making textures.. textured.

Okay.. so i run photoshop 7.0 and i have the hang of the basics of clothing design and the like.. but what perplexes me is how people come up with some of the... incredible textures I have seen. I know some people photosource.. but i can tell many that werent. I would love to know how people make the textures they use for the fabric. Is it a trick with filters that i just dont know about? Or maybe brushes i just dont posses.. or worst of all, are they individually placing each little color variation pixel by pixel? heh

Pixeldolls is a very good example of what i am talking about. Her work is incredible.

If anyone can help me, i would sincerely appreciate it..

thanks everyone..

Dorian

Thank You Dorian,
This is just the question I was looking for, and hope you get an answer... Because I've been searching and have found it extremely hard to get the answer I need. I love some of the textures people make and an in awe of them. You hit my question right on the dot and I'm going to stay with your post till we both find the answers.

Bunch.

Play about using filters and the other controls its amazing the things photoshop can do with just a few simple clicks.

I wouls advise obtaining some tutorial cd's for it and working through them. Like you I was dumbfounded by it but after a few hours with the tutorials i can now make some very passable textures for my buildings

Photo sourcing is a very good way to start as it teaches you a lot of the controls for distorting and resizing images to do what you want them to. Also the bevel and emboss tools are very handy.

@Dorian

Add Noise can be your friend.

Eyecandy's weave filter can create a nice effect that resembles cotton as well as other similar fabrics. For things like silk/satin there are short cuts but nothing looks as nice as painting folds and shading.
More inexpensively you can fake the effect of a certain weaves/knits by creating a small seamless pattern to overlay your work, it helps to add some noise to break the computer consistancy. I'd suggest googling your desired fabric in order to study the texture. For less textured fabrics, a little noise goes a long way in creating some realism.
There are also a few useful Photoshop layer styles which can be found here for creating quick folds (may require free sign-up & login).

I made a quick little tutorial to illustrate what I mean better, I hope it helps. XD

Okay, thanks you guys.. I am definately going to try some of that. If anyone else has anything to add or links to more filters and the like i can download please, Keep it coming!

Every little bit helps!


Thanks!

Serafina, what a nice little tutorial. Thank you for all of us.


Dorian. First of all welcome to SL and the soon to be defunct D&T forum. Hopefully this will continue somewhere else.

I think your are beginning to understand that there are no simple magic tricks to drawing clothing in Photoshop. It comes from reading advice from the helpful, experienced and knowledgeable people here, in this forum, and lots and lots of practice.

I have found that making clothing in SL to be a two part challenge. First, you have to learn to use your graphics program and draw realistic looking clothing. For those who come from the graphic artists fields, this is easy. However, even if you aren’t already an artist, you can learn with practice to make good clothing in SL. I think I am evidence in that statement.

The second challenge is to learn to operate within the artistic limits imposed by SL. After a year, I have reached a point where I can draw some clothing better than SL can render them. I find this to be frustrating.

The last two major pieces of clothing I have designed fall in that category. I can’t get them to look in SL like the vision I have in my head or what I have drawn in Photoshop. So long as a RL relationship I am in doesn’t distract me too much, I am sure I will eventually find a solution.

To, you and other new SLers who come here wanting to make beautiful clothing my advice is to read the tutorials and helpful answers and just practice. Don’t get discouraged if your first attempts don’t look like those put out by the major designers. Each and everyone of them will tell you about lots of pieces that never make it on the racks and may still reside in the trash folder.

Good luck and have fun.

Jen

It makes me very happy to see responses such as the above. They're very encouraging to newbies and even the not-so-newbie.

Yes as Jennifer said, the most important thing is not to get discouraged by your early attempts. They most likely will come out bad, but that's all part of the learning experience. You need to see the mistakes to know what to look for when you make a good design.

Even something as simple as my avatar's face keeps needing adjustment. What keeps me going is the thought that I know what I need to adjust and every attempt makes things incrementally better.

I don't do clothes yet, so my advice was one of general graphics work. I do have noise on my skin textures and they made quite a difference towards achieving the look I wanted. I do intend to do clothes eventually, if not for business, at least for myself. I'm going to get tired of this black sleeveless and rolled up jeans eventually.

http://www.mayang.com/textures/

This website might be of some help to you I don't have access to a digital camera or scanner so I can't photosource my own fabrics... and found this site of scans/pictures of fabric which has helped me a TON. Hope you find some use in it as well

Thanks alot for the link above, those textures are VERY useful.

And yes, the Add Noise filter can be your best friend.

thanks again you guys. Im really glad to see so many people contributing to this thread. I know for a fact I cant be the only one wondering about these sort of things.. and Im sure that many other people will get use out of your responses.

The resources you are providing are extremely useful, as are the tips and hints being mentioned.

Thanks again! and keep it coming guys.. I have been experimenting with every idea sent my way.. heh.

Take care guys..and god bless.

Dorian

Definitely work with the filters like everyone said, sometimes a boring and dull outfit can just come alive Also, and I am sorry I am still searching for the link I have found some great additions to gradients and filters online. They are free to download and then use on Photoshop.

I am looking for that link hon, if I find it, will be sure to post it. But my favorites (in Internet Explorer) are like the Bermuda Triangle at the moment hehe.

Great stuff. Excellent suggestions.

*shakes head and wonders where to get that RL time when RL work and SL DarkLife takes up all the free time*


Ah, Torley says that these Content Creation Forums have an open ended future, so hopefully the "soon to be defunct" can be extended for a looooong time where this and the other Content Creation Forums are concerned. *crosses fingers*

Well I found one of the links to textures I mentioned earlier, but now it says it has been hacked and all were erased. It claims for them to be up soon...so here is the link to that one just in case

http://www.got3d.com

It may sound strange, but on some wood, sand, and other organic textures clothes can come out interesting. I just play with the filters on them sometimes Hopefully when the website is back up, you all will be able to test it out too.

I actually went on vacation for a week since i started this thread, and Im extremely pleased to see that it is alive and well.

All of this has been very helpful, and i have enjoyed a good measure of success taking sample textures (such as the linen in the game) and turning them for use with the "pattenr brush" and simply blending them as another layer onto my existing designs. Playign with the layer blending modes and the opacity can have a number of different effects.

I have also tried filters and the like. though i havent actually gotten much good to come out of the add noise one. I think i may be missing something where that is concerned.

Thank you all so very much for your help..and if anyone else has links to new filters or tools, I would LOVE to get them..

Heh. Next i will have to learn how to make skins.

-dorian