Painting onto the Second Life avatar in Photoshop

[Carmilaish]

Everytime i talk inworld (sl) about upload in 1024/1024 (my case r skins), they almost kill me O.o; PS: 512 or 1024.., tell me: btw do u know if 700/700 or any other size between the sl default 512 and the best resolution(?) 1024, can do any harm? Any prob doing 800/800 instead of 512/512 or 1024/1024? Must be necessary 1 of this 2 file size? U cant do a file size between those 2? o.o

[trance12]

@Carmilaish While I agree that large images placed on small items such as tiny prims, is a waste of resources, textures on larger surfaces often lose considerable resolution if the image is in any way complicated. For an avatar, smaller images WILL likely sacrifice resolution. You could upload in odd sizes, but SL will re-size them anyway if you do (thus again, sacrificing resolution). Stick with 256, 512 and 1024 proportions. Always do test uploads first and decide what looks best.

[Carmilaish]

@trance12 TY:) I always do temporary uploads (sometimes i even wear a skin for a month,temporary uploaded everydays,saving my 30L,O.o lol); I get t feeling (about skin) that, face can have a smaller image size than the rest of t av body images; i mean, 512 for t face, and 1024 for t upper and lower body, for instance; i will test that with more atention: But, watever, TYVM for your observations:)

[RaidenCage]

Awesome tutorial. But just out of curiosity, why did you have us load and group the baked textures too? We've never used them. Well you never did, on the video :)

[qisreenelton]

as a noob in clothes making..thank you so much for the video trance. Can you export this as mesh clothing to SL?

[MrsJD4Life]

Thank you so much for this..I been wanting to make mesh clothes for my shop and you have saved me *hugs*

[mmbjulien]

hi.i've been having a prob with the 3d models.when opening them photoshop asks me to rasterize the files or it won't open.i'm using cs5.is there a compatibility problem?

[trance12]

@mmbjulien Not that I'm aware of. I originally put them together in cs4 but I use them now just fine in cs5. It's possible perhaps ps isn't allocated enough memory usage? You can change the max mem (the recommended amount depends highly on your system capabilities) by going to edit > preferences > performance. Other than that, I have no other explanation.

[Slebari]

@mmbjulien Pssst, you should have two versions of photoshop on your computer if you check your menus. There's the norm and 64bit version. 64bit version doesn't even have 3d menu so it bitches about the rasterize, but try the other version and things should start working.

[BloodAppleKiss]

Awesome thank you so much for sharing this!!! ~AngelRED Couture

[z0mbi3nonii]

does this only work for windows? or mac as well?

[Assimilate71]

First time I've used CS5 for 3D (Usually use 3D Max) and I'm having a problem with rendering. If I paint a diagonal line on the chest of the upper body template, it renders distorted on the mesh. Same goes for painting directly on the mesh... it renders on the template distorted. Looked everywhere for the solution. Does it have to do with the baked overlay layer because that part of the tut is missing at 5:28? And if so... what is it all about? Great tutorial and tunes btw. Thanks.

[Assimilate71]

@Assimilate71 Ok, I'm getting there but still having probs. Everything works fine on your female model. Trying to reproduce it on the male model. I downloaded the male_baked_torso.tga and resized to 1024 to fit the male "material_top" texture map. Then I copied what you have on the female by creating an "overlay" layer in a new group above the torso/arm wireframe. The graphics are still distorted on the 3d male mesh! I know I'm missing some step that links the baked texture to the mesh... help?

[trance12]

@Assimilate71 Heya, sorry for the late reply. There is no step to link the baked overlay to the mesh when it's applied to the individual parts (material head, top or bottom). If you mean you want to use the overlay as a clipping mask, move the baked layer down your layer list until it's just one up above the layer you want to apply it to. Right click the bake layer and choose "create clipping mask"

[trance12]

@Assimilate71 If I understand correctly, you are attempting to create a straight line over a varied typography? The avatar isn't a flat 2D image, it has bumps and curves. The grid lines mark the avatar's typography. Any straight edge will appear distorted unless you follow the lines general curves of the model. I'd recommend using the pen tool to map out your points then stroke the path.

[Assimilate71]

@trance12 Thx Trance12. I think its the actual mapping co-ords on the male mesh vs fem mesh. I understand the principals of uv-uvw mapping thru Max but have never run a model thru CS5 until a few days ago. The fem model works fine - I can paint directly on her in 3d view or on the template and it looks just fine but, the male model is completely distorted. A straight line does not follow the mesh - it gets pulled all over the place. Thought it was my crappy gpu but its not bcause the fem works.

[trance12]

@Assimilate71 I encounter similar problems. My advice is to concentrate more on making it look smooth and natural on the 2D model then test upload it in-world. In-world it's not likely to look as lumpy. I suspect the shapes male avatars use in-world is too dissimilar from the mesh provided by the original source.

If you're familiar with max, you might search the 'net for the avatar .obj file and play around with that in max to to better customize the model to your liking.

[Assimilate71]

@trance12 Regardless... I'm a noob to SL and probly way ahead of myself. I'm just going to mess around on the fem model till I get the hang. I appreciate your reply tho and the links to your models - its really helped out - not easy finding info on this stuff. Much appreciated.

[genesismuse]

Thank you so much! I had no idea my copy of Photoshop even had this function.. I'd only ever used it for 2d stuff in the past! Massive time-saver, absolutely love this. <3

[brias13]

oh my gawd I love you!! <3

[ageshero]

Is that Doctor p!? lol



[trance12]

@ageshero lolwat?

[ageshero]

@trance12 another dubstep artist

[trance12]

@ageshero The artist's name and link is in the video description :)

[jessaboaz]

i cannot thank you enough. i was having a difficult time working with the 3D model, and this video answered every single question i had and gave me advice i hadn't thought of. thank you thank you!

[LFCbmx08]

Love dubstep. Nice choice

[jory67]

I'm about to find out but will this work with cs3? And... I always have issue, I am a picky buyer, go for beautiful detail but for some reason I can never match the highest detail in clothing I've seen. What's the trick? Is it graphics card related or is there something I'm doing wrong?

[trance12]

@jory67 I'm not 100% certain, but no I don't think it will work with CS3. I know for sure it will work with CS4 Extended and CS5 Extended. As for details in your creation, I really can't diagnose a problem without sufficient detail. It could be any number of issues, including the size/resolution and DPI, file type of your upload, etc., or even resolution loss on material bottom, due to the way the mesh was created (discussed in the follow-up video). Did you want to send/show me a sample?

[1Synsual]

I can't thank you enough for this video tutorial, and may I say you did an awesome job with it! Thank You thank you thank you!

[SevenStepsAway]

Thank you(: works like a charm. 

[audiomanz01]

yea that was the prob i had been using it but not registered yet and it reverted back to standard edition lol im bad for not registering my stuff :P

[audiomanz01]

Awsome tut been lookin for this for awhile....quick question anyone else get a rasterize option when opening if i click yes i loose the layers if i click cancel it wont load using cs5 32 and 64 bit !!

[trance12]

@audiomanz01 Someone contacted me in-world with the same problem. Make sure youre using the EXTENDED version of CS4 or CS5. The standard CS4 and CS5 versions cannot handle the 3D format, which I suspect (but not 100%) is the reason why it's forcing you to rasterize.

[punktiirkoolon]

good either

[punktiirkoolon]

god tutorial but annoying music

[trance12]

@punktiirkoolon Dubstep's not for everyone. Thanks for your comment :)

[MachiniMart]

This is an awesome tutorial. Did you know that if you shift-drag a group from one file to another, it aligns the layers perfectly?

[trance12]

@MachiniMart I knew dragging the group to the new file would move it there, but I didn't know about holding shift to auto align it. Thank you so much for that info! I'll stick that in an annotation :D

[yin7yang7wolf7]

I really want something like this for imvu ty so much!!!!

[UltiySL]

I figured it out ;) i wasn't using the 3d tools THanks it is a very helpful tutorial probably one of the best ones.

Thanks again.

[trance12]

@UltiySL \o/ glad you found it helpful :) I've just upgraded to cs5 extended, so for those wondering if the same steps apply for that version, indeed they do. As for an error when double-clicking the PSD to launch in photoshop, I have the same problem (problem with the library file, or maybe a backward compatibility problem?) but navigating to and opening the file from within photoshop, or dragging the PSD into the PS window seems to work for me.

Happy creating! :D

[UltiySL]

i only have one problem when i click the Files i get an Error but when i go to Ps and open from there it's not 3D. have any ideas for me? i have CS5 btw.

[chrishagen2008]

sweet thank you :) christopherj spore on sl :) ty again :)

[merj1976]

This tut, was so F,ing helpful,,ty for the link, u have no Idea how long Ive been searching for this specific info.. thanks again