How to create a full body tattoo ?

[MateaAtaraxie]

Hello, I am into tattoo design, I would like to take it to the next level and do a tattoo that goes from the ankle to the head. I use Gimp with 2D avatar models. My problem is that my tests show offsets between each UV and unclear seams. I would be more than grateful if someone with experience could give me some advice to avoid encountering mismatches or misalignments between the front and back of the body, as well as on other parts of the body. I tried on Blender with a 3D avatar-workbench, but again I couldn't do it. Not finding anything on this subject on You Tube, I come here, ask professional or experienced amateur creators, if they could give me this information, because I don't see how a young creator like me can arrive without help?

[Tazzie Tuque]

I don't know what you use as a guide when creating your tattoo, but what you need is a template that has connection lines on it as a guide to getting your design to line up front and back and top to bottom etc.  I use one by Robin Wood.   

https://gyazo.com/0faf100886ec6fd61aaf8ff7313b98d4

I got this on MP ages ago it might still be there.  I think I paid 1L for it or it was maybe even free.  At any rate something like this will give you the guidelines you need to line everything up right.  And this is a PSD file so the various guide lines are on separate layers so you can turn off some or use them all.  Just put your design layers on top of this and shut those layers off when you are ready to save your design.  And the best format to save in is .tga using an alpha laywer to sharpen the edges of your design.  You can PM me if you want or need halp getting the .tga transparent background as there is a trick to it.  But you can try .png first and if it works you might not need to go to .tga format.

Hope this helps.

Edited September 20, 2023 by Tazzie Tuque

[CherryChantal]

 

On 9/20/2023 at 9:05 PM, Tazzie Tuque said:

I don't know what you use as a guide when creating your tattoo, but what you need is a template that has connection lines on it as a guide to getting your design to line up front and back and top to bottom etc.  I use one by Robin Wood.   

https://gyazo.com/0faf100886ec6fd61aaf8ff7313b98d4

I got this on MP ages ago it might still be there.  I think I paid 1L for it or it was maybe even free.  At any rate something like this will give you the guidelines you need to line everything up right.  And this is a PSD file so the various guide lines are on separate layers so you can turn off some or use them all.  Just put your design layers on top of this and shut those layers off when you are ready to save your design.  And the best format to save in is .tga using an alpha laywer to sharpen the edges of your design.  You can PM me if you want or need halp getting the .tga transparent background as there is a trick to it.  But you can try .png first and if it works you might not need to go to .tga format.

Hope this helps.

The Robin Wood UV templates you can get here for free download: https://www.robinwood.com/Catalog/Technical/SL-Tuts/SLPages/AVUVTemplates.html 

[MateaAtaraxie]

Tazzie Tuque Thank you for intervening, this is what I am currently doing to make tattoos on a single part of a UV. I would like to know how to make a single tattoo (without sewing, offset or joining problems) that goes from the ankle to the neck (which is on the 3 UVs) as we see with certain designers!

Edited September 22, 2023 by MateaAtaraxie

[Tazzie Tuque]

38 minutes ago, MateaAtaraxie said:

Tazzie Tuque Thank you for intervening, this is what I am currently doing to make tattoos on a single part of a UV. I would like to know how to make a single tattoo (without sewing, offset or joining problems) that goes from the ankle to the neck (which is on the 3 UVs) as we see with certain designers!

Hmm sorry I have no idea how that would be done all in one piece given the way BOM and system clothing is separated into sections.  The only thing I can imagine is that it could be mesh.  But again I don't know.  As far as I know the trick is lining up your joining points exactly so that when each layer is applied it appears as one piece.  

[CherryChantal]

2 hours ago, Tazzie Tuque said:

As far as I know the trick is lining up your joining points exactly so that when each layer is applied it appears as one piece.

This is what I do to create tattoos … and usually it needs several tries (uploading textures, wearing them on my body, identify not matching joining points, rework textures in photoshop) to create a seamless tattoo. I don‘t know of any other method of creating skins and tattoos as an „one-for-all-body-parts“ image and I guess there isn‘t any existing, cause SL classic Avatars and most of the mesh bodys using separated „lower body“ and „upper body“ textures (as Tazzie mentioned before) and the SL limitation of 1024x1024 pixels would make a combined upper-lower texture look blurred (for this may be the reason why they are still using sections). The only alternative solution would be to 1) import the 3d mesh body in blender, 2) using the robin wood UV textures as surface for the body and 3) painting the tattos directly on the mesh body. I never did this, so I have no experiences regards 3D painting in Blender. But i guess there are many tutorials in youtube about this topic. 

[MateaAtaraxie]

CherryChantal thank you for intervening. Tattoo tutorials are multiplying but not at my specific request! Tell me, do you know by how much percentage the back is reduced in Robin Wood's UV?

[Tazzie Tuque]

Again,  I cannot stress enough that the success of making a large tattoo that covers areas front, back and top to bottom, totally depends on the accuracy of lining up your edges.  There are several guide lines on the Robin Woods templates  and that should be enough to perfectly line up the edges.  There are no short cuts you just have to be accurate.  I have been making clothing in SL for 18 years and back before mesh we only had system clothing which we now call Bakes On Mesh and I made many many outfits and tattoos during the early days and I still do.  The trick to success is accuracy with the edge lines, they must line up.  Again no short cuts.  And it does not matter if the back is reduced on the template as long as you line up those edges it will work.

[MateaAtaraxie]

Oki TYVM Tazzie Tuque and CherryChantal

 

[Wulfie Reanimator]

Using Blender, you can project an image onto a mesh surface and bake that into a texture. That would completely bypass any "lining up" around UV boundaries.

Look up decals and how to bake them.

Edited September 25, 2023 by Wulfie Reanimator

[MateaAtaraxie]

Thank you Wulfie Reanimator

[Freedom901]

i asked a similar question awhile ago u have to use the 3D settings on either photoshop or blender etc 

there a 3 d avitar u download called ruth or something that way u can do tattoos no seems etc i looked into but way to complicated for me 

[Tazzie Tuque]

5 hours ago, Freedom901 said:

i asked a similar question awhile ago u have to use the 3D settings on either photoshop or blender etc 

there a 3 d avitar u download called ruth or something that way u can do tattoos no seems etc i looked into but way to complicated for me 

I do not believe this is needed.  Although it certainly be done in 3D but in the end what is produced is a 2D map which is what is actually what is used to apply the tattoo to the body.  The map templates mentioned earlier basically  provide the same thing.  Very much like using a template provided by full perm mesh clothing files.  I have had success using the body templates mentioned above and as I said before it all boils down to accuracy in lining up the guide lines accurately.  A full body tattoo does not need to be mesh,  BOM works better and has no worry of taking up space and poking through other mesh clothing that may be worn.

[Barnside]

Thanks for this discussion.  I went back and looked at Robin Wood's page where the layer downloads are.  

I think she has an excellent piece of advice to help with aligning along the seams....use the vector graphic layers and increase the file size to 2kx2k while working on the seams to work out the tricky bits: 

"Most importantly, I think, I've kept the original maps as Vector Smart Objects, which you can use if you have Adobe CS2 or better. Vector Smart objects are real live vectors, so they remain sharp at any resolution. Which means that, if you have CS2 or better, you can resize the maps to 2048x2048 to work on tricky bits, and the lines will remain sharp and clear. (You will need to resize to 512x512 before uploading to SL, of course. But you knew that, right?)"

 

[onyx Kelberry]

I used a Dev kit and uploaded the mesh body into blender, then I set up the uv's so I could work them in Substance painter. Then I created a full body tattoo in substance painter.

Looked great, without visible seams. I painted directly on the body. Looked  good - look here https://gyazo.com/fa9bd29a923392c8fe2cdf35fdbf66d4

Problem is when I put my upper and lower textures on a tattoo layer in second life ---- I could see cracks at the seams. I tried using smudge to fix this but does not look good.

I have a lot of tattoo's that I purchased from various creators in second life over the years. I put myself in T pose and tried them on one my one ( inspecting the problem area's. )

Some black out area's , some do not go close to the edges of the map. Most who do, have issues. I have not seen any that are perfectly seamless unless there is no texturing near the edges of the maps. I been searching for tutorials on this. Also if anyone knows of a store in second life that sells full body tattoo's that are perfectly seamless please feel free to message me and let me know. I would like to see.

I have been searching for tutorials for a fix but have yet to find any. It's getting frustrating.

Edited December 25, 2023 by onyx Kelberry

[onyx Kelberry]

You can set substance painter to size your maps to 2048x2048 and that is what I did. ( No visible cracks ( seams ) in substance but visible in sl ).

Upon upload SL resized them to 1024x1024. I doubt the size has anything to do with it but I will test it anyway. Its worth a shot.

Edited December 25, 2023 by onyx Kelberry

[SpiritSparrow Skydancer]

A trick I see people doing is using black to fill in seams. And 90% of the full body tattoos I see in world do show slight seam lines. They are so slight you might not see them without zooming, but they are there.

 

Edited January 23 by SpiritSparrow Skydancer

[SLIM Barrowstone]

On 12/25/2023 at 6:59 PM, onyx Kelberry said:

You can set substance painter to size your maps to 2048x2048 and that is what I did. ( No visible cracks ( seams ) in substance but visible in sl ).

Upon upload SL resized them to 1024x1024. I doubt the size has anything to do with it but I will test it anyway. Its worth a shot.

@onyx Kelberry thats what i been trying to find a good video on substance painter and how to use it b/c i want to learn how to do the  shoulder to the  chest piece

[Zalificent Corvinus]

On 12/25/2023 at 11:46 PM, onyx Kelberry said:

I used a Dev kit and uploaded the mesh body into blender, then I set up the uv's so I could work them in Substance painter. Then I created a full body tattoo in substance painter.

Looked great, without visible seams. I painted directly on the body. Looked  good - look here https://gyazo.com/fa9bd29a923392c8fe2cdf35fdbf66d4

Painting textures directly onto a mesh in 3D looks good, in the painting app, with lossless textures.

 

On 12/25/2023 at 11:46 PM, onyx Kelberry said:

Problem is when I put my upper and lower textures on a tattoo layer in second life ---- I could see cracks at the seams. I tried using smudge to fix this but does not look good.

Problem is, when you upload them to SL, they get converted into JPEG2000, a LOSSY format, and it's a good bet you are uploading at the wrong size anyway, so the images get resized too, with a dreadful resizer, so they end up blurry, and what you don't get is what Pro texture painters call "bleed".

 

What you need to do with your Substance Painter textures is load them in a boring 2D image editing app, and clone brush the very edge of the painted area, OVER the UV island edges into the unused space on the template, so when it's uploaded and DEGRADED by SL, the paint doesn't end up stopping SHORT of the edges.

 

On 12/25/2023 at 11:59 PM, onyx Kelberry said:

You can set substance painter to size your maps to 2048x2048 and that is what I did. ( No visible cracks ( seams ) in substance but visible in sl ).

Upon upload SL resized them to 1024x1024. I doubt the size has anything to do with it but I will test it anyway. Its worth a shot.

SL won't allow any texture to be more than 1024x1024, so yeah it resizes, and yeah it has something to do with it. The build in resizer SUCKS. So, SP paints UP to the line but not over it, then you get bad resizing, then you get bad storage format, and now the paint doesn't go all the way to the line...

 

 

[SLIM Barrowstone]

1 hour ago, Zalificent Corvinus said:

Painting textures directly onto a mesh in 3D looks good, in the painting app, with lossless textures.

 

Problem is, when you upload them to SL, they get converted into JPEG2000, a LOSSY format, and it's a good bet you are uploading at the wrong size anyway, so the images get resized too, with a dreadful resizer, so they end up blurry, and what you don't get is what Pro texture painters call "bleed".

 

What you need to do with your Substance Painter textures is load them in a boring 2D image editing app, and clone brush the very edge of the painted area, OVER the UV island edges into the unused space on the template, so when it's uploaded and DEGRADED by SL, the paint doesn't end up stopping SHORT of the edges.

 

SL won't allow any texture to be more than 1024x1024, so yeah it resizes, and yeah it has something to do with it. The build in resizer SUCKS. So, SP paints UP to the line but not over it, then you get bad resizing, then you get bad storage format, and now the paint doesn't go all the way to the line...

 

 

to be honest i been doing them i just have a hard time going from the shoulder chest arm and i dont know how to do the neck but i want to find a good video on how to use Substance painter.  and how to use it with out me yelling at the screen telling hem to get to the point it supposed to be a video on how to do things and not tell your like story or say Dum ***** and drag the video out 

[Kokorosie]

On 9/25/2023 at 9:15 PM, Wulfie Reanimator said:

Using Blender, you can project an image onto a mesh surface and bake that into a texture. That would completely bypass any "lining up" around UV boundaries.

Look up decals and how to bake them.

would you know of any good tutorials on how to do this on blender? 

[Kokorosie]

On 12/26/2023 at 12:46 AM, onyx Kelberry said:

I used a Dev kit and uploaded the mesh body into blender, then I set up the uv's so I could work them in Substance painter. Then I created a full body tattoo in substance painter.

Looked great, without visible seams. I painted directly on the body. Looked  good - look here https://gyazo.com/fa9bd29a923392c8fe2cdf35fdbf66d4

Problem is when I put my upper and lower textures on a tattoo layer in second life ---- I could see cracks at the seams. I tried using smudge to fix this but does not look good.

I have a lot of tattoo's that I purchased from various creators in second life over the years. I put myself in T pose and tried them on one my one ( inspecting the problem area's. )

Some black out area's , some do not go close to the edges of the map. Most who do, have issues. I have not seen any that are perfectly seamless unless there is no texturing near the edges of the maps. I been searching for tutorials on this. Also if anyone knows of a store in second life that sells full body tattoo's that are perfectly seamless please feel free to message me and let me know. I would like to see.

I have been searching for tutorials for a fix but have yet to find any. It's getting frustrating.

same.. i would love to have a lok if anyone has found any :)