Tattoo question

[Amethyst Damour]

hi everyone have a question regarding making tattoos in s/l...ive been using the chip midnight clothing templeate i.e upper and lower body.

these are ok for doing back or front tattoos but the probelm i have is say i want to do a tattoo that wraps around the body from front to back,its impossible to get it lined up proberly using these templates due to the design of the templates !!!

 

i thought i read somewhere about using a full body template in 3d mode on photoshop ? could anyone help me with this probelm and maybe guide in the right direction of a tutorial any help would be great :matte-motes-big-grin:

 

thanks

 

Amethsyt

[Ceera Murakami]

That's basicly an issue with the UV mapping in the SL avatar itself. The way a texture is mapped to the avatar is pretty poor in the first place, and very poor at the side seams and groin areas.

Wrapping any texture seamlessly between front and back is an art form. Chip's templates are one of the best guides I have seen for that seam matching, but doing it flat in Photoshop is still tricky.

I'm sure Chosen Few or one of the other people experienced in the 3D painting options will chime in soon with precise details, but my understanding is that if you have a newer version of Photoshop that supports the 3D mode, you can import the SL avatar model, apply your textures to the surface of the 3D model, and then get Photoshop to "unwrap" that for you into a flat texture.

[Princess Verwood]

Good question Amethyst. I use Robin Wood's templates (and have tried Chip's) but matching from front to back or wrapping has always been an issue as long as SL has been. IMO it's sort of pre-historic in this day & time that nothing else better has came around. Maybe the Photoshop 3D mode that Ceera mentioned is something someone can elaborate on but to my knowledge there is nothing out there to make it easier. 

There is the SL Clothing Previewer that helps you see your creations in 3D instead of uploading in-world numerous times, but that program doesn't allow you to create it in there. I'll be listening too for any other answers to your question.

[JoJo Aurelia]

It just takes practice. I split my screen for top and bottom when I want to match things up. I use all the color codes, and squint. I often use patterns that have to be matched. I'm amazed at those who don't match things up, at least the top and bottom, anyways. It's a pain in the butt, but practice makes perfect.

[Ry0ta Exonar]

I'm using MultiCH plug-in  cuz It works also on GIMP.

[StoneDwarf]

Hello Amethyst,

The avatar meshes can be found on http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Creation_Portal I believe Photoshop CS3 extended, CS4 extended and CS5 extended support 3d models. Import the model and paint directly onto the avatar mesh.

Technically speaking, there is no such thing as one full body template, because the avatar is made out of three separate parts - head, upper body, lower body. This is why we use different UV layouts (the templates we use to create clothing, with all the lines and squares, also called faces and edges, are also known as UV layouts) to texture different parts of the body.

The reason why I am pointing this out is because it is important to understand how these things work before you start with 3d texture painting.

There are three different approaches one can take when doing tattoos, or any other form of texture painting on the avatar.

1) The old-school way, in 2d. The results are considered to be ‘good enough’ However, distortion here and there is inevitable.

2) Painting in 3d, in Photoshop. Some people like it, some people hate it. You can texture your models in 3d and most Photoshop tools are still available in 3d mode.

3) Painting in 3d software, kinda like what you would do in Photoshop. The difference however is that Photoshop is made from a 2d point of view, where as programs such as mudbox, zbrush and body paint are designed to this kind of work, together with sculpting fine details on high poly models.

My advice would be to learn one of the 3d programs I mentioned above if you are having ‘serious’ plans about making tattoos. Once you know your way around you can easily texture meshes the same way as how you would work on the default avatar mesh, which leads to new opportunities.

I hope this helped,

Goodluck!

[Amethyst Damour]

wow thank you for all your advice really helpful i'll definately be looking into what you've suggested

 

many thanks

 

Amethyst