to me that the add & remove capability of outfits is somewhat ignored so far. I don't use the capability for my basic outfits, clothes. I use the add/remove ability for things I am likely to want to change quickly and across all outfits. 

I don't make a lot of add/remove items because I find it tedious to make them. May be I just missed something and I do it wrong. But I make an outfit with my !!Nude (see above) then add all the things I want the outfit to add/remove. Once I save that outfit I go into inventory and find the MY OUTFITS system folder then find the outfit's folder. I delete all the items from that folder that are NOT the add/remove items. This seems awkward but it works.

The changing feet items in the image are from the pre-BOM Slink days. Actually looking at the list, I can delete most of those shown. I have others but they are more of an adult nature. I think those adult ones are important quick changes that allow me to keep my script load lite most of the time. When needed I can click one outfit and add all the needed parts and HUDs.

Inventory & Outfits - I want to correct the inventory information I posted early. It could have been more accurate.

Looking in Black Dragon I find that the Outfits and Inventory panels handle the sorting of outfits differently. Inventory is aware of folder significance and will sort subfolders into the right order, meaning within the parent folder. That works in the Outfits folder. The Outfits panel does not sort the same. 

I've chosen how I handle outfits because I want to do all the outfit stuff in a single panel. Using the Inventory panel for outfits seems to require an awkward, to me, requiring of additional steps or a combination use of both panels.

The outfit folder, just like any other is subject to your sorting options in Inventory.

[Jenn Rowley]

So the outfits/appearance is the Bain of it all. It sucks.  I kind of did things different. I utilize a few things.  

1. A open collar to lock the core.  So that it cannot be stripped.   I then make this the base out outfit named !Base.

You can do the same thing using a peanut collar, and it's easier, both can use locking bases, also both collars can be hidden, no reason to have them shared and you can turn off the relays.  They are a tool, use them as such.

 

2. Every outfit I create and save, I go back into the outfit folder and delete the body parts it saves links to out of it, they are not needed at this point.  Because the collar won't allow them to be stripped, they won't have to load over and over, so I won't have to change every outfit if I change a body part.   So the outfit is just that, the actual clothing.  

3. When I want to change the base body say a new skin.  I unlock the core, change the skin, change the !Base outfit and lock the core.  That's it. I'm not messing with my 87 other outfits.

 

Edited December 7, 2020 by Jenn Rowley

[Jennifer Boyle]

On 12/5/2020 at 10:22 AM, Nalates Urriah said:

I don't make a lot of add/remove items because I find it tedious to make them. May be I just missed something and I do it wrong. But I make an outfit with my !!Nude (see above) then add all the things I want the outfit to add/remove. Once I save that outfit I go into inventory and find the MY OUTFITS system folder then find the outfit's folder. I delete all the items from that folder that are NOT the add/remove items. This seems awkward but it works.

In the Inventory view, you can paste links into inventory folders the same as you can other folders.

Reading your post caused me to think of an improved method: I'm going to create an outfit folder that's empty, if possible. If not, I'll create one with a single placeholder item in it. Then, when I want an outfit folder that does not contain the four items that I can't take off, I'll just copy it, rename it, and paste whatever links I want into it, and delete the placeholder.

Added after I tried it: My plan won't work because in inventory view, I can't copy outfit folders. What I had to do is use "Save AS" in appearance view and then delete the unwanted items. Otherwise, it seems to work.

Edited December 7, 2020 by Jennifer Boyle

[Jenn Rowley]

Heres how mine are setup you can see my base and my outfits.  And remember no matter how hard or how much I want  I cannot detach anything in the Base because its locked by the collar.  To keep me from from accidently stripping my mesh.

 

 

 

 

[Maitimo]

9 hours ago, Jenn Rowley said:

Heres how mine are setup you can see my base and my outfits.  And remember no matter how hard or how much I want  I cannot detach anything in the Base because its locked by the collar.  To keep me from from accidently stripping my mesh.

 

My system is almost the same as yours except I have more than one "base" (same body and head but different skins, and whatever tattoo layers/mods go with them), so I don't want the base locked with a collar.

I don't include hair in either the base or the clothing outfits, because I change it so often. Though right now I've been sticking to the one style (Katy from Doux). 

[Jenn Rowley]

12 hours ago, Maitimo said:

My system is almost the same as yours except I have more than one "base" (same body and head but different skins, and whatever tattoo layers/mods go with them), so I don't want the base locked with a collar.

I don't include hair in either the base or the clothing outfits, because I change it so often. Though right now I've been sticking to the one style (Katy from Doux). 

That's just it though you can select the other base to wear and lock it, so it won't unwear it. From the collar.  I have a cat avi also that I did but have not used in a bit, I could keep it in the collar as a base and it would become a default if I lock it on. I could choose either one then. 

 

The hair I get, but I don't change mine too often, maybe once a week. And it's not difficult to do, I just unlock the core, swap the hair then relock. And it's done.