How do I make a skin from a TGA file?

[Zapphoria]

So I was going to buy a skin template and practice making skins, but its a TGA file.

How do you edit a TGA file to personalize the skin? Im confused.

[Rolig Loon]

I'm sure that the product comes with some sort of information in a notecard to guide you in customization.  In general, though, TGA is one of four image formats that you may upload into SL (the others are PNG, JPG, and BMT).  If you have a TGA file that you can edit, your Photoshop or GIMP program can handle it.

[Lindal Kidd]

A skin IS a bitmap graphic file!  Well, actually, it's three files.  One for the head, one for the upper body, and one for the lower body.

You load the files into a paint program like Photoshop or GIMP to edit them.  Save them out in a format that you can upload to SL, such as .PNG, .TGA, or .BMP.  Upload the files, paying the $L10 per file upload fee.

Then go into Appearance mode.  Select Edit Outfit.  Click the Wrench icon by your skin item, and then point the texture chooser to the textures you uploaded.  Save the result as a skin with a new name.