Newbie in nead of advice Editing skin textures to add tattoo's or other marks

Namelessone

OK, first up I am very much a Newbie and will probably always be one which is probably why I ran into this issue.. Also if this is not the right board for these questions please redirect me to the proper one.

I have a skin texture I really like though I wanted to add a tattoo. Something simple and not to complex to test position at first and to see what it looks like. Now my selection of picture editing software is not vast and for someone who does this for fun I am not looking to spend a whole lot so I installed GIMP. I found where the Skin texture is then used a brush to stamp a design on to a part of the body. When I loaded the character back up with my modified texture the image I stamped on to the texture is blurry or fuzzy like the resolution changed when it was wrapped onto the model. Any Ideas on how to do this and keep the crisp detail as apposed to it come off fuzzy?

My next questions, What is the best way to do freckles?

Thank you for any help you can provide!

throttlekitty

danameless said:

OK, first up I am very much a Newbie and will probably always be one which is probably why I ran into this issue.. Also if this is not the right board for these questions please redirect me to the proper one.

I have a skin texture I really like though I wanted to add a tattoo. Something simple and not to complex to test position at first and to see what it looks like. Now my selection of picture editing software is not vast and for someone who does this for fun I am not looking to spend a whole lot so I installed GIMP. I found where the Skin texture is then used a brush to stamp a design on to a part of the body. When I loaded the character back up with my modified texture the image I stamped on to the texture is blurry or fuzzy like the resolution changed when it was wrapped onto the model. Any Ideas on how to do this and keep the crisp detail as apposed to it come off fuzzy?

My next questions, What is the best way to do freckles?

Thank you for any help you can provide!

Firstly, I assume the image looked normal and not blurry in the GIMP? Did you render or are you going off of the viewport? Textures aren't always displayed at their best in the viewport until you do a render.

Secondly, double-check your save settings, that you didn't inadvertently change resolution, or change compression/quality settings.

kaotkbliss

Also, sometimes it's easier to use the LIE editor to place things like tattoos (especially if you just have the tattoo with a transparent background)

To get to LIE, select the figure (or prop)
click on the "Actors, Wardrobe & Props" tab
Select the "Surfaces" side tab
Select "Editor"
Find the area of the body you want the tattoo expanding the tree for the figure (or prop)
Find the "Diffuse" setting (Should be at the top of the list)
Left click the picture (or down arrow if there's no texture set) next to the color in the Diffuse setting
Select "Layered Image Editor..."

A new window will pop up

Over on the left side of the new window you will see a box with your current layer in it, directly under that box you will see a + and a -
This is to add (+) or remove (-) layers
Click the +
Browse to your tattoo image and select it
You can adjust the scale and position
When you think it's good, select "Accept" at the bottom

If it needs adjusting, just go back into LIE and select the layer from the list on the left and adjust your positioning.

RoLoW

I use GIMP quite a bit and may have some helpful suggestions for it.

1. Open The GIMP and start a new project with File / New. In the popup, change the Width and Height to the size
of your skin texture leaving all others at default and click OK.
2. Use File / Open As Layers to load the image file for your skin texture.
3. Use File / Open As Layers to load your tattoo image.
4. Right-click on first added image (skin) and select Add Alpha Channel.
5. Right-click on second added image (tatoo) and select Add Alpha Channel.
6. Right-click on original layer (should be at the bottom) and select Delete Layer.
7. When you look at the layers panel, the tattoo image should be above the skin image in the list.
If not, click this entry once and use the green arrows at the bottom of the panel to move it up.
8. Use File / Save As to save new layered image for future use as an ".xcf" filetype (ie mySkin.xcf).
9. Use File / Save As again to save this project as an ".png" or ".jpg" filetype ((ie mySkin.png).
If you use JPG, then consider using a quality setting of 100% for optimal look.

If you need to share the layered image file with Photoshop users, you can save it again as a ".psd" filetype.

I hope you find this useful. Feel free to IM or Email with other GIMP related questions.

Enjoy,
RoLoW

bishop_8ef8f045ca

i wanna do a back tatoo  but i cant get the seems right on the back

Richard Haseltine

bishop_8ef8f045ca said:

i wanna do a back tatoo  but i cant get the seems right on the back

If it's for use in Iray a Decal woudl probably be simpler, as long as it doesn't need to wrap around any curved areas (going up over the shopulder or around to the stomach, for example).