Transparency

Sheer fabrics can be easily made by applying some transparency to your opacity maps. As you're aware by now, when it comes to using an opacity map, white are the parts we see, black turns an area invisible. What about when it comes to see through areas? This is where we use shades of grey, the lighter the grey the more it will be seen, and the same in reverse, the darker the grey the more transparent it will become.

In the example, I applied a gradient from white to dark grey, as colors changes down the map, you'll see the skirt gradually start to disappear. I achieved this gradient using the Blend tool in the toolbox.

If you apply this gradient straight into the client you'll see that it won't look like this, you need to change some settings for the transparency to take effect. In the client window in Material Parameters, under where you place your maps, you need to select Use Blending and change the drop down to Composite. This allows you to have greater control over the level of transparency. If you select Additive, its a lot harder to control, this option is best used for furniture. I have never used this option in clothing.

I'll be using a dress as an example, I've applied a solid base dress layer, using a Delure mesh, in the third and forth layers, five and six will be my transparent layer. I've gone ahead and created the shape for the top layer and colored it a medium grey.

It's nothing fancy at this point. Applying it in the client shows a the transparent layer, this step may be fine depending on the item that you're creating, but for this outfit it's lacking a little realism.

The next step is to add some details with a white brush. I applied some lines to the shoulders, sides of the bust and in the middle of the bust, this is where the fabric is more likely to bunch. I also added some lines across the body. Using the smudge tool, stretch and soften the edges of the lines. I keep each area to its own layer so I can adjust accordingly. Next apply a Gaussian Blur to the layers, set it to about a 4 or 5.

Update it to the client and check the progress, I also added a slightly lighter than black texture to see the details better, as this is the final color of the texture I would be using

I wasn't very happy with the way this looked, the shoulders were too dark and the lines on the boy didn't look that great. I went and changed the opacity of the shoulder lines layer and also changed the lines on the body. I used a larger brush and put lines across the front rather than from the sides. I also used a larger blur on the torso lines.

After updating the client I was much happier with the outcome, the folds on the torso are more appealing to the eye and the shoulder lines are not so harsh. Apply the same technique for the back of the dress as well.

Once that is done you can add some other details, for example the solid block of color in the example is a good spot to add a belt. If you have any questions regarding transparency or texture developing in general, please feel free to contact me here or join my IMVU Group.

P.S. I have included pictures in good faith to help you on your creating journey. Please do not steal my textures, creating your own is much more satisfying. Stealing my texture will result in a DMCA complaint lodged against you and I would hate for it to come to that.