Non-tattoo skin texture?

I probably deserve another punch from Captain Obvious for the answer to this one but,
how do I make a skin from a texture without filling the head/upper/lower tattoo spots? I know it's been done... I can wear tattoos over my furry skins...

What obvious thing am I missing here?
EDIT:
The skin was a tat, and the tats were underclothes. DURRRRRRR

Also, does it cost to upload skin, hair, and clothing textures before you come to a "final" product? Sucks to spend hours on something only to realize it looks really messed up in-world =/

A side quest: would I need to create shadows on the skin, or does the world lighting create the necessary shadows? I don't think I need to add them, but I'm going to ask anyway...

Yes, it costs L$10/texture. If you scan this forum there a load of threads about using Poser, DAZ Studio, 3DSMax etc. for checking. Sadly the texture upload checker is currently not working as well as possible. But there are a number of steps that you can take to check things BEFORE paying out your $10. I recently did a set of tattoos as a custom job for someone, 5 textures in total, and paid $70 for the uploads - only 1 needed tweaking and that one twice by careful use of the various preview options.



I'm not the expert here - I think you need to hope for Chosen, Robin, Chip etc. to come along. I do know, however, that someone sells 'shadow' underwear - on the basis that it makes the av look more natural (shadows around the breasts etc.) I've not tried it, and suspect there will be problems with making it look natural as the av changes relative to light sources etc. I also pretty strongly suspect that given the performance hit from shadows most people don't have them on, but that might just be me.

Sadly, I do not possess anything more powerful than Wings3D for 3D. =( If anyone happens to know how to use Wings3D with SL, speak up!

I've seen a few proposals, suggestions, etc that SL allow us to temporary texture uploads, so we can check and tweak our designs without breaking the bank.



Hope they come by then...
I was asking about shadows because I'm trying to make an anime avatar (there's a suprising lack of them in SL). The shadows are more generalized and "extreme" than a realistic skin/av. I suppose I could do some shading, but it would be hard to make something that looks "right" at most light sources in the world. =/ Guess I'll just dump some paint on and sketch in some details. (it's easier XD)

Thanks for the info!

I'm not one of the big 3 , but I do have a bit of experience with making skins that do not apply to the tattoo layer.

1. Sub-layer skins are very hard to market to a large group because they need to be put into the SL client. This involves significant overhead in the form of installers and a reliable and secure FTP site for distribution. With the promise of generalized texture layers and better permissions (it's anyones guess as to when they will finally be addressed), now might not be a good time to follow this method of making skins unless you are just doing it for personal reasons.

2. There are free 3rd party applications like Daz Studio that can be used for previewing textures. This will help you save Lindens!

3. Cast shadow and highlight textures that are baked directly into the skin, clothing, or tattoo texture get my thumbs up! Rarely are most textures going to be seen in SL out of a fairly normal (light from above) context. That means most cast shadows will enhance the look of the texture rather than make it look weird. This is extremely important when doing skins. It is best to keep the effects subtle and allow the SL lighting features to work with them, rather than go overboard on the effects. That will only make the textures look painted on.

Sorry Nam, yes, you're another excellent person to answer such questions - sorry for forgetting you

Don't be sorry, I'm happy to help out by posting useful information when I have down time - no grand introduction needed