Fake Baking in Clothing Design

I find FD, that with rereading it starts to become clearer

Thank you so much for everyone's input to my question and delimma over the fake bake with regards to the tutorial I was following on uTube. I am learning to design clothes on SL and it is so soooo different than real life design. I especially want to thank Claire Harford for she took the time to IM me inworld and spent a great deal of her time working with me one on one which not too many ppl have been eager to do when it comes to clothing to design. You would think they were hanging onto the Holy Grail lol... just kidding.....just gets a little frustrating when ur learning as I am sure we have all experienced in designing at one time or another.

Also Chip and Abu really have given alot to us designers in their efforts to share their knowledge and abilities to give us the tools that they have to help us succed. Thank you Chp and Abu!!!

Fantasia

I did indeed contact Fantasia in-world, merely because I could see from her frustrations that our explainations weren't helping too much. It turned out to be a rather simple problem really, misunderstanding how we use the term "fake bake".

What she wanted to do (I think) was find a button or tool within Photoshop for baking. THERE ISN'T ONE! FULL STOP!
When we use those greyscale images of the avatars, it isn't baking at all. It is applying a texture that has already been baked (usually saved as greyscale) to the creation you are working on, then changing the blend mode to suit your design. So that's where the *fake* part comes in.

I think I tried to liken it to real life baking. She didn't need to measure the ingredients, mix the batter, grease the trays, put it in the oven and bake... all she really wanted was help on how to eat the muffin! ^.^ Once we got to this point, I think she understood.

HOWEVER- for those of you up for a challenge... I reccomend you still take a look at Abu's Filter and Chips Normal Maps. It's one of the coolest things you will find for clothing creation in PS.

Reading and re-reading helps but my mouse is often very bad follower of directions and often when doing tutorials it has its own mind and preferences in how he wants things to do.
I know I get bit cranky when I am trying to figure out certain techniques and someone will say do such and such blah, blah and often the words they are using I don't understand.
Think it has lot to do with not understanding the art program and the tools to do whatever it is or I get stuck in doing thing certain ways and tutorials and reading often just don't rezz right or I don't get what I am reading.
Yet sometimes it does seem to be challenge to get direction and help, I think sometimes its also how the questions or words are being used that describe what you're doing and sometimes there always going to be someone who leave flippant answers because they can or go to such and such section.
It is bit hard for some people to understand why things are done the way they are or they don't get it or perhaps they have tried and haven't gotten the help they were looking for in the correct forums.
Also I have run into my own share of walls trying to create certain effect or do specific thing
and it just hasn't worked right but often if I keep trying and go back re-read, try it again when I have had some time to step away from whatever eventually I will figure it out.

Claire understood my frustration and what I actually was trying to accomplish and after many "HOURS" of research and reading and trying to get answers elsewhere thru friends and other tutorials and info provided, the "LIGHT CAME ON!"

I am sorry I didnt make myself clear in my question for I feel that was the confusion for me in getting my answer as well as for you all in answering mine ))....

Thanks again everyone!!
Fantasia

Congrats for figuring out, that is often is how sort of I figure out things although sometimes
I don't have the friends to ask and even when I do I still hit walls.
Persistence, researching and practicing usually is my best friend when it comes to things like this.