My judgement is impaired so you get spam.

[hat_plays_sims]

You know you're tired when you're flipping back and forth between your Fit previews and your Fat previews going "Skinny... fat. Skinny... fat. Hee, lookit 'em switch."

Oh my god I need to take non-body-shop photos. Of something. Or, you know, everything.

All 996 front-laced kirtle recolors are done, and my brain has gone off the rails trying to focus enough to make swatches and shit. So here are some things I have learned while working on a project to make nearly a thousand files take up the space of about eighty-five:

1. Good Thinking: 'When I finish this batch, I can have a piece of chocolate.' Stupid Thinking: 'I have to finish this batch before I can go pee.'

2. I am never using bust shading again everything looks so much more Medieval without it.

3. Choice of music while going through nine-hundred-plus files and slaving them is very important. The best thing I've got to stay awake past bedtime and not make glaring stupid mistakes is the Katamari Damacy soundtrack. Downside: I really want to roll things up and make stars now. (Legend of Zelda music makes me nod off. Things I can easily sing along with make me second-guess myself-- "Wait, was I so distracted by singing I screwed up? *goes to check, got everything right, wasted time*")

Oh my god it's six-thirty in the morning and I need to buy cat food and toilet paper today. Why am I awake.

Comments

[heget]

I have done the first thing a lot. And the #1.

As for music- especially when doing hairs I tend to put two or three songs on repeat. Usually pop or favorite artist. Hence something like 2/5 of my hairs have a Florence + the Machine or Mumford & Sons lyric name. And I found listening to the Game of Thrones soundtrack when doing the latest bunch of objects helped. 'Course, it showed...



So I might be recreating your men's Du Lac tunics on my own tunic meshes because I actually dislike the robin hood meshes (I dare!) but that way the bycockets still match.

And now I have to decide do I go ahead and do my own hand at making a bunch of Burgundian gowns and various kirtles and the under kirtles...
I took my 'smocked shifts' (http://www.medievalsims.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=44405#p44405) and edited them for Amaryll's summer dress (that empire waist one) as step one of Burgundian gowns. (If you noticed from my massive 18th Century sets, I feel compelled to make outfits for each stage of dressing. If an outfit has layers, I have to have each addition of a garment as a new outfit- in all the colors.) So do I save myself some madness....

Wait, this is heget. I'm planning out brand new meshes for 'tudor' and 'Italian Ren' groups because I have to have things exactly how I want them...

[hat_plays_sims]

Dear self: logging in to Plumb Bob Keep as hat_plays_sims will never work because you are Almighty Hat there. Ffffff *facepalm*

I do have plans to make proper High Middle Ages men's Cotehardies using the Du Lac color combinations on one of your Shorttunic meshes-- I haven't decided which one and I keep hoping morphs and age conversions will turn up before I get started so I can get the whole job done in one big marathon. ... Because apparently I like marathons. So if that'll save you some madness...

I keep thinking I ought to use the Sim Ages dress for some Burgundian gowns now that Cynnix has done TF and Athletic Girl conversions. It's got a good shape for that style, and it's pretty much the only thing that really goes with the Burgundian hennins I did. ... I just wish I liked the style more. Still, it's in the High Middle Ages, and that's where I seem to stick as far as what I think of when I think 'Medieval.' (High Middle Ages France, actually, so it's all crispinettes and steeple hennins and poulaines and chausses and smooth sleeves, and we'll leave the trousers and apron dresses for the semi-civilized Northmen.)

But I hear you on the layers-- I might do some short-sleeved kirtles as bottoms in Silvain's style... but I have to do tied versions of my ZoeJ shifts, first.

[heget]

I have morphs and teen versions now. Of all but the one with the Mio romeo sleevs because I didn't send that one off. Also, Self-Note: Make more varions on sleeves and find boots.

Oh- that Sim Age mesh. Yep- I asked for an edit without the bit of sleeve at the wrist as part of my layers of everything all the dresses goals.

I'm terrible in that not only do I have your shifts in all the colors but shifts based of kalynn's simple designs and then those smocked shifts (which, okay, wide neckline instead of deep keyhole but hey I think both are safe- and the smocking is probably not for shifts but I wanted something for visual detail) in 20 shades for each age (except toddler. Did 90 of those. On the mesh w/ shoes because I didn't have the mesh with barefeet. Now I do. And I'm crying on the inside...) And then decided- hey, wrist-length and baggy is okay, but let's take exact same 20 textures and do this mesh. And since these are now 3/4 length, I need to pick another mesh for short sleeve shifts. And whee!- those aren't placards as much as they're sleeve-less kirtles over the shifts- so we know what that means...

In short, my Sims will have fabulous choices of undergarments by the time I'm done. Not much else...


I'm not the fondest of the Burgundian gowns either (and I don't care for steeple henins)- but it's a good place for me to get my feet wet before moving on to Italian Renaissance. And fantasy! elf! Tudor. (Though my strongest fashion knowledge is rococo, and after making the massive sets I did for it, i'll have to train myself not to contaminate my 'medieval' with all the late baroque.)

[hat_plays_sims]

Morphs! And teenagers! If you manage a CM I'll be able to do cotehardies for everybody. (Even if it's a little posh to put a growing boy in a cotehardie. He'd just be in a cote, with plenty of room to grow into it. But Sims can have impeccable tailoring all the time.) Are you looking for boot inspiration or boot meshes? Cos I can do inspiration.

Yep, that Sim Ages mesh. And *pets* Layers and layers. I need to get on more underthings for my Sims, but I also need to jump back into the chausserie-- I want to do them in my 82 go-to colors, so that the menfolk's underwear can match their casual clothes properly, so that's 82 chausses each for Maxis CM-EM, Androgyny TM-EM and TF-EF, and the FR chausses as bottoms, and Cynnix's RGv2 kid because hopefully there'll be fat men someday, and I need to check and see if Jacci ever got to the RNR nude blockfoot mesh, and it's a good thing everything but the kids shares mapping, in't it? Because I smell another massive repository set. And I need to recolor those FR tunics since they're all-ages now. And I've got a hojillion baby things to make because DID YOU KNOW WE CAN DO THAT NOW? Non-default baby clothes!

I actually like steeple hennins more than truncated hennins, and I have no idea why. Maybe I just like pointy things. I would trade many things for ANY kind of hennin with a properly-draped veil, but then I'd also cheerfully donate a firstborn (mine or someone else's) for a cloak/mantle mesh with some joints to it. I know ALL clipping can't be avoided, but it'd be nice to have something that didn't swing around the Sim like a bell around a clapper. Because THAT's proper Medieval winterwear, a cloak and a separate hood and a pair of gloves.

My strongest period is Victorian, myself, but I've never liked the Victorian look on Sims (and believe me, I tried back in TS1 days). Medieval has taken some research, but I like research, so that's okay. I think it's harder doing what you're doing-- different periods for different types of Sims. ... Not that I'm not doing that, myself, but I'm doing High Middle Ages France-ish for my main 'hood, then the Three Lakes locals get to be Vikings, Twikkii Island is Castaway Stories all over the place, Takemizu is... well, honestly, a lot of my hairs are Chinese while a lot of my clothes are Japanese and I only feel a little guilty about that, and Downtown is where I'll really pour on the fantasy-- it's my B-movie Overforest, with vampires and werewolves and fantasy gypsies and plantsims and whatnot. Luckily-ish, this means I only have to clothe my Sims for the main 'hood and my Norse ladies myself.

[heget]

Victorian is the era I skip over. Far more fascinated by the Romantic right before it, or Regency, or Rococo. And my interest picks up again at World War I.

Warning: heget talks about her 'hood plans.

Oh geez- my main hood is two things- the Ainur as fantasy! Rococo (I say fantasy because the clothing isn't 110% percent accurate. But I finally have most of those guys outfitted- especially now that G-Knee did LBB and missing teen or adult morphs) The majority of the hood, however, are my city elves, and I decided something like early Tudor with a lot of fantasy editing away of things like giant ruffs and codpieces (I love baroque clothing if it weren't for the cartwheel ruffs). And since I don't like the meshes we have now- they're useable, but not pretty, I have grandiquose plans about making the mesh shapes I want for them.

Downtown is Beleriand- the elves native to there are a few interconnected kingdoms- the big overarching one is my Italian Renaissance, dressing the queen like she was Venetian crica early 1500s. The northern lords' daughters get Cranach gowns, I've figured out my universe equavilent to the Swiss Guard's victory in 1477 that starts the slashing garment trend, and I can sneak in the late medieval. And since some of the "Tudor" elves immigrate to the "Italian Ren" elves- not to mention full-scale war for a few hundred years downsizing everything, I'll blend the two and even progress chronologically backwards.
Humans are sort of funny- because they enter the scene in a few tribal groups (need to be a little distinction between them)- some very very poor, and all at a Bronze to Iron Age level. And then sponsored by these blended elf groups, so I can bump them up cultural and tech wise. But still, even they're leaders will never get more than 'peasant or wealthy townfolk' stuff. Group one are definitely "Highland Scots" flavor added, so they get tartans. Group two are blonde land-locked vikings/Anglo-Saxons (proto-Rohirrim)- so all the Norse clothing people make are perfect. Group three.... .... wood-dwelling and poorer. Yeah. Part of me really wants to see if any distinctive elements from Central Eurpoean Iron Age. Or just be group one, minus the tartan prints. And the fourth group of humans are cultural distinct from the first three - the easterlings- so Magyar/Huns/Mongols, and I can break out the yurts.

Other sub 'hood is the Middle-earth of Lord of teh Rings, so better visuals there- though I do want more middle/high medieval and less pure fantasy for the clothing of at least Gondor. Or maybe they're Byzantine.

It's my Far East Vacation hood that is crazy-cakes. Numenor is this unholy fermentation of Ancient Minoan, Egyptian, that late medieval and early tudor influence, the imperialism of later Europe, and some odd-ball (for the period) hair. Plus it's the far east 'hood, so all the 'Japanese'.

Dwarves are getting more and more Persian and Arabic the longer I grab things. Yeah.


Oh, for a nice short cape or mantle acessory! Heck, even those AC hoods without the beak. Also why I did those faux-shawl recolors with the swing sleeve mesh.

So excited for the baby clothes! Though with already the 90 toddler outfits I'm worried about how much more of that age I know I'll be making and downloading from you. ^^

And yes to chausse in all de colours.



You are lucky you have no idea how ready I am to zip up the meshes, the shading templates I have so far for each length/shoe, send to you and say "pwease". At least I have the nightshirts for AM and TM done-ish and uploaded.


...

I am not a good person to have around to advocate sanity and restraint.

[hat_plays_sims]

Dollhouses got me into Victoriana. See, you can find ANYTHING AT ALL for a Victorian dollhouse, where modern minitures tend to lag about twenty years behind the actual modern world (like how people don't just whip out their smartphones to google the answers to stuff in movies; writers and miniaturists aren't re-creating the world around them but the world as they remember it). When I was eleven or so, my parents got me a dollhouse kit. I painted it, put it together, wallpapered it, and set about diligintly furnishing it-- and the stuff I could find was either a black plastic "cast iron" stove that looked PERFECT with all the little detail... or a modern-ish stove made out of blond wood that had a vague effort at gas burners on a white-painted top. Opting for toys that looked GOOD instead of stupid, my house went Victorian.

And since you could buy porcelain dollhouse doll kits for cheap, but dressed dollhouse dolls cost and arm and a leg and are generally glued into their clothes, when I learned to sew it was by figuring out how to scale down American Girl patterns to fit my little three- and four-inch-high dollhouse dolls. Which led eventually to things like this (I know, not Victorian, but one of my favorite patterns) and this and this and this. (Forgive the grainy photos. Old sold dolls and a four-megapixel camera.)

So Victorian, I know, because Victorian sells... but I admit every time I make a Regency lady, she sells at the very first show.

I'll admit the Simming world could use more good Tudor meshes. Besides, the ruffs weren't universally popular-- an accessory ruff would work much better than one stuck to a clothing mesh, and then let you use that clothing mesh for court clothes with ruff or hunting clothes without ruff as needed.

I actually have to argue myself OUT of Italian Renaissance clothing-- in France and England, Early Italian Renaissance is the Late Middle Ages, so it's fair game... but it's also at least a hundred years later than the style I particularly want.

I can't help you on Highlanders or tartans, and I'm not sure of the look of your wood-dewlling Iron Age folk, but! I do have proper Viking apron dresses AND accessory treasure necklaces for Child-Elder, Maxis and Athletic Girl, on my to-do list. I need to find where I put my research, though, so I can say 'these are accurate as to extant known dye colors, and THESE I just thought were really pretty.'

Unfortunately, my sub-hoods are nowhere near that creative! My Far East and Island hoods are... pretty much as Maxis intended, except less technological and with home-made townies. I'm proud of the IDEA for Three Lakes Vikings, but I need to build some lots for them like mad. Downtown is the place where I let myself throw historical accuracy out the window completely; most of my townies are in Sherahbim's gypsy clothes, and I keep telling myself if a nobleman gets bitten by a vampire, he can try to overthrow the vampire prince, rule Downtown with an iron fang, and end up named the Viceroy of whatever translation of Over-Forest I use that doesn't sound too Discworld.

There's a second Assassin's Creed hood by Daislia, done for Ezio instead of Altair, that I would give my eye teeth to have as an all-ages accessory; it's open at the bottom so it MIGHT be wearable with some hairs, but it doesn't come all the way down to the shoulders and on teenagers it REALLY floats. Really there are a lot of things I'd give my eye teeth for, so it's a good thing I can barter hair recolors or something instead.

Toddlers never have enough clothes. The incoming toddler kirtles are fairly simple in terms of coloring, though; I intend to do something fancier later, plus something I can label Du Lac with a straight face. (I just can't put toddlers in a cotehardie with all the snug gathers at the side. It doesn't look comfy enough.)

Do it. C'mon. If they've got morphs and one recolor, I can dig through my collection of Sherahbim textures and stretch and skew and tear those apart to do full-on textures. I WANT more High Middle Ages menswear; all the good meshes out there are late Early Period (Robin Hood), generalized-acceptable (Tig's alpha tunic), Late Period (Mio's Romeo), FantasyRogue's tunics and chausses (not so good for formal or winterwear), or full armor. If you make good meshes, I will recolor them. A lot. A LOT.

[heget]

*rubbs hands evilly* ...*no, really. I physically rubbed my hands together like a B-Movie villian*...*again*

I love that second hood more that the first. And actually not that fond of the shoulder action. On the acessory front, I'd love to cobble together some of the various scarf meshes- ones with joint assignments- and make a weird mantle thingie from it. I figure that would work in the game mechanics better than a real cloak. And when one of the characters has the name "Greycloak" because that's what the king is famous for.... eek.


You can see the toddler outfits in the newest rocking critter previews. I figure now that I have a SF-version of that mesh I either need to learn if possible to texture ref. the 90 or just pick which ones are barefoot sleeping clothes. Probably the 20 white, yellowed, & old-and-busted.


I try to make good meshes. And pester the good mesh makers for morphs and age conversions. :P What I'd really love are more half-armor meshes.
And accessory mesh ruffs...good idea. Now I want to pull the Medici collar off the court-dress mesh and go to town.

Someday soon I'll have working models of my Numenorean fashion. In its own weird way the mixture ends up quite Victorian.


I like when you post your doll pictures. ^^ I also noticed that about doll house minis.


(One of my 'trade you anything for's is a pet opossum for the Sims. I explain-sort of- in a hair dump why. Still, I really can't justify it for my elven 'hood.)

[hat_plays_sims]

I've got three cloak meshes here handily uploaded for anyone who might want to take a look at bone assignments. I'm not keen on the shape of the TNW cloak, but none of them are BAD. But a scarf that could be turned into the cowl of a hood would also rock my socks. (Sure, it wouldnt fit all the bodyshapes I love, but those aren't even all DONE yet so no worries.)

There are GREAT meshes out there-- just not very many for men in the High Middle Ages. Partly because the earliest tunic meshes were all based on the kilt, so they have a weird belt, weirder legs, and waffle-stomper shoes.

Doesn't Lord of the Rings owe more in terms of style to Art Noueveau than the Middle Ages? That might explain why things look a bit Victorian.

[heget]

Actually I was referring to the weird Numenor- the layered flouncy skirt I took from the Minoeans turned very 1800s. And don't let me start on some of the costume choices of the LotR movies...

That kilt mesh = Kill It With Fire. Forget the weird belt or awful shoes, the skirt.