Please Help Novice Clothier

Hi, I have just started making clothes in Second Life and have hit a few snags, before I list those let me tell you what tools I have and what I can do:

Tools
Photoshop 7
Paint Shop Pro 8

I have read 2 clothing tutorials and have a basic understanding of layers, and how to put images onto T-shirts, then save and upload those into Second Life.

What I can't do (The snags):

I can't seem to find/make fabric textures.
I can't seem to be able to do collars, buttons and sleeves.

I am really a novice and have read what tutorials I have found, specifically the 2 that are best known (Nicola Escher and the Neph one).

I really could use some help.

Thanks,

-- Wolf

These will get you started.
http://www.mayang.com/textures/
http://perso.club-internet.fr/lemog/#

What specific problems are you having?

Granted I am a novice clothier too, but would like to offer a little advice on finding fabics. I have found some interesting ones by just running a google or yahoo search. It is a little time consuming, but there are a lot of interesting ones to be found. Just make sure when you find one you like to open it to it's max size before saving. Hope this helps and I don't mind sharing some of the fabrics that I have. Feel free to contact me in world.

you might want to check the remnants bin at your local fabric store. I did this the other day, looking for things to scan, and it was a goldmine! the larger stores will also have trim remnants- all these are are leftover pieces of fabric and trim too small to go back on the bolt for sale-by-yard. The bundles are ususally incredibly cheap, and fun to look through.

Thank you all so much

Any advice on the collar/trim problem, I'd really like to add a simple collar to some of my T-shirts. Specifically, I don't know how to go about adding collars, buttons, seams etc using either PSP or PS, whichever is easier.

Thanks again!

-- Wolf

Hi again Wolf!

for lacings, seams, ect- I have found the line tool in photoshop to be useful. its a little difficult to find in the toolbar though. here's where to find the line tool. it's the one inside the red circle- if you dont see it there by default, then click the little teeny black arrow in the corner of that square- you will get a menu that pops up that shows all the tools in that square. the line tool will be in the list. you can set the properties for it- line width, antialiasing, arrowheads or no, in the options along the top of the screen (if you are using PS 7. i do not recall where these options are in earlier versions.)

I have PS 7. Should I use the line tool for collars or something else, specifically I am having trouble figuring out curved lines.

aaah, ok i follow

curves can be created using the line tool, just make the lines you draw very short, and change the angle to create essentially a curve comprised of very small angled lines.
this is difficult to explain verbally- i'll try to get an image up illustrating what im talking about before the evening is over

ok, this is an extremely inelegant demonstration, but....

here is an example of a curve made from line-tool segments.

i bevel/embossed the segments so you can see thier beginning and end of each line more clearly. I used 4 segments per curve for the demonstration- if you desire a smoother curve, just use more segments.

this is, of course, only one way of accomplishing it. this just happens to be whats easiest for me. hope it helps

Ah ah! Yes that is what I was looking for... Thank you SO much, you have ni idea how this is going to help me.

Last question here (I hope) what settings do you use for each layer so you can see what you are working on AND where did you select the settings on the line brush?

-- Wolf

for the layers, all you need to see how many you have open/whats in each one is to open the menu- if its not open by default, you can open it by making sure the Layers option under WIndows is checked.

as for the options for your line tool, you can find those in the long horizontal toolbar under the file/edit/image/layer options at the very top of the interface. the Wieght blank determines the thickness of your line, in pixels i believe- to get a rough idea of what wieght is what, for the curved-line demo i used a 10-pixel wide line.

hehe hope that helps wolf, my apologies if its garbled, its early and pre-coffee

if you have any other questions, i'll be happy to take a shot at them

Another method to get curves is to use the Elliptical Marquee Tool to make a curved selection, then go to Select > Transform Selection and manipulate its shape. When you have it where you want it, either fill it or stroke it.

The Polygonal Lasso Tool also works in a method similar to Nephilaine's short line sections. If you really want to get nuts with curved lines check out the Pen Tool.

yes!!!!!!!
yes, yes, YES.
those are excellent suggestions Julian, and probably a LOT cleaner and easier than trying to patch together a curve out of lines.

While I can't claim to be a great clothier, I have had some success making simple seams, laces and buttons.

Here's what I do for seams and laces:

Most of the shapes in clothing are irregular curves so I just use the brush tools. I start with the shadow - a darker color than the underlying fabric. I'll brush that along the edge, just eyeballing it at a close zoom. Once I have the shadow I'll adjust its transparency a bit to fade it. Then I'll overlay the seam on it by picking the fabric color and going over the top of the shadow, covering most of it and leaving the faint edge. Once I have both I'll fade them a bit more to blend back in with the main fabric.

Buttons are a similar overlay: Just do a dark dot first, place your main color for the button over most of it, then add a tiny highlight dot on part of it. If you're looking for more detail, try finding pictures of buttons and beads, and setting them over the shadow dot.

BTW Neph,

I'm still hoping to hear more about getting wrinkles and folds into your fabrics. No pressure, but until I figure it out I will remain insanely jealous of you. ^_~

Any chance you could walk me through this? I really am new to Photoshop.

Thanks
-- Wolf

That would get in-depth real fast. Just read the help docs for the regular Free Transform tool. Everything it talks about can be done to a selection via Select > Transform Selection. The difference is the Free Transform tool changes your art and the Transform Selection tool changes the shape of the area that other tools will affect.

The easiest intro might be to make a selection using one of the Marquee tools (top left button on your toolbar, they look like dotted circles or squares) or with one of the Lasso tools. Then choose Select > Transform Selection and start dragging the corners around. You can move them differently depending on the combination of Control, Alt, and Shift you use. Hit enter when you want to apply the transformation. Good luck.