Vogue Winter Series Available

I'm so excited these skins are finally done. I actually finished them in December but experienced a bug while assembling the textures into skins in world that prevented me from saving them.  I'll explain that below for anyone interested.

For those NOT interested, I'll go ahead and post the photo of the makeup now.

This is a sort of eclectic collection.  Clockwise from top left:
Winter 1 - The requisite "winter makeup", with a dark, almost matte wine colored lipstick and a soft smoky eye.
Winter 2 - A sparkling iridescent eye with nude lip. If I'd given these real names this one would probably be called "Frost".
Winter 3 - A very "Fresh Face" heavy on the pink, as requested by Elika Tiramisu. (<3)
Winter 4 - Another dark and wintry lipstick, this time with more of a brown/burgundy color and satiny finish and a neutral eye.

These are available in all five regular Vogue skin tones. They're shown above in the "Pure" tone.

Since this finishes out the seasonal collection, I will be reissuing the spring and summer series as well.  The fall ones are still available on the floor.  I just have to figure out where to put them, but they should be back in the next few days.

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Now for the boring bug stuff!

I must first thank Elika again, not just for the inspiration for the pink makeup but also for figuring out how to save these!

I've been trying to save them religiously almost every day since I finished them in December.  For some reason, when I pressed "Save As" in appearance, nothing would happen. I've waited as long as an hour  for the save to "take" and it never did.  Oddly though, when I relogged, the skins I tried to save would be in the folder, but without the textures I applied to them.  This bug only affected skins. I was able to save all other articles of clothing without any problem. I could not save with my alt or on another computer either.

I cleared my cache obsessively and reinstalled the client but to no avail. Nothing would make these things save.  Until Elika casually suggested "Have you tried WindLight?"  And I hadn't! So I did and Voila! Saved like a charm on the first try.

This is a mixed blessing because while I am elated to finally be able to finish this set, I do NOT want to be forced to try and make any/all future skins in the horrific windlight lighting. Yes the sky and water are pretty, but so far I haven't come up with a setting that's anything remotely similar to what we have now. If anyone is aware of this bug or some other potential work around/fix (preferably a fix) please let me know!

Comments

[Elika]

*bows gracefully*
LOL! I'm so glad you finally got these released. Hopefully someone out there will know what kind of bug you have and have a fix for it.

[autumn hykova]

Wow, they are gorgeous! I was just wondering about this set last night actually!

Sorry to hear about the bug, why does it have to affect you and not all the people who are ripping skins and selling them? :(

[Starley]

Ha! Excellent question, autumn! I, too would love to know the answer to that one! =)

[Sai Pennell]

Omigosh, those are soooo pretty! I must go buy them! ^^

[Sofia]

These skins are gorgeous, Starley. Bravo :)

Not that I expected anything else - but they really look fantastic. I'm glad we're finally getting to see them. :D

[Lizbeth Saenz]

Yay for new skins! I'll be sure to make my way over as soon as I can and try them on(tho I'm sure they'll look fantastic as usual). Anyways, enough butt kissing. :P

I don't know if this helps any but Iris Ophelia posted a tutorial on how to get your avatar look bootyful with regular skins, tho I'm not sure everyone would follow those instructions. I think they'd just rather get a skin that looks good in windlight. Hopefully it at least gets you looking good. Heh.

http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2008/01/ophelias-gaze-s.html

[Annyka Bekkers]

Beautiful skins as always Starley!

I've had the same problem with the saving skin textures, though never as bad as you apparently have. Its usually just a couple out of a batch that won't let me save. Unfortunately, it still happens in Windlight, though not nearly as frequently as on the old viewer. One fix I've found works is to tp to another sim and back, and usually my failed skinsaves will appear. Another is to try to save from another base skin.

And as far as WL goes, I use the settings that Caliah Lyon came up with and I find they look really really good for skins.
http://secondsoigne.wordpress.com/2008/01/13/client-tips-and-windlight-viewer-18676886/

[Serendipity Nerd]

love them! ox!

[Ana Boogiewoogie]

I have a similar problem. But it only resides on my main account. I can't upload clothing without having jagged edges. I'll have to try using windlight, though! I never even thought of that!

<3 Love the skins!

[Roisin Hotaling]

They're beautiful, Starley. I can't go for these yet, as I'm a redhead and I need reddish eyebrows. My skin has long been one of the redhead skins from your Charmed line, but I'm in the market for a freckled redheaded version of something like these, with a redder, darker lipcolor than my neutral 1 selection. I hope something like that is in the works.

[Jaydei Benmergui]

Beautiful skins! :D

And as far as fixing SL for saving...have you tried doing a complete uninstall (including deleting any folders left over in the Program Files>Second Life folder, if you have a PC), and then reinstalling? Sometimes those little leftover settings/bugs in the folders can linger, and be a pain in the neck. At any rate, good luck, hope you can get it working right and bug-free (or at least, as bug-free as SL can get). :)

[QueenKellee Kuu]

Beautiful work as always, Starley :)

As for windlight settings to mimic your old setup, try unchecking "atmospheric shaders" in the graphics tab of your user preferences.(you have to click the "custom" checkbox to see the option). this basically gives you old viewer-esque lighting in windlight (and a performance boost).

[Starley]

Great suggestions all. I must get to bed but will comment more in the AM.

PS. Roisin, the eyebrows are tintable. ;)

[hethr]

YAY!!!!!!

[Willis]

YAY and ditto hatred about windlight!

Now... to try logging in to get.. FUN FUN!

<333

[Starley]

Ok, I'm awake!

To Jaydei:

I did delete the SL folders when I reinstalled. I was almost sure this was some kind of problem with my IP/ISP as it affected 2 accounts on three computers here (2 desktops & 1 laptop). Even after the uninstall/delete/reinstall and multiple cache clearings.

As for windlight, I did try Caliah's settings and I agree that they are very flattering for the avatar, but I still don't feel like they are a "true" lighting, if that makes any sense. I love that right now on the regular grid, everyone can set the sun to sunrise or sunset and see the same thing. Those settings also seem to be the closest to what I see in Photoshop. I fiddled a lot with the settings and no matter what I try, I get a yellow cast. It's not wholly unflattering, but I'd hate to adjust something then find out it's completely off in the regular viewer.

I think you can take some really beautiful photos in WL. My main concern with making skins there is knowing what they're going to look like back in the regular viewer, where I will continue to take ad pictures as long as possible. I always take them facing directly into sunrise light and do not post process them.

I haven't done anything with the "atmospheric shaders". I don't think I even saw that option. I spent the most time playing with the sky editor, so I will be sure to check that out, thank you for the tip, Kellee. I think I'll mess around with that this morning.

[Lizbeth Saenz]

Great tip Kellee! Starley, I actually tried out her tip and it worked. It got my avatar looking exactly as it does in the regular Second Life viewer. I use windlight now since the regular viewer went bezerk on me.

All you have to do in the graphics tab in the preferences, is slide down your bar to about Mid Quality and Performance and that should do it!

[Shannon Carroll]

Starley: I ran into this bug with a pair of eyes... I first tried making a brand new pair of eyes... and it worked perfectly. I don't know if you've tried this, and I realize it would mean rebuilding each skin tone's "base" file, possibly, but that solution *did* work for me. I was able to "save as" on the new set of eyes, but never the old set again. :\ YMMV.

[Tymmerie Thorne]

Thank you for bringing these out! For the next collection of Vogue makeups may I suggest the lovely Winter 3 with a smokier eye? I love the fresh faced look it has now - with a darker eye it will be perfect for summer nights!

Do you have anything special planned for the skin event next month?

[Tymmerie Thorne]

Would you please tell us when the past 2007 Spring and Summer skins will be available again? I have been checking the shop several times each day in hopes that I would see them. I am desperate to have them as I was "born" after they were issued originally.

[Autumn Hykova]

Have you put the spring and summer skins back out yet? I looked today and couldn't find them, but then I'm kinda slow. :) I CAN'T wait to get all the spring ones, then I will have them ALL. *evil laugh*

[Starley]

Yargh! Apparantly my email decided comment notification from typepad was spam. I didn't realize I had your comments backlogging until I logged in today to write a new post.

I guess I'll be moving my typepad account over to gmail. :\

Apologies to those of you waiting for the seasonal skins! I am going to have to do a fair amount of rearranging to get these all in and displayed the way I want them, so I'm holding off a little on that.

HOWEVER! All four seasons will be available at the skin fair that starts tomorrow. I know that may not be the perfect solution right now as I expect it to be pretty hard to get into (and probably laggy when you do). I would be happy to personally assist anyone who would like to try the demos or to place an order directly from me in the meantime. Just look me up and let me know what you need. :)

[Layne]

I know im really late on this one. I love these skins but it think the eye really does a lot for these. I have scanned your walls and cant seem to find it. any help?

[Starley]

The eyes in the photo are by Ambyance2 Anubis. I've had them for years though and I don't believe they are available anymore (judging by the success other people on the same quest have had, which is to say none.)

Any pale blue or green reflective eye would look very pretty, I know there are others out there. Sorry and good luck!