How do you guys do it..

Hey all, I'm just curious, how do you guys get your seams straight for clothing? (Basic Photoshop clothing of course, I havent even ventured into prims yet) For example..

I work with Photoshop, I open my template and begin with my shapes for the clothing I want to make, for this example I'll go with shirt. So, I want to make a plaid shirt lets say, lots of lines ..UUGG..I make two boxes over the front and the back images and get my texture in there, save the file as a 32 bit tga then preview before I upload of course, now the problem I am having is, getting the lines, or seams if they are called to line up right from the front and the back, hours and hours later, I get half of the image to line up and look good, and the other half still seems out of place, it's so fustrating..

I have looked through events, to see if there are any classes around the times I'm on, and unfortunatly I haven't been lucky yet, but I do look! So, I came here. Anyone able to give me any tips on how to make the lining up of the front, back and arm areas easier, when trying to work with such textures as plaids, stripes or basically anything that you've got to line up around those areas?

Thanks all, I do apprecite it very much. I am very sorry to be a bother, but I am trying hard and am just getting really fustrated..

Not sure what you meant by half the image. I'm assuming you're talking about joining the left and right seams along the sides of the avatar. First of all, there is no need to do both sides at once.

You can always work to get one side aligned and then just mirror a copy to the other side. Non symmetrical items such as collars, buttons and pockets can be added later.

If you're using Photoshop CS2, there are better transform tools that allow distorting the pieces using a lattice which you can drag the points to squashify it in places. If not, you can still work with the regular skew and distort transforms.

Some of us use other 3rd party software that can do the alignment on a 3D model of an avatar that takes most of the guesswork away.

Yah, sorry..the front and back of the image (shirt)

So far this is what I've been doing..I like I mentioned earlier open the template, make a new layer and create a square marquee over the front of the shirt template, I have my plaids as a pattern so I use the pattern stamp and color in the square, I duplicate that layer and move it over to the back portion of the template and get it lined up, on the template it seems perfect. I start each part of the image on the same colored line (I assume the colors on the template I'm using match to where they would connect on the opposite side) but, even tho it looks perfect in photoshop, it isnt so once I preview on the upload viewer, lines are off. So, I tried using the square marquee to single out a little portion of what is off and then use the distort to kind of squishie it down or up a little, but that ends up just cutting it so I'm left with a gap. I feel like a total dweeb here =(

So, I did look into the 3D softwares, I went and got the free version of Daz3d, but from what I understand, and I could definatly be wrong or not searching the right keywords, you cannot use this program for making clothing?

Then, Daz is offering Bryce 5 for free, so I downloaded that, but I think this is just landscapes, again I'm probably wrong but I can't seem to find any information to help me with that part..

I did read on the Daz forums, someone using Blender for creating clothing, but again, user error and being extremely new to all of this, cannot figure out how to go about even starting to make clothes there, it wont seem to open the avatar manniquins that SL provides on the site, so not really sure where to go from there either, and unfortunatly I cannot afford programs such as poser so I am at a loss..

Even if I could make the shirt with prims, I just cant see how to make a shirt from a box and make it appear to look like a shirt, not that it cant be done, I just lack the skill and with odd times online, I've yet to see classes under events to attent, ...so far anyways. That just leaves me with making normal Photoshop clothing, and even in Photoshop, I'm self taught, mainly from the many tutorials that are out there. Give me solid colors and I can pop out a million and one pieces of clothing that look perfectly lined up, add any noise to that, where I have to get the front and back to match at the sides and well, there goes my ego..

The Lattice, interesting but I have no idea what that is *blush* I am using Photoshop CS but like I said above all I know was self taught...I'll have to search on google to see if it explains what that is..

Thanks so much, I do apprecite the answer back. I hate doing this, I feel like such a pain and a bother, but I am so fustrated. I just want to be able to make clothes, not just solid colored ones..I will search for the Lattice in the morning and give that a try and see if I can make ends of that! Thank you again.

I've asked a very similar question a bit earlier :
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I suspect that this is the answer I was waiting for. Is a lattice some kind of path? Where is it found?

I believe the "lattice" in photoshop is the warp tool -- in the transform menu. It is an amazing tool!

Hi Veruca!

You can line up the plaids on the sleeves using the Warp tool, if you happen to have PS CS2. If I have time, I'll post a quick tut on that tomorrow, if I can spare the time from my Day Job.

But, basically, you use the Warp tool on a Smart Object to align sections of the texture along the sides of the arm, and make a new "seam" in the middle of the underside, where it would be on a real shirt. Once you've done this, you can swap out the texture in the Smart Object, and any texture you choose will be perfectly aligned over those seams.

But, if I were you, I wouldn't worry too much about matching the front and back seams for a shirt. After all, if you look at a real shirt, you'll find that the front and back often don't match perfectly across the real side seams. (This is especially true if the shirt is fitted, as all the clothing in SL is.)

So, my advice is to just leave that seam, and match the totally unrealistic seam on the arms, instead.

Hope this helps!

Thank you so much, it really does! I very much apprecite the replies so much. I'll see if I can find what your talking about and give it a try.

Yah, normally clothes with patterns don't line up real well at the seams, but with all the perfection out there, who would want a Photoshop piece of junk with that doesn't match up...*laugh*

I'll let you guys know how it goes, assuming I am bright enough to find the 'Warp Tool' and Smart Object'

(Edit: I am using Photoshop CS version 8, I assume that is not the right version to have smart object? I cannot find it anywhere within the program. Happen to know if it is called something different for this version or is it not offered?)

Thanks again!

BTW I googled Lattice, all I got was a plug-in for photoshop, but even if this isn't what Cotton was referring to, it is definatly worth looking into, you get some awesome effects with it!

No, lattice was just a word to describe what the warp tool shows you.

Basically, you right-click on a particular layer in the layer tab and an option that says 'Group into New Smart Object' comes up.

Select that and once that is done, you go to Edit>Transform>Warp and it will show you a gridlike lattice over the contents of your layer which you can then drag and push around to form any shape that you like.

Experiment with it a little and you'd know what it does.

Ah, Well, that is the problem then! I guess I am not using CS2, just Photoshop CS version 8, that would be why I couldn't find the stuff. Does this happen to be obtainable within just the normal CS version?

Its just a new feature that came out with CS2. Not available in CS.

By the way, many clothes in RL do have seams along the sides. And they don't always have the pattern on the fabric running continuously either.

Yeah, just looks very odd when I preview them, Thank you so much for the help..I do apprecite it!