This page will tell you how to use the Robin (Sojourner) Wood T-shirt Template to put your own design on T-shirts for Second Life.

NOTE: In order to use this tutorial you MUST download the "Robin (Sojourner) Wood T-shirt" file. You can find it here. During the course of the tutorial, I refer to layers that I have built into this file, and which you won't find in any other.

The "Templates" provided by the Lindens, Chip Midnight, and my UV Templates aren't really templates at all; they are simply UV Maps.

This shirt is actually a template. The shirt is finished, including the Alpha Channel, so all you need to do is drop your design on the front or back, change the color, and upload. This tutorial explains how to do all of that, and nothing more.

It is not designed to teach you how to build any garment from scratch, although you may reverse-engineer it to figure that out.

This is the first page of instructions. If you needed the second page, it's here.

You should be able to open the file in most graphics programs. (Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Paint Shop Pro, Painter, The Gimp, etc.)

The instructions are written for Adobe Photoshop (the screenshots are all from PS CS2 on a Mac,) and assume that you are somewhat familiar with the workings of your grahics software. If you are not, please click here for a more detailed tutorial.

Open the file. You'll notice that some layers are visible, and some are hidden.

For purposes of this tutorial, I'm going to assume that you have your image already prepared. I'm going to use a picture of my cat, taken with a cell phone. (So you know what kind of quality we're talking about, here.)

Select your image, and copy it

Open the image you want to use. Tap Command/ctrl A to Select All, and Command/ctrl C to copy the image.

Select the Design Example layer

In the T-shirt window, click the Design Example layer to select it so the image will be pasted in above this layer.

Paste your image onto the shirt

Tap Command/ctrl V to paste.

Your picture will appear in the middle of the image, on its own layer. Because it's in the middle, it will be under the Cover layer, and partially obscured, but that's okay. It's easy to reposition.

Change the Image Opacity

Reduce the Opacity of your image. (Drag directly on the word Opacity, if you have PS CS2 to adjust it interactively, or type a new opacity into the text field. I recommend between 60% and 70%. If you're typing, tap the Enter key when you're done. (That frees the keyboard, so you can use keyboard shortcuts.)

Move the image into position

Tap the V key, to get the Move tool (or select it from the toolbar,) and drag it into position in the middle of the shirt, over the harp.

Resize the image, if necessary

If the image needs resizing, Tap the T key, to move into Free Transform mode. (Or choose Edit > Free Transform from the menus.) Now, hold down the Shift key, to constrain resizing to proportional only, and the Option/alt key, to resize from the middle. Click one of the corner handles, and drag inwards, towards the center of the picture, to shrink it.

(Drag outwards, of course, if it's too small, and you want to enlarge it.)

When you are happy with the size, just double-click inside the bounding rectangle to accept it. (Or tap the Enter key twice.)

Adjust the placement with the Move tool, if necessary (V, remember.)

Now, if you are happy with it this way, you can just change the Opacity back to 100% (the quick way is to tap 0 (zero) on your keyboard or numeric key pad,) click the Eye icon next to the Design Example layer, (to hide it,) and skip to the next page.

But I'm going to do a little more with it, just to show you what is possible.

First, we'll use a mask to make the image round..

Select the Elliptical Marquee tool

Choose the Elliptical Marquee Tool from the menu. (Or tap M to choose the Marquee tool, and Shift-M to toggle through the available tools till you get it.)

Draw a marquee over your design

Click where you want the center of the circle to be, hold down the Shift key, to constrain the marquee to a circle and the Option/alt key, to make a marquee from the middle (notice a pattern here?) and drag the marquee out, until it's roughly the same size as the circle around the harp.

If it's not centered, it's no problem. Switch fingers on the Shift key, reach over with your index finger, and hold down the Spacebar too, and you can slide the marquee anywhere you want it while you are still sizing it. (Yeah, it's a little tricky to do, but well worth the effort of learning. If you drop a key it's no problem, as long as the mouse button is still held down. Just depress the keys again, and the marquee will spring back into shape.)

When you have it the way you want it, let go of the mouse button. That will accept the circle. (If you still need to tweak it, you can move it by just dragging with the Marquee tool, or change it in other ways by choosing Select > Transform Selection from the menus.)

Click the Make Mask icon, to make a mask

Click the Make Mask button, at the bottom of the Layer palette, to mask the image.

Tap 0, to make the layer opaque, and reposition it with the Move tool if desired.

Add a Layer Style

Click the Eye icon for the Design Example layer, to hide that layer (and get rid of the harp.)

Now, let's add a layer style to the image, to give it a little snap.

Either double click on the layer itself, or click the F (Effects) icon at the bottom of the layers palette, and choose a layer style. Either one will open the Layer Style dialog. (The difference is that if you do it through the icon, it will open to a Style, otherwise it won't. Personally, I find it easier to just double click on the layer.)

Choose a style by clicking on its name on the left side of the palette. When you do, the options for that style will fill the dialog. If you have the Preview enabled (on the right side of the dialog,) you can see the results of the style as you play with the settings.

I'm using both a Stroke and a Drop Shadow. I'll just keep the defaults for the Stroke. For the Drop Shadow, I'm going to use the settings shown here.

Let's move on to Page 2, and we'll finish up.

This page is part of a 2 part tutorial. Feel free to print this information, and use it for your self; however, if you want to distribute it, use it for a class, or make it part of a CD or other course, please write to me for permission.

If you would like to see the other tutorials in this series, click here.