UV Mapping Question

[LadyAngel]

I've been following the excellent beginner meshing tutorials (http://modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Tutorials:Unimesh_2_-_Editing_and_UV_Mapping#Part_8_-_Make_a_New_Texture_to_Fit_the_Modified_Mesh) right from the beginning and have managed everything fine so far. However, I'm using Gimp and for the life of me cannot find out how to do the following:

Select the solid white at the bottom of the alpha and pull it down so it covers the parts you pulled down on the uv map on both the front and the back. Remember that there's a little rectangle in the middle of the back you need to make sure to select and pull down, too.

I can't remember doing anything like this on any other tutorial, so I'm stumped! I can't select anything in the image without merging the layers, which means I then can't adjust the opacity back to 100%.

I've tried this in other image editing programs, but can't figure out how to pull down part of the image.

I've Googled, I've searched the Gimp help section and everything!

Any help on this would be appreciated, and would mean I can continue with the tutorials without killing someone!

:help:

(P.S. If this post needs moving to another board, please let me know)

[fakepeeps7]

I can't remember doing anything like this on any other tutorial, so I'm stumped! I can't select anything in the image without merging the layers, which means I then can't adjust the opacity back to 100%.

I've tried this in other image editing programs, but can't figure out how to pull down part of the image.

Select the white area and then drag the corners to resize it. GIMP should have a function for that. (I'm using the inexpensive Photoshop Elements, and it does this easily.)

Basically, you just want the white part of your alpha to cover the whole area of the UV map that you just altered. If you made the UV map bigger in the skirt area, you'll want to make the white area on the alpha bigger, too. You don't have to resize anything if you don't want to. Filling an appropriate-sized selection with white would work, too (but you'll want to use the UV map as a reference so you get everything in the right place).

[LadyAngel]

Thanks for the reply. However, no matter how I try, I can't do this in Gimp and can't afford to pull out for Photoshop Elements. Once I paste on image onto another, I can't select anything unless I anchor the top layer, which means I can't change the opacity or copy the top layer as it's gone!

Even with the top layer anchored, once I select a region, I try to resize it but nothing happens...I just get a blank area under the area I've selected. I've been tearing my hair out with this as I can't continue to practice until I get this figured out. :(

[fakepeeps7]

GIMP should be able to handle separate layers, so I really don't know what the problem is. It sounds like the program is automatically flattening your image... which I don't think it should be doing. I don't have GIMP on my machine anymore... but when I did, I remember that it worked very much like an earlier version of Photoshop, which included support for layers.

You might want to try the suggestions in this thread (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=989865)... but if your computer is automatically flattening your layers, I don't know how much help it will be.

[LadyAngel]

Thank you, that thread really helped. I think it must have been something I was doing, but I've managed it nicely now. :)

Angela