[Walking on the spot]

Sounds like your issue would best be helped by joining the Firestorm Help group.  This group was created for Firestorm users to get help with issues they experience with any Firestorm feature.  I am sure there is someone in that group who could give you some answers.

[Clothing with store logo plastered over it (not demos)]

I so totally agree with you!  I simply would not even consider buying anything like that no matter how much I liked the style.  Nor would I consider making anything like that.  To put my store logo large smack in the middle of a top,  to me would be a huge ego trip and that would be all it is..  My store logo belongs on my store sign, in advertising, on event booths, but not clothes!  (unless as you mention it is on a tiny little tag somewhere, not overly obvious)

[Opinion of Using Demo in Final Products]

you mean you are putting the shape and/or skin on a mesh demo head'  like the head has demo on it, or there is a chunk missing out of the chin .. and other things creators use on demos??  if so then the answer to  your question from me would be:  Don't do it!  IF you have an absolutely beautiful skin why would you want to display it on a demo head??  and up I would take a quick look at it and probably pass,.  I would want to see how it looks on a proper head before I would take a second look.

[Why would anyone prefer long hair rigged with the outdated skeleton?]

13 minutes ago, MelodicRain said:

or is there something that the outdated rigged mesh skeleton actually does better than the updated one?

I dunno but I do know this.  I have mostly avoided long hair in the front if the demo looks weird or bad, doesn't fall naturally,  I just don't buy it.  Also I won't buy it if it looks totally unnatural.  Many of the shorter styles tend to look less "clay like".  I loved flexi hair but avoided long hair for the reason that it moved through the body way too much.  In my humble opinion, there are very few hair makers that I trust and like, can count them on one hand.  I do think that perhaps making long hair look good is not only a skill, but a huge challenge given what there is to work with.

[Stockings Applier for Maitreya]

Omega works just fine on Maitreya all you need is the Omega system kit for Maitreya, simply pop the system relay hud on your screen and you can apply any omega clothing applier you want.  Simple   And I believe there is also a system kit for Lelutka heads as well...  just go to MP and type in Omega System kits and find the ones you need..

[*Seeking* Natural looking skin with dark or tan tone options]

yes, try Entity Skins,  they have several darker tanned skins with head skin for Catwa.... so far they are the only ones I have found that make it simple lol  

[Clothes Creation suggestion]

To get the Dev kits, you need to send a request to the makers of all the bodies you wish to create clothes for.. For some of them there is a link posted in the main store that takes you to a web page where you can apply.. for others you have to send an IM to the owner who will in turn send you the link to a web page.. In all cases you are required to apply first, and wait till they accept you as being a good candidate for making items for their brand.  

[Why Free Clothing?]

I was just thinking about this area of free items, and I realized no one has mentioned all the hunts that go on all over the grid.. and also some of the events, have free gifts as well by many if not all of the merchants participating in the event..  so that is another way to get good free items.  And hunts can be fun too.  For instance right now there is a "Stay At Home" grid wide event going on, and tons of stores participating with free items.. So in reality there is no shortage of free items.  You just might have to work a bit to find them, but they are out there.  And yes most of the participants are hoping for some promotion of their stores of course.. that is only fair.

[Rigging and Where to start ?]

ya that is in the rigging too, check out some videos there are a few sorry don't have the address for any of them handy but I know they are out there.  Maybe someone else can be more specific.

[Rigging and Where to start ?]

First of all you will need to get the Kits from each of the body designers you wish to rig for... once you have those then you can rig in any 3D program that will support rigging.. most in here use Avastar as it works well with Blender.  There are several Youtube videos out there to help with that.. and I know that Belleza includes a video in their kit.. So start with getting those kits.. you will have to contact the body creators and request the kit, as they are not available in any other way that I know of.

[Why Free Clothing?]

2 hours ago, Talligurl said:

Consider that fact that it does not cost any more to distribute 1000 dresses in SL than it costs to distribute 1

This is true, but there is in fact a cost to producing the item, so some compensation for the effort is appreciated..  not many of us have the means to spend our real life $ to supply free items in SL.  Just saying..  But from time to time a free item is a good thing to put out.. 

 

[Why Free Clothing?]

I doubt very much if your free items come with a hidden cost..  People offer free items for various reasons.  Some may be rejects from items that they don't think will sell because of flaws or some other issue.  Some offer free items simply because they can and they want to.  Others may offer free items in the hopes that once a noob gets established, and may have some lindens to spend, that they will go investigate a store the belongs to a creator that offered a free item.  Kind of like an advertising thing.  So I wouldn't worry, if you enjoy the free stuff I think you can rest assured it is safe.

[Rigging clothing]

depends on  a few things,  it takes a long time and a lot of work to rig an item properly for a good fit for any mesh body so some might not care to put in the time and work to do a bunch of bodies, as they really do not recover their time in terms of pricing their work so exclusively for one body might be the best way for them to do it..   Also, a clothing maker has to have the correct weights and information in order to rig anything, so if they can't get the kit from the body designer then they cannot do any rigging for that body.  

[What is this head called?]

It would have to be a Catwa head,  I have a few, this one looks like it may be Kathy head perhaps.  But it is hard to tell as head features can be altered and different skins will also give it different appearances.    You can get a few demo heads and see which one looks closest to this one.

[The new Legacy "perky" body is basically a slap in the face]

3 hours ago, Suzy Shenzhou said:

And if I was Maitreya (the reigning queen of mesh avatars for years now) and I watched a competitor like Legacy launch their mesh and within only a few months sweep across SL and be adopted by nearly every major clothing designer - well... I think I would be offering some free updates too

NOT exactly sweeping.  In fact I know very few women in SL who have spent the lindens on Legacy.  I know many more who won't  trust it ever.  And as for Maitreya, well not every business is out to make every last linden they can.. some just may have good intentions toward their customers, nothing to do with fear of competition!

[store manager]

The Gown is your property you own it..  if you wish to give it away and let someone else take the credit and put it in her store and make a profit, well I guess that is your business.  If you freely gave it to her and she did not pirate it then there is no legal issue.  You just lose out that's all.

[Omega Applier Help Needed]

As far as I know for Omega, the only way to get an omega applier to work is to use the advanced Omega system  .. if you got that to work I don't understand why you are trying to do it on a self made hud?  If you need a hud for texture change you can make one using the omega appliers and stick each different texture applier on your hud  I have done that with success many times.

[Destiny Game]

Laughs, well might be more out there like me,  I have never even heard of Destiny Game.. so that might be why.

[Omega Applier or Specific Mesh Body Applier]

BUT if you wanted to make appliers for those who have not gone to a BOM mesh body (and loads of folks have not), and you wanted to do appliers... Omega should suffice, problem is not everyone is happy about having to purchase an omega conversion kit for their specific body in order to get the appliers to work.  In the end there are so many combinations, options, possibilities, preferences that is it literally impossible to please everyone..  So I would just go with the omega appliers plus the system layer.  

[Natural looking young woman HEAD]

I suggest you try Catwa, there are several heads to pick from, and all are very mod so you can play a lot with the shape including the lips.. Pretty sure you could get what you are looking for.  And yes the skin makes a huge difference in the appearance as well.. so picking a young nice looking skin really helps as well.  Took me about a month trying all the heads and skin combinations I could find to get the look I wanted so keep working at it and you will find it.

[Le Smoking look]

Utopia has a women's tux as well might work

[builders PLEASE! watch your lighting !! Yellow light is NOT flattering in advanced lighting]

4 minutes ago, OptimoMaximo said:

Hhhmmm nope, the material IS wrong. Pure white means 100% of the light hitting the surface bounces off of it unabsorbed , which is physically impossible and violates the laws of energy conservation. There are many misconceptions in SL about materials and the management of specularity only through specular map is one of them. The specular map defines the percentage of light that gets reflected off the surface and, for non metals, usually a value around 50% is appropriate. The roll off of such specular highlight is determined by the glossiness map and its value in the texture tab. 

If you read my post, you would have seen that the specular map in the case I am describing was dark purposely so it would NOT let it shine too much ie. let too much light in...  or get too much reflected...  I have been working with materials since they came out and have used them in many ways, I fully understand how they work.. what I am trying to say here is that under yellow light in particular the best material settings that look great every where else,, look horrid under a yellow light on dark clothing.  So I fully disagree with your statement that the materials are wrong.  Sorry I am not going to continue to debate this..  I just wanted to put a heads up to builders about using yellow light.. that is all.

[builders PLEASE! watch your lighting !! Yellow light is NOT flattering in advanced lighting]

4 minutes ago, Da5id Weatherwax said:

But if only your item looks wrong while everything else looks correctly lit for the type of lighting being emulated, it's likely the material.

The use of materials, under these circumstances that I described here;  consists of a specular of pure white no colour, and only a setting of 51 with no ambient setting, and the specular map is very dark as well under white iights in normal white light it shows only a little glimmer of shine with no colour added.  But under yellow lights the whole. in this case dress, shines with the yellow light..  So in this case it is NOT the materials.  If the specular in materials is low and is not adding colour itself, it will pick up the ugly yellow light.  Seems there is no way around this.  For instance I was at a club last night, myself and a few other ladies had a black  or dark blue or red dresses on with materials and advanced lighting enabled,  and we all looked like we were wearing a shiny yellow wrapper over our clothes,  there were several strong yellow lights around the room..  Not a pretty sight..  Just needed to bring that to attention.  This happens quite often which sadly really does reduce the places suitable for photography.

[builders PLEASE! watch your lighting !! Yellow light is NOT flattering in advanced lighting]

This is a plea to all club owners, sim owners who are open to the public.. please please do not use lighting with a yellow tone to it...  There is nothing worse than having a nice black outfit on that looks awesome with textures and materials in normal white light, then to see an ugly yellow cast all over it when you go somewhere that has yellow lighting.  Nothing needs yellow lighting.  Not even a fireplace,  white colour light is all that is needed..  It is also impossible to take good photos if advanced lighting is enabled and materials worn in a yellow light..  especially on dark colours.. it just ruins the whole shot.  AND while I am at it, too much too strong lights are bad as well, on light colours that can cause a horrid glare effect that can actually wipe out textures.  I have held off saying anything about this for almost a year.. but finally I felt I needed to..  I guess some folks just do not realize we all do not want to be washed in yellow, or blotted out by extreme light.

[Custom womens superhero costumes]

1 hour ago, AlixandriaD said:

they must be spot on versions (I'm a perfectionist) of the Movie and TV  versions of the ones in question, i.e. Captain Marvel and Supergirl (T.V. pre pant suit. )

Sorry I am not able to help you out with this..  but my concern would be copyrights.. you do know LL does not allow any trade mark labels etc. to be reproduced and sold in SL.