OMG Shoes!

Ahoy hoy gang! So... yes, I have been a lil out of it for quite a few days. Catching glimpses of Don out and about have been few and far between. No I havent joined a Korean biker gang, though...now thinking about it Im wondering why I havent. Wait, maybe the not being Korean and not owning a bike has something to do with it...just maybe. - And no I havent gotten my dirty lil paws on a Nintendo Wii...God how I wish that were the case T^T. *laugh*

Ive actually been hard at work finishing my new running shoe and sitting and being tortured by it at the same time. I have finished my new shirt templates but have yet to truly finish new designs with them... I dont think my small kitty brain can quite handle too many things going on at the same time. For a while there during my social absence I was starting to feel really guilty about not releasing new items... but I think AFTER I put out these new shoes, all will be forgiven. :D




These shoes have seriously been a pain making AND texturing.Getting prims to do what I want has been a point of pure frustration at times during this project. Im still fairly new to building...and its scary when I come to a problem and I dont automatically know the right way to solve it, so horrible amounts of time are endured going through trial and error. Thats why I tend to stick to photoshop which I have years of experience in...its comfortable and I know where I am with it. Saying that however, finishing a project like this is alot more rewarding...through all the moaning, lapses of anger and at times even the feeling of defeat - when you do reach that other end there is this real sense of accomplishment, especially when its something your new with. And you think : "Holy shit! Did I make that?"




Texturing these shoes has also been a long process. When I originally textured these shoes they actually looked quite different. It had a material texture, but one I think you usually associate with those converse sneakers. When I finished the build, looking at it and realising I had to texture all 40+ prims I just sat there and went 'blegh!'(Yes, its a designer term) I really wasnt sure what I wanted to do. Arbers luckily was there to save me (thanks sis!) and put me right on track, she said that it would probably be nicer if I had a suede texture over them. I followed her advice and am much happier for it, they started to really resemble the kind of pumas I had in mind. True to form, I scratched and stained all my textures and branded them in my own 'GearShift' style.

It wasnt until I actually had to APPLY them that problems were starting to arise. Last night SL really had me smacking my head against the monitor. My girlfriend can testify to my crazed mental state last night...Im actually still twitching. My textures kept jumping randomly when I put them on...they would suddenly twist 90 degrees out of my control. And when you have many individual prims like I have, especially the small ones in my sole - it can REALLY REALLY become a tiresome chore fixing them all.

I still have a few things I need to texture on them, the bottom of the sole and I might re-texture a bit in some areas, nothing major though. I think it might be cool to have lil flexi laces swaying from either side. I think I might add that as something extra...we'll see. Oh and dont worry girls, I havent forgotten about you. I WILL have female versions of these. Now I know how the texturing of this build works with this first version... I can size up ones for your lil footsies and pump out a few in cute girly colour combos.

I still actually have to name these shoes... I havent actively thought about what that could be yet. But Im sure it will eventually hit me. Ive been toying in my mind about price... I have been thinking about selling these for 300L, do you guys think that might be too much? I could go for the usual 250L but... I think my shoes are a lil more detailed - Im really thinking about how much time Ive been spending on these. I dont think people would mind so much about paying for quality...lemme know what you guys think in a comment. :D

Okay pretty kitties, I'll leave you with that for now!

Don