For all of my tutorials I make the following assumptions
- You have downloaded and installed the GIMP
- You have downloaded and saved the meshes (UVMaps). They can be found by clicking the Clothing tab on your profile and using the “Designer Kit (Download)”.
Click for - DIRECT DOWNLOAD LINK to Designer Kit
-You have at least a basic an understanding of how textures work in both creation, storage and use in world (I may do a tutorial on some of this in due course).
- You have an idea of how to use GIMP, or at least have a handy page bookmarked that you can open alongside this.
- You have worked through the Preamble post
Step one: Open up
With your torso mesh open….save your image. This early? Yes. File – Save As…
And give it a distinct name I have saved mine as UFUT_bbl_yellow_tutorial.xcf. As you can see I use the naming convention mentioned and linked to toward the end of the Preamble from my 1st save.
Now I can save and save and not worry about messing up my basic mesh. (you’ve got to love experience!)
Step two: Create a new layer
Using the free select lasso tool select the torso area, not including the arms (on the left) or collar strip (top right).
You want to have an overlap for the textures in order to avoid those ugly seam lines that are in so many of the textures in customize.
{Updated} I use the lasso tool and follow the mesh lines exactly, then use Select - Grow. You get a pop-up box to define the growth, I usually set this to about 15 pixels{/update}
Step Three: Select the Colour you wish to work with
Fill in the area you selected with that colour, you can use the paint brush for this or the bucket fill, the bucket fill is quicker and you don't need to worry about missing any areas.
Having read Xaoz’s tutorial (no longer available), I have never used the paint brush tool for any sort of block colouring.
{update}You can simply drag the colour across to the selected area to fill it{/updae}
Step Four: Lowering Opacity
Lower the Opacity of the layer you are working on so that you can see the mesh through the colour.
Xaoz said he usually uses 50% for this part, me I’m lazy and just slide it down to get the level I need
Step Five: Neck
Using the Ellipse Select Tool (see pic above) select the area you wish to remove for the collar, it must include all of the neck opening, the closer to the opening the smaller the collar.
For a touch of editorial license… Xaoz use’s an ellipse that is longer in the front because he’s a guy and likes to see a woman show off her cleavage! I use one longer at the front because I like to see cleavage, both my own and others.
As you develop your skills shapes and preferences will change to suit you and the outfits you design.
This is one of the reasons you lowered the Opacity so that you could get an idea of how the neckline would look.
Step Six: Erase or delete the selected Collar area.
In GIMP this should be as simple as pressing the delete key. Ctrl+X cuts it out, to the same effect.
"It won’t delete!! Why??" I’ve often had this and 95% of the time it is because the wrong layer is selected.
Step Seven: Finish GIMP file
Raise the Opacity of the Working Layer to 100% and save the file. We have already saved it as a GIMP file and with a working title. This preserves your layers.
(Xaoz saved his as Tutorial01 for his working file name because This was his first Textures Tutorial. If this is your first creation you may want to name it shirt01 or blouse01).
As I mentioned in the Preamble, it is worthwhile taking time to think out a naming convention for yourself. At this stage I have over 1500 {updated from Mar-10 when it was 400} completed items, that is 1500 GIMP files, 1500 image files, add to that part projects and sample files etc, etc. And I am not hugely fast at turning out outfits...update that to bleedin' slow!.
Step Eight: Prepare to wear
Hide the Background or mesh layer.
It is so simple to hide layers. On the layer panel click the eye icon next to the layer you want to hide. (To get it back click the same spot.)
Step Nine: Lastly
Save the file as a png file using the naming conventions you learnt by following the link in the Preamble.
I use that convention for saving my GIMP files from the start of a new texture, so all I need do is open the Save As…
Then scroll down the file type list and select the PNG Image line.
Finally click save.
You will get the following 2 boxes:
Make your selections as shown and click Export then Save respectively.
UFUT - Designates the textures as a ClothingTorso Item wearable by VIP Members only.
bbl - My Designers Mark use the initials of your avatar or something else that will be unique for you.
yellow_tutorial – a very brief identifying description.
.png - the file type
So once finished...I have 2 files, 1 GIMP with the xcf extension and 1 png
UFUT_bbl_yellow_tutorial.xcf
UFUT_bbl_yellow_tutorial.png
You have 2 options for getting your designs in world.
1) You can use Utherverse's distribution system, UVCloset, which is accessible via the "Clothing" tab on your home page
Rand has done 4 video tutorials on how to use it - UVCloset Video Tutorials compliments of RaD Fashions
2) UVDeviant - www.uvdeviant.com, you will need to open a separate account with them and presumably there are full instructions on how to use this on their site.
Credit where it's due
Although mainly identical to Xaoz’s tutorial (no longer available), hopefully this will help anyone struggling with GIMP.
All credit must go to Xaoz for 2 reasons, 1) I have only adapted his tutorial, 2) without Xaoz's tutorial I probably wouldn't have got started designing.
