The breadcrumbs at the top of the marketplace don't drill down as far as they used to anymore. It used to be that you could go all the way down to the figure to browse generally what is available. So I could spend time looking at M4 stuff or Tyler stuff without having to sift through a lot of other stuff. I understand that when you search, you can do that from the side bar, but we used to have the ability to browse with a bit more efficiency that is gone now. I almost everything else that has been improved though. And speaking from someone who's a bit older, I think the new larger looking screens in chrome are much easier on my eyes. 

I know how you feel. I spend some time today on another pair that I'm working on. Just a set of Birkenstocks. I've got the basic figure made, but I want to really spend some time on the Corrective morphs before I make them available. I tried to keep myself from trying to do anything too elaborate and just put down to get some normal stuff together like these Birkenstocks. They've got a ways to go but are coming out pretty good and consistent.

This time, the shoes are proper figures. I still have some work to do on JCMs, but what you see here is a pair of conforming Sandals for GND Anastasia.  I"m stoked!

I'm putting in the hours and learning a whole hell of a lot. This is something I never would have attemped even just a year ago. I'm actually learning by making a whole lot of mistakes, but there's now hope for Ana. I wanted to make sure they imported in correctly and tested out the material zones, which came out fine. At this stage they're grouped and UV'd but I'm not quite sure if I want to texture them fully in photoshop. These are just using a couple of of shaders that I had gathering dust.

As I look at it more, I probably will go into photoshop and at least put in the stitching. The modeling itself didn't really take all that much time. I'm actually spending more time with everything else like rigging, texturing and UVing than I am with modeling. I think once I get the process down, this will go a lot more smoothly.

Quote - Who's Ana?

 

I think he's referring to GND Anastasia.

Quote - I would LOVE to have the loafers! Am willing to pay.

I will be making this one available soon, either in the store or as a freebie. It's about 80% complete --there are some issues with a few bending positions that I'm in the process of correcting. And right now there are no UV maps for them --I put the materials together using only shaders. I may go back and add UVs, but I haven't decided on that yet. With this particular pair, the shoes are so plain they really weren't needed. 

I may do something like that after a while. I'm making a few different shoe models right now, because I want to have some ones to practice on/perfect. Each presents it's own challenges and I want to learn how to do it so that it becomes like second nature to me. Like right now I'm working on about five different sets of shoes for GND Anastasia, like a pair of tactical boots, tennis shoes, sandals wedges and a pair of flats. Once I have them all modelled, then I'll start looking at rigging each one, and then when I have them rigged to my satisfaction, I'll go on to materials. I'm not rushing to get to putting out models just yet, even as freebies because I'm just learning the process. When I'm confident that I have that part of the process down, then I'll put a couple out as freebies and see how well I did or didn't do. I'm anxious to get there, but the older me has convinced the younger impetuous me to get it down before you start dealing with the rest of it.

That picture I posted was my first pair and mostly it was a test to see if I could get it to work. It was more about building confidence as both a modeler and rigger. I picked shoes because you were only dealing with one part of the body and it made sense to start small and work up. I wouldn't have even attempted it without Fugazi's stuff and the tutorials from Darkedge Design. Now that I know I'm capable of doing it, I have to learn how to do it efficiently and with repeatable success. So I made different kinds so that I could learn to deal with the different issues of each type. I'm super hyped though :)

I empathize with most of the points people are making. I ran into that with the GND Anastasia figure which is one of my favorites. The only things that are available for her are stripper clothing. At least with Victoria 4, there are some other alternatives, but otherwise you're stuck waiting for someone to be bold enough step away from the trends. 

It's a circular argument. Vendors say they would make it if people would buy it and community members say they would buy it if someone would make it. I looked at it as an opportunity to illustrate my point rather than just trying to argue it. 

I got tired of waiting personally. It was difficult for me to step out of my comfort zone and try it, but sat down and really started to work towards making some more options. I don't want to step into arenas that are already well covered, but I am convinced that there's room for more variety and versatility. From my perspective, attractive footwear doesn't have to have six inch heels all the time. I built my first pair of shoes for her maybe a month ago. Initially, things are good, but I have to get a little bit of a better handle on weight maps vs matshperes before I'd consider myself an accomplished enough content creator to put them out there. 

Thanks a lot for the info. And thanks also for the welcome. I'll give that a try!