Has the evolution of of sl tech changed how we should be constructing clothes?

[Malestorm1488303118]

Hi Guys...

 I have been reading everything I can about good practices in creation of clothing and I am setting up my own standards in terms of the different layers I want to see present in my PSD files.

However, most of what I read and the tutorials seem a bit dated - at least 5 years of not.    So my  question is - How has the evolution of sl technology changed how we should construct clothing?

So for example:

-  I understand wanting to shade the body to highlight some anotomical features... but shouldn't the evolution of  light effects in sl made eliminate the need to do general contouring shading and highlighting?    I mean depending upon the angle you are looking at a person wearing a garment, manual shading may actually work against sl light effects... Isn't this true?

- Is there still a neeed or desirability to use fake bake layers?  I read in 4 year old material that using fake bake helps cut down on sl rendering time.   Is this still true?

- is is desirable to use Photoshop 3d light effect rendering  to add shading / contouring?

- Are there any new techniques one might use to deal with the high sheen on some materials, like latex, silk, or leather?

Please also address any other points you may think are relavent.

MANY THANK!!!! :matte-motes-big-grin:

 

[Storm Clarence]

I'm not sure, but I think mesh will have a direct impact on how EVERYTHING is created; from clothing to avatars.  

[Niko Kozower]

Responding to your "Tutorial off-topic" statement. I totally agree, im surprised there's not that many "Good" tutorials for Second Life out there. Especially for something like scripting or building and if there is the person doesn't finish it or its called a tutorial but really its just a sped up video. If I was good at say making clothes or scripts.. yeah some of the things are a secret but im not that insecure that I wont share ideas and tutorials with others especially new people.Currently im trying to learn scripting and its a pain due to the fact that alot of the tutorials are dated. I suppose the reason I would share my secrets is that fact that im not using this game as actual income for RL which alot of people do.

[Luc Starsider]

I've not been in SL for very long, but from what I understand, the tutorials from 4-5 years ago is still valid today. Not much have changed in SL to invalidate them.

Two things are slowly making their way to Sl - mesh as Storm pointed out, and shadows - potentially creating a need for updated techniques and tutorials.

Shadows, more or less in beta at the moment the way I see it, will not be available to everybody from day one - they are dependent on people having the hardware to display them.

Lighting and shadows will not be able to show specular highlights, meaning that you still have to bake highlights in to the textures you use. (At least this is how I understand it). The need for putting shadows for static objects, like furniture, may be reduced since lighting & shadows can render ambient occlusion in realtime.

Mesh will change the way clothing are made, but there are limitations. You can rig the mesh to the avatar skeleton and have it bend with the body parts of the avatar. The mesh will change when the bone it is attached to changes length. Some parts of the avatar is not controlled by bones, though, and a rigged mesh is not affected when these parts are changed. Hip width or saddlebags (don't know which) is one example of this.

Mesh avatars, at least human ones, will also have to have clothing made specifically. The system avatar has a uv map which will not be possible to use for mesh avatars. So far no standard has surfaced for mesh avatars - with an agreed upon uv map - but that may still come. This, though, makes full mesh avatars a challenge in my opinion, and I'm not sure how successful they will be. Non-human avatars may be different, though.

Whatever happens, whatever changes that are coming, things will not change overnight. The way I see it, there will still be a market for things made the same way as before for some time.

- Luc -

[Rolig Loon]

I agree, Luc.  I don't see mesh making much difference in the clothing market, simply because we all have such different shapes.  Prim clothing is easy to stretch and customize, and system clothes fit automatically. Sculpties and mesh, however, are much more limiting.  Except for the very restricted (and pricey) market for custom-fitted clothing, I don't see much happening there for quite a while, if ever.

As far as texturing is concerned, Photoshop techniques continue to evolve as Photoshop itself evolves.  The basics, however, are the same as they were 5 years ago.  The tips and tutorials we wrote (and learned from) back then still work.

[Marianne Little]

The only really new in SL is windlight and shadows. And before designers can upload mesh, it's hard to say how detailed it will be. My guess is that the tiny details still has to be painted on in photoshop, and also smaller shadows. Highlight is what the new shadows render best, so if you paint on too strong highlights, that part will be totally white.

Shadows is really, really hard for computers. I tried it on and off on several different viewers. It is really demanding. That will be another problem, will people use shadows 24/7, or only turn them on when they will take vanity pictures? We will want clothes that look good both with and without shadows.

IMHO, small details tend to be "washed out" in shadows. The atmospheric light tend to hide or wash out beautiful details. It is also hard to use antialiasing and I have had problems taking really big pictures, lines appear over the picture.

A large part of the SL users don't have gamer computers and can afford to upgrade. I am sure many like me has to deal with the best "off the shelf" computer they can afford.

Mesh is really the big question. But I think good texturing in PS will still be important. You will need to paint  the cloth structure. Maybe change to more subtle shading, as SL shadows is more developed, maybe some viewers will be better to use for more simple computers.

Now, you should sell the best possible textured clothes... with shading and conturing. I am a very impulsive buyer, if I see something I want, I will use it now and it has to look good now. And ATM, shadows is still something I struggle with. And Mesh is still not available. 

[Kazimira McConnell]

Most things we dont know about but skin creators could really find looking into tattoo layers properly a profetable option. A skin thats desighned for makeup to go over it and lots of makeup options seprate is something that should be looked into.

Also tattoo makers could use this new layer so well by putting tattoos not just ether on the chest and legs or on the head only but makenig tattoos that dont stop at the neck and go over the full body.