HOW I MAKE BOM TATTOOS

[Kytteh Wytchwood]

I have my first thread in here but videos and images are missing. I'll be sharing with you step by step via uploaded images, on how I make tattoos. 

Choose your favorite art program. I'll be using Photoshop CC for this how to, on creating simple font tattoos. I'll be working with the SL UV Maps, which you'll be able to download.

The next reply to this thread will be the beginning of this tutorial. Follow this thread to stay tuned and to bookmark it.

If you have any questions, please be detailed in your inquiries. You may direct message me or reply to this thread.

Edit: I've decided I'll make more tutorials within this thread. After each tutorial, another will come below it in this same thread.

Edited March 5, 2023 by Kytteh Wytchwood

[Kytteh Wytchwood]

Step 1: Download the upper sl uv map.

I found a revised version but unfortunately unable to credit the creator of it since the blog has been removed. The blogspot name is Hell House Studios.

The resolution of this sl uv map has been resized by me to 4096 by 4096(width and height) with 1200 pixels per inch(ppi).

This resolution size is what I use for every tattoo I make, fonts and designs.

 

 

Edited March 5, 2023 by Kytteh Wytchwood

[Kytteh Wytchwood]

Step 2: Open the upper revised sl uv map into your art program of choice.

Double click the name of the layer and rename to upper uv map.

Create a new layer with the plus sign or however you do it in your art program.

Rename this layer to font.

 

Edited March 5, 2023 by Kytteh Wytchwood

[Kytteh Wytchwood]

Step 3: Create another layer and drag it under the font layer.

Click the paint bucket tool and fill it with the color black.

Rename the layer to solid color and change its opacity to 50 %.

 

[Kytteh Wytchwood]

Step 4:

Select the white color and then click the font tool.

Select the font layer.

Choose your favorite font from the font name dropdown menu.

Click in the middle of the map, type love in lowercase 

Select font size to 24 pt.

Press the checkmark at the top to finalize your text input.

Click the move tool and move the word love to the chest area on the uv map.

Hide the solid color and upper uv map layers by pressing the eye icon next to each layer.

Press CTRL ALT i to open image size.

Change only the ppi of 1200 to 300 and change the resample to bilinear in the drop down menu.

Changing only the ppi transforms both the width and height to 1024.

Press enter or click ok to save and leave this menu.

Click File>Export>Quick export as PNG

Name it love 100 and click Save.

 

 

Edited March 5, 2023 by Kytteh Wytchwood

[Kytteh Wytchwood]

Step 5:

Open SL viewer or 3rd party viewer.

Use a pose stand or a pose or a pose animation from your head or body hud that makes your avatar stand with arms down.

Get as close as you can to the upper chest without the mesh clipping in the view.

Open your inventory window and open the Body Parts folder.

Create a new folder(right click body parts folder to create a new folder) and name it Love font tutorial.

Right click this folder and select New Clothes>New Tattoo

Rename the new tattoo to love tutorial.

Right click the love tutorial tattoo and select Add.

Click the Recent tab at the top of your inventory window.

Press CTRL U to open your file window and open the folder that has the love 100

Select love 100 and click Open.

In the SL upload window that pops up, click Upload.

Right click the new texture and select Cut

Click the Inventory tab and paste into your love tutorial folder.

Right click the folder and select Paste.

Right click the worn tattoo and select Edit.

Push the edit tattoo window next to your inventory window.

Drag the texture you uploaded to the Upper Tattoo square.

Click the Save button top left of the edit window.

There is some jagged edges but this is normal on mesh bodies as it stretches the texture.

I have pulled away some on the 3rd photo so you can see how it would look to other people.

The 100 in the file name means 100 opacity.

Open photoshop or your favorite art program.

Select the font layer and change the opacity to 50%.

Name the 50% tattoo to love 50.

Repeat the same steps to save to your computer and upload to SL.

Fourth image shows the love tattoo at 50%.

 

 

 

Edited March 5, 2023 by Kytteh Wytchwood

[Kytteh Wytchwood]

Hello everyone. I've decided it makes more sense to create new threads for different tutorials. By doing it this way, the people who viewed this first tutorial, will know I made a new one and will look into the 2nd thread instead of coming into this one. Thank you to those who viewed this tutorial and I hope it helped you in your creations!

[JaclynFashion]

https://www.robinwood.com/Catalog/Technical/SL-Tuts/SLPages/AVUVTemplates.html

[Kytteh Wytchwood]

On 7/13/2023 at 10:45 PM, JaclynFashion said:

https://www.robinwood.com/Catalog/Technical/SL-Tuts/SLPages/AVUVTemplates.html

Hi there. Thank you for the link but I think the revised uv map is more friendly to the eyes. Replies to this thread should be questions about the tutorial, not resource links. I have the upper uv map only as this was an upper torso tutorial.

[Melynn Dreamscape]

Ketteh, 

I have hand drawn this tattoo to experiment with then vectored it and placed it.  I drew it on a 1024X1024 canvas.  The lines are VERY pixelated.  I've seen hand drawn tattoos that have some pixelation, but not this much!  Do you have any advice for smoother lines? Thank you for taking the time to post this tutorial

[Wulfie Reanimator]

4 hours ago, Melynn Dreamscape said:

The lines are VERY pixelated.  I've seen hand drawn tattoos that have some pixelation, but not this much!  Do you have any advice for smoother lines?

The pixelation comes from the texture itself. The lines are simply too thin, just look at your tattoo at 200% scale:

There's no trick around this as long as you're using LL UV. Do you have examples of these other tattoos?

[Melynn Dreamscape]

I like tattoos made by Stardust, some of hers have some pixelation, but not so much.  I will just try redrawing in a different style?  Maybe more block style with less lines and/or thicker lines.  Another question!  The tutes I see of tattoos in Blender-does that help with image quality?  or just placement?

I appreciate your comments.  I'm open to endless experimenting, because it is fun!

 

[Wulfie Reanimator]

2 hours ago, Melynn Dreamscape said:

I like tattoos made by Stardust, some of hers have some pixelation, but not so much.  I will just try redrawing in a different style?  Maybe more block style with less lines and/or thicker lines.  Another question!  The tutes I see of tattoos in Blender-does that help with image quality?  or just placement?

I appreciate your comments.  I'm open to endless experimenting, because it is fun!

I bought a neck tattoo from Stardust that uses similarly thin lines, and this is what it looks like in-world:

It's also a 1024x1024 texture but we can see the same issue with thin lines; the texture is just "stretched" too thin across the whole body and there aren't enough pixels for fine details like this. It's not as big of a problem for large shapes (or skins in general) where the change in contrast is low and less noticable.

Most other tattoos from Stardust use thicker shapes which probably look much better. 🙂

Edited October 15, 2023 by Wulfie Reanimator

[Melynn Dreamscape]

Lesson learned!  Thicker lines and shapes 

Thank you 

[Kytteh Wytchwood]

On 10/14/2023 at 5:32 PM, Melynn Dreamscape said:

Ketteh, 

I have hand drawn this tattoo to experiment with then vectored it and placed it.  I drew it on a 1024X1024 canvas.  The lines are VERY pixelated.  I've seen hand drawn tattoos that have some pixelation, but not this much!  Do you have any advice for smoother lines? Thank you for taking the time to post this tutorial

Hi Melynn! I didn't get your reply notification since I haven't been logged into the forum for quite awhile. I see your question has been answered. I'd like to give you some tips to help you.

I too have tried the minimal tattoo style of thin lines. I noticed they stretched a lot more and became very pixelated. But! If you find certain areas on the body that don't stretch as much, you will be a winner in the end! On the upper torso, the upper chest above the breasts/ pecs area, the hip, the belly(upper and middle),  the middle of the back, I have found don't stretch much or at all!

It takes a lot of time to experiment but if you are determined to see a great result for your tattoo(s), then taking the time and effort to try different areas on the body is definitely time well spent. 

I suggest starting your document at 2048 x 2048 at 150 pixels per inch(ppi) and then you won't need to resize down to 1024x1024. I read in the Genus Project discord server from a creator, that 2048 does give a sharper texture than 1024. 

Please read my tutorial again or for the first time if you haven't, and try creating your tattoo with the resolution size I use.

You can pick up the uv maps for the body you work on at the brand's store, unless it is included with your body purchase, or available through their website.

Or use the sl uv map I have provided here.

Make sure you are fitting your drawing to the uv map. If you draw very small, it will be very small on the body, unless that is what you want. When I make tattoos for the body, I'm already at a very large resolution. This helps me to resize the artwork onto the uv map as I stretch/ rotate it until it fits perfectly as I test inworld while I have Photoshop opened.

Edited November 7, 2023 by Kytteh Wytchwood

[Wulfie Reanimator]

7 hours ago, Kytteh Wytchwood said:

I suggest starting your document at 2048 x 2048 at 150 pixels per inch(ppi) and then you won't need to resize down to 1024x1024. I read in the Genus Project discord server from a creator, that 2048 does give a sharper texture than 1024. 

If you upload a 2048 texture to SL, it will be automatically scaled down to 1024 because that's the maximum resolution we're allowed to have. The benefit of resizing the image yourself is that you can choose different downscaling options - bilinear, sharper, nearest neighbor, or whatever your specific texture details call for. You lose that flexibility with LL's forced downscaling.

I don't like the way LL's resizer handles color data in general, based on my own tests by uploading 2048/1024 with different options, downloading the uploaded texture, and using Difference filter between them and the original. From 2048 to 1024, aliasing on black/white lines becomes "blotchy."

And PPI is only used for physical printing, it doesn't affect digital image quality. 1024x1024 with 72 PPI vs 150 PPI still have the same number of pixels, 150 PPI is just a smaller ("more dense") physical print.

7 hours ago, Kytteh Wytchwood said:

But! If you find certain areas on the body that don't stretch as much, you will be a winner in the end! On the upper torso, the upper chest above the breasts/ pecs area, the hip, the belly(upper and middle),  the middle of the back, I have found don't stretch much or at all!

It takes a lot of time to experiment but if you are determined to see a great result for your tattoo(s), then taking the time and effort to try different areas on the body is definitely time well spent. 

This is absolutely true though. 🙂

Edited November 7, 2023 by Wulfie Reanimator

[Kytteh Wytchwood]

On 10/14/2023 at 5:32 PM, Melynn Dreamscape said:

Ketteh, 

I have hand drawn this tattoo to experiment with then vectored it and placed it.  I drew it on a 1024X1024 canvas.  The lines are VERY pixelated.  I've seen hand drawn tattoos that have some pixelation, but not this much!  Do you have any advice for smoother lines? Thank you for taking the time to post this tutorial

Hi again! I am now drawing on an even higher resolution than I was using in this tutorial. Create a new document at 8192 by 8192 with ppi at 600.

Use a pencil brush, create your design, then move and scale it down to the area of the body you want it on.

Then open the image size and change only the ppi(pixels per inch) to 150 and it will make the width and height to 2048 by 2048.

You should end up with a nice looking tattoo on the body with very minimal jagged edges.

I want to do another tutorial, for the lower torso with the revised map I have for it.

That will be in a new thread so just keep an eye out in the bakes on mesh forum.

Edited December 29, 2023 by Kytteh Wytchwood
typo

[SLIM Barrowstone]

On 12/29/2023 at 5:18 AM, Kytteh Wytchwood said:

Hi again! I am now drawing on an even higher resolution than I was using in this tutorial. Create a new document at 8192 by 8192 with ppi at 600.

Use a pencil brush, create your design, then move and scale it down to the area of the body you want it on.

Then open the image size and change only the ppi(pixels per inch) to 150 and it will make the width and height to 2048 by 2048.

You should end up with a nice looking tattoo on the body with very minimal jagged edges.

I want to do another tutorial, for the lower torso with the revised map I have for it.

That will be in a new thread so just keep an eye out in the bakes on mesh forum.

soo is this how you can make a tattoo with color ???

[Kytteh Wytchwood]

20 minutes ago, SLIM Barrowstone said:

soo is this how you can make a tattoo with color ???

Hello. The color of the tattoo doesn't matter. What matters is what size document you use to create your tattoos. High resolution allows you to resize/ warp without it becoming super jagged. I now also apply a very minimal gaussian blur on body tattoos as tattoos on the body stretch a lot as opposed to the head.

[SLIM Barrowstone]

20 hours ago, Kytteh Wytchwood said:

Hello. The color of the tattoo doesn't matter. What matters is what size document you use to create your tattoos. High resolution allows you to resize/ warp without it becoming super jagged. I now also apply a very minimal gaussian blur on body tattoos as tattoos on the body stretch a lot as opposed to the head.

ok i know the color dont matter  i guess what i was trying to say was can you use the same method but all in all i just want to get better at  it than what i already  know im just looking for a better way and easy way with out all the extra talking in a tutorial b/c most of the videos i see they talk more than showing then people get irritated and not even watch  the rest of the video but what you have i will take a look at it but ty for responding back 

[Kytteh Wytchwood]

3 hours ago, SLIM Barrowstone said:

ok i know the color dont matter  i guess what i was trying to say was can you use the same method but all in all i just want to get better at  it than what i already  know im just looking for a better way and easy way with out all the extra talking in a tutorial b/c most of the videos i see they talk more than showing then people get irritated and not even watch  the rest of the video but what you have i will take a look at it but ty for responding back 

It's better to ask what you want to know, than to ask a question that doesn't pertain to what you want to know. What I do is, open a new file  size at 4096 by 4096 with 1200 ppi. I fill the first layer with a light to medium color, like a yellow. Then I open the uv map and place that under the filled layer.
Then create a new transparent layer, and make it the top layer. I choose my brush and brush size and start drawing. When I'm finished, I hide the color layer and then resize and position the tattoo onto the uv map section I want it in. Then if it is a body tattoo, I do gaussian blur at less than 2 but you'll see what number you need to do based off the image preview. then hide the uv map layer, open image size and change the ppi to 300 and then export it.

If you don't have the premium plus plan, you can upload as a local texture so you don't have to pay for the upload. then if you want to make changes, each time you save your file, the changes will take place inworld.

If you have more questions, please be specific.

 

Edited February 22 by Kytteh Wytchwood
misspelling

[Sandra8675]

Hi...  Thank you Kytteh for making this thread.  The videos I have seen on making bom tattoos are simply not complete.  Can you please go over how to make things like a full body tattoo with connecting lines throughout that look fluid?  And...  Can u go over any tips for making a bom bra and panty set?  Picture attached is just an example of a bom bra and panty, i wish to make my own texture, color and shape.  ty

Edited March 7 by Sandra8675

[MateaAtaraxie]

Hello Kytteh

I can't create a tattoo on the side of a body.

Do you have any advice to give me so that the tattoo looks good and there are no defaults between the front and back of the body?

[MateaAtaraxie]

* I've noticed that the UVs on the front and back are not the same proportion.
Can anyone give me their experience of tattoos with an attachment on the front and back of the body?

[Kytteh Wytchwood]

On 3/7/2024 at 9:50 AM, Sandra8675 said:

Hi...  Thank you Kytteh for making this thread.  The videos I have seen on making bom tattoos are simply not complete.  Can you please go over how to make things like a full body tattoo with connecting lines throughout that look fluid?  And...  Can u go over any tips for making a bom bra and panty set?  Picture attached is just an example of a bom bra and panty, i wish to make my own texture, color and shape.  ty

Hi, just checked the thread as I saw more replies, tonight.

I have learned from other creators that you would export the design as a targa file, for clothing bom layers.

I tried making stockings and I made the seam a solid color and then on the rest of the legs, another color.

I haven't tried making bom clothing. I just make basic art on the body.

I also learned from creators that the liquify tool in photoshop is how you can push the design on the sides of the body where the seams are to make it proportionate to the body.

I suggest creating a thread and asking for help with how to make bom clothing.