I need to make a watermark on a sculpty, can anyone help me please?

HELP! I know how to do to put a watermark on a sculpty.

Someone said "Make a layer on top, make it an alpha texture, then upload as a tga file."

I did that and it didn't work.

They said "Do you even know how to DO a successful alpha texture?"

Yes... I'm a teacher and make clothes and plants and stuff like that. I know how. I just have never done a watermark. So okay, now you made me feel stupid.

Can someone PLEASE help me? I've tried all kinds of things and it just doesn't want to work right. If I make the top layer invisible, then the image when uploaded is no longer a sculpty. So it's definitely a mess.

Thanks for your time. :/

If you watermark a sculpt map, you'll bork your sculpty. Remember, each vertex in the 3D sculpty mesh gets its location information from the RGB values of a specific pixel in the image. If you put a watermark over the thing, you're altering those RGB values. You really don't want to do that.

If you're concerned about keeping your sculpt map from being copied easily, the thing to do is to make it totally transparent. Simply give it an all black alpha channel. Do not make any other changes to it.

You could also use a logo or other shape as the alpha mask. But Chosen is right, watermarking the actual sculptmap image will distort or ruin your sculpty.

Okay, now I get it, sorta. I kinda get it. In that I understand why I was told to put an alpha channel on it. A transparent layer there. I've seen how Cel and others put their name over the top or just leave the whole thing blank and transparent, which is basically what I'm trying to do. Only thing is, I'm not sure how to get the alpha channel on there, since to put an all black layer on top would make it obsolete too. That is where I'm having the problem. I was told to make a transparent layer, and make that layer an alpha channel and when it's uploaded that layer would be the only layer seen, not the bottom layer that is the sculpt map. However, so far I've been unable to accomplish this. It's probably some simple step I'm missing, I'm sure. Merging something or NOT merging something, unticking a 'view' layer or something. I just am uncertain what step I'm missing. Would anyone happen to know what it is?

Thanks in advance for any help.

FYI... People are giving me advice in-world. And just so you don't waste your time.. Unless you give me step by step instructions, telling me "make an alpha texture" or "make a transparent layer" isn't going to do it. I've done that. It's not working. I just spent the last 3 hours, AGAIN, trying, AGAIN, to "make an alpha texture" and "make a transparent texture" going by new links I was sent. But it's the same thing that I've been given before and they are the same SHORT versions as before. I hate, HATE HATE to admit this, and I know I sound like the most stupid human on the planet, but .... I still don't get it. I still can't do it. The instructions are too short. I KNOW how to make an alpha texture. I make cloths all the time. I successfully make plants constantly and upload them with no problems. So I know what they look like. I know what an alpha channel looks like. But I can NOT *HATES admitting how stupid she sounds* make ONE SINGLE ALPHA channel one ONE SINGLE SCULPTY without it borking the hell out when I upload it or the transparent being just that, transparent and you can then see all the pretty colors behind it, thus it being totally success full in being what it was supposed to be, an alpha transparency because it wasn't hiding the sculpty.... I need more "Step 1. Make a layer. Step 2. Dump black paint into that layer. Step 3 select that layer. Step 4. Load 'selection'..... It has to be step by step, or I won't get this done. Because obviously I'm missing a step and that one step is messing everything up.

Thanks in advance.

Tiea, you seem to be a victim of the fact that, for whatever reason, certain people in SL can't seem to get it through their heads that layers and channels are two entirely different things, and that randomly interchanging their names, as these people do, is dangerous. You asked for a tutorial. Well, it's all of three steps.

1. Open your sculpt map.

2. Give the image a solid black alpha channel. The specific method for doing this will depend on what paint program you're using. But the important part is that you are NOT adding a LAYER. You are adding a CHANNEL. There's a huge difference there.

3. Save the image as 32-bit TGA, and upload to SL.


That's it. Forget all about adding layers to sculpt maps. That's absolutely not what you want to do, ever. Adding a channel is what we're talking about.




Now, if you want your logo to show up on the sculpt map, as Vlad suggested, then here's how you'd do that:

1. Open your sculpt map.

2. Give it a solid black alpha channel. Again, remember we're talking about a channel here, not a layer. Do NOT ever add layers to your sculpt maps.

3. On the alpha channel (NOT on a layer), paint your logo in white.

4. Save the image as 32-bit TGA, and upload to SL.

With the logo painted in white on the otherwise black alpha channel, the image will be visible in the shape of the logo, and invisible everywhere else. What people will end up seeing in the sculpt map field in the editor is a funky colored version of your logo, set against a transparent background.



Once again, let me reiterate, layers and channels are two different things. Please, everyone, discontinue the use of nonsensical phrases such as "alpha layer". There's no such thing. When you want to talk channels, use the word "channel". When you want to talk layers, use the word "layer". Do NOT interchange them.

I've been shouting for years that such interchange is dangerous, and that it causes problems for people. Well, this thread is proof of that. For everyone's sake, use proper terminology at all times.

If anyone doesn't know the difference between layers and channels, or if you're simply curious to get an idea of how long these kinds of mixups have been going on on this forum, here's an explanation I posted three years ago: /109/cc/62741/1.html#post655177

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

That did it! Since I wasn't trying to put a stupid LAYER on it, but just a CHANNEL I was able to get it to work! *dances around all happy like* YWA!!!!!! It worked!!!!

I don't mind about the logo, I don't mind about anything. I just spend 2 weeks trying to design this stupid sculpty map that no one could help me with because everyone I turned to said it was impossible, but I knew it couldn't be impossible, and I did it. I didn't want it snagged right out from under me after all that hard work. But couldn't for the life of me figure out how to put a stupid alpha layer on top of my sculpty map. Now I know why. Because there is no such thing! *does a happy dance* Put like that, it was easy to do. I got it confused because when I do plants and clothes and stuff I do things in layers so didn't realize it.

Thank you!

*runs off to make some new sculpty plants*

Can this be done in GIMP.

Yes.

Don't ask me how, never used the gimp.

But yes. It can.

in the gimp

goto the layer menu, choose transparency, choose add alpha channel (why its under the layer menu i dont know, really should be in the image menu but i guess its a consistency thing?)

then

goto the layer menu, choose mask, choose add layer mask, choose all black (full transparency)

if your looking at the layers window (ctrl + L) you will see 2 boxes next to your layers name

the one on the left is your image, the one on the right is your mask
make sure the one on the right is highlighted in white (or the one on the left is highlighted in black how ever you comprehend it)

paint away with black or white, or my preference copy and paste a prepared black and white image

save as tga

This is how I have been doing this.
Like Osgeld said...
In The Gimp:Heres a screenshot for some visual reference.
On right is layers tab. Centre top is the image, below is the Channels tab.
On left is how it looks in sculpty edit window.

I just wanted to add a cautionary note since I've noticed a lot of people believe or are getting told that using the alpha channel makes copying a sculptmap impossible.

It's still trivially easy to grab a sculptmap; the only thing that changes is that someone won't be able to snapshot it from the texture previewer and reupload it.

Do clear/watermark the alpha since it likely does help, but don't deceive yourself that it's entirely impossible or you'll be all the more disillusioned if it ever happens (ie "but they told me it wasn't possible!" which is hopefully never.

This is how I have been doing this.
Like Osgeld said...
In The Gimp:Heres a screenshot for some visual reference.

On right is layers tab. Centre top is the image, below is the Channels tab.
On left is how it looks in sculpty edit window.

Thanks to everyone for their reply. Will try it later today.