Skirts?

I have a question about skirts. I understant that there are two types, prim and some other kind.

What is the difference and pros and cons?

Can you know the difference when one or the other is in your inventory?

Thanks

Flexi skirts move around, and blow in the wind, I think they are more realistic. The other kind are just kinda stiff,same with flexi hair.

A prim skirt is an 'object' that 'attaches' to you - looks like a box in inventory. A 'system' skirt is the kind that you can make via the 'edit appearance' process and it looks like a skirt in inventory.

System skirt - will make your butt look bigger so most women use a version of their shape that has a size 0 butt. My opinion is they also look horrid when stretched in different poses and the waist never fits right.

Prim skirts can be difficult to fit, especially if you have an odd shape. If they do not have a sit script in them, they will fall thru your legs when you sit.


This describes the two type of prim skirts and there is no way to tell the difference here from just looking in inventory.

theres also the inbetween .. which are actually pants with a prim insert between the legs..
when well done these are really nice...
no bum enlargement... a really really tight fit mini skirt appearance...
done badly .. yup .. just looks like you have something stuck between your legs.

then theres the sculpted skirt.. which i have not yet seen a good version of.. plus with bad LOD they poof or become mishapen when you zoom out or if seen from a distance.. laggy areas will leave you with a ball somewhere around your nethers too.

Prim skirts may be flexible or even stiffer than texture skirts. I don't mind the big butt (or paunch) I get with texture skirts. You can make them lower than your natural waist by not painting appropriate parts of the layer below the grid.

Of course I'm 4'8" in world and a "portable sofa" screams "adult avatar."

I've made both stiff prim skirts (more likely tube dresses but I made one lovely very stiff skirt that had a perfect drape, a half circle hollowed out and stretched did the job.) and spiral prim skirts (These shake around when you dance but they gap intentionally) and flexi tube skirts. I have not made the kind of prim skirts that are little flags of material attached to a waist band.

I have a bug up my posterior about avatar rendering costs so I like the single (or few prim) design.

Texture skirts are sheaths, and they look better long. The fun of making them is you can decorate them and their matching tops to make all kinds of interesting formal wear.

Prim dresses/skirts can have all sorts of shapes. I like the very modest chunky shapes.

Just a small aside: mesh clothing moves to a degree when you have Avatar Cloth enabled.

I don't really have an issue with system skirts. They are what they are. I only wish they sat more closely to the avatar mesh, instead of inches away from it. I actually prefer system skirts for different types of clothing, especially close-fitting sarongs or cheongsams. There's just no way to make a decent tube style skirt without using the system skirt. Sure it has its limits, like everything does. I also would recommend AGAINST using the size 0 for system skirts. Give yourself a little booty.

A prim skirt is an object and so has the little yellow box icon in your inventory. It's an object that you attach to your avatar (usually to the pelvis or stomach attachment point) worn in the same way as prim hair or jewelry.

A system skirt is a piece of LL clothing and has a little purple 'skirt' icon in your inventory. This is clothing rather than an attachment it is just worn just the same way as a shirt or a pair of trousers.

Both normally come with a pair of glitch pants. These are trousers worn under the skirt that save your modesty when the skirt moves about and make the skirt look more realistic. They stop your skin showing through the skirt when you move.

Prim skirts were created because of the in-built limitations with system skirts. Personally no matter what I try, a system skirt makes my butt look huge, doesn't fit closely around the waist, and doesn't move naturally. Whereas a nicely made prim skirt can look much more fitted and realistic.

The downside to prim skirts is that they can be hard to adjust to fit, particularly if you don't have much adjusting experience and the skirt has been poorly made to start with. It's a worthwhile skill to learn as it's the same editing skill you need to adjust hair or jewelry! Most prim skirts are copiable, so always take a copy before you begin adjusting. Avoid prim skirts that are no modify/no copy as you won't be able to adjust their size or take a copy beforehand in case you make a mistake and need to start over.

I have stuck with 'system' skirts on the whole. The big butt problem is solved by making the tightest fit AND keeping a modified shape with narrower hips, flatter butt and less saddlebag to use with skirts. Nobody sees this, it's just technical. I keep all my favourite outfits in folders that include everything, including hair style and appropriate shape, so quick changes are easy.

Prim skirts work OK for very short skirts but they can look odd when dancing - they l can look like a flexible bucket jnging from hip level, or if they're made from lots of flexible strips, the bits behave separately showing lots of gaps.

For example:

I tried using some prim skirts but there were too many problems getting them to fit properly (even close to properly). So now I stick to system skirts. However, I do have a problem with the big butt. (I have a problem with my butt size in RL, but that is another story )

In RL at work I wear skirted suits almost half the time, but in SL I rarely wear skirted suits. The only time I wear skirts in SL is as a part of a dress, and that is not common.

I wish the skirt mesh would be designed to have the right shape, and that vendors would sell skirts (with or for use with suits) that were a little below the knee, like the ones I wear in RL.

Mary

I have seen you mention this a few times, the below the knee skirts...

are you still trying to find skirts below the knee?

I'm just generally opposed to anything that would force me to change my shape drastically in order to wear it...it offends my sense of 'Ann.'

(This doesn't include full avs such as my kitty quad, Bast dragon, or selection of Tinies.)

I know what you mean, but if I get my overall look right in a skirt or dress, consistent with what I look like in jeans or a bikini, then I haven't changed my shape, I've just changed some settings that enable me to keep the same shape! It's something you only need to do once, and then keep a copy of whichever shape is appropriate in each outfit folder and everything changes properly at the same time.

I will say that this method is not appropriate for very short skirts, but for above the knee or longer it works fine.

If you use a skirt shape, system skirts aren't so bad (of course you need glitch pants as well). There is a big stretching issue in the front in many positions tho, I have seen some designers dealing with this by changing the texture in that area (using lace over it for example) which does really minimize the 'stretched' look. Almost all of my prim skirts do use a system skirt for a base, as (to me) it makes the prim skirt sit more gracefully.

I have made the miniskirts which are shorts with a prim attachement but I haven't yet made any I like well enough to sell.

I have sculpt maps for skirts, again I have not yet been happy enough with one of these skirts to sell it. I keep playing with them though

It might look consistent to others, but *I'd* know Ann actually had mini-butt under the skirt, and that's all that really matters.

That is how I feel.

My av shape is as close to me as I can get. With most clothing, it looks like the RL me. Skirts are the only problem. I can wear pants, look at a close up side view, add a skirt, and my shape changes (butt grows). Take off the skirt and it returns to previous. I don't want to have a special shape that I change to when I put on a skirt.

My underwear looks like what I wear in RL, and what like, even though nobody sees them.

I'm curious: did you make your own SL skin based on your actual skin?

Sigh. This is why I wear pants so much.

But I do have a few skirts I like...mostly system skirts, as it turns out.

I have quite a few skirt mesh just below the knee pencil skirts in my shop. I do a mix... some designs work better on the mesh and some in prims.

Rhaorth, I have found some. But the butt problem is more of a problem than the length, so in SL I don’t usually wear skirts with suits or for more professional dress. The only time I usually wear skirts are as part of dresses or more casual situations where a shorter skirt is OK. In RL my more casual clothes have higher hem lines than my “work clothes” (suits).



No, I have never tried to make a skin. But I did buy a skin with a shape that is very close.

Another problem with skirts and jackets: It seems that a jacket will work with pants OK, the bottom of the jacket falls over the top of the pants. However, when the same jacket is worn with a skirt it looks like the top of the skirt covers the bottom of the jacket, as if the jacket is tucked in. I have seen skirted suits where the bottom of the jacket is printed on to the top of the skirt. So the skirt can’t be worn without the jacket. Is this really true or am I having some other problem.

In RL and SL I like to mix jackets and bottoms (skirts or pants) in different combinations. In SL I can do that only if I am wearing pants. And I often wear the pants or skirt of a suit without the jacket, when appropriate.

Betty,
I saw your hair on Onrez, but not anything else. Would I have to visit your shop inworld for skirts?

Mary

If I wore system skirts, I'd definitely wear yours...you do gorgeous work.

Ah... yes. I put the hair demos up as part of the hair fair, but haven't really gotten further than that with OnRez. I have more on XstreetSL, but still not nearly everything. I need to work on that.... but spending time in Photoshop is so much more fun!



Thank you very much, Ann.

Mary, in RL your butt is not big.



That is a problem. I have seen women in SL who were wearing a jacket and skirt, and it looked like their jacket was tucked into their skirt, or cut off at the top of the skirt. And, I don't know if you noticed, but a woman at the political discussion we both attended a few days ago, took off her jacket and the bottom part of her jacket stayed on the skirt.

That is the bigger problem than the butt size.

I do have a couple of system skirts, but because of the waist issue, I just don't like them much without something on top of them. My system skirt shape does have a butt, set to about half my regular size. I do like a bit of booty - a flat backside looks as dumb as the typical 36-24-36 figure does.

Edited to correct the bad figures typed while not really paying attention.

I have not yet seen one of these that I actually thought looked decent - I avoid them more than I avoid system skirts.