Need advice on basics

Can someone please tell me? I've heard you can take a copy of clothing off the internet and past it into your clothing templates but can you also just draw your clothes using photoshop? I can't seem to get an answer anywhere and I'm trying to figure it out on my own. What's the best way to go? I tried the cut paste thing with images but they suck for sizing. It's frustrating, there are all these wonderful tutorials but no one says HOW to get the clothes or if you're supposed to draw them yourself? I see clothing in game that you never see anywhere on the internet so what's up? I think I'm lost right now.

I have recently been playing around w/ making clothing. I suspect this is a well guarded secret and am interested to hear what responses you get.

There are a 'few' items(textures)I have found on-line that I have used to make cute tube tops for myself but that's about it. I understand the basic principle of creating a shirt for example, but the seams are a bitch for me to get right.

Lower down in this forum is the thread on Robin's T-shirt tutorial, I got a lot out of that, so that's one place to start.

I think a lot of folks do a lot of thier work on clothing in photoshop, and of course Chips's templates are a must.

GL and I figure the more I play around w/ stuff the more I'll learn.

And yes the clothing I see in SL is awesome and I think...damn I wish I could do that

I can't speak for everyone, of course, but I just draw the stuff in Photoshop.

Even the fabric I design myself, because I don't want to violate anyone's copyright. (Every piece of fabric you see was designed by someone, and they deserve to have their work valued, too.)

Of course, I've been doing textures for 3D for more than a decade now, so I'm used to it. But if you have specific questions there are a lot of people here who are happy to answer them.

The problem is that a question like "How do I make clothes" is simply too broad to answer. It depends on what kind of clothing you want to make, which graphics program you are using, and your proficiency in that program. Do you want to make clothing that involves prims, or not? Shoes with prims are a whole different topic than a t-shirt, which has different "gotcha points" than a skirt, and so on and so on.

To add to the complexity, the "templates" you'll hear about (they are really UV Maps) are... um... less than optimal. But we're stuck with them. Different people handle things like seams differently, but we all have to handle them, because of those maps.

But I'm afraid that it's not going to be simple, no matter how you cut it. Yes, you will have to learn how to really use your graphics program. No, there's no "closely guarded secret" that lets a complete novice turn out spectacular clothing in 3 easy steps.

The stuff you see is SL is the result of hard work, and lots and lots and lots of practice and experience. You might very well be able to turn out similar stuff, but probably not by this time next week, (unless you are already very good with your graphics program, and have been doing 3D work for a while.)

Where should you start? With your graphics program. If you don't know how to use it, then all the tutorials and instructions are just going to confuse you. So learn it, whichever one you want to use. There are tutorials all over the web for all the programs. Sure, they're not SL specific, but they don't need to be. That's the point.

Once you know how to use your program, download the Linden models, Chip's "templates", my "templates" and start to follow the tuts for clothing here. Learn what UVs are, and how they work. (There are several threads about them, if you search.) Learn how to figure out where things are going to fall on your model, and which polys have really bad stretching problems.

Learn what an Alpha channel is, and how to make it. Learn how to match lines across the various map pieces. Learn how to compensate for the relative size difference in the polys across the shoulders, and how to deal with the fact that we have only one arm, one foot, and one eye (for mapping purposes.)

Learn something about clothing design, if you want to design your own. We can do things in SL that wouldn't be possible in RL, because our clothing is all just painted on. But there are still things that will be aesthetically pleasing, and things that ... aren't. Not so much.

Then figure out what kind of clothing you want to make, and start to experiment. Don't get discouraged when the first dozen or more garments are total .. yeah, not something you want to ever be seen in, let alone sell.

Will this take weeks or months? Yes, it probably will. But learning to do things well takes time.

And, please, don't assume that just because we can't tap you on the head and impart years of knowledge and experience, we are guarding some secret that we are too greedy to share. Take a look at these forums, and see how many people are spending hours each week trying to teach this stuff before you say that.

Sorry that I can't give you a quick answer; but there isn't one.

Let us know if you have any specific questions!

Ummm wow sorry you took my remark that way.

What I meant was, I am aware of the time it takes to develop this skill and someone isn't going to sit down and be able to go through the whole process with you, either because of the time involved...(it's just not possible), or because it's just not something they'd necessarily want to do....why should they impart all thier tips and tricks they have worked so hard to master? We all have to figure SOME stuff out on our own.

I find people on the fourums to be very helpful, but I will stand by my remark that there may be some who feel that they have become great at what they do because of the time the have spent and don't want to just hand it all over to another.

And while it's hard to really get a REAL sense of someone's tone or intent while reading text I get the impression you are offended that I would suggest that. My intent was not to offend but just state my thoughts on it

Ummm wow sorry you took my remark that way.

What I meant was, I am aware of the time it takes to develop this skill and someone isn't going to sit down and be able to go through the whole process with you, either because of the time involved...(it's just not possible), or because it's just not something they'd necessarily want to do....why should they impart all thier tips and tricks they have worked so hard to master? We all have to figure SOME stuff out on our own.

I find people on the fourums to be very helpful, but I will stand by my remark that there may be some who feel that they have become great at what they do because of the time the have spent and don't want to just hand it all over to another.

And while it's hard to really get a REAL sense of someone's tone or intent while reading text I get the impression you are offended that I would suggest that. My intent was not to offend but just state my thoughts on it

Robin already said pretty much everything I would have said, so I'll just chime in and second it. Learning to make clothing is just like any other art. It takes practice, discipline, experience, and know-how to do it well.

Notice I didn't say telent, by the way. I try to avoid that word since it tends to put people off from trying. When confronted with a task that demands "talent", people tend to doom themselves before they even start by saying and/or thinking things like "Oh, I'm not that talented" or "I'm not an artist". In truth, every single human being on this planet is born with artistic ability. It's just that for whatever reason some people decide to persue and develop it and some people don't. I say it all the time; artistic skill is an inate ability we all have, and anyone can learn to do it.

So, before I go on ranting too long, take Robin's advice here. First learn your graphics program (Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, GIMP, etc) well, and then continue to the next step of making clothing for SL. Read the instructions that come with the templates (the "Fashion Design Guide", and then practice, practice, practice.

Understand that there are very few people who are ever good at this right away. It takes time and experience. Even for people like Robin and me, who came into SL already having had considerable 3D and 2D experience, there was definitely a learning curve to get used to the quirks of SL's specific system.

I'm sorry I don't have any kind of "Become a Master SL Clothier in 10 Easy Steps" quick fix answer for you, but there isn't one. Again, it takes time to get good at it, and there's no way around that. Lots of us are here to help when you reach the point where you start developing specific questions about what you're doing, but getting to that point is mostly up to you.



Just had to respond to this statement real quick. There are no guarded secrets, closely or otherwise. As I write this, there are 1,886 threads on this forum, and 13,335 replies. That's an average of about 7 answers for every one question. Clearly, no one's got anything to hide. If you've got a question, by all means ask. There are several of us who volunteer time here every day on this forum to help people learn, and some of us are even developing websites and other services dedicated to that purpose.

As Robin said, and I reiterated, there's no magical all-at-once instant solution. Texturing for 3D in general, and SL clothing in particular, is a skill set that takes time to get good at. Practice, learn, absorb, and when you have a question, ASK! Don't assume people won't answer you. You'll find that most people who are good at anything in life quite enjoy sharing their knowledge and experience with others. Human beings are good like that.

Don't worry, Nyx, I'm not offended. (I'm actually very difficult to offend.) I just wanted to point out that we're not holding secrets. It really is that hard!


You may not realize it, but you hit the proverbial nail on the head here. We're good at what we do because of the time that we've spent. And if you know know a way to just hand time spent to someone else, you're way ahead of me, because I don't.

In other words, we've spent a lot of time doing this. I'm afraid that you will have to as well, if you want to get good at it; because there isn't any way to hand you our experience. You'll have to get your own, because that's the nature of experience.

I'd also like to point out that there may be a few people in world who do closely guard their construction secrets (I don't know any, but I hardly know everyone in the world); but you won't find them posting on the forums, for obvious reasons. Those of us who post here are trying to tell you our secrets! In fact, sometimes I feel like I'm trying to pound my secrets into your heads. (First secret; learn your app! Second secret; practice, practice, practice.)

People come to those of us who teach here all the time, and ask to be told the secrets of making clothing. When we tell them that the only secret is hard work, and lots of it, some tend not to believe us.

For some reason, even when we post the templates we use right here on the forum, as Chip and I have done, or give massive amounts of detailed instructions, as Chosen does nearly every day, or teach classes in world, like Jen, or answer questions like so many here do, there are people who still think we're hiding the URL of the magic "Make SL Clothing" plug-in that we all obviously use. (I'm not making that up, by the way.)

So, just for the record, as Chosen and I have both said, (and I'm sure all the other regular teachers here would agree,) we'll be happy to answer just about any specific question that you care to ask. We're not guarding our secrets. It's just that it's almost impossible to answer some of these questions; they are simply too broad!

(And, by the way, Chosen is right about the learning curve here. You should see the first few pieces of clothing I made (but you won't, because I've trashed them.) The UVs in here are so ... yeah ... that it took me several trials to figure out how to work around the built-in flaws. And I know PS quite well, make textures for a living, and wrote the "Map Tab" section of the LightWave 8 manual!)

Hi Nyx - Since Robin most graciously included me in the company of truly masters of SL design i.e., Herself, Chip Midnight and Chosen Few, I will say a few words on my learning curve that might help you and others who wish to design clothing in SL.

While they are professionals, I am an amateur. I have been in SL since August of last year. Like many I started making clothes because I wanted to save money. I found most of the freebie clothing wanting and desired better.

My use of Photoshop was a pirated version put on my computer by a former boyfriend. I used it primary in making posters and stuff for my 1st grade class. My total experience was selecting part of a picture and dropping it into another picture and adding some text and background colors to make my image.

I have always been one of those people who could, as a child, draw better than most. However, I always saw a better picture in my mind than I had the ability to produce on paper. So, I quit drawing. However, making clothes in Photoshop looked doable.

I started by learning the daunting templates (UV Maps) and tutorials. My first attempts, frankly sucked. I then discovered that I could take a picture of an out fit from a web site and with a bit of stretching, cloning and coloring make something that wasn’t too bad. Not perfect, but better than my feeble attempts at drawing.

My first outfits were all made via photo-sourcing, as I later learned it’s called. However, I was limited by what I could find online that could fit the templates. Again, I could see clothes in my mind that I couldn’t find online. So I started to try and draw them.

My first bits of clothing were made by using the templates and the selection tools to draw out blouses and shirts or, as I like to think of them, patterns. I would then fill them with color. I then learned how to make fill patterns. So I started filling the basic shirt pattern with the different fills. Still, I wasn’t satisfied with the results. They looked okay but, not as good as the professional stuff I was buying.

About this time, a group of people were putting together a charity function and were looking for people to donate things. My SL boyfriend and companion, Xylo Hasp volunteered me, telling the woman in charge that I was a clothing designer. LOL Maybe he saw something in me that I didn’t.

I was asked to design an original outfit to be sold at the fund raiser. So I did. For two weeks I struggled with it. I could see in my head what I wanted. I attempted to draw it in Photoshop. Surprisingly, it didn’t come out too badly. It didn’t look at good as I wanted it to look but, I knew it was the best I could do at that time. That outfit encouraged me to learn how to draw clothing in SL.

I started taking pictures of myself wearing the “real” clothing I had purchased. Sometimes I would wear a UV skin, so I could see where the article fell on the UV lines. I studied the folds and wrinkles in the stuff I bought to see how it was done. I bought a couple books at Barnes & Noble on drawing clothing.

At first, I only attempted shading. Chip Midnight’s templates are shaded. You can use them as shading guides. Gradually, I began to draw simple hanging folds in skirts. I found that you don’t need a lot of wrinkles and folds to make something look real.

I am still learning. I look closely at the stuff put out by really good designers. I attempt to copy the way they draw in the folds, wrinkle and shading. Some of it works for me, some doesn’t.

I now have reached a point where I draw most of my clothing. I will photo-source things like belt buckles or complicated ribbon bows. I go through clothing catalogs and look for ideas. I go to designer clothing sites. If I see something I like I will attempt to copy it. I have yet to duplicate something so well that you could tell where I got it. So I don’t worry about copyright infringement. I figure, if you can’t recognize it, it ain’t infringement.

However, more and more what I am drawing is looking better and better. I experiment with color and texture in my drawing. Often, I am pleasantly surprised at the end results. Who knows, maybe one day the title given to me by Xylo will actually apply. Last month after seven months of practice I felt like some of my stuff was good enough to sell. So, with Xylo’s help I opened a clothing store.

So, did I save money? Let’s see. $300 for CS2 at the educator’s discount, $150 for a drawing tablet from eBay over L$2000 in uploading costs. Go figure! I could have bought a heck of a lot of designer outfits for that much money.

Good thing I do it for fun and not for a living.

I hope this helps you.

Oh, come to my in-world class and I will tell you three designer secrets. Of course, since I tell them to students, I guess they aren’t secrets anymore.



Jen

Well Jen it sounds like I'm starting where you and many started hehe, my philosophy is keep on keeping on, and for every mistake I make and question I ask I'll gleen a wee bit more knowledge

as i was surfin the net if came across some good photo pic just the right size to fit the templates i just cant seem to figure out how to get rig of the nasty lines on the sides if any one can please tell m ehow i would really apriciate it ad the place where i found the pic was .... i dotn know if i should say the name of it in here but if interested im me on sl under yuny fisher.