Is Photoshop Enough?

I am currently creating a skin for SL and have dedicated at least 22 hours doing Photoshop tutorials to learn all the features and have also purchased a Wacom tablet but I wanted to know from experienced people if Photoshop is their one and only tool for creating textures , clothes , skins..etc.
Do you use other pieces of software to texture your clothes or skins or is Photoshop on its own coupled with doing many more tutorials and practicing , enough to create the best skin possible?

some programs do things easier, ie vector drawing programs (corel, illistrator, inkscape and draw +) makes things like signs and posters, and even texture animation easier cause thats the type of stuff they were designed to do

other stuff like wood workshop (or genetica) lets you mill out textures by the dozen in just a few mouse clicks

theres programs like tattoo and deep paint 3d that helps with UV mapping and whatnot


but you can do everything in your image editor for about the same level of hassle

Photoshop is the only tool you need. Many people use additional tools to help in specific ways (like, say, SLCP) but it isn't really necessary. The vast majority of the work is happening in Photoshop, and the best texture artists could work with Photoshop alone (well, and SL to see what the results are like obviously.)

Hi Phaedra

as everyone has said, yes photoshop is enough, it is all a matter of personal preference to be honest. I tend to do a lot of work in paint shop pro, simply because I have 15 years experience with that programme, I then also use poser to check my seams before doing the final render in photoshop, but that is my personal choice. If you are happy using photoshop then I'd say stick with that. Don't forget to post your final product on the forums here for us to see.

Good luck

I agree with others here that Photoshop is all you really need. I have tried doing some clothing of different types and I did find Illustrator helpful with making a template for different clothing types. It allows me to more easily keep straps and hems perfectly aligned when I want to move them or change their widths.

I use Photoshop for *most* of my texture-making work. Photoshop, by itself, will do virtually anything. Especially with a number of the plugins that are out there for it. The expanded version of Photoshop CS3 even does 3D rendering, to some degree. Pair it with a good graphics tablet and a digital camera, and there's very little that you can't do. Especially for clothes and skins.

I used Photoshop 7 for a very long time, and upgraded to Photoshop CS3, without the 3D options, only when my new computer and OS wouldn't run the several years old version of Photohop. The current Photoshop is expensive, but has a huge range of tools. Look for a good upgrade offer, and you can sometimes bring the price down a lot.


But Photoshop is not the only brush in my paint box...

I also use DAZ|Studio a lot for making 3D architectural textures. In DAZ, I can apply a texture that I create to a surface, add bump map effects and lighting and other special effects, and then capture that as a render, to make textures that would be far more difficult to create with Photoshop alone. Poser has pretty much the same abilities, but is pretty expensive, while DAZ|Studio is free. Daz has limited capabilities for making unique 3D models, and there is a ton of free or purchasable content that can be adapted to make very interesting 3D texture renders. DAZ can also be used to make animations for SL, though I haven't tried that yet.

I use Bryce 6 occasionally to create trees and stone textures and other organic things, and I have begun to use it for making some kinds of terrain heightmaps for sim building.

I recently obtained Carrera 6 and Hexagon 2, which are more advanced 3D modelling and rendering applicatons. I hope to use them to create 3D models that no one else has yet built, for my architectural texture renders, and to make lighting effects beyond what a free program like DAZ|Studio can create. They may also be useful to my sim building business, for making terrain heightmaps.

Do you NEED all of these to make a skin or a dress? No. Could they help? Maybe. Are they expensive? Yes, if you don't wait, like I did, for an extra-special sale or upgrade offer...