Want to paint directly onto your avatar?

Not inside of SL, obviously, but:

Download the new official templates:

https://secondlife.com/downloads/avatar/Avatar_Mannequin.zip

Download the non-commercial version of Tattoo:

http://www.terabit.nildram.co.uk/tattoo/

Extract, install, etc.

1. Run Tattoo.
   
2. File, Load 3D Model. (Browse to where you extracted the SL model.)
   
3. Paint on it. o_O
   
4. File, Save Modified Textures.
   
5. You may have to convert the .png textures (located in the same folder as the SL model) to .bmp or .jpg for SL.
   
6. Upload to SL.
   
7. I haven't played with it much more.
   

I believe Tattoo is for non-commercial use only, so if you intend to make money in Second Life with it, please register it. It's extremely cheap. USD $41.60.

I'm not affiliated with Tattoo in any way.

Post your comments and tips here!

Edit: Also, how well are the textures lining up in game? I'm at work so I can't try it at the moment. ^_^

Ari, again proving how much he rocks.

I DLed Tattoo and found that it has this horrible flicker and I get the odd video hiccup that magnifies the screen with lines that make it look like a 1950's tv. It just effects the window it runs in so I dunno what is going on. Trying to figure its interface out. Seems better than Bodypaint but I need to play with it more. I just need simple and Bodypaint ain't it.

Wow, a freeware 3d paint app. That rocks. You kids today don't know how easy you have it!

The simple fact that this application paints directly on the models surface with the ability to edit all 3 body textures simultaniously makes this a very usefull tool. However, it is frustrating that most of the painting tools are less than adequate (don't even hold a candle to Photoshop) for detail work. The clone brush and it's opacity control is proving to be useful for minor retouches on seam blending in problem areas like the shoulders. I have not found a way to control the saturation on the burn and dodge tools other than through opacity, so those tools are a disappointment. The most usefull part of this program so far is the ability to monitor visual distortion on the fly by looking at the outline of the brush tools.

It would be very cool if there was a filter like HSoft Squizz that worked in Tattoo, but I'm dreaming. That filter alone is 3 times the cost of the commercially licensed Tattoo software.

I've only played around with Tattoo for about 30 min so far, so I'll report anything else usefull that I find. I'm sure that I'm missing a lot of the finer points of this application, but I'm pleased that the learning curve on this is extremely easy!

I think it's amazing that it exists at all. I remember ten years ago dreaming of the day I could afford a 3d paint app. The only serious ones around at the time all ran under unix only. I had meshpaint 3d when it came out, but it was so incredibly slow it couldn't track brush strokes. It would produce a stuttered line every time. How times change! I now use a plugin for 3ds Max called Ghostpainter that allows you to open photoshop in a max viewport and paint directly on models in the other viewport. Ghostpainter tracks the strokes and recreates them on the PS document. It's a bit pricey (around $300) but I absolutely love it. I bought it for RL work. I'm not sure if I'd have shelled out for it just for SL, but it's a joy to be able to use it for SL texture work now. For anyone that owns max and is looking for a serious 3d paint app but doesn't want to spring for bodypaint or deep paint 3d, I highly recommend Ghostpainter2 .

Deep Paint 3D is the tool I use at the moment, and while not cheap comes a little bit closer to photoshop. (editing in photoshop and deep paint 3D simultaneously is possible, which is a handy feature, Ghostpaint has this feature as well)

-Adam

Deep Paint looks like a great tool. I thought about buying it for a long time. I didn't know it had a live link to PS. That's very cool. Ultimately it was just more than I wanted to spend.

Thanks, Arito!

It works, I was able to make a shirt with it. It is all one color, but it's a shirt! When I missed one of the seams, it was real easy to fill it in.

I think I can make a basic shirt in PSP, then import the texture into tattoo to deal with the seams using the airbrush.

I have to figure out how to get it to zoom and just see the head like on the site. I want to make a face skin.

Thanks again!

ARITOS!

This is awesome, I'm going to play with it as soon as I get back to my machines

bump bump

I played around with this a bit, it's pretty neat!

I don't do much avatar design, but this could also be great for doing prims that distort the textures in weird ways -- for me, spheres in particular.

Does anyone have a mesh made that will accurately portray the way a texture goes on to a SL sphere? I have *zero* 3d modelling program experience, or I'd attempt to make one myself.
Other basic prim models would also be appreciated, like a cone, torus, etc, if you just happen to have them handy.

Spheres in SL use spherical UV mapping which is standard in any 3d app.

can i ask a dumb question? I've loaded the SL avatar mannequin into tattoo and it has mapped png files to the body parts. Is there a way for me to view textures already made? (i.e. can i use this to test/view clothes that I've made in PSP?). If there is, please illuminate me... i did a quick google search and didn't find a "how to use"

THANK YOUTHANK YOUTHANK YOUTHANK YOUTHANK YOUTHANK YOUTHANK YOUTHANK YOUTHANK YOUTHANK YOUTHANK YOUTHANK YOUTHANK YOUTHANK YOUTHANK YOUTHANK YOUTHANK YOUTHANK YOUTHANK YOUTHANK YOU!Oh man this is the greatest program ever!

This is a cool program, thanks for the link!

Alan, in case you haven't found it yet, click on help and select 'key bindings'. It's a list of all the shortcuts for zoom, rotate, and lots of other stuff.

Foresti, if you want to load a texture you have made, you just need to replace the material .png files. Open the folder where you have the SL avatar and replace the material files (MATERIAL_HEAD, MATERIAL_UPPERBODY, and MATERIAL_LOWERBODY) with the textures you want. Make sure you rename them to match the original material files. Start up the program and load the SL av, and your textures will show up on it. It doesn't appear that Tattoo supports alpha channels, so don't forget to go back into PSP and make the alpha channel if needed. Hope that made sense!

Thanks, Princess! That worked out great.

i want to see what people are doing with this, post pictures!

Arito, you married?
Seriously though awesome find thanks. Will try as soon as I can dwnload

This is a good tool, not really for drawing on the object though, but for matching seams on JACKETs (that comprise of UPPER BODY and LOWER BODY textures.)

The SL PReviewer for this doesn't help because it only shows the seams for that one body part.

So, if you simply open up the existing textures that come with the SL Avatar objects and replace them with your own, you can see in that program how well they match together, upper and lower.

This program is really good for this feature I think

Or, could change the name of the textures, reload the model, and paint the alpha map on using black and white then load it into PSP or PS as your alpha channel.

Huzzah for this program and huzzah for arito and huzzah once again for the new models.

Sorry, Im having fun.
You can also create your own brushes
If you go into rhe brushes folder in the Tatoo main directory, theres a list of .png 's in there
Any . png of the same size will load as a brush. Easiest way to do it is to open one of those brushes in PS put in the brush you want and save it undera new name as a .png in the same directory.

Arito you are my new best friend.

this has me so excited i'm dying to start making clothes again. the painting tools are a lil bit clunky and they jitter when you go over seams it looks like but even if the only thing this is good for is a multi texture preview it still makes me want to do a Snoopy dance.

Or that too

Just started playing with a demo version of Deep Paint 3D. I give it a big Thumbs up! The tools in this application are much more refined (a little slow, but much closer to PS) than Tattoo, and the PS interface rocks! There are zillions of brushes (just like Painter), and a Clone brush with accuracy, yay!

People should download a free demo of Deep Paint 3D to compare it with Tattoo and Ghostpaint.

http://www.righthemisphere.com/