Miniskirt insert prim?

So I made this jeans miniskirt, right? It took all of a half hour to make the pants layer, shows you how much effort I put into it. That's not even the problem, though-

The thing is, I don't want it to be a flexi prim skirt, I want it to be one of those tight minis you see around less but are so good when they're well done (I was inspired by a WRONG Satin dress I have that's gorgeous). You know, the one that obscures the gap in between the legs when you're wearing a pants layer?

So I made one eyeballing at the other prim skirt inserts I have, and put it on. I tried to convince myself it looked good, but goodness gracious, it was atrocious. I moved it this way, moved it that way, made it bigger, angled it different ways, and I was not satisfied.

I looked around in game, but because it's been 6 months since I logged on, a lot of friends I spoke to back then don't really log on. And the few who do? Not really designers.

So I put it to you, forums-

How the bloody hell do I get this skirt prim insert to look acceptable? How do you guys do it?

Thank you,
K

PS. Any designers' groups in game I could join if I ever desire to give/receive realtime assistance? Sometimes I just need a designer's opinionated, scrutinising eye. Thx x2!

I've never tried making one myself, but I've seen some atrocious ones, so I know what you mean. It's tricky to get prim objects to work right when they are placed at joints in the avatar body. I suspect that inserts like the one you're trying to make will work best on a VERY short, tight miniskirt that's attached at the stomach. Even then, the big problem I've seen is that designers have a hard time getting the texture in an insert to align (position and size) with the texture on the body-painted part of the miniskirt, and getting them tinted the same. If the textures don't fit each other properly, then the insert looks really stupid, as if you're wearing a box between your legs.

I make a hollow cylinder, taper it a bit (not much), and make it flexi. After I have rotated it, I shift/drag/copy, then I path cut each side so what you end up with is basically 2 half cylinders. When you use two pieces, you can texture them and adjust thier position for length independently (I have found that when you use one cylinder if the front is the right length, the back is too short and visa versa). From there you have to play with them a bit.

I have made a few and there are a combination of things that you can do to improve the outcome, but in all honestly it's a klug no matter what you do.

1. Avoid any sort of complicated texture in that area. In addition to the joint factor and the various forms of havoc that different poses wreak on the positioning of the prim, you also have the stretch factor. The crotch and upper inner thighs is just about the worst part of the SL avatar mesh.

2. Darker is better. One aspect of the mismatch that you need to content with is the different surface properties of the AV mesh and prims and the resulting differences in reflected light. The darker the color of area, the less of an issue this is.

3. Any sort of scalloped, fringed, or otherwise irregular bottom edge to your skirt is a good thing, because it helps to hide the fact that the the bottom edge of the prim(s) will not always be even with the bottom edge of the dress layer, given different standing poses.