Tiling patterns on clothing

Ok - I give up. I have tried and tried to no avail at making "seamless" patterns for clothing but no matter what method (Photoshop, 3D max using UVW remapping) it just won't line up. Could someone please enlighten me? Which program do you use and give me just a hint on how you do it.

Obviously you can "manually" line up textures but on some of the more intricate patterns (little details, plaid etc) this just simply is not good enough for me - or my customers.

Any advice hints or links are welcome..

I use that damnable program the GIMP so my explanation may not be the same as Photoshop (actually, I'm sure it is not) but the basic procedures will be about the same.

Once I get whatever texture I want to the proportions, colors and whatever the way I want it I size it to powers of two. I do that because I'm going to upload the texture at 512 x 512 and I want the "filled" texture to be evenly distributed across the texture that I intend to upload. My normal size for a horizontal texture is 128 x 64, for vertical textures it's 64 x 128 and for square textures (such as plaid) I use either 128 x 128 or 64 x 64. There is a script fu in GIMP that makes any selection to a pattern for bucket fill. I run the script and name the new pattern. Then all I have to do is select what I want to fill and use bucket fill with that pattern as the source and it's done.

One thing I do before running the script is that I map the image (or layer) to make seamless (in GIMP that is in the filters menu). That little trick in GIMP really just duplicates the layer and flips it a couple times to make the sides line up using about 50% opacity. For most textures that's enough. But sometimes it needs some more tweaking to get it even enough to be truly seamless when the bucket fill tool is used. I experiment with a transparent layer before I apply it to my project.

Hope my simple minded explanation helped.

I think that you are referring to just tiling patterns - I want to know how to line up a pattern on the avatar mesh using the default UVW map. I have been trying to use 3D max to apply a tiling pattern to the avatar mesh and then render the texture. The only problem with that is that the pattern never quite tiles seamlessly. Now the patterns I use in max I have tested and know for sure that they are seamless tiling patterns - so there should be no break or bleed or stretching. I find it frustrating to keep on doing this and I have seen several people make a seamless pattern on clothing items and it doesn't look hand done.

here are some examples:

http://openprojects.rarcoa.com/~tracy/encore/pics/2007/09_26_07.jpg

http://openprojects.rarcoa.com/~tracy/encore/pics/2007/09_26_07-2.jpg

The way the pattern goes around the sock makes me thing they used a 3d program to render the texture - I wanna know how and with what program. Did the project the texture or just reset the UVW map?

the problem with clothing is that if it matches perfectly for one person, someone slightly different wont have it match perfectly. It will be stretched odd or mismatched. So I'd say use less complex patterns... or just ones that arent so specific to match (Like denim, since it is so full but so sporadic (Not the right word) it seems to match even when it doesnt

I paste individual squares of the pattern and use perspective in gimp to stretch to conform to the template sub "squares". One half can then be mirrored. If you have anchored your pattern to the right points on the side of the template, it should line up fairly well.

Hi Sioxie!

I use LightWave to do what you're asking about.

I've never seen Max (I'm on a Mac,) but I'm assuming the general technique would be similar.

First, I remap the Avatar. I make a new Texture map, and give it a new name (what I call it depends on what I plan to do with the map. Tights, for instance, need different mapping than Hawaiian shirts, or pajamas, or striped sweaters. If the collar or cuffs need their own maps, I name them something meaningful so I can remember what it was for.) Then I order the UVs so that they will do what I need them to do.

Each material gets its own layer in the Modeler file (one for Upper body, one for Lower body, one for Head if it's going to be used, and so on.) I also put some polys into selection groups, for instance, the Back or the Front, which includes polys from all three Materials.

Usually, I add an additional layer for the Sleeves, and one for any extra parts. For instance, for a shirt I might make a couple extra layers to hold the upper and lower material, and offset them slightly so I can make a shirt that doesn't quite match in the center front. (Where there would be a seam in RL, but isn't one in SL. )

I also typically map the polys around the neck separately, so that I can make a seamless collar in the finished garment.

Since each layer will get its own image when they are burned, I just arrange things to make sure that there will be no overlap at that stage, using as many maps and models as it takes to get what I want.

As I set up each map, I set the Surface for that group of Polys to use it, so I can see what I'm doing when I'm ordering the UVs. (For more on that process, you can check the tutorials on my site. I'll put a link at the bottom of this post, since the code has been turned off, and the addy is quite long.)

Once all that is done, (and it can take a while so you might want to reuse them if you can,) I go into the Surface dialog, and choose the Image that will be shown on them all. This is the Fabric, and works exactly the way that real fabric would, if you were cutting a garment from it.

Usually, I use a seamless texture from Photoshop, sized to 1024x1024, so if the UVs project off the "0 to 1" UV Map, the wrapped image will remain seamless. That gives me the freedom to scale the vertices on the map, so I can get the size I want for the texture on the Avatar.

When I have it the way I want it, I take it from Modeler to LightWave (the Render portion of the package,) and Bake the texture from my own UVs to the Linden Avatar UV Map. (Baking is one of the things that differs quite a bit from app to app. Check the documents for yours to see if and how it bakes. I know that Max does. I'm not sure about Blender or some of the others.)

As mentioned above, each section gets its own image, so for instance, I might have one baked image that is the Sleeve pattern, one that's the right upper, one for the left upper, one for the right lower, one for the left lower, and one for the collar.

Once that's done, I take the various baked images, which are now split up onto the Linden maps, and assemble them into the garment I want in PS. That's where I add all the details, shadows, wrinkles, and so on; because I find that there's less distortion if I just draw it than there is if I try to bake the shadows and things on.

Of course, I'm rarely designing clothing for women, so your milage may vary. (Most of my stuff is either Unisex or for kids.)

This is not the only way, of course, but yeah, that's how I get the textures to flow seamlessly around the arms, across the Upper and Lower jacket portions, and around the legs for tights.

That being said, you still have to have a seam someplace, because of the way the mesh itself is built. I just choose to have them where the seams are on a real garment.

For things like a t-shirt, where the entire body is a tube in RL, without any seams, I take the mesh into Modo, and paint over those seams to match the texture. This is much more time intensive than remapping; which takes a lot of time to make the map, but very little for new "fabrics", but it gives a really nice effect, and if you plan your fabric carefully it's not difficult.

The other way to do that is to make a set of UVs that has the seam in the back, for instance, and then you can retouch in PS itself.

Anyway, that's how I do it.

Hope this helps!

The addy for the UV Mapping tutorials is

http://www.robinwood.com/Catalog/Technical/LightwaveTuts/LWPages/LWUVStart.html

Mind you, all of that is old now. I wrote it for LW 7.5, and LW is now in version 9. Mapping and UV Unwrapping tools are much better now than they were then. But the same general principals apply, if you're ordering the UVs by hand.