clothing creator help for mac

I want to make more clothes for sl, I have made a few already but the problem for me is seams . I want them to be perfect and have a great deal of trouble getting them to fit together smoothly from front to back with just photoshop and the templates it takes such a long time and so many trial and errors I find myself just wanting to give up. I know there is a 3d clothing designer available on sl exchange that helps you actually smooth the seams on the avatar but I have a mac and cant buy it.

Does anyone have any ideas on what software ( preferably free) will work with my photoshop to help me fix the seams easily and quickly on sl clothes I make?

Thanks
Elinah

Among the stickies at the top of this forum is SL Clothes Previewer, a free tool I created specifically to help people work on seams, with versions for both Windows and Mac.

See /109/71/228214/1.html#post1791158

Thanks ! Can I also draw on it directly if the seams look bad can I fix them on the 3d model ?

Elinah

The only way to "draw" on the Texture maps in 3D is to use ZBrush, or Modo or BodyPaint etc... With varying results. I have experimented with ZBrush and I still have yet to use it fully for clothes creation. Modo looks like it might work but as with any program there is a learning curve and it is yet another hurdle to getting the "seams" to work out perfectly.

With Zbrush there are a few tutorials on getting your "baked" texture from that program and into Photoshop. From what I have tried there are 2 different ways of creating a texture for the avatar uvw maps - pixel painting and projection. Either way takes a few tries and I still am not happy with my results. Personally I just try to play with the texture or pattern until it almost matches as the pixel stretching etc. morphs your image and nothing so far has turned out correctly. You might be able to use smart-objects and warp to create a "seamless" pattern or texture - but that seems like a headache. I honestly doubt that that many people care about the seams to some extent (obviously if it looks wrong they won't buy your wares). I usually use Photoshop and the SL previewer to check and see the seams and move stuff around from there.

Here's a few links to the Zbrush and Modo forums on painting on 3D models:

http://www.houseoftutorials.com/page2.html

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=49966&page=2

http://www.luxology.com/whatismodo/paint.aspx

I have used ZBrush for making a skin and a little for making clothes. It is better than matching seams entirely in Photoshop but it is not a fast or easy tool. It leaves a narrow gap at all seams which I then have to fix in photoshop. Lots of futzing and tweaking.

It sounds like we all need to find the best way , but that many things are out there I have not tried yet.

I just tried to do some research and I wonder does the new photoshop cs3 extended work at creating sims for sl clothes making ?


Elinah

The new CS3 extended is supposed to have these features. I've been looking for reviews from other who are using it.

Hi!

With PS CS3 Extended you can look at your textures on the AV, spin them around, check the seams, and so on.

But you cannot paint directly on the model.

If that's what you want to do, and you can afford it, I can highly recommend Modo. (You can find it at Luxology.com) I never liked BodyPaint, which I also have, but I love Modo.

There is a fairly steep learning curve, because the interface is highly modifiable. But the people at Luxology have finally realized that, and now have an Evaluation kit that includes a 30 day license of the program (for Mac or Windows) that isn't crippled in any way, and a set of tutorials called "Modo in Focus" that explain all the stuff you need to know to start working. (I'd still be mostly frustrated with the program, if not for those tuts!)

You can get it at http://www.luxology.com/trymodo/ if you'd like to try it. It's not free, but if you're seriously considering buying the program, IMHO the tutorials are worth way more than the $25 US they are charging.

Also, if anyone had the free evaluation version with no hint of how to use it (which was actually very frustrating, which may be why it's no longer available) or has the program and can't figure out how to paint with it (it's not exactly intuitive) let me know, and I can write a quick tut explaining how.

I would really appreciate this Robin. Ive played around with Modo and was able to import the avatar, but I cant get it to let me paint on it.

Hi Annyka! I'm doing this quick and dirty, without any illustrations, so I can get it up tonight. If it's too hard to follow without them, let me know, and I'll post a real tutorial, with illos, on my website.

In the meantime, here goes!

To Paint on the Avatar in Modo

Start by making sure you're in the Default 301 workspace, so you can follow along.

1 Import the Avatar. If it looks faceted, go to Geometry > Vertex > Merge Tool, and Merge the vertices. Then tap the Tab key to make it smooth. (The tool shows up in the pane on the lower left, in the Default 301 Workspace.)

2. Click on the Paint tab, at the top of the interface, to move to the Paint space.

3. Click on the Sculpt/Paint tab, on the top right, to get the Paint tools.

4. Click the Shader Tree tab, on the Top Right, and click the flippy next to the Blue Render Ball if you can't see the Item, and then click the Item flippy triangle to open the Item, so you can see the three materials.

5. Click on the Green Ball that has the name of the Material you want to paint on, to Select it.

6. Click on the Lists tab, below the pane with the Shaders, and choose a UV Map from the UV Map list. (If you don't have a UV map chosen, you won't be able to paint at all.)

7. Click on the Utilities tab, on the side in the Sculpt/Paint pane, and choose Add Color Texture from the top. (That's the new image, for you to paint on.)

8. In the normal system Browse window that opens, Browse to where you want to save your image, name it, and choose your format. (I just use Targa, it's easiest.)

9. In the New Still dialog that opens, choose the resolution for your image, and whether you want it to be RBGA or just RGB. (RBGA makes an alpha, and is what you want if you don't want to cover the entire material with a base color.) If you choose RBG, also enable Set Color and click the Color to choose a base color. If you didn't, don't.

10. Click on the Paint Tools tab, on the left, and choose a brush. I recommend Airbrush, if you're just going to paint.

11. Choose a brush tip, from the row of icons below the names. (Soft brush, hard brush, procedural brush, etc. I recommend Soft or Hard, if you're just starting.)

12. Click the Nozzle button, if you're using a Graphics Tablet. That will enable all the tablet functionality.

13. In the pane below that one, choose your Foreground Color (FG Color) by clicking on the swatch and using your color picker. You can also choose the size of the brush, the sensitivity of your tablet, and all that stuff down here.

14. Move the cursor over the model, hold down the left mouse button, or put the pen on the tablet, and drag to paint!

15. You can hold down the right mouse button, and drag, to change the size of the brush. Choose the color by clicking on the FG bar in the pane on the lower left, and using the color picker, OR by clicking and dragging on the numbers on that bar, OR by clicking the first box over the color picker in the bottom middle of the interface (So you're changing the Foreground color) and using that color picker. Switch between foreground and background colors by clicking the little S next to that row of boxes.

16. You can paint right over the seams on the material you're painting on. However you can only paint on one material at a time, which is what you want (if you haven't remapped the model,) because the UVs all overlap. (You can see this by clicking the UV Tab at the top. Red means overlapping UVs.)

17. If you have remapped the model, you can paint on all the materials at once by clicking on the green ball that's labeled "Base Material" in the Shader Tree, and adding the new image map (step 7) with that selected, not a material. You can do this without remapping, too, of course; but your paint strokes will show up on all three body parts; which is probably not what you want.

18. When you've painted enough, and want to save what you've done, go to File > Save Image. You can do this as often as you like, of course, just like you can with any program. Just make sure the image you want to save is selected in the Shader Tree before you save.

19. When you open your new image in PS, don't be alarmed. It will be totally black, with the colors you've added looking all opaque on it. That's what it's supposed to look like. Just hold down the Option key, and click on the Background layer, to "float" it and make it a normal layer. Then go to Select > Load Selection and choose the Alpha channel, click the Invert button, and tap the Delete key. Your image will look like you expect it to look. (Don't forget to discard that Alpha, if you're going to paint on the image some more, and you want to save as a 32 bit Targa for upload. SL won't read the transparency properly if there's more than one Alpha channel.)

This barely scratches the surface of what you can do, of course. But it should help you get started. Once you're painting, try out the various brushes, change the settings you can see, and try things like Image Ink to do even more.

Hope this helps!

You rock, Robin!! I can't wait to try this out

Robin, great tutorial!

Now i was wondering, if we could have a quick dirty tut for baking clothing in Modo 301!

I am so in love with the interface of Modo its so logical to me. Thanks so much for the tutorial Robin. I recently invested in the latest Signature Course for Modo 301 its really worth a look for those wanting to know the ins and outs of Modo.

thanks again Robin and if you get around to doing a baking tutorial i will be indebted to you for life! well at least and hour or 2 LOL

tc

Wow!!! Robin! Thanks so much for the modo info! I ordered the evaluation demo and so far am really impressed. It's pretty full featured and it took me several tries to paint on the avie in modo correctly LOL!

I'm really excited about the seamless images I was able to bring over to photoshop--they are amazing! I'd like to be able to draw across the top/bottom seam also. How do i remap to be able to do so? Do I scale each section down to 1/4 of the uv section and just save a larger resolution file (like 2048x204 and then size it back down into parts in photoshop?

I finally understand what you've been telling us about remapping the UV maps to our own liking, too (and converting back to LL templates via Modo)!! There are so many possibilities that we can do, just having the option to put seams in other places and fix a few areas, etc. Can't wait to figure that out.

I am madly in love with Modo, and cannot wait to purchase it now that my trial has expired. It is a great program, and the Image Ink is brilliant! Not to mention painting directly onto the av.

My only concern is that it did crash often, and that's one issue that came up when researching the newest version (the older version my husband tried did not crash and we are both running MacBook Pros).

I did not have time to try the baking techniques with it, but I'm looking forward to it. Has anyone tried it and how are the results?

~Ari

Hi! Sorry to Necro-Post, but I've been trying to figure out how to bake the texture from one UV map to another in modo, and I just nailed it this evening! So, here goes.

First, and most important thing to remember; when you add a new image in modo, it becomes associated with the UV Map that was selected at that time. You can't change it by doing anything in modo. You have to delete it and try again. So you *always* need to choose the UVs before you do anything else.

That being said, here goes!

The first question asked above was how to paint on all three body parts at once. The short answer is, you need to Remap the Avatar.

Fortunately, if all you want to do is paint on it, this is very simple, since it can be done automatically.

==============================================

== EASY AUTOMATIC REMAP OF COMPLETE AVATAR FOR PAINTING ==

• 1. Import the Avatar, or use one you've previously imported.

• 2. In List tab (middle right in 301 Default) go to UV Map, and choose (new) from the list. When the dialog pops up, name it.

• 3. Choose the UV Space display from the tab on the top. (Not necessary, but it does let you see what you're doing.)

• 4. From the Tool tab (top left) choose the UV Map tools (bottom of the right side tool tabs in that window.)

• 5. Click on UV Projection Tool (at the top.)

• 6. in the Create UV window that appears at the bottom, choose Atlas from the UV Type drop down. In the bottom part, where it has the stuff for the tool, make sure that Segment by Material is checked (you'll get larger pieces)

• 7. Click in the window that has your model in it. The UVs are made, and shown in the window that shows the UV Map.

That's it! If you just want to paint on the model, you don't have to do anything else.

(Except follow the directions for Painting on the Model, as explained in a previous post.)

You'll notice that you can paint on both arms and both feet; but bear in mind that only things that are painted on the RIGHT arm and foot will show up in SL.

Which brings us to the next bit. Obviously, things you have painted on that Atlas map aren't going to be any good to you in SL as they stand. They need the next step.

===============================================

== BAKING A REMAP TO THE LINDEN MAPS FOR USE IN SL ==

It's important to follow the steps below in EXACTLY this order. If you get them wrong, there's a good chance that your bake won't work, and you'll have to try again. (Also please note that when I was working on this, it failed to work for no known reason, and then modo crashed. When I restarted, all was fine. So, if you follow this exactly, and it doesn't work, try restarting modo.)

The maps need to be baked one at a time; so you'll have to do this three times (or twice if you're doing clothing, and don't need the head.)

• 1. Go to Statistics > Polygons > Material (lower right corner in the Default 301 layout) and click the + next to the Materials you aren't going to be baking. In other words, if you're baking the Upper Body, click next to Material_Lowerbody and material_head.

• 2. Tap the H key to Hide the selected parts, so they won't be on the baked texture.

• 3. In the Lists tab (middle right), click on the UV Maps flippy to open it, and then click the Linden map, whatever it's called. (If you're in the UV View you can see it, so you'll know it's the right one.)

• 4. In the Shader tree (upper right in Default) at the very top, you should see a drop down menu bar thing labeled Add Layer. Click on that, and choose Image Map from the menu.

• 5. In the window that opens when you do that, click on the thumbnail that has "new image" in the middle of it.

• 6. That opens a Save dialog. Browse to wherever you want to put the baked map, and name it. I choose targa format for saving, because it gives you a nice Alpha Channel that you can use to remove the black between the parts in the bake; but that's really up to you.

• 7. In the dialog that opens, choose the Resolution you want (I suggest 1024x1024, which is the default) and leave the rest at the defaults.

• 7. Your new image name should appear at the top of the Shader Tree, right under the white Base Shader ball. Right Click on the name, and it will open a drop down menu.

• 8. Choose "Bake from Object to Texture" at the bottom of the menu.

• 9. In the dialog that opens, leave the default of 0m, and click OK

• 10. Sit back, and watch it bake. You should see your image showing up on the familiar SL Avatar maps.

• 11. Close the Render window, and go to File > Save Image. The name and place are already taken care of.

• 12. Click U to Unhide the hidden parts, and Repeat the steps above for the other materials you want to bake.

And that's it! You're done. You can now open the images in Photoshop, remove the black, add your copyright, do any stuff you want to do in there, shrink, and save as a .tga file to upload into SL.

That's all there is to it!

/me does the Happy Dance!

/me does happy dance with robin!

YAY!

Thank you, Robin!