Help with my first shirt.

Hello, this is my first post. So, be gentle. I have been trying, unsuccessfully to make a shirt. I've read posts here, as well as every link I can find on making clothing. None really address my noob questions.

My first problem stems from not being able to understand how to put the fabric, and the templates together. I can open the templates, and open a swatch of fabric, but when I go to make layers of each, they are on seperate projects, if that makes sense. In other words if you look at the second step in the basic tutorial, you'll see the fabric and the template together under layers. Looking at mine, if you click on template you'll see template under layers, then if I click on the fabric, the template will be gone and you'll just see the fabric I clicked on. How do I merge those on the same project?

My second problem is, when I make a layer from a swatch of fabric, and copy it to paste over my template layer, it doesnt fill the entire template, just a small square in the center of it. I've tried pasting a bunch to fill in the areas, but as you know, that makes a ton of layers I dont need. I've also tried making the fabric larger, thinking my swatch was too small in comparison to the templates, both didnt work, I still get the same small square in the center that doesnt fill the template, like step two in the basic tutorial. So, how do I make a large swatch of fabric that covers the entire template?

Thank you in advance for your help. I am bound and determined to make my first shirt, so any help to a noob would be greatly appreciated. If my questions are redundant, my apologies, but I didnt find my answers in any of the prior posts.

First post, I see. Welcome to SL.

I'm not sure to which basic tutorial you're referring, as there are many, but let me see if I can help. First, which templates are you using? If it's the Linden templates, the are layered with the master template on the bottom and some overlays on the top. You want to work inbetween. Start with the layer called "working layer" and then build up from there.

Before you do anything else though, I'd highly recommend uploading the template to SL and wearing it so you can see exactly how it wraps around the avatar. Learing to think in 3D while drawing in 2D is not instictive for most people. Some just take one look and instantly get it, but for most people it's a bit of a brain teaser at first. Invariably it does click sooner or later for everyone though.

As for your swatch of fabric, no little square is going to just become a shirt by itself, as I'm sure you know. It's up to you to determine how you want the pattern to fill the shirt. First, decide what you want the shirt to look like. How many times should your pattern repeat across the chest? Across the back? Down the arms?

Once you've determined that, you can then begin duplicating and/or stretching the pattern to fit the template. Don't use cut & paste in Photoshop to make duplicates. It works okay, but Photoshop has much more powerful tools for duplication than just the OS clipboard. For example, with the Move Tool selected, you can simply alt-drag a new copy, similar to the way in which you can shift-drag a prim in SL to make a duplicate. Don't worry about the number of layers you're generating with all your copying. If you don't want so many, simply merge them. Just be aware that every time you merge two layers, you're changing the type of control you have over your work. There are some tasks that can only be performed if, say, the whole front of the shirt is all one layer, and there are others that would require lots of layers.

Learning what those tasks are anly comes with experience. As you do more and more work, you'll develop problem solving skills in response to the goals you're trying to acheive with each image. I wish I could explain it better than that now, but it's kind of impossible. Until you find yourself in a specific situation, you don't know what the questions are, and until you know that, they can't be answered. I hope that makes sense. What it all boils down to is practice, practice, practice. Hopefully I've given you a few ideas to get you to the next step. Please come back with the questions you discover next.

Thank you Chosen for responding. i am using the tutorial called 'Basic clothing tutorial-making a shirt'. Its located on the second page of this forum topic. I've also downloaded and use, Chip's templates.

I had no idea, I can upload the templates, what a great idea. As far as the fabric swatch, I was trying to duplicate the tutorial for my first attempt. And, what they did was have the first layer cover the template totally, then they took the wand and erased the excess material, from best I can figure out.

Then the question still remains, when i open the fabric file and the template file, like they do in the tutorial, theirs combines in one project, mine is fabric project, and template project, as I mentioned above.

If you're using Chip's templates, which are awesome, make sure you do a couple of things. First, try to get ahold of the PSD versions, not just the jpegs. Chip put together some wonderful guides and markings on various layers in the PSD's that will help you line things up. You want to be able to toggle those things on and off as you work. Also, make sure you resize to 512x512 before upload. Do not leave your images at 1024x1024 or else you cause 16 times more lag for yourself and everyone else than you should.

You might want consider starting with the official templates, which are much more basic, and then upgrade yourself to using Chip's once youi feel you have more of a mastery of what you're doing. I'd also recommend reading the fashion design guide if you haven't already. The templates and the guide are on the downloads section of this site.

Anyway, to answer your question about putting the fabric into the same document as the template, open both files and then either drag the fabric onto the template, or else select all on the fabric (ctrl a) and then copy and paste into the template.