By Becky Shamen
Today, we will be talking about
BEWBS. In SL, females have a
slightly different set of parameters that can be adjusted on their
avatars. There is a setting that allows adjusting the breast size from 0
(pirate's dream-sunken chest) to 100 (OMG cup). As if that weren't
enough, one can also buy add-ons, called prim breasts or implants. These
can cost between L$800 and twice that. Like them or not, from my
experience, they are a good investment. When I used them, as an "exotic"
dancer, in adult clubs, I averaged L$600 per night in tips. They also
inspired me to make and sell clothing for them, which brings in extra
money even when I am not in world. I often log on to find myself a few
hundreds richer than when I left.
Most implant clothing can be worn with
or without implants. Implant clothing comes with "appliers", which,
when worn, duplicate the texture of the clothing top (shirt, jacket or
undershirt) on the clothing layer of the implants. My original clothing
line was designed for use with Universal Implants brand, which was then
the most popular brand. I also included a notecard with my products,
called "the do it yourself guide to implants," in which I taught
customers how to get the most out of their implants and even make their
own clothes for them.
Now, the UI designer has quit SL and clothing for
them is becoming hard to find. Since getting involved with Chest
Treasures Mall, I have acquired a set of Lolas Tango implants, have
added appliers to my original line and make all new outfits work with
Tangos. Tangos are even easier than UIs to develop clothing for, so I
offer the ladies some of the tricks I have learned, to enable them to
make their own clothes and skin for them.
All SL clothing is based on templates. The Top Template is for Jackets,
shirts, undershirts and gloves. The Bottom Template is for pants,
underpants, socks and shoes. The Skirt Template is for skirts and jacket
coat tails. Templates can also be used for making tattoos. Anything
designed, using these templates, will fit any body shape. You can get
these templates free, on line, by searching for "SL clothing templates."
In the above illustration, we show the two layers used to make the
black outfit, shown in the first image of this article. The bottom layer
is the template. The top layer was made from a photo of the dress
Beyonce wore at the Super Bowl half time show. I painted the gloves
myself, to complete the look. When the clothing texture is finished, the
template layer is turned off and the clothing layer is saved as a .PNG
file. PNG files are the only type image that can be uploaded to SL and
contain transparent areas. The areas in the above image, where you see
the template, will show skin, in world.
Making Tango Appliers
The advantage of Tango implants is, the clothing layer uses the same
texture as the one for the dress top. To make an applier, first go in
inventory, right click the texture, and select "copy UUID number". All
textures used in SL have a unique ID number. Now, make a copy of the
applier that came with your implants and drag it to the floor to edit
it. In the "content" tab, double click the "clothing configuration" file
to open it. Replace the original ID number with your new one, then save
and close the window. Now, while still in edit, rename the object to
match the outfit it will go with, like "half time applier", then close
the edit window. Now, a left click on the applier will put the texture
on your implants and line up with the clothes being worn under the
implants. Now, right click and take the new applier to your inventory.
Make a copy to put in the same folder as the outfit. From here on,
wearing the applier will put it on the bottom center of your screen.
After clicking it, detach it, until the next time you need it.
Other implants work differently, but the above process will be pretty
much the same for all of them. To assist my customers with other brands,
I have always included the clothing top texture for them to work with.
Implants come with skin appliers, allowing them to be matched to any
skin color on your avatar. However, there is no way they can include
skins for furries. You could just make them the right color, but that
would not match the 3D shading and variations of hair colors. To use
implants with your furry, you will want to make a skin applier. The
steps for making one are the same as for clothing appliers, but the
texture template is different. The implants don't come with a template
and the skin texture is no copy, so where do you get a template? Here is
how I made my own skin template. While wearing the implants, right
click and edit them. Check the box to edit individual prims and scroll
to the skin layer, using [ctrl]+[.] or [ctrl]+[,]. In the "texture" tab,
click on the texture image of the skin, which will show it about 1.5"
square. Using a paint program that can capture images on screen, grab
the screen shot and crop it to just the square skin image. To get good
resolution on your planned furry skin, resize the captured skin to
1024x1024 (the largest size image SL allows to be uploaded). This is now
your implant skin template.
Now you will need an image of your furry's chest area, to be fitted to
the template. Wear the skin, then edit appearance, to hold your av still
for a photo. Set your breast size to 0, so that the image will contain
all of the breast area in a 2D image. Position your camera to get a
close-up of the chest area. The area photographed does not have to be
exactly like the template, as long as it contains the full breast and
area up to the clavicle (collarbone). Save a HD snapshot to your
computer. Copy this image to a new layer, above the skin template. Move
and stretch the furry layer so that it overlaps the template in 3 key
locations, the nipples and clavicle. When everything is matched up, save
the furry layer as a PNG file and upload it to SL. The UUID number of
this new texture will be used for making a new skin applier. In making
the skin applier, follow the same steps used in making a clothing
applier.
Your first time at making clothes, skins and appliers will take some
time, but after the initial experience it gets much faster. Within a few
months, you might be ready to open your own clothing shop.
Have fun
getting busted.
Becky "Sha" Shamen
I asked Sarrah why she opened the gallery. Her response was, ”Really it's the rebirth of another Gallery that closed last year due to several issues, this time I'm running it all in-house so to say, Its main goal has always been to respect all SL artists and move away from judging one style, genre or skill level to be "better" than the other, and just focus on the creative process and having a good mixture.” And the collection is very eclectic.There are Photography artists, Sculpt artists, and a story artist. Each artist has a notecard to pick up by their area. I spoke wih Evola Courtois , another friend and fishing buddy, who has exhibited a few times before and is happy to be a resident artist here. I saw three exquisite pieces by my friend, Neeks Karu, who does wonderful sculpts that are alive. I enjoyed both floors of stunning photography, sculpts and reading the story art by Alanna Oh. 
I suggest you put this on your list of new galleries and do not miss it! Enter here and work your way around and down and you take the elevaor to the ground floor and outside I recommend you have an umbrella handy . http://maps.secondlife.com/
