Tut from fiona

[sanbie]

In answer to a question about eye make up...

I am not a poser user, but  Daz user, and I dont own star or starlight.  but I am going to take a stab at answering this..  One question, though... are Star and Starlight different characters, or is Starlight a morph/texture that fits Star?

If they are different characters with different UV maps, find both the diffuse map for the makeup you want, and the diffuse map for the makeup you want to convert it to. (Unless you have changed the default pathway this is saved in the runime-libraries-materials section, ordered by the vendor name.)  Open them both in your 2d program of choice.

Now... you need to do 2 things:

1:  if they are different characters with different UV Maps, you need to
make the UV map from the old align to the uv map of the new.  Always open both diffuse maps, copy them to new files, and close your originals and put them away so as not to risk messing them up!  Depending on how different the 2 uv maps are, aligning things to the new uv map can be a challenge.

The first thing is the size of the head UV map needs to be exactly the same as the one you intend it to fit.  If, in your vendor folder, you have any black and white, or even grey bump maps, it is easiest to create a mask from that rather than the diffuse where the edge can be blurry. I make a mask by doing a box outline of the whole map, and then get rid of the whole face part... basically making a head hole the size of the character you want to fit the makeup to.  The color of the non-hole parts of the new mask should be a color that is fleshy, but different enough from either diffuse map for you to be able to easily see the difference.

2.  Copy this mask, make a new layer over the diffuse of the makeup you want to convert, and paste the mask into the new layer. This will tell you if it is bigger, smaller.. the big picture. (Maybe one map was 512x512 while the other was 1024 by 1024, for example... it needs to match the UV proportions of the new UV map, and the BEST and most accurate way is to resize it.

Resize the makeup you want as much as you can to the new map, trying to get eyes over eyes, mouth over mouth in a general way..and as long as you wont be getting rid of anything significant, go ahead and merge the  mask down over your makeup.  Save the two merged layers as a new file, and then step back using "undo" to where they were not merged.  Go to the new file you made, copy it,and paste it in as a new layer.

3. Now you want to try to get eyes to eyes and ears to ears in a very precise way as opposed to the general way from the previous step.  How do you know? Bring in your intended targets diffuse map that you eventually want to get rid of, and make that another layer under the makeup you like, and cut the opacity of the makeup map down til you can see through it, but not so much that you lose knowing where the features are in general

One way to see where things line up between the flat UV map and the 3d version (when you dont have a grid to tell you)is make a new layer of your makeup that you have in a gross way fitted to the new uv, and make draw marks for where you *think* the edges of eyes, nose, eyebrows , lips, etc will be in some bold crazy color.  You can *sort of* tell for most face maps but I like to know exactly as the skin maps can be fuzzy.  Try this map with the crazy marks on your intended character.  You can make outlines of where you want the makeup to sit, and try them on...  it may take a few tries, but eventually you will have nice borders and a good idea where your makeup ought to go.

Another thing you can do to make eyes line up to eyes and ears to ears as you move the parts you want from one uv map to another, is to use a lasso, quick selection, or other tool to select the eye area from the makeup you want,  and copy and paste it to a new layer. Put this layer on top of the target diffuse map, at about 60% transparency.  Then you can use all your distortion tools, like rotation, resize, skew, etc, as well as smudge , to move that area of makeup where it would belong on the new map

With enough tweaking, you will eventually get things in the right places.  It will take a *lot* of pixel by pixel cleanup to make it look pretty, which is why it takes people days, not hours, to make texture maps.  Face skin is the most difficult.

Once the makeup is in the right place over the skin of the uv map you want to fit it to, you need to make sure that the edges blur nicely, and that there is no "skin color", just makeup color, to be applied.  This is where I zoom in to about 3 to 4 times the actual pixels, and go to work.  First I use the magic wand tool on a higher setting, working down to a lower setting, to select and delete anything that looks like skin color around the edges, and not makeup.  Once I am satsified that all that is left is makeup, I work with the smudge, blur, and eraser tools on at 2-4 pixel settings, and very small amount of strength, to ease the edges of the makeup in particular so that there are no hard edges when you apply it over skin.  At the furthest edge, a lot of the underlying skin should show through.  Depending on how different the skin tones are, will tell you where you need to set the opacity.  More transparency helps the makeup look like it fits.  If you are taking makeup from a light skin to a dark skin, or from a cool tone to a warm tone, or from a soft skin to one with a lot of contrast,you will have to change the hue, or the brightness, or the contrast to "match".  Making one makeup fit all is pretty impossible... this is a process  to go through for each character.

Now... if you want this to be a makeup you can use "over"  skin.. that depends on poser and if lets you do second skin layers.  If it does, all you do is make the makeup you want in this way for each UV map you want it to fit.  You keep the parts where you want the skin from your character to shine through as transparent.  PNG format lets you do this.

If it doesnt let you do second skin layers, you merge your semi-transparent makeup layer with your skin, give it a new name, and save it in your vendor folder.

This is how *I* do it.  Someone else may have an easier way, and if they do I want to here it.  If you like detailed work in 2d programs, this is your cup of tea.  Not so much mine, though!

[fiona]

thanks sanbie, I think it needs some pictures and examples to make it understandable.  It can be a WIP.. on a long list of WIPS.  I think every day I am here my to do list gets longer, not shorter!  :-)

[sanbie]

Sounds great fiona...if you could put it on pdf that would be even better...We are a very visual learners group here 
BUT no rush...at least they have something there...