Since I see so few well made men's t-shirts I figured that is what we would focus on in this tutorial.

Making wrinkles and shading can be difficult so I have made up a template with them already on it.
Its not the greatest template but it is works well for learning how to make your own clothing.


For this tutorial you will only need the Gimp file but I have provided the Photoshop file for you to try out as well.

The Gimp file: http://www.skilledlearner.com/media/BSN_tutorial_template.xcf

The Photoshop file: http://www.skilledlearner.com/media/BSN_tutorial_template.psd

Open the BSN_tutorial_template.xcf file.

If you do not see the layers window you can go to the top of main window then

Click Windows > Dockable Dialogs > Layers or simply just press Ctrl and the 'L' key at the same time.

As you can see I have several layers.  First lets go over these one by one.
You can turn any of these layers invisible by clicking what looks like an eye on the left side of the layer.

The top most layer is Seam Labels.  It is just like it sounds.

Those little letters and numbers help you keep track of the seams between different parts of the templates.  
There are other templates for other parts of the body. Since we are only making a t-shirt we will just be using the torso section.
Each of the letters stands for different parts of the body.
N = Neck
S = Shoulder
A = Arm
U = Underarm
W = Waist

You can hide this layer since we will not be changing the shape of the shirt.

The next layer down is the Seam Matching Guide. 

It just shows the different sections that were labeled by the layer above this one.
You can hide this layer as well.

After that is the Edge Matching Guide. 

This shows the different edges for the faces on the outer edges on each of the sections of the Second Life avatar.  
This layer will be handy if you are making your own clothing shape.  
The colors on the left side match up with the colors on the right. 

The ones at the top and the bottom match up with the colors on the top and bottom of the head and lower body template.  
Again since we are not going to change the shape of the shirt you can hide this layer as well.

The next layer is the Length Guide. 

It simply shows how far gloves go up the arm of the avatar.
Since we are not making gloves you can hide this layer as well.

Now we are into the layers that I made.  You can tell because they are sloppy LOL.
I want to state again that this is by NO means a professional template.  It was made specifically for teaching.

The Shading layer is exactly what it sounds like. 

Although the lighting in Second Life does put a few minor shadows on to your avatar's clothing I still think that clothes look better with shading added to the texture.

You will need this layer so keep it visible.

The Wrinkles layer is next. 

It is simply the wrinkles that I added to the texture.
You will need this layer so keep it visible.

The next layer is the basic shape of the t-shirt in a plain white texture.
You will need this layer so keep it visible.

Below that is the tintable layer. 

It is tinted green but later you can change it to any color you want.

You will not need this layer until later so keep it invisible for now.

Next is the black layer.  
You not need this layer in the tutorial so you can keep it invisible.

The last layer is the Shaded Grid.

This shows the faces and edges for the avatar mesh.  
You do not need this layer so you can hide it.

Select the tshirt layer. 

We will now add a texture to the image which will go in a layer on top of this one.

So if you did the cloth tutorial then you are all set. 

If not then you need to download the texture or export it from second life. 

You can get the texture in world at the BSN Library

The texture can be found at:
http://skilledlearner.com/images/gimp/cloth/bsntutorialclothexample.png



So once you have the cloth texture on your computer go to File > Open as Layers...

Find the texture on your computer by clicking the folder then click Open

Since this cloth texture is already seamless it makes our job a lot easier.  
Unfortunately it is a little to big to apply just yet.  So we are going to tile it.  
To tile the texture, first make sure you have the cloth layer selected.  Then go to Filters > Map > Small Tiles...

The Small Tiles window should pop up.  Use the following settings:
Flip
Horizontal: Unchecked
Vertical Unchecked
All tiles: selected
Number of Segments: 2

Click OK

Now select the plain white tshirt layer again.
Then in your tool box click on the Fuzzy Select Tool. 

Left click on the front of the shirt. 

Then holding down shift left click on the back of the shirt.

This should select both the front and the back and the sleeves.

Now go to the top of the main window to Select > Invert or just press Ctrl and the 'I' key to invert your selection.

Back to the layers panel if it is not up for you then press Ctrl and the 'L' key or go to Windows > Dockable Dialogs > Layers.

Select the cloth texture layer.  Right click on the layer and go down to Add Alpha Channel.

Then with the cloth layer still selected, press Delete.

You should see the cloth outside the shape of the t-shirt go away.

Now in the main window go up to Select > None. 

This should deselect everything.

With the cloth layer still selected go to the top of the Layers Window and where it says Opacity change it to 50 and hit Enter. 

This will lighten up the texture a bit.

Now if you want colored t-shirt you will need to tint one of the lower layers. 

So first hide the tshirt layer and show the tintable layer. 

It is green already but if you want to change the color at the top of the main window go to Colors > Colorize...  

You can change the color by lowering or raising the Hue.  

Saturation effects how bright or dull the color will be. 

Lastly Lightness will change how light or dark the color will be.  

Click OK when you are finished.

Now to save your image go to File > Save As... 

I recommend getting use to using Save As instead of just Save because we opened the original template. 

So using Save As or even Save a Copy.., will let you keep the original intact and still save the changes as a separate image.

After you click Save As.., the Save Image Window should pop.

Where it says name type what you want to name the image plus .png at the end. 

So if named it t-shirt1 then I would type t-shirt1.png in the name area. 

Where it says Browses for folders you can click on where you want to save them. Then click Save.

The Export File window should pop up since we typed .png at the end, meaning we want to save the image as a png file or export it as one. 

So under where it says PNG plug-in can't handle layers, pick Merge Visible Layers then click Export.

And yet another window pops up.  In the Save as PNG window use the following settings:

Uncheck Interlacing (Adam7)
Uncheck Save background color
Uncheck Save gamma
Uncheck Save layer offset
Check Save resolution
Check Save creation time
Check Save comment
Compression level: 9
Click Save



Go into Second Life then Click

File > Upload > Image (L$10)...

Locate the file you saved earlier then click on it and click open.

*Note that you can catch a glimpse of what your shirt will look like on an avatar by changing the Preview image as: to Male  Upper Body.

In the window you can turn the torso by holding down the left mouse button and moving your mouse around. 

You can zoom by moving your mouse forward and back. And you can also pan by holding down alt as you left mouse click.

Once you see your texture click Upload (L$10)

One last thing I like to do with all the textures I upload is change the properties so that other people have full permission to copy and transfer the item later.  
Find the texture in your inventory then right click on it and go to properties.

In the properties window down where it says Next owner can:  check the boxes Modify, Copy, and Resell/Give away.

Now your t-shirt texture is ready to use.

To make a it into a t-shirt in Second life open your inventory
and go to the Recent Items Tab so everything is easier to find.  

At the top of the inventory window go to
Create > New Clothes > New Shirt

In your Clothing Folder you should see a shirt called New Shirt.  

Rename it to something you will remember by right clicking on the name and go to Rename.  

To add your texture first wear the shirt by right clicking on it and going to wear.

Then right click on your avatar or the bubble above your head and go to appearance.

In the appearance window below where it says Clothes on the left side, click on the Shirt tab.

Now drag your shirt texture from out of your inventory onto the white square above where it says Fabric

Then Click OK.

Now you are all done!