How to Make Hair on IMVU
IMVU is pronounced Im-Voo and is a 3D instant messaging network that connects users all around the world. Users create an avatar and interact with other users' avatars in the virtual universe. IMVU allows full customization of almost anything. To create hair for your avatar, you'll select a hair texture and a hairstyle and then apply them to your avatar. IMVU offers a selection of basic hair textures, but if you want a more advanced design, you'll have to create it manually. You'll need an advanced photo editor to create your hair texture.
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Things You'll Need
- Advanced photo-editing software (Adobe Photoshop, GIMP, CorEl Paint Shop, etc.)
Instructions
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1
Open Adobe Photoshop, launch the "File" menu and click on "New."
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2
Set your canvas height and width to a perfect square (ex. 250x250).
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3
Click the bucket tool and select the color you want to use. In order to create hair, you'll have to use three shades of a certain color. In this step you'll be using the darkest of the three shades.
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4
Fill the background of your canvas with the color you chose. Just click the bucket in the middle of the canvas and it will fill with your chosen color.
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5
Click on the "Filter" tab, scroll down to "Noise" and double click on "Add Noise."
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6
Move the filter percentage to about 15 percent. Make sure the "Gaussian" and "Monochromatic" boxes don't have check marks in them. Click on the boxes to uncheck them if they do.
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7
Click on the "Filter" tab again, highlight "Blur" and double click on "Motion Blur."
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8
Make sure the "Angle" is set to 90 degrees and set the "Distance" to about 700 pixels.
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9
Click on the "Filter" tab, highlight "Blur" and select "Gaussian Blur" this time.
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10
Slide the "Radius" size to somewhere between 0.1 and 1.0 and then click "OK."
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11
Click on the "Layer" tab at the top of the screen and select "New Layer."
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12
Click on the paintbrush tool from the toolbar and set the size to 35 pixels. Set the brush "Hardness" to about 10%.
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13
Choose a lighter shade of your base color and paint a stripe across the square. This stripe should be about a third of the way down from the top.
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14
Set your brush to a larger size and paint another strip across your square. Paint this strip about a third of the way up from the bottom of the square, and make sure to use a the lightest of your three shades. White will also work well for this step.
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15
Click on the blending options menu . This drop-down menu is on the right side of your screen right above your layers. Change the blending mode to "Overlay."
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16
Slide the "Opacity" level to a level you like. The "Opacity" bar is next to the blending drop-down menu.
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17
Click on "File" and save your texture in the jpg format. You can now upload your texture to use in IMVU and other graphic social networking sites.
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Tips & Warnings
Photo editors like Microsoft Paint or Picnik aren't advanced enough to create hair textures for IMVU. GIMP is available as a free download and is commonly used as an alternative to Photoshop.
Almost all advanced photo editing programs offer the same editing tools and effects, so you can create hair for your avatar in several different photo editors. The terms and exact method of applying effects may slightly differ from software to software.
Creating hair for your avatar is an art -- not a science. The exact numbers you choose to use are entirely up to you, but these numbers usually work well. Don't be afraid to use some experimentation with the editing levels to find something you really like. For example, Step 13 says select a lighter shade than your base color and paint a stripe across the top of the square. You may find out that a darker shade painted diagonally looks way better for your specific hair texture. Don't be afraid to experiment.
References
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Pixland/Getty Images
