Tutorial: Take Two

(I didn't get very far last night, did I?)

I will attempt to take you through the steps I use to make a modelling photo for a portfolio.
Bold terms may relate only to Photoshop and you may have to do a bit of research to find out the equivalent in Gimp, Paint Shop Pro, etc. You should have a working knowledge of those tools, or at least know vaguely what they are and what they do.

Now, a disclaimer: Photoshopping avatar fashion pics is fun. However, doing this to your product vendors is false advertising, and heavily retouching your vendor ads will cost you customers in the long run. (There are a couple of fairly well-known SL designers who do this, and their clothes look NOTHING like the pics, and now I won't shop there because, hey, it's an unknown quantity.) But for modelling or fun fashion pics in Second Life, go right ahead!

Step 1: Find a plain, solid white (or black, if you prefer) background set to "Full Bright." I used to do this with a giant white skybox based on a freebie "Workspace" tool I picked up at Yadni's. Now you can do this with all the "modelling studios" out there. It doesn't have to be complicated, it can simply be two modified box prims.

Step 2: Put together an outfit! This can be the most fun part of the exercise. Choose accessories, shoes, clothing, hair... develop a personal style. :)

Step 3: Choose a modelling pose you like and, wearing the outfit of course, stand in front of the plain background. There are plenty of freebie modelling poses out there that are good. There are even better ones for sale for only L$50 each or so. And, unlike clothing, you can try before you buy.

Step 4: Force the sun to sunrise or sunset. Take snapshots. Save them to your computer. Use the camera angle tools to get multiple views of your avatar. Try different poses, try looking up or down on your avatar.


Now you're done in Second Life. Load up Photoshop, or the graphic editing software of your choice. I use Photoshop since I already had it for work.

Step 5: Open up the snapshots you took in the game. Choose the best one. Crop it down to the size you'd like for the final photo. If you're putting it back in the game, I recommend either 512 X 512 or 512 X 256 pixels. The game will resize everything to that anyway and other sizes end up stretched or distorted once uploaded. See Advanced for what to do if you want to resize the image while cropping... which is what I had to do for my example image.

Step 6: Select only your avatar. This is the tricky part, but the full bright white background helps. Use the Selection tool (the box with the dotted line, typically) and draw a big box around your avatar. Now, use the Magic Wand tool (or equivalent) and set the Tolerance to 1 or 0 and turn Anti-alised off. Holding down ALT, click on the white background. You will have to keep doing this, while holding down ALT, on any enclosed white areas (where fingers join the hip, or in the elbow area, etc.) Do you see what it's doing? You have a selection of only your avatar.


Step 7: Copy the selected avatar and paste it onto a new layer. It must be on a new layer for this to work.

Step 8: Create another new, blank layer in between your old background image (flat avatar with white background) and the new layer containing only your avatar, no background. Using the Fill tool, fill that new layer with a nice colour. Less saturated colours (pastels, greens, browns, etc) work better. If in doubt, use a light grey.

Step 9: Now choose your Brush tool, and, with a huge brush selected, draw a blob in a secondary colour (lighter than the first, or use white) slightly off centre on that layer. Yup, it looks crappy. No, it won't in a moment.

Step 10: Blur that layer. I use Photoshop, so I use the Gaussian Blur filter. You want it to blur way up into the 40-100 pixel range.


Now you have a background that looks like a lighted studio backdrop. You could also insert background images or patterns at this point... but I find them kinda ugly. The plain backdrop looks better and showcases the model better.

Step 11: Go back to top layer, the one with your av/model on it. Fix anywhere that the pose has distorted your avatar. Elbows, upper thighs, sometimes the neck end up looking weird sometimes with some poses. You can fix this with your brush tool if you're careful... I recommend sampling the colours around the area with the eyedropper tool and lowering the opacity of your brush. Actually, hold on. I recommend using the Clone stamp or Healing brush tool. But I realize not all software has those tools. Lock the transparency of this layer (use the checkerboard icon on the layers palette in Photoshop) while you do this. Unlock it to erase into any white background left over... such as alpha hair ends or prim skirts.

Step 12: Duplicate this layer. On the top layer, use the Dodge/Burn tools (or the equivalent in your software) to give the image a sense of drama. Start with a big brush and large areas of the av. Decrease your brush size, and go into the face, hands, etc. It's okay for this layer to look a bit silly and over the top.


Step 13: Lower the Opacity of the top shading/highlight layer... until the lighting looks subtle and interesting.

Step 14: Little things make an image stand out. Add a tiny white dot to the eyes to make them sparkle. Darken slightly the irises, nostrils, navel, etc. If you're wearing a sparkly dress, add some bling (keep it subtle!) If you really want to add your name to the image for modelling... keep that simple as well. I recommend, if you have a tablet, "signing" your name like a movie star. :) Or choose a simple font and keep the name subtle. It looks better than giant 32 point Brush Script all over the image. Add some stats if you're going to use it as a modelling card. 12 point sans fonts are fine for this.

Advanced: Maybe you want multiple views of your av in the same photo, or you have to resize yourself to fit the 512 X 512 size you'd like to use. Create a new file with the final dimensions. Open the snapshot from Second Life and do steps 6-7, but paste the avatar selection into the new file instead of a new layer and resize (hold down Shift and keep it in proportion!) Carry on with the rest of the tutorial. You have to do the selection with the original snapshot because resizing and then trying to select the avatar will give you a while halo.

The finished product:


Stuff: Skin: SKIN 2.o in Tan, "Fatale" makeup, Rose Choker and earrings by Shiny Things, "Polished" hair by ETD, "Antique" corset by OPIUM Addictive Fashion, fishnet stockings with lace undergarment by Ceres, "Gothique" boot by Anjo Mirabeau.