I'm doomed (Shirt collars and buttons)

Thanks to Robin Sojourner's amazing template I'm able to create my own t-shirts, but the holy grail, shirts with collars is always beyond my reach as it actually requires artistic skill to draw and shade a collar and such correctly. I'm a dirty rotten cheater, but has anyone created a template with a collar and button strip. I suck I know, but when you have no flair in that regard what can you do lol.

Try this tutorial by Jennifer McLuhan :
/109/3b/125156/1.html

Yeah I printed that tutorial out and studied it but still requires the artistic ability to effectively shade the collar.

Stewart, shading a collar isn’t that hard. It just takes a little practice and effort. In fact, detailed shading often gets lost when SL renders it in to a smeared mess. Just draw a dark line right up next to the edge of the collar. Then draw a second line next to it. Make this line lighter than the first. Now up load and look at it, you may be surprised.

As far as not putting in any effort, well, do you approach your job that way or your relationships? The old saying about getting in return what you put into it, still holds true. What you are asking for does not exist. Each collar or fold or wrinkle is different.

I do show you how to cut and paste collars and buttons from one article of clothing into another. You can do it, if you really want to.

Jen

Please don't resort to personal attacks on someone you don't know ty.

Sorry Stewart, I don't feel that Jen attacked you.

You want a polo ? I'll give you the magic formula : grab one of the higher-resolution templates (Robin's or Chip's, whichever suits your method best). Study them. Study the examples provided with the Linden's templates (very useful). Do all the tutorials, and if you don't understand something, write it down. Maybe it will click later -- with another tutorial. Then, practice.

Jen is 100% right that one needs to work, and practice, and then work more, to design clothes. You can produce decent clothes without any artistic ability -- but you'll need to practice, that's all. You won't be able to churn out a store full of clothes overnight.

Sometimes you'll work for hours on one garment, only to find out that it looks like a rag once worn inworld. That will happen. That's just part of the process. Find out where you went wrong -- and bam ! you've just learned from your mistake ! You're improving already.

And even if you're an artist, you still need to work. Hard. A hard-working designer with a good artistic sense will create amazing, stunning, "I want this NOW" clothes. A lazy artist will produce nothing worthy.

Sorry if this is a let-down.

"As far as not putting in any effort, well, do you approach your job that way or your relationships?" is a personal attack. But it's at least I know the character of the people who use this forum for future reference and I'll keep my questions and doubts to myself from now on.

I'm still not seeing any personal attacks. What I did see was helpful advice and friendly encouragement rejected. That says something about "character" too.

If what you want is for someone to just do it for you, I'd suggest posting in the Services Wanted forum instead.

Stewart, I am sorry if you took my remark as a personal attack. I have quoted the part that made me feel as you are asking for us to do your work for you. If you didn’t mean to ask that, then I misread your statement and apologize.

Now, please allow me an opportunity to try and explain where I was coming from. Unlike many of the frequent posters in this forum I am not an artist. I am a teacher in real life (RL). I learned to make clothing by reading the two tutorials that were available at the time, reading a couple of books on drawing and by practicing. My first attempts at clothing sucked so badly a newbie right off OI wouldn’t want to wear them. I still struggle with making an outfit that looks good. I have six or seven designs which I have been working on for a while. I can see them in my head but, they don’t look the way I see them after drawing and uploading.

I also struggled in school. I am not stupid. I have a learning disorder that makes it harder for me to do well in a school environment. To make it through high school and college I had to work harder and study more than my peers.

I love teaching. I think I am a good teacher. I will go over and over something with a student who is having trouble understanding, trying different approaches until I see the light come on in the student’s eyes. It is the students who don’t want to work and expect me to just pass a magic wand over them, and magically they know everything with whom I have trouble.

You are not the first person to come in here and ask for a “template” that they can drop into photo shop, recolor and magically have a finished garment. Rarely a week goes by without someone asking for something of the sort.

There is no magic formula. I am sure it is easier for the people who already have a background in graphic art. However, there is a learning curve in making clothing in SL. It isn’t as simple as rezzing a prim and applying a texture.

So, if I came across sounding bitchy, I apologize for the tone. It wasn’t you personally that I was talking to. It was all the people who come here expecting to be given some sort of secret, magic formula, template, etc that will allow them to produce beautiful clothing without effort. Or those who refuse to spend a moment or two searching the forum for the answer to their question before asking it. I was frustrated and I guess you were the one who caught it.

However, if I were the moderator of this forum. I would try and make it where every new inspiring clothing designer would have to read this exchange between us before asking any questions.

Those of us who give of their time to answer questions do it because we want to. Some of the posters in here make their real life living by selling clothing in SL. Every time, they pass on a tip to someone, they potentially lose sales to that person when they later open a store of their own. Yet they do it day after day. I admire them for giving of themselves and time. Still, I know they get frustrated when the tenth person asks the same question as the other nine and, none of them bothered to search to see if it had been answered before. We are happy to help those who will help themselves.

So again, Stewart please forgive me if I insulted you unfairly.

Jen

(edited from a much longer rant because I've come to believe that the people who trigger my gut-response to make replies like the one I removed are exactly the same people who won't read them and who will just go trolling on with "OMG you insulted me!!!" regardless of what the actual post said, simply becuase it didn't contain the answer they were looking for...)

Everyone who has replied to your question has taken the time and energy to do so. BECAUSE THEY WANT TO OFFER HELPFUL ADVICE. If it's not the quick-fix you're looking for, don't get cross and accuse people of things. If they really didn't want to help they wouldn't bother posting in the first place.

Heck even with a magic temple it takes a while to make decent clothes. And faces (I have made stuff for first personal shooter death matches. im ean nothing is more fun that a friend running around in a person you despise (Osama, Bush, britney spears etc.)'s face so you can relieve aggression. It is work. It takes passion, and a willingness to learn. It will never be easy. It will always be fun.

And now I apologize to you Jennifer McLuhan for my quite clear over reaction. My posts are the result of typing in the heat of the moment and if I had taken the time to digest what is trying to be across to me I would have maybe learned something.

I understand that it will take time to learn these skills and am going to put every effort into doing so and finally make something in SL to be proud of. Again thank you for your patience

Stewart Steuart

You are most assuredly forgiven. Please don’t be a stranger. We are here to help.

Jen