Using GIMP for SL Clothing design
GIMP created clothing
When working in GIMP to design clothing for upload to Second Life:
#1 — download the templates from Chip Midnight and/or Robin Wood and save them in a file you can locate easily. I use primarily Robin Wood’s since her files that end with the extension .psd (photoshop files) open with layers which GIMP easily reads as well. A .jpg file will be a flat image. You can Yahoo/Google search for Robin Wood and look for her Second Life Tutorials. http://www.robinwood.com/Catalog/Technical/SL-Tuts/SLTutSet.html
***by the way, use the 1024×1024 size–we will scale it down afterward***
#2 – If you have GIMP downloaded already, great. Otherwise go to [url]www.gimp.com[/url] and download the stable version.
#3 — Open GIMP. If you don’t see a small window called “Layers” open don’t worry. Just go to FILE>DIALOGS>LAYERS to open it up. Move it over to the right part of your screen and out of the way.
#4 — Now we will open the template you downloaded from either Robin or Chip. GO to FILE>OPEN>(and whatever folder in which you placed the template). When you open the template (if it is a .psd file and not the .jpg version) you should immediately see your LAYERS window show all the layers in that template.
#5 — I would suggest that you immediately RESAVE this file with a unique name like “SHIRT WORKING SAMPLE.XCF” or something like that. Note that GIMP files should be saved as .XCF (or even a .PSD) until you are ready to save them as something you can use in SL (ie, Second Life). SL will allow upload of .tga, .jpg, and .png files–it will not allow you to upload a .psd file or a .xcf, so these file types are strictly for working your design.
#6 — Note the small EYE that is next to each of the layers in the Layers Window. You can toggle whether or not the layer can be seen on your screen by clicking on this eye.
- Keep in mind that when working with layers, you want to be sure you have the correct layer “highlighted” in the layers window by clicking on it. I’ve found myself erasing on a layer with the visibility turned off, wondering why it didn’t seem to work only to discover that I had an invisible layer highlighted and was destroying my work on that layer. Thankfully there is an UNDO option.
- ALSO, in the LAYERS window you may find it handy to adjust the Opacity of certain layers as you work. You can readjust them all back to 100% when you are through, but having a layer somewhat transparent so you can see the lines of the template to be sure everything matches up is very handy.
#7 — This is where it starts to get tricky. Now…you’ve opened the template and you are ready to design. In the LAYERS window, RIGHT click on the background layer. (You can actually do this on any of them, but we’ll start here for simplicity). Choose the option “New Layer” and another window pops up where you can give the layer a name (leave the size alone) and the fill type. Choose Transparency. It is on THIS layer that you will do your work. The layers provided in the template are just there as guides to help you match up seams, etc. You can also move this new layer up or down in the levels of layers by using the up or down arrows you see on the bottom of the Layers window.
#8 — Make sure that you have your NEW LAYER highlighted in the Layers window. Now you can do what you want to do. Perhaps paint on straps? or paint on a design?
**** BUT WHAT IF YOU NEED A FABRIC with PATTERN?? ****
#9 — If you don’t want to just “paint” something on (and most of us don’t), then you can open a texture as a “layer”. TO do this you will look at the top menu bar in the TEMPLATE WINDOW or CANVAS in which you are working — (NOT The GIMP window which only shows File, Xtns, and Help as your only menu options). So, at the top of the template window you choose File>open as layer>(your texture file of choice). You will notice that this created another new LAYER in your Layers window.
#10 — With the layer you just opened highlighted you can move it, shrink it, adjust it any way that you need to do. IF for some reason you have difficulty moving it around, then close the ‘eyes’ of the layers above it. I’ve noticed sometimes in GIMP you move all other layers instead of the one highlighted in the Layers screen if there are others open above it. This seems only to happen with the MOVE choice and not the Rotation, Scaling, Shearing, etc. options. (just a bit of FYI there)
#11 — In the GIMP window (probably to the far left of your screen) you will see a lot of icons corresponding to what you may wish to do. If for example you wanted to expand this layer you can click the SCALE LAYER icon–it opens a window you can use or you can drag to the size you need.
#12 — Let’s assume the texture you imported is the perfect size, but you need more than one. Go over to the LAYERS window, right click on the layer you want to duplicate and choose DUPLICATE LAYER.
- Now…let’s presume for a moment that you wanted to flip the new layer to create more of a mirror immage of the first. Here is what you do…..in the WORKING WINDOW of the TEMPLATE hover your mouse over the layer and right click. You will get a pop up window of some additional layer options, OR you can just use the menu at the top of this window. Choose LAYER>TRANSFORM>FLIP HORIZONTALLY. Now you can move this layer to where you need it to go.
!!!! OH, and if I have not mentioned this before…..SAVE, SAVE, SAVE your work on a regular basis during the working process. GIMP, even the stable version, can sometimes just lock up for no reason–causing you to have to close the software and losing your all your hard work. So SAVE !!! 
#13 — Now that you’ve adjusted, moved, erased, painted and done what you wanted to do to create your new design it’s time to prepare for upload. Go ahead do a quick SAVE of the current document then do a FILE > SAVE AS>UNIQUENAME.tga (if it has transparencies) or as a .png if transparency is not a problem for the image we will now upload.
- NOTE: Once more.. if you have created a design that has to be transparent in certain areas (for example, a skirt with a cut-out space in front to show some leg) then save the file as a .TGA.
- If you do NOT need to worry about transparency, then the easiest way to handle images is to save your final image as a .PNG file. With a .PNG you merely need to hide the layers instead of removing them that you don’t want to be included in the finished design (ie, those graph layers) and make sure the bottom background layer is transparent.
We are saving this as a .TGA file. You will get a window that comes up letting you know that it can’t handle layers yada, yada…just hit EXPORT. On the next screen UNCHECK ‘RLE Compression‘ and the ‘Origin at bottom left…’ boxes that you see then hit OK.
OK…file is saved…..now, time to get rid of the layers we don’t need PRESUMING you may not need them later. If you think you may, please go back and read the lovely orange paragraph just above.
#14 — in the LAYERS window, highlight, right click and then DELETE all the layers that you don’t want to show up on your final design–this includes the background layer that is on the very bottom. You want your bottom “background” layer to be transparent. You can tell it’s transparent when you see little light/dark gray squares. Also remove any layers you may have added but don’t need for the final image.
- Note here that if you saved the file as a .PNG, you cannot open it again and see all the hidden layers–they will disappear……..SO SAVE A WORKING COPY IF YOU MAY NEED THOSE LAYERS AGAIN
#15 — after all this you may still have multiple layers from items (textures) you imported and arranged as part of your design. That’s fine — you don’t have to do everything in one single layer. However, we do need to reduce it to one single layer before we can upload it into SL. So, if you have multiple layers you can now reduce them (merge) to one single layer. First make sure the ‘eye’ is open on all the layers you want to show up on your final design. Then on your main template window (the working canvas) choose IMAGE>MERGE VISIBLE LAYERS.
#16 — If you’ve been using the 1024×1024 size, it is going to be TOO big for SL, so now that you have created your design, removed extraneous layers, and merged (flattened) it into one layer we need to shrink the entire IMAGE. In the main working window chose IMAGE>SCALE IMAGE> and put in 512 where you see the 1024 then hit the SCALE button.
Last step… ……..we’re in the home stretch
#17 — Save the file and close it. Now you can go into SL, you will choose UPLOAD FILE, and upload your new design as a texture. Once you get it into SL, you will go into appearance mode, create new (shirt for example) and click the area on the appearance block for texture. At the window that pops up you will locate and select your new design texture. Do a save as in-world and you have your new piece of clothing!
VOILA!
NOTE: These instructions are from a slightly older version of GIMP. I’ve recently downloaded the newer version and noticed that if one is CROPPING a layer, one must be sure to have the box checked to “apply to this layer only”. Otherwise it will crop the entire image and totally freak you out!
A really good hardcopy book available called: “Beginning GIMP–From Novice to Professional” by Akkana Peck 
….this book is a WONDERFUL and easy to read resource if you prefer having something in your hands.
