Developing Questions
I have not been developing
that long, started in January 2007. I knew how to use Photoshop a
little and had watched ppl making webpages. I think my most proud
moment on IMVU was when I finally worked out how to change my homepage
background!. The first item you make will be the hardest, because
making it is only 1 part of about 10 you need to do. The actual
deriving part is easy, then you need to submit your product to IMVU
and get it to show up in the catalog. However once you get the hang of
this its relatively easy depending on what products you make. Since
I'm still very much learning myself I think the best thing I can do to
help anyone is just give you some links to some really helpful and
experienced IMVU users.
All developing
questions should go in the Content
Creator forums
Taunt.com
Video Tutorials!
Make your own hair textures!
Top tutorials IMVU
Other imvu tutorial links (
I Grabbed these from the forums )
-
Sticker and Image Making
Tutorials Stickers
Forum Sticky
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Texturing Products Tutorials Texturing
Forum Sticky
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3D Mesh Making and Animation
Tutorials 3D
Forum Sticky
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Be sure to Check Out *
~TUTORIALS GALORE: All The Info You Will Ever Need~ * by Velc0n
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Lil
Tips for Devs A thread by Devs for Devs
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Afina's
Guide To Developing - Intro and Ch.1-4
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A
Developer's Guide to Not Sucking by MurdersLastCrow
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I
Want to Develop Too, Developer Basics By Keef
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Developing
Basics by Mayu22
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Beginner
Tutorials by KittenKat
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Creating
Nice Catalog images by Invisigoth
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HTML
Basics by Mayu22
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How
to use the Bulk Tagger by AnakaTarren
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Improving
IMVU graphics by Jendoruk
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Protect
your Account, Protect your Credits by Boogiepanda
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What
are Developer Tokens? by Matt
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What
are Developer Tokens? by Boogiepanda
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Bundles
Female
- by IMVU Male
- by IMVU
-
How
To Make A Bundle - Start To Finish Walk Through - by Afina
-
Sticker
Bundles by Jenschaos
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Adding
Sounds by T70
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Adding
sounds by Gilliadson
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Cassiopeian
Credit Sales Tutorials "Cassiopeian now has a tutorial section
tutorials on making realistic hair textures, triggered poses, catalog icons
and links to Keef's tutorials."
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Immortal
Doll Mayu22's tutorial site. Deriving Basics, HTML, Mapping Textures,
Trigger Words.
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Keef’s
IMVU Various deving and texturing tutorials. Developing Basics, IMVU
Dictionary, File Formats, Make a Shirt in Photoshop, Sticker Submission,
Opacity, Cycling and Scrolling Animations, Adding Opacity, and more.
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Taunt
Various IMVU Video tutorials. How To Track Sales With Excel, How To Submit
Your First Product, How To Submit a 3D Accessory, How To Make Stickers, How
To Make Bundles, How To Make Catalogue Images and more.
-
VictoriaHart's
Tutorial Discussion Board (Hosted in the forums.) VictoriaHart has
posted many of her video Tutorials here. Clothing, Bundles, Hair, Stickers,
Cat Icons and more.
There are many others
as well, these are just ones that I have used, or have inspired me.
95% of what I have needed to learn though has come from myself just
diving in and giving it ago and trying to work things out myself, IMVU
have it all setup to make things as easy as possible, sort of like
redoing your home page, takes a bit of time at first, but then it
becomes easy. If someone tells you how to do something you forget it
in 30 minutes where as if you work it out yourself you never forget.
Here are some of the more
easy items to derive from, when you starting these are great to learn
from.
The E.Z. Tee this links
to the girls version, guys
click on this link this tee shirt is simple You only need
one 256x256 image. Full instructions are on the page. Go on have a go
make yourself a tee shirt!!!
And before you make
anything ask yourself the most important question: How are you going
to promote your products?
The below text is from the main tutorials
thread in the IMVU developer forums for the latest version please check the IMVU
forums This is a very big list and covers everything, if your new keep to
the ones above, this is more if you want to do something and have no idea
Questions
& Answers - Read These Before Anything Else
1. What's a developer token ?
A developer token is worth 10 credits towards submitting more items or
shoutouts.
You earn these either by reselling stickers from your home page [ Someone buys
the sticker and got the link from your home page ], or if somebody purchases
your items with promotional credits. You CANNOT trade these tokens, or do
anything else with them EXCEPT purchase shoutouts and use them for submission
fees.
2. Does it cost to submit items ?
Yes. It cost to submit items. There will be a deprivation fee as well as a submission
fee for all items you submit. The deprivation fee will vary in price,
and the submission fee will be 500 regardless... except for st ickers, which
only cost 100 to submit.
3. What exactly is the deprivation and
submission Fee?
The submission fee is basically a fee that IMVu charges you for submitting the
item. They have to host the item on their servers and you are basically paying
to have it hosted on the site, you are also paying for your own copy of the
item. This is why you do not get a copy of your stickers. You do not get copies
of your stickers because there is only a 100 credit submission fee, no
deprivation or anything. Ect. A deprivation fee is the fee you pay for using the
meshers, or creators, mesh to make an item.
4. What is a mesh ?
A mesh is a 3d design created in programs such as sketchup or Blender. Most
people use 3d Max as their program of choice. This mesh provides the client with
information on how to display certain areas of the 'avatar' and 'room'. This is
the over all basis of the item. Someone who makes meshes is called a mesher.
5. What is a texturer ?
A texturer is someone who recolors, or redesigns using opacity maps and colors t
he mesh that someone else has created. You derive from items, and edit the
" Texture " of the item to what you think it should look like, then
you are able to submit.
6. Limit of file size.
If you are retexturing a product, its combined size cannot be more then 2MB. The
best way to figure out how big a object will be, is to highlight all of the
included textures and right click them, and select " Properties " it
will bring up a box that states how big all of them are combined tougher.
6. How long does it take for submitted items to
be approved?
Submitted are sent to a peer review system when they re uploaded to the
server. This can take anywhere from 15 minutes to a few days.
7.If I update a product, how long will it take
for the update to show?
If you update a product then it is best to delete your old product file from the
products list. ( I'll find a tutorial on how to do that later ). Usually it
takes 15 minutes to a few hours for the updated product to go through, however,
it may take as long as a week.
8. Does the developer get the item he/she
alters/develops for free after its accepted to be released?
The developer gets all the items they develop after they submit them to the
catalogue except stickers. When you pay a submission fee and deprivation fee you
are basically paying for your own copy, since a sticker does not have a
deprivation fee or a large submission fee, you do not get that for 'free' and
instead have to buy them.
9. Who sets the items credit cost?
The developer does. It is best to look around at other items simular to your own
and make a good judgement on its price from there. If you price it too high or
too low, people will either not buy or buy allot. However if it's too low and you
go below break even, you will not be earning any profit per sell - but instead
loosing profit per sell.
10. Does the developer receive any points or
anything besides credit when others buy the items made by the developer?
If the item is bought with promo credits then the developer will receive a
developer token which is worth 10 credits towards submissions or shoutouts. If
the developers item is purchased with normal credits then the developer will receive
normal credits.
11.Can a developer send others items directly
made in exchange for credits instead of submitting it to the IMVU first?
No. You have to have the item uploaded to the catalog in order to gift it to
anyone.
12. What do I derive from?
When you are ready to develop clothing you should start by deriving from
products made by IMVU or meshers. To derive something is to use that persons
mesh, opacity map, and texture and alter it to what you want it to look like.
13. Is it okay to set my product to derivable if
I've derived from a mesher?
Yes and no. While the option exist, and there is nothing anybody can do to
prevent the product from being set to derivable, it is common courteously to set
the products to non-derivable. This is because you are using someone else's mesh,
and you did not make the mesh. You only made the texture.
14. I have a opacity map I really like, can I
set it to derivable?
Yes, in this case it may be okay to set the product to derivable. However,
please try to make sure the opacity map completely changes the product...It is
also advisable to alert the mesher of your decision to set it to derivable, and
ask them if it's okay. You should also include the opacity map with the product
you want to make derivable.
View
The All New IMVU Tutorial Section Click Here
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TUTORIALS
AND DERIVABLE PRODUCTS
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Below are some links that you may find useful.
I will link to other topics that may be useful to you on this forum, as well as
websites that contain art tutorials.
Now you may be thinking -- "How will
reading about art and drawing help me improve my IMVU products? " The
answer is simple. If you learn to draw, learn about shadows, highlights, contours,
how to make this and that - ect, you can add more variation and originality to
your work and enchant it's presence.
I suggest you study any and all available tutorials related to IMVu, as well as
art. Therefore I am posting artistic ideas, websites with art galleries, how to
draw links, and many other things below AS WELL
as IMVU specific tutorials and links.
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IMVU SPECIFIC
TUTORIALS
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[*]Many Of These Tutorials Can Also Be Found In
Most of the Stickies In The Developer Section of the IMVU Forum.
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Textures & Misc:
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Keef's
Tutorials - Keef's Site. At the top of the page you will see big words.
Click tutorials and it will take you to his tutorial pages. I suggest you do his
shirt tutorial before you begin doing anything else
Make
Stickers with GIMP - IMVU Tutorial created for gimp users making stickers.
More
on Making Stickers - By NaughtyDom
Technique
On Making Eyes
Female
Bundles - by IMVU
Male
Bundles - by IMVU
How
To Make A Bundle - by Afina
Making
Textured Products - by IMVU
Opacity
Maps - by Adrenalynn333
More
On Opacity Maps - by WaltzingMouse
Animated
Scrolling Textures - by WaltzingMouse
Creating
Videos- By Taunt
Creating
Skins - by IMVU
Gateway
API Reference - By Boogiepanda
Blender
Basics
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Tutorials By KittenKat
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#1: How to Become a Developer
http://www.fergusonv.com/imvu/tutorials/tutorial_01.html
#2: Getting to Know the Previewer (E.Z Tee Tutorial)
http://www.fergusonv.com/imvu/tutorials/tutorial_02.html
#3: Intro to Texture Maps (Teddy Bear Tutorial)
http://www.fergusonv.com/imvu/tutorials/tutorial_03.html
#4: Understanding Texture Maps (Dress Tutorial)
http://www.fergusonv.com/imvu/tutorials/tutorial_04.html
#5: Opacity Maps (Skirt Tutorial)
http://www.fergusonv.com/imvu/tutorials/tutorial_05.html
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3D Products. Making Meshes:
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Meshing
3d Accessories - by WaltzingMouse
Make
3D Products - by IMVU
Avatar
Actions and other even more advanced products
Composite
Mesh Tutorial - by WaltzingMouse
Make
a Complex 3D Product - by IMVU
First
Time
Previewer
Tips
Making
3d Pets - by WaltzingMouse
Creating
3d Scenes - by WaltzingMouse
Morphing
Facial Animations - Atheist
Blender
Basics
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Tools
And Whatnot
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Templets & Resources:
Old
Thread
Exporters
Cal3d
0.9.1 Exporters (all
official resources)
Old
Thread - This links to the wrong version BTW
Other Tools
Photoshop(not
free)
PaintShop
Pro (not free)
Gimpshop,
based on Gimp(both
free)
3D
Studio Max (not free)
Milkshape
(cheap, but not free)
Blender
(free)
Old
Thread
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Other
Topics That Might Assist You
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If
you're having problems with the previewer, go here.
Tips
For Developing.
TRADEMARK
AND COPYRIGHT.YOU MUST READ THIS.CLICK HERE
Specific
Tutorials - These tutorials can be on any subject so please look around.
The ones below that are listed by program are sites to tutorials of which I'm
not sure on what they teach you.
Gimp
Flash
Illustrator
The following list of sites specialize
in giving tutorials on how to use
Illustrator
Cinema 4d
The Following Are Websites That
Specialize In Using Cinema 4d
Light Wave
The Following Websites Specialize In
Tutorials For LightWave
Rhino 3d
The Following Websites Specialize In Tutorials
For Rhino 3d
View
The All New IMVU Tutorial Section Click Here
3D
Studio Max Tutorials
Bryce
Tutorials
Flash
Tutorials
Image
Ready Tutorials
Maya Tutorials
Open
Canvas Tutorials
View
The All New IMVU Tutorial Section Click Here
Paint
Shop Pro Tutorials
Photoshop
Tutorials
View
The All New IMVU Tutorial Section Click Here
Random
Tutorials
View
The All New IMVU Tutorial Section Click Here
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References
----------------------------------------------------------------
The Following Links
Are Links To Reference Materials
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On
Drawing
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The Following Discuss Drawing
View
The All New IMVU Tutorial Section Click Here |