Basic Character Questions

I'm new to SL and I would like to create new hair designs, clothes, and skins.

Where do I start? Are there template models and skins I can modify?

How do I go about selling them when i'm done?

Thanks a million!

Wow Herbert, you asked enough questions to fill a book with the answers. Let me see. If I can help you get started on your quests. First of all: Welcome to Second Life. You will find an amazing world filled with friendly and helpful people.

Clothes and skins all have things in common. They are made by using templates or guides in a graphics program, such as Photoshop, Corel Photo Paint, GIMP to draw and paint the clothes or skin. These drawings are then uploaded into Second Life (at a cost of $L10 each) and applied to the avatar.

Most SL hair is actually made within SL out of primitives. Primitives or Prims are the same boxes you rez on the ground or accidentally put on you head. Hair is made fram a series of prims that are twisted and worked to look like locks. The hair texture is then applied to the prims.

To start on your quest, I recommend, if you haven’t already done so, you first read through the WIKI, found in the support section of Second Life. You will also find the above mentioned clothing templates and some sample clothing, which you can modify.

At the top of this forum are a couple of sticky threads that contain links to various tutorials, templates and information on making clothes and skins in SL. Go through them. They were developed from questions, such as yours, and contain a lot of useful information. There are also in-world classes in making clothes. I offer a monthly class on making clothing in SL. You might also check TEZZERS Univ. and New Citizens Inc. (NCI). They both offer in-world classes and may have something on clothing.

To open a store and sell your products, you will need to own land or rent some for your store. There are classes in-world on getting started in selling. Your success will depend on your ability to design and make quality clothing and skins as well, as your ability to market yourself.

Many of the regular posters to this forum are successful SL merchants who also give their time to help others. I suggest that you take a little time and find what it is you want to do and can do. Unless you are already a skilled graphics artist, it takes time to learn how to draw clothing in SL.

Find your niche. See if there is something that you can do that isn’t already done by a hundred people. I have been in SL for almost seven months. After being encouraged by several people I am only now opening a clothing store. I know you are different from me. However, it has taken me that long to find my niche (traditional women’s clothing, much like you would wear in real life) and to feel like I can offer something of quality.

Anyway, best of luck in SL. If you have something good to offer, SL has the people who will buy it.

I hope this helped you.

Jen

Hi Jen, was just wondering how you drew in photoshop and actually made special shapes like a sweetheart neckline or puff sleeves etc. all i seem to do right now are squares squares and more squares lol.

Hi Stella – Drawing in Photoshop is no different that drawing with a pen or pencil. If you can draw a realistic shirt on paper with a pencil, you can do so in Photoshop. You use shading to give an illusion of 3D.

Put on a nice store bought outfit, something that you really like. Then take pictures of yourself wearing it. Use the Save to Hard Drive feature, it’s free. Now, open the photos in a graphics program. I use a free program called IrfanView. It allows me to blowup the picture and look at the folds and wrinkles. Then, see if you can duplicate them on something you are making. Don’t be discouraged if it takes a while to get it where you like it. You will also find that sometimes it look beautiful in Photoshop and sucks in SL. Go back and do it again.

There are many ways of drawing. You can just draw with different shades of your base color. This would be like painting with oil or acrylics. Some people use the dodge and burn tools. I like to use the Multiply and Screen layers. I learned this from Robin Woods. She has the technique posted somewhere in a thread.

I like the M&S because, I can use them to draw the folds; then if I change the color of the garment, I don’t need to worry about changing the color of my shadows and midtones. Photoshop will do it for me. I can also easily change the fill and opacity to fit the color.

Puffy sleeves can’t be done in SL without the use of in-world prims. SL will always, with the exception of a skirt, make the clothing skin tight. For necklines I use the templates put out by Robin and Chip Midnight as a guide. I will then load the base garment into my DAZ Studios (a free 3D program) avatar to see how it looks. If I need to change it slightly I can easily do so, before getting into the shading.

I really like using DAZ Studios. I am currently trying to duplicate a beautiful dress I found on line for SL. I am taking screen shots of the Photoshop and DAZ screens at the various stages. It was perfect for getting the sleeveless armholes and the plunging back correct. If the dress comes out well, I will add the slides to my in-world class, as a sample of making a garment.

Jen

Wow, Jennifer, thanks a bunch, that was super helpful!

Wow Jen,

I don't even know what those Multiply and Screen layers. And I was so proud I learned Alpha channels. For now I will try using the pen tool instead of the preset shapes. Because all I end up with are tube tops and very simple pants. I gotta start somewhere right?

But you're right, when I try to create a waistband or cuffs on Chip's templates, they're all aligned in Photoshop but when I upload it, I just wasted L$10 becuase they don't seem to line up

I'm very intrigued with Daz Studios. You can test clothes on your SL avatar there?

And, uh, shading? What's that? I mean when do you need to do that?

Do you think you could mentor me one-on-one or would yuo rather I wait for your class? I keep missing it. I'm so frustrated

Jen! Help!

I downloaded the Daz and it looks great. Problem is it wont open any of the files I made in Photoshop. And photoshop can't convert the files into any of the file formats supported by Daz.

Any suggestions?

I checked out poser. Do I really have to pay for that? I'm not exactly swimming in the bucks.

Stella - Here is a thread that discusses using DAZ Studio in SL. Basically, you download the Avatar Mannequin files from Second Life’s support section. DAZ Studio will IMPORT the Obj (Poser) files.

You will then end up with a metallic skinned figure. To put clothes on your figure they have to be saved in TIF format. If you want to put a shirt on the figure, you click on the upper body section and then click on Browse for File under the Basic tab, to the right of the hierarchal tree. Go to the folder where you saved your TIF file and click on it. The shirt will appear on your avatar.

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I know that trying to understand clothing in SL can be daunting. If you are trying to make clothing by using Shapes, it sounds like you would do better by first learning a bit more about Photoshop.

Photoshop is much too complex to try and teach in-world. My clothing class assumes a basic understanding of your graphics program. You will find under the Links Sticky, tutorials on many of Photoshop’s features. You can also find numerous tutorials on the web.

I recommend you learn about Selection, especially the Lasso tools and Paths. Both of those tools will allow easy selection of an area to be filled with color. Robin has a mini-tutorial on Paths, somewhere here (I would look it up for you but, I need to leave for school)

Shading is now you make something look 3D on a 2D surface. It is the use of darker and lighter tones to make a ball look like a ball and not a circle. Or, to add wrinkles to your clothing.

Jen