I got a tattoo in the normal template in photoshop, how do I get this tattoo be in only one arm? So

[SBdesignsStyle]

I want to be able to let the tattoo on one arm, how can I do?

[Madelaine McMasters]

Hi Style,

There is only one arm in the classic avatar texture map, and that's mirrored to make the other. So, you can't do a one-arm tattoo that way.

But you can cheat if the tattoo is small. Apply your tattoo texture to the outside of a cylinder, make the ends transparent, and then attach the cylinder to your upper arm or forearm. You'll want the tattoo to be much narrower (probably no more than 1/4th the texture width) than the full texture size so it doesn't wrap all the way around. It can go top to bottom in the texture, as you can adjust cylinder length to suit. You could also texture one face of a cube, and make all the other faces transparent. This will work fine if the tattoo is really small.

Size and position the cylinder/cube so that the tattoo image is barely above the avatar skin in the desired position, and follows the contour of the arm well. Cam away to normal viewing distance to make sure the tattoo doesn't vanish. Close inspection will reveal the tattoo is hovering above the skin but, from a distance, few will notice.

Good luck!

[ChinRey]

Unfortunately that is not possible. To make room for the entire upper body on a single texture, the developer of the Second Life avatar (none other than Eric Linden, I think) had to make a compromise, using the same UV mapping for both arms. There is at least one mesh body that uses a different UV mapping but most don't and I don't know if the one that does has a solution to that particular problem.