New Subdivided UV Templates

You are very welcome, everyone! I hope that you find them useful.

Hey, Chosen, have you upgraded to CS2 yet? You told me once that if I gave you a good reason...

How's this one?

You can take any image, say a plain piece of fabric, and make it into a Smart Object. Now apply any transformations you want, including the new CS2 Warp transformation (Enveloping, with Bezier handles, like you have on the type in CS, but not on selections. CS2 has it for selections. )

Now double click to open the Smart Object, (which opens a normal PS file of the Smart Object, so it can have layers, guides, or anything else in it,) and replace that fabric with a different one. You don't have to do anything else with it; just load the new fabric, and eliminate the old one if you want to.

Save the Smart Object, click on the Photoshop image, and the fabric in the transformed object changes from the old pattern to the new. No further work required.

Plus, if you have used the same Smart Object, with different transformations, in several different places (like both pockets, both sides of the turned open collar, all three collar sections (right, left, and back,) and the cuffs,) all of them will change simultaneously!

Slick, huh?

You want a video of that?

Robin,

So are you doing most of your design as vector objects and then rastorizing (is that a word?) them as needed?

I haven't played with smat objects, but I'm guessing you mean I can work on the build at any size I want easily, and then resize it down to the ever wonderful 512x512.

Damn, I just read your last post and I think I need a drink...I followed about half of everything you said in there...me thinks I'm still PS challenged. Maybe scriptors were never meant to design.

LOL

Hi Denrael; kind of. I'm doing most of it as Vector objects, and not raserizing at all.

When you are using Paths, you never need to raserize, since you can just use the path to lay down fills and brush strokes. Most of what I do these days I do using the Warp Transformation and Smart Objects, because I happen to have PS CS2, and this way I can set up a template once, and it's a snap to change fabrics. Since I'm doing things like Hawaiian shirts and flannel shirts, changing the fabric gives me a completely new design from the same basic template. It's like using the same pattern to make a bunch of RL shirts.

The Vector Smart Objects do, indeed, allow me to work as large as I like. I'm getting really spoiled by making most of the vector stuff at 2048, which is the equivalent of 200% of the 1024 I used to work in. Then, when that's all set, I reduce the size to 1024 to put in the fabrics (which are all rasterized, of course,) and then flatten and reduce further to 512 before uploading. (After which, I immeadiately unflatten and increase the size again, because flat files aren't nearly as flexible as layered files.)

Honestly, I "cheat" even more than that, since I've remapped the Avatars so there won't be seams on the arms, or between the top and bottom fabrics, and I use those remapped models to burn the textures onto the Linden provided maps. But that's just for the base fabric; the rest (yokes, pockets, collars, wrinkles, shading, etc.) I do in PS.

And I'm sorry that you are having problems following my post. It's my fault, not yours, for writing things when I'm sick and can't write clearly. Tell me which post it was, and I'll try to make it as clear as possible. (But, really, some of this does need pictures to explain.)

Not your fault at all...just my tryign to learn CS2...I understand vector objects if only because I've had to do a ton of visio in my day. So make that I understand them in theory...beziers still drive me to drink (heavily). The concept of smart objects and all is a mystery to me still. Not because of your posts, just my need to learn both a totally new program and the basics of how to design things like clothes...building a model of a piece of equipment is much easier LOL.

I'm furiously taking notes to go RTFM on Vector Smart Objects and Warp Transformation (which I don't think has anything to do with Star Trek). LOL

Nope, nothing to do with Star Trek at all.

I was lucky, as I mentioned before, and started with Beziers when Illustrator included instructions in how to use them. I have no idea why they stopped doing that. In those days, the first thing you got was a template that told you to click here and drag to this point, and as you did, the curve matched the one shown on the template perfectly. So the first thing that you learned was that they were predictable and easy to use.

The new method "they are tricky, but keep playing with them, and you'll learn" is absurd, IMHO.

They aren't tricky a bit. It's very simple. The control handle is just a line that's a tangent to the curve, and about 1/3 the length of the curve. Use the fewest possible points to describe the curve, and you'll get smoother curves. So, to make a curve, just drag the handle out about 1/3 of the length you want the curve to be, at a tangent to that curve, and you'll have it. To make a sine wave, put the points on the sides, not on the tops and bottoms. You'll use fewer points, and the curve will be smoother.

I'm going to make a Bezier Curve tutorial, too. As soon as I can breathe again. In fact, that's why I didn't finish and post the first t-shirt tut before I got sick. I decided that I needed to do the Bezier one first, so people wouldn't be frightened by the Pen tool!

Well Robin, you've sold me. In fact, you had at smart objects, many posts ago. I haven't actually gone to the store and bought the upgrade yet, but it's on my to-do list. I'm planning on getting ACE certification soon, so I'm going to have to learn the new features of CS2 anyway, but it was you, not the test, that orignially convinced me. I guess Adobe owes you a commission or something.

Tell me, have you played around with the bridge feature at all? I didn't know anything about it until recently when I looked into getting my certification. The guy I spoke with at the testing center said it's his favorite feature of CS2. First he asked me if if I also use Illustrator and InDesign, which I do, and then he went on for a good 10 minutes or so about how Bridge is the greatest thing ever. I haven't read up on it yet, but according to this instructor, it seamlessly intigrates Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign into one workflow. It sounds really cool.

On a complete side note, in case anyone's interested, the ACE (Adobe Certified Expert) program looks like little more than a scheme to make money for testing centers and to help ensure that people keep on using Adobe products, but hey, for only $150 to take the test, Adobe's sales pitch that it's a nice resume booster seemed to make sense to me. It's a small amount to lose with potential for a lot to gain. If anyone else thinks it might help them, you can read about it on Adobe's website. My main interest in it is that it's a requisit for becoming a certified instructor, which is what I'm really trying to do. I spend so much time teaching Photoshop for free, I figure I might as well make a legitimate business out of it somewhere.

I completely agree. The concepts of beziers might be confusing at first for people that have never used them before, but they're very easy and intuitive, even for people like me who usually don't use vector objects.

Actually Robin's brief suggestion of setting your first two points along the top and then establishing a point on the template where you want the base of the curve to be went a LONG way. I've been workign without that first point, and tryign to build a curve off of two points...needless to say it was VERY ugly.

To make it more interesting, PS CS2 seems to have a significantly different method of defining the bezier than PSP did. I think I like this better, but it's too soon to tell.

Very little, Chosen, and I really should. But it's one of those things that weren't terribly useful in PS CS, so I just never opened it until a few days ago. It's lacking a few things that would make it really handy for me - I find that I have to spend more time than I like shuffling through folders for things, for instance.

In my ordinary workflow, I use a Mac utility called Default Folder X which makes navigation significantly easier than using the system alone. It's spoiled me so badly that I'm annoyed when I can't go to a folder in a dialog by clicking on its shadowed outline while it's open on my desktop.

With FolderX, when you look at the recently used folders, it skips everything that you didn't acutally take something from. In other words, if your picture was nested 3 deep in various folders, it only shows the one it was in. The bridge Recent Items shows all 3 of them, and since it only shows a few Recent Items, and I frequently have things nested 7 or 8 folders in, it tends stop shy of the one that I actually want.

So, even though I've been trying to use it for a few days, I'm finding it very inconvenient.

That being said, aside from the navigation issues, it does seem to have some nice features. And maybe if I tried it when I wasn't already cranky from being ill, I'd like it. We'll have to see.

I will say that all of my friends (even the Mac users) are astounded that I'm not using it all the time.

It wouild be nice if Adobe gave out commissions to people who sold other people on their software, wouldn't it? Ah well. I think you're going to love it, when you get it though. I know I certainly do!

Have you considered joining the Association of Photoshop Professionals? I just did, and it's the best $100 I ever spent. They have tons of tutorials there, with all kinds of really neat tricks and tips. Just a thought.

Yep, Chip, as soon as I can do so, I'm going to have to write that tut about Beziers. They are so simple and elegant, really. All anyone needs is a hint!

Denrael, I'm glad! You can define a curve with two points easily enough; but if you need it to cross a particular line at a particular place, the easiest way is just to put a control point there. The stuff "above" that point is only there to make sure the entire area of the neck above the curve will be hidden, anyway. So that part doesn't have to be pretty!

I'll try to get a couple of screen shots into that tutorial today. I think that two or three of them will make it a whole lot easier to follow!

these are awesome, robin!! outstanding job...thank you for making and sharing them!

Wow! Love the detail and clarity. Thank you so much Robin. You got me wondering about Smart Objects now. lol

this is awesome (and fun watching the interaction of a few experts here). I'm a huge fan of the pen/path tool... i never thought of using smart objects and warps like that robin. Gonna have to experiment -- in concept it sounds great... if i can figure it out

thanks so much robin. can't wait to examine your vector version

Thanks, Jade and Kurshie!

Kurshie, Smart Objects are wonderful things. The documentation and promo stuff just talks about how you can resize objects and not lose resolution, in case you need to resize them again later. But that's just the tip of the iceberg!

The real beauty is that they are all just instances, that refer back to the original object. So, for instance, you can design a button, make it into a Smart Object, and use it at one size in a row down the front of a shirt, at a different size on the cuffs, and at a third size on the collar. The button will be as sharp as possible at all sizes, and if you decide after the first test that you need the cuff buttons to be larger, you can do that without worrying about jaggies.

But the real beauty is that if you decide to change the color, design, or anything else about the button, you just double click on one of them to open the smart object, change that (which you can do by adding adjustment layers, or other layers, or anything you want,) and save. Click on the original document, and all the buttons change, instantly, keeping their relative sizes. Just like that! It simply doesn't get any easier.

So yeah, if you have CS2, definitely give Smart Objects a try.

Bump: essential piece of kit.

Even though this was written about nine months ago, I thought I'd add a little note. Illustrator is great for ripping images out of *any* PDF, not just those made with Illustrator. If there are 20 layers or so of compound masks, it's been done in something else -- likely Word or Publisher, which create insane, unnecessary compound masks -- and turned into a PDF. Illustrator is just the best way to rip the full resolution images out.

Illustrator's native file format is also (an extended form of) PDF, by the way. You can send a modern Illustrator file to anyone with Acrobat Reader, and they're likely to be able to read it.

Thanks for all the fine texture work from everyone in these forums -- the best argument yet for keeping some of the forums open.

Robin, I read through this thread and did some of the exercises, downloaded the templatea and would like to create my own 3D template on my avatar (so I can see all the UV segments and where the end up. I have created all the files, but am having a very hard time figuring out how to create the new template skin. Any hints would be helpful

I've tried everything I could in SL, including making an new skin, but I can't get the template textures onto it.

Thanks

I hand out her and Chip's templates in my clothing class. I will pop in-world and drop you a template skin.

To make the skin, you need to upload or acquire the three templates, head, torso and legs. You then go into Appearance - Skin (be sure to name and save your skin at this point) and drop each of the textures into the correct blocks, i.e. head texture in top block, torso in middle, etc. Name, save and wear. That’s it.



Jen

Hi Valradica!

To make your own template skin:



OR



Hope this helps!

This is exactly what I needed - terrific - I think I probably tried all the various pieces of these steps, but couldn't get them all in the right way. Thanks, this is a keeper

I'm glad, Valradica!

Thanks from me too Robin. Anything offered by anyone is becoming a rarity in this increasingly capitalistic world. Thanks.
Not a designer or an artist, or anything for that matter, I just like to have a go at everything so I ended up here.
FYI or anyone using Gimp on Linux, Robins files loaded fine for me, well almost. I just had to add a new white layer and move it to the bottom so I could see what was going on. Then resave as a Gimp .xcf file.
Thats it.

very helpful. i am confused how to get an alpha channel though.

nevermind. sorry, i got it. Thanks again for the great templates.

Oh, lawd, please lets have a video of that!! I want to to see that. Why? Well, I want to learn

It's you graphics geniuses who make SL look so damned good. I want to learn how to make some cool clothes and skins and I'm mildly familiar with PS CS2 etc. I have the entire Standard Creative Suite. Oh, great Lords of Creations, please show us mere mortals MORE!