Day 468: Clothing Texture Previewers
If you make stuff in SL on a regular basis, you have probably noticed those L$10 upload charges :) Although its less than 4 US cents, they do add up after a while!
And if you create clothes or items based on the Clothing Templates, you probably do a lot of uploads just to see if the seams match up on a texture (and other issues).
Wouldnt it be nice to have a way to check your clothing textures before you upload them to SL?
Well, you can! In fact, there are at least 3 ways to do it: Using the SL Upload Preview, SLCP, and AVPainter.
SL Upload Preview
When you select File/Upload Image (L$10)... in the SL program, you will see the texture in a small window.
The texture is flat in this case, and should look pretty much like the texture you created in Photoshop or GIMP.
However, SL has other cool ways to preview the texture.
If you click on the "Preview image as:" box, you can change the preview from "Image" to a different Clothing Template. In this case, we are using "Female Upper Body" to preview the top of our dress.
Also, you can use most of the SL Camera Control keys within the Preview window.
If you need to zoom in to get a closer look, press and hold the [Alt] key, click-and-hold on the image, and move the mouse forward/back to zoom in.
You can rotate the preview by pressing and holding [Ctrl] and [Alt] together, click-and-hold on the image, and move the mouse to rotate.
To pan the preview, press and hold [Shift] and [Alt] together, click-and-hold on the image, and move the mouse to pan.
This is a great way to do those last-minute checks on the seams :)
SL Clothes Previewer (SLCP)
SL Clothes Previewer (better known as SLCP) is a free program created by SL Resident Johan Durant. He announced SLCP on this SL Forum post in late 2006. The popular post is still active today, over a year later! :)
SLCP is available for free. The Windows version is available here. The Mac version is here.
If you are an SL premium member (with access to the SL Forums), be sure to check out the SLCP Forum post!
SLCP is a program that runs outside of Second Life. The cool part is that you can just run it: no installation needed (so I dont get in trouble with my brother ;P).
It was specifically designed to preview clothing textures. It enables you to preview the Head, Upper, Lower, and Skirt textures together.
It enables you to see how the Upper and Lower textures join together! Great for making things like jackets or seamless dresses.
Note that the Camera Controls in SLCP is a bit different from SL. Click on Help/Camera Controls for a quick explanation of the keys.
AVPainter
AVPainter is probably the ultimate SL-specific clothing texture program. AVPainter not only lets you preview textures, it even lets you Edit the textures while they are on the mannequin!
AVPainter works great as a texture preview program. It will let you preview the Head, Upper, Lower, and Skirt textures together.
And since AVPainter supports Layers (just like in Photoshop or GIMP), you can preview textures on top of each other. So you can see what a Jacket might look like above a particular Top :)
AVPainter also lets you Paint directly onto the texture, while it is on the mannequin!
It has an adjustable brush and a number of different tools. For example, I used "Mirror drawing" to draw on both sides at the same time :)
This is a great way to touch-up those seams in a texture!
And if you are making a Jacket or one-piece dress, you probably have a hard time with the seam between the Upper and Lower templates.
Fortunately, AVPainter has a Smudge tool like the one in Photoshop and GIMP. And you can Smudge across different templates!
With just a little bit of smudging and touch-up, you can make the seams a lot less noticeable!
The full version of AVPainter costs L$2495 and is available inword in SL and on SL Exchange. Here is the AVPainter Website.
You can download a Free Demo version of AVPainter to try it out. You can import and edit textures, but you cannot save your changes in the Demo version.
Have fun creating all those cool clothing textures ;)
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21 comments:
Very nice to know that is possible to do a preview, I am very curious with the making of clothing, hair, etc... and you make it look less complicate. =)
Oh I just saw a tutorial that really resemble the one you made about making clothes using Robin Wood's UV in another site but I thought better leave to you see if it really is a ripoff situation. It is in the 'tutoriais' page of http://www.mundoSL.com.br
hi Natalie,
one thing as well which is handy to check things on your particular avatar, upload it to the beta grid as this wont be deducted from your normal SL money and handy to check it actually in world :)
keep up the good work :))
Dear Anonymous, thank you so much for letting me know! Yes, those photos are exact copies of the ones on this site. It really makes me sad when that happens :(
Stuart, thanks for mentioning it! I totally forgot the whole beta grid thing! :) Heehee Ive never tried it though...really should one of these days ;P
Natalia -
I speak Portuguese, badly, and have commented on the tutorial that it is a copy of yours, and gave a link back to the original.
Lucyanni, please remove the copies of pictures and the tutorial from your blog (http://www.mundosl.com.br/blog/?page_id=10). I worked very hard on these tutorials and they are Copyrighted!
It would not be fair for people to just copy things from your blog, would it?
remova as cópias das fotografias e do tutorial do seu blog (http://www.mundosl.com.br/blog/?page_id=10). Trabalhei muito duro e tutoriais sobre estes forem Copyrighted!
Não seria justo para as pessoas basta copiar as coisas a partir do seu blog, ele teria?
Wow thanks for those tips, as usual I learnt something;-)
Natalia, you may already have found them but I highly recommend the Reflections sims for an explore... Eternal Reflections etc (search in map and you will find several sims next to each other with Reflections in tehir name) All have hidden spaces and are mature - so a great place to take that special someone... there are even rugs underwater for the mermaid in you.
Not all the pose balls are named so when you encounter a pair it is an adventure just to hop onto them ;-)
You may need to enlist the help of friend to truly take advantage of the things Rlections has to offer - but even a wander around will reveal wonders an vistas to amaze and delight.
Again, sigh, you are so good to us!
I'm gonna bother you again, where was your tutorial on how to make seamless clothing. For example, if I make the front of a top with a texture, it usually does not go seamless with the back. I know there must be a way to do that in Photoshop? At least I hope so, haha.
And my dresses sell good, but I want them to be perfect! Grrrrr.
Natalia - You will be happy to hear that Lucyanni Winter has removed the tutorial page.
Lucyanni - gracias.
Natalia, I never heard of AVpainter and it's just what I need for some final touch-ups!
Just a quick FYI(i really hate that phrase), the SL forums are accessible to basic accounts you have their payment info entered. I guess LL want you to at least have the ability to spend real money before you can access them.
Also sascha, it's sometimes good to work with the seams as some clothes look good with them and you can easily cover a UV seam with a textured seam but to go seamless, you have to make sure that the seams match up on the lines indicated in some templates.
On mine(robin woods), it's the same coloured lines. For a pattern you have to look carefully at the edges and match up the edges to the UV map (the part that looks like a mesh).
If you've done it right, then you could have for example one half of a flower or fold on one side and the other half on the other side.
Sometimes in extreme cases or complex textures it's best to make the edges manually using a UV mapped template or distort or add to the texture so it matches up.
Another thing that can sometimes work is to make the edges on a separate layer and fade them into the centre.
How you handle the seams depends on what you're making and don't give up! :)
K, thank you so much for the tip! I visited Midnight and Secret Reflections earlier, but have not been to the new Reflections sims :) Its time for a visit! heehee
Sascha, lol not a real tutorial, but I talked a bit about it here:http://www.mermaiddiaries.com/2007/01/day-114-tale-of-three-cathedrals.html
I never did a tutorial on making seamless clothing... The seam between the front and back templates is actually a natural place for a seam (thats the seam on real tops). So I usually dont bother to make it seamless.
I have tried several times to blend the Top and Bottom templates (for things like a Jacket). But theres really no way to do it without a program like AVPainter. So I guess this is the tutorial :)
Lucyanni, thank you so much for doing that. I really appreciate it!
SnakeArsenic, thank you so much for the tips on dealing with seams! Heehee it really can be a pain to do ;P But Im glad that something like AVPainter exists (which is perfect for cleaning up the seam area)
Hi Natalia! Thank you so much for your amazing tutorials. I have a question, do you know if any of these viewers work for PNG files? I used to use the previewer but it does not, only for targa. I recently got CS3 and it seems the alpha channel is a problem for me, Even though I am saving my alpha channel it still shows through backdrop layers on the avatar after I save it as a targa. Not sure if anyone else is having this problem. So basically i switched to PNG, problem solved, but no way to preview except in SL itself which is a pain!
Do you know anything about either why my alpha channel targa won't save properly in CS3 or if there is a previewer which works for PNG files?
Thanks again Natalia :) I learned so much from your tutorials.
Hi again, ok i just realized the alpha channel DOES work in SL, it just isn't showing in the SL previewer! Not sure why, i should probably re-install it.
But I was still wondering if the other previewers can handle png files?
Thanks :)
Lisa, the one in SL (upload preview) supports PNG. AVPainter supposedly does as well (according to the description), so you might want to try it :)
lmao this is TOTALY unrelated to this forum but was funny .....Lisa Lebworks just posted her comment about not being able to make alphas in CS3..and using PNG's instead of tga's b/c she had a problem uploading the 32 bit channels....let me tell u how i had CS2 and was struggling with that problem for about 2 monthes ..sooo frustraited after talking to about 4 graphic artist who had no idea what i was doing wrong ..so much to the point i got the master edition of CS3 to see if intalling a compleatly new program would fix it ... and it dint..typed in "trouble making alpha textures with CS3" in goggle ..first page that came up was this forum with her post highlighted ..... AND... she even ansered her own question in her second post..and helped me more than 4 graphics designers and the entire adobe troubleshooting database :D cheers hun u just saved my LIFE ...hooooo!
Abacus, lol its true - the Alpha Channels were really hard to use in Photoshop, cause it was completely separate. So the PNG's made a huge diff :) Good luck with your project!
Natalia, based on a friend's recommendation and yours, I bought AvPainter! Wow- it is an amazing piece of software. I am trying to master the Gimp- and I won't give up because I am sure I will find cases where it will be preferable. But nothing gives one a sense of accomplishment like a little success every once in a while :). AvPainter successfully produced for me a full dress with exceptional textures. I used their version of clone - Decal-, and limiting the scope of the original image, was able to reproduce small, well matched gold diamond patterns on the skirt and glitch pant layer.
Great piece of software for SL.
Amaranthim, yes, it really is amazing, and its a must-have program for making jackets and skin! (anything that goes across 2 templates :) ). Good luck on your projects :)
Thnx a lot for your tutorials; I love them. I got a problem I just cant solve and would appreciate your help. I bought a texture with a delicate floral pattern but cant use it because when I stretch it over the templates the flowers deform. It is RGB 8 bits tga. Thank you for your time.
Dear Anonymous, unfortunately, that is a common issue with the SL templates (both because it's relatively low resolution, and certain areas really stretch). Certain textures are just very hard to do in SL because they are too detailed. Most of us try to work around the problem by using solid colors in the stretchy areas or some similar trick...
Thank you for your answer. I wanted to use the texture for a dress like the one pictured in the "Clothing Texture Previewers" article, but I see that it won't be possible as there's no way to avoid deforming the texture. Thanks again for your help and for your delicious blog.
Dear Anonymous, good luck! ;)
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