NMC Second Life Educator s Skills Series: How to Make a T-Shirt Creating a t-shirt is a great way to welcome guests or students to Second Life and create school/event spirit. This article of clothing could be included in your gift bag and works for both male and female avatars. The instructions for making this t-shirt have been written for Photoshop CS2. Many thanks go to Robinwood at www.robinwood.com for giving permission to us for the adaptation of the original material to this session. Many of the screen prints and instructions have been used in this document, we just refined the type and reformatted a little. Some of the screen shots are from a MAC, others a PC (who wants to be particular ). Many thanks Robin! This tutorial uses one of the two methods of making clothes in Second Life, specifically using a template to create a design for clothing and uploading the design as a texture in the form of a targa (.tga) file to then be used on a piece of clothing. Therefore, make sure you have downloaded the template. This template is in the form of a Photoshop (.psd) file. You can open this file in other graphic programs however, the instructions won t match up exactly. Having some knowledge of Photoshop is helpful. The tutorial template can be found at: Note: Because of time restraints we can t teach you how to make a Second Life t-shirt from scratch, just how to customize one already worked out for you. Gather Your Materials Make sure you have downloaded the template (nmc_buzz.psd) from: www. Locate your logo or picture to place on your t-shirt, making sure that it is as clear an image as possible. Printing this material and having it by your side as you work though the material is helpful.
Part One: Customizing the Shirt Template Using Photoshop CS2 Step 1: Photoshop Introduction to Layers (If your Photoshop skills are a little rusty, this step is for you. Classify yourself as possessing some expertise? Then skip to Step 3). Open the nmc_buzz.psd file using Photoshop CS2. Make sure that you have the Layers palette open in Photoshop by choosing Window on the top Photoshop tool bar and checking Layers. If you don t understand what layers are, that s ok. Layers are similar to sheets of clear acetate, stacked on top of each other. Any solid painted area that consists of opaque color (pixels) on one layer will cover whatever is below it on lower layers. Semitransparent pixels will allow some of what is below them to show, and completely transparent pixels will allow what is below to show as if there was nothing above it. You can change how layers interact with each other by using something called Blending Modes but that will be explained later. Each section of the palette shows a Layer, stacked one of top of the other. Each layer has a number of things that allow you to manipulate the layer. 2
Looking at this enlarged layer, we see an eye on the far left. This tells us the layer is visible on the image we are working with. We can deselect the eye icon to make the layer invisible. Moving from left to right, you will see a thumbnail image of whatever is on that layer. This is showing you what is on that individual layer. The checkerboard pattern you see here as a background shows you the common default in Photoshop to depict transparency. It is not easy to see what is on this checkerboard background so never assume the layer is blank if you don t see anything else on the thumbnail. In our file, it appears as if nothing is on the layer titled UV s hide before saving but this is not so. If you have a Text layer, or another special kind of layer, you will see that in place of (or attached to) the layer thumbnail image. For instance, the T in the "Join the NMC Buzz Group layer shows you that the layer contains editable text. You can edit this text to reflect your school or event. Next you'll see the name of the layer. You can double click on the name to change it. Always name your layers something that makes sense. This practice will save you time later when you review what you have done months later. Finally, if you are using a special Layer Style or effect, you will see the f icon at the far right. You can edit the Layer Styles by double clicking on that icon, or see which sorts of styles you are using by clicking on the drop down arrow. 3
Step 2: Photoshop Placing Your Image on the Shirt The image that you are using for your shirt, either a logo or picture does not have to be fancy to be effective. Here is the image used for this printed tutorial.. Open the image you want to use. Photoshop will open it in another window. Control A (on a PC) or Tap Command (on a MAC) to select the whole image. You can tell it's selected for you will see the "marching ants" around the picture. Control C/ Tap Command C to copy the image to your computer s clipboard. Click on the window with the T-shirt in it, to make it active, then click on the Design Example layer to select it. New layers always are added above the currently selected layer, so this step will ensure that your new image will be the correct place in the stack. Control V/Tap Command to paste. 4
Step 3: Photoshop Working with Your Image Your image will appear in the middle of the image, on its own layer. Because it's in the middle, it will be under the Cover layer, and partially obscured. We'll reposition it in a moment. Notice that the new layer with your image on it, Layer 1, is already selected because it is highlighted. This is good because we need to work with Layer 1 for the next few steps. Layer 1 Let s use the Design Example layer to get the placement right, but it would be easier if we could see through the image we just placed there. To do this, at the top of the Layer palette, you'll see a line that says Opacity. You can drag the slider or type in a new value to change. Let s use something between 70-60%. 5
With the new layer (Layer 1) still selected, tap the V key, to get the Move tool or select it from the toolbar. Click anywhere on the image, and drag it into position in the middle of the shirt, over the harp. What happens if the image is too big for your shirt? We can easily adjust the size if needed. Tap the T key, to move into Free Transform mode or choose Edit > Free Transform from the menus. Now, hold down the Shift key, to constrain resizing to proportional only, and the Option/alt key, to resize from the middle. Click one of the corner handles, and drag inwards or outwards to adjust the size. When you are happy with the size, just double-click inside the bounding rectangle to accept it or tap the Enter key twice. Adjust the placement with the Move tool, if necessary. If you are happy, adjust the Opacity back to 100%. Click the Eye icon next to the original Design Example layer to hide it. 6
Step 4: Photoshop Extra Stuff (optional) There are a couple of things we can do at this point. You can quit if you have had enough or we can manipulate the image even further. Here are some ideas. We can make our image on the shirt round, not square. Click and hold on the Marquee tool, in the top left corner of the Toolbar, until the pop-out menu flies out. Then choose the Elliptical Marquee Tool from the menu or tap M to choose the Marquee tool, and Shift-M to choose the next tool in the flyout menu. When you see the Elliptical Marquee in the toolbox, you've got the right one. Click where you want the center of the circle to be. Hold down the Shift key to constrain the marquee to a circle and the Option/alt key, to make a marquee from the middle and drag the marquee out, until it's the size you would like. If it's not centered, hold down the Shift key, hold down the Spacebar too, and you can slide the marquee anywhere you want it while you are still sizing it. It is a little tricky! 7
When you have it the way you want it, let go of the mouse button. That will accept the circle. If you still need to tweak it, you can move it by just dragging with the Marquee tool, or change it in other ways by choosing Select > Transform Selection from the menus. Now, click the Make Mask button, at the bottom of the Layer palette. It's the one that looks like a square with a circle in the middle of it. You'll see that the edges of the image disappear. They are actually still there, but now they are hidden, or masked. You'll also see another thumbnail in the Layer palette, next to the image thumbnail. This one is black, with a white area where the image is. This is the Mask thumbnail. Tap 0, to make the layer opaque, and reposition it with the Move tool if desired. The Image and Mask are linked, as shown by the little chain icon between them; so when you move one, the other will move as well. 8
Click the Eye icon for the Design Example layer, to hide it. We can add a layer style to the image for some interest. Either double click on the layer itself, or click the F (Effects) icon at the bottom of the layers palette, and choose a layer style. Either one will open the Layer Style dialog. Choose a style by clicking on its name on the left side of the palette. When you do, the options for that style will fill the dialog. If you have the Preview enabled (on the right side of the dialog) you can see the results of the style as you play with the settings. Let s add a stoke around our image to finish it off and a drop shadow for effect. For the stroke, you can customize the color by clicking on the colored box next to Color. For the drop shadow, we just used the defaults. 9
Step 5: Photoshop Changing the Shirt Color (optional) If you want a white shirt, you are done. If you want to change the color of the shirt itself then we need to continue on. Make the Put Color Here layer visible by clicking on the well where the eye should be. This will toggle the visibility of the layer to on. The shirt will fill with whatever color is displayed in the color well because the because the Blending Mode is set to Multiply for that layer. Multiply literally multiplies the color in the layer by the color of the pixel directly below it. It will give you a color that is as dark, or darker than, the color in the layer. If the color below is black, then it will give you black. If the color below is white, then the color in the layer isn't changed. If the color in the layer is yellow, and the color below it is cyan, you'll get green. It's like laying a piece of colored acetate on the stack. The big difference between this, and using 50% opacity, is that all the colors remain opaque, so they are all bright and true. Since the layer on the bottom of the stack, Texture, has the shadows of the wrinkles and folds on it but is otherwise white, using Multiply gives us a color that exactly matches the color in the color layer, but with the shadows. 10
Let s leave the Blending Mode at Multiply, and change the color of the layer so that our t-shirt is burgundy. To do this, click on the Foreground Color swatch in the Toolbox. That will open the Color Picker for your system. Choose the color you want for your shirt. Once you've chosen the color, fill the Put Color Here layer by clicking on your image with the Paint Bucket tool. The shirt will take on whatever color you have chosen. 11
Step 6: Photoshop Highlights on Your Shirt (optional) Your shirt should be looking good by this time however the highlights might need work on a darker shirt. Let's brighten them up a bit. If you click on the Highlight layer, you'll notice that the Blending mode is Screen. Screen is like multiply, but it works in reverse. It multiplies the inverse of the two colors, so the color is always the same or lighter. Be careful and subtle here. If you make the folds too bright, you will not like them. You want just enough that the folds and wrinkles look natural. Try 67% on a dark colored shirt. If the color of your shirt very light, you might want to decrease the opacity of this layer. 12
Let's change the text on the back. We could just hide this layer, too, but we like the text on the back.. 13
In this tutorial we are changing the text to say "The Cat's Meow" instead. Tap T to get the Text tool or click on the T icon in the toolbar to select it. Select all the words and then start to type your new text. Whatever you type will replace the words. You can also change the font, font size, or color, using the Options bar at the top of the window. 14
Step 7: Photoshop Save and Flatten Okay! The design is done, and we're ready to prep the finished texture for uploading to Second Life. If you are using a graphics program other than Photoshop, you should save your layered file at this time and then Save As with a different name so we have an original. To save a file quickly in Photoshop, look at the History Palette. If you can't see it on your workspace you can get it from the Windows menu on the top tool bar. At the bottom, there are three buttons. Click the left-most button, and you'll create a new document, from the current document state. Make sure the new document is selected. It will be named for the last thing you've done. In our case, that's Edit Type Layer. Look at the top right corner of the Layers palette. You'll find a triangle there. If you click it, you'll get a menu of selections. You can get the same menu by right-clicking in the layer palette itself. Choose Flatten Image from that palette, to keep everything looking exactly like you see it when you resize and save. If you flatten your image, the resizing will do more quickly. The above picture, shows what the Layer palette looks like after you've flattened the file. 15
Step 8: Photoshop Resize We need to upload clothing to Second Life at 512x512. Go to the top tool bar and select Image > Image Size. That will open the Image Size dialog. Change the size in pixels in the Width and Height fields to 512. You probably only have to change one of them, since they should be locked. If they aren't, enable Constrain Proportions at the bottom of the dialog. In this tutorial, we won t worry about the resolution. 16
Step 9: Save as a Targa File To upload our shirt template to Second Life, it has to be a Targa (.tga) file. Select Save As (File > Save As) and choose Targa from the drop down list. Once you hit the Save button, another little dialog will open, that allows you to choose the bit depth. Choose 32 bits/pixel from the menu. 17
Part Two: Making Your T-shirt in Second Life Step 1: Second Life Uploading your Design as a Texture Open Second Life, and choose File > Upload Image (L$10) from the menu. Browse to the image, and choose it. This will open a dialog that will allow you to Preview the image on a figure before you open it. Choose the Male or Female upper body, and take a look. The normal SL Camera tools work in this window, too; so you can drag up or down to zoom in or out, hold down the Option/alt key and drag to move around the body, hold down Control/Option or ctrl/alt and drag to look at the mannequin as if it were the center of a virtual trackball, or Control/ctrl Shift and drag to pan the image right, left, up or down. If everything looks ok, then go ahead and click the Upload button, and pay your L$10. The uploaded file will become a texture in your inventory. 18
Step 2: Second Life Creating a New Shirt You are ready to make your shirt. Open your Inventory, right click on the Clothing folder, and choose New Clothes > New Shirt from the Menu that opens. This will put an item called New Shirt your Clothing folder. Double click on it, to wear it. Right Click on your Avatar, and choose Appearance from the pie menu. In the Appearance dialog, choose Shirt. 19
Step 3: Second Life Applying Your Logo In the Shirt section, click on the swatch on the top, that says Fabric. This will open the Pick Fabric dialog. Choose the texture you just uploaded from your Texture folder. Choose Select to apply the fabric (texture) to your shirt. If you have disabled Apply Immediately you will see your shirt on your avatar in the Appearance window, and also in the World. From there, just Save As, give it a name, close the Appearances, and enjoy your new shirt! Heidi Trotta (aka Heidi TeeCee) trottahe@shu.edu 20