What needs to be in a figure's clothing Wardrobe?

[DanaTA]

Extremely talented guitarist. But...weird.

Dana

 

[HaiGan]

How are you defining 'essential'? Stuff that pretty much every person in real life would own and wear on a near-daily basis (or every historical everyday person, or fictional everyday person), stuff that magazines and the media would like you to think that every person (except those you actually know) owns and wears on a daily basis, stuff that will match with what generally gets packaged as 'essential' in various 3d model stores, or stuff that will sell to the widest possible number of people because everybody uses that sort of thing at some point? Some of those are likely to overlap, of course.

If a male figure came with (conforming) a pair of jeans, a t-shirt, a long-sleeved collared but open-neck shirt (or a polo shirt), a sweater, a pair of chunky sneakers, sports socks, smart pants, smart shoes, smart socks, shirt with tie and a smart jacket, generic medieval/fantasy knee-length boots, plain pants/hose, generic medieval/fantasy tunic and belt, easily-textured bodysuit with generic-superhero gloves, boots and hood/mask, that would cover most of my bases and allow for a lot of kitbashing and flexibility.

I prefer conforming for my basics; dynamics are great and are really the only way to do some things well but they do take longer to set up and work better for scenes with only one or two main figures.

For female essentials... I'll go away grumbling about the ingrained cultural bias in the way that women are portrayed regardless of what women are actually like. You're trying to sell stuff. If real-female-people clothes for 3d models sold well, there'd be more out there.

 

[Miss B]

I never really considered myself a Prince fan, so don't recall ever seeing him wearing one of those.

 

[Rowan54]

I never could see the point in a skirt that I couldn't sit down in without everyone seeing my undies. I usually wore them knee length. These days I wear pants.

 

[DanaTA]

Pants seem to have taken over the office. Not that I'm in an office anymore. Well, this is my office. I even have my name placard on my chair.

Dana

 

[Ken1171]

This is why I have included a longer and a shorter skirt with my "Office Lady" for Dawn. However, most outfits out there will have short skirts because that [apparently] sells more. That has been a sort of "tradition" in this market from the very beginning. There is this trend where many want their characters to look sexy, and vendors just supply the demand. Like it was said above, I guess it's just a matter of what sells more.

 

[HaiGan]

Pants seem to have taken over the office. Not that I'm in an office anymore. Well, this is my office. I even have my name placard on my chair.

Dana

I can genuinely count a swimming costume as work clothes.

 

[DanaTA]

Are you a lifeguard?

Dana

 

[Rowan54]

I can genuinely count a swimming costume as work clothes.

And some of us count pajamas and bathrobe as work clothes. At least for the computer work. (No, I'm not going to post photos.)

 

[HaiGan]

Are you a lifeguard?

Close. Swimming teacher.

 

[DanaTA]

Close. Swimming teacher.

I never learned. Too late, now. Not much of a beach person, anyway.

Dana

 

[Satira Capriccio]

Swim lessons were part of our PE classes when we were in grade school. For one or two weeks each year, our PE classes would be transported to the public swimming pool. So ... I "learned" to swim. But, while I'm great at floating and dog paddling, and I know the basics of doing some of the strokes, I could never stick my face in water and open my eyes.

Swim lessons weren't my favorite PE activity, but it was better than gymnastics or track or even golf! Fencing and archery weren't too horribly bad, but my favorite PE activity would have been sitting under a tree reading a book. After all, if golf and archery are a legitimate exercise, then why not reading? Well yeah, golfing does involve walking (unless you use a golf cart), and so does archery when you have to walk out to the target to collect your arrows. But, page turning exercises your fingers and eyes!

 

[Ken1171]

My dad threw me in the pool when I was 6, and boom, I was swimming out of instinct. Of course, it was a shallow pool for children, but I was doggy swimming nonetheless. Looks like all mammals instinctively know how to swim from birth, but the issue with humans is to tame the fear of water. There is a possibility that people drown not because they don't know how to swim, but instead because they panic. In a similar way, people can die on dry land by being stomped over in a crowd panic - not because they don't know how to run, but because they panic. So it could be that people who have trouble learning how to swim could actually be just afraid of water. Food for thought?

 

[Rowan54]

Actually, swimming was my favorite school PE activity. That's because one eye is 20-20 and the other 20-40. I could neither catch nor throw. Or hit things with sticks. However, I was unafraid of water and coordinated to manage it. I actually learned to swim, including getting the card saying I was allowed in the deep end of the pool because I'd managed the requisite number of laps back and forth. I'm not a good swimmer, really, due to problems with ears when I get head under water, but I do manage the deep end, a few laps and to tread water.

 

[HaiGan]

Now we've hijacked the thread; but I've taught a lot of people to swim over the years, maybe a thousand, including people with a fear of water and people with negative buoyancy (most people, if they aren't wearing heavy clothing and if they do nothing at all, will float). If people want to chat about swimming we can make another thread?

 

[Hornet3d]

I think a lot of what each artist would regard as essential depends on the use you have for the figure, as I am into sci-fi at least one sci-fi outfit would be a requirement. I have a couple for dawn so I am lucky there. Coming back to everyday, I guess jeans would be a good start for both male and female, a shirt/blouse and underwear would be a must if the skirts have to be that short. Jumpers, shoes, boots and a jacket would be in the mix. A hat might be useful, probably more so for the guy as it can be fairly basic. That said a female can look far more stylish in the flat cap than most guys can.

 

[Hornet3d]

Now we've hijacked the thread; but I've taught a lot of people to swim over the years, maybe a thousand, including people with a fear of water and people with negative buoyancy (most people, if they aren't wearing heavy clothing and if they do nothing at all, will float). If people want to chat about swimming we can make another thread?

I am one of those rare people that has negative bouncy. Years ago I was in Iceland working with a colleague and we visited the Blue Lagoon, which has a high salt/mineral content as the water it is pumped from some depth, he assured me I could not have negative buoyancy in such water. I tried to float but promptly sank, much to my colleagues amazement I might add.

 

[eclark1894]

I actually don't consider a swim suit or bikini to be an essential clothing item, but it is one that almost every vendor makes sooner or later, so... why not?

 

[eclark1894]

I actually don't consider a swim suit or bikini to be an essential clothing item, but it is one that almost every vendor makes sooner or later, so... why not? I will add a pair of footwear to the list though. I didn't specify what kind, but that would depend on what you plan on having your figure doing. A paair of sneakers if it's casual, or a pair of dress shoes if he's stepping out. Boots, if it's specialized or work.

 

[DanaTA]

Swim lessons were part of our PE classes when we were in grade school. For one or two weeks each year, our PE classes would be transported to the public swimming pool. So ... I "learned" to swim. But, while I'm great at floating and dog paddling, and I know the basics of doing some of the strokes, I could never stick my face in water and open my eyes.

I can't bring myself to do that, either, except on rare occassions when I have to wash something out of my eye. But it's really difficult. My eye will blink just as an eye drop is about to hit. That can be costly.

Dana