Wearing your templates

It took me a little while to cotton onto this particular tip:

Save your templates as Targa files (.tga) and upload them into Second Life, to be worn as shirts, pants, skirts, etc. It's essential for some tasks (for example, seeing where detailing and shading should start and stop on a garment), helpful for others (checking where fronts and backs match up, getting seams right.) The templates are incredibly helpful on their own for this sort of work, but it wasn't until I tried to place wrinkles on a pair of jeans the I realized how useful it would be to wear the template!

How I make a basic shirt.

This is the procedure I used to make my first basic shirt in the Gimp. Not knowing that I could use the psd files in the Gimp, I used Robin Sojourner's jpegs for my templates; there are also templates available from Chip Midnight.

• Open the upper body template, 512x512 resolution. We're not too concerned about fiddly little details, so 512 is fine. If we wanted more detail, we would pump the texture up to 1024 or 2048 or something larger, then resize the image just before saving to import into Second Life.
  
• Save the file under a new name, eg Shirt.xcf. This is so that we don't accidently blitz the original template file.
• Create a new layer over the top of the template layer. I usually default to a transparent layer, but in this instance, it's not too important.
• Using the Bucket Fill tool, fill the new layer with the color you want your shirt to be.
• 

Reduce the opacity of the new layer, so that you can sufficiently see the template behind it.

• Now it's time to cut away the pieces of the new layer to create the neckline, and to determine the sleeve length. Using the Path tool, select the area to be cut away; next, alter this path to create the curves you require.

• Select "Create selection from path" and press ctrl-x to cut that section away.
• Repeat for the rear of the neckline and both sleeves. It's important to delineate the cut here rather than leaving it until you get into the Appearance editor in Second Life - you will get a crisper line this way.
• Remember to turn off the template layer and move the opacity back up before you make your final save for the purposes of uploading to Second Life!
  

• Save the file as a Targa file, eg Shirt.tga. Uncheck both the options before saving.

• You are now ready to upload the file to Second Life!!
• Choose File->Upload image (L$10)
  
• Browse to the location of your tga file and select it. You may want to have this file somewhere very easy to browse to - while I have no trouble, I know people who have a time limit within which they must make their selection, or the upload fails.
• In your inventory, right click on a folder to go to New Clothes->New Shirt and select.
• Right click and wear the shirt.
• Right click on yourself and go into Appearance mode.
• Under Clothes select Shirt.
• In your inventory, find the texture you uploaded (the result of Upload Image). Drag this texture from your inventory over to the Fabric selection box for the shirt.
• Remember to save what you have done before you close the Appearance window!
• You are technically done at this point, unless you find that the front and back parts of the garment are not matched up properly, or something like that. Otherwise, you are finished!
  

Making a basic shirt in the Gimp

Natalia Zelmanov has covered this so well that for now I'm not going to write my own entry, but just link to hers :) Oh, and to this. And this too, for good measure.

Tiling textures to make larger pieces of "cloth"

I'm finding that when I search for existing textures online to work with, often their image size will be too tiny to work with, and the texture itself will look too large. However, only a little fiddling allows you to manipulate your source into "cloth" of the right size.

• Get a sample of the texture you want to work with.
• Select Filters->Map->Make seamless.
• Select Filters->Map->Tile...... This will bring up a dialog enabling you to make a new file with the texture tiled inside it. Choosing the size of the tiled image determines how many repeats of the original texture you will get, and therefore the final look of the tiled texture. You may need to repeat this step several times to get the right size of texture.
• If necessary, reduce the image size to create the right size of "cloth" to work with over your templates; most important in you are working across templates to achieve your final look.
  

Making a button - Tateru's way

How to make a button for a piece of clothing; it didn't quite work out the way I had anticipated, but was acceptable nonetheless. I want to work on this process. These instructions are for the Gimp specifically.

• Make a new canvas, about 60x60 pixels.
  

• Use the "Select elliptical regions" tool. Hold down shift as you create the shape to make a perfect circle.
• Fill the area with the color of your button. Don't banish the selection yet.
• Shrink the selection by 5 pixels or so.
  
• Create a new layer and select it.
  
• Fill this area with white.
  
• Run a Gaussian blur, RLE.
  
• Turn down the opacity on this layer. You have now created the flash of light on the button.

This is an example of a black button. It looks much better inworld :)



This website has information on how to create 3D web buttons; I think I'll try that next and see what I can come up with to create more convincing buttons.

Really flat prisms

• Rez a sphere, and set the dimple B=0.950.
• Change the shape to a cube.
• Set Z=0.010.

You now have an extremely flat prim with a square end to work with.

Especially good for creating plants, fur, and other irregular 3D shapes:

• Rez a flat prim.
• Shift-drag to copy; when you do this, the copy is left in place, while the original is moved away.
  
• Ctrl-z to move the original back into the same space as the copy.
  
• Select either prim and rotate about any axis.
• Do this a couple of times and you will see the illusion of a 3D object start to appear.
  

Micro-blogging

This is a place for tiny posts about how to do technical things in Second Life: clothing creation, building, scripting. Mostly for my on reference, but hopefully others will make use of it too.