Clothing 101 - Tutorial Textbook by Robin Sojourner

Do you want to make clothing in SL, but you don't know where to start? Or are you already making it, but don't really understand what is meant by "UV Map?" This book by Robin Sojourner, based on the lectures she gives at Livingtree, is for you!

Robin starts at the beginning, with a simple explanation of the different types of clothing, and the difference between Clothing Layers and Prim Clothing.

Then she explains how to make clothing from the Appearance Menu, which is where it's always done.

This is followed by a clear explanation of the Mesh that we are all made of. When you're done reading this, you'll know what is meant by "vertices", "material" and "UV Map," as well as understanding a few of the pitfalls of the UV Map we have to deal with.

After that, you'll learn exactly how the Clothing Layers work; what covers what, which Material it uses, and how much of each thing is actually visible on the Avatar.

Next Robin shows how to use the UV Suit (included with the book) to design a simple shirt, from Sketch to Seam Testing, showing you what to look out for and how to fix things that don't work, along with several tricks to keep from spending time fixing what's not broken!

There's a quick run down of the "gotchas" that are part of the Avatar, and must simply be avoided, along with a "test suit" that lets you see this in action, on your own avatar.

Finally, there's a brief discussion of scaling patterns.

All told, it's 42 pages of information, with illustrations on every page. If you hesitate to buy books sight unseen, come to the Texture Library at Livingtree (113, 97, 25) and check out the book before you buy it. You can read the whole thing, and then decide.