Laura's first post: Technology and Fashion in SL

Hi everyone!
My name is Laura, and JayR graciously invited me to join her blog and give my take on SL from a technological point of view.

I am a fashion model, have been one for almost 4 yeas; I am also a photographer (been an amateur one in RL too) - I have my own studio in SL - and blogger.

So when it comes to looking my best, SL's technology (and its quirks and lag, which often get in the way) is important to me.

Today, I will talk to you about the "Make Outfit" option which is in our Edit Appearance screen:



edit appearance



This is a largely misunderstood option, hated and feared by many even in my own line of work.

In modeling, especially runway, the ability to change outfits very fast is crucial. We were taught to create a folder, copy all our items in it, put the no copy ones there temporarily, and wear that folder when needed. In some cases we copy poses and other stuff in there too; but that's neither here nor there for now.

SL has had this "make outfit" feature for as long as I can remember. But it has undergone a big change with Viewer 2 and some of the newer viewers of the 1.23 variety, like Phoenix.

• First: what does this feature do.

You make an outfit, choose all your things, dress, hair, shoes, accessories even HUDs you might be wearing. Then you click make outfit, and it presents you with a new screen to make choices:



new Make Outfit screen



Here you decide what you want in your outfit and what you don't.

Check the boxes for the things you want. In some cases some boxes aren't available; that means you aren't wearing that particular piece of clothing.

(If you click "more info on outfits", Phoenix takes you to this Wiki page)

Type a name for your outfit on top.

When you click SAVE, it makes a folder, with all the things you are wearing in it which you checked in the above screen.

Seems great, right? You can reuse that outfit now anytime you want.

Now - this is where the problems - and differences - arise.

This is how the OLD "make outfit" box looked:



old "make outfit" screen



If you still have an old 1.23 viewer, up to and including Emerald, Rainbow and some others, you would see this. Stay away from that Rename Clothing option!

What this did is what I outlined manually above. It made a folder, copied all your stuff in it, and if the stuff was no copy it moved it!! More often than not, after your show, event etc you might delete that folder. And the no-copy item was gone. I lost a great skin that way. :( 

• Enter Viewer2

 Viewer 2 has devised a new way to make outfits. Furthermore, it also works with Phoenix, and probably the other new viewers like Imprudence etc. You can tell by what the Make Outfit screen looks like.

In Viewer2, there is only the new way. Phoenix allows you to use either one - note the option "use viewer 2 outfit folders".

The lindens invented something called "Links". Well, they are something been around a long time in computers; if you have Windows you know that on your desktop there are icons, but that they just "point" to your programs which are elsewhere. Windows calls them Shortcuts. In the Unix/Linux world they are known as links. They represent something and you can use them to access that something by another name and in another location.

Well the option "use viewer2 folders" makes a folder full of LINKS. This means:

1. A folder full of link is made in your "My Outfits" system folder
2. Your item of clothing is never moved
3. Your item is not copied, which often resulted in 50 pairs of same shoes - no more!
4. If you yourself move your item, the link will not work anymore and will be listed as broken link. So if you wear the outfit that one piece will be missing

In fact, there is now a folder called Current Outfit, made of Links, and if you have a "Worn Items" tag like in Phoenix, you will see it is now full of Links

The outfit you made will look something like this:



Linked outfit



Note that once you have several, the things you wear most will appear (worn) in every outfit folder that has them - I am not wearing this outfit now, but I am wearing some of the components.

If you don't like the one accessory in an outfit anymore, you can just delete the link from that folder. Next time you wear it, the item will not be worn. ONLY DELETE LINKS! They are marked clearly with the tag (link).

You can make as many outfits as you want; furthermore, if you switch from Viewer2 to Phoenix and back, the My Outfits and the links are compatible. It used to be changing viewer you would likely end up with what you wore last time you used that viewer - as Viewer 2 saved it all as links and the others didn't. Now the outfits are compatible both ways.

Note that in Phoenix, making a new outfit with an existing name will make an entirely new folder. As far as I remember, Viewer 2 is smarter about that and will overwrite it - but I am not 100% sure.

So this was my post about Making Outfits and Links.

I hope it was useful and not too confusing; but it's a great feature to have, whether you model or just want to have your favorite outfits handy to wear.

Hugs!

♥Laura♥