Words on t-shirt: how to handle UV mapping?

[PromisingBoy]

Hi,

forgive me for asking all these newb questions but i couldn't find the answer.

I tried to put some words on a t-shirt to have fun with my friends. So I created a text layer on the upper body texture of the tee. However, inworld it gets pretty much distorted on the body due to the nonlinear mapping of the texture onto the body. It's readable but it looks poor. How do the profs do it?

Thanks. ;)

[Amethyst Jetaime]

It is done with an outside graphics program such as Photoshop or Gimp.  The designer uses templates that available for Tshirts (Look in Marketplace for these) or has made their own original shirt using the body template. available in the SL Wiki.

Basically, uou need to either place the text in an area that doesn't distort or distort the text so that when applied to the avatar it comes out straight.  The templates can help you do this.

[PromisingBoy]

I am aware of image processing software and UV templates. I just don't see how I can realistically distort a flat surface (like a text layer in Gimp) onto the UV map so that it becomes readable inworld.

[Kwakkelde Kwak]

As Amethyst said, you'll need to look for a space that doesn't distort so much. You will never get a perfect result, everybody has a slightly different shape, some avs are fat, other muscular etc. You could upload a (temporary) rather dense grid texture and apply it to your shirt layer, then you can see where the lines are distorted the most and where the least.

[Shelby Silverspar]

what do you want the shirt to say?

[PromisingBoy]

I want to create simple messages to have fun with my friends, liek "I <heart symbol> <friend>" or "<friend> for president" or whatever I want to whip up on short notice.

 

The other comments are fair, I can move the text to a less distorted area which in the case of the front of a t-shirt is the belly area. Only this is not where you put the writing in RL.

[Poenald Palen]

You can use a warp function and also grab templates that show you where the bending lines are. The idea is, you put those lined templates on your avatar and then compare the distance of hte lines and marks. You then use disort tools to drag.

BUT, there are other ways.

Decal the avatar .obj file shape in a 3D prog and UV unwrap. Don't know any 3D prog? OK. Then you might like the programs available on the marketplace called AvPainter. Here is some info about it: http://dedricmauriac.wordpress.com/2008/12/25/avpainter/

You can use blender, or Maya....uh, 3Ds max, C4d I bet to! Uh, wow....many others to! 3D programs are a bit odd to learn. But, yeah, it can be done easily enough in those AND there is also a plug-in for this in Photoshop. I can't remember what it is  called, but there was a free one you could use somehow to paint onto 3D objects and get the texture our. You are looking at texture and UV baking. You would load up your T-Shirt thingy to your avatar as one layer and then decal or otherwise get the text layer on there to be 'projected' or mapped right. You might be able to use the image with the text as a paint bush and stamp it on there if your 3D program allows painting. Then, you export the newly painted Tshirt texture and import into SL. Baking adds light effects, which can be a good addition if you make a flat T and then add the wrinkeles sans any major shade, back...wow, this is complicated I bet. I guess an easy answer is, AvPainter is simpler than all this, but you can use blender for free and tutorials on projection painting and baking UV's and textures helps you with this taks. Also, you would need the avatar .obj files! They are free online somewhere.

 

[PromisingBoy]

Thanks for the explanation. I now understand that a significant investment (in terms of both, money and time) into 3D modelling tools is required.

[Morgaine Christensen]

Yes, it can be a costly investment to make even simple things in SL.  But the good news is, there are many free and open source software out there that can be had...things like Gimp, Blender, DAZ Studio (depends on when they have specials), Audacity, etc ...to assist you.  Will just require an investment of your time to learn to use them. And, learning can be had for free with lots and lots of tutorials on the web.

I assume you have either Chip Midnight or Robin Wood templates to experiment with placement?  Do you use a viewer capable of allowng temporary free uploads?   You might just experiment with the letter size. I think someone already mentoing the warp/arc tool in photoshop.   I know when I used equal size buttons for a shirt in certain areas it was a disaster.  My remedy was to make particular buttons  smaller.  While it did not completely resolve the issue, it lessened the stretched look.  And to be honest, while we may not like this effect, we all put up with it.  We do the best we can to lessen it, but in the end, it is due to the limitations of the SL Avs.

 

[PromisingBoy]

Thanks Morgaine, I'm a great supporter of open source and very familiar with the Gimp and Audacity. I will give Blender a try when I get round to it. I must admit I have not looked into it in the past simply because of the steep learning curve and the lack of any real need. In the meantime I will take all the other feedback into account how to get along with Photoshop or (in my case) Gimp.

 

 

[Kwakkelde Kwak]

A very helpful free tool is SL Clothes previewer. It's a small standalone program, so you can see how the texture looks without having to open SL. All you do is put the texture you made into a slot and it will show it on the avatar.

SL Clothes Previewer

[Poenald Palen]

EDIT: The following is not useful. Projection painting, or (reprojection painting? The video explains) does not work with teh femal SL avatar. I made a default female shape in SL, used the defualt female .obj file and it doesn't work. You can simply just use robins templates and then simply warp anything you want changed using iWarp in gimp...not an quick task. Sorry, I don't have any tips and don't really want to even try this method! It is far to sloppy, mistake ridden and trial and error for me! SL makes the shirts work the way they want and basically...well, t-shirts stretch and fold! So, whatever I put into SL based on the .obj mesh UV maps is getting changes when it goes onto the SL avatar, even if the shape is the same. So, SL does something to make it easier for you to use a 2D program. Personally, I am not a expert at all this and have only played with some hair making using the mesh avatar before. This was interesting, but....ultimatly...well, sorry I can't help!

I wlil leave the below, but below is basically useless for SL avatars..as far as I can tell. Forget what I said about projection painting on the SL avatar, it doesn't seem to work very well at all. the UV maps do not match what the avatar is really using. SO hand adjustment of whatever you want will be required...unless the SL clothes making prog is any different, it is SL specific and available on the marketplace.secondlife.com website for some amount of linden dollars.

 

This might be helpful. It requires a little knowledge of blender, mainly importing in the avatar .obj file and getting what is called the UV map asigned to a texture. Plus, you will maybe need to eneble or set up gimp to work with blender (simple I beleive) so....yeah, here is the link showing what it allows you to do:

YOu can see how you would just align the avatar into view while in paint mode, in blender, and then export the view to gimp. Then, simply put text or whatever over the top and it morphs it all to fit on and look similar as it does in gimp.

Of course, you can still end up with distortion. So, it might take tweaking. But, shuold work.

I will actually maybe try to make a tutorial on this. I will working out some racing suite stuff as well as doing some projection painting and well...might as well take a few screen shots of a T-shirt in the process and try to put together a turorial. I can always try, it is not to complex once you figure it out. But, god knows that every time I projection paint I forget to check a box, choose the right brush or get the wrong UV to the wrong texture or anything to make a mistake!  I need the tutorial to reference for myself, so....might as well make one in case I don't do projection painting for a while and forget it again! I will see what I can do this afternoon.

[Poenald Palen]

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PromisingBoy wrote:

Thanks Morgaine, I'm a great supporter of open source and very familiar with the Gimp and Audacity. I will give Blender a try when I get round to it. I must admit I have not looked into it in the past simply because of the steep learning curve and the lack of any real need. In the meantime I will take all the other feedback into account how to get along with Photoshop or (in my case) Gimp.

 

 

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I checked out the blender method...just doesn't work! SL does something with the UV maps compared to what is in thier 3d objects files, the ones they offer to us.

 

So, here is the best bet to help you fine warping, Templates: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Clothing_Tutorials

Step one.

Put templates on your avatar. Look at them. Be confused (this is what I learned in a SL clothing class...sort of) BUT, then look at the templates in world. Notice stuff that is twisted. I mean, you can take pics of in world avatars wearing these and then load them in to compare, if needed.

Step Two.

Trial and error, watch teh seams and if it stretches on one area...uh, move it a bit because it might be on a part where the mesh just stretches the texture.

Sorry I can't help much more!

[Kwakkelde Kwak]

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Poenald Palen wrote:

SL does something with the UV maps compared to what is in thier 3d objects files, the ones they offer to us.

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What SL does are two things...SL runs an animation so the geometry is altered...and SL applies body morphs so the geometry is altered. With the odd UV mapping we have to work with for the avatar, this means you can never ever get a perfect result, unless you make the clothing suit for one single avatar shape in one single pose.

SL does nothing with the UV maps.