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Launlori Sterling

Registered User

Join date: 28 Apr 2006

Posts: 9

05-01-2006 11:59

Does anyone have a very simple tutorial for making paintings to sell in game? I have a ton of Photoshop artwork I woould love to turn into nice paintings to sell. Please Help.

Chosen Few

Alpha Channel Slave

Join date: 16 Jan 2004

Posts: 7,496

05-01-2006 16:25

Adjust Canvas Size For Powers Of Two
Images in SL must be measured in powers of two (512x512, 256x256, 128x1024, etc) so if your paintings are oddball sizes, mount them on appropriately sized canvases (pad them) before you do anything else. If you don't pad the images beforehand in Photoshop, SL will resize them upon upload, and the results are not always pretty. Photoshop will always do a better job of this than SL will, so use it.

To do this, first put an empty layer underneath the painting, and then go Image -> Canvas Size. Select the nearest power of two to the current image size in each direction, making sure always to round up, not down (we're padding, not cropping). For example, if your painting is currently 640x480, select a canvas size of 1024x512. Save as 24-bit TGA if you don't need transparency, or as 32-bit TGA if you do.

Be mindful, by the way, that large images cause lag in SL, and that people rarely if ever view images at full screen size. So, don't be afraid to downsize your paintings. Generally, 256x256 is more than big enough, and there's almost never cause to go bigger than 512x512. In most cases, a 256x256 will look just as good as a 1024x1024, while being 16 times more efficient.
Upload
Inside SL, go File -> Upload Image, and then navigate to an image you want to upload (or go File -> Bulk Upload if you want to upload several at a time). Click OK to upload the file.
Put the Painting On a Cube
After the file has uploaded, locate it in your inventory (should be in your textures folder). Rez a cube, and drag the image (texture) from your inventory onto the top surface of the cube. (Technically you don't have to use the top; any surface will do, but I recommend the top for reasons that will become clear in step 6.)
Flatten and Size the Cube
Flatten the cube, and size it to the proportions of the painting. For example, if your painting was 640x480 (before padding the canvas size), then your proportion is 4:3. You might then want to make the cube 4Mx3M or 2Mx1.5M, etc.
Correct the Repeats Per Face (Trim the Padding)
Now it's time to get rid of all that extra canvas padding. That was only there to keep SL from resizing your image upon upload. You don't want to to show. On the editor, tick the "Select Texture" button, and then click on the painting surface on the cube to select just that surface. On the editor, click on the word "more" and then go to the texture tab. Adjust the horizontal and vertical repeats per face until just the painting is showing without any of the padding. To stick with our example of a 640x480 painting padded to 1024x512, you'd want to adjust the repeats to 0.625x0.938.
Frame the Painting
This step is optional. The reason I said to put the painting on the top of the cube is so you can frame it without using an extra prim. The top is the only surface that can be individually resized, and since the cube is flat, shrinking the top will allow the 4 sides to appear as a frame. To do this,go to the object tab on the editor, and adjust the setting called "top size". The smaller you make the top, the thicker the frame will be. Just be careful to shrink the top by the same amount in both directions. Apply a nice wood or metal texture (or whatever texture you like) to the 4 sides, and it will look like a frame around the picture
Put the Painting Up For Sale
On the editor, go to the general tab. Here you can set the item for sale, and select what permissions you want the buyer to have. I would suggest setting it to sell copies, not the original, or you'll only be able to sell it once. As for permissions, I'd recommend allowing the next owner to copy the object, but not to be able to modify or resell it.

Some people disagree with me on the modify rights thing, but just so you know, if you sell a prim based object as modable, anyone can drop a dupe script in it to make their own copies, and then they'll be able to sell or give away those copies with their own name on it as the creator. Of course for something like a painting, there's not much security anyway (see the numerous threads on texture theft), but that doesn't mean it's not worth doing what little you can. I mean, everyone knows robbers have lock picks, but that doesn't mean we should all leave our doors unlocked and invite them in. If someone really wants to steal, there's no way on Earth to stop them, but if someone's on the fence, there's no need to tip them to the wrong side by making it too easy.

_____________________

.

Land now available for rent in Indigo. Low rates. Quiet, low-lag mainland sim with good neighbors. IM me in-world if you're interested.

Falcao Vega

Hands off the unguent

Join date: 24 Jan 2006

Posts: 66

05-02-2006 00:21

Wow, fanboy post. Chosen, that was a generous and rockin' reply.

Launlori Sterling

Registered User

Join date: 28 Apr 2006

Posts: 9

05-02-2006 09:57

Wow, thank you very much for that detailed reply. I'm still a little confused by the power of 2 adjustment. 640x480 = 1280x 950? 512x512 = 1024x1024 right? I think you may have made a mistake on one number in your post. I made some yesterday out of a cube but I used jpegs .. I'm asuming theres a reason to not use jpegs? Thanks.

Chosen Few

Alpha Channel Slave

Join date: 16 Jan 2004

Posts: 7,496

05-02-2006 23:33

From: Launlori Sterling

Wow, thank you very much for that detailed reply. I'm still a little confused by the power of 2 adjustment. 640x480 = 1280x 950? 512x512 = 1024x1024 right? I think you may have made a mistake on one number in your post. I made some yesterday out of a cube but I used jpegs .. I'm asuming theres a reason to not use jpegs? Thanks.

The reason not to use JPEG is because it's low quality. It's only practical use these days is for the web where the need for small file size is more important than any concernes over image quality. In SL, all images are saved as JPEG2000, another type of compressed format, so to minimize artifacting you want to start with a high quality source file like a TGA, not a low quality JPEG. Also, JPEG does not support transparency, which makes it pretty limited for 3D work. TGA is the most commonly used image format for texturing. It's pretty much the industry standard, has been for decades.

As for the power of two thing, you appear to have misunderstood. Sorry if it wasn't clear, but I wasn't talking about simply doubling your image size, which is what I think you thought I meant from those numbers you posted with the equals signs. I'm actually not sure what those numbers were supposed to mean, but that's my best guess. (I'm assuming your "950" was a typo for 960.)

In any case, what I was actually talking about was the OpenGL requirement that all textures must have pixel counts that are powers of two for height and width. Since SL s an OpenGL application, it has that requirement. The only numbers SL will accept for image height and width are 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, and 2048. Numbers like 640, 480, 1280, 950, or 960 are not acceptable. Only true powers of two from 32 to 2048 will work.

So, the reason I said to pad a 640x480 image onto a 512x1024 canvas is (again) because SL REQUIRES that each side of the image be measured in powers of two, and 512x1024 is the closest to 640x480 you can get without cutting anything away.

The reason I said to use padding (adjusting the canvas size to powers of two, not necessarily the image size) is because since I haven't seen the images you're planning on uploading, obviously I have no idea how neatly they might fit into power-of-two measurements. Resizing the whole image might not yeild good results, but padding the image is always safe. For example, if you've got a painting that's 500x450, resizing it to 512x512 (the nearst power of two on both sides) will cause artifacting and distortion. However, if you pad the canvas up to 512x512 instead of scaling up the actual image, you're guaranteed to preserve the original quality, and then you can use the repeats per face settings inside SL to hide the padding.

It's a pretty simple concept, but if you're still unclear, keep asking. It's possible I'm over-explaining and making it harder to grasp than it should be. If all else fails, just write down the numbers 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, and 2048, and then do whatever you have to do to always make sure the height and width of all your images are each one of those numbers, and only those numbers.

_____________________

.

Land now available for rent in Indigo. Low rates. Quiet, low-lag mainland sim with good neighbors. IM me in-world if you're interested.

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Making Artwork

Making Artwork
Launlori Sterling Registered User Join date: 28 Apr 2006 Posts: 9	05-01-2006 11:59 Does anyone have a very simple tutorial for making paintings to sell in game? I have a ton of Photoshop artwork I woould love to turn into nice paintings to sell. Please Help.
Chosen Few Alpha Channel Slave Join date: 16 Jan 2004 Posts: 7,496	05-01-2006 16:25 Adjust Canvas Size For Powers Of Two Images in SL must be measured in powers of two (512x512, 256x256, 128x1024, etc) so if your paintings are oddball sizes, mount them on appropriately sized canvases (pad them) before you do anything else. If you don't pad the images beforehand in Photoshop, SL will resize them upon upload, and the results are not always pretty. Photoshop will always do a better job of this than SL will, so use it. To do this, first put an empty layer underneath the painting, and then go Image -> Canvas Size. Select the nearest power of two to the current image size in each direction, making sure always to round up, not down (we're padding, not cropping). For example, if your painting is currently 640x480, select a canvas size of 1024x512. Save as 24-bit TGA if you don't need transparency, or as 32-bit TGA if you do. Be mindful, by the way, that large images cause lag in SL, and that people rarely if ever view images at full screen size. So, don't be afraid to downsize your paintings. Generally, 256x256 is more than big enough, and there's almost never cause to go bigger than 512x512. In most cases, a 256x256 will look just as good as a 1024x1024, while being 16 times more efficient. Upload Inside SL, go File -> Upload Image, and then navigate to an image you want to upload (or go File -> Bulk Upload if you want to upload several at a time). Click OK to upload the file. Put the Painting On a Cube After the file has uploaded, locate it in your inventory (should be in your textures folder). Rez a cube, and drag the image (texture) from your inventory onto the top surface of the cube. (Technically you don't have to use the top; any surface will do, but I recommend the top for reasons that will become clear in step 6.) Flatten and Size the Cube Flatten the cube, and size it to the proportions of the painting. For example, if your painting was 640x480 (before padding the canvas size), then your proportion is 4:3. You might then want to make the cube 4Mx3M or 2Mx1.5M, etc. Correct the Repeats Per Face (Trim the Padding) Now it's time to get rid of all that extra canvas padding. That was only there to keep SL from resizing your image upon upload. You don't want to to show. On the editor, tick the "Select Texture" button, and then click on the painting surface on the cube to select just that surface. On the editor, click on the word "more" and then go to the texture tab. Adjust the horizontal and vertical repeats per face until just the painting is showing without any of the padding. To stick with our example of a 640x480 painting padded to 1024x512, you'd want to adjust the repeats to 0.625x0.938. Frame the Painting This step is optional. The reason I said to put the painting on the top of the cube is so you can frame it without using an extra prim. The top is the only surface that can be individually resized, and since the cube is flat, shrinking the top will allow the 4 sides to appear as a frame. To do this,go to the object tab on the editor, and adjust the setting called "top size". The smaller you make the top, the thicker the frame will be. Just be careful to shrink the top by the same amount in both directions. Apply a nice wood or metal texture (or whatever texture you like) to the 4 sides, and it will look like a frame around the picture Put the Painting Up For Sale On the editor, go to the general tab. Here you can set the item for sale, and select what permissions you want the buyer to have. I would suggest setting it to sell copies, not the original, or you'll only be able to sell it once. As for permissions, I'd recommend allowing the next owner to copy the object, but not to be able to modify or resell it. Some people disagree with me on the modify rights thing, but just so you know, if you sell a prim based object as modable, anyone can drop a dupe script in it to make their own copies, and then they'll be able to sell or give away those copies with their own name on it as the creator. Of course for something like a painting, there's not much security anyway (see the numerous threads on texture theft), but that doesn't mean it's not worth doing what little you can. I mean, everyone knows robbers have lock picks, but that doesn't mean we should all leave our doors unlocked and invite them in. If someone really wants to steal, there's no way on Earth to stop them, but if someone's on the fence, there's no need to tip them to the wrong side by making it too easy. _____________________ . Land now available for rent in Indigo. Low rates. Quiet, low-lag mainland sim with good neighbors. IM me in-world if you're interested.
Falcao Vega Hands off the unguent Join date: 24 Jan 2006 Posts: 66	05-02-2006 00:21 Wow, fanboy post. Chosen, that was a generous and rockin' reply.
Launlori Sterling Registered User Join date: 28 Apr 2006 Posts: 9	05-02-2006 09:57 Wow, thank you very much for that detailed reply. I'm still a little confused by the power of 2 adjustment. 640x480 = 1280x 950? 512x512 = 1024x1024 right? I think you may have made a mistake on one number in your post. I made some yesterday out of a cube but I used jpegs .. I'm asuming theres a reason to not use jpegs? Thanks.
Chosen Few Alpha Channel Slave Join date: 16 Jan 2004 Posts: 7,496	05-02-2006 23:33 From: Launlori Sterling Wow, thank you very much for that detailed reply. I'm still a little confused by the power of 2 adjustment. 640x480 = 1280x 950? 512x512 = 1024x1024 right? I think you may have made a mistake on one number in your post. I made some yesterday out of a cube but I used jpegs .. I'm asuming theres a reason to not use jpegs? Thanks. The reason not to use JPEG is because it's low quality. It's only practical use these days is for the web where the need for small file size is more important than any concernes over image quality. In SL, all images are saved as JPEG2000, another type of compressed format, so to minimize artifacting you want to start with a high quality source file like a TGA, not a low quality JPEG. Also, JPEG does not support transparency, which makes it pretty limited for 3D work. TGA is the most commonly used image format for texturing. It's pretty much the industry standard, has been for decades. As for the power of two thing, you appear to have misunderstood. Sorry if it wasn't clear, but I wasn't talking about simply doubling your image size, which is what I think you thought I meant from those numbers you posted with the equals signs. I'm actually not sure what those numbers were supposed to mean, but that's my best guess. (I'm assuming your "950" was a typo for 960.) In any case, what I was actually talking about was the OpenGL requirement that all textures must have pixel counts that are powers of two for height and width. Since SL s an OpenGL application, it has that requirement. The only numbers SL will accept for image height and width are 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, and 2048. Numbers like 640, 480, 1280, 950, or 960 are not acceptable. Only true powers of two from 32 to 2048 will work. So, the reason I said to pad a 640x480 image onto a 512x1024 canvas is (again) because SL REQUIRES that each side of the image be measured in powers of two, and 512x1024 is the closest to 640x480 you can get without cutting anything away. The reason I said to use padding (adjusting the canvas size to powers of two, not necessarily the image size) is because since I haven't seen the images you're planning on uploading, obviously I have no idea how neatly they might fit into power-of-two measurements. Resizing the whole image might not yeild good results, but padding the image is always safe. For example, if you've got a painting that's 500x450, resizing it to 512x512 (the nearst power of two on both sides) will cause artifacting and distortion. However, if you pad the canvas up to 512x512 instead of scaling up the actual image, you're guaranteed to preserve the original quality, and then you can use the repeats per face settings inside SL to hide the padding. It's a pretty simple concept, but if you're still unclear, keep asking. It's possible I'm over-explaining and making it harder to grasp than it should be. If all else fails, just write down the numbers 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, and 2048, and then do whatever you have to do to always make sure the height and width of all your images are each one of those numbers, and only those numbers. _____________________ . Land now available for rent in Indigo. Low rates. Quiet, low-lag mainland sim with good neighbors. IM me in-world if you're interested.