Yay - I made my first t-shirt!!

Hi all

Yesterday, I finally managed to make my first t-shirt, with the help of Robin Wood's template and instructions. Much excitement at this end and this has spurred me on to now make more things!!

This is what I am struggling with.

If you use Robin's template, it is easy to change the colour of the shirt by simply clicking on the colour picker (if that it what it is called), then paint bucket onto the shirt. Simple. (Thanks Robin)

I have some templates that I bought, which I have seen widely used, and as I thought it might be easier to have something already half-designed to start with, rather than starting everything from scratch. Changing the colour with the colour picker/paint bucket again works fine - click on the black layer of the shirt and the colour changes. Again, simple.

My problem comes when I want to use a ready-made fabric texture as opposed to a solid colour. Say you've been to the texture shop and bought a box of nice fabric textures you want to make into clothes. You save these to your hard drive. You then add another layer to your project, with the fabric on it, either by copying/pasting or choosing add as layer. The only way I can get the fabric pattern onto the shirt is by making the pattern semi-transparent so that I can see the black outline of the shirt through it, and then erasing everything outside of that outline. You can then hide all the other layers and then end up with a patterned shirt.

I know that black is really transparent/non-existent and it is the white layer that is what shows up, but it doesn't seem to matter where I put the fabric layer or which layers I show or hide, I can't seem to get the fabric pattern onto the shirt.

I know there is probably no wrong or right way, but I am sure there is an easier way to do this? I am sure that once I managed to just simply add the fabric onto the shirt, and hey presto, it just appeared. However, now I have no idea how that happened!! Hope this makes some kind of sense.

I am using Gimp.

Thanks

Joss

Several things are mixed up in your note, so let me try to unfold them:

1. The visible layer is always going to be the one on top. If that layer has holes in it, you will see parts of the layers underneath. So, if you want your fabric to be visible, be sure that it's on top. If you want to add a logo, put it on top of the fabric layer.

2. I assume that the "black layer" you're talking about is a mask of some kind that you have made to cut out the neck and sleeves of the T-shirt. The only thing you need it for is creating the alpha channel. Once that's done, you don't need it any more. Turn it off. You don't need to erase around it or anything. If you have made the alpha channel properly, your fabric pieces will appear properly on the final garment.

3. Black isn't "transparent/nonexistent" except in the alpha channel. If you are thinking that your "black layer" -- which I've been interpreting as a mask -- is going to be invisible, forget it. If you were to put that layer on top, you would get a black T-shirt.

[Of course, you might be using language in a different way than I thought. If the "black layer" you described is not a "layer" at all but really your alpha channel, then forget what I just said in #3.]

4. The bottom line is that you were right the one time it apparently worked for you.... Just add the fabric onto the shirt -- as the TOP layer -- and presto! It will just appear.

For a nice, simple primer on making T-shirts, consult Robin's web site (http://www.robinwood.com/Catalog/Technical/SL-Tuts/SLTutSet.html) and for an excellent tutorial on making things that are not much more complicated, try Natalia Zelmanov's blog (http://www.mermaiddiaries.com/2006/11/day-50-tan-leather-and-creating-cloths.html)

I dont have much time for an indepth reply, and someone will probably come along with better instructions to help you even more later.

The shirt in Robins template already has an alpha channel in it.
This means that whether you colour to just the lines or colour all the way to the very edge of the file it wont matter - the alpha channel will only show through the pattern or colour when its uploaded in SL.

What you have been editing in her template has been LAYERS.

So you can take a texture, and fill a layer with it without having to erase any bits to fit in with the lines of the body.

The Alpha Channel that Robin did on that template will take care of all that.

I would suggest you read throug the stickies on Alphas, and have a browse through Robins Tutorials. She has recently put one on her site explaining what Alpha Channels do in SL.

Dont get confused - there are LAYERS, and there are CHANNELS. Again, read through the stickies and you might get a clearer picture of what each are for, and other hints and tips on them.