# Tips and Tricks, post your's here! =3



## Tinge the Raccoon (Jul 24, 2008)

Hey guys, everyone likes a little help with their suits, and we all know a few little odds and ends that help us on our way.
If it's tips making your own,
Or what to look for when buying a new suit,
If it's links to good tutorials,
Or just tricks that you tried and didn't quite work,
Post em here!
Anything and everything to help out our fellow suiters.

I'll get the ball rolling:

1: When cutting fur fabric, try cutting it from the back of the fabric with a craft knife, so you're cutting the fabric but leaving the fur intact.
Less likely to trim that way =3
2: Try using transparent resin for realistic eyes. A smooth bowl for a mould should create a good lens if you're creating realistic expressions.

I'll post a few more once I see some replies ^_^
Come on guys, share your knowledge


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## E-mannor (Jul 24, 2008)

general, semi-common sence tips

1) make sure it breaths, a hot fursuit is not fun while dancing in a room with a hundred other people smelling your accumulated BO

2) make sure the head rotates enough to give you at least 180 degrees of frontal vision and you should be able to see the ground in a short distance in front of you no more than 5 feet of blind area, tripping is painful and embarasing.

3) keep the stitching thin and sewn down for comfort

4) make sure the hands can still allow you to pick up regular items, spilling soda, dropping pens and pencils is just annoying

good luck with your endevor


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## Boombox (Jul 24, 2008)

5) Watch out for hotglue

6) and razorblades


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## Uro (Jul 24, 2008)

Any tips on "follow-me" eyes?


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## E-mannor (Jul 24, 2008)

with eyes... that move... i can think rigging the eyes lenses to a ventrilloquist puppet sort of apperatus but that would be bulky in the head and would cut down on visibility...


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## Tinge the Raccoon (Jul 24, 2008)

I'd imagine with follow me eyes it's just a matter of getting a large enough pupil set just far back into the head enough to create the effect. Try messing about with pupil sizes and positions and see what effects you can get.


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## E-mannor (Jul 24, 2008)

use the mona lisa approach its in setting the eyes off the a direction and angling the head... its gona be really hard to do but possible


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## Uro (Jul 25, 2008)

As someone mentioned it seems a lot of people do it by setting the pupils back a little, kinda like a cup. But yea, guess I'll have to experiment a little. Maybe I'm expecting a little too much for my first suit :x


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## Tinge the Raccoon (Jul 25, 2008)

Uro said:


> As someone mentioned it seems a lot of people do it by setting the pupils back a little, kinda like a cup. But yea, guess I'll have to experiment a little. Maybe I'm expecting a little too much for my first suit :x


 
I'm sure everyone expects alot from thier first suit, heck I know I do ^_^;;
Best thing to do is try your best when making it, pick up as many tips and tricks as possible from different sites.
Try visiting fursuit designer sites for tutorials, such as Beetlecat, I know she has a fantastically informative tutorial page.
www.beetlecatoriginals.com I think.


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## Boombox (Jul 25, 2008)

matrices.net helped a lot with both of the partial suits I've made. 


Another tip: Be tidy! This will help a _ton _once you're finished (and just keep you organized in general), and hopefully you won't have to spend a full day cleaning up like I've been


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## Tinge the Raccoon (Jul 26, 2008)

Boombox said:


> matrices.net helped a lot with both of the partial suits I've made.
> 
> 
> Another tip: Be tidy! This will help a _ton _once you're finished (and just keep you organized in general), and hopefully you won't have to spend a full day cleaning up like I've been


 
Ah, been on that one, brillient for anyone looking for toony suits, as well as a great set of tutorials for making masks from plasic canvas material. Simple tutorials and very easy to understand.


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## E-mannor (Jul 26, 2008)

well if you want eyes that work to look at everyone, i see what you mean.

you need the "hollow face illusion" have a glass spherical eye lens but color the back with the eye detail and have it show through the other side it can make the effect demonstrated in this example... its not the same construction but the same idea.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7338400765555658225


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## Uro (Jul 27, 2008)

E-mannor said:


> well if you want eyes that work to look at everyone, i see what you mean.
> 
> you need the "hollow face illusion" have a glass spherical eye lens but color the back with the eye detail and have it show through the other side it can make the effect demonstrated in this example... its not the same construction but the same idea.
> 
> http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7338400765555658225



Thats pretty interesting. But with a glass sphere in the middle of your eyes, how are you supposed to see?


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## Nargle (Jul 27, 2008)

Oh, I know how you could see with those eyes. Maybe just make a semi-large pupil and leave it clear, and paint the rest white and whatever other color you want the iris to be. I'm sure it would be far back enough not to let too much light in, so it would appear to be black. They wouldn't have very good peripheral vision, though. Maybe you could have some small slits around the eyes, too, so you could have a few extra "windows" =3


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## E-mannor (Jul 27, 2008)

yea generally the inside corner of the eye can have some black mesh and give decent vision.


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## Uro (Jul 27, 2008)

E-mannor said:


> yea generally the inside corner of the eye can have some black mesh and give decent vision.



Yea, I think I have seen a few that are like that. Guess with a mask there really isn't any great way of getting around the vision problem. However glass eyes probably wont be used in the head I'm planning on making. 

Most likely going to go with setting the pupils in the back and using a black mesh on the pupil to see through.


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## TÃ¦farÃ³s (Jul 27, 2008)

Does anyone have tips for movable jaws? The "movable" part is rather easy, but I find it diffcult to line up the upper and lower jaws, getting them to close. I'm using plastic mesh by the way.


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## Tinge the Raccoon (Jul 28, 2008)

TÃ¦farÃ³s said:


> Does anyone have tips for movable jaws? The "movable" part is rather easy, but I find it diffcult to line up the upper and lower jaws, getting them to close. I'm using plastic mesh by the way.


 
I've heard hinging it just further back from the mouth and then adding elastic to the inside of the mouth works, and so long as you've got something hard for your chin to press against it should work fine.
As for the line up, are you making hard teeth for it? if so, why not design them in such a way as the two sets *clip* into each other, whenever you close the jaw set? If you get what I mean ^_^;;
Try this site, it's got a few very good plastic mesh mask tutorials.
http://www.matrices.net/fursuiting.asp


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## TÃ¦farÃ³s (Jul 28, 2008)

Oh thanks! I think I've got it figured out now. The lower jaw itself actually twists and bends to the point of being crooked when hinged, so I guess I have to realign the mesh and tighten the sewing. I've got a hard teeth set in the works and, yeah, I know what yer mean. And Matrices' site is great--I pretty much followed all of her tutorials.


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## Tinge the Raccoon (Jul 28, 2008)

TÃ¦farÃ³s said:


> Oh thanks! I think I've got it figured out now. The lower jaw itself actually twists and bends to the point of being crooked when hinged, so I guess I have to realign the mesh and tighten the sewing. I've got a hard teeth set in the works and, yeah, I know what yer mean. And Matrices' site is great--I pretty much followed all of her tutorials.


 
Glad if I helped ^_^
I was planning a plastic mesh mask, is it difficult?
I know it's easier to add a fan and it's lighter, but is it easier to construct?


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## TÃ¦farÃ³s (Jul 28, 2008)

I can't sew for beans, but assembling the mesh itself is _very_ simple to do. Simple enough to the point where it becomes relaxing and zen-like. (Well, for me at least.) I had to reapply the foam at first because the shapes would come out too large, but once you figure out how to sand and trim, this becomes enjoyable as well. I'd be making more heads if fur wasn't so expensive. X_X

I'll get pics of my first head eventually. Cameraless.


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## Tinge the Raccoon (Jul 28, 2008)

Can't wait to see ^_^


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