Getting skirts to fit

Hi.

Once in a while I find a skirt that I can put on and it just fits, or needs very little adjustment. But MOST of the time it takes an hour or so to make the skirt look right, and even then it often looks funny when I move. Is there a tutorial on how to adjust skirts? Or is there a particular type of skirt I should buy? Where is a good place to shop for good skirts?

Thank you!

Hi AshleyLi,

The short answer is no.......if you're talking about prim skirts, they almost always will need some tweeking because avatar shapes are so varied....the creator of the skirt made it to fit their shape......and even the tiniest variation in shape is going to make the skirt look funny. This is not at all unusual. As for how they look when you move....well, again, that is a limitation of SL. Prim items don't recognize the avatar form as 'physical' so pieces will seem to pass right thru depending on the way the body is positioned. There isn't much we can do about that.
Some prim skirts now come with a 'sit script' that forces the skirt up over the knees (mostly) when your avatar sits. But again, it's not an exact science in SL. I wouldn't say you're going to find one designer who's skirts are all perfect for you.....this is simply a universal issue with prim attachments of ANY kind......hair....jewelery....other clothing parts.

An example would be just the other day I bought this totally cute baggy t-shirt. The shirt has 4 different prim attachments to make it appear baggy.....which is all fine and good until the avatar moves LOL Then it just looks completely ridiculous. I tweeked it as much as I could.....but it only ever is going to look the way it should when my avatar is standing straight and still.

If you're referring to the basic painted skirt (that is worn like pants or a shirt)......they are also imperfect because the template iteself to make the skirts is a bit off in the waist line. No matter what you do.....it will look like there's a gap between the waist and the avatar....and the butt will look ballooned even at the 0 puffiness setting. (for this reason I never wear basic clothing skirts because I refuse to look like Betty Boop or Jessica Rabbit)

I don't know if there are any tutorials.....ya really have to just practice at basic building/editing. The best way is to use a pose stand so your avatar is in the default position (what creators use when they make prim clothes and attachments) and adjust as best you can from that pose. Beyond that......we're pretty much at the mercy of the limitations of SL and the way prim items interact (or don't) with the avatar body.

And if at all possible, take a copy of the item before you start tweaking. I hate myself when I forget to to do that, because I almost always break the item at least once during the process

Maybe someone more familiar with this can clarify -- I was told that if I started editing and realized I had made a mistake and the undo did not undo it (cuz sometimes it does not for some odd reason) that before detaching the attached one, I can copy/paste the one in inventory because the changes I make do not *really* get saved back to that inventory copy until I detach it -- is that correct?


ETA: I think I just answered my own question -- I just checked the items I am currently wearing and while it seems that I do get a 'copy' option for the System clothing, I do not seem to have the option on the prim attachments, even though they are copyable when not attached.

No, you can't copy a prim attachment that you are wearing, nor can you give a copy, nor can you link something to it while wearing.

Sometimes, if the item is copy you can rename it before you detach it, then wear the original........delete the reanamed skirt and start over. But it's always best to copy it before you even wear it for adjusting.

Adjusting the skirt while it's linked you are pretty limited on what you can do....mainly just stretch it. To get it really adjusted properly you need to edit linked parts and adjust one prim at a time..........that is almost as tedious as making the skirt from scratch. But I make almost all my skirts anyway so they always fit me

Yes, you can copy and paste it. You have to do it in the inventory window, not by right clicking on the attachment.

I can't get any of the viewers to allow me to copy worn prim items from my inventory. It stays grayed out no matter what until I detach it. Now, non-prim clothing I can copy all I want when worn, just not the prim attachments.

And yes, I'm the owner of the prims as well as creator, so it's not that issue. Though it doesn't bother me, because when I did use copy/paste without detaching, I'd wind up with the textures changing to default(or whatever was the original texture of what I copied from) when I'd wear the copies. Now, size changes and such took just fine, but not the textures.

Unlike Milla, I like system skirts. I have a custom shape with slightly narrower hips and considerably less butt that I use for them, though. And not all system skirts are created equal...I got one the other day that made my ass look huge no matter WHAT I did.

Prim skirts do generally require editing, and even when properly edited do sometimes look weird in some poses. When doing photography, I've been known to edit prim skirts and other items into some pretty strange positions, just to make them look good for one picture, from one camera angle.

Glitch pants are your friend with prim skirts. Most outfits will come with a pair, so that when your leg sticks through the prim fabric, it won't be nearly so obvious.

Editing tips:
1. Make a copy
2. Use a pose stand
3. Edit the position and size of the skirt as a whole, first. Get the best fit you can.
4. If needed, use Edit Linked Parts to tweak individual pieces into final position.
5. If you can't shrink the skirt small enough, go thru individually and increase the smallest dimension of the prims (0.10) to 0.15 or 0.2. This will let you shrink the item some more.

If your skirt or other item uses a resizing script, use that to edit your item. When you're done, be sure to delete the resizing script (All Prims/Delete/Sure!) Your fellow avatars will thank you for not lagging the sim down.

I don't have that problem. I use the "copy-detach-delete" trick to "super undo" screwed up edits on prim attachments at least once a week.

Ditto for me. I wonder if it has something to do with which viewer we are using. When I tried, I was logged in with the Snowglobe viewer, so I'll check a few others today.

There are two types of prim skirts too...

There are the older styles that require a matching underwear layer that is the same color as the skirt and the top parts of it actually are meant to go up inside your body. These are the hardest to work with since light works different on clothing than prims, so unless it's a dark, plain color - it never really quite looks right. And even, then - it's not always the best.

Then there are the newer skirts that you don't need the panty layer and the whole thing is prims - from the belt on down. These are easier to fit, but they don't always look as "snug". One trick with those is to not only scale and move it, but sometimes tipping it forward or backwards will help it fit better too. Rolling forward will accommodate for the rounder butts and make it need to be less "huge" around the waist in order to look right. Usually just a little bit of a roll is enough to do it.

(NO, I don't typically wear skirts, but my girlfriend makes them so I've had lots of experience working with them to get them to do the little tricks we add like changing color based upon Sensations arousal levels and stuff. lol)

That used to be true, but these days the lighting model for the avatar mesh and prims is very very close.

Is it really 'older' vs 'newer' or just two different styles/ways of making them. Seems to me that the ones that supposedly do not "need" a panty layer are simply using a waistband prim to attach all the skirt panels. And unfortunately, most people that do that use a circle rather than an oblong shape and so it still never fits right without lots of editing of individual pieces.

There are pros and cons of both styles, but to me, neither is really any easier to fit if it does not come really close to fitting correctly right out of the box.

Yes, I've done this before.. though granted it was NOT using the 1.23.4 viewer.. for some reason it doesn't work in that one for me. 1.20 will though.. as I just wore, edited, copied one of my own skirts, and sent it to an alt which it remained unedited. I wonder if it has to do with next owner perms, not your current perms.

Sounds like this may be something else broken by 1.23.4. If you can verify it works in 1.22 and not in 1.23 then could you file a Jira?

I'm holding out for 1.24. After they get past the Zindra mess maybe they;ll have time to do a solid viewer release.

Hi! It changed on 1.23. Copying worn objects can make them get lost from inventory so it is turned off.

OK, that's definitely got to be rolled back. Because that's just not true, copying worn objects *in inventory* is perfectly safe.

It is not always safe Qarl made it work like that to help fix VWR 6110. He has more work to do on that.

I checked all of them on all three accounts, and in different sims.

If Cerise is correct, however, that would explain it. LL is renowned for shooting themselves in the foot just to get rid of a tick attached to a toe...

Yes it is safe. Attaching attachments from world is not always safe. This is NOT the only failure mode for attaching from in-world. THAT is the operation that should have been disabled. ALWAYS take them into inventory and then attach them.

I guess I'll be sticking with 1.22.

Edit: https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/VWR-14592