Texture Wrapping - Help!

Sorry to ask, I'm a real trooper, but I'm just stuck and my head is throbbing wildly after a few days of this...

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1. I have a seamless texture design (a flowery thing) that I am trying to use on a shirt, but no matter how hard I try to scrunch it up in areas such as the sides of the chest, it is continually distorted out of shape by almost the same amount when worn.

In other words, if I upload the print and use it without any modification, that part plus the tops of the shoulders are always stretched. If I try to scrunch it in the appropriate spots, it's STILL stretched almost by the same amount when I apply it to the shirt. Any advice on how to get the pattern to appear NORMALLY on the shirt in those areas when I use it?

(I'm also having trouble finding a good, uniform, professional way to scrunch the design in those areas. I've played with different PS filters as well as the Transform comments and even with careful selection of the area, I'm having problems of all sorts. Can anyone give me a general description of how they perrsonally do this?

An actual TGA of a template with a design fitted to it would be a great godsend, just so I could get a better visual on how a pattern transfers from the 2D template to the 3D SL clothing, but please don't feel obligated to share that secret part of your hard-earned work unless you want to.)

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2. I'm trying to use the same flower pattern design on the skirt. The main problem is a large triangle running almost from the teal section of Robin's template to the whole way down to my feet (where the bottom points are about where my feet are planted), where the design is stretched sideways so that it's just a screaming distortion. The same with the back, although the triangle is not quite so big.

I have the right area of the template figured out where the distortion occurs, but again, scrunching the pattern into that area so it SHOULD be stretched back to the right dimension is not working at ALL. The design remains as stretched as ever.

Even playing with my body shape, to try to eradicate the stretched area, doesn't get rid of it.

I have no clue what I am doing wrong and have no more ideas left to try. Does anyone have advice? I can upload some screen shots if I have to, in order to clarify. Just let me know.

Note: I'm using Robin's modified templates, with all the colored hashes on them.

Thanks to any brave, patient souls in advance...

Sometimes the patterns just so happens to land on the parts that stretch the most on the avatar. Experimenting with moving the patterns away from that area might help. Leave the pattern simpler in those troubled spots and work with it, instead of against it.

I did think of that. I was hoping to have an item with a consistent pattern on it. (Unfortunately, to remove the pattern in the problem areas means a complete redesign of the clothing concept. It's not as simple as just dropping the pattern from the problem areas, it looks a little goofy.)

Oh well. I guess this is part of learning the weaknesses of the Second Life design system and figuring out how to use them to my advantage.

Unfortunately, you are running into the limitations of the SL clothing structures...

The center front panel on all SL skirts is EVIL! It is one reason why you see so few long dresses in SL. And the ones you do see generally have solid paterns, or horizontal stripes, or avoid placing designs in the 'deadly triangle' area. There is no decent way to prevent distortion there, especially on a longer skirt, because the amount of streach varies wildly based on how far apart the avatar's feet are. The best you can hope for is to try to make adjustments based on the average seperation. But it will still look screwy.

The best thing I have managed is to position repeating patterns so the plain space between pattern elements is on the centerline. Don't place your flowers on the centerline itself. Most of the streach seems to come out of a fairly narrow stripe down the middle.

You may want to import a checkerboard pattern, and put that on the clothing item you are designing, so you can see exactly what gets scrunched to where...

Yes! It is the "Center Front Panel That Is Not to Be Named."



You're right, that's exactly where it is. I have the area staked out on my template -- and that little sliver is consistently stretched more than... well, I will avoid any politically partisan metaphors in order to not stir up more trouble...

At least I know now I'm not completely deranged, and that this has been a problem for everyone. Thanks, Ceera!

No problem dear.

In another thread, I just noticed that Blaze Columbia is offering this free template that applies a checkerboard to a clothing item or prim, and which gives you a great idea of what is going where!

Hi Rhynalae!

The whole stretching thing happens beause the texture is only fixed to the AV where the lines on the templates cross. Think of the texture as printed on very stretchy spandex, or rubber or something, and pinned to the AV at those points. As the distance between the points increases, for instance when the AV moves her legs, the texture is stretched to cover that distance. Which, as you've noticed and Ceera explained, stretches it.

This is also what causes the stretching on the sides; because those polys are relatively smaller on the map ("template" than they are on the Avatar.

Unfortunately, there's nothing that can be done to make it look perfect. Even if you compensate perfectly for the stretching, the texture will be lower resolution on those polys (fewer pixels to cover the distance,) and will look a little blurry. The amount of stretching will also vary widely from Avatar to Avatar, since it's dependent on the size of the chest. (When the poly size is increased, as it is when the chest is enlarged, the distance between those points also increases, and the texture stretches even more.)

Most people in SL simply ignore the problem, or work around it by using horizontal stripes or solid colors, as Ceera explained; but if you want to scrunch up the texture to compensate for the stretching, it is possible.

How you do it, however, depends on which version of Photoshop you are using. (CS has tools that earlier versions lack, and CS2 has even more of them.)

If you could let us know that, I might be able to help.

Oh. That really DOES help me understand what's going on. I understood the stretching aspects but didn't think about where the points were affixed.



I'm using Photoshop 7.0.1.

I've played with the Transform tools as well as the Distort and Liquify items in the Filters list, but either these tools are too clumsy for this level of precision/distortion or I'm not using them or my Selection wand wisely enough.

I just can't seem to get a uniform (let alone adequate) stretch, and often the edges of my selection will pull away from the rest of the cloth, leaving some pleasant little gaps in the fabric that I then have to patch somehow.

What about using the displace filter on the pattern. it seems like it would be the right kind of distortion to use. I've not tried it for this, but theoretically it should work. If you need an example of what I'm talking about, let me know and I'll see what I can manage