Blurry edges on lipstick (attempting to make it for makeup/tattoo layer)

[harleyquinade]

Hiya,

 

So, I am a beginner at making, well, makeup pretty much.  I am attempting to make lipstick for the first time.  I usually go about making makeup and just saving it as a .png so I don't have to mess with the alpha layers and such in photoshop.

Well, it seems as if saving it as a .png is not the best choice.  I'm trying to get it so that the edges of the lipstick (around the mouth) are crisp looking.  Not so much blurred in.  Even if I can't seem to achieve that at the moment.  (ignore that line going down the middle of the mouth.  I was too lazy to fix that for that temp upload to take the picture to show you guys.

 

 

I understand that I will probably have to save makeup pretty much as a targa file and work with the alpha channels.  But, I'm kinda perplexed how to go about that.  I have watched a couple of youtube video tutorials on working with the alpha channels to get the transparency in general, but there is an area on the upper curve of the lips where it is semi transparent along that edge.  

Do you guys go about painting onto the actual head second life texture map itself, or, do you prefer to work on a model within photoshop cs5 and such?  I have photoshop cs6 at this time.   I'm not sure how to go about this very easily.

Any links to other threads answering this questions, or helpful suggestions and advice would be appreciated.  Thank you! 

 

[harleyquinade]

Anyone..?

[Knowl Paine]

I don't know.

I know that other people here, do know.

I'm wondering if you're asking for Trade Secrets, and that's why they are being shy.

Another possibility is timing. Which day in the week it is, can effect potential replies.

 

I rarely run on ultra, It is unlikely that I would even notice such minor imperfections. 

 

 

 

[Trinity Yazimoto]

well, i never tried to create make up for now.. but could it because of the size of your pshop file ? what is the size that you are using for your file and did you tried to raise it or lower it ?

sometimes it helps.

[madam Martian]

What size is the image  (  lips) you used and upload?

Is the image something you draw, cutted out or? and what size was it before you uploaded it,

its all about sizes...

Blessings
Lis

[Dilbert Dilweg]

Its all about resolution sizes and pixels per inch, The smaller the image and resolution . the larger the pixels will be, thus leaving blured or jagged edges. When making the images try using a higher resolution .

http://www.espressographics.com/text/imagesize.html

[Rhys Goode]

This is a good question, I hope some folks with experience can chime in.  

My (very possibly wrong) understanding is that clothing and tattoo layers both use 512x512 texturers in world. Even if you load a 1024x1024 or higher, then SL will convert them to 512x512 internally.  So a little blurring around the edges cannot be avoided.

Having said that , I sometimes see tattoos (or makeup layers) that seem awfully sharp.  Am I confused about limits on textrure resolution, or are there some tricks of the trade for dealing with the relatively coarse resolution?

 

[Madelaine McMasters]

Welcome to the forums, Harley:

I think there are two issues at play here...

1) Your original texture was created at a resolution of 512x512. I think that explains the jaggies along the edges, particularly if you drew the lipstick with a non-antialiased drawing tool. I use Chip Midnight's templates at 2048x2048 for all my skin work, then export at 1024x1024 for upload to SL. SL further squishes the texture to 512x512, but things generally look better because all my drawing/painting is done at very high resolution.

2) I think the lip peaks on either side of the philtrum are extra fuzzy because you've drawn slightly outside of the lipstick boundary and the face mesh is stretched beyond the lip boundary. The face template shows the outline of the lips, use that as the guide. If you are within the template boundaries, just erase a bit more of the peak to avoid getting lipstick over the edge.

Good luck!

 

[harleyquinade]

Thanks for the suggestions and advice!

I drew the basic lip shape myself, with a basic round brush...  I am not sure if there is another kind of brush I should use that would be anti-a-like.  

I eventually downloaded another tutorial, or, rather, I purchased a lip kit.  I draw the lip shape myself based on how it looks on my particular lips.  But I do experiment with different lip shapes and skins to see how compatable they look.  

I did get a bit of advice outside of this forum, and it seemed to have helped a ton!  

 

[Coby Foden]

---

Dilbert Dilweg wrote:

Its all about resolution sizes and pixels per inch, The smaller the image and resolution . the larger the pixels will be, thus leaving blured or jagged edges. When making the images try using a higher resolution and higher DPI. the default is probably set to 72. change it to 300 on a 1024 image. that should give you more pixels per inch,,,,

---

There is confusion about resolution and DPI even in some professional circles.

Just to clarify things about resolution and DPI, this is an exellent source of information:

http://www.rideau-info.com/photos/mythdpi.html

Shortly:

In SL only the resolution - the image sixe in pixels - matters, DPI has no relevance at all.

This is the truth and nothing but the truth. :matte-motes-nerdy: :smileywink:

[Bree Giffen]

Yes. DPI is for printing on paper. I believe the avatar texture maps for the head, upper and lower body are all limited to 512x512 pixels. I would definitely use an alpha channel to let the lipstick and the underlying skin blend together.