First Impressions; PS CS3 Extended (3d in PS!)

I'm looking forward to getting my hands on a copy of CS3. Thanks a ton for the info on it.

nvidia 7900 - 256

Certainly will let Adobe know.

Thanks!

just another thanks to Robin, this is insanely good! and going to help tons!

It's kind of irritating that Adobe didn't include the necessary Second Life figures+clothes with Extended. Maybe I just didn't find it on the goodie disk? Seems like a friggin no-brainer, as that's why I personally parted with so much moolah (or it was at least one reason).

Thank you so much for posting the characters+textures here. Adobe should offer you Extended free for your efforts. If anyone would like, I'd be willing to host a large, convenient file for everyone to d/l.

why would adobe offer anything for second life??? they've nothing to do with sl

Late last year when I joined SL, my passion was to have a cloak. No Lindens yet, so I took classes, tutorials, and struggled with Photoshop CS to make textures. Now my little shop is doing well--yes, lots of cloaks among other things!--and I'm eager to strain my remaining leetle gray cells to tackle skins.

So this thread about CS3 is very interesting, along with the many awesome designers who have commented. Modeling software befuddles me, but let me see if I can iris down my questions...

I have Photoshop CS. If I upgrade to CS3 extended and use AvPainter (have been using it), will that be a powerful (and hopefully a time-saving) combo for SL skinning?

Or...a good skinner friend uses ZBrush for photosourcing faces. Would the CS3/ZBrush combo be substantially more powerful and economical of time?

Robin's comments have inspired me to invest in CS3, but the modeling requirements of skin design have me flummoxed.

Thanks in advance...

Shao

started messing around with CS3 Extended last night. it works great. thanks for the exported AVs, Robin!

one request, though! think we could get a set of AVs, both male and female, in some different basic poses? maybe sitting anda coupel of others? that would help a ton, getting things to fit.

Forgive me if I am asking a redundant question. I'm a total newbie.

Is it possible to use CS3 to texture a sculpty? I made my first sculpty in Wings yesterday, so go easy on me. lol

thanks

Hi..just a question which will hopefully be easy to answer. I have PS SC3E, and I've gotten the 3d model to open, but for the life of me I can't figure out how to apply a texture to the actual model. If I didn't word that clearly, let me know. I'm not sure how else to explain it.

Thanks for any help. This sounds like a fantastic application! Now if I can just figure out how to work it.

Yes. Apply a material to the sculpty in your 3D program, assign a blank image file to the color channel, and then export everything to to an OBJ. Open the OBJ in Photoshop, and the texture image file will open along with it. Edit the texture as you see fit.

Keep in mind that it won't necessarily be easy to texture your sculpty well, depending on its shape, and on your familiarity with how 2D textures wrap in 3D space. For best results, I'd recommend using a good renderer to bake your texture, and then if necessary, use Photoshop to clean up the results. I've never used Wings3D though, so I have no idea what, if any, baking capabilities it has.



You can't apply new textures to models in Photoshop. All you can do is edit existing textures. So, first apply a texture (even if it's just a blank one) to the model in your 3D program. Then open up the model in Photoshop and edit the texture.

Robin, were you able to get around to posting those zipped files of exported avatars you mentioned?

I would be most grateful as I lack Poser but Do have Photoshop CS3. The free models on the SL site have no textures so i can't edit them.

Thanks!

Hi Finnegan, yes. The link was in post 7 on this thread. But given that the Lindens have chosen to disable most of the bbcode in these forums, for reasons of their own, it's hard to spot.

Here it is again.

http://www.robinwood.com/Catalog/Technical/SL-Tuts/SLDownloads/Exported_CS3_Avatars.zip

You will probably have to copy and paste that, and it doesn't go to a page; it goes directly to the files themselves. So the download will start as soon as you hit Enter.

Hope this helps!

Thanx for those informative posts, i bought cs3 a few weeks ago and have bought my self a 6 week course of vids from the net. i was never a fan of ps and have finally left psp to go to ps and i love it. the Actions i have used to automate and make my life so easy are fantastic and overall it a fantastic product. I have just made my first 3d texture set from a lovely church i found last week on a texture hunting trip cam in hand. it is hard traveling from one product i have used for years to migrate to cs3 but its looking excellent and worth the investment.

Thank you so much! Worked great. and thank your husband too. I have an NVidia 8500. Made my day!

Way back when this thread was started, I used Robin's exported avatars and opened the obj files in CS3 extended with absolutely no problem...just clicked and they opened in 3d mode. I could fix lighting, reposition, rotate and so on. I resolved some day I would finally go back and actually learn how to use them for making clothing.
This morning I went back and was unable to open the files as 3D. Same computer, no changes to hardware. When I try to open them, it opens in Alias/Wavefront format and I get the message "Your video card does not meet the requirements for hardware accelerated 3D rendering. All 3D will be rendered with software only."
When i click OK, the file opens, and although the file format says obj, it acts as a psd file with layers and there is no option to rotate, change lighting, and so on.
I have a ATI Mobility Radeon 9550 graphics card on a Mac iBook G4.
Am I forgetting a step I used way back when, or has CS3 changed somehow?

Hi

Im sorry if its obvious or written somewhere inhere but ive searched and re-read all the posts and still cant really fin dthe answer, maybe i just dont get it, but hoping someone will help me here

I downloaded the Exported Avs, and want to use a template file i have with layers instead of the .jpg that opens up when i click on Model_Top in the 3d layers.(im sorry if im not very clear, i only started using photoshop recently )

How do i go about replacing the .jpgs with layered psd files?

any help wwould be uch appreciated. thanks

And thanks a lot Robin for your excellent work

have a great day all!!

Hi Tarek!

There are a couple of ways.

The images are stored internally as .psb files. (Adobe's Photoshop Large Document file. I think of it as 'Photo Shop Big' ;D.)

If you double click on the Texture layer in the PS file (For instance, double click on the name Material_Top) it will open the .psb file, which you can then resize, drag layers into, add any kinds of layers you want, paint on layers, or anything else you want to do to it.

This won't change the name of the material layer in the list, but if that's not a problem, it's very easy to do.

So, to change the content of that image to your layered file,

1. Open the material layer you want to change by double clicking on it. For example, double click on the words Material_Top. You'll notice that the name in the title bar is "Material_Top.jpg.psb"
2. Open the image with the content (layers) you want to use.
3. Hold down the Shift key, and select all the layers from that document.
4. Right click on the layers, and choose "Duplicate Layers" from the Contextual Menu.
5. In the dialog that opens, choose the name of the material (for example, "Material_Top.jpg.psb" from the Destination>Document drop down menu.
6. Save the Material file.
7. Admire the updated Material on the AV in the main file.

When you Save that file, your new Material will be saved with it; so I strongly suggest that you Save As, so that you don't overwrite the pristine Avatar file with the single layer, resized materials. (You did Save such a file, with the Lighting and Render setting you like, and the Avatar positioned in the View the way you want it, didn't you? )

The other method is slightly more complex, and takes place outside of PS, but it has the result of changing the name of the material, which might be what you need.

To do it,
1. Make sure the image you want to use has no spaces in the name. For example, My_Image.psd.
2. Duplicate the folder with the original .obj files that you downloaded, and place your image in the folder.
3. Open the Female_AV.mtl file in that folder in a plain text editor. I use BBEdit, but you can use anything that won't introduce any formatting information into the file.
4. Find the line that says "map_Kd" and the name of the material you want to replace.
5. Replace that name with the name of the file you want to use. (For example, change the line that says "map_Kd Material_Top.jpg" so that it says "map_Kd My_Image.psd".)
6. Repeat for any other materials you wish to change.
7. Save and close the Material file.
8. Open the .obj file in Photoshop, as you normally would. You'll see your image mapped to the model, and you'll also see your image name as the name in the material list.

Personally, I tend to use the former method, instead of the latter, because I have no problem with the texture layers being named "Material_Top" etc. It's easier for me to change the content on those layers, and not have to change the mat file, and loose all my lighting and rendering settings.

But both options will work, so there you go.

Hope this helps!

Hello Robin,

After four years of creating furniture in Slife, just yesterday I decided to finally open the clothing templates which have been sitting in a folder collecting virtual dust for years.

I decided to have a read through the forums for helpful tutorials and found this thread.

I simply had to write to tell you how appreciative I am of all your efforts, expert advice, and patience. Your willingness to share all of this with us is a gift from your heart and obvious sweet soul.

As my way of extending a sincere and heart felt thank you, please look for a gift in Slife tomorrow. I'm just too tired to log in at the moment, but I promise, when I log in next I'll make good on my word.

Cheers,
Sky.

Sorry for the late reply!!! wow...thank yous o much for such a detailed explanation!!! you rock
Just want to add that i really have respect for the time you take to help others by sharing your knowledge.

Ill make sure i send you a copy of anythign i make using your templates

keep up the great work

Not sure if this is same application but it works CS Extended its called Ghostpainter 2.5 http://www.cebas.com/news/read.php?UD=10-7888-33-788&NID=288

Hmmm...

I was thinking about upgrading to CS3, mostly because of the 3D option thingee. But reading this, I'm not sure it would be more useful for texturing sculpts than my current method of having SculptySpace and Photoshop open at once. Right now I save in PS as a rough draft BMP, then reimport into SculptySpace. This sounds as if it saves a click, but not much else.

Mind you, I can see how this would be terrific for clothing design, as one can use an avatar obj. files (much more detailed than a SL compatible obj file). But for creating textures for sculpts, I'm not sure it would be worth the money, unless there are other features that I'm not aware of.

Yep, same app. They finally got CS3 and 3ds Max 2008/2009 support out about two weeks ago (thank god because previous versions of Max won't work in Vista so I was without 3d Paint on my new workstation since December). I upgraded to 2.5 the day they released it. I don't think it makes any use of CS3's 3d object layer. I'm not in any hurry to upgrade. GhostPainter is a fantastic tool for anyone who already has Max 2008 or higher and Photoshop. Thanks for the heads up FD.

Hi all! I'm trying to get started with the files that robin gave us, but for some reason, when i open them in my program, i don't have the templates in my layers pallette. can someone tell me what i'm doing wrong?

Here's what to do:

1. Open one of the OBJ files in Photoshop. The program will ask you what size you want the containing image to be. It doesn't really matter what size you pick. I usually go with 1024x1024.

2. In Layers palettel, you'll see one layer, called Layer 1. Click the little arrow to the right of the layer's name to expose its contents, if it's not already exposed.

3. Inside Layer 1, you'll see a component called textures, and inside that, you'll see the three materials that are on the model. Those are the three templates you're looking for. Double click on any one of them to open it, and you'll see it open up in a new canvas.

4. Paint whatever you want onto the template, add layers, etc., everything you'd normally do when creating a skin or clothing item. Every time you hit Save in the template window, you'll see your changes show on the model in the other window.

Obviously, the larger your monitor, the easier this will be. Dual monitors are the ideal setup.

Thank you chosen, but i do not see an arrow to the right of my layer 1. I don't know if i'm beind stupid, but there doesn't seem to be any way to open the contents in that layer.