From: Snickers Snook
If you are talking about the "Alpha Textures for Clothes Creating", they aren't scams -- they just aren't very useful (IMHO). They don't come with any images or layers that would make them work. All you get are the master alphas which is like buying the shadow of a shirt instead of the shirt, wrinkles, collar, buttons, button holes, etc.
Snickers, are you saying that there's a package of example alphas being distributed somewhere? If so, I could actually see that as being quite useful as a learning tool for people. If someone already knows how to make their own alpha channels, then I'd agree with you; having a bunch of generic samples lying around wouldn't serve much purpose. But for people just learning this stuff for the first time, applying the examples and then noting how they affect the transparency of textures could be enlightening.
It wouldn't be my first choice for a primary teaching tool. But as a supplemental tool, it could be valuable.
From: Treble Freenote
Hi...I was wondering if someone could tell me how to use the Alpha Clothing Templates. I seem a bit confused as to how to add textures to their templates for clothing.
Treble, if the "templates" you're talking about are not in fact examples of alpha channels, but something else, please explain in more detail. In the mean time, I'll assume in this post that Snickers' guess was right, and that that is what you mean.
The answer to your question (again, assuming that you are indeed talking about example images for alpha channels) is that what you're looking at are transparency maps. To use one, you would copy it to the alpha channel of an image in your paint program of choice, and then save the image in 32-bit TGA format, for upload to SL as a texture. The data on the alpha channel would then define where the opaque and transparent parts of the texture are.
If you don't know what an alpha channels is, or how to use them for transparency in textures, read the sticky at the top of the forum.
From: Treble Freenote
I was also informed that these templates were scams. Is that true?
Again assuming that what we're talking about are indeed example alpha channel examples, then I'm guessing the person who told you they were scams just doesn't know very much about texturing. He/she probably got hold of the images, and simply didn't understand what he/she was looking at.
If somebody has no idea what alpha channels are, I could imagine him erroneously jumping to the conclusion he'd been scammed if he'd bought an item called Shirt Alpha Template or something, and then discovered all he'd gotten was a black and white silhouette instead of an actual shirt. But it would not have been a scam at all. The product in that case would have been exactly as advertised. The buyer was just too ignorant to understand what he was buying is all.
It would be analogous to going into a RL art supply store, purchasing an item called a compass, and then being upset that it doesn't point North. Obviously, there was no scam involved there. The buyer just didn't understand. It's certainly not the store's responsibility to put up a big sign saying "Does Not Point North" on an item intended for drawing circles. The onus is on the buyer to know beforehand that the compasses they sell in art supply stores are not the same as the ones they sell in sporting goods stores.
By the same token, if one is planning on buying an item intended to aid in texturing, one has the responsibility first to learn a thing or two about how texturing is done, before making the purchase. And if he's not sure what something is, he should ask (just as you did). He shouldn't assume he's been scammed just because he voluntarily decided to move beyond his own current level of knowledge without first having stopped to educate himself about where he was headed.
That's of course assuming that the items in question were clearly labeled. I don't know that they were or that they weren't. I've never seen them.
From: Treble Freenote
But dont i just add my own layers to it....at least thats what I thought I had to do.
I cant seem to figure out how to add a clothing texture to it though.
Im sorry, im just confused...b/c i though it would save me a bit of time...not a lot, but some time.
Thanks for you reply though!
What is it exactly that you don't know how to do? Are you looking for basic technical instruction in how to work with layers and/or channels in your paint program? Or are you looking for art lessons, to learn how to paint the actual imagery? Something else?
