New: City Steps Sneakers @ SOREAL
January 24th, 2008 at 03:00pm Daman Tenk
When I visited SOREAL in the past days, I already got a sneak peak at the upcoming sneaker design. I remember I was quite impressed at first sight already, even if they were still not finished. Now that they’ve been released I’m even more impressed.
The sneakers share both characteristics that already made me fall in love with the jackets and sunglasses. The first is the exquisite use of sculpted prims to make the shape look as realistic as possible. The second is the scripting that’s been added to make the sneakers as easy to use as is possible.
The basic pairs contain one script, the simple resize script you’ll find in every prim used in SOREAL designs. The shoes are no-modify so you can’t resize them in edit mode. Instead they pop up a menu when you click on them that allows you to resize them by 1, 5 or 10 %, up or down. To make it even easier you get two pairs, one pre-set for a standard man, the other pre-set for a standard woman.
You can also buy the extended pair, which you could compare to fatpacks in other stores. This pair includes a HUD which allows you to switch the texture on the shoes on the fly, and lets you use all of the 13 colours (of which 1 bonus colour that isn’t sold separately). I personally prefer this way of working, since it means your inventory isn’t cluttered by 13 pairs of shoes. However, they’re copy enabled. So even if you do prefer to have each pair separately saved, you could still do so by setting the colour on one pair, then copying it to a new folder.
The HUD used for the colouring is designed in the same style as the jacket’s HUD. No cheap, ugly, square looking buttons for SOREAL. This HUD fits snugly in the upper right corner of your screen, and comes with two buttons. The first pops up a colour choosing menu, the second pops up the help notecard, just in case you can’t figure out how the shoes work. And if you still don’t like the HUD, you can detach it once your changes are made. All changes are saved whether the HUD is active or not.
The textures share the love of detail which is visible in the shoe shape. The fabric changes just as the colour changes, but each of them has a realistic look. The Iguana colour (bright green) for example has a slightly glossier look on top, creating at least in my mind an impression of reptilian leather, while the standard black and white look more like regular fabrics.
For 395 L$ you can get a pair of sneakers in one colour in a men’s and women’s size, for 695 L$ you can get a pre-set pack of 3 colours and for 2395 L$ you can get the extended pair which includes the HUD and all 13 patterns. Compared to other shoes in Second Life these prices are very reasonable, and if you take note of the quality in this work it becomes even more impressive.
Before I finish though, I should mention with one negative point. There is no demo version available to test the shoes out. There are however two rezzed shoes being showcased near the vendor if you want a peek at them before deciding. If you’re one of those people that never buys without having tried a demo however, this could be a problem.
You can reach the store through this SLUrl.
Disclosure: Seen in World: Yes | Review Copy: Yes | Friends List: No
Notes: On Daman: "Cosimo Belted Jeans" by Ginny Talamasca (Moderno).
Entry Filed under: Casual, New Items, SOREAL, Shoes, Sportswear
9 Comments Add your own
1. Atreiyu Thorne | January 25th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
I love these shoes
I have the shades 2 of the jackets
Soreal is some of the coolest clothing i have seen in all of Second Life
2. Maddox Woodhen | January 25th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
These city step sneakers are so freakin awesome.. The jackets too so as the sunglasses. I agree to that too Atreiyu.
3. Blink Pinion | January 26th, 2008 at 8:06 am
These shoes are fantastic! Kwamey Pinion, my long lost distant cousin, (hehehe) is the quintessential SL fashion designer. I consider shoes as an accessory to my wardrobe and these complete every casual and business casual outfit I own. Thanks to Mr. Pinion for his contribution to Second Life Fashion.
4. Daman Tenk | January 27th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
I got a comment from someone that the proportion of width/length of these shoes is different than average in SL (though IMO that’s more because the average in SL is off than to do with this shoe itself).
A result of this is however that if you have an avatar with smaller feet, if you make the length fit, your ankles cut through. And if you make the width fit, the length is bigger than normal .. the person in question called it “clown shoes”. Though I can guarantee you on Daman I had no such clipping ankles.
I refuse to change my reviews after publishing (unless someone points out a typo or actual error), but I’ll be posting more pictures of Daman’s feet in and out of these shoes later on. Just have to decide where to post and I have to have the time to take the pictures.
Personally I never had the problem since size 0 feet remind me of those tortured Chinese women from 100 years ago who had their feet tied into a knot all their lives … but I guess you’re warned now if you have tiny feet that you’ll have to make these a bit bigger than you’re used to.
5. Cloud Galbraith | January 29th, 2008 at 6:41 am
I love the design details and the color selection is on point, although somehow I got different color combination than I thought I selected… probably due to “user” error on my part, lol!
For me, it’s always about the shoes (I know I’ve got issues) but I’m very much interested in seeing more footwear from Kwamey Pinion.
6. Oscar Page | January 30th, 2008 at 11:33 am
@ Cloud: I almost had the same problem. The vendor tends to switch over to the next item very quickly, so you could end up with the incorrect set of 3. It flipped just before I was moving my cursor to pay it, but I caught it just in time and flipped it back.
I really like these shoes a lot. I got the black/blue/yellow set.
I like the jackets too, but I haven’t found “the one” that I have to buy. I saw a Brooklyn one up on the store ads, but not actually in the vendor. That tends to frustrate an individual because if you see it up on an ad, you would think that it would be available to purchase. I’ve come across the same thing elsewhere with a striped hoodie at Armidi Limited. I was told that hoodie was going to be in the next release, but that was back in early December/late November. That promotional mannequin has been up in Armidi Limited since the sim opened.
7. DREVON | January 31st, 2008 at 8:59 pm
Salut
Super tes pompes
BYE
8. jerom | February 1st, 2008 at 5:14 am
hey, j’ai pas trouver mieux en pompes - Bravo et continu
a+
9. Daman Tenk | February 3rd, 2008 at 3:14 pm
The shoes have been updated. If you bought them in the past, and didn’t get an updated version from Kwamey yet, contact the store directors.
The updated version is broader around the ankles, so if you had a problem with those before, that should be fixed now.
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