The process of getting a new skin in game and making shapes.

Hello everyone,

I admit to being a bit of a noob to creating textures and effects in Second Life. I have photoshop 7 and CS and I think I've got a pretty good handle on textures and texturing so my question does not relate to how to make a texture... rather, I'm curious about how someone gets a skin in game.

I have made several outfits and some flex/prim skirts. Yay! I'm going to open a little store to sell some of my clothing designs!

Anyway, I make my textures in photoshop and I use Robin's UV upper/lower maps to build a top or a bottom. I've been toying with the idea and trying my hand at making a skin for myself (specifically body shading and makeup).

So, if I'm using Robin's upper and lower maps how do I make the full body? Do I fill the top and copy paste into a new file and then copy paste the bottom (and then repeat for face) to get all body parts into one file? Or is there a Body map that I just don't have yet that includes all the parts of a body.

Once you have your texture and your file... what do you upload it as into SL?

I'm also curious about making shapes for a body.... where should I start to investigate how I'd make my own female shape?

I'm sorry if these are simple questions, but I do appreciate your time and assistance. Hope you are all having a lovely day! Thank you.

Skins are made just like clothing, meaning it's done in 3 parts. Use the maps you have and paint them to look like skin. The trick is getting the seams to match; that takes a ton of practice.




Once you've got the textures made, upload them to SL (File -> Upload Image), and then apply them to your avatar skin as tattoos.


You can't make an arbitrary body shape from scratch. All body shapes are made in-world via the appearance sliders.

That said, you can attach prims to a body to make it look like it's shaped differently than it actually is. Think of it kind of like wearing a mask or a suit of armor. You're not actually changing the shape of the body itself, just putting extra stuff over it to make it look different.