BOM Alphas in 2021 & how to use and create them (also a quick how-to on Maitreya save sticks).

[Orwar]

   There occasionally crops up some questions regarding alphas, and whilst there already are plenty of resources around the forum and various blogs, I thought it might be prudent to make an up-to-date introduction covering both alpha layers for BOM as well as how to use alpha HUDs for mesh bodies (as well as the Maitreya save stick). Now, this is primarily targeted towards new players, or old returning players, or just anyone who hasn't yet gotten into how these things work - so I will be as exhaustively detailed as I can, whilst also trying my best to avoid rambling much too much (as if that's going to work out for me!).

   Disclaimer: I'm not a tech wiz, nor am I omniscient - I don't expect the first post to answer every conceivable question, nor can I swear by my mother's grave that there will be absolutely no errors (as of writing this, she's still alive, anyway!). 

   For starters, a short glossary for some of the terms pertinent to the topic:

• Alpha - an alpha generally refers to alpha layers, which are layers that turn parts of your avatar transparent; the term however applies to all forms of transparency in textures, and is used outside of SL as well. As far as avatars are concerned, it's generally used to hide parts of your body that are covered by other body parts or apparel, to avoid 'clipping'.
• Clipping - when two objects intersect with each other so that they cut through each other. This frequently occurs when an avatar moves, if the skin beneath close-fitting apparel is visible.
• BOM - short for 'Bakes On Mesh'; this is a feature that was introduced a while back now, that allows mesh bodies to use 'system layers'. The implications of this feature are a few too many to include here, but I will talk a little bit about the practical differences between using BOM and not using BOM further on.
• Applier - before BOM was introduced, textures were applied to mesh bodies through appliers; again, I shan't go into too much details of the technical stuff, but in short, you click a button on a HUD, and a script will tell your mesh body to change its texture. This is still used for apparel (and occasionally furniture and such) when changing colours of various parts via a HUD.
• HUD - short for 'Heads Up Display'; essentially just a menu object which you attach to your screen, rather than on your avatar, to serve as a user interface.

   BOM vs. applier?

   This is a subject which already has a multitude of threads on its own, and I'm not going to divulge too much into it here, or tell you what you should use - in the end, it's your individual choice which can be based on a variety of factors. Since appliers has been around for a fairly long time, and has been the only means of putting skins and makeup on mesh bodies and heads up until the introduction of BOM, a lot of people still use their applier skins as they don't want to find a new skin, or because they don't want to get into learning how to use BOM. However, I do want to talk about the practical difference between using the two, as they are indeed very different.

   With BOM, your skin and makeup is found in your inventory in the form of system layers that you wear (or more frequently, 'add') to your avatar.

   With appliers, your skin is applied through a HUD - you don't 'physically' have the skin on your avatar or in your inventory, it's loaded through the textures' UUID (universally unique identifier - think of it as a unique number given to things uploaded into Second Life, a bit like an individual's social security number).

   So what does this mean, as far as alphas are concerned?

   When you're using an applier for your mesh body or head, you'll need an alpha to hide your 'system avatar' - you may notice sometimes when people are loading in that you see weird-looking avatars, that's because you always have a system avatar that tends to be loaded before your mesh attachments (and why you must always wear a shape, a system skin, system eyes, and a system hair - sometimes called 'hair base' or 'brow shaper' - that avatar is hidden rather than actually replaced by your mesh body or head). Thus, you must wear an alpha to hide that avatar, so that you'll only see the mesh body and head you have. The alphas thus do not hide your mesh, as the alpha is used to hide that system avatar - instead, you'll have to use your mesh body's built-in alpha functions, which are brand-specific and generally found in the body's HUD.

   If you're using BOM, your mesh body automatically hides the system avatar, allowing you to use the alpha layers for the skin of the mesh body instead.

   And why does this matter?

   Because whilst most bodies already have a high amount of parts that can be hidden through their HUDs, there are limitations, especially when designing close-fitting apparel. There are also a fair bit of work involved with using the HUDs; whilst many clothes do come with auto-hider scripts, that will tell your body which parts to hide when you wear something, that's A) not always the case, and B) prone to failing, especially whilst in laggy places or when the service performance is compromised. Comparatively, adding an alpha layer made for any given piece of apparel is really easy and essentially fool proof, as well as gives the designer a lot more freedom when designing the cut of their apparel. 

   And whilst not all creators include alpha layers for their apparel, especially that which was made before BOM was introduced, you can often find alphas that will work from other places (a lot of alpha packs with large varieties of alphas can be found cheap or even free), or even make your own very easily.

   Using system alphas

   As with so many other things, you're only 'intended' to wear one thing per layer - by default, double-clicking a skin, tattoo, or alpha will 'wear' it to your avatar, replacing what you already wore. If you want to wear more than one alpha (say, one for the top, one for the bottom, and one for your system eyes), you'll want to right-click and 'Add' the alpha in your inventory. I'm not entirely sure what the icons look like in other viewers, but in Firestorm, an alpha looks like this:

   And honestly, there's no much else to it. Once added, your avatar will be baked and - poof - part of your body is now invisible. If you wear an alpha (or several) and save an outfit, they will all be worn when you put that outfit on again, so it really is super easy to use. 

   Making a system alpha

   Note: if you have never used an image editor before, it may be prudent to find a simple introduction on YouTube - this post is running long as it is, so I won't be able to include that here. 

   As I mentioned though, not all things come with alphas (the alpha in the example above is one I made myself, for example - exampleception!). You can either start trying out other alphas you have to find one that fits, or you can create your own - again, really easily. I'm sure there are a fair few videos on this on YouTube if you'd rather watch someone do it, but I'll run through it here quickly:

   Step I: what you'll need

1. The UV maps for your mesh body (some bodies have their own ones, others use the 'standard' UV - this is why not all skins work on all bodies!). You'll want them as textures downloaded to your computer; they're generally included in the creator packs for bodies (as well as heads), and you'll have to figure out where you can get yours (from what I've seen, most bodies supply the UV maps for free, for tattoo and skin creation).
2. The UV maps uploaded in-world to create system layers for your avatar (see step II).
3. An image editor (Gimp!). 

   Step II: wear a UV layer

   To be able to see what will be covered by your clothes, it's a lot easier to work with the UV maps displayed on your avatar. In this example, I'm using a Maitreya body which uses the standard UV for SL avatars - I simply made a system layer for trousers and one for a jacket, and put the top and bottom UV maps on both of their textures (the procedure is essentially the same as making the alpha itself in step IV, if you need to make your own). 

   Surely, this can't count as full frontal nudity ... 

   Now, simply put on the piece of apparel that you wish to make your alpha for.

   Here you can see why you'll want to wear an alpha - the shoulders of my body is prodding through the jacket! You'll also get a fairly good sense of what parts of the UV map is visible - you'll want those to remain visible (aside of course from the shoulders that are clipping through the jacket! .. Well, I suppose. You do you!).

   Step III: creating your alpha texture

   Now you'll just need to go into your image editor and open the UV map that you wish to create an alpha for. Just make sure to enable alpha channels in your image, grab an eraser, and erase whichever parts you want to be hidden. You'll need to export your image in a format that supports alpha channels - PNG or TGA are both compatible with Second Life (I tend to go for PNG). As far as I've been told, the resolution of alpha textures don't really matter, higher resolution allows for better detail.

   Once you think you've got it about right, export your texture - but don't upload it to SL just yet!

   Step IV: creating an alpha mask in Second Life

   Go to your inventory, find a suitable folder for your alpha (the folder of whichever piece of apparel you're making it for, is my choice!), right-click on the folder and, in the drop-down menu, go into 'New Clothes' -> 'New Alpha Mask'. Rename the new alpha appropriately for ease of finding, put it on (right-click and 'Add' - always 'Add'!), and whilst wearing it, right-click it again and select 'Edit'. A window will appear where you'll get to select which part of the alpha that you wish to put your texture in - in this example for the jacket, the alpha texture goes in the 'Upper Alpha' slot.

   Before uploading the texture, you can try it on locally. Simply tick 'Local' in the Pick: Texture window (below the preview), select 'Add', find your texture and open it, then select it from the picker. Now have a good look at your avi, preferably whilst moving a bit (do a dance or something, so that you can cam your avi whilst it's moving around) - if you see things clipping, you can go back to your image editor and fix it with your eraser - or, if you've erased too much, just draw it back with plain white (the alpha doesn't really care about colours, it only cares about whether there's alpha or not - which of course now makes me wish I had painted the remains of the UV map plain white just because I'm a neat freak!). 

   Once your alpha is finished, you'll have to upload the texture to Second Life (build -> upload -> image) - it'll cost L$10 a pop, mind (which is why we try it on locally first!). Then select 'Inventory' rather then 'Local' in the texture picker, and find your texture in the inventory searcher. And there you have it - your very own alpha! Now, generally you won't have to go through this hassle if the creator has included alphas themselves (it's quick when you've done it a few times, don't worry!), but depending on your avatar's shape, you may occasionally find that the included alphas don't work for you; in which case it's very handy to know how to make your own!

   Save sticks!

   Okay, so one final thing then - if you're using a Maitreya body and, whether you're not using BOM, or simply have an outfit where the HUD's alpha masks are sufficient, let me run you through how to create and use the save sticks.

   Go to your Maitreya body's folder and find the object named 'Maitreya Mesh Body - Save Stick Vx.y (rez to rename)'. Drag and drop it on the ground (you'll need rez rights to do this, of course).

   The save stick will now tell you in Nearby Chat how to change the name, which is to simply right-click it, select edit, go to the general tab (first tab from the left in the edit window) and change the name of the object. Your naming convention is up to you, but personally I figure putting the name of the outfit on it may be prudent - once you've renamed it, right-click and take the save stick from the ground. It should appear in your Maitreya folder, as that's where it was rezzed from, but if it doesn't appear there it may have ended up in your Objects folder - just do an inventory search for it (as in, whatever you named it) if you can't find it.

   Now, I don't generally use save sticks, but for the few I have used, I made a separate folder within the Maitreya body folder for my save sticks, just to keep things tidy. Put the stick wherever you want to have it in your inventory, and right-click and 'Add' it. It will by default attach as a HUD (should, anyway - if it doesn't, you can detach it again, and then right-click and attach to HUD, and wherever you want it to appear on your screen - objects will attach to wherever they were attached last, so in the future, simply adding or wearing it should put it on your HUD again). 

   As you can see, the save stick will appear on your screen, and clicking it will open this menu. 

   By clicking 'SAVE ALL', your current setup for alpha cuts, skin settings, nipples, layers (i.e. the 'onion layers', the clothing, tattoo and underwear objects in your folder) and nails will be saved to the stick. Once you've done that, with the save stick still attached, save your outfit in your inventory. You can then detach the save stick, as you're now finished.

   Next time you want to wear that outfit, simply put it on, and the save stick being part of the outfit will attach, simply click on it on your HUD, and load whatever it is you want to load (all or alpha, generally), and you should be good to go - simply detach the stick once you've used it and you're good to go. Super easy!

 

   I hope this has been informative without being too text-wall-y .. Maybe I should have just tried to make a video instead. But then I'd have to go learn how to make videos first. Obviously, questions go below, and I'm sure someone will answer them eventually!

[Stephanie Misfit]

Great post!

Siddean Munro made some videos showing how to make alphas in both Photoshop and GIMP for anyone who is interested. These videos do not just apply to the Slink Redux bodies.

 

 

 

[Lewis Luminos]

It's worth a reminder at this point, that if you use a Belleza body, even if you have activated BOM, you cannot use system alpha layers. This is because the creator of Belleza has really only half-implemented BOM on their bodies*. All it would take is to change the texture settings to "alpha masked" instead of "none" but they have not bothered to do that, so alpha layers will not work. And of course the body is no-mod... if it was mod, it would be a trivial thing for users to change it themselves.

* Actually the creator of Belleza did not implement BOM at all - someone else went to the trouble of making a BOM applier for it and allowed Belleza to offer it in their store.

 

[Maryanne Solo]

It should also be mentioned that Slink offers a free Clothing Creator Studio in store. 
It comes with excellent instructions and is very easy to use.
I have found some other brands quite difficult & confusing to make clothes for, 
so I recommend the above for anyone wanting to start with making basic textured clothing,
before venturing into full 3d mesh items.
This clothing will work with the standard layers used before and with BOM.

[JanuarySwan]

On 1/4/2021 at 8:10 AM, Orwar said:

   There occasionally crops up some questions regarding alphas, and whilst there already are plenty of resources around the forum and various blogs, I thought it might be prudent to make an up-to-date introduction covering both alpha layers for BOM as well as how to use alpha HUDs for mesh bodies (as well as the Maitreya save stick). Now, this is primarily targeted towards new players, or old returning players, or just anyone who hasn't yet gotten into how these things work - so I will be as exhaustively detailed as I can, whilst also trying my best to avoid rambling much too much (as if that's going to work out for me!).

   Disclaimer: I'm not a tech wiz, nor am I omniscient - I don't expect the first post to answer every conceivable question, nor can I swear by my mother's grave that there will be absolutely no errors (as of writing this, she's still alive, anyway!). 

   For starters, a short glossary for some of the terms pertinent to the topic:

• Alpha - an alpha generally refers to alpha layers, which are layers that turn parts of your avatar transparent; the term however applies to all forms of transparency in textures, and is used outside of SL as well. As far as avatars are concerned, it's generally used to hide parts of your body that are covered by other body parts or apparel, to avoid 'clipping'.
• Clipping - when two objects intersect with each other so that they cut through each other. This frequently occurs when an avatar moves, if the skin beneath close-fitting apparel is visible.
• BOM - short for 'Bakes On Mesh'; this is a feature that was introduced a while back now, that allows mesh bodies to use 'system layers'. The implications of this feature are a few too many to include here, but I will talk a little bit about the practical differences between using BOM and not using BOM further on.
• Applier - before BOM was introduced, textures were applied to mesh bodies through appliers; again, I shan't go into too much details of the technical stuff, but in short, you click a button on a HUD, and a script will tell your mesh body to change its texture. This is still used for apparel (and occasionally furniture and such) when changing colours of various parts via a HUD.
• HUD - short for 'Heads Up Display'; essentially just a menu object which you attach to your screen, rather than on your avatar, to serve as a user interface.

   BOM vs. applier?

   This is a subject which already has a multitude of threads on its own, and I'm not going to divulge too much into it here, or tell you what you should use - in the end, it's your individual choice which can be based on a variety of factors. Since appliers has been around for a fairly long time, and has been the only means of putting skins and makeup on mesh bodies and heads up until the introduction of BOM, a lot of people still use their applier skins as they don't want to find a new skin, or because they don't want to get into learning how to use BOM. However, I do want to talk about the practical difference between using the two, as they are indeed very different.

   With BOM, your skin and makeup is found in your inventory in the form of system layers that you wear (or more frequently, 'add') to your avatar.

   With appliers, your skin is applied through a HUD - you don't 'physically' have the skin on your avatar or in your inventory, it's loaded through the textures' UUID (universally unique identifier - think of it as a unique number given to things uploaded into Second Life, a bit like an individual's social security number).

   So what does this mean, as far as alphas are concerned?

   When you're using an applier for your mesh body or head, you'll need an alpha to hide your 'system avatar' - you may notice sometimes when people are loading in that you see weird-looking avatars, that's because you always have a system avatar that tends to be loaded before your mesh attachments (and why you must always wear a shape, a system skin, system eyes, and a system hair - sometimes called 'hair base' or 'brow shaper' - that avatar is hidden rather than actually replaced by your mesh body or head). Thus, you must wear an alpha to hide that avatar, so that you'll only see the mesh body and head you have. The alphas thus do not hide your mesh, as the alpha is used to hide that system avatar - instead, you'll have to use your mesh body's built-in alpha functions, which are brand-specific and generally found in the body's HUD.

   If you're using BOM, your mesh body automatically hides the system avatar, allowing you to use the alpha layers for the skin of the mesh body instead.

   And why does this matter?

   Because whilst most bodies already have a high amount of parts that can be hidden through their HUDs, there are limitations, especially when designing close-fitting apparel. There are also a fair bit of work involved with using the HUDs; whilst many clothes do come with auto-hider scripts, that will tell your body which parts to hide when you wear something, that's A) not always the case, and B) prone to failing, especially whilst in laggy places or when the service performance is compromised. Comparatively, adding an alpha layer made for any given piece of apparel is really easy and essentially fool proof, as well as gives the designer a lot more freedom when designing the cut of their apparel. 

   And whilst not all creators include alpha layers for their apparel, especially that which was made before BOM was introduced, you can often find alphas that will work from other places (a lot of alpha packs with large varieties of alphas can be found cheap or even free), or even make your own very easily.

   Using system alphas

   As with so many other things, you're only 'intended' to wear one thing per layer - by default, double-clicking a skin, tattoo, or alpha will 'wear' it to your avatar, replacing what you already wore. If you want to wear more than one alpha (say, one for the top, one for the bottom, and one for your system eyes), you'll want to right-click and 'Add' the alpha in your inventory. I'm not entirely sure what the icons look like in other viewers, but in Firestorm, an alpha looks like this:

   And honestly, there's no much else to it. Once added, your avatar will be baked and - poof - part of your body is now invisible. If you wear an alpha (or several) and save an outfit, they will all be worn when you put that outfit on again, so it really is super easy to use. 

   Making a system alpha

   Note: if you have never used an image editor before, it may be prudent to find a simple introduction on YouTube - this post is running long as it is, so I won't be able to include that here. 

   As I mentioned though, not all things come with alphas (the alpha in the example above is one I made myself, for example - exampleception!). You can either start trying out other alphas you have to find one that fits, or you can create your own - again, really easily. I'm sure there are a fair few videos on this on YouTube if you'd rather watch someone do it, but I'll run through it here quickly:

   Step I: what you'll need

1. The UV maps for your mesh body (some bodies have their own ones, others use the 'standard' UV - this is why not all skins work on all bodies!). You'll want them as textures downloaded to your computer; they're generally included in the creator packs for bodies (as well as heads), and you'll have to figure out where you can get yours (from what I've seen, most bodies supply the UV maps for free, for tattoo and skin creation).
2. The UV maps uploaded in-world to create system layers for your avatar (see step II).
3. An image editor (Gimp!). 

   Step II: wear a UV layer

   To be able to see what will be covered by your clothes, it's a lot easier to work with the UV maps displayed on your avatar. In this example, I'm using a Maitreya body which uses the standard UV for SL avatars - I simply made a system layer for trousers and one for a jacket, and put the top and bottom UV maps on both of their textures (the procedure is essentially the same as making the alpha itself in step IV, if you need to make your own). 

   Surely, this can't count as full frontal nudity ... 

   Now, simply put on the piece of apparel that you wish to make your alpha for.

   Here you can see why you'll want to wear an alpha - the shoulders of my body is prodding through the jacket! You'll also get a fairly good sense of what parts of the UV map is visible - you'll want those to remain visible (aside of course from the shoulders that are clipping through the jacket! .. Well, I suppose. You do you!).

   Step III: creating your alpha texture

   Now you'll just need to go into your image editor and open the UV map that you wish to create an alpha for. Just make sure to enable alpha channels in your image, grab an eraser, and erase whichever parts you want to be hidden. You'll need to export your image in a format that supports alpha channels - PNG or TGA are both compatible with Second Life (I tend to go for PNG). As far as I've been told, the resolution of alpha textures don't really matter, higher resolution allows for better detail.

   Once you think you've got it about right, export your texture - but don't upload it to SL just yet!

   Step IV: creating an alpha mask in Second Life

   Go to your inventory, find a suitable folder for your alpha (the folder of whichever piece of apparel you're making it for, is my choice!), right-click on the folder and, in the drop-down menu, go into 'New Clothes' -> 'New Alpha Mask'. Rename the new alpha appropriately for ease of finding, put it on (right-click and 'Add' - always 'Add'!), and whilst wearing it, right-click it again and select 'Edit'. A window will appear where you'll get to select which part of the alpha that you wish to put your texture in - in this example for the jacket, the alpha texture goes in the 'Upper Alpha' slot.

   Before uploading the texture, you can try it on locally. Simply tick 'Local' in the Pick: Texture window (below the preview), select 'Add', find your texture and open it, then select it from the picker. Now have a good look at your avi, preferably whilst moving a bit (do a dance or something, so that you can cam your avi whilst it's moving around) - if you see things clipping, you can go back to your image editor and fix it with your eraser - or, if you've erased too much, just draw it back with plain white (the alpha doesn't really care about colours, it only cares about whether there's alpha or not - which of course now makes me wish I had painted the remains of the UV map plain white just because I'm a neat freak!). 

   Once your alpha is finished, you'll have to upload the texture to Second Life (build -> upload -> image) - it'll cost L$10 a pop, mind (which is why we try it on locally first!). Then select 'Inventory' rather then 'Local' in the texture picker, and find your texture in the inventory searcher. And there you have it - your very own alpha! Now, generally you won't have to go through this hassle if the creator has included alphas themselves (it's quick when you've done it a few times, don't worry!), but depending on your avatar's shape, you may occasionally find that the included alphas don't work for you; in which case it's very handy to know how to make your own!

   Save sticks!

   Okay, so one final thing then - if you're using a Maitreya body and, whether you're not using BOM, or simply have an outfit where the HUD's alpha masks are sufficient, let me run you through how to create and use the save sticks.

   Go to your Maitreya body's folder and find the object named 'Maitreya Mesh Body - Save Stick Vx.y (rez to rename)'. Drag and drop it on the ground (you'll need rez rights to do this, of course).

   The save stick will now tell you in Nearby Chat how to change the name, which is to simply right-click it, select edit, go to the general tab (first tab from the left in the edit window) and change the name of the object. Your naming convention is up to you, but personally I figure putting the name of the outfit on it may be prudent - once you've renamed it, right-click and take the save stick from the ground. It should appear in your Maitreya folder, as that's where it was rezzed from, but if it doesn't appear there it may have ended up in your Objects folder - just do an inventory search for it (as in, whatever you named it) if you can't find it.

   Now, I don't generally use save sticks, but for the few I have used, I made a separate folder within the Maitreya body folder for my save sticks, just to keep things tidy. Put the stick wherever you want to have it in your inventory, and right-click and 'Add' it. It will by default attach as a HUD (should, anyway - if it doesn't, you can detach it again, and then right-click and attach to HUD, and wherever you want it to appear on your screen - objects will attach to wherever they were attached last, so in the future, simply adding or wearing it should put it on your HUD again). 

   As you can see, the save stick will appear on your screen, and clicking it will open this menu. 

   By clicking 'SAVE ALL', your current setup for alpha cuts, skin settings, nipples, layers (i.e. the 'onion layers', the clothing, tattoo and underwear objects in your folder) and nails will be saved to the stick. Once you've done that, with the save stick still attached, save your outfit in your inventory. You can then detach the save stick, as you're now finished.

   Next time you want to wear that outfit, simply put it on, and the save stick being part of the outfit will attach, simply click on it on your HUD, and load whatever it is you want to load (all or alpha, generally), and you should be good to go - simply detach the stick once you've used it and you're good to go. Super easy!

 

   I hope this has been informative without being too text-wall-y .. Maybe I should have just tried to make a video instead. But then I'd have to go learn how to make videos first. Obviously, questions go below, and I'm sure someone will answer them eventually!

Thanks for taking the time to write all this out...but I don't want to HAVE TO do this.  I don't want to do all the work.  I hope BOM will not forced upon us all.   But, thanks for your time and effort.  

[Skell Dagger]

4 hours ago, JanuarySwan said:

I hope BOM will not forced upon us all.

Nobody is going to force you to use BoM. However, the market may move that way regardless, based on demand. In the same way that creators stopped making system/sculpty clothes when mesh came about, so they may stop making appliers now that BoM is rising in popularity. Some creators will continue to include appliers, but that extra step of creating applier HUDs may become a hassle that they decide to stop doing, based on what sales they're making. Some creators will simply make the switch to BoM and stop including appliers altogether, some may give UV-mapped BoM and just include a generic Omega applier (dropping head and body specific appliers in favour of Omega) but there will be no 'forcing' of anyone.

[Marianne Little]

7 hours ago, JanuarySwan said:

Thanks for taking the time to write all this out...but I don't want to HAVE TO do this.  I don't want to do all the work.  I hope BOM will not forced upon us all.   But, thanks for your time and effort.  

I have never had to make my own alpha layers. It is free sets to be had, like one from LBD (Little Black Dress). https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/LBD-BOMSystem-Alpha-Layers-Full-Perm/18683103

Also, alpha layers are unlike other content in demos. They have no "demo" mark or words. If I should need an alpha layer that's supposedly not found in any free set, I can always search for an open jacket (as in this example), get the demo and use only the alpha layer. An alpha layer for a set of pants can be copied and put in folders for other pants that has the same waistline.

Those options does not cost me money for uploads. I also use alpha cuts in the HUD instead of layers. The thing about BoM is that you can use it as much or as little as you wish. You can use it only for skin and wear appliers over.

[JanuarySwan]

9 hours ago, Skell Dagger said:

Nobody is going to force you to use BoM. However, the market may move that way regardless, based on demand. In the same way that creators stopped making system/sculpty clothes when mesh came about, so they may stop making appliers now that BoM is rising in popularity. Some creators will continue to include appliers, but that extra step of creating applier HUDs may become a hassle that they decide to stop doing, based on what sales they're making. Some creators will simply make the switch to BoM and stop including appliers altogether, some may give UV-mapped BoM and just include a generic Omega applier (dropping head and body specific appliers in favour of Omega) but there will be no 'forcing' of anyone.

Good, lol.  I don't want to be forced.  I'm not ready yet.  I bought stuff just last week and the items I bought included both an applier and BOM so creator's are not stopping appliers now...not in my very recent shopping experience anyhow.  As far as I remember almost all of what I bought just last week included both.  I was very happy about that!

Edited January 6, 2021 by JanuarySwan

[Doc Carling]

On 1/4/2021 at 5:10 PM, Orwar said:

 For starters, a short glossary for some of the terms pertinent to the topic:

I found your glossary very useful and how you eplained the difference between BOM and appliers. I posted the link to it in my BOM group.

 

 

[Jennifer Boyle]

Great post, Orwar. It's the one I wish I'd written, but I am too lazy.

I do want to add one thing. The image editor that I use is paint.net, which is a free download from getpaint.net. It is more than adequate and easy to learn. I've never used gimp; I have read that it is hard to learn.

[Orwar]

3 minutes ago, Jennifer Boyle said:

I've never used gimp; I have read that it is hard to learn.

   It depends entirely on what you want to do with it. It is a great tool that does have a lot of features, but you don't have to learn them all.

   The workflow for creating an alpha texture in Gimp is very straight-forward:

• Open the UV map for the body you are using in Gimp.
• Make sure that the layer has an alpha channel (this can be done either by clicking 'Layer -> Transparency -> Add Alpha Channel' or by right-clicking the layer in the brushes & layers window and clicking 'Add Alpha Channel' there).
• Select the eraser from the toolbox, and select the brush you want to use in the brushes & layers window (for alpha masks I prefer sharp lines, so the circle with 100 hardness, i.e. no gradient, is my go-to)
• Look at your avatar in-world whilst wearing the UV as a guide, see what lines are visible, then erase everything that you can't (or shouldn't) see under the clothing you are making your alpha for.
• Once finished with the eraser, export the image as a TGA or PNG file.
• Try it in-world as described above, and once you are happy with the result, upload the texture into SL to finalise your alpha mask.

   You could basically do it pretty much the same way in MS paint. The learning curve for Gimp doesn't start getting any steep before you get into editing photos, and even then the tools themselves aren't the difficult bit as long as you know which features you wish to use and how to plan your workflow, the 'difficult' part is generally knowing how much (or rather, how little) you want to change for the image to not turn into a weird mess. The trick is to just play around with it, see what things do, maybe read or watch some tutorials for how to do specific things (there are tons of tutorials on YouTube for various features, from how to adjust colour balance and exposure to how to draw hair and make different effects and using different filters).

   Gimp is pretty much comparable to Photoshop as far as image editing goes - the basics really are basic, but it has the potential to do very advanced things as well. Even then, it's a matter of learning how to use the tool comfortably and figuring out how to apply it to achieve the artistic effect you want for your images. 

   I have been thinking about making a tutorial for photo editing on the forums, but I figure it's a tutorial best done in video format since there'd be much too many images to post, to show each step in detail.

[KjartanEno]

I use GIMP too. Instead of the 'eraser' method, I like to 'connect the dots' on the UV map for the body section I'm working on. In GIMP I paint small black dots on the UV map while looking at where the clothing hides the body in the viewer. Once I have enough dots, I use the free select tool to click from dot to dot until I have completed a circuit back to the first click. Then it is just a matter of clearing the selection.