Annoying neck line

Hi everyone!

Could someone please tell me the trick to having no line between the bottom of the head texture (ie the neck) and the top of the torso texture (ie the neck) ? I don't seem to be having this problem with the torso.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers!

Have a read through Natalia Zelmanov's tutorials on Skins

Part 1
http://www.mermaiddiaries.com/2007/09/day-363-creating-goth-avatar-skin-part.html

Part 2:
http://www.mermaiddiaries.com/2007/10/day-377-creating-goth-avatar-skin-part.html

Part 2 deals with your query

Thanks so much!! <3

You're welcome

There's loads of other tutorials there. You could get lost for hours

Its a fab resource to bookmark.

Neck seam blending issues are usually more noticeable than torso seam blending issues because there is a greater difference in pixel resolution matching across seams at the neck. Even the fancy 3D apps that allow cross seam painting will not take care of ALL the problem areas on the avatar seams. Color matching takes care of some seam issues with flat and uninform colors, but not texture noise like skin grain, veins, highlight, and shadow. If one wishes to have any of these details span seams smoothly then the higher resolution (sharper details) must be clipped to match the lower resolution details. It's sometimes disappointing to have to limit detail in an area of the avatar that you want to keep it in (such as the neck), but it has to be done in order to blend the seams properly. One doesn't need any 3D software to fix this. Photoshop will do just fine.

Below is a description of the steps I used to create a universal reusable alpha channel for clipping texture detail along avatar seams. I load this channel into all my seam spanning master templates (especially skin templates) to run finishing filters on the seams. This technique is recommended for textures that have been solidifed (fully opaque) using the Flaming Pear filters or other techniques.

Step 1: I create a black and white noise grain pattern with the "Noise" filter in Photoshop, set to 100%, monochromatic, gaussian on a standard resolution (512x512) texture. I want to use 512x512 because I am interested in precisely how the final image is treated within the SL environment. I then preview it (wear it as a skin). Here, I take note of the problem areas along the seams. On the neck it is a general pixel size mismatch with the head texture a much higher resolution than the upper body texture. Greater problems are seen under the chin and on the sides of the neck where they meet the shoulders. Those places are prone to large amounts of pixel stretching. The head texture stretches pixels under the chin and off to the sides under the jaw line where the seams on the head texture meet. The upper body texture stretches the pixels where the front and back portions meet. This causes the shoulder/neck area to be one of the worst places along the neck seam where the two perpendicular texture seams converge.

Step 2: I Copy the test pattern onto a new layer in Photoshop and place it above the original test pattern. This will be the working layer that I'll alter to blend pixels along the seams. Also, I make sure to have a layer of the avatar's UVW template loaded (like Chip's or Robin's) for positioning reference. It is important in this step to also have a quick preview method. AvPainter or SLCP (stickied here) work well for this.

Step 3: I use Photoshop's Blur tool, selection tools, and blur filters liberally on my working test layers to start blurring the problem areas on the higher resolution side of the seams. I don't worry about bleeding outside the UVW boundaries at this stage. It will not affect seam matching. Also, I use my previewer liberally to test each alteration. My end result on this step is a more uniform test pattern texture wrap on the avatar model. The higher resolution sides of the seams should look more blurred, matching the lower resolution sides of the seams.

Step 4: This is the defining step where I generate my alpha channel "resolution clipping" mask. I set the working (blurred) test pattern layer to "difference" mode in the Layers tab. Emmediately, the image that results is a grainy grayish gradient pattern that defines all the areas that have been altered. I Select>All>, Edit>Copy Merged>Paste on a new layer to preserve this image, and lock, turn off all other layers to preserve thier states. I use the "Smart Blur" filter to eliminate the noise pattern without altering the edge transition on this new layer. The result at this point is a third patterned layer that looks like large blurry grey blobs (where I've altered the texture) with some gradient irregularities within those blobs. The irregularities are actually desireable, adding to the effective blurring transition later on. The rest of the texture's area is completely black. If I map this to the avatar at this point I get a precise area of where the image will be blurred in step 5. The seams will be very visible and obvious as this is a representation of the sides of seams that will get blurred (clipped). Parts of this texture should rapidly taper off from grey to black (where few to no alterations were made). If need be, I can smooth some transitions by blurring selected areas of this image even further. To create the alpha channel I reference the UVW template guides and use them to define a selection area outside the UVW's visible area. I like to create a bleed buffer zone of 3-4 pixels by contracting the selection at this point. Moving back to the 3rd test pattern (grey blob) layer, I use the selection to fill that part of the texture with a solid black color, then deselect and perform a levels adjustment on the layer to strengthen the gradient transition (this will aid the blur filter that will be applied in Step 5). This preps and cleans up the layer for copying over to the Channels tab where it will reside as an alpha channel.

Step 5: This is the fun part! I now have a universal alpha channel that I can use on any skin or clothing master file that needs seam blending. Steps 1-4 never have to be repeated again! In order to effectively use it I have to apply the proper blur level to the selected area at the correct resolution. Master files are usually a higer resolution than the final upload files, so I resize my alpha channel to the matching resolution (4096x4096 for me), then define the selection area. I get a marching ant pattern that selects inside of, and follows UVW boundaries with a little bleed. Edge blurring from the image resizing is not a concern. Remember, this is a blurring technique, and it bleeds slightly past the UVW boundaries anyways. I then Edit>Copy Merged>Paste a new layer over the existing master layers and lock the transparent pixels so as not to pick up any color information outside my selected boundary. Blur filters will always sample color information outside of selections unless they are restricted from doing so by locking transparent areas. I am now free to apply a blur filter (like "Gaussian Blur" to this layer. The gradient alpha channel selection will control the intensity of blurring as it has been defined by the previous 4 steps. I sometimes find it helpful to create 2-3 layers at various blur levels to adjust and refine the results by altering the opacity between the blurred layers. The end result will be a texture overlay that blurs the correct areas of an avatar texture to compensate for pixel resolution mismatches along all avatar seams.

I think anyone that goes through this excercise of creating a similar alpha channel for thier own work will gain a much greater understanding of seam blending. I hope this little tutorial helps

Excellent tutorial, Nam. I'd love to see a stand alone version of it stickied. I'm sure a lot of budding skin makers would thank you profusely.

Your sample skin post from way back should have been stickied too. It was so generous of you to give those out. Actually, those should probably be put on the downloads page as official starter skin templates, the same way Chip's UV templates ended up replacing LL's ones.

Glad you like!

Did I post a full body skin in the forums?! I'm a nice person, but I don't ever recall being THAT generous . Maybe you're thinking of the makeup kit?

Oops, it wasn't you; it was Jinny. Jinny, if you're reading this, sorry about that.

Anyway, the makeup kit was certainly generous too, Nam. Thanks for it.