Fingernail textures - help wanted please!

Hello, I'm very new to this, and am currently trying to learn all about layers and stuff in Paint Shop Pro in an effort to make some manicure textures (and then pedicures once I've got that sorted out). I've got the Chip Midnight and Robin Sojourner UV maps as well the SL Upper Body template and the SL guide to using the templates, but to be honest, I'm still struggling with trying to work out:

a) Which is the best UV map to use for nail textures?
b) Which is the upper side of the hand (i.e. where the fingertips are)?
c) Where is the nail on the upper side of the hand?
d) What layer do I paint my nail colour onto?
e) Do I create a new background image and then copy the template layers onto it or do I use the template as it is and save it as something else?
f) Where does the Alpha channel fit into all this?

I believe what I'm trying to achieve is a transparent glove with just the fingertips opaque, but at the moment, that seems to be alot easier said than done!

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I have had a search through all the design and texture threads to avoid repetition, but can't seem to find anything about nail textures.

Many thanks in advance

Terri Decosta.

Hiya

I had these same problems when I first came to secondlife.

I don't actually use any templates for my manicure sets, I use the basic secondlife alpha (i uploaded it to here so if you don't have it ya can get it)

I then copy & paste the alpha in the "channels" tab, I then make sure there is an "eye" next to all items listen in channels, this then turns the whole thing red (except where the nails are).



To left you can see the where the finger nails are, I just use the colour layer (included in psd above) or a new layers to paint inside the "clear spaces

Thanks so much Natalie, I will have a go at this and see how I get on. It certainly sounds a lot simpler than all the tutorials I've read so far on clothing design and stuff!