Semi transparent clothes

Im trying to design some clothes, and some of them need to be see through. However, I cant seem to figure out how to complete this.

Could anyone point me in the right directions?

What grpahical editor are you using? Photoshop 7? Photoshop CS? PSP? GIMP?

The specific how to's are different, depending on what program you are using. Here are some basic concepts though:

1. Your image must be in TGA format, 32 bit.

2. Your image must contain an alpha channel in addition to the normal red, green, & blue channels. It is this alpha channel that determines how much transparency goes into each pixel, just as each of the other channels determines how much red, green, or blue goes into each pixel. If you are using Photoshop 7.0, manually creating an alpha channel is not necessary, but for all other versions of Photoshop, PSP, and GIMP, you must create one.

3. The alpha channel when viewed on its own is a grayscale image. Anything black in it will be completely transparent. Anything white will be completely opaque. Anything gray will be semi-transparent, the level of transparency derectly proportional to the darkness of the gray.

So, if you want your garment to be 50% transparent, use a 50% gray in your on the apropriate sections of the image. For more specific step by step instructions, I'd need to know what program you're using, but hopefully you get the general idea.

I'm having this same issue, I'm using Photoshop 7.

Try this tutorial ... http://spacethinkdream.com/NEscher_SecondLifeGuide_1.pdf

All my Poser skills are rusty now, so I can't tell you for sure whether you can export clothing directly from Poser to SL. My uneducated guess would be that no, their templates differ slightly (I've compared them in Photoshop) but there may be a way. What I plan to use my Poser for is just to create animations/poses. Notably, you have to create the pose using a Poser 2 figure to get the BHZ file to work. Higher versions of Poser use too many polygons/morph targets. With the addition of dynamic clothing in P5, you might have other serious problems trying to do the same thing with clothing that isn't P2 compatible.

Note that most of the commercially available Poser clothing was first designed in Photoshop (or something similar). You can't create the kind of textures and transparencies in Poser that you need to build really good, original clothing.

That said, I was using Paintshop Pro version 5 to get the hang of clothes for some time and it was adequate for creating transparencies and layers. I'm back on the learning ramp now with Photoshop, but quick & dirty stuff doesn't always require the full functionality of Photoshop.

The templates are little more than just patterns. They're outlines that show you where SL will cut the clothing to fit, and also have UV (horiz/vertical) matrices that give you a clue on how your avatar's body bends and shapes. They're priceless for making clothes. I don't know how anyone could make good items without them.

My suggestion: the difficulty is not in understanding the templates. The difficulty for most new designers is in learning their chosen graphics software. And there are lots of tutorials around to help with that. This recent thread includes some great tips and some helpful links to get you started.

Cindy

how would you do this with gimp if you odnt mind my asking

the ez way would be to goto filters->colors->color to alpha and set it for black (removing all black from the image)

Altho if your using a dark fabric/details it will make them partically transparent also...

another way to do it would to be make some form of a mask (of a bright color like green blue whatever) make it inverse transparent, copy it over the image and then color to alpha out the neon red (or whatever) this is good for distinct patterns like lace.

Then go back to step one make a grey picture color to alpha out the black (50% white left)
copy your distinct lace pattern to the 50% white picture, makes a nice summer shirt.

We're assuming she is working in photoshop or a paint program...maybe shes on about in world designing?
I havent checked her game age but it IS frustrating that we can make textures twist & turn and transparent if applied to a prim...but if applied to clothing....nothing!

Why CANT we have the same options on textures in clothing as building?

Ive uploaded some semi transparent fabrics Ive been working on in PhotoShop so if you in world designing...either visit my store to take a peek see if they are ok...OR...send me your textures and ill make them transparent for you and send them back to you via email so you can upload them from your PC) OR if you ARE refering to photoshop....private mail me here....and ill give you my Yahoo ID and ill talk you through it in Yahoo...like a live tutorial.

Its VERY easy....Robin taught me last week...and i dont know how I managed without knowing that!

If you do a search through my posts you will be able to see the reply she sent me and thats what I learnt from...looks a bit overwhelming to read but is actualy very easy in practice

Good Luck!

I'm not sure what you're saying LillyBeth -- the limitation on clothing is due to the UV mapping on avatar models (which are really nothing more than very complex prims). I would guess that if you constructed a prim with the same number of polygons as an avatar, you would have the same problems. Certainly, I've posted here about some complex prims I've built that had serious texture issues.

The only solution would be to reduce the number of polygons on our avatars, thus making them even less appealling. Most of the feedback I've read on the boards has been to actually ask for more polygons and attachment points. We're using the Poser 2 model, which is about 4 versions behind the curve. I don't expect to see LL change it, though. It would alter such a fundamental cornerstone of the world that most clothing designers would be out of business and have to start from the ground floor again.