/DELURK/ Hey guyz and galz, I have one not so simple question. I have a great nude male jpg that I would like to convert into a texture for Zygote's Michael. I have tried to do the clone stamp thing in Photoshop and it just does not turn out right. I tried to do it with both the texture template from Zygote and just stamping on an existing texture. Also, in conjunction with that, how do you make a bump map of that texture and actually make a trans map for the pubic hair. Thanks in advance, Tankred /LURK/

Tankred..if you've used both those techinques you mention and you can't do it right...then forget it! You are just not suited for body texturing..sorry man! On pubic hair you definately CAN'T add transparency or the hip will show transparent..you can only do that on pubic hair only if you have applied a seperate prop in that area! As for bump maps..they're a lot more difficult that textures -to get the right effect not a random greyscale image- so let it be till you master first the body texturing technique! Rome was not conquered in one day..so hang there and keep on trying! Eventually you'll do it right since you are on the right path! :o)

So what are you saying RENAPD? Am I that much in the dark? I find it hard to believe that there are a chosen few that can take a jpg and turn it into a good texture and the VAST majority of us can't. I know I am no artist, but I think that you are wrong there. I am still a little miffed at you saying that I can't do it at all. All I am asking for are a little pointers in Photoshop on how to x-fer over the jpg to the texture tamplate. Can you do it? Tankred

Your best bet is to look carefully at the Happyworldland and Nod P4Fem texmaps which use celebrity faces -- Salma Hayek, Winona Ryder, etc., and see how the artists merged the photos with the default texmaps. With all due respect to renapd, it isn't rocket science and my first attempt (with a cheesecake model) was pretty successful. The critical thing is to find a full face-on image of your model, which can be problematic. I'd pass on the rubberstamp tool and simply copy the entire face from the .JPG to an open P4Male texmap, but on a separate layer so you can carefully resize and overlay it (changing the upper layer's transparency to 40% helps). Erase as much unnecessary stuff as possible from the upper layer, then Save For Web to export another .JPG file. There is a tutorial on this technique which was written when the P2 man (whose face is smooth and featureless) was all you could get. The author puts a snapshot of himself on the face. The technique is the same. On consideration here is that most people on this forum have avoided mapping photos to Vicky and Michael, concentrating instead on morphing (look for my MaterialGirl morph target here to see what I mean). Creating bump maps involves a little more practice and becoming comfortable with painting greyscale peaks and valleys. Again, I'd be tempted to examine some example files to get an idea how they work. You'd be surprised how many times you can bypass creating bumpmaps altogether. The final word in skin texture modeling is Geoffrey Smith's "Photoshop 5 3D Textures F/X" from Coriolis Press, which will set you back fifty bucks but give you some valuable lessons in organic texturing (including rust, dirt, weathering, alien skin).

Thanks Duane! I was looking mre toward the actual body of a guy and putting that onto the texture map of Zygote's Michael. Of course the guy in the photo is not posing with his arms straight out like the default Michael is in Poser! I guess I could adapt what you are saying to the body (and the face!) and get it to work. Now all I need is to figure out how to map that pubic hair! Tankred

I haven't worked much with Michael, but what I've read here is consistent with what renapd said about substituting another prop for mapping. Everyone seems to like leemoon's replacement dick prop, but I don't think it comes with pubes.