BOM SKIN

[its777]

I was wondering to myself as a femboy avatar how hard is to find proper skins for that type of body... Lets not forget Velour has made some skins for V-tech mod for the most popular bodies.

As a shapeshifter I like to shape all kinds of mesh bodies different human types whole another images wheter it's bimbo or a skinny femboy...I let my imagination flows...

Back to the main topic... I was curious about becoming a creator for BOM skins aiming this niche group also for my particular needs...

Any one knows what would be a nice start for a modest begginer? I've been searching for tutorials & videos etc.. but all I have found was dated videos from some long years ago.

I've seen photoshop is needed for PSD files, some skin templates (whice still didn't figure where to get) and a little motivation aswell. 

My question is do I need to be a PRO to develop bom body skins?

I'd be very grateful if someone give me a direction!

[AmeliaJ08]

GIMP can handle the PSD files, I assume you mean the SLUV templates that most people use so don't worry about that.

Skins are a particularly dark art though, you don't need to be a pro but the very nice skins you see people using in SL are the result of a lot of practice. Still, have to start somewhere so why not grab GIMP or something and see what you can do?

Download the templates from here: https://www.robinwood.com/Catalog/Technical/SL-Tuts/SLPages/AVUVTemplates.html - your image editor (I'm assuming GIMP) will have a layers panel, use the eye icon to toggle individual layers from these PSD's on and off. They're just guides that allow you to see where the 'seams' are and most major body features.

Maybe start with a free base skin from somewhere like here and customize before starting something entirely from scratch? They are old but would be good to learn from I think https://www.outworldz.com/download/

Also worth experimenting to find out about the little differences between bodies, SLUV might be standard but you'll quickly find that skins need to be made to fit certain bodies. Nipple placement is the most obvious difference between bodies but there's lots and you can only really find them all by experimenting.

Learn to use Firestorm's local texture feature, it is essential for this type of work since you will be flicking between your image editor and SL a lot to see the results.

I would guess that the more pro people are possibly using software like Adobe Substance to make their skins but I'm not sure. There's a lot you can do with an image editor like GIMP or Photoshop though, you'll definitely want to get quite familiar with this type of software.

 

Edited May 14 by AmeliaJ08

[its777]

Amelia, thank you very much!

I appreciate your rich detailed info. That will help me a lot. 

I'll prolly need to start from somewhere, certainly. 

Big thanks!

[Charalyne Blackwood]

Anyone else miss the SLSkinmint? 

[Nalates Urriah]

Amelia gave a good answer. I'll add to it.

Robinwood's templates (aka UV Maps) are for the SL default avatar. Many mesh bodies use that set of UV Maps. But there are problems with the SL UVMap. Basically, they are O L D.

You can get UV Maps for the various brands of mesh bodies and heads from the authors. Some like LeLuka's EVOX are radically different. Try the demos.

There are ways to look at the textures that make up the skin your avatar is wearing. They are in the viewer cache. Most of us won't explain how to see them as too many people ripoff the designers. You can gain the same education of what skins need to look like from the old videos. Making skin hasn't changed. Making a skin for the default SL avatar, which most OLD video cover, is the same as making a skin for a new Maitreya body. The under laying tech has  not changed.

A big challenge is converting a 3D thing into a 2D texture. So, using the inexpensive tools, like GIMP, means you have to do most of the work. Much of it in your head. Advanced tools like Adobe's makes it easier and in some cases allows you to work on the 3D model.

Using GIMP you will get an idea of whether you want to pursue skin making.

 

[Conifer Dada]

If you're making your own skin, like I did, it's helpful to start with a set of open-source skin textures (the ones I used were called called 'Splendour') that you can put into Photoshop or Gimp and modify (and modify, and modify . . . . and modify . . . .!!). I used the old CMFF templates for 'system' avatars because I still use that type. By the time I'd finished there was nothing left of the original textures, they were just a useful starting point. The CMFF templates also work with some BOM bodies but you might need to make adjustments, in particular to the finger and toe textures. Other bodies use different UV maps but the process would be the same, assuming you can obtain their UV maps. I can't find the downloadable open-source (full perms) skin texture files I used any more. If you can't find any, you could start by making a very basic monotone skin with all the detailing drawn in with lines, like a cartoon, to use as a guide to get everything in place, before moving on to more subtle shaded versions.

Since you need to upload the skin textures literally hundreds of times as you work, to check your progress, I'd recommend using an OpenSim standalone region (downloaded to your computer). That way uploading is free and very quick. Failing that, you can use the Second Life Beta Grid or OS Grid for free texture testing. When you're satisfied with the skin you've created, upload it to SL.

The most difficult thing is getting a perfect match between the upper and lower textures at the waist, since that area of the body has shading. This needs a lot of trial and error. The neck join is less difficult because you get away with using a single skin tone all the way round, as I did.

Edited May 22 by Conifer Dada