Wylder's Transmapping
Tutorial
What you will need for this
tutorial:
Poser 4.0 or greater
Paint Shop Pro 8 (or another imaging program, such as Photo Shop)
A computer *g*
A pointing device (tablet and stylus is preferred, but a mouse should
do in a pinch)
Creative ideas
This tutorial assumes a basic knowledge of Poser and Paint Shop Pro 8,
and comfort with working in layers and in using various tools in PSP8.
PLEASE NOTE:
This tutorial includes images portraying a (semi-) nude female form.
This is only for illustration purposes. If viewing such images offends
you, please do not continue with this tutorial. Thank you.
While this tutorial is written for use in PSP8, you should be able to
translate the steps for whatever imaging software you use if you use
something other than PSP8. Let's get started...
To begin, sometimes you find the "perfect" clothing item, but you'd
like to change it's look a bit. This can be easily achieved by creating
a new texture for the item using a 2D paint program, such as
PaintShopPro (my software of choice). But to further change the look of
the outfit, you can also use transparency maps (commonly called
"transmaps") to create a whole new wardrobe from just a few simple
pieces. Let's take a look at a simple top:
Figure 1 - Awful Soul's MyShirt2
This top is available in Awful
Soul's
Free section. Sorry I can't give you a direct link to the page, but
they use frames.
You will need V3 to follow along in this example, but any figure and
corresponding clothing item will work with this concept.
Open Poser and load V3. Make sure she is in the "default" (standing
straight up, feet together, arms out at sides) position. Find the
MyShirt figure, and load it as a new object.
Now, let's check out the Materials on this one:
Figure 2 - Click on Render: Materials (Ctrl+U)
Figure 3 - Default Mat settings for the front of the MyShirt top
Now, let's take a look at the texture for the top. Open PSP (or
whatever paint program you have, as long as it supports layers), and
open the file called "mysilkyfr.jpg" (once loaded properly into Poser,
it should be in the Runtime: textures: awfulsoul folder in the Poser
directory).
Once you have the texture open, make a small "cutout" in the center of
the front of the shirt, just below the top of the neck, by selecting an
elliptical area, then floodfilling it with white, as in Figure 4 below.
Figure 4 - The altered texture
Now, save the altered texture with a new name in .jpg format (use low
compression/high quality to retain the best image quality). This is
your new *texture,* but we still need a *transmap.*
Select the outer white area, and the "cutout" area. Invert the
selection, add a new layer, and floodfill with a woven texture of your
choice (be sure the "threads" are white, and the empty spaces between
are black). Go back to a layer just below the woven texture and
floodfill with black. Save this as a new .jpg file (again, use low
compression/high quality), making sure to indicate that this is your
transmap. Note: in PSP, it is better to *export* the image as a .jpg,
than to simply "save as" a .jpg file. This is a habit for me now, so I
don't always remember to mention it.
Now, return to Poser; go to the Mat settings for the top, substitute
your new texture for the default texture, and add the transmap. Be sure
to adjust all the other settings according to Figure 5, below.
Figure 5 - New Mat settings for the new tex and trans maps
I also changed the back of the shirt a bit, and added a transmap for
that part.
Figure 6 - New Mat settings for the new back tex and transmaps
Next, I adjusted the remaining materials:
Figure 7 - New Mat settings for the front border material
Figure 8 - New Mat settings for the back border material
When you click OK, the new mat settings are saved, and you return to
your workspace. The unrendered version of the shirt looks like a series
of dots covering the top of V3's torso.
Figure 9 - The transmapped top (not yet rendered)
This is how it looks once I rendered it (Render: Render or Ctrl+R):
Figure 10 - Top rendered with new tex and transmaps
Here is the unrendered transmapped back:
Figure 11 - Unrendered transmapped back
Now here it is rendered:
Figure 12 - Rendered back with new tex and trans maps - notice the
slight transparency here, as if it were made of a light, gauzy fabric
Next, I decided to open up the front even more, and got this effect:
Figure 13 - Rendered front with alternative tex and transmap
I had some trouble with this, as the folds in the open space between
her breasts kept showing up as though there was a clear plastic insert
there, with a white reflection. Thanks to some great advice on the
Poser lists at Yahoo, I changed the Mat settings for this version, and
it worked like a charm:
Figure 14 - New Mat settings for alternative tex and trans maps
Well, there it is! I hope this helps. If you need assistance with this,
just drop me a line.
Wylder
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