Making Eyes from a Source Image - A Tutorial by Zombie Jill

click to go to Page Two of the tutorial.

step ONE.
open up bodyshop and create a package.

This one is self-explanitory, so, not much to explain here. Just go Create Parts/Start New Project/Genetics/Eyes and pick a 'base'. Give it a meaningful name (IE, mine always start with "ZJ", for ZombieJill), and export it.

step TWO.
open your source image and base image in your graphics editting program.

I am using Photoshop CS3 to do this tutorial; you can do this in pretty much any photo/graphics editting program that supports layers, and has the tools Burn and Dodge. GIMP is free, and does. There's also less expensive alternatives to Photoshop. Google it, nyah?

BASE IMAGE
I, personally, have a PSD file with the base that I almost always use, with minor tweaking. My base has a black circle on it, to help me see, at a glance, roughly where the iris should go. You can create your own base image, download mine, or use some made by others, like Anva and IcedMango at MTS2.

SOURCE IMAGE
A good source image is important. Start a folder on your computer where you collect images to make eyes out. Remember, ONLY USE IMAGES THAT YOU TOOK YOURSELF, OR THAT YOU ARE ALLOWED TO USE. Free stock images are available on many sites; do a google search. :3 I use deviantART, personally.

step THREE.
use the circle marquee tool, and select the iris only.

This is a point where a good source image comes in handy; you don't want the eyelid, for example, visible on the sim, nor strands of hair or bright pink, glittery eyelashes. These can be shopped out, but, it's so much easier to get a good source picture to begin with.

PHOTOSHOP TIP-
The easiest way to make sure your pupil in center when doing this is photoshop is the alt+shift+drag method. Select the Circle Marquee tool, then move your cursor to the center of the pupil. Then, holding down the SHIFT key and the ALT key (shift+option on the mac, I believe) and drag out. This will draw a marquee from the center, radiating out! :3 Nice, huh? No need to worry about centering!

step FOUR.
paste the iris onto your base, rotate it to orienate right, and move it to the correct(ish) location.

So, now that you have your iris selected, copy and paste it into the document with your base. You can close your source image. Using the Free Transform tool, rotate your iris until what should be the BOTTOM of your iris is on the left side. It's weird, I know, but that's how bodyshop reads the textures. You can also go to the Edit/Transform menu, and Rotate 90* CCW. Then, simply move the iris to the sclera you're using. The size and position will be wrong; we'll fix that in the next step.

step FIVE.
position the iris properly, then use smart sharpen to sharpen the textures.

I have a little trick for positioning the iris. On the layer with the iris, I turn to opacity down to 50%, so you can see through it, but can still make it out. Then, I position it on my circle as I see fit. When I have it where I want it, I simply turn the opacity back up, and, wala. It's where I want it. It's a lot easier than guess and checking, in my opinion. Then, go the Filter menu, then Sharpen, Smart Sharpen... and use that filter to sharpen up your iris. You want to make the texture crisp, but don't sharp it into pixelly oblivious. Play with the sliders, and the different sharpening methods, 'till you find one you like. I say Smart Sharpen because it works best for me personally.