Mesh clothing has taken the grid by storm, since Linden Lab started allowing
mesh uploads over a year ago.
As an
apparent answer to their clothing woes,
especially female shoppers have made it a necessity for designers to change
over to mesh completely, or at least to open sections of mesh clothing in their
stores. However, despite its seemingly great benefits, mesh does not completely
solve all problems of traditional Second Life clothing.
especially female shoppers have made it a necessity for designers to change
over to mesh completely, or at least to open sections of mesh clothing in their
stores. However, despite its seemingly great benefits, mesh does not completely
solve all problems of traditional Second Life clothing.
I wore my SLE Media Group tag to interview both customers and
designers of mesh inworld.
Mesh clothing has taken
the grid by storm, since Linden Lab started allowing
mesh uploads over a year ago. As an apparent answer to their clothing woes,
especially female shoppers have made it a necessity for designers to change
over to mesh completely, or at least to open sections of mesh clothing in their
stores. However, despite its seemingly great benefits, mesh does not completely
solve all problems of traditional Second Life clothing. I wore my SLE Media
Group tag to interview both customers and designers of mesh inworld.
I met Luma Nurmi, a sprightly character with great fashion sense, to talk about
her opinions on using mesh clothing.
SLE: "Generally, what is your view on mesh vs. sculpty prim clothes?"
Luma Nurmi: "Mesh is improving."
mesh uploads over a year ago. As an apparent answer to their clothing woes,
especially female shoppers have made it a necessity for designers to change
over to mesh completely, or at least to open sections of mesh clothing in their
stores. However, despite its seemingly great benefits, mesh does not completely
solve all problems of traditional Second Life clothing. I wore my SLE Media
Group tag to interview both customers and designers of mesh inworld.
I met Luma Nurmi, a sprightly character with great fashion sense, to talk about
her opinions on using mesh clothing.
SLE: "Generally, what is your view on mesh vs. sculpty prim clothes?"
Luma Nurmi: "Mesh is improving."
SLE: "Would you take "mesh" over "physics", or vice versa?"
Luma Nurmi: "A combination would be awesome."
SLE: "I know you have mesh female appendages. What is your opinion on how
designers cope with those, when doing mesh clothes?"
Luma Nurmi: "I don?t know anyone who makes mesh dresses that would work with
mesh attachments."
SLE: "Interesting. How about furry appendages such as tails? And neko stuff?"
Luma Nurmi: "Furry items normally work ok, Right now I have neko ears and tail
on!"
SLE: "Anything else that comes to mind on mesh?"
Luma Nurmi: "A friend said " Mesh is doing away with individual shapes, since
the mesh clothing is all the same, with just size
variations." SLE:"Okay, thanks!"
Another encounter happened with Amber at Gizza Creations. "I love mesh!" she
said immediately when I asked her about her opinions on mesh. She said she
liked the realism of the textures and folds - mesh doesn't "look painted on" to
her. She also said that she was willing to pay a bit of extra for mesh in terms
of adjusting her shape to fit the mesh she wears. For Amber, it is important to
stay on top of fashion trends, and she thinks mesh designers "are more fashion
forward and keep up with real-life trends" although it is apparent that some
designers have a better reputation than others, in this respect. Her perception
about the traditional Second Life clothes design is that those designs are "out-
of-date".
I got an insightful male view on mesh from the DJ Graylon Ash, chatting with
him at his club, Crystal Rose Ballroom. In his opinion, mesh is a waste of
resources and just another ploy of Linden Lab to compensate for the declining
user statistics. He continued, “It's a clumsy addition as well, too many
limitations and poorly programmed”. He has little in his inventory as a result
of this perception. He echoed Luma’s comment about mesh tending to make avatars
have the same shapes. On other avatars, he has seen a lot of clothing that he
thinks is attractive. Graylon thinks mesh clothing is reasonably priced and for
instance short skirts and tops with cleavage look more realistic than with
traditional clothing designs.
I asked about his opinion on how mesh deals with avatar physics, to which he
replied, “very poorly”. He was not clear-cut about preferring one over the
other, physics or mesh, as he doesn’t really think physics is realistic,
either. It would depend on the outfit I think. In his opinion, designers
should combine features of both styles to create the best combinations.
Right now designers seem to be rushing out
designs that look too mundane and as
being cut from a cookie-cutter template.
being cut from a cookie-cutter template.
Taking these views with me, I met with SL clothes designer and store owner
Tyson Tomko together with his partner and designer Jyllie Tomko, at their
recently opened store, Censored Creations. They have only been doing this
for two weeks after acquiring some templates for mesh design. Their friends
encouraged Tyson and Jyllie to open Censored Creations after having seen
their first designs. Tyson likes mesh because of its ability to show higher
detail and quality, and he is really waiting for mesh to get to a new level
when flexi mesh becomes available. He described the mesh design process as
something that takes more time than the traditional style of designing clothes,
but that the results pay off the expended effort.
I asked Tyson and Jyllie about the customer perception of mesh making the
avatar shapes standardized. Jyllie said that it is more difficult to design for
bustier shapes, but that appliers can be implemented for mesh female
appendages. Their model Twiggy chimed in that the whole idea of standardized
shapes due to mesh forcing the avatars to adjust is a misconception. Tyson and
Jyllie explained that it is possible to resize decent mesh if it is not
rigged, to a certain extent, making it easier for avatars to retain their
original shape.
For the future of Censored Creations, the goal of Tyson and Jyllie is to go
outside the box, cater to a varied customer base, and even offer a service for
customers to commission design clothing work, for a fee.
A conclusion of my foray into the world of mesh design is that designers are
clearly catering to fulfill a customer need, to look amazing in SL. An added
degree of realism is possible, but with a price of requiring the avatars adjust
their shape to fit the mesh clothes they are wearing. The future seems to be
promising with the upcoming introduction of mesh designs that flex and can form
around the avatar shapes. In the meantime, what I need to do to hide the
imperfect mesh neckline is to use mesh hair.
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