editing textures on the Goth jacket

[artist4life]

the goth jacket i got when i became a 2nd life member is great, but i would like to change its texture ... but since it has a sewing type pattern if i try to change the texture, it just becomees a regular piece of clothing, with out any pattern. can anyone tell me how i could edit this pattern in a graphics program... (in other words where do i find the jackets pattern (texture) on my hard drive?? thanks -artist4life

[Rolig Loon]

If you don't have a full perm copy of the texture in your inventory, then you can't export it to your hard drive to make any modifications.  You would need to have either made the texture yourself or bought it with full permissions.  Making a copy of a texture that you do not own is a violation of the TOS and DCMA, so I don't recommend it.

If you do own the full perm texture, however, all you need to do is open it in world and select File >> Save Texture As ... to export it to your computer.  Then you can use Photoshop or GIMP or whatever.

[artist4life]

funny... thats like me getting some cloths at a thrift store, and them telling me i can't die my jacket.... but thanks very much for such a quick response. I am finding that second life is more about what you can't do then what you can do, which considering its potential leaves me feeling extremly frustrated most of the time! thanks bruce

[Rolig Loon]

Oh, you can dye your jacket, or replace its fabric with any other fabric that you own (as long as you have mod permission on the jacket itself, which you apparently do). You just can't copy the existing texture unless you have permission from the artist who created it.  It's not a SL restriction.  It's a legal restriction in almost every country.  Intellectual property.

[artist4life]

ok ... so i am not explaining myself very well.... i would simply like to alter the color and the texture on the jacket... currently the jacket is black, and i would like to make it someother color, and if possible, change the texture on the jacket.... this is the male goth jacket that everyone gets when they join second life thanks bruc

[artist4life]

sorry i forgot you said fabric.... facric and color is what i want to change! can't you tell me how to do that thanks bruce

[artist4life]

except i don't even know if i have any fabrics... i am to new at this.... so on the shirt i could could put textures or pictures on it, and then change its color.... can i do that to the jacket ok this is driving me crazy so i have to stop for now thanks for any help -bruce

[Rolig Loon]

Ah, OK.  I see what you want to do. You still can't do it, but let me show you why.

Put the jacket on and then go into Appearance mode.  Select the tab that says "Jacket".  You'll see a display that has three square windows on the left side and a series of windows on the right that have sliders for changing various properties of the jacket. The windows on the left are labelled Upper Fabric, Lower Fabric, and Color. Those two fabric displays are not just thumbnail pictures of the fabric; they are also pattern pieces cut to the shape of the jacket.  If you had that pattern in your inventory -- you don't, because LL doesn't supply it -- then you could download it, modify it, and replace what's there. You could also drop any other pattern in there, if you had one.  Making those patterns -- a clothing texture -- is what creative artists in SL do.  If you're interested in learning, take a look at some of the excellent tutorials HERE.

You can change the color of the jacket in a limited way. Try clicking on that square window labeled "Color." That will open the color picker, from which you can chose some other hue. In this case, your choices are severely limited because the base texture is black although the applied color is white. Try changing to something strong like red, though. You'll see that it does have some effect.

I'd suggest that you look in world for freebie clothes and try doing this same experiment on them. So long as the clothes can be modified, like this jacket, you can play with the color as much as you like.  You'll have best luck if your work with white or pale-colored clothes, obviously.

Good luck.  I know this was a frustrating start, but if you have an artistic mind, you can have fun doing this sort of creative work.

[artist4life]

Well thank you for your help... i am very creative, and i guess that's half my problem... i seriously don't like limitations.... but that is ok... i won't mess with it any more... but i will try other stuff... the problem is you don't knwo how hard some things are gonna be tell you try. :-) i did find a free really cool hat with gears on it and stuff... ilove that! thanks again! bruce