Trying to make photoshop cutouts for vendors but my snapshots have pixellation issues

[IndigoBlue Dagostino]

I have been using photoshop for years on my mac, recently upgraded to cs6 and was hoping to start using cutouts for my Second Life vendors rather than flat graphics on a prim, but I'm running into problems with pixellation.

This is my process:
First I design my clothing texture in photoshop cs6.
1024 x 1024
merge
sharpen
size down to 512
interpolate for reduced size (bicubic sharper)
Save as png
upload into SL.

Then I need to wear the outfit in SL in order to take a snapshot which I will then make a cutout from back in photoshop (at least I'm assuming that's what people do when they put clothes on hangers?), so:

Wear the outfit in SL.
Max graphics
anistropic ticked
(can't antialiase in imprudence unfortunately)
Wear facelight
choose a windlight setting from the list.
choose high res snapshot
capture colours
take a snapshot
Save as lossless pg.
I've tried all sorts of sizes with the snapshot but if I go higher than 5000 width then I crash or get wierd sizings, so currently I'm sticking to roughly 2000 width x 1293 height.

I then open the snapshot in photoshop and use the pen tool to make my cutter around the outfit, deleting the body and background, so that just the outfit is left with my hanger on it's own layer.
But no matter what the settings, (or the viewer, I've tried firestorm and the SL Beta Viewer too) I just can't seem to keep the quality as high as I'd like. If you look at these two samples, my graphic is pretty poor in contrast to Maitreya's crystal clear example (I hope it's ok to use them as an example).

Could it be that they are not using photoshop to make their graphics and cutouts? Is there more I can do to up the quality of pixels? I'm sure I must be missing something.

I'm on a 2 x 3.2ghz quad-cored intel mac with 2gb 800mhz ddr2 fb-dimm - NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT (new graphics card has been ordered).

Any help greatly appreciated.

[Kwakkelde Kwak]

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IndigoBlue Dagostino wrote:

 

(can't antialiase in imprudence unfortunately)

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Your screen resolution is higher than needed for a sharp picture, so that (the quote) could be your issue. Just use another viewer that does allow anti-aliasing to make sure.

Also I would never use the pen tool, use a brush instead, that will give smoother results.

 I think your original PS file looks very pixelated in some places to begin with btw.

[Madelaine McMasters]

Hi IndigoBlue,

Make sure you've disabled texture compression in your viewer ( I think that's in the advanced graphics tab of preferences).

The Maitreya outfit you show appears to be mesh, or has a prim neckline. Either of those would provide much higher pixel density in that area than the clothing layer, where your dress is located. A spaghetti strap on a clothing layer would be only a few pixels wide, whereas a mesh strap could be hundreds of pixels wide. So, some of the pixelation you see may be unavoidable. Look at SL bikinis, which often have more detail in the bodice than dresses, you'll see a lot of pixelation in the tops, particularly in the area of your metallic piping near the armpits.

Hi-Res snapshots make it easier to cut out a thing, but won't affect the resolution of the clothing texture. I usually use the polygonal lasso to cut things loose, as it leaves a smoother edge than any of the automatic tools. You may also get better results if you wear a monotone skin. For your particular example, wearing an all black skin might give you a better looking cutout.

[IndigoBlue Dagostino]

Hi there,

my display is 1920 x 1200, so what do you think my snapshot size should be?

I just tried again using Firestorm with x16 antialiasing but no remarkable difference.

I use the pen tool because I can draw points as I go, can you do that with the brush tool?

Yes the silver areas do look a little pixelly, but it's supposed to represent a silver texture..or did you mean some other aspect?

Thanks for your response.

[IndigoBlue Dagostino]

Hi Madelaine,

re: texture compression, do you think that is 'compress image' in the advanced section? If so that's already unticked. Will try the same in Firestorm shortly.

Yes of course you are right about the areas of pixellation.

I've never used the polygonal lassoo, will give that a go, and yes again you are right about wearing the all black skin will try that too.
Many thanks.

[Kwakkelde Kwak]

Ok, so we can rule out AA.

The resolution should be fine, it's far bigger than the endresult.

I ment the area where the waistband meets the blue fabric, it's far more pixelated than any other part of the cutout.

The problem with drawing a line to cut out your template is you either keep or delete a pixel. With a brush it's not so harsh. You can kind of draw lines with the brush (or really eraser with a soft brush) by holding down the shift key between clicks.

If what you see on screen in SL is better looking than the snapshot, simply make a screenshot with the Prt Scr key. I doubt it will give better results, but it's not impossible I guess.

[IndigoBlue Dagostino]

`the area just below the waistband is supposed to be blurry to represent a sheen effect but I was more worried about the jewells above it to be honest.

Having heard all the input here, I think its probably unfair to compare both outfits as the one on the left is mostly primwork whereas mine is texture work. Also I may reconsider in future using photoshop jewell graphics from high res jewell pics as I think perhaps the quality just can't be held.

I will also try both the brush as you suggest Kwakkele, and the lassoo tool as suggested above…and I wonder if my new ram and graphics card might help too when it arrives next week.

Here's hoping, thanks for the comments and if anyone else wants to chip in, please feel free ;-)