My favorite designer and friend, Inga Wind is getting into mesh. Although, as she freely notes, she's a texture artist and not a 3D expert so all her mesh ventures so far are template based. I got to sample a few of her new outfits today and, while there are a few small glitches here and there, overall the results are excellent. Patsy (at right) is simply adorable with the overall top folded down and the straps hanging off to the sides. Even the sneaks are awesome! And OMG, check out the detail. Click on the photo to see it full size. I think you'll be amazed!One caution with mesh outfits -- if the other person doesn't have a mesh-enabled viewer, they may either see a goofy looking ball attached to you and/or you looking a little naked. :P
For the rest of the outfits, I'll just use Inga's own pacakage shots since I can't really do any better at showing them off (click on them to see the shot full sized). Beatrice in Black is a long slit-skirt cocktail dress that looks more like its "poured" onto your body vs. painted on like conventional SL clothing. Really a Hollywood glam effect if you ask me. Quite nice. On the right is Jill, a simple flirty black dress tinged with red on the bottom. Looks very Katy Perry-ish. :D
Next up is Meryl. The textures on this cocktail dress are fantabulous. From the gathers that pull the bodice into the large waistband (or tummy band lol) to the subtle lacy effect on the bottom of the skirt, Meryl is really a one of a kind. Please note that I had to mess with my shape a little to avoid some of the skin poking out. Inga has since updated the alpha for this outfit so now you shouldn't have to do much, if anything. And finally, bottom right is Jodie -- an eye-catching summery outfit with a really nice balloon effect in the skirt.
Which brings me to a point. Mesh outfits rely on alpha textures to make certain parts of your body go "invisible" so the mesh outfit can "take over" displaying that part of you instead. Sometimes, the alphas are not perfect AND extreme body shapes can distort the mesh and the alpha to the point where nothing looks right. This is one reason mesh clothing often comes in several sizes. Inga's are no exception. Meryl comes in 5 sizes I believe -- it's up to you to find the one that most closely follows your body contours without looking too big or too pinched. And don't be too afraid of modding your shape a little to fit someone's (not just Inga's) mesh creation. Back when all we had were system skirts and those "Flexified" Barbie type prim dresses, I used to have three shapes with different butt sizes just to make the outfit look "right".
Here's the SLURL to Inga's store: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Pitreavie/195/249/375
Please give things time to rez there as the sim can be quite busy. Oh and Inga's group members get huge discounts on all her new outfits -- in most cases, about 30 - 40% off. So it pays to join.
