Tattoos and Appearance utility

Why are tattoo layers visible for some skins and not for others? I realise that some skins make use of these layers; but shouldn't they still be visible on the menu?

I'm looking at a skin that is modifiable, but whose tattoo layer thumbnails are not showing at all on the Appearance menu.

Tattoos are usually made from a piece of clothing such as underwear, undershirt, stockings. Along with an Alpha Channel that hides all but the tattoo.

Tiberius,

Because most skins for sale (not all, but the good ones with all the muscle shading and abs and other fiddly bits *ahem*) add these features to the skin by use of the Tattoo layers in the skin editor.

Which is why you can't edit them to add your own tattoo, because the skin is most likely set with the no modify permission. But I see where you're saying it's set to mod.. but the boxes are still greyed out... and that's got me stumped. Maybe it's a problem with the database slowdowns?

-Gwyon

Thanks for the info. It all makes sense, except for the modify permissions being set. So now I'm wondering: How do I add a tattoo to the face with such a skin? Is this impossible?

To be honest... i'm not sure, exactly.

I haven't messed around with adding anything to the face. keeping mostly to the upper and lower body templates in my Tattoo work. I'm sure it's possible... (this is where you get the non-prim hair and makeup bits from) but i don't know how to apply it as i haven't done any work on those layers.

*looks around for other helpful people*

Not impossible, but with SL's current capabilities and permissions, nearly impossible for the typical SL resident who doesn't have the skills or time to design the textures from scratch, or who doesn't have the desire to risk engaging in "illegal" activities.

One way to get your favorite tattoo added to the face of your favorite skin is to ask all parties involved (skin designer, tattoo artist, makeover artist, etc.) for permission to combine all textures. Someone will typically have to do the work of handling all that IP for you because they will have gained the trust of handling the other's IP. Sometimes it is hard to make such arrangements between all parties involved if they do not know one another well enough.

Indeed, we would all benefit from a system that allowed generalized texture layers for the entire body, especially the head, or at the very least, one extra clothing layer for the head. This has been a feature request heavily voted on in the last 2 years. So far LL has only responded with an interest in "looking into it" as a nice to have feature. Maybe LL is waiting to add GTL's once they are ready to overhaul the current permissions system. It would be a disaster to attempt selling skins as individual textures under the current system, not to mention a confusing mess for technically challenged customers to wear them.

If the tattoo is comparatively small and doesn't cover a substantially rounded portion of the face, you could just map the tattoo onto a transparent prim and wear it as an attachment. It's a kludgy hack to be sure, but it would let you get around the restrictions placed on the skin by its creator.

Logan, I know this has been tried before, but...

If you own the IP rights to the tattoo texture in question (which would be needed to do this) the skin designer is 99.9% likely to work with you to get it added for a small fee or no cost at all. It all depends on who it is.

The only reason to add a tattoo in the manner described above is if the resolution restrictions on the skin made the direct application of the tattoo impossible, such as an unavoidable seem blur on the upper forehead. Placement might be less of a concern in such a case to avoid overcomplicating things.