Need Tattoo Help

First I want to say hello to every one.
Ok now my question I am useing Photoshop CS 8.0 and would like to know how to make tattoo on my av. I have the top body tamp and the lower body tamp, but what i don't under stand is what part do i work with to put my tattoo to on like say i want my tattoo on my stomach on witch of these overlay, working layer, tee shirt, tee shirt alpha, victorian, victorian alpha, jeans jacket, jeans jacket alpha, glove alpha, background these what i have out of those witch ones do i need open to work with to get my tattoo on my body...thanks in advance for any help with this

Hi KuRRuPT,

You don't want to apply the tatoo to any of the existing layers in the template.

Most layers are there for refrence only so you can see examples of how various cloting items are made.

Turn off (hide) all the layers of existing clothing.

Create a brand new empty layer.

Put the emply layer 'under' one of the refrence grid layers set to maybe 50% transparent.

Copy/past your tatoo into your new layer and adjust it's position in relation to the refrence layer to get it where you want it to be (stomach, shoulder, etc..).

Turn off (hide) all layers but your new tatoo. (in PSP, the background is now a checkerboard pattern. I don't know what PS will show).

Create an alfa channel for the tatoo (again, my PSP knowlege won't help you here)

Save the results as a .tga (targa) file.

Upload and apply the tatoo to your AV.

You can take a look at my more detailed reply to a PSP user with a similar question here /109/a2/38975/1.html

Racer P.

I have photoshop CS also and followed and had someone talk me through it on the phone and it still doesnt work. They all have 7.0 so is it a differant process?

Follow Racer's instructions. To add the Photoshop 8 details:

Draw/paint your tattoo on a new empty layer. Make sure the background is transparent.

Now right click on the tattoo layer in the layers pane and 'Select Layer Transparency'.
Go to the channels pane and add an alpha channel by pressing the 'Save selection as channel' button. (The gray square with the white circle in the bottom)
A black alpha with a white tattoo shape will appear.

Now save as .tga with alpha layer and 32bit colour.
Upload in SL and add it in the right spot in your appearance/skin. Ready.

Some extra tips:
1. Also i advise you to add an extra layer in either the colour of your tattoo or skin colour beneath the tattoo... this will help against 'fringe' that is created due to matting/antialiasing. You can also use the 'matting' tools in the layers menu to remove the fringe.

2. Making tattoos can be tricky business since 1.6 due to permission restrictions. 1.6.1 should fix that though, although i advise to check the forums and 1.6.1 preview if you plan on selling tattoo textures.