How to import mesh into Photoshop for creating clothing?

[LucierdaSolari]

Hi. I would like to be able to import the Ruth mesh into Photoshop so that I can paint on it to make clothing textures for it. The convenience of being able to see what I paint on the model in realtime is really helpful.

I have already tried importing the r2BODY_UpperLower_ada1.9.dae into PS but the model has eight separate faces instead of the expected upper and lower.

Is there a way I can go about doing that? Thank you.

[aiaustin]

You don’t use the 3D model to prepare clothing. Use a clothing template. See this tutorial which has links to .psd files as a basis for the clothing...

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Clothing_Tutorials

The Robin Soujourner (aka Robin Wood) tutorial and UV guide images mentioned in that article are also worth exploring. Try her T-Shirt tutorial to get started.

[LucierdaSolari]

You don’t use the 3D model to prepare clothing. Use a clothing template. See this tutorial which has links to .psd files as a basis for the clothing...

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Clothing_Tutorials

But if I use just the templates, I won’t be able to see how the clothes look on the model without importing them into Second Life (spending L$10 for each layer). If they don’t look right, I have to go right back to Photoshop and revise.

I have a version of Photoshop that allows me to paint on 3d models and see how it looks on the model. I have been able to import the classic avatar mesh into Photoshop and have used it to create the clothing I have today with great success. I won’t have to keep importing revisions of my clothing into Second Life just to see how they look on the avatar.

[aiaustin]

Ah, I understand. Does any of the links or advice in the article I mentioned help? If not, someone who has tried what you want to do might be able to help. You could also try the MeWe or Discord groups.

[aiaustin]

Another point... Ruth and Roth I think use the classic avatar UV maps, so if you can paint on the classic avatar mesh it should fit Ruth and Roth.

[Deledrius]

But if I use just the templates, I won’t be able to see how the clothes look on the model without importing them into Second Life (spending L$10 for each layer). If they don’t look right, I have to go right back to Photoshop and revise.

You can actually test out your textures without uploading them! In SL, just select Local texture on the object in the Edit panel and you can preview them. :) It will even auto-update when you save over the file with new tweaks, and it persists until you log out.

I have a version of Photoshop that allows me to paint on 3d models and see how it looks on the model. I have been able to import the classic avatar mesh into Photoshop and have used it to create the clothing I have today with great success. I won’t have to keep importing revisions of my clothing into Second Life just to see how they look on the avatar.

What 3D mesh formats does your version of Photoshop support? You can probably export the mesh from Blender into that format and open it in Photoshop.

[LucierdaSolari]

But if I use just the templates, I won’t be able to see how the clothes look on the model without importing them into Second Life (spending L$10 for each layer). If they don’t look right, I have to go right back to Photoshop and revise.

You can actually test out your textures without uploading them! In SL, just select Local texture on the object in the Edit panel and you can preview them. :) It will even auto-update when you save over the file with new tweaks, and it persists until you log out.

I have a version of Photoshop that allows me to paint on 3d models and see how it looks on the model. I have been able to import the classic avatar mesh into Photoshop and have used it to create the clothing I have today with great success. I won’t have to keep importing revisions of my clothing into Second Life just to see how they look on the avatar.

What 3D mesh formats does your version of Photoshop support? You can probably export the mesh from Blender into that format and open it in Photoshop.

I have already tried exporting r2BODY_UpperLower_ada1.9.dae as an .obj from Blender and opening it in Photoshop. However, the imported .obj has 8 faces instead of an expected “upper” and “lower” face.

[AdaRadius]

Hi LucerierdaSolari! Yes you can, I have done it many times in Blender 2.79, though I'm getting better at painting in Blender, which works better, less buggy and easier to rotate and pan the model. I haven't tried the export in 2.8 yet nor worked with newer versions of PS. PS got so expensive that I doubt if I'll be using it now that Blender has such better texturing and painting. And I am working on moving to an entirely new workflow, with Substance Painter rather than PS. Better handling of normal and other maps.

The first step, for me, was to save a copy of the Blender file, then clean out the materials so there are only three - upper, lower and head. Join the parts. Then unparent the model from the armature, then delete the armature. An alternative is to take out the armature in the export settings, but it's buggy. Export as dae. Then open in PhotoShop. You'll need to adjust quite a few 3D settings in PS to get it to display well.

[LucierdaSolari]

Hi LucerierdaSolari! Yes you can, I have done it many times in Blender 2.79, though I'm getting better at painting in Blender, which works better, less buggy and easier to rotate and pan the model. I haven't tried the export in 2.8 yet nor worked with newer versions of PS. PS got so expensive that I doubt if I'll be using it now that Blender has such better texturing and painting. And I am working on moving to an entirely new workflow, with Substance Painter rather than PS. Better handling of normal and other maps.

The first step, for me, was to save a copy of the Blender file, then clean out the materials so there are only three - upper, lower and head. Join the parts. Then unparent the model from the armature, then delete the armature. An alternative is to take out the armature in the export settings, but it's buggy. Export as dae. Then open in PhotoShop. You'll need to adjust quite a few 3D settings in PS to get it to display well.

Would it be possible to get someone to do that for me? I don't think I understand how to do it myself. I tried it, but it still comes out with more than two materials, and nothing happens when I try painting on it.

Photoshop also has a lot of features that Blender does not.

[AdaRadius]

@LucierdaSolari - short answer: probably not at this time. long answer: I have fully converted to Blender 2.8 and I just canceled my PhotoShop subscription so I can afford Substance Painter. I hadn't successfully exported from Blender 2.8 to PS, though I did it a lot with 2.79, because I'm still learning 2.8. Mostly an exercise, at this point, in Where Did They Move The Frickin Button, but it's getting there. 2.8 is a lot better than 2.79. I'll use Gimp or something for flat image editing.

Blender 2.8 texturing and painting is worth learning - it can do all that PS can do for 3D models, and a great deal more, it's just in a different format - nodes instead of layers. You'd need to spend some time reading the manual on materials and watching YouTubes and other videos. BlenderNation has a lot of the better tuts. I subscribe to BlenderArtist forums also - they are far more patient with beginners and the kinds of dumb questions I tend to have. I can't offer advice yet, I'm still winding and wending my way through what the nodes and modes do and how artists can go from a couple of nodes to hundreds of them and everyone's nodding whoa dude amazing while I'm trying to figure out exactly what the dude clicked on. Fortunately it's wonderful fun along the way.

Ya, I was jumping back to PS whenever I got impatient with Blender but that monthly fee was killin me. People I know who do this for a living tell me that Substance is industry standard for 3D. So, OK.

[LucierdaSolari]

@LucierdaSolari - short answer: probably not at this time. long answer: I have fully converted to Blender 2.8 and I just canceled my PhotoShop subscription so I can afford Substance Painter. I hadn't successfully exported from Blender 2.8 to PS, though I did it a lot with 2.79, because I'm still learning 2.8. Mostly an exercise, at this point, in Where Did They Move The Frickin Button, but it's getting there. 2.8 is a lot better than 2.79. I'll use Gimp or something for flat image editing.

Blender 2.8 texturing and painting is worth learning - it can do all that PS can do for 3D models, and a great deal more, it's just in a different format - nodes instead of layers. You'd need to spend some time reading the manual on materials and watching YouTubes and other videos. BlenderNation has a lot of the better tuts. I subscribe to BlenderArtist forums also - they are far more patient with beginners and the kinds of dumb questions I tend to have. I can't offer advice yet, I'm still winding and wending my way through what the nodes and modes do and how artists can go from a couple of nodes to hundreds of them and everyone's nodding whoa dude amazing while I'm trying to figure out exactly what the dude clicked on. Fortunately it's wonderful fun along the way.

Ya, I was jumping back to PS whenever I got impatient with Blender but that monthly fee was killin me. People I know who do this for a living tell me that Substance is industry standard for 3D. So, OK.

I am still on Photoshop CS5. I won't be upgrading to CC anytime soon.

I have also made clothing that consists of multiple layers that I can tint inworld for millions of color combinations.

I don't know how I could make the same kind of clothing in Blender.

I appreciate your suggestion, but I really cannot wait to make clothing for the Ruth Too avi. It would be a tremendous leap forward in quality from my classic body. I don't think I have the time and patience to learn Blender.

[LucierdaSolari]

Is there anybody else here who can help me?

[Outworldz]

You should start with the SL avatars from my website that are already set up for Photoshop. They are standard avatars.You can do almost the same with these as you can do with Ruth and ity shows you what Ruth mesh should be set for. here are also many skin sets there, as well as here in the Ruth Repo.

https://www.outworldz.com/download/ Get "SL Avatars set up for Photoshop 0.6 MB zip"

To convert Ruth to this format, I think you would just go into Blender, set for Object mode, and sweep select with the right mouse all the mesh for the head. Then link it with Ctrl-J. Then edit the head (tab key) and set it to just one Material. Repeat for the middle and then below the waist so it looks like this model, with just three materials. Export it as a DAE and load it into Photoshop.

I never had much luck with PS for skin editing. It was always far too low res in PS5, and I never could find a way to improve it. It was much easier to paint in flat form and constantly click Refresh in Blender to see how it looked. I now use Blender mostly, and all of my 'good' Avatar work is in Substance painter.

[Deledrius]

I don't have a version of Photoshop to test these with, but hopefully they help you out @LucierdaSolari :

Avatar Ruth - Texture Parts.zip

[ocsean]

Lucierda,

You will want to have 3 mesh pieces to paint for the 3 different UVs in SL/OS, a head mesh, a lower body mesh, and an upper body mesh. I have created these for my RuthToo and RothToo which include the feet and arms. (RuthToo and RothToo are the exact same shape as the Ruth 2.0 and Roth 2.0. I tried these in my Mac version of Photoshop CS5.1. You can download them here:

RuthToo https://github.com/ocsean/RuthToo/tree/master/Mesh%20For%20PS%203d%20Painting RothToo https://github.com/ocsean/RothToo/tree/master/Mesh/Mesh%20For%20PS%203d%20Painting

Peace, Sean

On Mon, Nov 4, 2019 at 10:28 AM Lucierda Solari notifications@github.com wrote:

Is there anybody else here who can help me?

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[Deledrius]

@LucierdaSolari: Were the files provided by myself or @ocsean able to suit your needs?

[LucierdaSolari]

Lucierda, You will want to have 3 mesh pieces to paint for the 3 different UVs in SL/OS, a head mesh, a lower body mesh, and an upper body mesh. I have created these for my RuthToo and RothToo which include the feet and arms. (RuthToo and RothToo are the exact same shape as the Ruth 2.0 and Roth 2.0. I tried these in my Mac version of Photoshop CS5.1. You can download them here: RuthToo https://github.com/ocsean/RuthToo/tree/master/Mesh%20For%20PS%203d%20Painting RothToo https://github.com/ocsean/RothToo/tree/master/Mesh/Mesh%20For%20PS%203d%20Painting Peace, Sean

Thanks. Although putting together the individual 3d parts in PS could be a challenge.

[ocsean]

On Fri, Nov 8, 2019 at 2:17 PM Lucierda Solari notifications@github.com wrote:

Thanks. Although lining up the individual 3d parts in PS is going to be a challenge.

Using a Blender export of the three mesh pieces together creates an issue with overlapping UV maps. (I am not a Photoshop expert; so I may not be doing this right.) Here is what happens if I export the three meshes at once to a DAE or OBJ and open with PS CS5.1 to paint. The single paint brush across the texture affects all three UV maps, head, upper and lower. If you paint directly on the 3d mesh, the painting overlaps when you paint more than just one mesh section. https://i.gyazo.com/6e11d9dbf0007961a416afaec62eeb86.png You may still want to learn to do this painting in Blender; it does not have overlapping texture/material problems. ~Sean

[LucierdaSolari]

On Fri, Nov 8, 2019 at 2:17 PM Lucierda Solari @.***> wrote: Thanks. Although lining up the individual 3d parts in PS is going to be a challenge. Using a Blender export of the three mesh pieces together creates an issue with overlapping UV maps. (I am not a Photoshop expert; so I may not be doing this right.) Here is what happens if I export the three meshes at once to a DAE or OBJ and open with PS CS5.1 to paint. The single paint brush across the texture affects all three UV maps, head, upper and lower. If you paint directly on the 3d mesh, the painting overlaps when you paint more than just one mesh section. https://i.gyazo.com/6e11d9dbf0007961a416afaec62eeb86.png You may still want to learn to do this painting in Blender; it does not have overlapping texture/material problems. ~Sean

This overlapping issue doesn’t happen with the classic SL avatar mesh. I have imported an .obj of it into Photoshop before and was able to use it without trouble.

[LucierdaSolari]

Lucierda, You will want to have 3 mesh pieces to paint for the 3 different UVs in SL/OS, a head mesh, a lower body mesh, and an upper body mesh. I have created these for my RuthToo and RothToo which include the feet and arms. (RuthToo and RothToo are the exact same shape as the Ruth 2.0 and Roth 2.0. I tried these in my Mac version of Photoshop CS5.1. You can download them here: RuthToo https://github.com/ocsean/RuthToo/tree/master/Mesh%20For%20PS%203d%20Painting RothToo https://github.com/ocsean/RothToo/tree/master/Mesh/Mesh%20For%20PS%203d%20Painting Peace, Sean

I just now tried importing those .dae files and I got "The Photoshop 3D file format could not parse this file" for all three of them.

[ocsean]

On Wed, Nov 13, 2019 at 6:32 PM Lucierda Solari notifications@github.com wrote:

I just now tried importing those .dae files and I got "The Photoshop 3D file format could not parse this file" for all three of them.

I don't know what happened with them. I opened them in PS right before uploading them to GitHub, but when I download them myself they are not opening in PS either. So, I will remove them from GitHub and see if I can figure out what happened. ~Sean

[Deledrius]

@LucierdaSolari @ocsean Does that happen with the files I posted as well?

[aiaustin]

Maybe we need to add these file types to .gotattributes which lists the file types we want Git to treat as binary and not mess about with.

[LucierdaSolari]

Any updates?

[LucierdaSolari]

Hello?

[ocsean]

On Tue, Nov 19, 2019 at 5:32 PM Lucierda Solari notifications@github.com wrote:

Hello?

No. I don't have any updates.

[LucierdaSolari]

I'm not getting any help on MeWe. Nobody is answering my posts.

As for the RuthToo body using the same UV as the classic avatar, the clothes I have made for the classic avatar have some slight distortion when worn on the Ruth Too RC2 body. I need to be able to import the RuthToo body into Photoshop to be able to make clothing that looks good on it efficiently.

If the texturing process in Blender were as simple as in Photoshop, I would be okay with learning it. But that appears not be the case.

One more thing, in Photoshop I am able to flatten a 2d image onto a 3d model. I have searched around if it could be done in Blender. It doesn't look like it is possible.

I have to use Photoshop to make clothing for the RuthToo body. I simply cannot use Blender. I'm sorry....