How much thought do you put into what you build?

As long as I've been building (which is not that long) I've always felt my final piece was total nonsense. Then, what the hell, throw it in the vendor. If nothing else it's backup storage. Then someone comes along occasionally who likes my nonsense.

Sometimes I think....what should I build that people would buy.....then I go back to building whatever nonsense pops into my head.

Do you guys spend considerable time contemplating what would sell?

About 2/3rds of the time, I'm just goofing around, building whatever happens to pop into my head at the time. The other 1/3rd is building long, carefully planned out projects that never seem to get finished.

My experience seems to mirror Meade's. I build what I want, what I think is fun, stuff that I really enjoy playing with myself. Now and then I start building something because I think it might be popular, or a friend has suggested it. Most of those projects never get finished because I just don't have the interest or enthusiasm.

The stuff I do enjoy building though, I will put a lot of thought into if it's something complicated. I'll do up some rough drawings to get a feel for how the prims go together, or jot down some notes on how the scripts should work or what animations I need. Sometimes I'll even do lots of research, if appropriate. Like if I'm building something that has a RL equivalent, I might spend a few hours or days even, figuring out how it works in RL so I can approximate that as best I can in SL.

Really though it depends on what it is, and how excited I am about it.

-Atashi

To answer the OP question: yes, I do think about what I put up for sale--and I always make sure the product is not just good enough to be put up for sale, but quality enough to be considered impressive CGI in general.

I don't, however, rack my brain for new product ideas the grid will eat up--I create what I enjoy, and expound on the things that do better than other items. I'm in a really niche market, with very few competitors...I have the freedom to take things easy.

I tried that. No one would buy it. My best seller was this total piece of crap I would not be caught dead wearing (and if you look at the forum cartel flickr, you will notice I am will to wear a lot -- or a little, but I digress) so i gave up trying to make what they want and just hoped they would want what I make.

Besides, if it's not fun it's work and my normal job pays a heck of a lot more than SL ever could.

I make things partly from need - like my home, it's furnishings and some of my clothes, and partly to try out creative ideas I've had. I build with an eye to marketing too, but generally that follows later. I have to be satisfied with an item first, then I feel it's suitable for selling.

Nope: I usually jes make what I want, an go from there. Oftentimes, I end up with people tellin me to put an item on sale, rather than thinking to do dat in the first place.

Mari

I mostly tend to build things that I would buy myself. I do have some "junk" that I made because I thought I needed to round out my offerings more - and predictably it sells less than the stuff that I put my heart and soul into.

I'm from the Betsy Johnson school of design "I just look in my closet and figure out what's missing - then go design it."

LOL it's nice to see that my thought pattern is common

I look at some of the stuff I make (like mineature castles for tinies) and think....why did I just build this

When I am building custom work for a client, I put a LOT of thought and effort into the work. I'm making a large building for a client right now, that is to be a replica of a 3-story building that is on the National Registry of Historic Places. I have collected hundreds of photos of the original building. I actually located the blueprints of the building that are on file in the Library of Congress, and am building based on those plans. When I am done, you could use my build to give a guided tour of the real structure...

When I make clothes, or furniture, or textures... I make what I would be willing to purchase myself. And I have pretty high standards. If I wouldn't pay good money for it, I don't sell it.

I apparently do a very odd combination of thinking about what I want, spending a few hours researching the dress/outfit I want to design and then.. when I actually get to building, it mutates as I find some things I simply can't make work in SL or look completely stupid when I get it 'just so.' So in the end, it tends to look nothing like I researched, rarely like what I first envisioned and still looks pretty neat in most cases.

So I've learned that what works best for me is to have a very general idea like: I want a short skirt, lots of frills and lace, with a tank top. Do enough research for fabric styles or even some trim.. and then just go crazy. At that point, I stop thinking and start trying.. so at least I can safely say I learn alot about the build tools when I try to break them!

While I'm new and I'm on my first "sellable" build.. I'm like others who build what I like or what I would like to have... but would consider selling the end product. Who knows, someone can maybe find a use for it. I'd set it to copy/modify (I don't buy builds that don't have those) so people could fix or change my end product if thats what they wanted. Actually thats how I got into building - modifying another person's build to fit my needs better. I finally decided to do something from scratch

I'm maybe not as professional with my builds right now (as far as keeping prims from overlapping etc.) but I will get there. I would want to sell something that was as good quality as possible where I might be satisfied with a little less myself.

I almost always have something in mind when I build and I will always put my best efforts into what I'm building, but sometimes...I enjoy just rezzing a prim and letting it become whatever it becomes. I've actually come up with a couple of sellable objects this way.

Everything I've built in SL so far has either been something commissioned by a client or something for my own shop or home. (The clothes I sell don't count as having been "built", right?)

Sometimes I plan meticulously in advance and the final product is pretty much like the plan. Sometimes I have a much vaguer idea of what I want to do and design it pretty much as I go along, with a lot of trial and error. Sometimes I have meticulous plans but change things a lot as I actually get building.
So I guess I'm pretty much all over the map on this.

Alot of times I build things on accident. Whats weird is they come out better

I've never thought what would sell, only what is it I want.

When I am building it's totally all-consuming at the time ...

i pretty much just start shaping things, and then turn them into something. once i get a final product in my head, i spent countless hours tweaking it to near perfection. i get really annoyed at how long it takes... especially clothes. the reuploading fees are killing me. ugh.

Can you still upload to the beta grid for free? Wait - is there still a beta grid? At one point, it was free to upload, so you could get your textures perfect there, then just upload to the normal grid for 10L.

As far as building goes, I'm just learning, so I think REALLY hard when I build. I've seen people throw really incredible things together very quickly, but it takes everything I have to build even very simple things. I'm getting better every time I do it, though, so maybe I'll get to a point where I can throw prims together in a seemingly random pattern and wind up with something really cool. I have a little project I'm working on with a (very patient) friend, and I expet to be light years ahead of where I am now when that's done, but working with someone else really makes you think about what you're doing, because there's another level of accountability. You have to be able to explain your ideas, listen to theirs and really accomplish what you start out to accomplish. It's good experience.

you are the smartest fish i have ever known. LOL

i have never tried the beta grid. do i DL from the same page as the main grid?

thank you. such an obvious solution, and i would have never thought of it on my own.

Nice thread

Yes I ALWAYS think very carefully about what I want to make and how to make it. I am an absolute perfectionist and can only be happy with an item if it's good enough that I want to use it myself. And my standards are very high.

I consider the design, prim count, useability, technical aspects, aesthetics, the 'fun' ingredient, everything. And allthough I usually start with some kind of a plan, I need to adjust it sometimes along the way. For example if it would take too many prims to get the exact design, then I'll find another way with less prims that doesn't go away too far from the original idea. Or sometimes a texture simply doesn't work well with a specific prim or I need to find another technical or script solution to get the product effect I want. I also look if there's a market for the things I make and if it suits my shop concept. In all cases I know what I want to make before I rez the first prim and try to hang on to that idea.

The reason is simple: I just try to do my very best. Because only that can make me proud.

Doesn't take much - fish are pretty stupid.

If I recall correctly, it was in the downloads section of the main website, the same place you would go get the latest RC and Windlight. I could be wrong, though. Can anyone else chime in here?

It's very simple, I think. Professionals, or people with training will plan because that's how they are taught. The rest of us just jump in. After a while the OP question arises, we contemplate it, try to change then without realizing, we are doing it the same way again. It's very difficult to plan a job as it will always end up different. That's me anyway. Not much scoolin'.

I've always worked in a very 'organic' manner. That's what my degree taught me to call 'disorganised and easily distracted'. OK, only partly - I like to play with prims and textures, just as I like to play with materials and surfaces in RL creations. I generally always have a final goal in mind but I'll take several routes to get there - the getting there's most of the fun for me.

I make what I like to make, and so my 'work' is never really work, just more playtime in the prim playground.

With regards to what sells the best and what doesn't, I keep finding that the items I really don't like, think are a bit rubbish, would rather forget - they become the best sellers. The things I put a lot of time and new skills into - not nearly so popular. I think there's a good explaination somewhere in this about 'trying too hard' and 'building from the heart', but it's easier to believe it happens just to annoy me

i really like to build homes... I try to come up with something unique but it ends up looking like a box with bad texture. Typically when I show my creation to someone they tell me it is ugly or the textures suck.

Surprisingly I built a sign in an afternoon and it sold the next day.

"CX"

I have various pictures(projects) in my mind..some of builds..some places..some furniture. They just float around in there collecting resource material for....whenever.

Usually a client pays me "this much" for "this long" see you then...and be done with it..I usually have to go in "robot mode" and turn off all those little ideas in my head.

Sometimes..((if I'm lucky) a project that a client wants..just so happens to be something ive been playing around with in my mind. I've already figured this or that out..already collected enough quality resource material to really start the project off with a BANG!

My achilles heel is almost always..."finishing"...I have the hardest time finishing..I guess cause im a perfectionist..its hard for me to let a build go when i can see so many flaws in it.

The only thing that spurs me on to finish a project isn't the remainder of pay..but that looming idea in my head...ominous...foreboding..on the horizon of my mind...rumbling....churning...waiting to be born and built...waiting for me to weather it.

I've had the idea of a few builds in my head for two years now.. If given two weeks to do a job..i will think on it 12 days and build it in two. it's more of a mental thing than a time thing with me.

One really great thing that I've been able to teach myself was forced deadlines. Believe me..after someone pays you a chunk of change to finish something in 3 weeks..and regardless of your own personal limitations to finish..you force yourself to finish..you come up with tools that help you "nail that last nail".

I really look forward now to builds being finished for clients because of personal projects that i have on the side. Stuff that's been tickling my brain for ages..and i can barely sleep from thinking them over and planning them out.

~Lana Tomba