Clothing Layers (Mesh layers)

Layers in clothing are those related with the textures that wrap the avatar. They are applied inside SL environment while in Appearance mode.

Most used in clothing are :

• Undershirt, Shirt, Jacket, and gloves for upper part avatar and
• Underpants, pants and socks for lower part avatar.

They stack on top of each other in a certain order. These are the areas they can cover to their full extent, in plain colors:

In the Upper Template:

* Undershirt layer, Shirt layer, (in orange and green). Keep in mind the same order for your designs, so you can play a bit with different pieces. Usually, the same piece of clothing is offered in those versions, and it is up to the avatar how to wear them. It's part of the fun, the mix and match process. 

The Jacket layer (in blue) mixes the upper avatar and the lower avatar. Therefore, the bottom part of the jacket has to be done on a pants or underpants layer, but defined in the jacket layer.

The amount of space for an open jacket can also be defined

in Appearance mode, while creating the jacket.

 Gloves layer belong to the same 'upper' body template.

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Upper and Lower body Meshes...and system skirt

Upper Body Mesh

The upper template is the basis for creating:

-Undershirts

-Shirts

-Jackets

-Gloves

Look closely, there is only one arm and one hand. What you create for arm and hand will be repeated.  

Lower Body Mesh

The basis for templates to create:

-Underpants

-Pants

-Socks

There is only one foot. That's the reason for avatars to have weird feet (It's just one foot, repeated)

In those areas in which there are more surface variations, triangles are not - and cannot- be regular.

System Skirt Mesh

There is yet another template, and it is the one that belongs to what is called “system skirt”. In fact, it's a very simple map. However, as every avatar is somehow customized, sometimes this skirt looks odd. We can see its line better in wireframe mode:

It's used for classic skirts and also as part of specific designs, both for women and men, as in costumes.

Regarding Male Avatars, They use the same mesh with some alterations, namely muscles. These alterations -in both female and male meshes- will make your design complex in those areas in which triangles expand or shrink. Differences are very subtle...but they are important in the long run.

 

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Understanding Mesh Clothing for Avatars

SL is made up mostly by meshes, covered or wrapped by digital images called textures.

All avatars come from only one mesh, so basically, everybody is one and the same. That mesh is the foundation for clothing, and some other important stuff, like your skin. 

How to design clothing for an avatar

To design clothing for an avatar you will have to use the so called 'templates'. Templates are nothing more than mappings of the mesh. They give you the exact areas in which you can trace, apply color and add a bunch of effects to simulate volume.

They are a two dimensional representation of a three dimensional object. Light and volume is lost in the templates...That will be for you to apply.

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About this blog

SL is a world inside another and, even thou its ways of presenting itself vary greatly, one comes to realize that somehow it's an extension of our daily lives. I was attracted by SL for the very reason Fine Arts enticed me: The real opportunity to learn and express beyond what we see.

I entered SL fresh from digital Art, and wanting to know more about '3D worlds'. In fact, Raytracing and modeling surely provided me with the thrill of creating a world -literally- from scratch. I wanted to know how would it be 'to live' inside one. And decided to start from Zero...And here I am!

There are many areas to explore and create, to share and enjoy and all of them are never ending endeavors. One of those was to make 3D textures I really like, and another, trying to find by myself how to design clothing. In the same way we carry with us our inventories in SL, we get to relate, and connect, with all of what we have lived in our lives. A 'feeling good' experience :-)


First entries of this blog will have to do with where we -as avatars- come from, hence the name : We are All One and the same:-)

See you in the next post!




Copyright 2011,Eme10 All Rights Reserved