System vs. Prim or other clothing

[Susan Kenin]

I would like opinions both from those who make clothing and those who buy it:

Do you prefer:

!) System clothes - ones you make by uploading a texture from Photoshop, GIMP, or other program, or

2) Prim clothes, or

3) Other

Why do you prefer what you prefer?

[Marianne Little]

I use clothes with prims 99.99% of the time. A few rare times I can wear only system clothing, maybe lingerie or a swimsuit. But most times they have a bow or strap that's prims.

I am even such a snob that my male alt never uses pants or shirts unless they have prim cuffs. Painted on ties and collars look even worse, flat and not "right".  

I have some clothes that's only prims, like a short jacket. But a combination of system clothes and prims is best.

Lately I have been shopping mesh, and I prefer combinations there too. 100% mesh clothes is very hard to mix'n match. I often wear pieces from different outfits together.

[Coby Foden]

I prefer prim clothes. I'm very interested in mesh clothes too (after the mesh deformer has been implemented). I seldom wear clothing which is totally made of systems clothes. Mixed system / prim clothing is ok and can look really great.

Oh, by the way, I never wear any outfit which has the system skirt. System skirt is plain horrible. One other "hate" thing what I never wear is miniskirt made of glitch pants plus the something in between the legs prim/sculpty. :matte-motes-agape:  Luckily mesh will solve this problem as it will be great for miniskirts. :smileyhappy:

[Ariel Vuissent]

Combos, all the way. I rarely wear purely system clothes; even my swimsuits often have prim ties. My undies are probably the only things I wear, usually, that are purely system. I love the 3D effect of a simply prim tie or flower or bow, as opposed to the "flat" look of just a painted-on garment.

I have also been shopping mesh, and also prefer combinations there. Purely mesh items don't fit right, but combine a mesh piece with a system piece - like a tight skirt, or the skirt of a dress, using system pants and a mesh insert (rather than a prim) look beautiful and move perfectly. The beauty of SL creation (though I'm not a creator, just a consumer) is that there are so many possible combinations, and so many looks that can be created with those combinations.

[Tiffy Vella]

Everything I wear is a combination of photoshopped textures (on "system" layers, but never plain textures created purely inworld) with added sculpts for detail and shaping. I hate the jeans glitch, and so love sculpted pants bottoms (never plain prim cuffs) I think every item I wear has some sculpted detail, even if it's just a bow, and I've come to expect it.

Unlike many others, I do love the system skirt, as I find I can make it work for me. It gives the tailored vintage sheer look I like. Mesh will do this better when it is mainstream, but I'm holding off for until most people use the correct viewer. I like prim skirts too---full flowing ones. Am not a fan generally of tiny skirts made from short textured pants with a "**bleep** flap", but I realise that heaps of other girls do. Personal taste

[Princess Verwood]

For me it is a combo of system layers and prim clothing. Most things I wear (and make) are on system layers from photoshopped textures, then if I want to spruce it up I'll add on some prim items to make it look better.

IMO, sometimes you can get away with only system layers. But only if the shading, lines and wrinkles are right. But there is nothing wrong with wearing only system layers or only prim or mesh clothing.

[Marybeth Cooperstone]

Everything I have I design and make. My main interest in Second Life is designing and making clothes - lingerie, nighties, professional clothes, etc. I make them by drawing the textures in GIMP and uploading them. I frequently, when at the airport or on a plane, use my laptop to design clothes.

System clothes allow me to easily make clothes in GIMP, try them, and then make any changes for appearance. While I like what can be done with prims and meshes, it would be much more work to make them, particularly on a laptop while killing time waiting for a plane.

Another advantage is that system clothes fit all avatars. There are some limitations, however. Patterns on the side of the bust will distort with medium or large busted avatars (my avatar, like me, is small busted). Since I make clothes only for myself and a few friends, that is not usually an issue.

So, for me, it is system only. But I do like what can be done with prims. If I bought clothes, I would probably buy a mixture.

Marybeth

http://www.flickr.com/photos/marybethcooperstone/sets/

[Claireschen Hesten]

i think outfit combos are the best way to go i've seen some fab jackets on system layers only but i've seen even better jackets once some prims have been added. trousers look much better with prim cuffs the cuffing options available to the system layer are ugly well flareing them out looks ugly 

[Amethyst Jetaime]

The best clothing in my opinion, is a combination of both textures and sculpted prims.  I personally refuse to wear any system skirts, as they are awkward looking, the texture distorts horribly when you move and the are out of proportion to the rest of the avatar.  I also haven't been that impressed so far with mesh  Other than one or two items, I've not seen any that are an improvement.  Also you can't mod mesh.  I refuse to alter my shape to fit clothes, only the clothes to fit my shape.  I'm keeping an open mind about mesh though.  If I find mesh clothes that I really like and that fit me well, they I'll buy and wear them.

[Arwen Serpente]

I like the combination of system clothing layers and prim/sculpt clothing. I make everything in Gimp for both the clothing layers and the fabrics for the prim parts.  Then I build the prim parts (sometimes I build first and texturize after...it's all an iterative process). When I'm working privately, I often just wear system clothes (an undershirt or shirt and pants). When I'm in the store, I wear/model one of my outfits while I work (or pop into something a customer asks to see). What I like to do most is to make sure that whatever outfit I create has plenty of "styling" options so the purchaser can "style" to their own taste, shape and needs.

[Maddox DuPont]

System clothing is good for events where less prims is better. But prim, sculptie, mesh clothig is simply evolutionary steps our virtual fashion has taken to add more realism to what we wear. Like it or not they are here to stay and any serious fashion designer would need to adopt them.

[Monica Querrien]

I think decent clothing have a mix of prim and system clothing to make the outfit pop. Mesh is good for making clothing more realistic, but you would have to tweak your shape every time you switch to a different designer. At least for system skirts (which a lot of elegant dress designers have, by the way) I can have one shape for that and it's guaranteed to fit them all.

[Theresa Tennyson]

Again, I wear combinations of types of clothing. I'm not a huge fan of clothes built up out of rigid prims. They can look very nice when you're in a fixed pose but if you're moving they often behave very badly. RIght now none of the clothing options we have are very good for a moving avatar wearing a dress. Mesh will help a lot once a system is worked out where a mesh item can be sized to your shape, and, of course, when it's more widely adopted from the viewer side.