Time spent building a flexi skirt?

I think this the correct forum to ask this so here goes:

I'm a somewhat successful builder in SL (meaning I can build things using my own textures......ranging from houses to decorative objects, signs, etc.). I also can make some pretty darned good silks sets. But a regular flexi skirt just kicks my butt!!! It takes me like 3 or 4 hours to make just one..........and it is usually not all that good either. I just want to know......is that normal to take that long to make one skirt?

I refuse to use that skirt maker that is available in world and on SLX. To me, that's cheating.

I'm not in the business of selling my stuff............I make everything I make in SL for the sheer fun of it and to decorate my avatar. I give anything I make to anyone who might want it. I just want to know if I'm working too damned hard or is that the normal time?

Thanks.

I can spend easily up to an hour adjusting prim 'skirts' on overcoat bottoms when i buy one, so I guess 3 to 4 hours making one isn't too bad.

re cheating, I don't think you should think of it that way, it's a tool, your like saying using edit to manipulate prims is wrong, I use a saw instead.

however, if you really don't want to buy these tools one way to save time in the future is to make a plain template build or a few different styles, every time you want to make a skirt rez a copy of it and your half way there

There are plenty of places in SL where you can go to get tortured. Quit torturing yourself. Use the Prim Skirt Builders to make the basic skirt and then use your creativity to make it unique. That isn't cheating.

You can get a good skirt builder for free. I don't understand why you wouldn't use it. It is just a tool like Photoshop or GIMP.

It's not cheating, and even if it were, you're not selling your products, so who are you cheating exactly? I have a free copy of the tool, I'll be happy to give you one.

I agree completely. If seamstresses in RL refused to use sewing machines, they'd find themselves out of business very fast. Cabinetmakers use power tools, chefs use food processors, and newspaper editors use computer graphics. The artistry in creating things in RL or in SL does not reside in tools, but in how you use them.

By using a scripted tool, I save time on the mundane, mechanical part of making a fine skirt and have much more creative energy left to focus on details. There's a LOT of tweaking and fitting of individual panels to do once the scripted tool has handled the heavy work, plus applying belts, bows, and waistbands, to say nothing of the careful Photoshop work to design a fabric and apply shading.

If you only use a scripted tool to slap together the SL equivalent of a Wal-Mart bargain skirt, you're missing the fun and not really being very creative. You can use it to create something that might be found in RL in a place like Lord & Taylor, though. How many of their skirts were individually cut and sewn by hand?

Thanks everyone for your input. Now I know that I just may be doing it correctly and not necessarily spinning my wheels. That's considering I am making them without a scripted tool..........all panels and parts are individually placed by me.

In response to folks who, I'm sure, told me with very good intentions about the benefits of using the skirt builder. Perhaps my wording caused some of you to believe I might be a little frustrated with doing it by hand. I assure you I am not........that is what I like about building. And its the satisfaction of knowing I did every single bit of it by myself......right down to the mathmatics of figuring the proper angle to rotate each prim. That's what I meant when I said "cheating". When I make something someone likes and I give them a copy it makes me feel good.........and I can be totally honest when I say I did it 100% from scratch. If I used the skirt maker I could not say that with a clear conscious. No offence to the people who use such tools......it's just me.

Thanks again and take care.

Echo that =)

And echo too the comment from Rolig Loon about seamstresses and sewing machines. Thats practical and I recommend this approach to anyone. But ... its not the same for all the reasons that Peggy gave.

/me grins and wanders off to look again at the wheel I'm making =p

...so create your own skirt builder. Good intro to scripting and rotations

This certainly falls under the rubric of "to each her own", but I'd hate for new costume designers to think that "skirt rezzers==cheating" is a universal, or even common sentiment.

A skirt rezzer is simply a tool, nothing more, and one that saves time. Unlike a sewing machine, however, the final product is indistinguishable from one that is made otherwise. There is no such thing as "handmade" in Secondlife. I see scant difference between setting angles, size, etc via the edit window versus setting same said parameters in a program. Essentially, all they do is automate the data entry, leaving the creator with more time for the actual creative part, which is all the tweaking, texturing, etc of the base creation.

I am speaking for myself here, of course, but all the top designers I know use skirt rezzers (and I'm privileged to know a good number of them, mostly amongst the Victorian big dress set). If you have more fun making dresses without a skirt rezzer, certainly, do without. But don't think you will make an inferior outfit should you choose to use one.

Actually, the skirt rezzer would probably make a superior outfit than I can do by hand. But, I guess, it's the challenge......the satisfaction of doing it without "help". Since I only make anything in SL when I get the urge I have no pressure to get the mundane stuff done quickly. I'm sure my thoughts would be very different if I were making things for sale.

I only wanted to know how long people think it should take to make one from scratch without a program to hurry it along. I got the answer I was wanting....mainly, it takes a long time. LOL. I made a skirt last night that only took me 2 1/2 hours and it was 33 prims.........so, I'm getting faster.

I have no problems with people who use a skirt rezzer for making flexi skirts. I'll still purchase them when I see something I like and think it's well enough done to spend what the asking price is. I just like doing it the "hard way"........it's more satisfying to me.

I get the idea from some of the posts that some of you think I believe people who use the rezzers are pumping out inferior stuff........that is NOT true. I guess I should have been more careful with my use of the word "cheating"..........i meant it would be cheating for myself. It's something I want to learn to do......without a program doing most of the hard work.

Anyway, I'm having fun......thanks for the input.

Despite my earlier comment, Peggy, I really do understand what you mean, now that we've agreed on what "cheating" means. You can get a lot of satisfaction from doing a task "by hand" instead of following a canned pattern or using a time-saving tool. I rarely use a recipe in the kitchen, and I prefer making things like cake from scratch instead of using a mix, for example. I feel more in touch with what I'm doing, somehow, even if a mix might make a better cake. Also, doing some things the slow, hands-on way helps you understand how the process works better than if you had only used machine methods all your life.

I still think you ought to give the LoopRez system a shot. You'll find it just as challenging in its own way, and with your experience doing it by hand, you might be able to turn out really super skirts. Who knows?

If you're having fun, you're doing it right! As you say, it was just the word "cheating" that came across as unintentionally dismissive.

And I have to agree with Rolig--if you can already make skirts without a rezzer, you've got a fantastic skill set. The original LoopRez is free (it required editing the script directly to set the parameters), why not give it a shot? But I warn you, you may be tempted to never go back to setting flexipanels the old way

I once made a tweed women's suit. I needed to use a flexi skirt because I wanted the jacket to have the lower part. I made the skirt with loop rez and it looked ok, but I wanted to see if I could make it look more like a tailored pleated skirt and less like a party dress, to fit the style of a tweed suit. So I started adjusting the panels by hand. OMG. I don't know how many hours I spent, at least 2.

Hi Peggy, I have found that even when I use the skirt rezzer, I still work with each panel separately, changing their size, location, sometimes their texture, colour and so forth. Often when I make a skirt, I might want 30 or more prims so I use it just to create the panels, then I detach them and place them around my ava like I want them to appear. But as has been said before, do what makes you happy, isn't that why we come to SL , at least I do. It gives me a chance to do things I like that I don't have time in RL to do, or the ability to do in RL. Enjoy and have lots of fun.

When I make flexi prim skirts by hand I attach one panel to a sphere prim, copy, swivel one copy 180 degrees, align the spheres, remove excess sphere, link so that the remaining sphere is root. Copy, copy, rotate, rotate, rotate. Link. Remove excess sphere. And then get down to business, because that makes a round thing and most of us are not.