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OOPS!

Perusing the feeds tonight I find that I have inadvertently featured a template item in the last few days :D. Since I took an anti template stance several months ago and have not changed my mind much, the mention was only because I hadn't seen the template in use. Whoever uses a new template first of course "seems" original. Don'tcha love it?

I'm not going to point out the item in question. It doesn't really matter. My APPLAUSE however goes to the template designer and not the person (actually more than one I see from other posts) who pasted the fabric in a layer and called it theirs.

That's the news this eve. I try to stand behind my posts. Sometimes "retractions" are a part of that.



Comments

Ona said…
My hats off to you and your 'anti-template' ideal. I've been making clothing in SL for a year or so now, and got so frustrated when I would see these brand new designers coming out with clothing that looked so much more PROFESSIONAL than mine. I couldn't figure out how people would be a week old in SL and have these fantastically textured items. He told me that he knew a number of people who used templates for their clothing and ever since I've felt a bit jaded by that. Unfortunately most shoppers in SL aim to buy what looks good, with no concern for how it was made. I, myself, choose to never use a template as I see it as cheating. Almost anyone can hack out a base for a shirt, but the real talent is in the shading and highlighting of the piece. If I know they just slap a purchased template onto it..well..not very artistic, I don't think. My 2 cents anyway.
Anonymous said…
While your opinion is, of course, your own, I fail to see the difference between clothing designers who paste textures onto templates and shoe, jewlery, etc designers who paste textures onto purchased sculpts.
Anonymous said…
I agree with number 2. Nobody is forcing anyone into purchasing these items made with templates. If the buyer likes them, what's the big deal? They are not hurting anyone and they are not stealing.
I've seen so many bloggers take this anti template stance yet they fail so many times to recognise them and end up featuring items made with templates so often, and why? because they like them and the item looks good.....nothing wrong with that :)
If the template designers wanted that much credit for their own work then they would be selling clothing made with those instead of selling their templates to anyone who wants them.
Chic Aeon said…
Hey there Anon -

I have thought about your comments on shoes and jewelry and the like. Actually I have thought about those things before reading your comment :D.

I can't speak authoritatively on shoes as I have no idea what is involved in some of the shoe making. I can say that when I see the very same tennis shoes over and over again in different colors (and sometimes textures that don't fit) I am not impressed :D.

I CAN speak somewhat knowledgeably on the jewelry process. A single bangle is a single bangle more or less -- no mater whether made from a sculpt or from a torus, a row of pearls is a row of pearls whether or not nanoprims are used. It is how the jeweler puts them together that makes the difference. A slightly complex necklace or set of earrings can take me several hours to make using a variety of traditional building shapes or nanoprims. For me, it is the process that is part of my definition of the term "created by". I can whip out a simple bangle in a few clicks. I don't impress myself with those -- sculpties or no.

I have seen dozens of jeans off of the same templates. Many of the designers only change the logo on the back. Some tint the fabric, some add a decal or two. Even I could "make" a pair of jeans this way in a very few clicks of a graphics program. To me, that is not being creative. There is little skill involved.

I have seen occasions when a designer has made so many changes to the template that it does become something "original"; unfortunately these are very rare.

Jewelry that is simply a bead rez generated chain with a single sculpty attached is not all that creative, I agree. Luckily I don't see a lot of those :D.

So I guess, for me it isn't the product per se, it is the wide spread use -- and what comes into my personal virtual world.
Anonymous said…
I guess my thought on that would be that if you like something, you like something. Manipulating templates into your own creation can be just as time consuming as starting from scratch. I personally know several creators that havent yet mastered starting from scratch, but still have their own eye, their own perspective. If someone repeatedly just colors a template, I agree, that's not exactly original. But what about those designers that use them to aid in their development? Those that combine them, and reform them, and create orignals from those templates? Just because someone hasnt (or hasnt yet) mastered a skill, does that mean their eye and vision is any less? As for shoe sculpts, there are just as many shoe packs on xstreet as there are templates. All shoe designers do is recolor, sometimes add a pirm or two, and yet they arent subject to this anti-template ban. I know of several shoe designers who BUY their sculpts as well. Isnt that the same? They start with a bought base the same way clothing designer who use templates do. I guess my point is that it shouldnt necessarily be a ban on all templates, but rather a ban on store owners who think recoloring is designing. There are so many great designers who DO use templates...they use them to help create their vision.

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