WIP: Male Androgyny: Sack of Potatoes, anyone?

[aquilegia]

Err.

It could be worse. It's not unrealistic, as such. I used my (still WIP) improved male fat morph as a guide so it wasn't nearly so... so. You know what I mean. But this is just not doing it for me as a fat morph for a very slender, lightly built man; it's not believably 'eats a lot and is a couch potato' for someone of that shape, it's 'been bedridden for months' and/or 'is on medication that causes weight gain'.

So, I have a workaround in mind, although it's very, very kludgy and involves deliberately mis-commenting the fat morph on tops to override the bottom morph. See, if you miscomment a morph--like, commenting a top 'botmorphs fatbot'--then that morph will change when the body state changes, but the comment will override the morph on the bottom.

Theoretically, anyhow. That's how it worked for HP's shirt mesh and the pregmorph. I'm hoping it will apply consistently so I can use that to force the regular morph bottoms when male androgyny tops get fat, so they can have appropriate couch potato pudge. Otherwise, the option is to make completely new bottoms, and I'm looking forward to that about as much as I would to a root canal. :|

ETA: I'm having One of Those Days where I can't stop nitpicking my work to death, thus rendering my opinions suspect, so here are some comparison pictures.





For additional reference, here's the Maxis fat mesh vs my improved version:




Thoughts?

Comments

[hat_plays_sims]

... D'you have a side view?

Because from the front, it looks a little like my brother-in-law's figure, and he's gone from 'active man with the kind of metabolism that could strip a cow in thirty seconds' to 'sedentary man with the kind of metabolism that could strip a cow in thirty seconds,' and mostly it's just given him a very distinct pot belly. Everything else is still skinny as fuck (and he can still eat a whole loaf of bread in one sitting. And does).

I realize 'androgynous' isn't the same as 'insane metabolism,' but it's sort of the frame of reference I have.

[aquilegia]

I can put one up, but it's honestly not much different from the improved fat morph one, just with less shoulders and chest. In other words, big gut and enormous love handles/back fat. I could deal with the gut--my husband is built like the normal morph (plus more shoulders) and is headed the pot belly route in about twenty years--but the rest? Eeeh.

[aquilegia]

I just uploaded some comparison pictures for feedback. I'm glad you asked, as after my second cup of coffee I realized I'm having one of those days where nothing looks right and I pick everything to death and I really need other people's opinions to go off of, definitely not my own.

[hat_plays_sims]

*peers at the pictures* Okay, first a disclaimer from a fat chick with fat parents, fat aunts and uncles, fat siblings, and one plump grandmother-- I dislike the Maxis fat morph for unusual reasons. To me, the chest, back, and belly look fine, but the arms and legs get skinny? wtf. Fat men very often have legs worth showing off, thanks Maxis, due to the workout you get from hauling the fat around and up and down stairs and whatnot. I shall point to Henry VIII as an example.

Onward to actual critique!

I actually think it looks okay, for the most part... I'm not sure what I think of the man-boobs-- I almost think you could skip them, since not every man develops them. You could try making the upper arms a little thicker, maybe, which might help the proportion, aaaaaaand... the thighs seem off to me, but I'm not sure how. Either they should be muscular-skinny all the way up, or the whole thigh should get heavier, not just the top. Most fat guys I know don't store their excess food energy in their hips and thighs unless they're fatter than your average fat morph, but perhaps in an androgynous body, that doesn't matter so much.

Basically, I think the gut looks fine, and if you want to tweak anything else, it should probably be non-gut-related areas.

[aquilegia]

Upper arms and moobs, check. I think I'll keep the moobs though, 'cause I think they're cute and they go with the whole androgyny thing.

The rest--everything at where the body curves in to the hips and below is Maxis, and thus their fault. *g* Thing is, I'm trying to avoid changing that so that the Maxis bodyshape bottoms will work with this one a la the female shape, thus making for vastly less work for me.

If I change the legs--which I don't disagree with you on, the sudden lack of any muscle tone makes the sim look like they've gained weight due to being bedridden--I'm changing all of it to be in line with how I think this body's fat morph should be. Which is more mildly pudgy and not gut-tastic, as the Maxis shape can be the gut-bearer. Then I will wail because I have twice as much work as before. :)

Although, heh. I will note that in Finland, fat guys do often have the big gut, still-narrow hips, chicken legs thing going on. So Maxis wasn't totally out of line with reality... sheerly by accident, I'm sure. :D

[hat_plays_sims]

Hey, upper arms would help! They'd help a lot. I do have to ask-- would changing the thighs on the nude mesh be that big a deal on this guy? I don't think any Maxis shorts meshes reveal the thighs (but I won't swear to it because I'm that rare bird that doesn't use separates), and anything like swimsuits are one-piece and would have to be meshed afresh(ish) anyway If you leave the calves skinny but maybe softened the bulge in the thigh over more of the leg, would EAxis pants still hang right?

Chicken legs on the fat guys wouldn't bug me as much if the skinny guys had 'em, too. How come the fat chicks get lush and curvy but the fat men get all noodle-y instead of properly portly? It's not fair. *sulks in the general direction of EAxis* Fat kings should still look imposing and prosperous, not sickly!

[aquilegia]

I do have to ask-- would changing the thighs on the nude mesh be that big a deal on this guy?

I just had that thought (Hours and two cups of coffee later, of course XD). I need to give a look at the bottom meshes I have to see how much I can bulk up the thighs (EAxis meshes mostly have lots of room, but I avoid the EAxis pants as much as possible), but it seems like it should be workable. I can also do that for the poor default mesh when I fix it...

How come the fat chicks get lush and curvy but the fat men get all noodle-y instead of properly portly? It's not fair.

My hypothesis is that whoever designed the male fat morph had to have had something against fat guys to have made them so dumpy and noodley.

[hat_plays_sims]

I wish you luck with the shorts, then! And with the default mesh, eventually.

You would think that a video game designer would be slightly more sympathetic toward fat guys, you really would.

[aquilegia]

*snrrrrk* Yeah, that's what I was thinking. XD

[oph3lia]

It's looking pretty good XD

Although personally I'd get rid of the love handles/back fat but I dunno if it would still work with all bottoms then.

[aquilegia]

Alas, that bit where the body flares out is the exact top of the bottom mesh, so it has to stay if I do the meshes the right way. :/