Clothing Design

**Clothing Design** is the art of creating textures on clothing meshes. This is usually done by clothing designers around Utherverse. They make a variety of clothes such as tattoos, hairstyles, wings and even skin. You can purchase their creations in the social center - closet. In order to be a clothing designer your account must be **VIP**.

This page helps clothing designers to resources and techniques to make clothes.

## Preparations

Creating custom avatar textures is a great way to make money in Utherverse, give yourself and your friends unique looks, and enrich the community with variety and style! You’ll need three things to get started with basic avatar design:

* **Photo editing software:** Something that allows for layers with transparency and has many different editing and texturing tools is best. Photoshop, GIMP (freeware) and Paint.net (freeware) are popular choices.
* **Designer Kit:** The Designer Kit includes example textures, GR2 files, Obj files and UV maps to help you design and preview your outfits. Get it here: http://www.utherverse.com/download/DesignerKit.zip
* **Texture Pack:** The Texture Pack provides you with many textures for the various avatar types so you have something to start with, whether you want to start from the basic shape and create your own texture from scratch, or just alter an existing design. Get it here: http://www.utherverse.com/download/TexturePack.rar

You might also want a few of the following to help you out:

* **3D Design Software:** This is really helpful for seeing how your custom texture will display on your avatar. If you don’t have 3D design software, you can still test out your creations on your avatar during the outfit creation process.
* **Reference Images:** Having some photos of fashion that inspires you helps get the creative juices flowing and can be really useful for learning how to create realism in your textures.
* **Material Textures:** You can buy or find free textures to use on your clothing to save time instead of creating each pattern from scratch. For example, you might save some photos of velvet, leather and animal prints for later use.

## Making a custom texture

Updating color and texture.

Making custom textures can be fun and challenging. If you are not experienced with 3D Editing, it is recommended you start with something simple that doesn’t have too much stretching and placement to think about, such as a tee-shirt or wings. The following is a very basic how-to to show how to edit an existing texture.

1. Open your texture in an image editing program.
2. Use the shape as a guide for where you can put color. It helps to try on the item in-world first.
3. Make whatever color, shape and texture changes you’d like.
4. Save your file

### Texture sizes

* Ensure finished textures are square. Common sizes are 128x128 or 256x256.
* Keep the file size as small as possible. Large textures take longer to load in-world, causing ‘greyed out’ avatars and lag.

## Uploading an outfit

**Details for your new outfit:**

You can upload a single texture or a whole outfit for private use, for sale, or a free giveaway.

1. Visit the Create Outfit tab of your Social Center: Clothing > Create Outfit.
2. Select the correct avatar and object settings for your file.
3. Click ‘Add Texture’.
4. Name, select and upload your .png.
	* A fee of 1 Ray will be charged for a successful upload.
	* You can change the texture for free if you need to update it later.
5. If you’d like to add more items to your outfit, add them the same way as your original .png.
6. When all you are done adding items to your outfit, click ‘Publish Outfit’.

**Publish settings for your new outfit:**

On the Publishing page you’ll be able to preview your item, include
details and a picture, and decide whether or not it’s for sale and for how much.

1. Name and describe your outfit: This will help draw people to your outfit in the closet so make it descriptive and catchy.
2. Test Outfit on Avatar to preview the item in-world.
3. Select the closet category your outfit belongs in. Fairy Wings, for example, might go in ‘Costume’ then ‘Mythical”.
4. Upload an outfit screenshot to give people a preview in the closet listings and help draw them to your item. Don’t forget to press the arrow button after selecting your file to upload it.
5. Select the outfit purchase settings to decide if the item can be updated, how much to charge for it, how many of the item you’d like to release, when and how it’s released.
6. Click Save Outfit to save your changes.

### Avatar type & object settings

#### Avatar Type

**New style** avatars contain clothing models that have shape, to give clothing a more natural appearance. Clothing models replace the entire Torso, or Legs and can be textured more realistically.

**Legacy** avatars only use the Torso & Nude models. Clothing is layered as a texture on top of the skin.

#### Gender

Allows you to select one of the four avatar gender types.

**Male:** This avatar shape has a broader chest and more muscular build, a penis and testicles, and no breasts.

**Female:** This avatar shape has a smaller torso, more delicate features, breasts and a vagina.

**Transgender male:** This avatar shape has a broader chest and more muscular build, a vagina, and no breasts.

**Transgender female:** This avatar shape has a smaller torso, more delicate features, breasts and a penis and testicles.

#### Model category

This allows you to select the category you are uploading a texture to. Most are associated with a part of the body (head, torso, legs)
which some relate to the type of object you are re-texturing (glasses, bags).

#### Model

This allows you to select the mesh within your chosen category. For example if I’m uploading wings, I would chose ‘Fairy Wings’ from the ‘other attachments’ category.

#### Layer

This allows you to select what layer you’d like to place the texture on.

**SKIN** places it on the avatar’s skin, allowing you to place clothing over top.

**CLOTHING** will allow you to place it over skin layer textures.

#### Decal

The Decal menu lets you decide in what situations the item is removed.

**Clothing:** This will make the texture a clothing item, and it will be removed when take of four outer layers of clothing (shirt or pants).

**Sex clothing:** This will allow you to wear this item like underwear. It will be removed if you take off your underwear.

**Tattoo:**  This option allows you to remove the item from within the Tattoos tab of the avatar customization menu in-world. It will not be removed when you get naked.

**Skin:** This places the item directly on the avatar’s skin layer. The item cannot be removed unless the skin layer is changed. This is useful for things like layering makeup, for example, where you can put lipstick on one layer and eyeshadow on another to make customizable looks.

### Specific models

Note that this list is currently incomplete.

#### Make-up, tattoos, skin and sometimes masks

HF\_Head & HM\_Head - upload to Model Head, Layer Skin, Decal Clothing, Sex Clothing or Tattoo, for skin upload to Decal Skin.

#### Eyes

HF\_Eyes & HM\_Eyes - upload to Model Head, Layer Eyes

#### Beards

HM\_Beard (All) - upload to Model Category Male Facial Hair, Model (use appropriate model for the UV-Map used), layer skin, decal skin

#### Earrings

HF Earrings & HM Earrings - upload to Model Category Earring, Model (use appropriate model for the UV-Map used), layer skin, decal skin.

#### Glasses and masks

HF Glasses, HM Glasses & Masks - upload to Model category glasses, model glasses 1-6 or mask, layer skin, decal skin.

#### Hair

HF Hair & HM Hair - Upload to Model Category Hair, Model (use appropriate model for the UV-Map used), layer skin, decal skin.

#### Tight fitting clothing, tattoos and skins

HF\_Lowerbody\_Nude & HM\_Lowerbody\_Nude - upload clothing to Model Category Legs, Model Skinny Jeans, Layer Skin, Decal Clothing. Upload Sex clothing, tattoos and skin to Model Category legs nude, Model Legs nude, layer skin and decal sex clothing, tattoo or skin.

HF\_Upperbody\_Nude & HM\_Upperbody\_Nude - upload clothing to Model Category Torso, Model Skinny top, Layer Skin, Decal Clothing. Upload Sex clothing, tattoos and skin to Model Category torso nude, Model Torso nude, layer skin and decal sex clothing, tattoo or skin.

#### Tails, horns, legacy skirts, veils and wings

Other attachments - upload to Model Category other attachments, Model (use appropriate model for the UV-Map used), layer skin, decal skin.

#### Shorts, jeans and other pants

Pants - upload to Model Category Legs, Model (use appropriate model for UV-Map used) Layer clothing.

Pants and skirts coverage layers can be used to cover bleed through on lower body clothing attachments. Upload to same Model category as above, layer skin, decal clothing. Note that for the dress, and coat treat like sex clothing for this.

#### Shirts, jackets and other upper torso items

Used to create shirts, blouses and other upper body clothing items. Upload to same Model category as above, layer skin, decal clothing.

Skinny Top - SKIN (Clothing) This is used for items such as the top layer of an outfit a form fitting shirt. This layer goes above all others.

Skinny Top - SKIN (Skin) If this layer was clicked it would replace your skin with what the top looked like and you would have no skin.

#### Shoes

Shoes - upload to Model Category Shoes, Model (use appropriate model for the UV-Map used), layer skin, decal skin.

Shoes2 - SKIN (Skin) This is the texture of the shoes, without it, the shoes would revert to default settings.

#### Skirt

Skirt - upload to Model Category Legs, (use appropriate model for the UV-Map used), layer clothing.

Long Skirt - SKIN (Clothing) The meshes clothes are made on are made certain sizes. This would be added to put something under the skirt such as hose, higher waist, socks etc. It comes off with the skirt comes off.

Long Skirt - CLOTHING This is the material on the skirt itself.

#### Underwear

Torso Nude - SKIN (Sex Clothing)Layer under the top layer, used for underwear on torso, such as a bra.

Legs Nude - SKIN (Sex Clothing)Layer under the top layer, used for underwear on legs, such as panties.

Stockings are mainly on either legs skin sex clothing or tattoo depending on the designer that made them

## Updating an existing texture

Replace an existing custom avatar texture:

If you’re not happy with a custom texture you’ve uploaded, you can update it for free any time. If your outfit has been released to the public, it is best to limit updates to quality improvements. People don’t appreciate alterations to the aesthetics of an outfit after they’ve already bought it.

1. Find the outfit in your ‘My Designed Clothing’ section of your clothing page.
2. In the drop-down, change it from ‘Release Mode’ to ‘Edit Mode’.
3. Click the ‘Configuration’ button..
4. Find the item you’d like to replace in the list of items in the outfit.
5. Click ‘REPLACE’.
6. Choose the file you’d like to replace it with and click ‘Replace Texture’.
7. Continue with the rest of the item creation process.