Things You'll Need:
- Computer
- GIMP software
- Poser Software
- Texture map for a piece of Poser clothing
-
Step 1
Open GIMP and then open the jpeg file that contains your texture map. Poser clothing that you purchase from a vendor will nearly always come with a texture map otherwise known as a template in the file.
-
Step 2
Since we will be using the layers function quite often in this tutorial, you will need to have the "Layers" window open. You can open the Layers window by going to the "File" drop down menu and selecting "Dialogs" and then "Layers".
-
Step 3
Duplicate the layer that your texture map is on. You can do this by clicking on the button at the bottom of hte Layers window, that looks as though there are two pieces of paper stuck together.
-
Step 4
Give this new layer a name by double clicking on its present name; this will allow you to type over the old name.
-
Step 5
Lock the first layer that has the original texture map on it, you can do this by clicking on the space next to the eye on the left. You will notice that there is now a small chain icon there, this means the layer is locked and no changes can be made to it.
-
Step 6
Choose the "Wand" icon from your list of tools in the tool box. Making sure your duplicated layer is selected in the "Layers" window, use your mouse to click once in the white area around the texture map. Make sure not to accidentally select any of the map parts. It won't look as though you've done anything yet, so don't be surprised when it seems as if nothing has happened.
-
Step 7
Go to the "Select" drop down menu and choose "Invert". This will tell GIMP to actually select the lines around the texture maps rather than the white areas around them.
-
Step 8
Go to the "Edit" drop down menu and select "Clear", this will essentially cut out the guts of the texture map. Don't worry though this won't hurt anything, we're just making it possible to color the texture map.
-
Step 9
Go to the "Select" drop down menu and choose None, this in effect ends the previous actions so there is no chance of repeating them by accident on the new layers you are about to create.
-
Step 10
Now since we don't want to be able to see this duplicate layer when we're working with the first layer, we're going to make it invisible. You can make a layer invisible simply by clicking on the eye icon next to the layer, so do that now with the duplicate layer.
-
Step 11
For this new step, make sure you have the first layer selected again. Once you've done that go back to your toolbox and select the rectangle tool, it's the one that's a rectangle with small dotted lines around it. This will allow you to draw a square around the front piece of the texture map. Hint: Most texture maps come in pieces such as for example if it's a dress it would have the front piece texture map, the back piece texture map, and maybe straps that needed to be textured as well. You should be able to tell fairly easily what the front and back are just by looking at a picture of the Poser clothing itself.
-
Step 12
Use the rectangular tool to draw a square around the piece of texture map that represents the back of your clothing item.
-
Step 13
Go to the toolbox again and select the paint bucket tool, then change the color using the color palette to whatever color you want. You can do this in the main GIMP window. Once you select the paint bucket tool, you'll see what looks like two squares stuck together. You will want to click on the top square. This will bring up a color palette that you can use to change the color the paint bucket will use to color your square.
-
Step 14
Using the paint bucket tool, paint the square you just drew around piece of the texture map that represents the back of your Poser clothing item.
-
Step 15
Repeat this step for the part of the texture map representing the back of your clothing item.
-
Step 16
Decide if you want to decorate your Poser clothing further or not. Most people do decide to do more and you can do this by adding layers for each new embellishment that you want to add. For example, I chose to add the red diamond to the front of my black dress. I did this by opening a new layer to start. To open a new layer simply click on the icon at the bottom of the Layers window that looks like a sheet of paper. Once you've done this, you'll notice a window pops up, leave everything the same except change the name of the layer to one that fits. In my case, I chose the words "Red diamond", but this could have just as easily have been red polka dots if that's what I was going to use to decorate the dress.
-
Step 17
Leaving the new layer selected, go and add your embelleshment to the square that represents the front of your Poser clothing item. There are number of ways you can do this. First, you can use the rectangle tool to draw a square and fill it with another color, or if you want polka dots as I previously mentioned you could use the circle tool to mark out your polka dots and then use the paint bucket tool to fill them. The idea(s) is only as far away as your imagination.
-
Step 18
Repeat the previous step if you want to add embellishments to the back of your Poser clothing item as well, although most people don't add anything there.
-
Step 19
Go to the "Image" drop down menu and choose "Flatten", this will pull all your layers together into one image, now save it as a jpeg by going to the "File" drop down menu and selecting "Save As". Now, you may get an error message saying that the jpeg can't handle the transparency, don't worry about this, just select "Export" and that will save the image as a jpeg.
-
Step 1
Open "Poser" and then select your Poser clothing item from the Poser library.
-
Step 2
Go into the Materials Room by selecting the "Material" tab from the tabs along the top of the Poser screen. You should now see several small drop down menus, one labled, "Object", and a second labeled, "Material." Select the part that represents the main piece of clothing. Watch the bottom of the Poser Surface window for a picture that looks similar to your texture map, this will mean you've selected the right one.
-
Step 3
Delete any small windows that have been attached to the Poser Surface window, you do this by left clicking on the bar at the top of the window and then right clicking selecting "Delete"; the window should then disappear.
-
Step 4
Add an image map window to the Diffuse Color square on the Poser Surface window. You can do this by clicking on what looks like a small plug-in icon, holding your mouse down and pulling to the right. You should now see a little wire coming out and a window saying "New Node", select "New Node", then "2D Textures" and then "Image Map". Now, a window will open called "Image Map" and there may be a number after it. At the top you'll notice it says "Image Map" and then "None". Double click on "None" to open a window that lets you find and select the texture map you just decorated and colored.
-
Step 5
You should now notice in the small picture window at the bottom of the Poser Surface window that your new texture has replaced the old one.
-
Step 6
Go back into the Pose Room by selecting the "Pose" tab, and then render your image to be sure your texture looks the way you want it to. If it doesn't then go back into GIMP, make the necessary changes using the steps you learned and then go back into Poser and texture your clothing item again. You'll discover that most times you get it right by the second try!
