Skin Disaster!

This is my sirst skin ever.As you can see it really needs some work.the upper body and the head dont match,the cleavage looks like lines and it doesnt really look very texturized.How can i make it more real?And how can i get my cleavage to look like more than lines?

My first skin wasn't any better Gianni. That was 2.5 years ago. What I did between then and now was learn a little bit every day on my own reading these forums and playing with software. I'm still learning.

Don't get frustrated by trying to learn everything all at once. Pick something specific, like the nose or the eyes, and work with those for a while, then move on to something else. It will take time.

Thanks Nam: )

Gianni, I have seen worst in-game. Your skin is far better than anything I could do.

Jen

Hi Gianni,

I'll preface this with I don't do skins in SL as a business like Nam, however I do airbrush and do a lot of pinups and while the equipment is different the requirements are the same.

The first thing that I will offer is that you have not selected a consistent light source. I know that this sounds a little odd since you know that the skin will be lit in world however to get the form and shape for your skin to be accentuated in world you have to determine where it will be lit from and then be consistent.

The following is NOT a criticism at all as I can see the time you have put into hand painting your skin.

- you have shadows on both sides of your nose. The nose on your skin (not your personal skin but your SL skin) should only have highlights added to it, let the shape be provided by SL.

- It looks like you added eyelashes to the face template and I'm guessing directly to the eye area of the template. There is no need to do this as there is an area in the upper right hand corner of the template for those. Concentrate isntead on your make up and highlights around the eyes as well as the eyebrows. Like Nam said take your time here. The eyes are one of the more difficult areas to master because it is one part of the body that we are most familiar with and variances here really leap out and slap you across the face.

- For the cleavage area, try using highlights instead of shadow to accentuate the upper curves of the breasts more than defining the shadows. This will leave the normal base skin color darker in world where it is not lit, using a natural shadow. Remember that in the real world the light is coming from above and the darker areas of cleveage are primarily as a result of a difference in levels of highlight not cast shadows. The place to accentuate shadows some would be under the breasts but even here think subtle.

The tricky thing with skins is that you (not you personally, the general you) tend to paint the 2D surface to be a 3D surface when in fact you don't really have to.

To get an idea of what a decent quality skin looks like flat and see some of what I mean, go to DAZ3D.com and download the sample textures for the Vicki model and look at them. They are not mapped the same so you cant use them for SL but the highlighting is the same and the face layer especially will give you good ideas on how to approach your SL skin.

My kudos on your first creation however, I know how much work went into it.

Dante

PS - try the same trick I do with my clothes, pick you base color, fill the entire template (all three in this case) and save then start painting but stay away from the join areas and you will have no problems with tones matching up.

Nice to meet a fellow airbrush artist . It seems we are a dying breed amongst digital artists.

This is really a 50/50 trade-off. There are areas of polygon definition around the ear, the crease below the glutes, and the toes on the feet that are virtually non-existent on the SL avatar. All the detailing in those areas needs to come from the skin texture. Other places around the nasal labial folds, the neck, chin, and shoulders push the limits of low poly definition, and you need to watch out for harsh edges and texture that is grossly distorted, or folded in on it's self.

Some areas of the SL avatar could really use an anatomical revision, like the chest divot above the breasts on the female avatar and the the pectoral placement on the male avatar (2 areas among many). Areas like this clash with correct anatomy and can sometimes look funny when lit under SL's lighting.

Skins designed for use in Poser are generally much flatter than skins designed for SL, especially in the extremities since the polygon count is magnitudes above what the SL avatar has to offer. The skins found over at DAZ can afford to let the software rendering engine define the shape. SL skins can't. The poly count is too low and the rendering engine is not as sophisticated.

My advice is to use a good previewer like Johan's stickied at the top of this forum heading, and also test directly inside of SL to see exactly how texture changes look in the spot where they will ultimately be used. Steer clear of trying to emulate the look of a Poser skin. Instead, study a photograph of a face or body.

Nam, bridging the gap from an AB to digital is quite the adventure. A wacom just doesn't have the same flexibility as my Iwata's do.

Those skills have served me in good stead however. Your right about the finer details as well as the difference between a Daz skin and SL, it was more as a guide towards general lighting etc on a premade skin that I suggested it. I think DAZ has some freebies up there still as well that are for P4 or even P2 skins which are pretty close to SL.

Thats also one of the reasons I DON'T do skins for SL other than for my own personal use. I'll stick to clothes, much less frustrating.

I'd love to see the AV's updated with some corrections as well but one makes the most of what one has.

I'd also recommend the guides by Chip Midnight as well.

What I do around the seams is use the eyedropper to capture the exact same color where the seams meet. This way they should blend smoothly. For instance open your Upper Body template and where the front of the neck is seen, capture that color w/the eyedropper then make sure you use that color on the bottom portion of the neck on the Head template.

Chip's templates have additional color references so that you know which grid sections match with others in each of the templates.

Also, my suggestion is to create a Targa image that has an alpha channel where the grid of the avatar (also known as UV) is about 80% transparent. Then upload the textures and add them to a pair of pants and shirt that are as tight to the body as possible. You can then "wear" these "clothes" over your skin and see where the gridlines fall on the Avatar and see through the gridwork and onto your skin you are working on. This will help you align things and correct errors. You may also want to make a skin with the grid textures AS the skin textures so you can put that on and see where all the gridlines align on your avatar in SL.

I'm still learning too and these are the things that I use to assist me in the admittedly steep learning curve of skin creation.

Isn't this great. In SL, building materials are totally free, but you have to buy skin.

We all step through the looking glass in one way or another here. I don't have to buy my skin, but that doesn't mean it's free

I don't have to buy my skin, but I generally do to avoid people pointing and staring ;D

lol Erin
Thanks you guys for all the help and advice.Its always good to learn things that I don't know.I am integrating the advice into my skin efforts and not rushing so much.THANKS GUYS

why wont my post delete

Make that I'd also recommend the guides by Chip Midnight as well.

I have gotten some use from the Beta Grid and saved mongo linden by trying stuff out there.

just a thought.
anik