Top 5 tips for Mac-using creators?

I apologise in advance and hope to get more than a string of "read the tutorials." I'm hopeless at learning that way. I've tried - but I am a kinetic/visual learner. I may also have much shorter attention span today than I used to have. So, I do much better with someone boiling it down for me, and/or sort of being there to bounce questions off live, when possible. Preferably/ideally as I try things hands-on.

However that isn't really possible in this case. Making clothing in a paint program is something that occurs out of SL, and while I'd put on a pot of tea I'm pretty sure none of you are going to drop by for a live lesson.

So

Top five tips for a Mac user? I have PS3, I haven't tried to make anything yet for SL other than in-game simple clothing (including a gown using someone's free prim skirt maker but the little dot kept bouncing around when the av walked). What would be the easiest way for me to get going? What are the simplest clothes to begin making?

Could someone explain things like layers in layman's terms? Point me to a nice free texture resource on the 'net? Explain why the little dot supposed to anchor a prim skirt didn't stay inside the av? Link to some good resources such as the 'shading templates' in another thread here (I took those)?

I'm looking for a jumpstart and some tips to get me going, not a free ride. Thanks. All tips welcome.

It would be faster and simpler if you googled for photoshop basics tutorials to get yourself aquainted with the program explained by people who could probably do a better job that someone here could in a forum post.

They're simple questions with long, complex answers which would need screenshots and so on to answer fully. As with all things, the fastest and best way to learn something is to play around with it and learn as you go, picking things up from how tos as and when you need to know something specific.

The best thing to do is to go to the nearest large book store and by yourself a manual for PS3, and start reading it slowly and carefully. Do all of the exercises and get lots of practice. If possible, consider enrolling in a graphic arts class at a local technical college or in your community's adult education program. Until you understand how to run your graphics program, it's WAAAAAY premature to be jumping into something as specific as making clothes for SL. You'll just get frustrated.

As for the little dot .... That's evidently a very specific feature of whatever routine you used for making the prim skirt. The only way you'll get an answer for that one is to read the instructions that came with it. I've never seen a prim skirt with a little dot, myself.

A few colleagues and I have got something in the works that I think will be right up your alley. I hate to just leave it at that without saying more, but really, I can't spill the beans on it quite yet. With any luck, I'll be able to make a full announcement in the next few weeks. Stay tuned.

In the mean time, if reading isn't really your thing, I'd suggest you look for video tutorials. The Web is full of them.




There's nothing Mac or PC specific about this stuff. Texturing is texturing, painting is painting, Photoshop is Photoshop, regardless of operating system. The only real difference is the names of a few keys. Ctrl on the PC translates to Cmd on the Mac. Alt on the PC translates to Option on the Mac. You'll find that some tutorials will include the translations, while others will just write for one or the other.

Here's a full listing, if you need more: http://www.myfirstmac.com/index.php/mac/articles/ultimate-switcher-guide-windows-pc-to-mac-keyboard-shortcuts

Other than that, the operation of programs is exactly the same.



For clarification, do you mean Photoshop CS3 (which is really version 10), or do you actually mean Photoshop 3, from 15 years ago? Hopefully you meant the former.



You won't like this answer, but the truth is if you've never done anything like this before, there's no easy way to get going, and there are no simple clothes. Learning to do this is going to take serious time and effort. Like it or not, you're going to need to read, read, read, and practice, practice, practice. There's no way around that.



I'll answer your question as asked, but before I do, I need to say something. Again, you're not going to like this, and please don't take offense to it, but in all truthfulness and candor, if you don't even yet know what a layer is, you've got zero business even thinking about making textures yet, let alone ones as complex as SL clothing. You're basically asking for the "top 5 tips" on winning a marathon when you haven't even yet learned to crawl or walk, let alone run.

Learning to create digital imagery, and learning to create textures for use on 3D models, are two different subjects. The former has to come before the latter. There's absolutely no way around that. As I often say in these kinds of discussions, if you try to put the cart before the horse, all you'll experience will be frustration. It simply doesn't work that way.

The best advice I can give you right now is slow down. Forget all about textures for now. Spend the next several weeks learning to use Photoshop itself first, by doing 2D projects, and only 2D projects. Your local bookstore will be full of volumes to teach you how to use Photoshop. They've basically all got the same information, so it doesn't matter which one you choose. Flip through them, and see which author seems to speak your language the best, and go with that one.

Also, the Web is loaded with both written and video tutorials. Google for them. You'll find literally hundreds of thousands to choose from. Photoshop is the most documented program in existence.


That said, I'll now answer your question. I could certainly give you a written explanation of what layers are, as I have in this forum many times for many other people. But you already said written explanations don't work all that well for you. So allow me instead to point you towards a good video tutorial, which will explain the concept:

http://www.graphicsdistrict.com/photoshop-cs3-video-tutorial-introduction-to-layers




Google for "free textures", and you'll find tons. None will be of much help with creating clothing, though, for reasons you're not equipped to understand just yet. Once you've got the necessary experience under your belt, you'll get what I mean. For now, just do your best not to be offended when I say, once again, that you're trying to put the cart before the horse. The way you're thinking of going about this right now is just not the way it works.

Again, forget all about texturing for the time being. Spend the next few weeks learning Photoshop itself. Once you've got a solid handle on it, you'll be able to build on that knowledge toward learning to texture. At that point, 99% of the stumbling blocks that are in your way now will have been removed, and you'll discover new questions that you couldn't even imagine right now. Those will be questions we here can answer, and the answers WILL make sense to you. But you're just not there yet.




No idea. As others have already said, you'll need to explain a bit more about the method by which you built the skirt. There's no one way to do it. That "dot" could be anything.



See the stickies at the top of this forum. They're loaded with links to resources.



There's no such thing as a jumpstart with this stuff. You have to learn to crawl before you walk, walk before you run. There's absolutely no way to just hit the ground running. Again, I'm sorry, I know that's not the answer you wanted. But it's the only truthful one there is.

Imagine if someone were to walk into a first grade beginning mathematics class and say "I just want to learn calculus. Never mind that I don't know those little things like addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Just teach me calculus now." Obviously, that wouldn't be possible, right? Well, you also can't come into a "class room" like this forum, and say "I just want to learn to make clothing. Let's skip over everything else." Again, it just doesn't work that way.



You're welcome. I only hope I haven't discouraged you by pointing out that this is a much bigger subject than you seem to have bargained for.

Top Five Tips; (for everyone who wants to make clothing in SL.)

1. Learn to use your graphics program of choice.

As others have said, if you aren't comfy with the graphics program, you're only going to be frustrated. You don't need to know how to make it jump through hoops, but you do need to be familiar with all the basics.


2. Learn about 3D textures, including what UVs are and how they work, what Clothing Layers are which, and what gets distorted when the Avatar moves.

You are going to be making clothing that will work (or not) in 3D, on UVs that are mapped onto a mesh that is moving around. You need to understand what all that means before you can successfully make a convincing clothing texture. (I have an in world THiNC book that explains all of it, called Clothing 101, which you can read for free at my Texture Library. But it is reading. Of course, so is this, and the book has pictures!)


3. Find out what "helper tools" are available, and learn to use the one(s) you choose.

A lot of this is pure research. There are many things in world that will help you make prim skirts, for instance, or mirror prims from one side of your body to the other. Find out what they all do, talk to people who have them, watch them in action, and then decide which one(s) are the ones you want. Do this before you buy any of them, and you'll save yourself a bundle of Lindens.

Once you have one or two, really learn to use them. They can't read your mind, and if you don't become comfortable with them, they won't really help at all.


4. Learn how to get to the Beta Grid, so you can test things there before uploading to the main grid.

The Beta Grid (or Preview Grid) is a great place to try things out for free. You can try things on a number of avatars, and move around exactly the way you do in world. In fact, the main difference between the Beta Grid and the Main Grid is that money is free on the Beta Grid, so uploads don't actually cost you anything. (The world is also smaller, and the Menu Bar is red, so you can tell where you are.)

To get there, open SL, and type Control+Shift+G. You'll get a menu with various grids. The only ones you can get to are Agni, which is the main grid, and Aditi, which is the beta. Choose Aditi from the list, and enjoy. When you want to return to the main grid, choose Agni at log in. The menu will persist until you type the key combo again to dismiss it.


5. Familiarize yourself with fashion in SL.

There are things that have been done to death, and things that have barely been done at all. Fashions that mimic all sorts of RL fashions, and things not possible in Real Life. Know your competition, and know what you want to do, and it'll be much easier.


And that's my top five.

Yeah, it's all about learning things, and not about doing things. But, as with most other things in life, if you have a good foundation before you start to build, the building will be much more successful.

The rest is just practice, really, and experience and imagination. And you're on your own for those!

Hope this helps!

Thank you everyone for the replies. These tips are great.

I apologise for not getting back in here sooner to read and thank any repliers. I've been ill off and on and had checked at one point, no replies. And you know what they say about a watched pot.

These tips are very good - both the tips and the advice. Both break this down into bite size pieces and it doesn't seem so daunting now.

I maybe should have added before that I have *some* experience with paint programs and making clothes. I used Paint Shop Pro which I found fairly intuitive and loved, but now I have a Mac (my PC is an ex parrot). I made clothes for the Sims game (not professionally) although I never quite got the knack of 3d texturing and I used a shortcut by painting in or filling in the alpha layer (which was a black and white outline in image form, not an alpha like this game has). Then I'd save that with the image suffix and if kept simple it wasn't bad for making new things. At least it gave players options. But then I had to take a break for a long while and when I came back clothes makers had really advanced so I stopped at that point.

One reason I joined SL was to make things, but again I wasn't actively playing anything for a while until about a year ago. I've been having fun, shopping etc in SL instead until about now. (Or keeping an eye on the fashion market? *cough* yeh sure...)

I hope to get the CS4 update (and yes it's CS3 not PS3, sorry! Lol) which I hope will make things easier, but who knows. I guess one thing I wondered was whether it would. Sounds like I have a ton to learn either way.

I sure wish I'd learned Photoshop before now but can't go back only forward. Thanks for all your tips I will use every single one. And would love to know about any 'news' or classes or workshops too if anyone wanted to send a note card in world (my IMs get capped: too many groups).

I really do appreciate the help. All I want to do is fly (create) but as people here have said preparation is everything So thanks again!!!